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Madras Chicken Curry with Pilau Rice

Marinating the chicken for 24 hours is the key to this curry. Serve with James' fluffy pilau rice to make it extra special.

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Why it works: Mustard and chicken are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,192 recipes mention both. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, creamy. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4-6
Cook2 hr

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Mustard + chickentop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,192 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together14,027 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Coriander + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,866 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Cinnamon + cardamomtop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,299 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Coriander + cardamomtop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together872 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (coriander, fenugreek, cumin, fennel, cinnamon, clove, cardamom):

  1. Carrotbetter flavor fit
  2. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  3. Tomatobetter flavor fit
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against coriander, fenugreek, cumin, fennel, cinnamon, clove, cardamom. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).