Name: Curried Cauliflower Soup
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 1 large head of cauliflower, broken into small florets, stems chopped; 1/4 cup melted coconut oil or olive oil, divided; 1 medium yellow onion, diced; 2 to 3 tablespoons Thai red curry paste (depending on preferred spice level, I love spicy so I’d use 3!); 1 small lemon (preferably organic), zested; 1/2 cup white wine (like Pinot Grigio)*; 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth or stock; 1 can (14 ounces) light coconut milk; 1/2 teaspoon sugar; 1 tablespoon rice vinegar; sea salt and freshly ground black pepper; 1/4 cup chopped green onions/chives; 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil; thinly sliced hot peppers (optional, not shown)

Why it works: Coconut and rice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,063 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Coconut + ricetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,063 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Milk + ricetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,374 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Onion + ricetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,433 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Cauliflower + lemontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together179 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Coconut + milktop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,648 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

Swap the cauliflower

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (coconut, onion, lemon, white wine, milk, sugar, rice):

Capsicumfits better
Sweet potatofits better
Arrowrootfits better
Cauliflowerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against coconut, onion, lemon, white wine, milk, sugar, rice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Coconut	1/2 cup shredded (40g)	283
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Broccoli	1 cup chopped (156g)	55
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Chive	1 tbsp (3g)	1
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Curried Cauliflower Soup