Name: Blender Girl: Pad Thai
Ingredients: 1 (14-ounce/395g) package rice stick noodles; 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar; 1 tablespoon coconut sugar; 2 small radishes; 1 1/2 carrots; 2 tablespoons wheat-free tamari or soy sauce, plus more to taste; 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil; 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice, plus more to taste; 8 ounces (230g) tempeh, thinly sliced, or very firm tofu, cubed; 4 green onions, sliced on the diagonal into 2-inch (5cm) pieces (white and green parts); 2 heads baby bok choy, sliced lengthwise into thin strips; Natural salt; 1/4 cup (60ml) toasted sesame oil; 1/4 cup (60ml) plus 3 tablespoons wheat-free tamari or soy sauce; 1/4 cup (60ml) plus 3 tablespoons coconut nectar (or other natural liquid sweetener); 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice; 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic (about 2 cloves); 1/2 teaspoon minced ginger; 1 teaspoon red curry paste, plus more to taste; 1/8 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes; 2 cups (120g) bean sprouts, to garnish; 1 cup (140g) roughly chopped raw unsalted cashews, to garnish; Cilantro, to garnish; 1 lime, cut into wedges, to garnish

Why it works: Radish and sesame share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 49 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, which smells clove, smoky. 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.

Radish + sesametop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together49 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
Rice + sesametop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together984 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Rice + coconuttop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,063 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Coconut + sesametop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together194 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Wheat + sesametop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together86 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

Swap the radish

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, apple cider vinegar, coconut, sugar, carrot, wheat, sesame):

Capsicumfits better
Sweet potatofits better
Welsh onionfits better
Radishthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, apple cider vinegar, coconut, sugar, carrot, wheat, sesame. 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
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Tempeh	100g	160
Cashew	1 oz (28g / ~18 nuts)	157
Sesame	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Tofu	100g firm	76
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Bok Choy	1 cup (70g)	9
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Bean	not in our table	0

Blender Girl: Pad Thai