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Pad Thai

Rice noodles are a fantastic storecupboard ingredient and I regularly stock up at Asian markets where you can also buy jumbo-sized bottles of staples like fish sauce, soy sauce, and so much more. This dish is possibly one of the most famous Thai dishes and appears on menus throughout the world. Rightfully so, it’s a speedy dish full of deep layers of sweet and aromatic flavours.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 14 ingredients
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Pad Thai

Why it works: Coriander and lime match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,536 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Pad Thai

Serves 4
Prep30 min
Cook30 min

Ingredients

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

500Calories
37 gProtein
6 gFat
74 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 11 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Shrimp100g cooked99
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Limejuice of 1 lime (44ml)11
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Coriandernot in our table0
Sunflower Oilnot in our table0
Toasted Sesame Seednot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Coriander + limetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,536 recipes

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

  2. Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Lime + sunflowertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together200 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Garlic + coriandertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,474 recipes

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

  5. Coriander + sunflowertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together369 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, garlic, coriander, lime, sunflower, fish sauce, sugar):

  1. Welsh onionfits better
  2. Sweet potatofits better
  3. Broccolifits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, garlic, coriander, lime, sunflower, fish sauce, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.