Why it works: Garlic and chicken are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 10,839 recipes mention both. Both carry 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine, which smells roasted, nutty. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 2Ingredients
Contains: soy, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Trim the tough outer layers from the lemongrass, then finely chop the tender inner stalks. Finely chop the red chilli and garlic, and pound or mince them together with the lemongrass into a paste.
Cut the chicken thighs into bite-sized pieces. Toss them in a bowl with the curry powder and 1 tablespoon of the Thai fish sauce so they are evenly coated.
Heat the sunflower oil in a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the lemongrass paste and stir-fry for about 1 minute until fragrant.
Add the chicken and cook, stirring often, for about 8 minutes until browned and cooked through. Check the thickest piece reaches 165°F (74°C).
Pour in the chicken stock, the remaining fish sauce and the caster sugar. Simmer for about 5 minutes until the sauce turns glossy and slightly reduced.
While the sauce simmers, heat the steamed rice until hot and divide it between two bowls.
Tear the mint, basil and coriander leaves, scatter them over the chicken, and serve immediately with the rice.
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.
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Garlic + chickentop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together10,839 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).
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Mint + coriandertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together940 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Basil + coriandertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together520 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Garlic + coriandertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together6,477 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Garlic + basiltop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together4,805 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the mint
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (garlic, fish sauce, chicken, sunflower, sugar, basil, coriander):
- Cuminbetter flavor fit
- Gingerbetter flavor fit
- Oreganobetter flavor fit
- Mintthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against garlic, fish sauce, chicken, sunflower, sugar, basil, coriander. 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).
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