Name: Vietnamese Spring Rolls with Orange-Almond Sauce
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Yield: Makes 16 rolls
Ingredients: FOR THE SPRING ROLLS; 6 ounces dried rice vermicelli noodles; 16 large dried rice paper wrappers; 8 large lettuce leaves, preferably soft ones, halved and hard ribs removed; 1 cup, matchstick cut carrots; 2 cucumbers, julienned; 1-2 avocado, pitted, peeled and sliced; 1-2 bell pepper, cored, julienned; 1 cup loosely packed cilantro; 1 cup loosely packed mint; 1 cup loosely packed basil; FOR THE ORANGE ALMOND SAUCE; 1/4 cup water, plus more as needed; 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice; 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice; 1/2 cup raw almond butter; 1/2 teaspoon minced ginger; 1 teaspoon honey or coconut nectar; 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped garlic; 1/2 teaspoon wheat-free tamari or soy sauce; 1 teaspoon roasted sesame seeds

Why it works: Lettuce and cucumber match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,409 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. 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.

Lettuce + cucumbertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,409 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Lettuce + avocadotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together464 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Cucumber + avocadotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together299 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Pepper + basiltop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,294 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Carrot + basiltop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,113 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

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

Swap the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, lettuce, carrot, cucumber, avocado, pepper, basil):

Tarragonfits better
Dillfits better
Parsleyfits better
Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, lettuce, carrot, cucumber, avocado, pepper, basil. 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
Avocado	1 medium (150g)	240
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Sesame	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Honey	1 tbsp (21g)	64
Orange	1 medium (131g)	62
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Almond	1 almond (1.2g)	7
Lettuce	1 cup shredded (36g)	5
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Peppermint	not in our table	0
Sauce	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0
Seed	not in our table	0

Vietnamese Spring Rolls with Orange-Almond Sauce