Why it works: Mango and chicken match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and 202 recipes mention both. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 2Ingredients
Contains: milk, wheat (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.
Finely dice the mango, half of the yellow pepper, 4 of the cherry tomatoes, 1 spring onion, and the jalapeño. Chop the small bunch of coriander. Mix together in a bowl, add the juice of 1 lime, and season with salt and black pepper to make the mango salsa.
For the guacamole, halve and mash the avocado in a bowl. Add the juice of the other lime, the crushed garlic, 1 chopped spring onion, a little of the chopped coriander, and the crème fraîche. Season with salt and black pepper and stir well.
Dice the remaining yellow pepper, the green pepper half, the red pepper half, and the remaining 4 cherry tomatoes. Finely slice the last spring onion. Grate or chop the cheese.
Shred or dice the leftover cooked chicken. Heat it through in a small pan until steaming hot, at least 165°F (74°C) in the thickest part. Stir in the diced peppers, tomatoes, and spring onion, and season with salt and black pepper.
Spread the chicken and vegetable filling and cheese over half of each flour tortilla. Fold each tortilla in half to enclose the filling.
Cook the quesadillas one or two at a time in a dry nonstick skillet over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes per side, pressing gently, until golden and the cheese has melted.
Cut each quesadilla into wedges. Serve with the mango salsa, guacamole, soured cream, and the small handful of coriander, chopped or whole for garnish.
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.
-
Mango + chickentop 10% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together202 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
-
Lime + coriandertop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,536 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Lime + avocadotop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,117 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
-
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together29,030 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Mango + limetop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together506 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the cherry tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, mango, onion, lime, avocado, garlic, coriander):
- Lemonbetter flavor fit
- Coconutbetter flavor fit
- Orangebetter flavor fit
- Cherry tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, mango, onion, lime, avocado, garlic, 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).
The Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.