Why it works: Coriander and sambal work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 42 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: soy (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare
Cut the pork into cubes.
Make a marinade from the remaining ingredients.
Add the meat to the marinade and leave to marinate for at least 30 minutes.
Skewer the meat onto metal or bamboo/wooden skewers; if using wooden skewers, soak them for half an hour in water.
Cook and serve
Roast the skewered meat under a grill, in a grill pan, or on a barbecue until done, usually about ten minutes or less.
Baste the meat with the remaining marinades during cooking.
This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
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.
-
Coriander + sambaltop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together42 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
-
Coriander + cumintop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,866 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together29,030 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Coriander + lemontop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,498 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Garlic + cumintop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together5,083 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pork tenderloins
- Provides the lean meat that is skewered and cooked into tender pieces.
- Ketjap manis
- Adds sweetness and salty depth to the marinade and helps the meat brown during roasting.
- Onion
- Adds moisture and savoury flavour to the marinade as it grates into the meat.
- Garlic
- Adds pungent aroma to the marinade that penetrates the meat.
The step that matters
Basting during cooking. Brushing the meat with the marinade as it roasts builds up flavour and browning on the surface. Using only marinade that has already touched raw pork, or failing to keep the surface moist, can leave it dry or unevenly cooked.
Flavor stand-ins for the sambal
The recipe marks sambal as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, onion, garlic, white pepper, coriander, cumin, lemon):
- Oreganobetter flavor fit
- Thymebetter flavor fit
- Gingerbetter flavor fit
- Sambalthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pork, onion, garlic, white pepper, coriander, cumin, lemon. 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).
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
You might also like
Illustration
Illustration
Illustration
IllustrationThe 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.