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Plantain Soup

A savory soup made with plantains, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, chicken stock, cumin, bay leaf, cilantro, and olive oil.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Plantain Soup

Time40-50 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat.

  2. Add onions, carrots, celery and garlic.

  3. Cook, uncovered, for 3-4 minutes, or until onions soft but not brown.

  4. Add 4 cups of chicken stock/broth and bring to boil over high heat.

Simmer the soup

  1. Add plantains, most of the cilantro (reserve a few tablespoons for garnish), cumin, and bay leaf.

  2. Season with salt and pepper.

  3. Return to boil.

  4. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered for 40-50 minutes or until plantains very tender.

  5. Remove and discard bay leaf.

Blend and finish

  1. Transfer half the soup to blender.

  2. Puree until smooth.

  3. Return to the pan.

  4. If soup is too thick, add a little more stock/broth.

  5. Season with more salt/cumin if desired.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

380Calories
34 gProtein
18 gFat
21 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 12 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chicken100g cooked165
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Cilantro1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Plantainnot 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.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

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

  1. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Carrot + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together777 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  4. Garlic + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,082 recipes

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

  5. Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Green plantains
Break down into soft pulp that thickens the soup and gives it body.
Chicken stock or broth
Forms the liquid base that carries the flavour and cooks the plantains.
Onion
Builds a sweet, savoury aromatic base as it softens in the oil.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma that mellows during cooking.
Cumin
Contributes warm, earthy aroma to the soup.

The step that matters

Blending half the soup. Pureeing only part of the soup makes it creamy while leaving some plantain pieces for texture. Blending all of it could make the soup gluey or overly thick, since starch from the plantains releases as it cooks and breaks down.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, chicken, cumin):

  1. Oreganofits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, chicken, cumin. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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.

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