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Patatas a Lo Pobre

A Spanish dish of fried potatoes with onions, peppers, garlic, tomatoes, and a spicy sauce.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 19 ingredients
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Why it works: Garlic and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Patatas a Lo Pobre

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and fry the potatoes

  1. Cut potatoes into smallish chunks and boil them for 4–5 minutes in salted water until firm and only slightly cooked.

  2. Drain the potatoes and rinse them with cold water.

  3. Heat frying oil to 160 °C and fry the potatoes for 5–6 minutes until cooked but not crispy.

  4. Increase the heat to 190 °C and fry the potatoes until golden and crunchy.

Make the sauce

  1. Heat olive oil in a deep skillet with a lid.

  2. Fry onions until they have wilted on high heat, then lower the heat and cover.

  3. Peel the garlic, bash it with the flat side of a knife, and chop into smallish pieces.

  4. Add the garlic to the onions and turn the heat up again.

  5. Chop the red chili pepper very carefully into tiny pieces and add it to the pan.

  6. Add peppers, 2 tsp tabasco, a tablespoon of pepper, and a liberal amount of cayenne to the pan.

  7. Stir water, soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar into the pan.

  8. Reduce the sauce until thick and gooey.

Finish and serve

  1. Add tomatoes cut into eighths to the mixture.

  2. Toss the potatoes in the sauce just before serving.

  3. If leftovers remain, refrigerate, then mash slightly, shape into patties, and fry or dry‑fry them.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

886Calories
21 gProtein
16 gFat
166 gCarbs

Counts 13 of 15 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 13 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Saucenot 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. Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Garlic + potatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,517 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Tomato + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Boiling then frying gives a creamy interior and a crisp, golden outside.
Onions
Softened on high heat, they turn sweet and form the base of the sauce.
Garlic
Cooking mellows its sharpness, leaving a sweet, savory aroma throughout the sauce.
Tomatoes
They break down into the sauce, adding moisture and gentle acidity.
Green peppers
They soften in the pan, adding fresh, slightly bitter flavor to the sauce.
Vinegar
Its acidity brightens the sauce and balances the sugar and soy sauce.

The step that matters

Frying the potatoes in two stages. Frying at 160 °C first cooks the potatoes through gently, and the hotter second fry at 190 °C drives off surface moisture to make them crisp. Skipping the first stage or frying too hot risks potatoes that are raw inside or browned before they cook through.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, garlic, tomato, vinegar, sugar, sauce, onion):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Okrafits better
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, garlic, tomato, vinegar, sugar, sauce, onion. 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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