Why it works: Rice and ham match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 477 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: shellfish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Cook the shrimp
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet.
Add shrimp and ¼ teaspoon oregano; sauté until just cooked about 1-2 minutes.
Remove shrimp.
Build the rice
Heat remaining 2 teaspoons oil in the same skillet.
Add sweet red pepper, onion, and garlic. Sauté for 3 minutes until just tender.
Stir in rice, the remaining ¼ teaspoon oregano, and broth. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
Stir in tomatoes with juice, salt, pepper flakes, and ham. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed.
Finish and serve
Return shrimp to skillet; heat through, about 1 minute.
Sprinkle with cilantro.
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.
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Rice + hamtop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together477 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
-
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together29,030 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Rice + chickentop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together4,569 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
-
Olive + garlictop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together23,449 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
-
Oregano + garlictop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,756 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
- Uncooked texmati rice
- Forms the bulk of the dish and absorbs the broth as it simmers to become tender.
- Shrimp
- Provides the main protein and is cooked briefly so it stays tender.
- Stewed tomatoes
- Add acidity and liquid that flavour the rice as it cooks.
- Chicken broth
- Supplies the cooking liquid that the rice absorbs as it becomes tender.
- Onion
- Adds savoury sweetness as it softens in the oil at the start.
- Cubed ham
- Adds savoury, salty flavour and meatiness to the rice.
The step that matters
Simmering the rice until the liquid is absorbed. Rice must have enough liquid and time to cook through; lifting the lid lets steam escape and can leave the grains hard or the dish dry. Stirring only occasionally helps the rice cook evenly without breaking down.
Flavor stand-ins for the oregano
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, shrimp, pepper, onion, garlic, rice, chicken):
- Corianderbetter flavor fit
- Thymeabout as good a flavor fit
- Basilabout as good a flavor fit
- Oreganothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against olive, shrimp, pepper, onion, garlic, rice, chicken. 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.
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