Name: Basil Tomato Salad
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons olive oil; 2 tablespoons cider vinegar; 2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil leaves*; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper; 3 cups cooked rice, cooled; 2 medium tomatoes, chopped; 1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped; 1 small red onion, chopped

Why it works: Basil and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 3,979 recipes mention both. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil leaves*
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 cups cooked rice, cooled
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 small red onion, chopped

Directions

Whisk together oil, vinegar, basil, salt and pepper in large bowl.
Add rice, tomatoes, cucumber and onion; toss.
Serve chilled.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

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.

Basil + tomatotop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together3,979 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together14,164 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Basil + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together5,292 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Tomato + cucumbertop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together2,402 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Olive + basiltop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together4,868 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Cooked rice: Forms the bulk of the salad and absorbs the dressing as a base.
Tomatoes: Add moisture, juiciness and a fresh acidic brightness.
Olive oil: Carries the flavor of the basil and gives the dressing body and richness.
Cider vinegar: Adds acidity that balances the oil and sharpens the vegetables.

Flavor stand-ins for the cucumber

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, cider, vinegar, basil, pepper, rice, tomato):

Capsicumbetter flavor fit
Cucumberthe original
Carrotabout as good a flavor fit
Potatoabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, cider, vinegar, basil, pepper, rice, tomato. 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.