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Mexican Vegetable Stir-fry

A quick Mexican-inspired vegetable stir-fry with rice, beans, corn, and cilantro served in tortillas.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Cumin and beans match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,188 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓

Mexican Vegetable Stir-fry

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the vegetables

  1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.

  2. Add onion, garlic, cumin and red pepper; cook 2 to 3 minutes or until onion is translucent.

  3. Stir in zucchini and orange juice; cook 3 to 5 minutes or until zucchini is tender.

Add the rice and beans

  1. Add rice, beans, corn and cilantro; stir to mix well.

  2. Cook 2 to 3 minutes or until heated through.

Serve

  1. Spoon mixture into corn or flour tortillas.

  2. Serve with salsa, if desired.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1276Calories
37 gProtein
22 gFat
238 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 15 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Tortilla1 medium flour (45g)140
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Black Bean1/2 cup canned (120g) drained114
Corn1/2 cup kernels (82g)77
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Cucumber1/2 cup sliced (52g)16
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Cilantro1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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. Cumin + beanstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,188 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

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

  4. Clove + cumintop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,306 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Rice + beanstop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,017 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Onion
Softens as it cooks, adding sweetness and savory base flavor to the skillet mixture.
Zucchini
Becomes tender while cooking, adding moisture and mild vegetable body to the filling.
Black beans
Add substance and soft texture, making the filling hearty and protein-rich.
Cooked rice
Bulks up the filling and absorbs the cooking juices, giving a soft, cohesive texture.
Orange juice
Adds gentle acidity and sweetness and helps steam the zucchini as it cooks.

The step that matters

Cook the onion until translucent before adding zucchini. Onion cooked over medium-high heat until translucent becomes soft and sweet, building flavor. Cooking the cumin and red pepper briefly in oil also blooms their aroma, so the base tastes developed rather than raw.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, garlic, clove, cumin, pepper, rice, beans):

  1. Limefits better
  2. Avocadofits better
  3. Mangofits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, garlic, clove, cumin, pepper, rice, beans. 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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