Why it works: Sesame and avocado share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 92 recipes mention both. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: milk, soy, sesame (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare the eggplant
Rub eggplants with oil.
Puncture and stud eggplants with garlic cloves.
Grill eggplants until cooked on all sides.
Split eggplants in half and scrape out seeds. Reserve eggplant flesh and discard skin.
Make the soup
In a large saucepan, heat sesame oil and butter. Add fennel, yellow peppers, leeks, onion and ginger.
Cook until vegetables are softened, 8 to 10 minutes.
Chop reserved eggplant and add it to the pan. Adjust seasoning.
Add lime juice and soy sauce, stirring to loosen browned bits at the bottom of the pan.
Add heavy cream and bring to a boil. Simmer 10 minutes.
Add avocado and cilantro. Roughly puree the soup in batches.
Finish and serve
Whip cream and mascarpone cheese together until stiff. Fold into soup.
Cool. Adjust seasoning.
Spoon into bowls. Garnish with avocado slices, chopped tomato, sesame seeds, cilantro and queso blanco.
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.
-
Sesame + avocadotop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together92 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together29,030 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Eggplant + garlictop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together801 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanol (resin, flower).
-
Eggplant + sesametop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together43 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Sesame + oniontop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,192 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggplants
- Provide the creamy, smoky-flavoured base of the soup once grilled and pureed.
- Heavy cream
- Adds richness and body, giving the soup a smooth, silky texture.
- Avocados
- Contribute fat and a smooth, velvety texture that thickens the puree.
- Mascarpone cheese
- Whipped with cream to add a light, rich topping that stays stiff when folded in.
- Soy sauce
- Adds salty, savoury depth that rounds out the other flavours.
- Lime juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the rich, savoury soup.
The step that matters
Grill the eggplants until cooked on all sides. Thorough grilling collapses the flesh and develops smoky, browned flavour. Undercooked eggplant stays bitter and spongy, and it will not puree smooth.
Flavor stand-ins for the leek
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (eggplant, garlic, sesame, butter, fennel, pepper, onion):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Tomatobetter flavor fit
- Leekthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against eggplant, garlic, sesame, butter, fennel, pepper, onion. 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.
You might also like
Illustration
Illustration
Illustration
IllustrationThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.