Name: Asian Sesame Rice
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce; 1 tablespoon rice vinegar; 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard; 1 tablespoon honey; 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper; 1 tablespoon dark sesame oil; 2 carrots, cut into julienned strips; 1 cup fresh snow peas, cut diagonally in half; 4 green onions, sliced; 1 clove garlic, minced; 3 cups cooked rice; 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted*; Grilled chicken (optional)

Why it works: Rice and sesame match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 984 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

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.

Rice + sesametop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together984 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Mustard + sesametop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together180 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Pepper + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,555 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Rice + carrottop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,477 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Soy sauce: Adds salty, savory depth that seasons the rice and balances the sweetness of the honey.
Honey: Adds sweetness and helps the sauce glaze the rice and vegetables.
Rice vinegar: Adds gentle acidity that brightens the sauce and cuts the richness of the sesame oil.
Dijon mustard: Adds sharp tang and emulsifying power that helps the sauce stay blended.
Dark sesame oil: Adds a toasty, nutty aroma and fat for cooking the vegetables.
Cooked rice: Forms the bulk of the dish and absorbs the sauce.

The step that matters

Cook the vegetables until crisp-tender. Cooking over medium-high heat for only 3 to 5 minutes keeps the carrots and peas crisp. Overcooking softens their cell walls and turns them limp and dull in color.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, rice, vinegar, mustard, honey, pepper, sesame):

Capsicumfits better
Lettucefits better
Broccolifits better
Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, rice, vinegar, mustard, honey, pepper, sesame. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Sesame	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Honey	1 tbsp (21g)	64
Pea	1/2 cup (72g)	62
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Asian Sesame Rice