Name: Chicken Madras with Rice
Ingredients: 1 1/2 pounds skinned, boned chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces; 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper; 2 tablespoons butter or margarine; 1 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch; 1 tablespoon curry powder; 1 1/2 cups chicken broth; 1/4 cup catsup; 1/4 cup orange marmalade; 2 tablespoons lemon juice; 1 large onion, sliced; 1 large green pepper, cut into 1-inch squares; 1 cup sliced celery, cut into 1-inch pieces; 3 cups hot cooked rice

Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. 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.

Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Lemon + celerytop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,467 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Chicken + ricetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,769 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken breasts: Provide the main protein, which turns white and firm as it cooks through.
Cornstarch: Thickens the broth and sauce so it clings to the chicken and rice.
Curry powder: Supplies the warm, aromatic spice flavor that defines the dish.
Orange marmalade: Adds sweetness and body that balances the curry and the acidity of the sauce.
Catsup: Adds tomato sweetness and acidity, deepening the color and flavor of the sauce.
Chicken broth: Forms the liquid base of the sauce, adding savory depth and moisture.

The step that matters

Blend the cornstarch into the liquid before pouring it over the chicken. Cornstarch clumps if it hits hot liquid directly. Mixing it fully with the cold broth and other liquids first lets the starch disperse, so the sauce thickens smoothly when heated.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, pepper, butter, lemon, onion, celery, rice):

Limefits better
Avocadofits better
Coconutfits better
Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, pepper, butter, lemon, onion, celery, rice. 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
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Orange	1 medium (131g)	62
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Turmeric	1 tsp ground (3g)	9
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Chicken Madras with Rice