Name: Sweet and Sour Peppers
Ingredients: 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice; 3 tbsp tamari or soy sauce; 2 tbsp honey; 1 tsp thai hot sauce, chili oil; or other hot sauce(optional); 1 1/2 tbsp canola oil; 3 cloves of garlic, minced; (=about 1 tablespoon); 1 tbsp minced fresh giner; 1 jalapeno chili, seeded &; minced; 3 scallions, whites minced; greens thinly sliced on the; diagonal; 2 red bell peppers, cored; seeded, and cut into 1 ½"; sqyares; 2 yellow bell peppers, cored; seeded, and cut into 1 ½"; squares; 2 green bell peppers, cored; seeded, and cut into 1 ½"; squares; 1 tbsp black or toasted white; sesame seeds; 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 1 tb; cold water

Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 27,047 recipes mention both. 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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together27,047 recipes

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

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Garlic + jalapenotop 5% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together1,700 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together27,090 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Lemon + garlictop 9% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together8,893 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Bell peppers: Provide the main body of the dish and soften briefly in the hot wok while keeping some bite.
Cornstarch: Thickens the sauce as it heats, giving it a glossy, clingy coating on the peppers.
Honey: Adds sweetness to balance the sour lemon juice and salty tamari.
Lemon juice: Adds the sour note that balances the sweetness of the honey.
Tamari or soy sauce: Adds salty, savory depth to the sauce.
Canola oil: Carries heat into the wok so the aromatics fry quickly without sticking.

The step that matters

Adding the dissolved cornstarch. Cornstarch thickens only when it reaches a boil and is stirred. Added to a cool or weakly heated sauce, it stays thin. Stir it in over high heat and keep stirring briefly so it thickens evenly without clumping.

Flavor stand-ins for the jalapeno

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, sauce, honey, canola oil, clove, garlic, pepper):

Thymebetter flavor fit
Gingerbetter flavor fit
Rosemarybetter flavor fit
Jalapenothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, sauce, honey, canola oil, clove, garlic, pepper. 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.

Sweet and Sour Peppers