Name: Oriental Chicken with Rice
Ingredients: 2 pounds choice chicken pieces; salt and ground black pepper to taste; 3 tablespoons vegetable oil; 1 cup boiling water; 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce; 1 cup sliced green onions; 1 cup chopped celery; 1 2-ounce can sliced mushrooms with liquid; 1 tablespoon cornstarch; 3 tablespoons soy sauce; 2 cups hot cooked rice; 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Why it works: Chicken and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,172 recipes. Both carry 1-butyl acetate, which smells fruity, banana. 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.

Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,172 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).
Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,377 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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).
Tomato + ricetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,065 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

Chicken pieces: Provide the main protein, which becomes tender through long, covered simmering.
Vegetable oil: Conducts heat for browning the chicken and builds flavor on its surface.
Cornstarch: Thickens the sauce as it heats, giving it a smooth, glossy body.
Soy sauce: Adds salty, savory depth that seasons the sauce.
Tomato sauce: Adds moisture, acidity and body to the liquid the chicken simmers in.
Mushrooms: Add earthy flavor and soft texture to the sauce.

The step that matters

Gradually pour the cornstarch mixture into the chicken. Cornstarch clumps if it is added all at once or not stirred; pouring slowly while stirring and cooking until thickened lets starch granules disperse and swell evenly into a smooth sauce.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, pepper, tomato, sauce, celery, mushroom, rice):

Capsicumfits better
Carrotfits better
Spinachfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, pepper, tomato, sauce, celery, mushroom, 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
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Mushrooms	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0

Oriental Chicken with Rice