Name: Jasmine and Sweet Basil Spicy Eggplant
Ingredients: 1 cup jasmine rice; 2 Tbs. peanut or vegetable oil; 1/2 to 1 tsp. crushed red pepper, or to taste; 3 baby eggplants, cubed into bite-sized chunks; 1 medium-sized onion, diced; 1 medium-sized red bell pepper, seeded and diced; 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped; 2 Tbs. white vinegar; 3 Tbs. dark soy sauce, such as tamari; 2 Tbs. dark brown sugar; 20 leaves fresh basil, shredded or torn

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. 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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Eggplant + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together801 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Rice + peanuttop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together670 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Peanut + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together877 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggplant: Becomes tender and absorbs the sauce as it cooks over high heat.
Soy sauce: Adds savory depth and dark color to the sauce.
Dark brown sugar: Balances the acidity and spice with sweetness and helps the sauce glaze the vegetables.
White vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and cuts through the richness of the oil.
Crushed red pepper: Infused into the hot oil to provide heat and aroma.

The step that matters

Heat the oil with the crushed red pepper until it sizzles. Blooming the chili flakes briefly in hot oil releases their fat-soluble flavor and heat evenly through the dish. Oil that is not hot enough leaves the spice raw and gritty, while overheating can scorch it and make it bitter.

Swap the peanut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (jasmine, rice, pepper, eggplant, onion, clove, garlic):

Chickpeafits better
Sesamefits better
Beansfits better
Peanutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against jasmine, rice, pepper, eggplant, onion, clove, garlic. 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
Peanut	1 oz (28g)	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Eggplant	1 cup cubed (82g)	35
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1

Jasmine and Sweet Basil Spicy Eggplant