Name: Rice Salad with Sweet Corn
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups uncooked quick-cooking brown rice; 2 cups freshly cooked or thawed frozen corn kernels; 1 1/2 cups finely shredded white cabbage 2 1/4-oz. jar pitted green olives, chopped ( 1/3 cup); 2 scallions, minced ( 1/3 cup); 1 medium red bell pepper, finely diced ( 3/4 cup); 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or dill; 2 Tbs. olive oil; 2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice; 1 tsp. salt; 3/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper

Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. 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.

Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,037 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together933 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,081 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Brown rice: Forms the bulk of the salad, giving a chewy, sturdy base that holds up to tossing.
Corn kernels: Adds sweetness and a tender, juicy bite against the firmer rice.
Olive oil: Coats the grains and vegetables, adding richness and helping the salad feel moist.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the sweet corn and balances the oil and olives.
Green olives: Contributes salty, briny flavor and a firm texture throughout the salad.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, corn, olive, pepper, parsley, lemon):

Capsicumfits better
Carrotfits better
Tomatofits better
Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, corn, olive, pepper, parsley, lemon. 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
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Corn	1/2 cup kernels (82g)	77
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
White Cabbage	1 cup shredded (89g)	22
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Olive	1 large (4g)	4
Dill	5 sprigs fresh (1g) / 1 tsp dried	4
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Rice Salad with Sweet Corn