Name: Sight-saving Curried Spinach-Potato Soup
Ingredients: 1 Tbs. olive oil; 1 cup chopped leeks, white and light green parts; 1 Tbs. curry powder, or to taste; 2 1/2 cups vegetable stock; 2 small white potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 1 1/2 cups); 1 tsp. salt; 4 packed cups (about 4 oz.) fresh baby spinach leaves; 2 cups low-fat (1%) milk; Freshly ground black pepper to taste; Plain nonfat yogurt, for garnish, optional

Why it works: Leek and spinach share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 42 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. 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.

Leek + spinachtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together42 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Potato + spinachtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together646 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Olive + spinachtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Leek + potatotop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Spinach + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,400 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes: Break down when puréed to give the soup a thick, creamy body.
Spinach leaves: Add color, mild earthy flavor and fresh green aroma; they wilt within a minute.
Leeks: Soften into a sweet, mild aromatic base for the soup.
Curry powder: Blooms in hot oil to release aromatic spice flavor throughout the soup.
Low-fat milk: Adds creaminess and mild sweetness, softening the soup's savory edge.

The step that matters

Purée until almost smooth in batches. Filling the blender too full or blending hot liquid can cause dangerous pressure buildup and spatter. Working in batches with the lid vented keeps the texture smooth and the process safe.

Swap the leek

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, potato, spinach, milk, pepper, yogurt):

Tomatofits better
Capsicumfits better
Chivefits better
Leekthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, potato, spinach, milk, pepper, yogurt. 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
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Turmeric	1 tsp ground (3g)	9
Spinach	1 cup raw (30g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Sight-saving Curried Spinach-Potato Soup