Name: Spicy Vegetable Pancakes
Ingredients: 2 Tbs.olive oil; 1 tsp.curry powder; 1 tsp.crushed red pepper flakes; 1 medium red onion,halved and sliced; 1 medium green bell pepper,halved and thinly sliced; 1 medium yellow or orange bell pepper,halved and thinly sliced; 1 medium zucchini,thinly sliced; 2 medium tomatoes,halved and sliced; Raita; 1 cup low-fat plain yogurt; 2 tsp.honey; 2 fresh red chilies,seeded and chopped; 2 Tbs.chopped cilantro; 1 Tbs.chopped fresh mint; 1/2 cucumber,peeled and diced; Pancakes; 1 1/2 cups all-purpose whole-wheat flour; 3 large eggs; 1 1/2 cups lowfat milk; 2 fresh chilies,green and red, seeded and chopped; 1/2 tsp.ground cumin 1Tbs.chopped cilantro; 2 tsp. butter

Why it works: Olive and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. 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.

Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Yogurt + honeytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together660 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).
Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Olive + orangetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,456 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 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

Eggs: Bind the batter and help set the pancakes as they cook.
All-purpose whole-wheat flour: Forms the batter's structure and body for the pancakes.
Low-fat milk: Hydrates the flour and loosens the batter to a pourable consistency.
Red onion, bell peppers, zucchini and tomatoes: Provide the vegetable filling, and broiling browns their surfaces and concentrates their flavour.
Low-fat plain yogurt: Forms the cool, creamy base of the raita, balancing the spicy vegetables.

The step that matters

Broiling the vegetables until beginning to brown. Vegetables cook unevenly under a broiler, so turning them once helps them brown and soften evenly instead of scorching in spots. Browning adds flavour through the Maillard reaction.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, pepper, orange, tomato, yogurt, honey, mint):

Capsicumfits better
Carrotfits better
Cucumberfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, pepper, orange, tomato, yogurt, honey, mint. 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
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Honey	1 tbsp (21g)	64
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Orange Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Turmeric	1 tsp ground (3g)	9
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Peppermint	not in our table	0
Pancake	not in our table	0

Spicy Vegetable Pancakes