Name: Spicy Curry Fried Rice
Ingredients: 2 cups cooked rice (allow them to cool in the fridge for sometime since it is much easier to fry cold unclumpy rice); 1 cup chopped veggies of choice; 1 medium onions chopped; 2 eggs; 1 tsp curry powder; 1/2 tsp red chili powder; 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper; 2 tbsp light soya sauce; 1 cube chicken bullion; salt, to taste; 1 tbsp cooking oil; 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil; 2 tbsp fresh chopped coriander leaves

Why it works: Rice and sesame match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 984 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. 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.

Rice + sesametop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together984 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Onion + sesametop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,192 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Rice + chickentop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,769 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Pepper + coriandertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,949 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Sesame + coriandertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together707 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

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

What each ingredient does

Cooked rice: Cold, dry rice fries into separate grains instead of clumping into a mass.
Eggs: Scrambled eggs add richness and soft, savoury pieces throughout the rice.
Onions: Frying until transparent softens them and adds sweetness and a savoury base.
Light soya sauce: Adds salty, savoury flavour and colour to the rice as it stir-fries.
Curry powder: Blooming in the hot oil releases aromatic compounds that flavour the whole dish.

The step that matters

Adding the soy sauce and stir-frying. Soy sauce is salty and can scorch or turn the rice unevenly dark if the pan is not hot enough or it sits too long. Keep the heat high and keep the rice moving so it browns lightly and stays separate.

Swap the coriander

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, onion, egg, pepper, sauce, chicken, sesame):

Garlicfits better
Turmericfits better
Gingerfits about as well
Corianderthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, onion, egg, pepper, sauce, chicken, sesame. 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
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Sesame	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Turmeric	1 tsp ground (3g)	9
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Sauce	not in our table	0
Coriander	not in our table	0

Spicy Curry Fried Rice