Name: Pilli-Pilli Sauce
Ingredients: 2 cups tomato sauce, canned; 1/2 cup lemon juice; 1/2 cup white onions, very finely chopped; 1 Tbs. garlic powder; 1 Tbs. crushed red pepper (Pilli-pilli).

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 ↓

Pilli-Pilli Sauce

Ingredients

2 cups tomato sauce, canned
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup white onions, very finely chopped
1 Tbs. garlic powder
1 Tbs. crushed red pepper (Pilli-pilli).

Directions

Make the sauce

Blend the canned tomato sauce, lemon juice, chopped white onions, garlic powder, and crushed red pepper in a 2-quart bowl.
Keep refrigerated in a covered container.

Serve

Serve as a relish sauce in a bowl.
When used with seafood, add ¼ cup grated horseradish.
Add 2 oz. (¼ cup) dry red wine for a gourmet sauce for bland meats.
Add ½ cup finely chopped fresh tomatoes as they do in some parts of Africa.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

90Calories

3 gProtein

1 gFat

21 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 5 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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).
Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,090 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and balances the tomato sauce.
Crushed red pepper: Supplies heat and pungency that give the sauce its character.
Garlic powder: Adds concentrated savory aroma throughout the sauce.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, sauce, onion, garlic, pepper):

Avocadofits better
Limefits better
Mangofits about as well
Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, sauce, onion, garlic, pepper. 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.