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 ↓
Suan Yong LA Jiao Chao Xie
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the crabs
Cut crabs into pieces, wash and remove dirt and innards, crush the shell.
Mix crabs with 1/2 tbsp cornflour, parboil in plenty of hot oil, serve.
Stir-fry the sauce and eggs
Fry onion and mashed garlic with few oil, add satay paste, stir well.
Add mashed garlic pepper paste and crabs, stir-fry for 1 minute, add sauce.
Add whisked eggs, stir-fry until cooked, serve.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 8 of 10 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 8 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Crab | 100g cooked | 97 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Tomato | 1 medium (123g) | 22 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Garlic | 1 clove (3g) | 4 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Sauce | not in our table | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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 pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together29,058 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,076 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,090 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Crabs
- Main protein whose shell and meat give the dish its sweet, savoury flavour.
- Whisked eggs
- Set into soft curds that bind the dish and add richness.
- Cornflour
- Starch that thickens the sauce and helps it coat the crabs.
- Satay paste
- Adds a savoury, spiced aroma from the fried paste.
- Tomato sauce
- Adds acidity and sweetness, giving the sauce colour and tang.
- Sugar
- Balances the saltiness and acidity of the sauces.
The step that matters
Parboil the crabs in plenty of hot oil. Coating the crabs in cornflour and parboiling them in hot oil partly cooks the meat and seals in juices. This helps the crabs stay tender when they are briefly stir-fried with the sauces later.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (crab, onion, garlic, pepper, egg, sauce, sugar):
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Chivefits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against crab, onion, garlic, pepper, egg, sauce, sugar. 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.
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