Why it works: Tomato and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 3,597 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: milk, wheat, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Also mentioned in the method: fish
Directions
Make the sauce
Cook the onion and tomatoes in the margarine or palm oil, stirring until pulpy, in a non-stick saucepan.
Add carrots and fry for a few minutes.
Stir in the palm oil.
Add the mushrooms, green peppers, stock and hot pepper.
Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
Thicken and serve
Mix the gari into the sauce in handfuls, stirring constantly until all the liquid is absorbed.
Serve hot with a vegetable stew or fish stew.
This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Tomato + carrottop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,597 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Carrot + peppertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,555 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + ricetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,990 recipes
Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Tomato + mushroomtop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,718 recipes
Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Tomato + peppertop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together17,913 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
- Gari
- Absorbs the cooking liquid and thickens the sauce into a firm, stiff texture.
- Tomatoes
- Break down into a pulp that adds body, acidity and colour to the sauce.
- Carrots
- Add sweetness and body as they soften in the sauce.
- Margarine or palm oil
- Fat that softens the onion and tomatoes and carries flavour through the dish.
The step that matters
Mixing in the gari. Gari starch hydrates quickly, so adding it all at once forms lumps. Adding it in handfuls while stirring constantly lets each portion absorb liquid evenly into a smooth, thick mass.
Flavor stand-ins for the cassava
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, tomato, carrot, mushroom, pepper, flour, rice):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Spinachbetter flavor fit
- Cassavathe original
Fit is the average pairing score against onion, tomato, carrot, mushroom, pepper, flour, rice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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