Skip to main content
Main

Mtori

Mtori is a Congolese stew of meat, plantains, potatoes, onions, and tomatoes simmered in broth and coconut milk.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 11 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Garlic and onion 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 ↓

Mtori

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meat

  1. Mix garlic and chili pepper into a paste and rub onto the meat.

  2. Allow meat to marinate for an hour or more.

  3. Add ginger and chili powder to the garlic-chili pepper mixture for extra taste.

Cook the stew

  1. Heat a spoonful of oil in a large pot.

  2. Add the meat and cook for about 10 minutes until browned.

  3. Add a cup of water or broth, heat to a boil and cook the meat over high heat for 10-20 minutes.

  4. Add another cup of broth, cover, reduce heat, and simmer for about 30 minutes or until meat is tender.

  5. Add water as needed to maintain liquid level.

  6. Add plantains, potatoes, onions, and tomatoes and enough water to partly cover.

  7. Continue to simmer, adding water as necessary.

  8. When plantains are tender and meat fully cooked, mash everything together with a potato masher.

Finish and serve

  1. Remove the meat from the pot, cut it off the bone, and into small pieces.

  2. Add the seasoning required.

  3. Add coconut milk or butter a few minutes before serving.

  4. Serve hot.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

999Calories
36 gProtein
68 gFat
66 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 13 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Coconut1/2 cup shredded (40g)283
Beef100g cooked250
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Plantainnot in our table0
Waternot in our table0

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.

  1. Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Garlic + potatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,517 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Stew meat or beef short ribs
Provides the main protein, which becomes tender through long simmering in liquid.
Plantains
Break down while simmering, thickening the stew and adding natural sweetness.
Potatoes
Soften during simmering and add starch that helps thicken the stew.
Onions
Release sweetness and savory depth as they cook down into the broth.
Coconut milk or butter
Adds richness and fat, giving the stew a smoother, rounder mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Browning the meat before adding liquid. Searing the meat in hot oil builds browned flavour through the Maillard reaction. Adding liquid too early leaves the stew tasting flat and greyish.

Swap the clove

The recipe marks clove as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (garlic, pepper, meat, potato, onion, tomato, beef):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Cuminfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against garlic, pepper, meat, potato, onion, tomato, beef. 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.

You might also like

Meatless Tomato SoupMeatless Tomato Soup23 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesPotato CroquettesPotato Croquettes255 recipesRoast BeefRoast Beef211 recipes