Why it works: Tomato and shrimp match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,593 recipes mention both. Both carry 3-methylbutanol, which smells malty, whiskey. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: shellfish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Make the soup
Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat.
Add onions and sauté until onions are clear.
Stir in the garlic (powder) and mix well. If using garlic, cook until garlic starts to brown.
Pour the soup plus 1 can water over the onions.
Add the shrimp, water chestnuts, green onions and pepper. Heat thoroughly, then add the frozen peas and heat through. Season to taste with the salt if needed.
Serve
Ladle into soup bowl and garnish with chopped cilantro.
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 + shrimptop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,593 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-methylbutanol (malty, whiskey).
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Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,164 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together29,030 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Garlic + tomatotop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together14,075 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Olive + garlictop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together23,449 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Onions
- Soften and sweeten as they cook, forming the flavour base of the soup.
- Tomato soup
- Provides the tomato body and liquid that forms the soup base.
- Shrimp
- Supplies the main protein, which firms and turns opaque as it heats.
- Water chestnuts
- Add a crisp, crunchy texture that holds up after heating.
- Frozen peas
- Add sweetness and bright colour, cooked only briefly to stay tender.
The step that matters
Heat the shrimp thoroughly. Shrimp cook quickly and turn rubbery if overheated, yet must be heated through for safety. Adding them to the hot soup and heating just until opaque keeps them tender.
Flavor stand-ins for the water chestnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, onion, garlic, tomato, shrimp, pepper, peas):
- Avocadobetter flavor fit
- Mangobetter flavor fit
- Limebetter flavor fit
- Water chestnutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against olive, onion, garlic, tomato, shrimp, pepper, peas. 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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