Name: Lamb and Eggplant Salad
Ingredients: 2 cloves garlic; 1 teaspoon ground cumin; 500 g boneless lamb, cubed; salt & freshly ground black pepper; 2 large eggplants, cubed; 2 sprigs fresh rosemary; 2 tablespoons olive oil; DRESSING; 2 tablespoons oil; 1 small red onion, chopped; 1 bunch mint, roughly chopped; 1 bunch basil, roughly chopped; 1 bunch flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped; 2 limes, juice of; salt & freshly ground black pepper

Why it works: Garlic and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,082 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

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.

Garlic + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,082 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Garlic + eggplanttop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together801 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Cumin + eggplanttop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together93 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Garlic + olivetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Eggplant + olivetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together943 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

What each ingredient does

Lamb: Provides the main protein and rich meaty flavour as it browns in the oven.
Eggplants: Soften and absorb oil while browning, adding a creamy texture and savoury depth.
Garlic: Adds pungent aroma that mellows and sweetens as it cooks.
Red onion: Adds sharp, fresh bite and mild sweetness to the dressing.
Limes: Their juice adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the rich lamb.

The step that matters

Roasting the lamb and eggplant until golden brown. Cooking long enough at high heat, with occasional stirring, lets the surfaces brown through the Maillard reaction, which builds flavour. Pale, steamed pieces taste flat, so the mixture should be given space and time to colour.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (garlic, cumin, lamb, pepper, eggplant, rosemary, olive):

Oreganofits better
Corianderfits better
Thymefits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against garlic, cumin, lamb, pepper, eggplant, rosemary, olive. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Lamb	100g cooked	294
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Eggplant	1 cup cubed (82g)	35
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Rosemary	1 tsp dried (1.2g)	4
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Peppermint	not in our table	0

Lamb and Eggplant Salad