Why it works: Beans and cassava share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Beans with Cassava
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the beans and cassava
When the beans are almost cooked, add the cassava / manioc or potato chunks and boil for 10 minutes or so until they are all tender.
While this is happening, heat the oil in a pan and cook the onion gently until it turns golden.
Add the celery and let it soften.
Combine and serve
Now drain the beans and cassava / manioc or potatoes and add them to the pan with the onion and celery.
Mash the beans and cassava / manioc or potatoes a little, season, and mix everything well.
Allow the mixture to heat through and blend for 5 - 10 minutes before serving with a green vegetable and piquant sauce such as Kachumbari.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 5 of 7 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Potato | 1 medium (173g) baked | 161 |
| Olive Oil | 1 tbsp (14g) | 119 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Celery Stalks | 1 stalk (40g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Bean | not in our table | 0 |
| Cassava | 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.
-
Beans + cassavatop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Beans + celerytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,159 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
-
Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,518 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Beans + oniontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,242 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Cassava + oniontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together53 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Beans
- Provide the main body of the dish and, when mashed, a thick, creamy texture.
- Cassava
- Adds starchy bulk, and when mashed it helps bind the mixture and thicken it.
- Onion
- Cooked gently until golden, it adds sweetness and savoury depth to the base.
- Celery
- Softened in the pan, it adds moisture and a fresh, aromatic flavour.
The step that matters
Mash the beans and cassava a little. Mashing only part of the starchy mixture releases starch that thickens it, while leaving some chunks intact keeps a pleasing texture. Mashing too much turns it pasty.
Swap the cassava
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, celery, onion):
- Carrotfits better
- Okrafits better
- Turnipfits better
- Cassavathe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beans, celery, onion. 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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