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Sambal Terong

A spicy eggplant and tomato relish cooked with garlic, onion, and chili.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic 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 ↓

Sambal Terong

Time20 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Slice the aubergine and sprinkle it with salt.

  2. Leave it to stand for half an hour.

  3. Rinse and dry the aubergine.

  4. Cut up the tomatoes and remove the seeds.

  5. Crush the terasi and garlic together.

  6. Slice the onion thinly.

Cook

  1. Fry the onion until slightly brown.

  2. Add the garlic and terasi, the sugar and the chili powder.

  3. Put the aubergine into the pan and mix well.

  4. Add the tomatoes, cover the pan, and continue cooking gently for 5 minutes.

  5. Taste, and add salt if necessary.

Steam and serve

  1. Put the mixture into a pudding basin and steam it for 20 minutes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

238Calories
2 gProtein
14 gFat
28 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Garlic1 clove (3g)4

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. Onion + garlictop 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. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  4. Clove + garlictop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,368 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Clove + tomatotop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Aubergines
Soften into a soft, absorbent body that takes up the sauce flavours.
Onion
Frying until slightly brown builds sweetness and a savoury base for the sambal.
Tomatoes
Add moisture and acidity that cook down into the sauce.
Terasi
Shrimp paste adds a pungent, savoury depth that defines the dish's aroma.
Chilli powder
Provides heat and a sharp, spicy flavour throughout the mixture.

The step that matters

Fry the onion until slightly brown. Browning the onion develops sweet, savoury flavour through the Maillard reaction. Pale onion leaves the sambal tasting flat and raw, while over-browning turns it bitter.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, garlic, sugar, tomato):

  1. Cuminfits better
  2. Oreganofits better
  3. Corianderfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, garlic, sugar, tomato. 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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