Name: Cap Cay
Ingredients: For vegetarians, don't use the meat ingredients and stock, and use olive oil or vegetable oil.; 10 beef meatballs, sliced thinly and round; 2 carrots, peeled and sliced thinly diagonally; 100 g cauli flower, cut according to each peace of the flower; 100 g mustard greens, cut about 3 inches length each; 2 green onion, sliced diagnally about 1 cm length each; 2 cloves of garlic, chopped; 2 teaspoon ginger, chopped; 1/2 big Indian onions, sliced thinly; 1 teaspoon olive oil or vegetable oil for sauteeing (see: Opor ayam for details of Indonesian style sauteeing). Indonesian Chinese prefer to use or add a bit of pork fat for more flavour.; 100 ml chicken stock; For sauce use 1 teaspoon cornflour dissolved in 50 ml water; Pepper and salt or salty soy sauce to taste

Why it works: Clove and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. 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.

Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Carrot + gingertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,377 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,873 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Mustard + garlictop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,053 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

Cornflour: Thickens the stock into a glossy sauce that coats the vegetables.
Cauliflower (in the method): Adds crisp texture and body to the stir-fry.
Beef meatballs: Add savoury meaty flavour and substance to the dish.
Carrots: Add sweetness and a firm, tender bite.
Chicken stock: Supplies liquid and savoury depth for the sauce.

The step that matters

Cook the vegetables until crisp but still fresh. Vegetables keep their texture and colour only briefly in hot oil and liquid. Overcooking softens them and turns them dull, so they should be removed while still crisp.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, beef, carrot, onion, clove, garlic, ginger):

Potatofits better
Shallotfits better
Leekfits better
Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, beef, carrot, onion, clove, garlic, ginger. 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
Beef	100g cooked	250
Pork	100g cooked	242
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Meat	not in our table	0
Meatball	not in our table	0
Flower	not in our table	0
Sauce	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0

Cap Cay

Cap Cay

Ingredients

Directions

Stir-fry the vegetables

Thicken and serve

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)