Name: Fried Mixed Vegetables with Sauce
Ingredients: 1 medium eggplant peeled in lengthwise strips and cut in small cubes; 1 zucchini cut in small cubes; 1 medium potato peeled cut in small cubes; 1 cubanelle pepper seeds discarded cut in chunks; ½ cup sunflower oil; ½ cup yogurt; 2 garlic clove smashed with salt; 3 garlic cloves chopped; 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil; 6 heaping tablespoon of diced tomato in can; 2 heaping tablespoon of crushed tomato in can; salt

Why it works: Eggplant and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 801 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. 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.

Eggplant + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together801 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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).
Potato + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,517 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggplant: Absorbs oil while frying and becomes soft and creamy inside.
Potato: Adds starch and body, holding its shape while frying to a firmer texture.
Zucchini: Adds moisture and a tender texture to the fried vegetable mix.
Diced tomato: Provides acidity and liquid that forms the base of the tomato sauce.
Yogurt: Adds tang and creaminess to the accompanying sauce.

The step that matters

Drying the eggplant before frying. Eggplant holds water from soaking. Excess moisture makes hot oil splatter and lowers frying temperature, so the pieces soak up more oil and turn greasy. Patting them dry lets them brown well.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (eggplant, potato, pepper, sunflower, yogurt, garlic, olive):

Cuminfits better
Corianderfits better
Dillfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against eggplant, potato, pepper, sunflower, yogurt, garlic, 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
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Eggplant	1 cup cubed (82g)	35
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Cubanelle Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Seed	not in our table	0
Sunflower Oil	not in our table	0

Fried Mixed Vegetables with Sauce