Name: Mediterranean Lima Bean Salad with Cumin
Ingredients: 1 x 10-ounce package frozen lima beans; 4 cloves garlic, crushed and peeled; ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper; 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil; 4 teaspoons lemon juice; 1 teaspoon ground cumin; ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste; freshly ground pepper to taste; 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint; 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro; 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

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 + olivetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Clove + cumintop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,306 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Lemon + minttop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,998 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Lima beans: Provide the starchy, tender body that the purée and salad are built on.
Extra-virgin olive oil: Adds fat and smoothness, carrying flavor and giving the purée a silky texture.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the bean flavor and balances the oil.
Garlic: Contributes pungent aroma that mellows during cooking.
Ground cumin: Adds warm, earthy aroma that complements the beans.

The step that matters

Process the beans with the oil and lemon until smooth. Beans must be fully tender and drained before processing, since leftover cooking liquid or undercooked starch makes the purée watery or grainy. Adding oil slowly while processing helps it emulsify into a smooth, cohesive texture.

Swap the lima beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clove, garlic, pepper, olive, lemon, cumin, mint):

Chickpeafits better
Lentilsfits better
Beansfits better
Lima beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clove, garlic, pepper, olive, lemon, cumin, mint. 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
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Lima Bean	1/2 cup (85g) cooked	108
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Dill	5 sprigs fresh (1g) / 1 tsp dried	4
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Peppermint	not in our table	0

Mediterranean Lima Bean Salad with Cumin