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Ibirayi n'Ibinyomoro

A hearty bean soup from Rwanda featuring smoked beef, tomatoes, onions, garlic, and herbs.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 11 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 ↓

Ibirayi n'Ibinyomoro

Time1–1.5 hours

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Heat vegetable oil in a large pot over medium heat.

  2. Add chopped onion and minced garlic, sauté until onion is translucent and fragrant.

  3. Add diced tomatoes, cook a few minutes until they soften and release juices.

  4. Add smoked beef, cook about 5 minutes until it browns slightly.

  5. Add soaked beans, stir well to coat with onion, tomato, and beef mixture.

Simmer

  1. Pour enough water to cover beans and beef.

  2. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, simmer 1–1.5 hours until beans are tender.

  3. Stir occasionally and skim off any foam that forms on the surface.

  4. Season with thyme, paprika, salt, and black pepper.

  5. Adjust seasoning to taste.

  6. Continue to simmer another 15–20 minutes to meld flavors.

Serve

  1. Remove from heat, transfer to serving bowls, garnish with fresh parsley or cilantro if desired.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

458Calories
29 gProtein
29 gFat
20 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 12 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Beef100g cooked250
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Cilantro1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Beansnot in our table0

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 Wikibooks Cookbook.

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. Tomato + beanstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,713 recipes

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

  3. Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 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

Dried beans
Provide the main body and starch that thicken the soup as they cook tender.
Smoked beef
Adds smoky, savory flavor and browned meaty depth to the broth.
Onion
Builds sweetness and aromatic flavor base as it softens in the oil.
Tomatoes
Release juices that add moisture and gentle acidity to the pot.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma that mellows and deepens during cooking.

The step that matters

Skim foam and simmer gently until the beans are tender. Foam from proteins and starches rises during boiling and can make the broth cloudy or bitter if left on the surface. Keeping the heat low lets beans soften evenly without splitting, while the long simmer is what makes dried beans tender.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, garlic, tomato, beans, beef, thyme, pepper):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, garlic, tomato, beans, beef, thyme, pepper. 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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