Name: Mango and Coconut Chutney
Ingredients: 2 almost-ripe mangoes; 1 Tbsp fresh or canned coconut , finely chopped; 1 tsp cilantro or mint , chopped; 1 Tbsp fresh ginger, scraped and finely chopped; 1 tsp salt; ½ tsp cayenne pepper; 2–3 Tbsp fresh orange juice , or a mixture of orange and lime juice

Why it works: Mango and coconut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 221 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Mango and Coconut Chutney

Time1–2 hours

Ingredients

2 almost-ripe mangoes
1 Tbsp fresh or canned coconut , finely chopped
1 tsp cilantro or mint , chopped
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, scraped and finely chopped
1 tsp salt
½ tsp cayenne pepper
2–3 Tbsp fresh orange juice , or a mixture of orange and lime juice

Directions

Prepare the mango

Place the mango on one side on a work surface and make a slit in the tip across its width with a sharp knife.
Then hold the mango upright on its stem end, on the work surface, and carefully slice the flesh, with the skin attached, off one side of the stone, as close to it as possible. Then turn it the other way and cut off the flesh from the other side of the stone.
Place each mango half, skin-side down, on the work surface, and cut lines through the flesh down to the skin in a lattice pattern so that you end up with a checker-board pattern with ½-inch squares.
Grasp the mango half with both your hands, skin down and your two thumbs on the flesh and your four fingers of each hand underneath on the skin. Now, turn the skin inside out by pushing the skin inwards with your four fingers of each hand while pushing the two sides downward with your two thumbs.
You will now have the skin of the mango with cubes of flesh attached which can be easily cut off with a sharp knife.
Place the mango cubes in a small bowl.

Mix and marinate

Add the coconut, cilantro, ginger, cayenne, orange/lime juice, and salt and mix gently with a tablespoon.
Leave to marinate in the refrigerator for 1–2 hours before serving.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

429Calories

6 gProtein

28 gFat

46 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Coconut	1/2 cup shredded (40g)	283
Orange Juice	1 medium (131g)	62
Orange	1 medium (131g)	62
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Peppermint	not in our table	0

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.

Mango + coconuttop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together221 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ginger + orangetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,833 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Mango + orangetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together212 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Mint + gingertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together647 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Mango + gingertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together280 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

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

What each ingredient does

Mangoes: Provide the sweet, fleshy base of the chutney.
Coconut: Adds richness and a mild sweetness that softens the sharp fruit flavour.
Fresh ginger: Adds a sharp, aromatic warmth that cuts through the sweetness.
Orange juice: Adds acidity and liquid that brightens the flavours and loosens the mixture.
Cayenne pepper: Adds heat that balances the sweetness of the mango.

The step that matters

Marinating the mango in the refrigerator. Resting the mango with the acid, salt and aromatics lets the flavours soak into the cubes and blend. Serving straight away leaves the chutney tasting raw and unbalanced.

Swap the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mango, coconut, ginger, pepper, orange):

Cardamomfits better
Turmericfits better
Corianderfits better
Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mango, coconut, ginger, pepper, orange. 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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Mango and Coconut Chutney