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Nyama Yemombe

A Zimbabwean beef stew with onions, garlic, tomatoes, spices, and green pepper, simmered until tender.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 13 ingredients
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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 ↓

Nyama Yemombe

Time30–45 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. If the meat is tough, you can simmer it in salted water until tender (30–45 minutes), then drain and set aside.

Brown the base

  1. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large pot or pan.

  2. Add onion, garlic, and ginger, and cook for 1 minute while stirring.

  3. Add the beef to the pot and fry for about 10 minutes until browned on all sides.

  4. Stir in the chopped tomatoes and let them cook down until soft.

  5. Add tomato paste, stock cube, paprika, and curry powder, and mix thoroughly.

Simmer and serve

  1. Add water, cover the pot, and reduce heat to low.

  2. Let it simmer for 30–45 minutes, or until beef is soft and sauce has thickened.

  3. Add chopped green pepper in the last 5 minutes of cooking.

  4. Season with salt to taste.

  5. Garnish with coriander.

  6. Serve with rice, porridge, or potato.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

482Calories
30 gProtein
29 gFat
24 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 13 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Beef100g cooked250
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Turmeric1 tsp ground (3g)9
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Coriandernot in our table0
Leafnot 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. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Ginger + coriandertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,505 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Tomato + coriandertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef
Browning and slow simmering make the meat tender and flavourful, while its connective tissue softens into the sauce.
Tomatoes
Cooking down breaks them into a soft base that adds acidity, moisture and body to the sauce.
Onion
Softened in oil, it adds sweetness and savoury depth as the base of the stew.
Tomato paste
Concentrates tomato flavour and adds colour and body to the sauce.
Green pepper
Added late so it stays slightly crisp and keeps a fresh, bright flavour.

The step that matters

Browning the beef. Frying the beef until well browned on all sides creates savoury flavour through the Maillard reaction. Crowding the pan or stopping early makes the meat steam, leaving the stew flat in taste.

Swap the ginger

The recipe marks ginger as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, onion, clove, garlic, tomato, pepper, coriander):

  1. Cuminfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Oreganofits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, onion, clove, garlic, tomato, pepper, coriander. 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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