Name: Ove
Ingredients: 2 tsp chile pepper paste; 1 medium-sized yam , peeled and grated; ¼ cup shredded fish; 2 tbsp groundnut oil; ¼ ea . onion , chopped; 1 pinch salt; 1 wrapping leaf (e.g. banana leaf)

Why it works: Pepper and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 68,463 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Prepare the fish

Remove unwanted substances from the fish, rinse, and cook for a few minutes.

Make the sauce

Combine the groundnut oil, onion, pepper paste, and fish to make a sauce.

Assemble and cook

Stir the sauce into the grated yam along with the salt.
Wrap the mixture in the leaf, then boil for a few minutes to cook it.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Pepper + oniontop 6% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together68,463 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + yamtop 9% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together111 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Yam + oniontop 9% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together106 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Fish + oniontop 9% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together1,919 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Pepper + bananatop 10% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together483 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Yam: Grated yam forms the main body of the moi moi, setting into a soft, starchy texture when cooked.
Groundnut oil: Adds fat to the sauce, carrying flavour and giving the finished moi moi a richer mouthfeel.
Fish: Contributes savoury flavour and protein-rich bulk to the sauce mixed into the yam.

Flavor stand-ins for the banana

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, yam, fish, onion):

Limebetter flavor fit
Lemonbetter flavor fit
Coconutbetter flavor fit
Bananathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, yam, fish, onion. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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.