Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 14,027 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
The recipe
4–6Ingredients
Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare
Wash and soak black urad dal and red kidney beans overnight in lukewarm water.
Cook the soaked dal, kidney beans, and chickpeas in 5–6 cups of water with salt, red chile powder, turmeric, and grated ginger until soft.
Keep the cooked dal aside.
Make the onion and tomato base
Heat oil or butter in a thick-bottomed pan.
Add hing, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, cloves, and chopped onions and cook until light golden brown.
When the onions turn brown, add ginger garlic paste and sauté.
Add chopped tomatoes.
Sauté and add coriander powder.
Sauté until tomatoes are well mashed.
Simmer and serve
Add cooked dal and water as needed.
Mix well and simmer for 15–20 minutes.
Add fresh cream and clarified butter, and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
Remove from heat.
Garnish with coriander leaves before serving.
Serve hot with naan, paratha or rice.
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.
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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,027 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Turmeric + gingertop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,775 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together5,171 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Turmeric + cinnamontop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,197 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Whole dried urad dal
- Breaks down during long cooking to give the dal its thick, creamy body.
- Dried kidney beans
- Hold their shape and add texture and body to the dal.
- Onion
- Browning adds sweetness and a deeper, golden color to the base.
- Tomatoes
- Mashed down, they add acidity and body to the sauce.
- Ghee or oil
- Carries aroma from the spices and adds richness to the dish.
- Fresh cream
- Adds fat for a smooth, rich finish to the sauce.
The step that matters
Brown the onions and mash the tomatoes fully. Onions cooked only lightly stay pale and sharp, while properly browned onions add sweetness and depth. Tomatoes that are not well mashed leave a raw, sour taste and a thin, uneven texture in the final dal.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (kidney beans, turmeric, ginger, ghee, asafoetida, cinnamon, clove):
- Carrotbetter flavor fit
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Tomatobetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against kidney beans, turmeric, ginger, ghee, asafoetida, cinnamon, clove. 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.
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