Why it works: Garlic and onion 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 ↓
Pilau--stewed Rice
Ingredients
Directions
Simmer sliced onion in 3-5 tablespoons oil or melted butter (without browning), add 1½-2½ teaspoons salt, 3-5 cups boiling water, and 1 cup rice.
Cook until rice is about half done, then add hot tomato, and finish cooking slowly without stirring. If convenient, transfer to the oven after adding tomato.
If using a larger quantity of tomato, use less water.
Use 1½ cups sliced celery instead of onion if desired.
For Spanish rice, add 2-3 cloves garlic, six cups water, and one cup tomato.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Rice | 1 cup cooked (158g) white | 206 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Tomato | 1 medium (123g) | 22 |
| Clove | 1 tsp ground (2g) | 7 |
| Celery | 1 stalk (40g) | 6 |
| Garlic | 1 clove (3g) | 4 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | 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.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
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.
-
Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together29,058 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,076 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,377 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Celery + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together4,668 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
-
Rice + tomatotop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,065 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Provides the starch that absorbs the liquid and sets into a fluffy, separate-grained base.
- Onion
- Softens in fat to build a sweet, savoury base for the dish.
- Tomato
- Adds acidity and liquid, giving the rice its colour and tangy flavour.
The step that matters
Add the hot tomato only after the rice is half done. Adding tomato at the start can slow or uneven the cooking of the rice grains. Adding it halfway, with hot liquid, lets the rice finish absorbing evenly without stirring, which keeps the grains separate.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, tomato, celery, garlic, onion):
- Cuminfits better
- Thymefits better
- Oreganofits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, tomato, celery, garlic, onion. 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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