Why it works: Banana and tamarind work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓
Stewed Bananas—1
Ingredients
Directions
Cut bananas into small pieces.
Add sugar and tamarind or citrus juice.
Simmer slowly in a little water until tender.
Serve as a fruit course.
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.
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.
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Banana + tamarindtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
-
Sugar + tamarindtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together362 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Banana + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,102 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bananas
- Provide the main body and soft, tender texture of the stewed fruit.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the banana flesh take on a rich, syrupy flavour.
- Tamarind or citrus juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the sweetness.
The step that matters
Simmer slowly in a little water until tender. Gentle heat softens the banana flesh evenly without breaking it down into mush. Too much heat or too long a simmer can collapse the pieces, so check for tenderness early.
Swap the banana
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, tamarind):
- Mangofits better
- Raisinfits better
- Limefits better
- Bananathe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, tamarind. 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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