Why it works: Rice and sesame match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 643 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, which smells clove, smoky. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 2Ingredients
Contains: wheat, soy, sesame (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Also mentioned in the method: noodles
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Place the rice noodles in a bowl, cover with boiling water, and soak for 5 minutes until tender. Drain and rinse under cold water.
Cut the carrot, cucumber, and green onions into thin strips if not already cut. Set them aside.
In a small bowl, stir together the soy sauce and sesame seed oil to make a dipping sauce.
Fill a shallow dish with water. Dip one spring roll wrapper for about 10 seconds until pliable, then lay it flat on a cutting board.
Place a small portion of the noodles, carrot, cucumber, and green onion strips across the lower third of the wrapper. Fold the sides in, then roll tightly away from you.
Repeat the dipping, filling, and rolling with the second wrapper, using the remaining vegetables and noodles.
Sprinkle the toasted sesame seeds over the rolls, or stir them into the dipping sauce. Cut each roll in half and serve with the sauce.
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.
-
Rice + sesametop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together643 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
-
Onion + sesametop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,192 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
-
Rice + cucumbertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together641 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Cucumber + sesametop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together364 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
-
Carrot + oniontop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together21,599 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the carrot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, cucumber, onion, sauce, sesame):
- Welsh onionbetter flavor fit
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Tomatobetter flavor fit
- Carrotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, cucumber, onion, sauce, sesame. 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).
The Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.