Name: Charles Phan's Hoi an Wontons with Spicy Tomato Sauce
Yield: serves 8 to 10
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons canola oil; 3/4 cup thinly sliced shallots; 2 teaspoons minced garlic; 4 Thai chiles, stemmed and minced; 2 tablespoons rice wine; 2 pounds ripe tomatoes (such as Roma or Early Girl), cored and diced; 3/4 cups chicken stock; 1 tablespoon fish sauce; 8 ounces shrimp, peeled, deveined, and finely chopped; 4 ounces ground pork; 1/3 cup; 3 tablespoons; 1 1/3 cups finely chopped fresh water chestnuts or jicama; 1/3 cup black trumpet mushrooms; 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro; 2 tablespoons finely chopped scallion, white and light green parts only; 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon oyster sauce; 1 tabelspoon sesame seeds, toasted and ground to a coarse powder; 1 tablespoon finely minced shallot; 1 tablespoon fish sauce; 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil; Pinch ground black pepper; 50 square wonton wrappers (1-pound package); Cornstarch, for dusting; Canola oil, for deep-frying

Why it works: Garlic and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,076 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

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 + tomatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Shallot + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,000 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Garlic + chickentop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,850 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).
Tomato + chickentop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,031 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Canola oil + garlictop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together979 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

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

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (canola oil, garlic, rice wine, tomato, chicken, fish sauce, shrimp):

Onionfits better
Capsicumfits better
Welsh onionfits better
Shallotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against canola oil, garlic, rice wine, tomato, chicken, fish sauce, shrimp. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Pork	100g cooked	242
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Sesame	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Shrimp	100g cooked	99
Oyster	6 medium (84g)	81
Jicama	1 cup (120g)	46
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Mushroom	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Shallot	1 tbsp minced (10g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Water	not in our table	0
Chestnut	not in our table	0
Sauce	not in our table	0
Wonton Wrapper	not in our table	0

Charles Phan's Hoi an Wontons with Spicy Tomato Sauce