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Indian Hodge-podge

A curry-flavored split pea stew made with onions, butter, and curry powder.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Indian Hodge-podge

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Fry the chopped onions in butter until golden.

  2. In a large pot, combine the gravy or broth and split peas.

  3. Add the fried onions to the pot.

Cook

  1. Mix the curry powder with a little cold water to form a paste, then add it to the pot.

  2. Season with salt and pepper.

  3. Let the mixture simmer until the peas are tender.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Peas + oniontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,460 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Peas + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Peas + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,887 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

Split peas
Form the bulk of the dish and thicken it as they soften and break down during simmering.
Onions
Add sweetness and savory depth when fried golden in butter.
Curry powder
Provides the spice aroma that defines the dish.
Gravy or broth
Supplies the cooking liquid that the peas absorb and that gives savory flavor.

The step that matters

Let the mixture simmer until the peas are tender. Split peas need sustained gentle simmering in enough liquid to soften fully. Stopping early leaves them firm, while too vigorous a boil can scorch the bottom of the pot and break the peas apart unevenly.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, butter, pepper):

  1. Black-eyed peafits better
  2. Sesamefits better
  3. Beansfits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, butter, pepper. 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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