Why it works: Sorrel and meat work together. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and 51 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-methylbutyraldehyde, which smells malty, chocolate. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: milk, shellfish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare
Pick and wash the spinach, sorrel, or gooseberries.
Chop the sour apples and tamarinds.
Fry the onion until tender.
Make the curry
Add the chopped vegetables and fruits to the onion.
Stir in the curry powder, mixing well.
Add gravy or water and butter, then simmer.
If desired, add small bits of meat or seafood and cook until done.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
-
Sorrel + meattop 17% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together51 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
-
Spinach + sorreltop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together204 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Spinach + oniontop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,335 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Apple + buttertop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together8,692 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-undecalactone (peach, sweet).
-
Sorrel + tamarindtop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together7 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Spinach
- Forms the leafy body of the curry and softens into a thick, tender texture as it simmers.
- Sour apples
- Add tartness that balances the richness of the butter and curry powder.
- Tamarinds
- Provide sourness and fruity acidity that gives the curry its characteristic tang.
- Onion
- Builds a sweet, savoury base as it softens and browns during frying.
- Curry powder
- Supplies the spice blend that gives the dish its aroma and warm flavour.
- Butter
- Adds fat that carries the spice aromas and gives the sauce a smooth, rich mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Fry the onion until tender. Onion cooked only briefly stays sharp and watery. Frying it until soft lets its sugars concentrate slightly and forms the sweet, savoury base the whole curry depends on.
Flavor stand-ins for the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (spinach, sorrel, tamarind, onion, butter, meat):
- Limebetter flavor fit
- Coconutbetter flavor fit
- Lemonbetter flavor fit
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against spinach, sorrel, tamarind, onion, butter, meat. 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).
“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.
You might also like
Illustration
Illustration
Illustration
IllustrationThe 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.