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White K’hichree

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and turmeric match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,776 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

White K’hichree

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Fry the onions in 2 ounces of butter until red, then set aside.

  2. In the remaining butter, fry the washed rice briefly.

  3. Add the boiled peas and their water, along with the sliced ginger.

  4. When the water nearly evaporates, reduce heat and place the pot on a brass cover.

  5. Occasionally shake the pot, adding cloves, mace, peppercorns, cassia leaves, and salt before covering.

  6. For a yellow color, add turmeric when adding the peas.

  7. Serve garnished with hard boiled eggs and fried onions.

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. Ginger + turmerictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Clove + cassiatop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together194 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  4. Rice + turmerictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,941 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Clove + turmerictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,876 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

Swap the turmeric

The recipe marks turmeric as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, rice, ginger, clove, mace, cassia, egg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Cardamomfits about as well
  4. Turmericthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, rice, ginger, clove, mace, cassia, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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