Name: Mulligatawny Soup
Yield: 4-6 servings
Ingredients: 3 Tb. butter; 1 medium onion, chopped; 1 cup celery, chopped; 2 carrots, chopped; 2 apples, peeled and chopped; 1 Tb. freshly grated ginger; 3 Tb. flour; 2 Tb. Madras curry powder; 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper; 8 cups chicken stock; ½ cup basmati rice; 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, chopped; ¾ cup lite coconut milk; Salt and pepper

Why it works: Celery and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. 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.

Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,173 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Carrot + gingertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,377 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Carrot + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,555 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 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

Swap the apple

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

Limefits better
Lemonfits better
Avocadofits better
Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, onion, celery, carrot, ginger, flour, pepper. 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
Coconut	1/2 cup shredded (40g)	283
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Apple	1 medium (182g)	95
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Turmeric	1 tsp ground (3g)	9
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Mulligatawny Soup