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Bengal Curry

A simple curry made with ground coriander, red pepper, onions, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Coriander and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,949 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Bengal Curry

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the spices

  1. In a mortar, grind the coriander seeds until smooth.

  2. Mix the ground coriander, red pepper, and chopped onions together.

Cook the curry

  1. In a stew pan, melt the butter and add the sliced onion.

  2. Cook until the onion is soft, then add the mixed spices.

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. Coriander + peppertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,949 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  3. Coriander + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 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

Coriander seeds
Provide the main aromatic spice flavour when ground fine.
Red pepper
Adds heat and a sharp, peppery bite to the spice mix.
Onions
Add sweetness and body as they soften in the butter.
Butter
Carries the spices and softens the onions, adding richness.

The step that matters

Cooking the sliced onion until soft. Onion softens and sweetens slowly in fat. Rushing this leaves it sharp and raw-tasting, and the spices added after it will not blend well into the sauce.

Swap the coriander

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Corianderthe original

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