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Shrimp Chatnf.y

A spicy shrimp mixture with oil, chilies, onions, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and shallot work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 565 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Shrimp Chatnf.y

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the shrimp

  1. Shell the shrimps carefully.

  2. Mince the shrimps with a sharp knife.

  3. Pound the minced shrimps in a mortar until smooth.

Season and finish

  1. Gradually mix in the salad oil.

  2. Add chopped chilies, minced onions, and salt as needed.

  3. Incorporate vinegar or lemon juice to achieve a pleasant acidity.

  4. Optionally, add powdered ginger and/or minced shallots.

  5. Ensure the mixture is thick, similar to mashed turnips or stiff bread sauce.

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 + shallottop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together565 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Onion + shallottop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Onion + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,595 recipes

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

  4. Vinegar + shallottop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Shrimps
Provide the main body of the chaat, which pounding turns into a smooth, thick paste.
Salad oil
Adds fat and moisture, loosening the pounded shrimp into a smooth, spreadable texture.
Vinegar or lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the richness of the shrimp and oil.

The step that matters

Pounding the shrimp until smooth. Pounding breaks down the minced shrimp so it forms an even paste. Without enough pounding, the texture stays grainy and the oil will not bind evenly into the mixture.

Swap the ginger

The recipe marks ginger as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shrimp, onion, vinegar, shallot):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shrimp, onion, vinegar, shallot. 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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