Name: Cold Rice Noodles with Peanut-lime Chicken
Ingredients: 6 tablespoons Asian fish sauce; 6 tablespoons brown sugar; 12 tablespoons lime juice; 2 garlic cloves, finely grated or minced; Small Thai or Serrano chiles, thinly sliced, to taste; 3 tablespoons Asian fish sauce; 3 tablespoons rice vinegar; 9 tablespoons lime juice; 3 tablespoons soy sauce; 1 one-and-a-half inch chunk ginger, peeled and sliced; 6 tablespoons natural unsalted peanut butter; 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil; Pinch of cayenne; 1 1/4 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs (about 6); 8 ounces dried rice vermicelli or other rice noodles; 2 small cucumbers, cut in 1/4-inch half moons; 2 medium carrots, cut in thin julienne; Additional vegetables, as suggested above; Small handful basil or mint or cilantro sprigs, or your favorite of the three (torn or roughly chopped); 4 or more scallions, slivered; 1/4 cup crushed or chopped roasted peanuts; Lime wedges (to serve)

Why it works: Lime and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,621 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. 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.

Lime + gingertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,621 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Garlic + gingertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,402 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Lime + garlictop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,411 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Lime + ricetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,014 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Rice + gingertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,196 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

Swap the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish sauce, sugar, lime, rice, vinegar, sauce, ginger):

Corianderfits better
Turmericfits better
Cinnamonfits better
Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish sauce, sugar, lime, rice, vinegar, sauce, ginger. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Peanut	1 oz (28g)	161
Sesame	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Vegetable	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Cayenne	1 tsp (1.8g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Peppermint	not in our table	0
Roasted Peanut	not in our table	0

Cold Rice Noodles with Peanut-lime Chicken