Name: Carrot Soup with Miso and Sesame
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons olive oil; 2 pounds carrots, peeled, thinly sliced; 1 large onion, finely chopped; 4 regular or 6 small garlic cloves, peeled and smashed; 1 tablespoon finely chopped or grated ginger, or more to taste (it could easily be doubled); 4 cups vegetable broth; 1/4 cup white miso paste, or more to taste; Drizzle of toasted sesame oil; 2 scallions, very thinly sliced

Carrot Soup with Miso and Sesame

I hadn’t meant for this soup to be so quintessentially early January — that would be, virtually fat free, dairy free, gluten free (miso dependent), vegan and the very picture of healthful do-gooding. It’s about one cube of tofu away from earning a halo or at least being surrounded by singing . In fact, if you advertised a soup to me with all of those qualities, I’d probably run in the other direction because I am a dietary heathen, and I love butter, even if overdoing it in December now requires it in moderation. For the rest of time.

By smittenkitchen · From Open Recipes · 9 ingredients

Why it works: Carrot and miso work together. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 60 recipes mention both. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: soy, sesame (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds carrots, peeled, thinly sliced
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 regular or 6 small garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1 tablespoon finely chopped or grated ginger, or more to taste (it could easily be doubled)
4 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup white miso paste, or more to taste
Drizzle of toasted sesame oil
2 scallions, very thinly sliced

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

By smittenkitchen. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Carrot + misotop 5% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together60 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together29,030 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Miso + sesametop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together121 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Carrot + gingertop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together1,377 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Olive + garlictop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together23,449 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, carrot, onion, garlic, miso, sesame):

Gingerthe original
Cuminabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, carrot, onion, garlic, miso, sesame. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

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