Name: Black Bean Soup + Toasted Cumin Seed Crema
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive oil; 2 medium-size red onions, chopped; 1 medium-size red bell pepper, chopped; 1 medium-size green bell pepper, chopped; 4 garlic cloves, minced; 4 teaspoons ground cumin; 1 16-ounce package dried black beans; 1 tablespoon chopped chipotle chiles from a can (this gives it a solid kick, dial back if you are wary); 7 cups hot water (I just used very hot tap water); 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice; 2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt; 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper; 1 tablespoon whole cumin seeds; 1 cup crema or crème fraîche (or; , or swap sour cream or yogurt, for a close-enough taste); Salt and freshly ground pepper

Why it works: Cumin and lime match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,216 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.

Cumin + limetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,216 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Cumin + beanstop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,188 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Garlic + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,082 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Pepper + limetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,491 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, onion, pepper, garlic, cumin, beans, lime):

Corianderfits better
Oreganofits better
Turmericfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, onion, pepper, garlic, cumin, beans, lime. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Black Bean	1/2 cup canned (120g) drained	114
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Red Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0
Seed	not in our table	0

Black Bean Soup + Toasted Cumin Seed Crema