Name: Sweet Chile–Chicken Rice Bowl Recipe
Cook time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 1 (10-ounce) bottle Mae Ploy Sweet Chilli Sauce; 2/3 cup loosely packed Thai basil leaves; 2/3 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves; 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (from about 4 medium limes); 1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (from about 1 medium orange); 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and coarsely chopped; 1/2 bunch scallions, coarsely chopped (white and light green parts only); 8 medium garlic cloves, peeled; 3 tablespoons Sriracha hot sauce; 2 tablespoons Korean red pepper powder; 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds; 1 (2-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped; 1 dried Anaheim chile, stemmed and coarsely chopped; 1 serrano chile, stemmed and coarsely chopped; 4 teaspoons kosher salt; 4 teaspoons Korean chile paste; 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (from about 4 medium limes); 1/2 cup soy sauce; 1/4 cup toasted sesame oil; 1 medium Asian pear, peeled and grated on the large holes of a box grater; 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs; Vegetable oil, for frying; 1/3 cup all-purpose flour; 1 shallot, cut lengthwise and thinly sliced; Kosher salt; Vegetable oil; 3 jalapeños; 6 cups hot

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. 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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Lime + orangetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together937 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Orange + clovetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,987 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Lime + clovetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together909 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Lime + garlictop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,411 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 thai basil

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, lime, orange, onion, garlic, clove, sriracha):

Gingerfits better
Corianderfits better
Cuminfits better
Thai basilthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, lime, orange, onion, garlic, clove, sriracha. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Sesame	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Asian Pear	1 medium (178g)	101
Orange	1 medium (131g)	62
Chinese Broccoli	1 cup chopped (156g)	55
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Shallot	1 tbsp minced (10g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Sriracha	1 tsp (5g)	5
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Sauce	not in our table	0
Toasted Sesame Seed	not in our table	0
Shiso	not in our table	0

Sweet Chile–Chicken Rice Bowl Recipe