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Buddha's Delight Recipe

This Buddhist vegetarian stew, known as jai in Cantonese, is traditionally served on the first day of the Chinese New Year to bring good luck. Chowhound Melanie...

By chow · From Open Recipes · 22 ingredients
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Buddha's Delight Recipe

Why it works: Shiitake and bamboo shoots share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

Buddha's Delight Recipe

8 quarts, 12 to 15 servings

Ingredients

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

499Calories
23 gProtein
21 gFat
66 gCarbs

Counts 13 of 18 ingredients. The other 5 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 13 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Corn1/2 cup kernels (82g)77
Tofu100g firm76
Pea1/2 cup (72g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Shiitake1/2 cup (73g)34
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Napa Cabbage1 cup shredded (89g)22
Mushroom1/2 cup sliced (35g)15
Bok Choy1 cup (70g)9
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Beannot in our table0
Woodnot in our table0
Ginkgo Nutsnot in our table0
Waternot in our table0
Bamboo Shootsnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By chow. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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. Shiitake + bamboo shootstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together19 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  2. Shiitake + tofutop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together58 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  3. Tofu + bamboo shootstop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together21 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  4. Shiitake + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together552 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Shiitake + ginkgo nutstop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

Swap the ginkgo nuts

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shiitake, mushroom, tofu, sugar, corn, bamboo shoots, cabbage):

  1. Sesamefits better
  2. Chestnutfits better
  3. Beansfits better
  4. Ginkgo nutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shiitake, mushroom, tofu, sugar, corn, bamboo shoots, cabbage. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.