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Fennel, Chickpea & Prawn Stew

An easy low-fat supper that's ideal for after work, served with crusty bread

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Why it works: Fennel and chickpea share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 39 recipes mention both. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 2
Prep5 min
Cook15 min

Ingredients

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

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Heat a splash of olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the sliced fennel and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring, until softened.

  2. Add the sliced garlic and paprika and cook for 1 minute, stirring, until fragrant.

  3. Pour in the chopped tomatoes and drained, rinsed chickpeas. Add a splash of water, bring to a simmer, and cook gently for 5 minutes.

  4. Tear the cavolo nero or kale into pieces, discarding any tough stalks, and stir it into the stew. Cook for 2 minutes until wilted.

  5. Add the raw prawns and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, turning once, until they are pink and opaque all the way through and reach 145°F (63°C). Serve hot.

By bbcgoodfood. 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.

  1. Fennel + chickpeatop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together39 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  2. Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together14,164 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Tomato + chickpeatop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together537 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Garlic + tomatotop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together14,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. 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 kale

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, fennel, garlic, tomato, chickpea):

  1. Eggplantbetter flavor fit
  2. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  3. Spinachbetter flavor fit
  4. Kalethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, fennel, garlic, tomato, chickpea. 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).