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Rice and Lentils

A simple dish of boiled rice topped with stewed lentils, onions, butter, pepper, and salt, served with green vegetables.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Lentils and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,221 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Rice and Lentils

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil the rice according to package instructions.

  2. In a pot, stew the lentils with chopped onion, pepper, salt, and butter until well done.

Assemble and serve

  1. Place the rice on a serving dish.

  2. Pour the stewed lentils and onions over the rice.

  3. Serve with green vegetables.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

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. Lentils + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,221 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Rice + lentilstop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together256 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Rice + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,433 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Rice
Forms the bulk of the dish and provides a neutral starchy base for the lentils.
Egyptian lentils
Provide protein-rich body and a soft, hearty texture when stewed until well done.
Onion
Adds sweetness and aroma as it softens and mellows during stewing.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and carries flavor through the stewed lentils.

The step that matters

Stewing the lentils until well done. Lentils need enough time in simmering liquid to soften fully; stopping early leaves them firm and chalky. Cooking them until tender lets their starches gelatinize for a smooth, cohesive texture.

Swap the lentils

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, onion, pepper, butter):

  1. Black-eyed peafits better
  2. Sesamefits better
  3. Beansfits better
  4. Lentilsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, onion, pepper, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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