Name: Harissa Lamb & Pepper Kebabs
Prep time: 15 min
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 2 tbsp harissa paste; 400g lamb steak, trimmed of any fat and chopped into chunks; 2 red peppers , chopped into large chunks; 2 red onions , each cut into 8 wedges through the root so the wedges don't fall apart; 250g couscous , flavoured or plain; PLUS 1 tbsp olive oil

Why it works: Harissa and lamb work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 40 recipes mention both. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4

Prep15 min

Ingredients

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

2 tbsp harissa paste
400g lamb steak, trimmed of any fat and chopped into chunks
2 red peppers, chopped into large chunks
2 red onions, each cut into 8 wedges through the root so the wedges don't fall apart
250g couscous, flavoured or plain
PLUS 1 tbsp olive oil

Directions

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

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.

Harissa + lambtop 7% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together40 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Lamb + olivetop 5% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together1,391 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Lamb + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together3,165 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Onion + olivetop 5% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together26,431 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity).
Pepper + olivetop 6% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together27,398 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (harissa, lamb, pepper, olive):

Tomatobetter flavor fit
Capsicumbetter flavor fit
Carrotbetter flavor fit
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against harissa, lamb, pepper, olive. 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).

One surprising pairing every Sunday. Free.

The Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.