Why it works: Carrot and mint match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 538 recipes mention both. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 2Ingredients
Contains: milk (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.
In a bowl, mix the harissa paste with the red wine vinegar, add the aubergine cubes and toss until well coated. Leave to marinate for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, put the shredded carrots, sliced red onion and chopped mint in a bowl and toss together to make the salad.
Preheat the grill to high. Thread the marinated aubergine cubes onto skewers.
Grill the skewers for 12 to 15 minutes, turning every few minutes, until the aubergine is tender and charred at the edges.
Warm the flatbreads under the grill for about 1 minute, until soft and pliable.
Spread the houmous over the warm flatbreads.
Place the kebabs on the flatbreads, top with the minty carrot salad and a spoonful of Greek yoghurt, then scatter over extra mint leaves to serve.
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.
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Carrot + minttop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together538 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Harissa + minttop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together64 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
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Carrot + oniontop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together21,599 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Red wine + vinegartop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together569 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Harissa + carrottop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together46 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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, red wine, vinegar, carrot, mint):
- Tomatobetter flavor fit
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Cucumberbetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against harissa, red wine, vinegar, carrot, mint. 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).
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