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Harissa Aubergine Kebabs with Minty Carrot Salad

Whip up supper for two in a flash with these vegetarian, North African-inspired skewers with healthy slaw and houmous

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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 2
Prep10 min
Cook15 min

Ingredients

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.

  1. 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.

  2. Meanwhile, put the shredded carrots, sliced red onion and chopped mint in a bowl and toss together to make the salad.

  3. Preheat the grill to high. Thread the marinated aubergine cubes onto skewers.

  4. Grill the skewers for 12 to 15 minutes, turning every few minutes, until the aubergine is tender and charred at the edges.

  5. Warm the flatbreads under the grill for about 1 minute, until soft and pliable.

  6. Spread the houmous over the warm flatbreads.

  7. 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.

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. Carrot + minttop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together538 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Harissa + minttop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together64 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  3. Carrot + oniontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together21,599 recipes

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

  4. Red wine + vinegartop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together569 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  5. Harissa + carrottop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned 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):

  1. Tomatobetter flavor fit
  2. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  3. Cucumberbetter flavor fit
  4. 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).