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Lemony Rice & Peas

This salad is packed with pulses and should be enough of a carb hit that you don’t need to serve potatoes as well

By bbcgoodfood · From Open Recipes · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Olive and peas match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,778 recipes mention both. Both carry (z)-hex-3-en-1-ol, which smells freshly cut grass green and herbaceous notes. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 10
Prep15 min
Cook20 min

Ingredients

Directions

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

  1. Rinse the brown basmati rice in cold water and drain. Put it in a saucepan with plenty of water, bring to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer, cover and cook about 20 minutes until tender. Drain well and let steam dry for 2 minutes.

  2. While the rice cooks, put the frozen peas in a heatproof bowl, cover with boiling water and leave for 2 minutes. Drain them well.

  3. In a large bowl, whisk the olive oil with the juice of the 2 lemons.

  4. Add the rinsed and drained lentils and chickpeas to the lemon dressing and stir to coat.

  5. Add the warm drained rice to the bowl and toss gently so the dressing is evenly spread through it.

  6. Fold in the drained peas, the finely sliced spring onions and the chopped coriander.

  7. Serve warm or at room temperature. If making ahead, cover and chill, then bring back to room temperature before serving.

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. Olive + peastop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-hex-3-en-1-ol (freshly cut grass green and herbaceous notes).

  2. Lentils + chickpeatop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together44 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanol (resin, flower).

  3. Lemon + coriandertop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,498 recipes

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

  4. Chickpea + coriandertop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together451 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Olive + chickpeatop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together942 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl butyrate (fruity, apple).

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 (basmati rice, olive, peas, lentils, chickpea, lemon, coriander):

  1. Tomatobetter flavor fit
  2. Spinachbetter flavor fit
  3. Cucumberbetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against basmati rice, olive, peas, lentils, chickpea, lemon, coriander. 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).