Name: Meat or Tofu Dhansak
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 125 ml uncooked red lentils; 3 tbsp oil (I use olive oil); 1 large onion (finely chopped); 600 g chicken, beef, or tofu cut into cubes; 65 ml tomato paste or 125 ml crushed ripe tomatoes; 2 tbsp crushed dried fenugreek (methi) leaves; 250 ml chicken or meat stock (175 ml, if crushed tomatoes used); 125 ml yoghurt; 2 tbsp lemon juice; 2 tsp sugar (I use a sugar substitute); salt taste (I do not use salt); Spice Mix:; 4 tsp *Dhansak Masala (see below); 2 tsp garlic powder; 1 tsp of ground ginger (mixed with water to a paste); 1 tsp chilli powder, or to taste; (Mix these spice spices together, add a little water, and make into a thin paste); *Dhansak Masala Mix:; 20 tsp cumin (ground); 12 tsp coriander (ground); 8 tsp turmeric (ground); 8 tsp garam masala; 8 tsp garlic powder; 4 tsp chili (ground); 4 tsp ground ginger; 2 tsp cinnamon (ground); 1 tsp cardamom (ground)

Why it works: Lentils and fenugreek share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

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.

Lentils + fenugreektop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together19 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Lentils + olivetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together727 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Tomato + fenugreektop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together112 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Olive + lemontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,922 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lentils, olive, onion, chicken, tomato, fenugreek, sugar):

Avocadofits better
Coconutfits better
Limefits better
Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lentils, olive, onion, chicken, tomato, fenugreek, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Beef	100g cooked	250
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Lentil	1/2 cup cooked (99g)	115
Tofu	100g firm	76
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Sugar Substitute	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Turmeric	1 tsp ground (3g)	9
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Cardamom	1 tsp ground (2g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Fenugreek	not in our table	0
Meat	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0
Coriander	not in our table	0

Meat or Tofu Dhansak