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Mexican Bean Salad

Not one to leave your tummy rumbling, this filling salad really hits the spot and has a spicy kick

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Why it works: Beans and kidney beans match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 364 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4
Prep10 min
Cook10 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg (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. Place the eggs in a saucepan, cover with cold water, bring to a boil, then simmer for 9 minutes until the yolks are set.

  2. Drain the eggs, cool them under cold running water, peel, and cut each into quarters.

  3. In a large bowl, combine the rinsed and drained beans, sliced red onion, halved cherry tomatoes, sliced red chilli and ½ tsp cumin.

  4. Add the chopped coriander leaves and the bought dressing to the bowl, and toss gently until everything is coated.

  5. Halve the avocados, cut into slices or chunks, and fold them gently into the bean mixture so they hold their shape.

  6. Spoon the salad onto a serving platter or into four bowls, arranging the egg quarters on top 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. Beans + kidney beanstop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together364 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Coriander + limetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,536 recipes

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

  3. Avocado + limetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,117 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Avocado + coriandertop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,094 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Avocado + beanstop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together375 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the cherry tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, avocado, beans, kidney beans, onion, coriander, lime):

  1. Coconutbetter flavor fit
  2. Lemonbetter flavor fit
  3. Mangobetter flavor fit
  4. Cherry tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, avocado, beans, kidney beans, onion, coriander, lime. 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).