Why it works: Sweet potato and miso share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 6 recipes mention both. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 2Ingredients
Contains: soy, sesame (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 small bowl, mix the sweet white miso paste, tamari or soy sauce, brown sugar, rice vinegar and a splash of water until smooth to make a glaze.
Heat a large grill pan or skillet over medium-high heat and lightly coat it with rapeseed oil.
Add the sweet potato slices and cook for about 6 minutes, turning once, until tender and lightly charred.
Add the courgette and aubergine slices and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, turning once, until golden and softened. Move everything to a plate.
Add a little more rapeseed oil to the pan. Fry the patted-dry tofu slices for 3 to 4 minutes per side until crisp and golden.
Return all the vegetables to the pan, brush with about half the glaze and cook for 1 minute until sticky.
Warm the cooked rice in a covered pan or microwave with a splash of water until hot, then divide between two bowls.
Arrange the vegetables and tofu over the rice, spoon the remaining glaze on top, then sprinkle with sesame seeds and nori if using.
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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Sweet potato + misotop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together6 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Tofu + sesametop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together250 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Tofu + misotop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together75 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Miso + sesametop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together121 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Rice + sesametop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together643 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the sweet potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tofu, miso, sauce, sugar, rice, vinegar, sesame):
- Welsh onionbetter flavor fit
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Mustardbetter flavor fit
- Sweet potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tofu, miso, sauce, sugar, rice, vinegar, sesame. 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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