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Spiced Vegetable Pilaf

Get four of your five-a-day in one colourful bowl. Vary the veg according to what's in season

By bbcgoodfood · From Open Recipes · 11 ingredients
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Spiced Vegetable Pilaf

Why it works: Cumin and lentils match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 308 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Spiced Vegetable Pilaf

Serves 4
Prep10 min
Cook40 min

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

587Calories
18 gProtein
16 gFat
97 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 12 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Lentil1/2 cup cooked (99g)115
Red Onion1 medium (110g)44
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Spinach1 cup raw (30g)7
Almond1 almond (1.2g)7
Cardamom1 tsp ground (2g)6
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Seednot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cumin + lentilstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together308 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Cardamom + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,299 recipes

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

  3. Cumin + cardamomtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together582 recipes

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

  4. Cumin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,103 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  5. Carrot + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together777 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, olive, cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, basmati rice, lentils):

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Sweet potatofits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, olive, cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, basmati rice, lentils. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.