Name: Spicy Baby Aubergine Stew with Coriander & Mint
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 45 min
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 2 tbsp olive oil; 2 red onions , sliced; 4 garlic cloves , smashed; 2 red chillies , deseeded and sliced, or 2-3 dried red chillies left whole; 2 tsp coriander seeds , toasted and crushed; 2 tsp cumin seeds , toasted and crushed; 16 baby aubergines , left whole with stalk intact; 2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes; 2 tsp sugar; bunch mint leaves, roughly chopped; bunch coriander , roughly chopped; couscous and yogurt to serve

Why it works: Coriander and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,866 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. 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.

Coriander + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,866 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Garlic + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,082 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Coriander + tomatotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,967 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, onion, garlic, coriander, cumin, tomato, sugar):

Oreganofits better
Turmericfits better
Cardamomfits better
Clovethe original

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

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Couscous	1 cup cooked (157g)	176
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Red Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Coriander	not in our table	0
Seed	not in our table	0
Peppermint	not in our table	0

Spicy Baby Aubergine Stew with Coriander & Mint