Name: Panaeng Gai Recipe
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1/3 cup raw, unsalted peanuts; 15-20 birds eye red chillies, halved and deseeded; 1/3 cup coriander roots, roughly chopped; 3 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced; 4 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced; 2 stalks lemongrass (see note below); 1 tbsp galangal, peeled and chopped; Peelings of two kaffir limes (see note below); 3/4 tsp coriander seeds; 3/4 tsp cumin seeds; 1/2 tsp white peppercorns; 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg; 1 tsp salt; 1 tsp shrimp paste; 2 cups coconut cream; 3-4 tbsp curry paste (to taste); 2 tbsp fish sauce; 3 lime leaves, destemmed and thinly ribbonned; 1 1/2 tbsp palm sugar, grated; 1 lb chicken (either white or dark meat according to preference), cut into 3/4" cubes; 1/3 cup unsalted raw peanuts, coarsely crushed (optional); 1/2 red pepper, cut into thin strips (optional); 4 birds eye red chillies, halved and deseeded (optional); Handful (about 20 leaves) Thai basil

Why it works: Coriander and lime match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,536 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 + limetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,536 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,866 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,216 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,686 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Garlic + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,082 recipes

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

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

Swap the peanut

The recipe marks peanut as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (coriander, shallot, clove, garlic, lime, cumin, nutmeg):

Chickpeafits better
Cashew nutfits better
Lentilsfits better
Peanutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against coriander, shallot, clove, garlic, lime, cumin, nutmeg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Coconut	1/2 cup shredded (40g)	283
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Peanut	1 oz (28g)	161
Shrimp	100g cooked	99
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Kaffir Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Lemongrass	1 tbsp (6g)	5
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Coriander	not in our table	0
Galangal	not in our table	0
Seed	not in our table	0
Meat	not in our table	0

Panaeng Gai Recipe