Name: Vietnamese Fresh Paper Rolls
Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients: For the rolls:; 18 sheets of 22cm rice paper; 80g of rice vermicelli; 18 cooked prawns (or you can replace with cooked pork, chicken, or leave the meat out if you are vegetarian); 2 cups of shredded lettuce; 1 grated carrot; 1 bunch of coriander; 1 bunch of mint; 1 bunch perilla leaves (optional); There are 2 sauces that go well with this dish. My favourite is the hoisin.; Hoisin Sauce:; 3 tbsp of hoisin sauce; 1 tbsp of milk; 1 tbsp of water; 1 tsp of roasted chopped nuts sprinkled on top; pinch of chopped fresh chillis (optional); Dipping Fish Sauce:; 2 tbsp of nuoc mam fish sauce; 2 tbsp of water (or 3 for a less stronger taste); 1 tbsp of dissolved sugar; 1 tbsp of sweet chilli sauce; a dash of lime juice; (adjust the amount of water to adjust the strength of the taste/smell)

Why it works: Carrot and coriander match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,297 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. 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.

Carrot + coriandertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,297 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Coriander + minttop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together940 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Lettuce + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together976 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Lettuce + coriandertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together455 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Rice + carrottop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,477 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

Swap the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, pork, lettuce, carrot, coriander, sauce, milk):

Cuminfits better
Celeryfits better
Parsleyfits better
Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, pork, lettuce, carrot, coriander, sauce, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Pork	100g cooked	242
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Shrimp	100g cooked	99
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Lettuce	1 cup shredded (36g)	5
Meat	not in our table	0
Coriander	not in our table	0
Peppermint	not in our table	0
Sauce	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0
Nuts	not in our table	0

Vietnamese Fresh Paper Rolls