Why it works: Cauliflower and potato share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 36 recipes mention both. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 4Ingredients
Contains: milk, wheat (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.
Heat the vegetable oil in a large lidded pan over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook for 8 minutes, stirring, until soft and golden.
Stir in the grated ginger and chopped garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Add the turmeric, ground cumin and curry powder and stir for 1 minute until fragrant.
Add the chopped tomatoes and sugar and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring, until the sauce thickens. Add a splash of water if it becomes too thick.
Add the cauliflower florets, potato chunks and halved green chilli. Pour in enough water to nearly cover the vegetables and stir well.
Cover and simmer over low heat for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring now and then, until the potatoes and cauliflower are tender when pierced with a knife.
Remove and discard the chilli halves. Stir in a squeeze of lemon juice and add more curry powder to taste if you like.
Scatter over most of the chopped coriander and serve hot with naan bread and natural yogurt, topped with the remaining coriander.
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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Cauliflower + potatotop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together36 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Turmeric + cumintop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,698 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Ginger + turmerictop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,775 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together29,030 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Cumin + tomatotop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,272 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ginger, garlic, turmeric, cumin, tomato, sugar, cauliflower):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Broccolibetter flavor fit
- Carrotbetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against ginger, garlic, turmeric, cumin, tomato, sugar, cauliflower. 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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