Name: Coconut Chicken with Cucumber Salad
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Yield: Serves 2
Ingredients: 1 egg white , lightly beaten; 2 skinless chicken breasts; 3 tbsp desiccated coconut; 1 tsp sunflower oil; ½ cucumber , thinly sliced on the diagonal; 1 small red onion , thinly sliced; 2 tsp caster sugar; 2 tbsp white wine vinegar or rice vinegar

Why it works: Coconut and sunflower match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 194 recipes. Both carry beta-pinene, which smells pine, resin. The science ↓

Coconut Chicken with Cucumber Salad

Serves 2

Prep10 min

Cook25 min

Ingredients

1 egg white , lightly beaten
2 skinless chicken breasts
3 tbsp desiccated coconut
1 tsp sunflower oil
½ cucumber , thinly sliced on the diagonal
1 small red onion , thinly sliced
2 tsp caster sugar
2 tbsp white wine vinegar or rice vinegar

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

638Calories

42 gProtein

36 gFat

37 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Coconut	1/2 cup shredded (40g)	283
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Sunflower Oil	not in our table	0

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.

Coconut + sunflowertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together194 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-pinene (pine, resin).
Sunflower + cucumbertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together85 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Cucumber + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,050 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,814 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Sunflower + oniontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together989 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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 (egg, chicken, coconut, sunflower, cucumber, sugar, white wine):

Capsicumfits better
Sweet potatofits better
Chivefits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, chicken, coconut, sunflower, cucumber, sugar, white wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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