Name: Red Rice Salad with Boiled Eggs and Macadamias
Yield: Serves 8.
Ingredients: 1 3/4 cups to 2 cups water; 1 cup red rice; 2 tablespoons oil; 4 large shallots, chopped; 3 cloves garlic, chopped; 1 large red chile, seeded and chopped; 1-inch piece ginger root, chopped (hs note: I grated it); 1 teaspoon ground coriander; 1 large carrot, thinly sliced; 8 ounces green beans, trimmed and chopped; 1/2 cup coconut milk (hs note: lite is fine); 1/4 cup soy sauce; 1/2 teaspoon molasses; 4 large eggs, boiled and peeled; 1 large lime, quartered; 1/2 cup julienned fresh basil; 1/4 cup macadamia nuts, toasted and chopped

Why it works: Clove and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. 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.

Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,505 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Ginger + carrottop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,377 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Garlic + coriandertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,474 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Shallot + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,000 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

Swap the green beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (red rice, shallot, clove, garlic, ginger, coriander, carrot):

Welsh onionfits better
Kalefits better
Chivefits better
Green beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against red rice, shallot, clove, garlic, ginger, coriander, carrot. 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
Red Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Molasses	1 tbsp (20g)	58
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Carrot	1 medium (61g)	25
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Water	not in our table	0
Coriander	not in our table	0
Macadamia Nut	not in our table	0

Red Rice Salad with Boiled Eggs and Macadamias