Name: Beautiful Bulgar and Spinach Pilaf with Labneh and Chili Roast Tomatoes
Yield: Serves 4 to 8 (main / side).
Ingredients: 1 onion, finely chopped; 4 tablespoons olive oil; 2 garlic cloves; 6 ounces bulgar wheat; 1 1/4 cups (10 fluid ounces) vegetable or chicken stock; salt and pepper; 10 1/2 ounces spinach; leaves torn from a small bunch of mint, torn; extra-virgin olive oil; For the labneh:; 1 1/8 cups (9 fluid ounces Greek yogurt); 1 fat garlic clove, crushed; pinch of salt; For the tomatoes:; 12 plum tomatoes; 4 tablespoons olive oil; 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar; 1 - 1 1/2 teaspoon harissa; 2 teaspoons soft dark-brown sugar; For the onions:; 2 onions, very finely sliced; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 1 1/2 teaspoon soft brown sugar; juice of 1/2 small lemon

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. 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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Garlic + spinachtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,435 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Olive + spinachtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, olive, garlic, wheat, chicken, pepper, spinach):

Cuminfits better
Thymefits better
Oreganofits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, olive, garlic, wheat, chicken, pepper, spinach. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Vegetable	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Plum	1 medium (66g)	30
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Spinach	1 cup raw (30g)	7
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Wheat	not in our table	0
Peppermint	not in our table	0
Harissa	not in our table	0

Beautiful Bulgar and Spinach Pilaf with Labneh and Chili Roast Tomatoes