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Asparagus Stir-Fry Recipe

A favorite stir-fry recipe. Asparagus and tofu form the base, but it has quite a lot going on beyond that. You get a bite of tang from the lime, heat from the red chiles and fresh ginger, mint and basil cool things down, and a touch hoisin sauce gives you just enough sweetness to balance it all out.

By 101cookbooks · From Open Recipes · 14 ingredients
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Asparagus Stir-Fry Recipe

Why it works: Sesame and tofu match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 250 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Asparagus Stir-Fry Recipe

Serves 2-4 (main/side)

Ingredients

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

609Calories
22 gProtein
46 gFat
39 gCarbs

Counts 14 of 17 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 14 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Cashew1 oz (28g / ~18 nuts)157
Sesame1 tbsp (14g)120
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Tofu100g firm76
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Kale1 cup chopped (67g)33
Asparagus6 spears (90g)27
Limejuice of 1 lime (44ml)11
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Spinach1 cup raw (30g)7
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Basil5 leaves fresh (2.5g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Chardnot in our table0
Saucenot in our table0
Peppermintnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By 101cookbooks. 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.

  1. Sesame + tofutop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together250 recipes

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

  2. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  4. Sesame + asparagustop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together73 recipes

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

  5. Sesame + oniontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,192 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, 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 (sesame, tofu, onion, ginger, pepper, asparagus, garlic):

  1. Turmericfits better
  2. Cuminfits better
  3. Corianderfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sesame, tofu, onion, ginger, pepper, asparagus, garlic. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.