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Tom Kha Kai Recipe

A fast, easy, and flavorful preparation for chicken breasts.

By chow · From Open Recipes · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Lime and coconut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 934 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Tom Kha Kai Recipe

Ingredients

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

474Calories
35 gProtein
31 gFat
16 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Coconut1/2 cup shredded (40g)283
Chicken100g cooked165
Limejuice of 1 lime (44ml)11
Soy Sauce1 tbsp (15ml)9
Lemongrass1 tbsp (6g)5
Cilantro1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)1
Galangalnot 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 chow. 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. Lime + coconuttop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together934 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  2. Coconut + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,648 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Chicken + coconuttop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together808 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  4. Fish sauce + limetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together798 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Chicken + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,389 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).

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

Swap the lime

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, fish sauce, coconut, milk):

  1. Mangofits better
  2. Limethe original
  3. Pineapplefits about as well
  4. Bananafits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, fish sauce, coconut, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.