Why it works: Kale and okra share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 8 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
The recipe
10 servingsIngredients
Contains: soy (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and celery and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes until softened.
Add the minced garlic and cook for 1 minute until fragrant.
Pour in the vegetable broth and tomato sauce, then add the carrots and potatoes. Bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes until the carrots and potatoes are nearly tender.
Stir in the frozen corn, edamame, and okra. Simmer uncovered for 8 minutes until the vegetables are heated through and tender.
Add the chopped kale and simmer for 3 minutes until wilted.
Season with salt to taste and the black pepper, then stir well and serve hot.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Kale + okratop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together8 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together10,172 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,164 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together29,030 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Onion + potatotop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together9,019 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, onion, garlic, tomato, sauce, carrot, potato):
- Cuminabout as good a flavor fit
- Parsleyabout as good a flavor fit
- Thymeabout as good a flavor fit
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against olive, onion, garlic, tomato, sauce, carrot, potato. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
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