Name: Yellow Rice Pilaf
Yield: Makes 10 to 12 servings
Ingredients: 1/4 cup canola oil; 2 cups converted long-grain rice such as Uncle Ben's; 1 cup vermicelli noodles, broken into roughly 1-inch pieces; 1 small yellow onion, peeled and diced; 1 small celery rib, diced; 1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced; 4 scallions, white and light green parts only, cut on a diagonal, into 1/2-inch pieces; 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced; 2 teaspoons ground turmeric; 2 teaspoons ground cumin; 1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper; 4 cups chicken stock or low-sodium chicken broth; 1 teaspoon kosher salt; 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces; 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley; 1 (9- by 13-inch) baking dish

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).
Rice + turmerictop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,941 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Clove + turmerictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,876 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Celery + turmerictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,356 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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 (canola oil, rice, onion, celery, pepper, garlic, turmeric):

Cuminfits better
Thymefits better
Corianderfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against canola oil, rice, onion, celery, pepper, garlic, turmeric. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Turmeric	1 tsp ground (3g)	9
Cumin	1 tsp ground (2.1g)	8
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Yellow Rice Pilaf