If you happened to be looking for the perfect food friendship, there's no doubt that chicken and tomato would catch your eye. They might be a little shyer, but they are just as companionable as boisterous bacon and eggs or showy fish and chips. One simply goes better with the other.
This is no wonder when they have such a lot in common. Both chicken and tomato are foods that have been homegrown for decades. They are each mild in flavour and extremely versatile, being happily fried, roasted, barbecued or boiled.
They might be a little more shy, but they are just as companionable as boisterous bacon and eggs or showy fish and chips.
Better still, you can prepare a dish of chicken and tomato in mere moments, or leave them to gently get along for hours. They are equally delicious either way.
You can always tell a perfect pairing when it shows up in cuisines from across the world and time itself. Take these recipes here - all of them are traditional dishes that have been passed down through many generations. Except maybe for a chimichanga. That's a thoroughly modern friendship.
Leave it to the Italians to do fine things with chicken and tomatoes. In this simple dish, tasty chicken meatballs pair beautifully with a simple tomato and garlic sauce.
Spice is happy to meet both chicken and tomato, as showcased in this pandan-scented curry. Tomato isn't generally big in Malaysian cooking, but it adds sweetness and colour and, of course, sidles up nicely to the chicken.
Cacciatore chicken is an Italian favourite that deserves to be on every winter menu. This one's a slow cooker that relies on gentle heat overtime to produce a rich sauce that permeates the chicken.
What kind of dish would you serve to please Napoleon Bonaparte? Why, poulet Marengo, of course. Only a solid chicken and tomato dish could be enough after battle.
Adding hearty chicken pieces to any kind of tomato soup is a genius move. Start with Poh's chicken lentil soup and keep slurping from there.
This Filipino spin on a standard Spanish-style chicken afritadaand is delightful. Loads of garlic, tomato and capsicum bump up the yum-factor and there's even a hit of fish sauce thrown in for good measure.
Shredded chicken braised in a spicy chipotle chilli sauce is wrapped in a flour tortilla and fried until crisp. Served with a tart, green tomato salsa, a chimichanga is a burrito like you’ve never had before.
Donal Skehan adds chorizo to a standard Irish chicken and bean stew and the crowd goes wild. Underpinning the resulting bold flavour is, naturally, a couple of tins of plum tomatoes finest.
Ever added a big dollop of tomato chutney to a chicken curry? Do it!
You can't talk about tomato and chicken's friendship without eating butter chicken while you do it. It's like the pinnacle of their relationship, spreading happiness wherever it goes.
Adding pasta turns our beloved duo into a firm trio. Chicken, tomato and pasta make for some very quick mid-week meals like this lorighittas recipe made with the trio plus white wine, parsley, garlic and onion.
If you've never made your bolognese with diced chicken instead of beef mince, now would be the time to give it a go. It makes for a lighter dish where the tomato-based sauce is given room to really shine.
This baked Spanish dish features plenty of paprika, a spice that plays equally well with both chicken and tomato. The same is true for the added olives, capsicums, lemon and balsamic vinegar. The whole dish is basically a party of friends.
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