Asian

One of the staples of the subcontinent, dal is not only daily fare but something to be relished with many meals. Serve this with Basic Long-Grain Rice (page 506) or any pilaf (pages 513–514). If you have the time (and forethought) to soak the lentils, they’ll cook more quickly, but it is far from necessary. Other legumes you can prepare this way: chickpeas (far longer cooking time), red beans.

More complicated than the preceding recipe, this sweet, spicy, unusual preparation is one I adore. You can make it with other legumes, of course, but black-eyed peas are traditional, and they cook more quickly than most others. (If you can find them frozen—or, better still, fresh—they’ll cook very quickly.) Other legumes you can prepare this way: lentils, chickpeas, black beans, red beans.

One of the best vegetarian dishes of India, the chickpea dumpling is the equal of those made of meat without mimicking them, and the yogurt sauce is creamy and delicious. Some people soak the chickpea dumplings in water after frying them, which gives them a lovely and delicate texture; others leave them crisp, adding them to the sauce at the last minute. The choice is yours; I enjoy the crisp version more but happily eat and make both. You can buy chickpea flour and hing (asafetida, page 10) at any store selling Indian ingredients and at many Middle Eastern stores as well. One word about the preparation: Skilled cooks can make the sauce first, then the dumplings, or mix the dumpling batter, then turn to the sauce, then fry the dumplings while the sauce is simmering. The level of activity required to do this is somewhat frenetic, but if you are comfortable with kitchen multitasking, it will work out.

In Brazil, feijoada is a meat dish with beans. In Goa, another former colony of Portugal, it is a bean dish in which meat is optional. I have been served and prepared it with both kidney beans and black-eyed peas and prefer it with the latter. To serve more people, simply double the beans and increase the remaining ingredients slightly or add meat; it won’t be much more effort. Serve over rice and make this entirely in advance if you like; it will keep, refrigerated, for a couple of days. Other legumes you can prepare this way: kidney or other red beans, black beans.

Chickpeas and lentils are the staple legumes of India, but red beans are cooked from time to time and, typically, done in an extremely flavorful manner. You can add meat to this preparation, which is already quite a bit like chili. Like Dal with Butter and Cream (page 433), this is excellent with some butter (and cream, if you like) stirred in toward the end of cooking. Make it entirely in advance if you like; it will keep, refrigerated, for a couple of days. Serve with rice. Other legumes you can prepare this way: chickpeas, black beans.

Essentially a simplified sauerkraut and a very light pickle. Use good-quality soy sauce and serve this as a side dish with Japanese or other Asian food. Do not try to make this in very hot weather; fifty or sixty degrees is ideal. Other vegetables you can prepare this way: any mixture of vegetables, as in the variation.

Kimchi, the world’s best-known Korean ingredient, generally describes pickled vegetables, though cabbage is the most common choice. Originally a basic salt pickle, chiles were introduced in the sixteenth century, followed soon thereafter by fish or shrimp paste. Regional influences determine the level of pungency, with warmer regions producing kimchi heavily seasoned with chile powder and anchovy paste. Some take to kimchi immediately; for others it is an acquired taste. For information on nam pla (Thai fish sauce), see page 500. If you love kimchi, you’ll enjoy making this version. Even though it’s quick, the results will be as good as that found at most restaurants and better than almost any version you’ve bought in jars. Kept refrigerated, it will last for about a week. Dried salted shrimp are inexpensive and keep forever; you’ll find them at most Asian markets.

A staple dish of India, often made with potatoes added (cook large chunks of the potato in the same water, at the same time, as the cauliflower and simply increase the amount of oil and spice). Best with homemade curry powder or garam masala. The cumin seeds add a nice bit of crunch but are not essential. Other vegetables you can prepare this way: broccoli, potatoes, carrots, turnips, radishes.

Marginally different from the preceding dish, but enough so that I thought its inclusion worthwhile, Gobi Taktakin is a dish made on the streets of India, where they use knives to mince the cauliflower as it sautés on huge flat griddles. (The dish’s onomatopoeic name alludes to the tak-tak-tak sound of two knives simultaneously mincing and tossing the cauliflower as it sautés. To spare your pans the extra wear, it’s better to chop the cauliflower in advance.) Best with homemade curry powder or garam masala. Cumin seeds add a nice crunch, and cilantro adds a fresh note at the end, but neither is essential. Other vegetables you can prepare this way: broccoli, potatoes, carrots, turnips, radishes.

The Japanese not only love eggplant; they also produce some of the best—the slender, long, lavender-colored varieties are sweeter and firmer than the fat, almost black ones. Here the skinny ones are essential. Make this up to an hour in advance; like many eggplant dishes, it’s good at room temperature. Or make in advance and run under the broiler to reheat, until the miso topping bubbles (reserve the sesame seeds until after you do this).

It took me a long time to figure out what was in this mysteriously flavored concoction, and even then I had to ask my host (who was from Kashmir, where this is common) what was going on here. The apples and eggplant complement each other perfectly, to the point where each loses a bit of its identity and gains something unusual. Serve this as a side dish any time you like, not just with Indian food.

The bright green stir-fry of Chinese restaurants. Other vegetables you can prepare this way: if you can’t find gai lan, use broccoli raab or even collards or kale; broccoli or cauliflower will work too.

A small and perfectly easy dish. The finishing touch of hot sesame oil is a common garnish in Hong Kong and a nice one.

Fish or shrimp in a powerful sauce is a common dish in India; this is a good example. If you’re comfortable in the kitchen, you can produce this dish far more quickly by beginning with the onion-tomato mixture and sautéing the fish in a separate skillet. Serve this with Coconut Rice (page 516) or Home-Fried Potatoes with Onion and Amchoor (page 477) or any Indian vegetable dish.

Black cod, a Pacific fish also known as sable, is treasured in Japan (and at elite Japanese restaurants here) for its richness and slightly smoky flavor. With miso it is astonishingly delicious. (Mackerel is not the same but still very good.) Use white (it’s actually beige) miso if you can find it. As is common before cooking many types of fish in Japan, this is salted to firm up the flesh; you can skip this step if you prefer. This is not a super-saucy dish, but well-made short-grain rice (page 507) is still a good accompaniment, as would be any salad.

Many Japanese cooks treasure dark, oily, full-flavored fish and treat it with a simple dose of powerful seasonings and a simple cooking technique that might be called “pan-steaming.” If you think you don’t like mackerel, try it this way; it may change your mind. Serve this with short-grain white rice (page 507).

The first time I was served this I found it completely bizarre, as you may. But I loved it instantly. It’s from Szechwan but is equally at home with Asian and European dishes, as long as they have some guts. The quality of this dish is maintained for only a few minutes; as it gets cold, it becomes far less appealing. So—really—prepare it at the last minute and serve it immediately.

There were two things I couldn’t get enough of in Vietnam: crunchy lemongrass dishes and caramel sauce dishes. Here’s one of the latter, in which the caramel sauce—essentially melted sugar, which becomes oddly bitter while retaining its sticky sweetness as it browns—is used to poach the fish. Make sure you use lots of black pepper, which is one of the characteristic seasonings of Vietnam, and serve this unusual, delicious dish with Basic Long-Grain Rice (page 506). Information on Thai fish sauce (nam pla) is on page 500.

An unusual combination of textures and flavors, but—like the eggplant and apple mixture on page 458—one that really works. Serve in combination with other Indian dishes or as an unusual side dish with Western food. Other vegetables you can prepare this way: for the eggplant, substitute cauliflower or thick slices of red or yellow bell pepper or a combination.

I have been making this dish for more than thirty years—it’s one of the first South Asian recipes I learned—and I’ve never stopped loving it. After having a similar preparation in Delhi, I loved it even more. Basically, you coat shrimp with a spicy mix, then with a simple batter. Originally it was deep-fried, but shallow-frying, which uses less oil and makes less of a mess, works just as well. Don’t limit yourself to shrimp here; any seafood— scallops, oysters, clams, or fish fillet—will work wonderfully. Cooking time will remain about the same in almost every case.