Posts

Vegan Japanese Curry (ビーガンカレーライス) In the century and a half or so, since Indian curry was brought to Japan by the British, it’s evolved into a uniquely Japanese version of the dish that’s one of the most popular comfort foods here. Most grocery stores have an aisle dedicated to ready-to-eat packets of curry and instant roux that can be used to make it at home. Most of these contain meat extracts as well as loads of hydrogenated oils and “flavor enhancers,” so I’ve been making my Japanese Curry from scratch for the past decade....

Beef Rendang is often considered the crown jewel of Indonesian cuisine, and for good reason. Its rich, complex flavors unfold in waves-bright notes of lemongrass and makrut lime leaves dance with the deep richness of caramelized beef and coconut cream while the heat of chilies urges you to go for another bite. I learned how to make this Indonesian classic during a rainy afternoon spent at a friend’s kitchen in Singapore, where we simmered, stirred, and shared stories over the enticing aroma of spices....

With holiday baking season just getting started, I wanted to kick things off with a recipe for chocolate chip cookies that I’ve been working on for a few months. While the qualities that make for the best chocolate chip cookie are a wildly subjective matter, I do believe I’ve come up with a better way of making this childhood favorite, that helps accommodate all sorts of cookie lovers with its flexibility....

It amazes me how much money people spend on “gourmet” chili powders. They often come in some kind of kitschy packaging (like a burlap sack or a cowboy hat), with promises such as “Authentic!”, “World’s Best”, or “Award Winning!” emblazoned all over them. Inside the impressive packaging, you’re likely to find a decidedly unimpressive plastic baggie of spices that are long past their prime. Aside from being ridiculously overpriced these mixes have also probably been sitting on the shelf for months....

Best Kimchi Fried Rice Recipe When you’re craving a little comfort but don’t have more than a few minutes to spend cooking, I can’t think of many dishes that are a better fit than this simple Kimchi Fried rice recipe, or Kimchi Bokkeumbap (볶음밥). It’s an easy dish that’s best made with aged kimchi and stale rice, but there are a few things you can do to elevate this classic Korean comfort food to the next level, and I’m going to show you how....

Molokhia is eaten across Africa and the Middle East, but its roots trace back to ancient Egypt, where it’s still a beloved staple. In the Egyptian version, the leaves are stripped from the stems, minced finely, and simmered with garlic, ground coriander, and chicken stock. In the Levant (Syria and Lebanon), it’s made with whole leaves and paired with vinegar-onion sauce and toasted pita. I’d used the molokhia plant in Japanese cooking for years but first tasted molokhia soup while working in a Saudi Arabian kitchen alongside Egyptian, Syrian, and Lebanese chefs....

Moo Goo Gai Pan Like many Cantonese dishes, Moo Goo Gai Pan is thought to have been brought over to the US by laborers from Canton (now known as Guangdong) province during the mid-1800s. Since then, it’s become a Chinese food staple at takeout restaurants worldwide. Tender chicken breast and savory mushrooms get stir-fried with a colorful assortment of vegetables, and seasoned with Shaoxing wine and oyster sauce. It’s an easy dish that you can put together in about fifteen minutes at home....

Tempura Mushrooms (茸の天ぷら) Although Tempura has an image of being solidly Japanese, deep-frying isn’t a traditional preparation method in Japan. The concept of battering and deep-frying vegetables was introduced to Japan by Jesuit missionaries from Portugal nearly 500 years ago! These days, Tempura is made with almost anything, from cheese to sea urchin, but tempura mushrooms are among my favorite. There’s nothing complicated about this dish, but there are a few tricks you need to know to pull it off, so I’m going to share all my secrets for making the best Tempura....

One of my favorite Indian take-out places in New York makes a vibrant magenta onion and beet pickle they include with every order. It’s a bit unexpected, but aside from being a visual contrast from the earthy tones of Indian food, it provides a sweet and tangy flavor contrast that’s marvelous with a fiery Vindaloo. I actually contemplated ordering a container of just the pickles to keep around for other uses, but then it occurred to me that I probably had all the ingredients I’d need to make them myself....

Sure I have a page with a few dozen of my favorite dishes on this site , but in order to get “best” in the title it has to be something unparalleled. In this case, this meatloaf is the kind of delicious that has me sneaking back to the fridge to nibble on leftovers as I write this post. While meatloaf has legitimate ancestry stretching back to various dishes from across Europe, it didn’t become widely popular in the US until the Great Depression....

I grew up on Mexican food in California, but moving to the East Coast introduced me to an entirely different world of Latin-American cuisine. Instead of Carne Asada and Tacos al Pastor, Ropa Vieja and Sándwich Cubano ruled the streets, and it’s here that I discovered the mild yet vibrant, comforting yet exciting world of la cocina Cubana. Cuban food had this way of making me feel alive even on the dreariest days in the city....

Hiyayakko (冷奴 hiya yakko) is a traditional chilled Japanese tofu salad recipe perfect for a hot summer day when you want something delicious without heating up the kitchen. At its heart, Hiyayakko is a velvety block of cold silken tofu with a texture reminiscent of a tender egg custard with a subtle nutty sweetness. A smoky whisper of katsuobushi, the zing of freshly chopped scallions, and the contrasting warmth of grated ginger transform the delicate tofu with a balance of tastes, textures, and temperatures with minimal fuss....

Peeling tomatoes might seem like an unnecessary step, but if you’ve ever found tough skins in a silky sauce, you know why it matters. Whether you’re simmering them in marinara sauce, making salsa, or preparing them for canning, learning how to easily peel tomatoes elevates your cooking. This method is simple, and watching how effortlessly they shed their skins is satisfying and almost magical. Here’s my favorite method for peeling tomatoes, perfected through years of practice....

Healthy Matcha Oatmeal It’s pretty well established that oatmeal is a heart-healthy breakfast food, but it’s not the most exciting thing in the world from both a flavor and texture perspective. Adding matcha powder to your oatmeal is a great way to improve its flavor and visual appeal. There are also tons of potential health benefits of matcha, including weight loss and the stabilization of free radicals. The best part about this is that the flavor of the green tea lends itself well to going sweet or savory, depending on what you top it with....

Chicken Parmesan is made of components I love, like juicy chicken, savory Parmesan cheese, tangy tomato sauce, and spaghetti. So, in theory, I should love Chicken Parm as well, but for all its promise, in most restaurants, it’s an utter abomination that ruins the ingredients that go into the dish. With soggy flaps of mystery meat saturated with old grease and insipid sauce, I’ve never been able to get behind the American interpretation of Pollo Alla Parmigiana....

Okinawa Taco Rice (タコライス) Although Japan has a relatively homogenous population, its food culture is a melting pot of culinary traditions from around the world. Japanese Taco Rice is an amalgamation of Texmex-style tacos and Japanese rice bowls, first created as a cheap yet satisfying meal for hungry US Marines based in Okinawa. It not only melds two form factors, but it also uses a mashup of ingredients like chili powder and ketchup with soy sauce and sake....

Tamago Kake Gohan (卵かけご飯), affectionately known as TKG, is the ultimate Japanese breakfast comfort food which translates to “raw egg on rice.” There are dozens of variations of this recipe that run from whipping the egg white into a meringue to curing the egg yolk in soy sauce, but what they all share in common is a fresh, high-quality egg mixed into piping hot rice. In my tamago kake gohan recipe, I like to separate the egg, mixing the albumin into the piping hot rice to achieve a creamy, fluffy texture, and then add the yolk at the end to finish it off with a velvety touch of richness....

Tantanmen (汁なし坦々麺 - Soupless Tantanmen) Tantanmen is a spicy variant of ramen that’s based on Chinese Dandan Mian. It’s traditionally made by infusing ramen broth with a spicy blend of chili oil and sesame paste. These days, a soupless variant called Tsuyunashi Tantanmen (literally “Tantanmen without soup”) has gained popularity, especially during the warmer months of the year. It bears similarities to Mazesoba or Mazemen , which is also a soupless ramen dish that evolved in Taiwan and has recently gained popularity in Japan....

Imagine biting into a delightfully crisp pork gyoza that gives way to a filling that explodes with savory juices that are rich and porky with a hint of garlic and ginger. I started making homemade gyoza with my mom as a kid, but I’ve spent the past 30 years refining her recipe for these delightful Japanese dumplings, and I’m confident that this method will match or beat the best gyoza shops in Japan....

Cold Soba Noodles (ざる蕎麦 - Zaru Soba) Zaru Soba is a chilled noodle dish made by boiling and chilling buckwheat noodles before serving them on a Zaru or strainer. The soba noodles are then dipped in a savory dashi-based broth as you lift each bite of noodles to your mouth. It’s a wonderfully refreshing meal that requires minimal cooking, and it can be customized with a wide variety of condiments that can be added to the sauce or used to top the noodles with....