Tap a chip to add another filter, or use Clear all below.
A wide shallow pot is brushed with beef fat, the warishita sauce (soy-mirin-sake-sugar) is poured in, then thinly sliced beef and a colourful array of vegetables, tofu and shirataki noodles are added in batches as people eat. Each piece dips in raw egg yolk before going in the mouth. A portable hob at the table is traditional but not required.
Each vegetable cooks separately and gets dressed with sesame oil, garlic and soy. They arrange in colourful piles around a mound of rice; an egg fries on top. Gochujang sauce on the side. Diners mix vigorously before eating.
This dish exemplifies the Chinese penchant for contrasting textures. Tender succulent pieces of chicken are paired with sweet, crunchy cashew nuts and a delicate sauce. While the original Chinese version would have used peanuts (as cashews were not traditionally featured in Chinese cookery), this adaptation showcases how the cuisine evolves while maintaining its core philosophy of textural harmony.
A hearty Spanish soup featuring sweet chestnuts paired with spicy chorizo sausage, caramelized vegetables, and warming spices. The saffron adds a subtle earthiness, creating a comforting autumnal dish with rich, smoky flavors.
When cooking Chinese food, it's essential to think about the flavours and textures of ingredients working in harmony. Juicy chicken combined with succulent baby corn, tender vegetables, and salty, crunchy cashew nuts create a balanced dish where each element complements the others. A glossy sauce ties everything together without overwhelming delicate flavours.
A bright and spicy Sri Lankan-inspired curry with a curry-house spin, featuring aromatic spices, coconut, and fresh curry leaves. It works beautifully as a banquet dish and can be extra hot with extra bird’s eye chillies and chilli powder. The subtle sweet-tang tuning makes it a favorite with rice and mild dhal.
Spicy, thin jungle curry from Chiang Mai, traditionally made with jungle ingredients and game meat. No coconut milk; features a clear, flavorful broth with chicken and vegetables. Serve with sticky rice.
This is a hugely popular dish at Thai restaurants and takeaways, and my family love it. It is important to cut the chicken pieces so that they are about the same size as the cashews (although this is more for presentation as large chunks also work fine). You can mix the sauce and fry the cashews, chillies and chicken a day or so in advance, making this a dish you can cook up very quickly after work with little mess. The first time I tried making this recipe, I burnt the cashews and chillies. Don’t make the same mistake or you’ll have to start all over again. They don’t take long to colour in the oil and cashews aren’t cheap, so keep an eye on them. Although there’s nothing stopping you from doing so, the dried and fried chillies are not meant to be eaten. I like to serve this curry with jasmine rice.
A xacuti masala is built by dry-roasting fresh coconut to a deep mahogany brown alongside a long list of whole spices (Kashmiri and byadgi chillies, coriander, cumin, fennel, peppercorns, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, mace) and grinding them with onion, garlic and ginger into a black-brown paste. The chicken is browned briefly, the paste added, water poured in to cook the chicken through, and tamarind stirred in to finish. The trick is in the roast: the coconut should be almost-burnt, with the bitterness offset by the tamarind.
Plain steamed rice (often last night's leftovers) is the base. A hot temper of mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal, cashews, dried red chilli and curry leaves is bloomed in coconut oil, then fresh grated coconut is folded in and warmed through. The rice is tossed through everything off the heat, so the grains stay separate and pick up flavour rather than soften.
A soft yeasted olive-oil dough rises for 45 minutes. The filling: spinach wilts briefly in salted water and is squeezed bone-dry; chopped onion massages with salt to soften and weep; the two combine with sumac, lemon juice, pomegranate molasses, olive oil and toasted pine nuts. The dough divides into 12 balls; each rolls into a 12 cm disc; a spoon of filling sits in the centre; the disc folds into a tricorn (three corners pinched up to meet at the top). Baked at 220°C 15-18 minutes until deep gold.
A mix of raw and lightly-blanched vegetables; firm tofu pan-fried; hard-boiled eggs halved. The peanut sauce is built fresh from roasted peanuts blended with garlic, chilli, kecap manis, tamarind, lime and water. Pour over at the table; toss; eat.
Spicy Thai salad with glass noodles, prawns, and pork. Nostalgic dish from Thai barbecues; serve hot or at room temperature.
Go Bo Hoi An is a piquant Vietnamese beef salad featuring thinly sliced seared beef tossed with crisp vegetables, fresh herbs, and a bright tamarind-lime dressing. This dish has delicate undertones of lime and garlic which carry through the tamarind flavours perfectly. The combination of tender beef, crunchy vegetables, aromatic herbs, and crispy rice papers creates a textural and flavourful celebration of Vietnamese cuisine. Quick to make but requires advance preparation, ensure the salad, dressing, and toppings are made and ready to use before cooking the beef.
Famous Thai salad (som tum) with sour, sweet, savory, and spicy flavors. Pounded dressing coats crispy papaya and vegetables. Make ahead; won't wilt.
Sweet potato glass noodles (dangmyeon) boil and toss in a soy-sesame sauce. Vegetables (spinach, carrot, mushrooms, onion, peppers) sauté separately to keep their colour and texture, and beef stir-fries fast. Everything tosses together with the sauced noodles and a final sesame finish.
Walnuts are toasted and ground to a paste. Onions are softened slowly with turmeric and saffron; chicken thighs are seared, then poached in a stock that the walnut paste loosens into. Pomegranate molasses, sugar and lemon balance the sauce as it darkens; chicken returns to absorb flavour. Slow-cooked until the oil splits out, the sign Fesenjan is ready.
Kung pao (gongbao) shrimp is the seafood cousin of the classic Sichuan gongbao jiding, named for the 19th-century governor-general Ding Baozhen whose title was Gong Bao. Where the chicken version uses diced meat, the shrimp version keeps the prawns whole or halved so they curl into bright pink commas around the chillies and peanuts. The flavour profile is the signature Sichuan "lychee" balance: a touch of sweetness from sugar, sourness from black vinegar, salt and umami from soy, and the warm tingle (ma la) of toasted Sichuan peppercorn paired with the smoky bite of dried er jing tiao chillies. This is a fast dish, fundamentally a wok exercise: every ingredient must be prepped and lined up before the heat goes on, because once the chillies hit the oil you have maybe ninety seconds before everything is overcooked. Difficulty is moderate for a home cook with a working wok and high burner; the trick is keeping the chillies dark red and fragrant without scorching them black, and pulling the shrimp out the moment they curl. Served over plain rice it is one of the most rewarding ten-minute meals in the repertoire.
Myanmar's national salad and one of the most distinctive dishes in Southeast Asia: a tossed plate built around lahpet, fermented tea leaves with a sour-bitter pungency unlike anything else you've eaten. You start with pre-pickled tea leaves (sold at South-East Asian grocers; rinse to mellow if they're very sour), pile on shredded white cabbage and diced tomato for crunch and sweetness, then a generous handful of crispy fried things: fried garlic, fried peanuts, fried yellow split peas, sesame seeds. Fish sauce and lime juice toss it all together. Each spoonful is a contrast of soft-bitter tea against crunchy fried things and bright lime. Eaten as a snack at a teashop, an appetiser before dinner, or at the close of a meal as a sign of welcome and reconciliation.
Lamb shoulder cubes brown deeply, then simmer slow with onion, garlic and a Moroccan spice blend (ras el hanout, ginger, cinnamon). Stock and a splash of honey go in; dried apricots join in the second half so they soften without dissolving. Toasted almonds and coriander on top.