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Cucumber, carrot, shallot, chilli prep into thin slices or matchsticks. Salt rests for 10 minutes to draw moisture, drains. A simple dressing of vinegar, sugar, water and ginger whisks together. Vegetables toss with the dressing; rest for 1 hour at room temperature. Eats cool, never refrigerated cold; the texture suffers.
Cumin seeds bloom in hot oil; chopped onion is fried until gold; ginger-garlic paste, turmeric, chilli and coriander toast briefly; tomato softens into a quick sauce. The potatoes go in first (they need longest), the cauliflower follows; both cook covered until tender, stirred occasionally. Garam masala and chopped coriander at the end.
Whole-wheat (atta) flour is mixed with salt and just enough warm water to make a soft dough; rests for 20 minutes. Potatoes boil whole, peel hot, mash with cumin, garam masala, ginger, green chilli, amchoor and coriander. The dough divides into balls. Each ball flattens into a small disc; a heaped spoon of potato sits in the middle; the dough pleats up around the filling and pinches closed; flattens again carefully; rolls out gently to a 20 cm disc. Each cooks on a hot tawa or non-stick pan with ghee, 2 minutes per side, until crispy and gold.
Green papaya is peeled, seeded and shredded on a coarse grater. Carrot, ginger, garlic, red pepper, onion and raisins are all prepared in matching shreds. The vegetables are salted and rested for 1 hour to draw water; rinsed and squeezed dry. A syrup of cane vinegar, sugar and whole peppercorns simmers for 5 minutes. Hot syrup is poured over the vegetables in a sterilised jar. The jar is sealed, cooled and refrigerated overnight before eating. Improves over the following week.
A whole aubergine is charred directly over a gas flame until the skin is blackened and the flesh inside is soft. The charred skin is peeled off and the flesh roughly mashed. A masala of onion, garlic, ginger, green chilli and tomato is cooked down to a thick base, and the smoky aubergine flesh is folded through with a finishing touch of garam masala and coriander. Vegetable-side or vegetarian main; the smoke is what makes it.
The Burmese dried-shrimp relish that sits in a jar in every Yangon kitchen, the seasoning you reach for to lift a plate of plain rice into something memorable. You pulse-grind dried shrimp to a coarse floss, then fry a pile of sliced garlic and shallot in oil until they're deep golden and crisp. The dried shrimp joins them and toasts to a fragrant rust colour. Chilli powder, fish sauce, tamarind, sugar and a splash of water turn the lot into a sticky red-brown relish. Cook until the oil clears (twelve to fifteen minutes), cool, store in a jar. Eat by the spoonful with rice, or as a side to grilled meat or fish.
The okra is washed, dried thoroughly and trimmed, then cut into 2 cm pieces. A dry-fry over high heat for 10 minutes cooks away the surface moisture that causes slime. Onion is then browned with whole cumin in a separate go, ginger and garlic added, tomato cooked down with the ground spices, and the dry-fried okra folded in for a final dry simmer. Finished with garam masala, amchur and coriander.
Mince browns with onion, garlic, curry powder, ginger and a small chopped chilli; the filling is cooled. Spring-roll pastry strips are folded into triangular pouches around a teaspoon of filling, sealed with a flour-water paste, and deep-fried 170°C until deep gold. Crisp shell, hot savoury inside.
The Ashkenazi version, simplest and most common in northern Europe and the United States: tart apples chopped fine, walnuts crushed coarse, cinnamon, a little brown sugar, and sweet kosher red wine to bind. Stirred together and left for the flavours to meld. Some households add a pinch of ground ginger or a squeeze of lemon. There are dozens of regional variants (Sephardi versions use dates and figs); this one is the most familiar at a North American seder.
Chicken thighs cube small; marinate for 1 hour in yogurt, ginger-garlic paste, Kashmiri chilli, garam masala and cornflour. Deep-fried in two stages, first to cook through, second to crisp. While the chicken rests, a hot tempering of curry leaves, garlic, dried chillies, soy and vinegar sputters in a wok. The fried chicken tosses through the tempering for 30 seconds and goes straight to the plate.
Cucumbers are cut into spears (or smashed-and-torn for a rougher texture), salted heavily in a colander 30 minutes to weep, then patted dry. A brine of rice vinegar, sugar, light soy, water, sliced ginger, Sichuan peppercorns and dried red chillies brings to a gentle simmer just to dissolve the sugar; cools to room temperature. The drained cucumber goes into a jar; the cooled brine pours over to submerge; refrigerated for 1 hour minimum (overnight ideal). Eats cold straight from the jar.
Fresh coconut is ground with green chilli, ginger, roasted gram and a small splash of water into a smooth paste. The chutney is finished with a tempering of mustard seeds, dried red chilli, curry leaves and asafoetida in hot oil, poured over the white chutney for a striking visual and aromatic contrast.
Poached chicken is shredded and tossed with finely shredded cabbage, carrot and onion that has been softened in a light vinegar bath. A bright nước chấm style dressing brings everything together and toasted peanuts and fried shallots finish the top. The trick is balance: the salad should be crunchy, not waterlogged, and the dressing should taste sharp on its own before it hits the salad.
Kadu bouranee is Afghanistan's sweet-and-savoury pumpkin dish: cubes of butternut squash or pumpkin braised slowly with onion and a touch of sugar until they collapse, plated under cold garlic-and-mint yogurt while the pumpkin is still warm. The temperature contrast is the whole pleasure of the dish. You brown the pumpkin briefly in oil with chopped onion, add sugar, tomato and a splash of stock, then cover and cook low until the pumpkin is completely yielding to a spoon (around forty minutes). Spoon into a wide dish, blanket with garlic yogurt (chaka) straight from the fridge, scatter dried mint over the top. Eat with naan, scooping pumpkin and yogurt up together.
A Burmese aubergine dish, the kind of thing that turns up on a weekday table next to a simple curry and rice. You cube the aubergine and salt it for twenty minutes to draw out the bitter water, then squeeze it dry. Onion fries dark-gold in oil; garlic, ginger and turmeric go in briefly; then the aubergine joins them and fries for eight minutes until silky-soft and just collapsing. Fish sauce, chilli powder and a touch of palm sugar season the pan, and toasted crushed peanuts scatter over at the end for crunch. Eaten warm with rice and a small piece of fish.
Lamb mince fries with onion, garlic, ginger and a spice mix of garam masala, cumin, coriander and chilli. Frozen peas thaw into the dry filling at the end; lemon juice and chopped coriander finish it. Left to cool. Spring-roll pastry strips fold around a generous tablespoon of filling into triangular packets (flag-fold) and seal with flour paste. Deep-fried 175°C until deep gold.
Napa cabbage quarters and salts in heavy salt water 4 hours; rinses well; drains. A sweet rice-flour porridge cooks briefly and cools. Aromatic paste: garlic, ginger, fish sauce, onion, apple/pear, gochugaru, sugar, pulses smooth, mixes with porridge. Daikon and carrot julienne fine; spring onion slices. Everything tosses with the paste. Cabbage stuffs leaf-by-leaf with the spiced mix. Packs tight in a jar. Ferments at room temperature 1-3 days, then refrigerates.
Lump tamarind is soaked in hot water and strained for a thick brown extract. The extract is cooked over low heat with palm jaggery (or dark brown sugar), ginger, salt and a mix of spices (cumin, fennel, black salt, chilli) until it thickens to a syrup that coats a spoon. The chutney sits between syrup and jam, with a slick of oil if you cook it long enough. Cools to a thick, glossy dipping consistency.
A bunch of mint and a bunch of coriander are blended with green chilli, garlic, ginger, lemon juice, cumin and a small handful of roasted gram (for body). Thick natural yogurt is folded in at the end. The chutney finishes bright green, sharp and cool; designed to cut through the richness of chargha, boti and chapli kebabs.
Split yellow moong dal (or chana dal, or a mix) is rinsed and pressure-cooked or simmered with turmeric until completely soft. The dal is mashed lightly to a porridge consistency. A second pan fries ghee with whole cumin, garlic, sliced green chilli, dried red chilli and curry leaves until the garlic just turns golden. The hot tarka is poured over the dal with a dramatic sizzle; coriander and lemon finish.