Vivian Chan-Tam

Vivian Chan-Tam · NYT Cooking

Succulent, flavorful turkey breast that cooks up in less than 45 minutes is possible with an air fryer. And with the air fryer method, no babysitting basting time is required. Starting with a simple dry rub infuses the turkey as it chills overnight, ensuring that every bite is tastier than the last. This super easy recipe is perfect for an oven-free Thanksgiving feast or for creating a week's worth of delicious turkey sandwiches.

Vivian Chan-Tam · NYT Cooking

There’s just something about holding a whole roasted turkey leg and taking a big bite. These prized parts of a turkey have a flavorful, juicy and somewhat primal allure. But you don’t have to carve out the time or put in all the work of long roasting for the satisfaction of grasping a large, crispy drumstick. A batch of deeply seasoned and burnished air-fried turkey legs delivers this experience with minimum cleanup, a fraction of the cooking time and a much lower cost — especially if you include the price of entry to state fairs, amusement parks and renaissance fairs. The cranberry sauce might be optional, but is highly recommended. It’s a versatile condiment that can also be schmeared on a sandwich, nestled on a cheeseboard or dunked into as part of a child-friendly weeknight dinner.

Vivian Chan-Tam · NYT Cooking

An irresistible layer of simultaneously melty and crunchy cheese tops this simple, comforting weeknight meal. Meaty mushrooms, juicy chicken and succulent strands of spaghetti make it a recipe fit for hearty appetites, and the efficiency of doing most of the active cooking on the stovetop drastically cuts the baking time. Budget-friendly chicken breasts — which are worth stocking up on when on sale and freezing — stay tender as the pasta bakes thanks to the assistance of some broth. The results are ready in just 30 minutes, but taste like a long-baked casserole.

Vivian Chan-Tam · NYT Cooking

Easy to make and belly-filling, these Chinese buns, baozi, are believed to have originated as early as 400 B.C. Unlike their bready cousins from other parts of the world, they’re steamed, not baked, which makes them pillowy soft and snow white. The classic size of the loaves is small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, but cooks have adapted the recipe to create different shapes to complement their favorite ways to indulge. One of the most common is to form the bao into pockets and generously fill them with slow-roasted duck, drizzled with hoisin sauce and garnished with cilantro sprigs. Whether the tops of the dough rounds are pinched shut or kept open like the clam-shaped bao here, nothing beats a fresh bao straight from the steamer.

Vivian Chan-Tam · NYT Cooking

A Korean dish of marinated meat, colorful vegetables and runny eggs arranged over a bed of fluffy rice, bibimbap is an edible work of art. The banchan, or side dishes, that are piled on top can vary, but this version includes tender beef bulgogi, meaty shiitake mushrooms, crisp bean sprouts, tender spinach, crunchy carrots and cool cucumbers. A spicy-sweet gochujang sauce is drizzled over the top, then everything is mixed together (bibim means “to mix” and bap means “rice” in Korean), breaking open the egg yolk to lend a rich creaminess to the dish. Be sure to scrape up the crunchy grains from the bottom of the pan, and serve with a side of kimchi, if you’d like, for even more texture.

Vivian Chan-Tam · NYT Cooking

Featuring chewy tapioca pearls in a creamy and sweet milk tea, bubble tea, or boba as it’s also called, has many charms. The beverage’s exact origin, while often debated, can likely be traced to 1980s Taiwan, but the drink has become incredibly popular in the United States thanks to the rise of bubble tea shops. This classic version features black tea, Tawainese black sugar, milk and, of course, tapioca pearls, but more modern versions include powdered flavorings, such as strawberry, ube and mango; coffee or matcha for a jolt of caffeine; and toppers like whipped cream or cheese foam. Cooking and soaking dry tapioca pearls takes a little patience, but the results are pleasantly chewy when properly prepared. (As a shortcut, you can use precooked tapioca pearls, but the texture won't be quite the same.) Using Taiwanese black sugar is recommended here — its deep flavor is more molasses-y than other sugars — but dark brown sugar can be swapped in a pinch.

Vivian Chan-Tam · NYT Cooking

A tangle of vermicelli noodles tossed with chicken (or other protein) and a hodgepodge of veggies in a savory sauce are the essential components of mei fun, the versatile Chinese stir-fry whose name means “rice noodles” in Cantonese. Here, chicken, cabbage, carrot and bell pepper are used, but feel free to switch up ingredients as you wish, subbing in strips of pork tenderloin, thinly sliced beef or bite-sized shrimp for the chicken, and celery, onion or broccoli for the veggies. While mei fun, or chow mei fun as it is sometimes known, can serve as a blank canvas for whatever is hanging out in your fridge, some versions have become a dish in their own right, including Singapore mei fun, a bright yellow variation seasoned with curry powder.

Vivian Chan-Tam · NYT Cooking

This 5-ingredient recipe maximizes flavor by using two multitasking powerhouses — garlic and pineapple — that tag team with the grill or a grill pan. Grilling is a great way to infuse flavor and have easy post-dinner cleanup. The acidity of the pineapple acts as a quick meat tenderizer and infuses complex flavors. Garlic not only adds flavor to the marinade and salsa but also can add a bit of sass to cooked white rice to serve alongside the sweet and savory pork. Gently fry up minced garlic with neutral oil, then drizzle over cooked rice to transform it into aromatic garlic rice. It’s a simple and creative way to use what you already have on hand. Together the pineapple and garlic will inspire you to create even more quick meals with strong flavors.

Vivian Chan-Tam · NYT Cooking

The pleasantly chewy texture of these long Chinese noodles is part of the allure, as is the artful practice of delicately pulling the fresh wheat dough to create the strands. Hand-pulling noodles, or la mian, is a technique that has been passed from generation to generation, and the results cannot be replicated with a machine. With just bread flour, water and salt, a streamlined recipe, and a little patience, you really can make these fresh noodles at home. Using a high-gluten flour like bread flour, and allowing an ample amount of rest time, will make the dough easier to pull. Once cooked, these springy noodles can be served in a simple broth accompanied by fresh vegetables and topped with a tongue tingling chile crisp.

Vivian Chan-Tam · NYT Cooking

Rich with pork, silky with tofu, punchy with rice vinegar, and spicy with both red and white pepper, this comforting soup is a Chinese classic. Hot and sour soup has been around for centuries in China, eventually making its way to the United States where it was tweaked for American palates (less sour and spicy) and became a popular staple at Chinese-American restaurants. Variations of the dish abound, mostly dependent upon the protein used: Pork is most common, but lamb, beef, chicken and vegetarian versions also exist. Cornstarch is essential to the recipe as it provides the soup’s velvety texture. (Just note that the soup can thicken as it cools.) Adjust the pepper and vinegar amounts to your preference.

Vivian Chan-Tam · NYT Cooking

The cuisine of the Hunan province is one of the eight traditional Chinese cuisines, but what sets it apart from the others is its use of bold hot and sour flavors. Chiles, vinegar and fermented black beans are staples in Hunan cuisine, and this recipe uses all three. Hunan chicken originated in China and made its way to the United States in the 1970s, where the flavor profile was adapted to please the American palate. Here, bite-size pieces of chicken are marinated in soy sauce, making them tender and juicy, while vegetables are flash-cooked in a wok alongside other staples of Chinese cooking, such as garlic, ginger and scallions, for a flavor-packed dish that hits all the tastebuds. Serve it right away, accompanied by fluffy jasmine rice.

Vivian Chan-Tam · NYT Cooking

Despite its name, this simple stir-fry of sliced beef coated in a velvety and sweet sesame-soy sauce didn’t originate in Mongolia. Wu Zhaonan, a Chinese comedian who fled Beijing when the communist party took over in 1949, opened a tea shop in Taipei, Taiwan, where he served Beijing-style barbecue in which meat and vegetables are cooked on a high-heat griddle. Political reasons prevented the use of the Chinese city in the name, so he called it Mongolian barbecue instead. (Actual Mongolian barbecue is called khorkhog.) The dish eventually made its way to the United States in the 1960s, where restaurants made use of giant flat-top grills, often a focal point of the dining experience. This rendition of Mongolian beef calls for flank steak and uses soy, sesame oil, brown sugar, mirin and a significant amount of chiles. Serve it over a bowl of steamed jasmine rice to balance out the intense flavors.

Vivian Chan-Tam · NYT Cooking

The basic components of moo goo gai pan, a Chinese-American dish which means “mushrooms with chicken slices” in Cantonese, has remained relatively unchanged over the years: tender chicken and an assortment of vegetables coated in a light, savory sauce served alongside a pile of steamed white rice. The dish, which is inspired by classic Cantonese cuisine, is believed to have first appeared in the United States in the 1800s, when Chinese immigrants prepared it for laborers. While the combination of vegetables varies, here, fresh carrots and canned bamboo shoots and water chestnuts reflect what’s commonly found in Chinese restaurants in the United States. For added texture and flavor, this version includes crunchy sugar snap peas, and the option of substituting shiitakes for traditional button mushrooms. Most often, this dish is prepared with a silky, chicken broth-based white sauce, but here, a tiny bit of soy boosts the flavor.

Vivian Chan-Tam · NYT Cooking

This one-pot dish that’s ready in 30 minutes is a weeknight dinner must make. The pasta has all the beloved flavors and vegetables of the classic summer stew, ratatouille, but made faster and fresher. Cooking the eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini and bell pepper in stages allows the flavors to be drawn out more and for the textures to vary from bite to bite. Choosing a shorter pasta shape with ridges or curves will allow even more of the summery sauce to hold on to those noodles.

Vivian Chan-Tam · NYT Cooking

In 1987, chef Andy Kao and Andrew Cherng, a founder and chairman of Panda Express, developed orange chicken, a dish of fried chicken pieces coated in a sticky citrus sauce. The top-selling dish was inspired by a Taiwanese fried chicken dish, a Sichuan beef stir-fry with dried tangerine peels and the sweet-and-sour flavors popular in the Jiangsu region of China. In this version, boneless, skinless chicken thighs are coated in cornstarch, deep-fried until crisp, then tossed in a sweet and tangy sauce made with fresh orange juice. Adjust the heat to your preference with crushed red pepper, and serve over a bed of fluffy jasmine rice.

Vivian Chan-Tam · NYT Cooking

Behind the rich, jewel-toned palette of this cheerful dish is the sweet, tangy, earthy flavor of beets and a buttery crunch from hazelnuts. A feast for the eyes, this refreshing starter or side also awakens the palate. Labneh packs a bit more zing than sour cream and balances the sweetness of red and golden beets touched with honey. The sumac (or a simple squeeze of lemon juice) and lemon zest brighten and lift everything up. The foil packets for cooking the beets not only make for easy cleanup; they trap steam while roasting to yield the most tender and flavorful beets. All the components can be made ahead at least 1 day before serving (see Tip).

Vivian Chan-Tam · NYT Cooking

Scalloped potatoes are a tried-and-true side dish. There’s no reason to reinvent a classic, but adding a kick, a rather strong kick, can be a fun twist. The piquant horseradish in this recipe does exactly that. It cuts through the double richness of the cream and cheese and makes you crave another serving. Swapping a single variety of potato for three — purple, sweet and russet — adds more texture and flavor. Purple potatoes (see Tip) pop on the plate and offer that earthy flavor but with a less starchy texture, and the sweet potatoes are meltingly tender. Give this festive, upgraded version of scalloped potatoes a try at your next gathering.

Vivian Chan-Tam · NYT Cooking

The history of sesame chicken, a delightful dish of battered and fried boneless chicken pieces in sweet and sour sauce, is a bit unclear. While it’s similar to General Tso’s, and la zi ji (or firecracker chicken), a spicy Sichuan dish of chicken, sesame, chiles and Sichuan peppercorns, sesame chicken skews sweeter, thanks to a heap of brown sugar and no chiles. As the name implies, the dish’s defining characteristic is the prominence of sesame flavor, owing to the toasted sesame oil in the marinade and the seeds sprinkled on top. Serve it piled on top of white rice and steamed broccoli.

Vivian Chan-Tam · NYT Cooking

Creamy and a little sweet with a hint of salty smoke from bacon, this classic chowder makes use of canned corn for its tenderness and ease, but you could go all in with fresh corn. If you have the time, buy shell-on shrimp and save the shells to enhance boxed stock. Even a quick simmer of five minutes will give the finished chowder more flavor. Using medium or large shrimp instead of jumbo cuts down on cooking time—plus there will be more to enjoy, especially for leftovers.

Vivian Chan-Tam · NYT Cooking

Sukiyaki is a fun and festive Japanese hotpot of sliced beef, cabbage, mushrooms, hearty greens, tofu and noodles that are served nabemono style, meaning everything is served together in a pot at the table. Kansai-style sukiyaki calls for searing the thin slices of beef over high heat in a traditional Japanese cast-iron pot beforehand, whereas this Kanto-style version calls for cooking the beef over low heat, which slowly releases the fat, helping create a rich and flavorful broth. (This means you can cook Kanto-style sukiyaki in a clay donabe without risk of damaging the pot.) Once the beef is cooked, the rest of the ingredients are added to the pot and brought to the table so diners can serve themselves. Each person gets their own small bowl of warishita sauce, a mixture of soy sauce, sugar and sake, plus a runny egg for dipping. It’s a perfect meal for a chilly day.