Recipes

Colu Henry · NYT Cooking

Beloved pantry white beans add substance to this take on caprese salad, which comes together in no time. It’s a perfect side for grilled chicken or fish, and can be easily doubled to work as a main course when it’s too hot to turn on the oven. If you’re so inclined, a handful of spicy arugula, thinly sliced roasted red peppers or ribbons of prosciutto — or all three — would also be nice additions. This dish is easily transportable and tastier when eaten while sitting in a lawn chair.

Colu Henry · NYT Cooking

This simple dish was inspired by a recipe for steamed scallop and butter rice found in “Donabe: Classic and Modern Japanese Clay Pot Cooking” (Ten Speed, 2015) by Naoko Takei Moore and Kyle Connaughton. Here, sweet sea scallops are seared in a hot pan and basted with melted butter and soy sauce to finish cooking. Tender greens are sautéed in garlic oil, then the scallops are placed on top and everything is drizzled with the remaining soy-butter and a bit of sesame oil. Finish the dish with a good squeeze of lime, thinly sliced scallions and a smattering of sesame seeds. It’s wonderful served over steamed white rice, so be sure to get that on the stove before you begin cooking the scallops, as the rest of the meal comes together in no time at all.

Colu Henry · NYT Cooking

When another summer tomato sandwich just won’t do, try this BLT pasta instead. This clever twist on the classic sandwich substitutes spicy arugula for lettuce and in-season cherry tomatoes for heirlooms, which cook in bacon fat and produce a silky, smoky sauce. If baby arugula is out of reach, baby spinach, watercress or Swiss chard would work well in its place. Serve with a raw, shaved zucchini salad tossed with lemon juice, olive oil and mint.

Nancy Harmon Jenkins · NYT Cooking

Nancy Harmon Jenkins

Colette Rossant · NYT Cooking

Colette Rossant · NYT Cooking

Colette Rossant · NYT Cooking

Colette Rossant · NYT Cooking

Colette Rossant · NYT Cooking

Colette Rossant · NYT Cooking

Colette Rossant · NYT Cooking

Colette Rossant · NYT Cooking

Colette Rossant · NYT Cooking

Colette Rossant · NYT Cooking

Colette Rossant · NYT Cooking

Colette Rossant · NYT Cooking

Colette Rossant · NYT Cooking

Colette Rossant · NYT Cooking

Clarissa Wei · NYT Cooking

Mooncakes are pastries timed to the Mid-Autumn Festival, a holiday that celebrates the commencement of the harvest season, and this variety is specific to Suzhou, China, a city on the outskirts of Shanghai. Stuffed with juicy ground pork, these savory, glazed mooncakes burst with the flavor of sweetened soy sauce. The shells are crisp and flaky, a texture achieved by layering then rolling two types of dough with lard. This recipe comes from “My Shanghai: Recipes and Stories From a City on the Water” by Betty Liu, whose mom made them each year when autumn rolled around. Traditionally, the pastries are cooked on the stovetop in a giant cast-iron skillet, but popping them into the oven ensures an even bake. Clarissa Wei

Clarissa Wei · NYT Cooking

Mooncakes are pastries timed to the Mid-Autumn Festival, a holiday that celebrates the commencement of the harvest season. Traditionally, they showcased the best ingredients of a region, like sweet lotus seed paste in Guangdong, China, melon seeds in Hainan or pork in Yunnan, but you can stuff mooncakes with whatever you’d like, as long as the fillings are encased in dough and the exterior is aesthetically pleasing. In her forthcoming cookbook, “Mooncakes and Milkbread,” the Chinese-American baker Kristina Cho has channeled that spirit by stuffing her mooncakes with blitzed pistachios and honey, a combination commonly found in baklava. The blend is enveloped in a classic Cantonese crust that uses lye water to bump up the pH of the dough, giving it a gentle amber hue, and golden syrup, which lends the cake a chewy, soft bite. Clarissa Wei

Clarissa Wei · NYT Cooking

Because of its vibrant multiethnic population, Singapore is one of the few places where biryani — a dish with origins in the Indian subcontinent — is regularly eaten for Lunar New Year. This recipe is from Shila Das, a second-generation Singaporean of Indian and Vietnamese descent who grew up celebrating the festivities. You first prepare chicken curry as you’ll use its sauce in this dish and serve the chicken with it. As a prolific home cook, Ms. Das has been tasked with making this dish for annual Lunar New Year potlucks. She learned how to make it from her father, who prepared it for Diwali. Clarissa Wei

Clarissa Wei · NYT Cooking

The Singaporean cookbook author Sharon Wee, who wrote “Growing Up in a Nonya Kitchen,” customarily makes these slick noodles tossed in a savory sauce for Lunar New Year’s Eve to mark the beginning of the two week-long celebrations. Her mother taught her how to throw proper Peranakan feasts, which include a unique blend of Malay, European and Chinese influences. They spent weeks pickling vegetables in spiced vinegar, making pork liver meatballs and braising duck in a tamarind gravy. This simple stir-fry is anchored by juicy pork belly and shrimp, and topped with pale yellow egg strips, bright red chiles and vibrant mustard greens. It is best enjoyed with a dollop of sambal belacan, which gives it a hit of heat, and served with braised cabbage and chicken curry. Clarissa Wei

Clarissa Wei · NYT Cooking

Nian gao is a homonym for the Chinese phrase “nian nian gao sheng,” which means increasing prosperity year after year. It is a dish indigenous to southern China in sweet and savory forms, and traveled with the diaspora to southeast Asia. This modern spin on classic nian gao comes from the food writer Christopher Tan, who wrote a book on Singaporean pastries titled “The Way of Kueh.” He incorporates coconut milk, butter and mashed sweet potato into this nian gao for richness. The rice cake is usually steamed, but Mr. Tan bakes the batter in small molds for the contrast of a fudgy inside and crisp outside. The key to a smooth texture that stays soft after baking is resting the wet glutinous rice dough overnight. Clarissa Wei

Clarissa Wei · NYT Cooking

A hearty plate of chopped cabbage, shiitake mushrooms and carrots stewed in aromatics, chap chye is ubiquitous on the Lunar New Year table in Singapore, though every family has a different way of making it depending on its heritage. This recipe comes from Darren Ho, a Singaporean chef of Teochew, Hainanese, Cantonese and Peranakan descent. Other cooks like adding cubes of pork for flavor, lily buds for texture and a heaping of black moss fungus on top because its Cantonese name — fat choy — is a homophone for good luck. Mr. Ho flavors his vegan version with fermented bean paste and bean curd cubes, which lend distinct creamy undertones. Serve with white rice. Clarissa Wei