Recipes

Clarissa Wei · NYT Cooking

In Singapore, there are countless versions of curry. Families have their own formulas depending on heritage, and this recipe comes from Shila Das, a second-generation Singaporean of Indian and Vietnamese descent. She makes it as an integral part of her nasi biryani for special occasions, including the Lunar New Year, when she brings the dish to a celebration with her best friend. Spices and aromatic pandan leaves infuse the sauce with lovely, complex flavors. Clarissa Wei

Clarissa Wei · NYT Cooking

For many families in Singapore, a meal is not complete without a generous side of sambal belacan. The highlight of the condiment is belacan, fermented shrimp paste, which lends an aromatic pungency. This popular hot sauce, accented with makrut lime leaf, is slung over noodles, stuffed into fried mackerel, or used as a dip for crispy prawn crackers. This recipe is adapted from food writer Sharon Wee’s cookbook, “Growing Up in a Nonya Kitchen.” Ms. Wee, who is Peranakan (an ethnic group with mixed Malay, Chinese and European heritage), said in her book that no Peranakan woman “would be worth her salt if she could not concoct this at home.” Clarissa Wei

Clarissa Wei · NYT Cooking

Gemma Lin, a chef and co-owner of the restaurant Bad Mama Keelung, in Taiwan, was taught from a very early age that a proper meal should always contain some form of seafood. For special occasions, her mother liked to pan-fry a whole sea bass and then blanket it with a sour, savory sauce. This recipe is Ms. Lin’s spin on that family classic. Here, a whole sea bass or other white-fleshed fish is marinated with rice wine, then rubbed with sweet potato starch and shallow-fried. It’s topped with a hearty portion of fresh vegetables and a delectable sweet-and-sour dressing made with tomato paste, mirin, vinegar and a gentle splash of soy sauce. Clarissa Wei

Clarissa Wei · NYT Cooking

Known as siu yuk in Cantonese, this pork belly features two contrasting textures: a crunchy, crispy skin that crackles and pops and a tender slab of meat underneath. To achieve success with both components, a lot of care and time has to be put into the prep. The pork belly needs to be cooked low and slow to break down the tough sinewy bits, then the skin needs to be dried overnight until leathery and blasted under high heat until crisp. This recipe comes from Hong Kong resident Cherry Tang, who used to make siu yuk in the supper clubs she hosted back when she lived in London. Ms. Tang prefers to broil the meat under direct heat, which guarantees a crackling crust — but do keep an eye on the skin, so that it doesn’t char. Clarissa Wei

Clarissa Wei · NYT Cooking

This rendition of chicken rice, where the chicken is delicately poached with aromatics then served at room temperature, is common throughout Southeast Asia and parts of China, but every family is likely to have a slightly different technique. This recipe is from 93-year-old Nancy Fam of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, who used to offer a whole poached chicken, with its head and feet still attached, as part of an elaborate altar ritual for deceased family members. After the spirits had been satiated, she’d carve up the chicken and serve it to the living, paired with a dipping sauce made with shallots, lime and ground bean sauce (a fermented soybean paste), a recipe she inherited from her late mother. A celebration of family both present and past, the chicken is served at room temperature, but eaten with a piping hot serving of jasmine rice. Clarissa Wei

Tejal Rao · NYT Cooking

This simple, summery cake gets its rustic texture from polenta and ground almonds. Most of its sweetness comes from cut peaches that bubble in a light caramel at the bottom of the cake, then decorate the top when you flip it over. The recipe is from King, a small restaurant in Manhattan where the chefs Clare de Boer and Jess Shadbolt swap the stone fruit out to use whatever is sweet, juicy and in season. Try the cake with peaches, nectarines, plums or even a mix of all three, but make sure to give the cake the time it needs to turn golden brown and firm to the touch. At King, the chefs use the Italian brand Moretti's stone-ground polenta bramata. For a more rustic cake, with a little bite, use coarse polenta. For a more tender crumb, use finely ground polenta. Tejal Rao

Clare de Boer · NYT Cooking

Think of a sformato as a soufflé that requires no technique. This one is fluffy and rich at the same time. A cheesy base of ricotta, Parmesan and crème fraîche is combined with a double dose of corn: whole kernels and a purée. Lightness and rise comes from egg whites, whipped to stiff peaks and folded through right before cooking. Make sure your eaters are assembled at the table when you pull this out of the oven. It’s best eaten immediately, still puffed up and drizzled with crushed basil oil.

Clare de Boer · NYT Cooking

The success of a BLT hangs in its balance of salt, acid, lusciousness and crunch. This version is perfect, with a generous swipe of mayonnaise on each slice of toast, followed by a drizzle of olive oil, tomatoes marinated in red wine vinegar and salt, butter lettuce leaves and thick-cut bacon. Squash this closed and eat while the bacon is still warm. BLTs are often associated with summer, but the vinegar here coaxes flavor and brings brightness to hothouse tomatoes, turning it into a sandwich for all seasons.

Clare de Boer · NYT Cooking

Juicy, late-summer fruits and rich almond frangipane do the hard work here. Consider making these toasts an exercise in generosity rather than technique: Spread frangipane thickly and all the way to the edges of the toast and err on the side of too much fruit, torn roughly and tossed with a pinch of salt, and some sugar to encourage caramelization. If serving this for an after-dinner dessert, add a splash of red wine to the fruit and serve with a dollop of mascarpone. If this is breakfast, you might prefer Greek yogurt as an accompaniment, or a glug of heavy cream.

Clare de Boer · NYT Cooking

Surrounded by caramelized peppers, focaccia croutons — some crisp, some soaked with vinegar and chicken jus — and a bright basil aioli, this roast chicken dish is filled with delights that can only be earned through home-cooking and family-style eating. The deliciousness of this recipe relies on layering flavor and encouraging pan juices. Marinate the chicken and peppers generously, seasoning at various stages. Next, place some focaccia underneath the chicken to roast in schmaltz, and tuck smaller shards of the bread like a wreath around the edge of the dish, where they will crisp. If your dish runs dry during cooking, add a splash more vinegar. The basil aioli is crucial, though it doesn’t need to be homemade: Use the best store-bought version you can find and spruce it up with the basil, lemon and garlic paste.

Clare de Boer · NYT Cooking

This bombe was born of an accident and requires a little patience, lots of ice cream and a willingness to get crafty. Don’t be afraid to mix the biscotti dough by hand and play around when you are shaping it into your bowl. It won’t look perfect, but the bombe will be pristine. Confectioners’ sugar, cherries and grated pistachios are your allies to make this dish scream of delight. This bombe is frivolity at its finest, so don’t take the process of making it too seriously.

Clare de Boer · NYT Cooking

This is an elegant alternative to the holiday parade of sugary pies. Cardamom adds a grown-up twist to the classic combination of hazelnut and pear. (Don’t overdo the spice, however, or your dessert will taste more like a cold remedy than a treat.) Cut corners by pressing out the crust, but don’t skip making your own roasted hazelnut meal: The deep, caramel flavor of toasted nuts is worth the labor. Use ripe pears, or poach harder fruit until tender before adding to the tart.

Clare de Boer · NYT Cooking

This pie is fudgy, nutty, salty-sweet and spiked with citrus. It’s a meeting of sorts, between arguably Britain and America’s greatest desserts: the treacle tart and pecan pie. Cut corners by grating the crust instead of rolling it out, but don’t skip making your own bread crumbs and roasted walnuts; the texture and flavor rely on the freshness of both. Once you’ve prebaked the crust to biscuit brown, err on the side of undercooking the molasses-custard filling: It’ll firm up when cooled and stay gooey for days.

Clare de Boer · NYT Cooking

A layer of cranberry sauce below orange-scented almond frangipane is the perfect balance of tart and sweet. It’s a holiday play on Britain’s beloved Cherry Bakewell tart that gives you a reason to make extra sauce — or a good excuse to use up leftovers. Temperatures are key to the result: The cranberry sauce needs to be slightly warm to spread over the prebaked pie crust, and the frangipane must be fridge-cold to prevent it from splitting in the oven.

Clare de Boer · NYT Cooking

This recipe and method make a distinctly tender, crisp crust. Unlike rolling, which can toughen pastry by developing the gluten in the dough, grating breaks — or shortens — the protein chains, which leads to extra tenderness. Pressing the grated pastry directly into the pie plate makes patisserie-thin crusts achievable, without much practice. It’s key to thoroughly chill the dough before grating and to pull it up higher than the rim of the dish to allow for shrinkage. Swap this recipe in as the base of any sweet pie, adjusting the thickness accordingly. Deeper pies made in dishes without removable bases benefit from slightly thicker crusts, whereas fluted tart crusts are best whisper thin. Make double the dough and freeze half, so you have an excuse to make pie another day.

Clare de Boer · NYT Cooking

These grilled chicken skewers are gently spiced with a ginger-and-cumin yogurt marinade, which makes the meat exceedingly tender and cooks to fragrant curds. As they grill, the skewers are gilded with a tarragon-mint baste that tastes distinctly Persian. Restraint and a very hot grill are both key to getting a good char: Don’t move the skewers until the yogurt is burnished and the meat releases from the grates. Color is flavor. Catch any juices that run out of the cooked skewers with warm pita bread. Leftovers make excellent chicken salad.

Clare de Boer · NYT Cooking

Wrap your chicken with bacon, grill it and drizzle it with this nearly green goddess, almost-guacamole dressing and you might even convert burger eaters into salad fiends. Covering the butterflied breasts in bacon helps baste the lean chicken and accelerates char as fat melts onto the coals. Flare-ups are inevitable, but don’t be alarmed: They will ensure rich color on the bacon while protecting the breast from overcooking. When assembling the salad, avoid weighing down the leaves with hot and heavy toppings: Dollop plenty of the dressing on the plate first, and layer most of the chicken and fudgy eggs below the lightly dressed leaves. There should be a little leftover dressing to satisfy the people that will want to dip each bite of chicken into the herby, lime-laced avocado.

Clare de Boer · NYT Cooking

This recipe fulfills the fantasy of grilled chicken that is both juicy and charred. Spatchcocking and slashing the bird allow it to cook evenly and remain succulent as the spiced honey and lemon marinade caramelizes into a golden crust. A low-temperature grill and attentive flipping are essential to cooking the bird through without singeing the outside. Pay close attention to the skin during the first few minutes of cooking to make sure the grill isn’t too hot, then turn and baste regularly to cultivate bronzed, savory-sweet skin.

Clare de Boer · NYT Cooking

Strawberries and cream get a double dose of sesame from tahini and halvah. The tahini adds richness, and the slightly salty halvah has a cookie-dough effect: Everyone will mine for it. Eat it quickly before it melts, ideally with extra halvah on standby.

Clare de Boer · NYT Cooking

Think of this warming dish as a relay race, each ingredient handing its flavor to the next. During the (almost!) hands-off cooking, a head of garlic and a whole chicken stuffed with a Parmesan rind roast, then give themselves to salted water, which in turn flavors the egg noodles that soften around the bird. Salt and water are your best tools here: Season the chicken, season the water and season both again. Don’t hesitate to add more water as the noodles are cooking to make sure they’re submerged. Every brand will absorb a slightly different amount of liquid, and you want a result that’s splashy enough to take on all the Parmesan you will grate at the table. Use your largest pot so everything fits. A 7- to 9-quart Dutch oven has ideal proportions with its wide base and chicken-height sides. You can substitute any short, quick-cooking pasta for egg noodles, and introduce sautéed mushrooms, spinach or herbs at the end, if that’s your mood.

Clare de Boer · NYT Cooking

This simple whole-wheat loaf requires no kneading, shaping or baking experience to get it right. You can begin the recipe when you wake up, and enjoy a warm loaf for breakfast a few hours later. Make sure that your yeast foams in the molasses-water before you stir it into the flour. If it does nothing, the yeast is probably dead — discard it and save this recipe for another day. If you like seedy bread, include some (sunflower, poppy, sesame or a combination) in the dough, and sprinkle some on top of the loaf before letting it rise. No adjustments are needed if you decide to include them. While most bread recipes advise you to wait until the loaf cools completely before slicing, this one is best still warm, with butter — Irish, preferably! Clare de Boer

Clare de Boer · NYT Cooking

This frittata is a celebration of spring: Its color, flavor and tenderness capture the spirit of beginnings. A purée of mint and peas, as well as a sprinkling of both, give it its pastel green freshness. Heavy cream and a long cook time in a low oven give it a quivering, custardy texture that may remind you more of steamed eggs than most frittatas. To get this gentle wobble, undercook the frittata ever so slightly, and let the residual heat finish the job. Be brave and take it out of the oven right after you feel the middle go from swampy to jiggly, and allow it to cool slightly before slicing. As is always the case with frittatas, they are best at or right above room temperature, so do not refrigerate before serving.

Clare de Boer · NYT Cooking

This salad has all the snappy sweetness of spring, offset by the smoky saltiness of bacon and a bacon fat vinaigrette. Black pepper is a key ingredient, not an accent, so grind on. Bacon fat sets as it cools, so make the dressing when the bacon pan is still warm, and if you’re making it in advance, make sure it's just warmer than room temperature. If you store it in a jar, sit the jar in a hot water bath to melt the fat before dressing the salad. Also make sure that your salad ingredients are room temperature, rather than cold, when you dress. To make this salad vegetarian, leave out the bacon and replace the bacon fat in the dressing with olive oil.

Clare de Boer · NYT Cooking

These cookies have an Italian-inspired taste and an American texture. The flavors of lemon, polenta and rosemary may remind you of biscotti, or a lemon-polenta cake, but the cookies are as crisp-edged and chewy-centered as they come. The recipe uses Sarah Kieffer’s pan-banging technique, which requires quite a specific dough-ball size and wide spacing on the sheet pan to work. Make sure each round of dough is 3 ounces, and don’t bake more than four balls on one pan. These giant cookies are even better when they’ve cooled slightly — they become chewier and the rosemary emerges.