Recipes

Tejal Rao · NYT Cooking

Guadalupe Moreno runs Mi Morena, a tacos de guisado business in the Bay Area, where a number of saucy fillings and toppings are used to mix and match tacos to order. She shared her recipe for tinga de pollo with Leticia Landa and Caleb Zigas for their cookbook "We Are La Cocina." Ms. Moreno's tinga de pollo works perfectly in tacos and also on top of crisp tostadas with lettuce and salsa, inside quesadillas or as a tamal filling. It’s a great way to use up any leftover cooked chicken (just skip straight to step 2), whether pulled from a roast or poached bird, or grocery-store rotisserie. Tejal Rao

Tejal Rao · NYT Cooking

Tamales are often served with complementing salsas and soups, but Claudia Serrato serves her exquisite tamales de chile rojo — made with freshly ground nixtamalized blue corn and filled with tender, braised bison — plain, exactly as they are, with nothing else on the plate. The tamal is so deeply flavored, so perfumed with corn and chiles, that it doesn’t need a thing to hold your attention. Eat these the day you steam them, when they’re still piping with steam from the tamalera, and the next day, fry leftover unwrapped tamales in a hot pan for a perfect holiday breakfast. Tejal Rao

Tejal Rao · NYT Cooking

Claudia Serrato’s work studying the history of indigenous Mexican foodways informs her annual holiday tamaladas, where family and friends in her community gather to fill tamales with cacao, vegetables, flowers or bison braised in red chile. The meat is first braised until very tender, then dressed in a purée of smoky chiles and garlic, before it’s stuffed into fresh masa. Ms. Serrato makes her own nixtamal with blue corn, soaking it with cal and grinding it in her outdoor kitchen, though you can buy fresh masa or hydrate freshly ground nixtamal if you prefer. Tejal Rao

Tejal Rao · NYT Cooking

Guadalupe Moreno’s tinga de pollo makes for a delicious filling in this tamales formula from Alicia Villanueva of Alicia’s Tamales Los Mayas in Hayward, Calif. Ms. Villanueva shared her recipe with Leticia Landa and Caleb Zigas for their cookbook “We Are La Cocina.” Her tamales are made with corn masa flour that’s softened and flavored at the same time with both fat and broth. The recipe is a project, but once you’ve done the work of preparing the husks, filling and masa, the process of filling and wrapping the tamales goes quickly. Tejal Rao

Tejal Rao · NYT Cooking

On special occasions, such as saints’ days, Alfonso Martinez prepares a special style of black bean tamal traditionally made by Zapotec communities in the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca. A simple, puréed bean filling is carefully folded in a round of masa that’s been squished with a tortilla press or flattened out by hand, and this process creates a delicate, layered package that’s as beautiful as it is delicious. Mr. Martinez reaches for heirloom Oaxacan beans, though any variety of dried black beans that ends up tender will work well. And even though avocado leaves are traditionally used to sandwich the tamal inside the banana leaf wrapper, he says hoja or yerba santa leaves can also be cut to size to impart their herbal flavor. (Watch Mr. Martinez prepare Oaxacan tamales de frijol.) Tejal Rao

Tejal Rao · NYT Cooking

This recipe for a simple dish of mala beef comes from Jason Wang of Xi’an Famous Foods in New York, but as Wang puts it, “You can mala anything.” Spicy chiles and tingly Sichuan peppercorns define mala, one of the many flavors of Sichuan cuisine, and though it can season beef, the same technique for a vivid, brilliant sauce can be applied to a big pile of sautéed mushrooms, or simmered tofu and sautéed greens. However you choose to make it, serve the dish over hot rice or simmered noodles and finish it with a little drizzle of Sichuan chile oil, if you’ve got it. Tejal Rao

Tejal Rao · NYT Cooking

The leftover birria broth, or consomé, from a pot of birria is delicious and versatile, and can be repurposed in the kitchen in a number of ways. Use it like stock, to cook beans, and infuse them with all the flavors of the birria, or stretch it into another meal by dropping in some matzo balls to poach. If you’ve only got a little left, you can make a quick, comforting noodle dish, garnished with fresh herbs and a little onion. This recipe works well with instant ramen noodles, pulled from a package, though fresh noodles are great, too.

Tejal Rao · NYT Cooking

The little puddle of fat floating on top of a pot of birria is pure gold, stained red from chiles, and rich with all the concentrated flavors of the original stew. In other words: Don’t waste it! Instead, spoon the fat off the top of the broth and reserve it for crisping tortillas to make quesabirria tacos, pan-fried until crisp, with cheese smushing out of the edges and browning in the pan. You can enjoy the tacos with salsas or hot sauce, but the birria meat and cooking oil are so flavorful that a little cilantro and onion are all you really need.

Tejal Rao · NYT Cooking

Birria took off in the United States as a soupy style made with beef and as birria tacos, popularized by birria vendors in Tijuana. The chef Josef Centeno, who grew up eating beef and goat birria in Texas, makes a delicious, thickly sauced version based on his grandma Alice’s recipe, mixing up the proteins by using oxtail, lamb on the bone and even tofu (you can, too). Preparing the adobo takes time, as does browning the meat, but it’s worth it for the deep flavors in the final dish. The best way to serve birria is immediately and simply, in a bowl, with some warm corn tortillas, which can be used to wrap the meat for tacos. But make sure to put any leftovers to work: Extra meat, pulled from the bones, can be shredded for crisp quesabirria tacos, fried in the birria fat for cheesy, lacy edges. And the leftover broth, or consomé, is ideal for a comforting bowl of birria ramen, with an egg and some fresh herbs on top. Tejal Rao

Tejal Rao · NYT Cooking

The Brazilian sweets known as brigadeiros are a classic treat at birthday parties and family get-togethers, where the fudgy, chocolate-milk caramels are often rolled in sprinkles. The chef Natalia Pereira of Woodspoon in Los Angeles also makes more grownup, bittersweet brigadeiros by rolling them in cocoa powder or shredded coconut. Try her recipe, which she learned from her mother in Minas Gerais, Brazil, using either canned condensed milk or a homemade version. Either way, the candies will be tender and delicious. Tejal Rao

Tejal Rao · NYT Cooking

Naoko Takei Moore makes this comforting hot pot of ginger-spiked meatballs, mushrooms and tofu in a donabe, or Japanese clay pot. She sells them at Toiro, her Japanese cookware shop in Los Angeles, and has written a book on the topic, “Donabe: Classic and Modern Japanese Clay Pot Cooking” (Ten Speed Press, 2015). The traditional cookware can be used to cook rice, steam foods and even set up to work like a small grill. It’s a wonderful, versatile piece of equipment, though if you don’t have one, you can use another heavy-bottomed pot with a lid, and still turn out a beautiful meal. Have this hot pot on its own, or with a side of warm rice. Tejal Rao

Tejal Rao · NYT Cooking

This recipe for chiles rellenos comes from Andrea Serrato, who sells an exquisite version of the dish out of her home in East Los Angeles. Ms. Serrato learned to make it from her mother, Rose Serrato, who fills big chile poblanos simply with queso ranchero, fries them in a cloudlike batter and simmers them in a garlicky salsa roja. Be sure to take your time charring the chiles on the flame to make sure they get evenly tender. The dish is time-consuming and labor-intensive, but extremely worthwhile — delicious, comforting and beautiful, too. Tejal Rao

Tejal Rao · NYT Cooking

This recipe for a simple jackfruit sabzi comes from the British chef Romy Gill, who adapted much of her Punjabi family’s vegetarian home cooking for her book “Zaika: Vegan Recipe from India.” In Burnpur, where Ms. Gill grew up, jackfruit grew wild on the trees around her home, and her mother worked with an oiled knife to take apart the heavy, unwieldy fruit. But in England, where she lives now, Ms. Gill reaches for canned jackfruit. Make sure to pick vegetal, unripe jackfruit in brine — rather than sweet, ripe jackfruit in syrup — then drain the pieces, breaking up any large ones until bite-size, and add them to the pan. Serve the sabzi with rice, roti, or, as Ms. Gill often does for her daughters, rolled up in a big, tender wrap. Tejal Rao

Tejal Rao · NYT Cooking

If you’re used to quick-cooked broccoli, barely blanched in boiling water, or crisp, raw florets, this old Alice Waters recipe from “Chez Panisse Vegetables” (HarperCollins, 1996) might seem a little off. A whole hour of simmering with the lid on? Yes! The result is an incredibly sweet, tender, juicy and delicious vegetable with almost no hands-on work. Finish the dish with plenty of cheese and lemon zest, and an extra drizzle of olive oil, and eat it just the way it is, or break it up into some hot, just-cooked pasta for a bigger meal. Tejal Rao

Tejal Rao · NYT Cooking

Pan con tomate, the Spanish dish of grated tomato on grilled or toasted bread, is summery and extremely satisfying. Grating a tomato somehow emphasizes everything delicious about it, heightening sweetness and acidity. Paneer con tomate is built on the same principle, but swaps the bread for pieces of crisp-edged, lightly fried cheese. Here, the tomato pulp is seasoned not with olive oil, but with a glug of coconut oil infused with mustard seeds and curry leaves. If you’ve got homemade paneer, which is looser and softer, then there’s no need to fry it. To get vegetarian recipes like this one delivered to your inbox, sign up for The Veggie newsletter.

Tejal Rao · NYT Cooking

This is a take on vermicelli usli, also known as upma — an ideal South Indian breakfast, savory and satisfying, full of vegetables and delicate fried noodles, and seasoned with coconut and cashews. Though commonly made with carrots and peas, you can toss in whatever vegetables you have on hand. In summer, fresh corn adds plenty of crunch and sweetness, and the dish works for lunch and dinner, just as it is.

Tejal Rao · NYT Cooking

Italian farinata are simple pancakes made from chickpea flour, which gives them a deep, nutty flavor and unexpectedly luxurious texture. Make sure to use an ovenproof pan so you can finish the pancake in a hot oven to give it golden, crisp edges. Top the farinata however you like — roasted vegetables, a dressed salad, a mix of fresh herbs — or even eat it plain, with a cold drink, just before dinner. But a mix of roasted mushrooms and radicchio seasoned simply with vinegar and olive oil is perfect in the fall.

Tejal Rao · NYT Cooking

This party-size vegetarian version of a sausage roll takes a bit of inspiration from potato- and pea-filled samosas: The filling is a coarse mash of peas and potato mixed with fresh ginger and green chiles, along with cumin, fennel and sesame seeds. Seasoned with lemon juice and garam masala, it has a tangy, gently spicy flavor that’s even more sumptuous when it’s wrapped in buttery store-bought puff pastry. Be sure to cut the roll almost all the way to the inner edge before sliding it into the oven, so that the baked pieces are easy to tear away. Serve with green chutney, tamarind chutney, a squirt of Maggi ketchup, or just as is, with a few wedges of lemon or lime on the side.

Tejal Rao · NYT Cooking

This dish of marinated, roasted paneer is inspired by the one served by the chef Chintan Pandya at Dhamaka in New York City, and is flavored intensely with ajwain, or carom seeds, and a paste of garlic and ginger. You could use the marinade on store-bought paneer, but fresh paneer is one of the simplest and most satisfying cheeses for a home cook to make, and doesn’t require any special ingredients. And unlike store-bought paneer, which is generally quite firm, a homemade version can be tender and delicate, and extremely creamy. Just be sure to stir the milk mixture very gently to keep the curds large and intact.

Tejal Rao · NYT Cooking

This version of bún kèn, a deeply delicious street food specialty of Kiên Giang Province in southern Vietnam, comes from the chef Diep Tran, who traveled to the region while researching “The Red Boat Fish Sauce Cookbook,” written with Cuong Pham and Tien Nguyen. The dish is built by infusing fish stock with aromatics and coconut cream, then ladling this fish curry over rice noodles and topping the bowls with fresh herbs, vegetables and a drizzle of sweet and salty coconut nuoc chăm. While you can often find yellowtail collar at Japanese and Korean markets in the United States, Ms. Tran suggests using a snapper head or grouper head, or any small whole fish that isn’t too oily, if you can’t get your hands on collar. Tejal Rao

Tejal Rao · NYT Cooking

Japanese hoshigaki are a special, seasonal treat made with firm, astringent Hachiya persimmons that are dried for a few weeks until they become extremely tender and sweet. The prep is a little intensive — each fruit must be peeled, dunked in boiling water and suspended in such a way that it doesn’t touch anything, to discourage mold from forming. If the stems haven’t been cut so they’re easy to tie with string, they will require binder clips or another makeshift hanging solutions. But after the persimmons are set up, all they need is plenty of time, sunlight and air to transform into succulent hoshigaki. Slice the dried fruit and nibble it as is for dessert, pair it with good cheese, or toss it into a simple green salad.

Tejal Rao · NYT Cooking

The cioppino at Anchor Oyster Bar in San Francisco is a showstopper — a beautiful, long-simmered tomato sauce thinned with clam juice and packed with a mix of excellent seafood. Work with whatever seafood is best where you are, though Dungeness crab in the shell is nonnegotiable for the Anchor’s owner and chef, Roseann Grimm, the granddaughter of an Italian crab fisherman. Replicating her dish at home involves a lot of work, but the results are beyond delicious. To get ahead, you can make the marinara base and roasted garlic butter up to a couple days before. A half hour or so before you’re ready to sit down and eat, bake the garlic bread and cook the seafood. Don’t forget crab crackers — you’ll need them at the table to get to the crab meat — and plenty of napkins! Tejal Rao, Alexa Weibel

Tejal Rao · NYT Cooking

This recipe started as a wisp of an idea in The Veggie, our weekly newsletter about vegetarian home cooking, inspired by that iconic dish chicken Marbella, made famous in “The Silver Palate Cookbook.” Instead of chicken, a pot of thin-skinned, creamy beans and their rich cooking liquid form the base, which are then added to a pan of fried garlic and reduced red wine with plenty of olive oil, prunes and olives. They’re then topped with a simple roasted potato salad, dressed with vinegar-soaked shallots, capers and parsley. It’s not an exact replica of chicken Marbella, but it’s a beautiful and satisfying way to enjoy its familiar flavors — the tangy, briny sharpness of vinegar, capers and olives, set against the sweetness of prunes. You can serve the dish as is, but it’s even more luxurious with some thickly sliced and toasted bread, brushed with olive oil and garlic.

Tejal Rao · NYT Cooking

Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor’s 1970 cookbook, “Vibration Cooking, or the Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl,” combined memoir and recipes in a new way, and introduced many readers to a brilliant new voice in American food culture. This onion-pie recipe is like many of her recipes, simple and deeply satisfying home cooking rooted in the South, but with a truly global point of view. If you want, you can toss a handful of cooked ham or grated cheese or fresh chopped herbs into the mix before putting it in the oven. It’s especially delicious chilled, the next day, when the flavors have mellowed and the custard has become creamy.