Southeast Asian

This dish is made with an Indonesian chili paste for a deep, comforting, and rich curry.

Pansit palabok is a luscious, buttery, bisque–like shrimp sauce tossed with white rice noodles and topped with tsitsaron, crisp-fried pork rinds.

This velvety Vietnamese rice porridge gets a deep flavor from soaking overnight in chicken or vegetable broth before simmering with fragrant ginger and scallions.

We’ve never met a riff on larb that we didn’t like, including this version, which forgoes the typical meat or fish for crispy shiitake mushrooms.

It’s way too easy to fall in love with the Malaysian dish Nasi Lemak, a coconutty rice bowl topped with crispy-crunchy crumbles of teeny little fried anchovies dressed in a sweet-spicy sambal. 

This sandwich gets immense flavor from a modest list of ingredients like eggs, vegetables, and herbs. The fish sauce spiked-mayo packs a powerful punch.

To make this dish extra crispy, sauté the ingredients separately and use cold, cooked rice. As you're stir-frying, toss the rice, pausing frequently to allow it to interact with the heat at the bottom of the pan—this will give it a nice toast.

Finely grating the aromatics in this Vietnamese-leaning marinade unlocks their flavor without endless chopping.

In the Philippines, mais con yelo is a traditional dessert of crushed ice layered with corn kernels and sweetened milk. For this version, the milk and ice are combined with puréed corn to make a delicious granita.

Low investment and high reward, let this not-so-traditional larb become your next late-night go-to meal.

For adobo that’s sweet, salty, tangy, garlicky, and ready in a fraction of the time, don’t peel and slice each garlic clove: Just cut open a whole head and simmer it in the sauce.

Adding silken tofu to the base of this dressing both enriches it with a little added protein and lends it a satiny texture. You can adjust the amount of water added to create something thicker and dippable for crudités or thinner and drizzly for tossing into salads.

This spicy-tangy-funky condiment is delicious on grilled fish, grain bowls, braises, and stews—basically anything that needs a touch of acid and heat.