Chicken Breast

You can find this dish at almost any Chinese restaurant, but it is easy to make at home—and usually better, too. Some people deep-fry the chicken first, but stir-frying is much quicker and less complicated, and the results are still great. Serve with plain rice.

Hong Kong, where East and West have met and exchanged ideas for a long time, has devised some dishes that to most American palates may seem more bizarre than stewed pigs’ ears. Among them is this recipe, stir-fried chicken with creamed corn. Yes: Canned cream corn, as in Jolly Green Giant or Clarence Birdseye. It’s not fancy, but it’s a good home-cooked dish, quick, easy, and convenient.

A simple stir-fry, one made with a great deal of ginger and typical Thai seasonings. It makes a great weeknight meal; serve it with jasmine or sticky rice. Information on Thai fish sauce (nam pla) is on page 500.

Like Ginger Chicken (preceding recipe), a Thai-style stir-fry that is super fast and very flavorful. If you use a mild, fragrant curry powder, like the one on page 593, this will appeal to many kids; it’s more sweet than spicy. Serve with jasmine or other white rice. Thai fish sauce (nam pla) is discussed on page 500.

These are chicken croquettes with North African flavors. Leftover mashed potatoes and chicken are absolutely acceptable and you can use cooked cod (or other white-fleshed fish) in place of chicken. Any vegetable or salad will round this out nicely.

Here are two versions of this delicious sweet-and-sour dish, which is prepared at roadside stands and restaurants on many Caribbean islands: Pan-cook it in the winter, grill it in the summer. Serve it with Coconut Rice and Beans (page 516).

Best made with boneless thighs, this is not bad with breasts either, as long as you don’t overcook them. Serve with crusty bread.

You can make this ever-popular Japanese dish with boneless chicken breasts, and it’s great that way, but the breasts have a tendency to overcook. Better to use boneless or even bone-in thighs. The technique remains the same no matter what cut you use (and even if you use salmon or beef; see pages 255 and 360); only the cooking time differs. Teriyaki does not really produce a sauce, but a glaze, so something like Basmati Rice with Shiso (page 510) is preferable to plain rice (though plain rice is perfectly fine). A good salad with soy vinaigrette (page 601) is another fine pairing.

This classic Ukrainian dish is one of pure indulgence, and was common in French restaurants in the middle of the last century. Warn your guests: When made properly, butter spurts out of the chicken when it is cut; it’s quite spectacular. You can prepare the chicken rolls ahead of time and fry just before serving, but it cannot be said that this is a dish that takes no work— it’s about as complicated as I care to get. Traditionally, Chicken Kiev is served alongside crispy potatoes and fresh green peas, but rice and salad are good too.

As is so often the case in Indian cooking, butter is the “secret” ingredient here, one that gives the chicken extra moisture and richness. The combination of that, mild spices, and grilling is what has made this dish so popular in the West. Serve with plain Paratha (page 559) and mint chutney, if you can.

Real mole takes many forms, often using dozens of ingredients and taking days to make. This is an extremely simplified version of a dark, rich one that, not atypically, includes a bit of chocolate, for both flavor and color, a practice that does not, as some people believe, make the mixture sweet or even chocolaty. In fact, the presence of the chocolate should go undetected. You can substitute dark-meat turkey for the chicken; cut the legs into pieces and increase the cooking time by about 50 percent or until the turkey is quite tender. For a simpler, more straightforward flavor, try the chile sauce variation. Serve with plain rice here, or Yellow Rice (page 518) or Arroz a la Mexicana (page 517), and a simple salad.

Dry sherry—ask for Fino—is among the world’s most distinctive wines and also among the best for cooking. Here it’s used as the basis for a rich but low fat sauce that is an absolute classic.With bread or rice, this is an incredible dish.

A basic Thai-style curry, most often made with a convenient canned product from Thailand called “curry paste.” Here I make my own version, for a fresher taste. The technique is simple: First you brown the main ingredient; I use poultry here, but it can be meat, seafood, vegetables, or tofu, and the process would barely change. Then you cook the curry paste, loosening it with some liquid (typically coconut milk), and finish the dish by simmering. Straightforward and authentic. Serve with Basic Short-Grain Rice (page 507) or steamed Sticky Rice (page 508). See page 9 for information on dried shrimp and page 500 for details on Thai fish sauce (nam pla).

This dish incorporates many of the distinctive elements of Spanish cuisine: almonds, garlic, saffron, and sherry. The addition of hard-cooked eggs to poultry dishes, traditional and still popular, is called pepitoria. Serve with Yellow Rice (page 518) or any other rice or potato dish and whatever vegetable you like.

A Norman recipe, easily identified with the region because of the combination of dairy and meat. It may sound overly rich, but pork is so lean these days that the added fat is welcome, and the taste is incredible. A wonderful dish for midwinter; serve it with simple boiled potatoes or rice and a steamed vegetable. Other cuts of meat you can use here: veal chops or bone-in chicken breasts.

Much northern Chinese food is spicy, and this well known soup follows that pattern, deriving its heat from freshly ground pepper (use a lot of it) and its sourness from rice vinegar. Don’t be put off by the long ingredient list: this doesn’t take much time to prepare and is guaranteed to be better than the version served at most Chinese restaurants. Normally, I think thickening with cornstarch is unnecessary, but here it feels appropriate to give the soup its signature thickness; you can eliminate it if you like. Any of the dried ingredients that you can’t get at your supermarket can be found at almost any Chinese market.

The subtle blend of sweet, creamy, and sharp flavors in this Thai classic makes it one of the first Thai dishes most people learn to love. Although the best version I ever had began with cracking real coconuts—a chore I wouldn’t wish on an enemy—if you make coconut milk from dried coconut or use canned coconut milk, the dish is easy to re-create at home and really great. For information on Thai fish sauce (nam pla), see page 500.

One of the many recipes that bridge the short distance between Chinese and Italian cooking. The main recipe makes a light soup that complements stir-fry dishes well; the Italian variation is substantial enough to serve as a light main course.

Hearty and warming, this is a popular winter dish in China, and rightly so. If you have a rice cooker, this is a good place to use it; it will allow you both to make the rice and to keep it warm. Even better is to wrap the rice in lotus leaves, as in the variation, which gives it a rich, smoky flavor and produces a dish often served at dim sum brunches. You can find lotus (or banana) leaves, as well as Chinese sausage and dried shrimp, at most Asian markets.

Originally an Indian vegetable soup, this became popular among British colonialists, who added chicken to the mix. I like it better in something approaching its original form, but see the variations for more substantial versions.