I love okonomiyaki—large Japanese cabbage cakes made in a skillet and then cut into wedges to serve. But trust me, flipping one of those babies is not bare minimum. Instead, I make smaller cakes; they cook more quickly and are much (much!) easier to turn. Use a cast-iron skillet here if you have one.
This beauty is garlicky, gingery, and as spicy as you dare—it’s best when it bites back just a little. Most of the prep time for this East Asian–influenced pan-fried noodle dish is spent slicing (have your chef’s knife ready). Once that’s done, the dish comes together in minutes.
There’s nothing new about marinating chicken with herbs and citrus, but the addition of fish sauce takes this tried-and-true technique to something seriously next level. The fish sauce works its way deep into the chicken to impart its funky, salty flavor all the way through. This recipe also shows off the special relationship between fish sauce and sugar (in this case, honey) and how they work together to create caramelization without tipping the scales of flavor into something too sweet. If you’d rather not mess with a whole chicken, feel free to swap in chicken thighs or breasts.
This Korean breakfast sandwich, often sold on the street in the morning around bus stations and universities, is filled with a vegetable and ham omelet and topped with ketchup and brown sugar.
When we were shooting the photos for my last book, Dorie’s Cookies, lunch was a highlight of the day, as each of us took turns cooking. One morning, Claudia Ficca, the food stylist, announced that she’d bought some salmon and had an idea for lunch: salmon burgers. Like everything Claudia does, these are special. They get a supersized helping of zip from lemons, capers, two kinds of mustard, scallions, lots of dill and Greek yogurt, which adds tang and, most important, moisture.
Holley Pearce, my coordinator of chaos and close friend, loves food but doesn’t do much cooking. We met because she dined in one of our restaurants four nights a week. When Holley, who’s from Mississippi, started working with me, her lack of cooking skills became a running joke. One weekend, we had a little gathering at my office, and Pearce (as her friends call her) brought something she called BLT dip. She said it was just something her family had always taken to the beach. Unable to stop myself, I stood by it snacking till all that was left of the dip was a puddle of pink mayonnaise-y bliss.
Directions
What do you do when you have leftover chicken from khao mun gai or gai yang? You turn it into a dish befitting the situation. My mother did that best, letting very little go to waste. You could poach chicken just for this salad and it would be delicious, especially if you serve it slightly warm. What’s even better, the next time you make khao mun gai, poach extra chicken to make yum gai the next day. If you’re not starting with leftovers, poach raw chicken and tear it into strands. I like adding the skin — it provides richness and moisture, the way oil does in Western salads. Slice it into thin strands.
A favorite from Alexis Alvarez Armas, this dish is inspired by Cuba's Chinese- Criollo cuisine. After cooking delicate trout fillets in a bamboo steamer, Alexis dresses them with a Chino- Latino blend of soy sauce, fermented black beans, olive oil, and lots of scallions and chives. It's a dish we could eat every day.
You might argue that onion dip could appear almost anywhere in this book, but the scallions—their color and fresh bite—are what really bring this version to life.