Asian Recipes

Prep 15min Cook 30min 4 servings

Keema Matar (Indian Spiced Minced Meat and Pea Curry)

There is almost no sauce here, just minced lamb cooked until moist and clumping, to be spooned onto naan or chapati; the peas go in at the very end and still pop when bitten.

Prep 25min Cook 18min 4 servings

Kencho Simmered Tofu and Daikon

The tofu is broken up by hand into rough chunks, and they stay chunky among the daikon and carrot as everything cooks down in soy sauce and sake. In Yamaguchi it has long been made in a big pot and reheated over several meals, and it still shows up in school lunches.

Niigata Kirizai

Nozawana pickle, fresh daikon, and miso-pickled daikon are chopped to the same small size, squeezed dry, and tossed with toasted sesame, and natto is folded in only at the last moment. Kiri means cutting and zai refers to vegetables; in the Uonuma area of Niigata, records even tie the dish to provisions carried by warriors in the Sengoku period.

⚡ 20-Minute Recipes

Prep 20min 0 4 servings

Prep 20min Cook 18min 3 servings

Crispy Chili Garlic Chicken

Kkanpunggi does not sit in a pool of sauce. Chicken thigh, fried twice, is tossed for a moment over high heat with garlic, dried chilies, soy sauce, vinegar and sugar, and comes out with just a thin, sticky coat on a crisp crust.

Koi no Arai (Chilled Carp Sashimi)

Skinned carp fillet, sliced about twice as thick as fugu sashimi, is swished briefly through water near 42°C and then tightened in ice water, which trims surface fat and odor and gives the flesh a crisp, springy bite without cooking it. In Koriyama, Fukushima, carp farming grew after the Asaka Canal freed up former reservoirs, and carp became special-occasion food for weddings, New Year, and guests. Mustard vinegar miso is the usual dip.

🎉 For Guests

Prep 35min 0 4 servings

Prep 10min Cook 12min 2 servings

Steamed Komatsuna and Tofu

Komatsuna, a Japanese mustard green, steams on the same plate as soft tofu, and both get a spoonful of warm dashi soy sauce with sesame oil and sesame seeds. Take it out once the leaves have wilted and the stems just bend, and the green stays bright.

Kombu-jime (Bai Shellfish Cured in Kombu)

Slices of raw-grade bai whelk are laid in a single layer between sheets of ma-kombu wiped with vinegar water, pressed with a palm to push out the air, wrapped tight, and left in the fridge overnight. Neither the vinegar nor the kombu kills parasites or bacteria, so the whelk stays at 4°C or below from shelling to serving.

Prep 20min 0 1 serving

Prep 30min Cook 240min 4 servings

Kombu-Maki (Herring Rolled in Simmered Kombu)

Each slice shows a dark spiral of kombu wrapped around soaked dried herring, glossy with a sweet soy glaze that reaches between the layers. The rolls come from the Hidaka area of Hokkaido, and because kombu sounds like yorokobu, to rejoice, they appear in New Year osechi boxes and at celebrations.

Prep 35min Cook 35min 4 servings

Komo-dofu (Straw-Wrapped Seasoned Tofu)

Straw ridges run along the outside of each slice, and inside, the crumbled tofu has knitted back together with tiny gaps that hold a sugary soy simmering liquid. That rough interior is the point: unlike a smooth block of simmered tofu, the cut surface drinks up the seasoning during the overnight rest. In central Ibaraki, villagers once pooled straw and made it in large pots for weddings and funerals, when meat was hard to come by.

Prep 20min Cook 20min 4 servings

Kori-Dofu Tamago-Toji (Frozen Tofu and Egg Simmer)

Full of tiny holes, freeze-dried tofu soaks up a sweetened soy dashi until almost no liquid is left, then gets a soft blanket of egg. With the broth cooked nearly dry, the moisture comes from the blanched greens and the softly set egg. The dish belongs to Fukushima City, where cold winds off the Abukuma highlands once dried thin tofu through the winter, and the result went into simmered dishes, soups, and New Year rice-cake soup. Households started after the November harvest, wrapping the tofu in straw or reed blinds and hanging it in the cold air for roughly two weeks. The greens are local shinobuna, with komatsuna (Japanese mustard spinach) as the stand-in.

Prep 25min Cook 20min 4 servings

Japanese Korokke (Crispy Panko Potato and Beef Croquette)

Mashed potato mixed with sauteed ground beef and onion gets shaped into ovals, coated in panko, and fried until golden. The crust shatters while the inside stays fluffy and potato-forward, plainer and heartier than cream-filled croquettes. Worcestershire or tonkatsu sauce goes on top, and in Japan butcher shops and delis sell them freshly fried to eat on the go. Fillings vary widely, from curry to crab cream to kabocha squash.

Prep 25min Cook 20min 5 servings

Koya Tofu Powder and Vegetable Nimono

Fine powder left over from making koya-dofu, Japan's freeze-dried tofu, is stirred into a pot of diced chicken and root vegetables, where it drinks up the dashi and clumps into soft, crumbly curds. This home dish from Takacho in Hyogo is eaten with a spoon: everything from carrot and burdock to konnyaku, chikuwa fish cake, and fried tofu is cut small so each bite gets a bit of everything.

Prep 20min Cook 20min 4 servings

Kuchizoko no Nitsuke (Saga-Style Simmered Sole)

Along the Ariake Sea, tonguesole is called kuchizoko, and it is simmered briefly and hard in a generous mix of sake, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. Unlike long-braised fish, these thin fillets cook in minutes and come out of the pot as soon as they are done, which keeps the flesh tender and flaky. Burdock cooked in the leftover liquid goes alongside.

Prep 15min Cook 10min 4 servings

Kushikatsu (Osaka-Style Beef Skewers)

Thin beef on a bamboo skewer, dipped in light batter and fine panko and fried hot, makes up the Osaka street snack of the Shinsekai district. One story traces it to the late Taisho and early Showa years, when laborers needed a cheap, fast meal and tough cuts were sliced thin and given a thick coat. At the counter, the shared sauce pot comes with one rule: dip once, never twice.

Prep 15min Cook 35min 4 servings

Laing (Filipino Bicol Dried Taro Leaf Coconut Milk Stew)

Dried taro leaves simmer slowly in coconut milk until they collapse into a creamy, spoonable mass with a faint sheen of oil on top. Fully dried leaves are essential, since fresh ones can leave an itchy, prickly feeling in the mouth. It comes from the Bicol region of the Philippines and is eaten a little at a time with plenty of warm rice.

Lauki Chana Dal (Bottle Gourd and Split Chickpea Curry)

Starch from soaked chana dal, split chickpeas, thickens the pot into something spoonable, while cubed bottle gourd lends moisture and gentle sweetness. Small, nutty bits of chana stay noticeable in the finished dal, which is eaten warm over rice or scooped up with flatbread.

At least 1 hr 2 servings

Prep 20min Cook 30min 2 servings

Lauki Kofta (Indian Bottle Gourd Dumpling Curry)

Grated bottle gourd, a watery squash, is squeezed dry, bound with chickpea flour and spices, and fried into dumplings that finish in a tomato and onion sauce as a meatless curry. The turmeric, chili powder, and garam masala are split between the dumpling mix and the sauce, so both carry the same spice.

Prep 20min Cook 15min 2 servings

Lauki Thepla (Bottle Gourd Flatbread)

Gujarati thepla is whole wheat flatbread, and this version is kneaded with grated bottle gourd and its juice in place of water. The dough looks stiff at first, but water added then leaves it slack after resting, since the gourd keeps releasing moisture.

Prep 25min Cook 35min 4 servings

Lion's Head Meatballs (Chinese Braised Large Pork Meatballs with Cabbage)

Four fist-sized pork meatballs sit on a bed of napa cabbage and braise slowly in a light soy broth, staying moist and soft right to the surface instead of carrying a fried crust. The cabbage keeps the pork off the hot pot bottom and turns silky as it soaks up the meat juices.

Prep 30min Cook 15min 4 servings

Lumpiang Shanghai (Filipino Deep-Fried Pork Spring Rolls)

These slim, finger-length Filipino pork spring rolls turn up at birthday parties, holiday tables, and town fiestas. They fry twice, first in lower heat and then in hotter oil, and that second round keeps them crisp long after they cool. Whole trays can be fried before a party and stacked up to wait.

Prep 30min Cook 30min 4 servings

Malai Kofta (Indian Paneer Potato Dumplings in Creamy Tomato Sauce)

Fried dumplings of mashed potato and paneer, a fresh Indian cheese, sit in a tomato and cream gravy as the vegetarian centerpiece of North Indian festive meals. Ground cashews give the sauce a nutty density that cream alone would not, and garam masala brings warmth without real chili heat.

Prep 30min Cook 35min 8 servings

Mame Kazunoko (Green Soybeans and Herring Roe in Dashi)

A New Year dish in Fukushima: flat, firm aobata green soybeans and herring roe that pops between the teeth rest together in cold katsuobushi dashi and mentsuyu. The roe is the salted kind labeled ready to eat, soaked in cold water for a day or two to draw out the salt, though never all of it. A faint saltiness should stay.