At chef Ziqiang Lu's Birds of A Feather in Brooklyn, tingly heat from Szechuan peppercorns teams up with slightly sweet dark soy sauce and Shaoxing wine to build deep flavor into this quick stir-fry. Have all of the ingredients at the ready before heating the wok for best results. Lu recommends browning the dried chile peppers until well toasted. This helps tease out their aroma and leaves you with a warming mouthfeel that lingers.
Spicy, sweet honey meets seared chicken, lemony potatoes and tangy feta for a one-pan dinner.
For her jackfruit tacos recipe, Jocelyn Ramirez, cookbook author and chef at Todo Verde in Los Angeles, uses cumin, chile flakes, and salt to capitalize on the pulled-pork texture of jackfruit, transforming it into a plant-based taco filling that tastes like carnitas. Don't turn the jackfruit too often while it cooks; give it time to develop a golden brown crust for the best texture and flavor. Served with tart, creamy avocado salsa and lemon wedges, the spicy, crispy seared jackfruit tacos are a satisfying vegetarian meal.
For this ultra-flavorful dish, the chicken is marinated overnight with onions, garlic, thyme, chiles, and citrus before it's stewed with loads of bell peppers.
Black-eyed peas, peppers, onions, and tomatoes get a zesty Italian dressing in this bean salad perfect as an appetizer or potluck side.
A luxurious black garlic-tahini dressing dresses up skillet-seared Japanese eggplant.
When tomatoes are at their best, take a cue from Hetal Vasavada and don't cook them at all. "In the summer, Indian families often make kachumber salad. It's basically an Indian pico de gallo situation, minus the cilantro," says Vasavada. "My husband loves gazpacho—he's the kind of person who drinks salsa from the jar—so I thought this would be a nice, cool summer dish." Vasavada channeled her love for kachumber, a fresh, cucumber-based Indian salad, to inspire this exciting riff on the classic chilled summery soup. Warm spices and a hint of chile add flavor and heat without overwhelming the fresh tomatoes; sev, a crispy chickpea noodle snack, adds a pleasant crunch.
In this flavor-packed chicken, Juan Pablo Loza, director of culinary operations at Rosewood Mayakoba in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, shares his passion for the al pastor style of cooking.
Frying chicken in an air fryer is low-fuss and yields wonderfully crispy results. For this recipe, you start with a hot sauce-buttermilk soak, and then coat the chicken thighs with a well-seasoned flour mixture. After a dip in beaten eggs and a final coating in the flour, the air fryer will take it from there. The finished chicken is paired with hot honey that's flavored with guajillo chile and apple cider vinegar. Any leftovers will be equally delicious served for lunch the next day.
Bring broth to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium. Stir in rice, 1/4 teaspoon salt, saffron, and pepper. Cover and reduce heat to low; cook, undisturbed, 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Let stand, covered, 5 to 10 minutes. Uncover and fluff with a fork. Set aside.
