Root Vegetable

This is one of my all-time favorites in my repertoire of Indian dishes. The addition of coconut milk identifies it as a typical southern Indian dish, where coconut milk is a common ingredient. (Coconut milk is rarely found in the cooking of the colder, mountainous climate of northern India, where coconuts don’t grow.) It can be made in about 5 hours and served hot, warm, or at room temperature, like a traditional potato salad. Cooking times will vary according to the type and size of potatoes you use.

I can’t begin to quantify the sheer number of new ingredients and splendidly unexpected flavors that my friends in the Nguyen family introduced me to many years ago, but it is their barbecues that really hold a special place in my heart. Besides falling in love with the delicate, fragrant aroma of lemongrass, I couldn’t help but feel welcomed by their astounding hospitality

The inherent sweetness of corn works so unbelievably well with the smoky undertones imparted by roasting it over a direct flame, you’ll be craving a hot soup even on the warmest of days.

Spain just might be the genius of the food world. While Spanish cuisine certainly isn’t my all-time favorite, Spain sure does churn out a lot of my favorite dishes. Among them is gazpacho, a delightful chilled soup that cries for a hot summer day and a cold, crisp cerveza. If you are unable to find Persian cucumbers, feel free to substitute the English or hothouse variety.

While I was playing around with salad ideas in my head, my good buddy Elliot happened to email me asking if I’d make him a grilled-vegetable salad with a Sriracha vinaigrette. He’d been gallivanting about our local farmers’ market and forwarded to me a list of produce that had looked appealing that day. We gave it a go not long after, and I hope you do, too.

Kimchee is the signature dish of Korean cuisine and a staple in my kitchen. While I certainly love, adore, and crave its stiff aroma and sharp pucker, I understand that it can be an acquired taste for some. It’s quite polarizing—you either love it or hate it. either way, just to be safe, you may want to warn your cohabitants and neighbors of your culinary goings-on so they don’t alert the police to a strange odor emanating from your home.

If veggie sticks just don’t have enough oomph for you on their own, this may be the ticket that helps you get your recommended daily intake. Or maybe you’re just looking for something amazing to dunk your pizza crust in. Naturally, this makes for a tasty twist on the usual salad dressing, and I assure you that it’s absurdly good alongside Honey-Sriracha Glazed Buffalo Wings (page 40).

The literal translation of the name of this drink is “the Virgin’s tears,” as the red color of the beets resembles tears of blood said to have been shed by the Virgin Mary. This beverage originated in the state of Guanajuato, maybe as long ago as the end of the sixteenth century. I found a few different variations, but this one seemed to be the most common, and it’s quite special. Although this beverage is customarily prepared during Lent for the festivities of Friday of Sorrows (the Friday before Good Friday), it’s a wonderful drink during fall, when beets and apples abound. This recipe makes a large batch to share at your next gathering.

Okay, so why are these called Hopsie’s Cupcakes? Because they’re made with lots of garden veggies, like zucchini and carrots, and that’s what our pet bunny, Hopsie, loves to eat. My daughter, Sofia, told me during our testing of this recipe that these would be great for Hopsie. She, of course, loves them because they’re made with the stuff that Hopsie eats.

You have to have a great carrot cake recipe to go to now and again. This one fits the bill—supermoist and loaded with goodies. Cut back on the fat even further by trying the Fat-Free Vanilla Yogurt Frosting (page 107) on this cake.

These muffins are loaded with good-for-you veggies, fruits, and seeds—and they’re vegan, too. The silken tofu replaces the dairy and eggs, and adds moistness and protein for a tasty breakfast or afternoon snack.

This salad was inspired by one of those gorgeous, colorful Bollywood flicks that offer a feast of singing, dancing, and romance. I love Indian food, as it was my first real introduction to all things curry. Only much later did I learn that turmeric, a typical spice in curries that gives them a yellow tint, has tremendous antitumor and anti-inflammatory properties. And to think, I loved it just for its taste! Here, I was hankering for a swirl of flavors with an Indian feel. The chicken makes a great starting point because it’s full of protein and amenable to all sorts of accessorizing. In this case, the mango and raisins play delightfully off the curry spices.

One of my favorite gatherings is the Food as Medicine conference, which brings together hundreds of nutritionally minded physicians, nurses, and other wellness professionals. I cook for the attendees, and while they often kindly tell me how much they learn from me, it definitely goes both ways. In fact, this recipe was inspired by Dr. Joel Evans, who is attracted to nutrition from both a scientific and an aesthetic viewpoint and loves to speak about the colors of food having a tangible relation to their healing qualities. There is a school of thought—and increasing scientific evidence—that the more vibrant the color, the more nutrition there is to be found in a food. As an ode to Joel, I set out to create the most colorful salad I could, using purple beets, orange carrots, and fresh mint. If I’d had a vegetable crisper instead of a box of crayons as a kid, this salad would have been the result. You can substitute lemon or lime juice for the orange juice.

Pretty much everyone has a neighbor or friend (kind of a June Cleaver type) who loves to cook and also somehow manages to be a CEO and raise three Rhodes scholars while spending three hours a day (minimum) in the kitchen. This is the recipe you give that person when she says, “Oh, I’d so like to make something for you.” This is a labor of love, and while not quite as physically intensive as, say, coal mining, it takes a bit of effort. But it’s worth it, because the recipe is big enough to be made in ramekins so it can serve as six little meals, and it stores well, too.

Potatoes get a bad rap as being one big carbo load with little or no nutrition. That’s a shame, because it’s not true of all varieties, especially not purple Peruvian potatoes. Smashing, as the name suggests, uses muscle to get what you need, instead of lots of butter and milk like typical mashed potatoes. A hand mixer will do, but I prefer my mom’s old potato masher from 1953. As you pulverize all of those inner starches, you’ll produce a fluffy texture, a lot of flavor, and, with these potatoes, a gorgeous and unusual color.

Toasting cumin releases its aromatic, flavorful, and incredibly healthy oils. As the seeds heat up, they begin popping like popcorn, which is how you know they’re done.

When I was growing up, coleslaw was pretty one-dimensional. It didn’t matter where you went, German deli, Greek diner, it was all pretty much the same: cold cabbage drowned in mayo with a few slivers of carrot for coloring and maybe a few celery seeds. These days, slaw has gotten an extreme makeover, and there are now more versions to choose from. This concoction is both warm and sweet and serves as a great base for salmon, chicken, tofu, or tempeh. Sautéing the onions, red cabbage, and carrots in a little brown rice vinegar, tamari, and ginger makes it easy to eat and mighty flavorful.

If there’s a safe haven in the vegetable kingdom, it’s sweet potatoes. In fact, I bet that if every kid’s introduction to veggies were a sweet potato, it would knock down parental stress over healthy eating by at least 50 percent. I mean, what’s not to love? Sweet taste, beautiful color, and fantastic nutrition, not to mention a creamy texture that allows you to introduce chopped greens in a nonthreatening manner. Here, I’ve added kale, which has some outstanding anticancer properties, and ginger, which aids digestion, for a little zip.

We’ve come a long way with greens since those days when the produce section in the grocery store consisted primarily of iceberg lettuce. First we started seeing more romaine, then—gasp!—mesclun, and now there are endless varieties of field greens, baby greens, micro greens, and even micro sprouts. That’s not a bad thing, of course, but it can be a little intimidating when you stare at the produce and say, “Hmm … what’s that?” Which brings us to kale. People sometimes steer away from kale because it’s slightly bitter, but a yin-yang approach will bring it into balance—in this case, using carrots and ginger to neutralize kale’s slight bitterness. Greens really are vital for maintaining health during treatment, and this recipe will help you learn to love the taste. For a decadently delicious touch, sprinkle Maple-Glazed Walnuts (page 141) over the greens just before serving.

While the concept of sweet-and-sour dishes is generally appealing, the execution often leaves something to be desired. Sweet-and-sour is like a seesaw; if it tilts too far in either direction, you could be thrown off balance, mangling your taste buds in the process. In this recipe I use a very light hand on both sides; the sour is a delicate brown rice vinegar, the sweet a gentle agave nectar. They dance together nicely on the tongue, more like ballet than Irish clogging. For folks who like a crunchy texture or who want to avoid fat, this one’s a winner.