Vegan

This recipe originally accompanied bobotie. Before we learned to make our own chutney from ingredients as diverse as apricots, dates, quinces and raisins, blatjang was imported from Java, made from sun-dried prawns and shrimps, which were pounded with a wooden pestle and mortar; and shaped into masses resembling large cheeses. Blatjang is the pride of Cape Malay-cuisine, and the recipe is one of the oldest around. The name comes from one of the constituents of the Javanese sambal blachang. Early food writer; C Louis Leipoldt, described it as 'bitingly spicy, pungently aromatic, moderately smooth and a very intimately mixed association of ingredients.' There is nothing quite like blatjang to add zest to curries or braaied meat. Adjust the amount of chilli to suit your preference. Blatjang may be stored for up to a year; but refrigerate once the bottle has been opened.

Kohng Namool Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Eating Korean by Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee and are part of our story on Lunar New Year. "Namool" is a word used to describe a certain group of greens, herbs, sprouts, and vegetables. It is also used to describe banchan made from these plants. Usually the vegetables are sautéed or steamed and mixed with a sesame oil and garlic-based seasoning. Salt is often used in place of soy sauce to preserve the natural color of the vegetable. Makes a pound of sprouts, enough for several meals.

Khao Neeo Mamuang — Thailand Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Hot Sour Salty Sweet by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid and are part of our story on Lunar New Year. You need sticky rice (also called sweet rice or glutinous rice) for this classic Thai-Lao sweet. The recipe for making it at home is very simple. As with most of the sweets in Southeast Asia, you can eat Coconut Milk Sticky Rice as a snack or serve it as dessert.

This recipe is an accompaniment for Vanilla Mousse Meringues and Fresh Berries.

Khao Neeo See Dam — Thailand Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Hot Sour Salty Sweet by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid and are part of our story on Lunar New Year. Since black rice is a big favorite of Tashi's, over time we've developed a quick version of black rice pudding, aromatic, sweet, and satisfying. You can prepare it and have it in bowls for impatient rice pudding fans in under an hour, with no presoaking of the rice. Serve it for dessert or as a snack, or even for breakfast. The rice is moist, almost soupy, when first made, but if it's left to stand in a cool place, it firms up into a pudding-cake texture and can be eaten in slices (see Note below). Eat it on its own or topped with sesame seeds, coriander leaves, or fried shallots, or a combination.

Editor's note: The recipe below is excerpted from Hollywood Dish by Akasha Richmond. When I catered Billy Bob Thornton's Christmas party one year, he whipped up some of his special soy — based pimento cheese sandwiches for all of us cooking in the kitchen. The following summer when I catered Billy's birthday, I made the sandwiches as an appetizer and served them with a cream of tomato dip — an idea that my friend Sergio Gomez gave me. When Emeril Lagasse made pimento cheese on his show, he told the audience that when you're in the South as a guest in someone's home, and they bring out the pimento cheese it's a special thing, so I was really honored when Billy made this dish for me. Note: Any leftover dip, can be thinned out a bit with more soymilk and served as soup. When I cater parties I place the dip in small shot glasses or demitasse cups, and slice the sandwiches into long strips and serve them on top of the glasses. I also like to slice a small baguette thinly and use that to make the sandwiches.

Burgul Bi Bandoura This hearty side dish is typical of everyday cooking in the Lebanese and Syrian mountains, where cracked wheat, or bulgur, is far more abundant and less expensive than rice, which is reserved for special-occasion dishes.

What is a country salad? In my mind it is a thoughtful blend of greens — Lola Rosa, frisée, red oak leaf, tatsoi, endive, mâche, arugula, and mizuna — combining different tastes and textures, topped with a ripe cheese and an artisanal cured ham, and garnished with seasonal fruit and vegetables. A well-balanced vinaigrette and spiced walnuts make it impossible to resist. This salad was always a bestseller at Quilty's, the small restaurant in SoHo where I created my contemporary American seasonal cuisine. It was always on the menu — tweaked a bit every few months. It was fun to march around the year with this salad, the seasons reminding me when to change from the last, dark red blood oranges of the winter to the first tender spears of asparagus, from the voluptuous fresh Black Mission figs of the summer to the delicately perfumed Seckel pears of the fall. The same technique I used at Quilty's can easily be used in your home kitchen. Look around at the markets, and take your cues from the seasons. Making this salad is not so much about a recipe as it is a framework, helping you to build your own best-selling salad for your family.

Dau hu xa ot Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table by Mai Pham and are part of our story on Lunar New Year. While traveling on a train one time to the coastal town of Nha Trang, I sat next to an elderly nun. Over the course of our bumpy eight-hour ride, she shared stories of life at the temple and the difficult years after the end of the war when the Communist government cracked down on religious factions. Toward the end of our chat, she pulled out a bag of food she'd prepared for the trip. It was tofu that had been cooked in chilies, lemongrass and la lot, an aromatic leaf also known as pepper leaf. When she gave me a taste, I knew immediately that I had to learn how to make it. This is my rendition of that fabulous dish. Make sure to pat the tofu dry before marinating it and use very fresh lemongrass. I always love serving this to friends who think tofu dishes are bland.

(Feijão Verde com Coentro e Alho) Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Jean Anderson's book The Food of Portugal. Anderson also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. To read more about Anderson and Portuguese cuisine, click here. There's a reason for adding the lemon juice and vinegar to the green beans after they've marinated. If you mix these acids in too soon, the beans will turn an unappetizing shade of brown.

Kibbet Yatkeen These flavorful patties, which contain no eggs, are denser and more healthful than typical Western pancakes. In Syria, bulgur supplies the body in these patties, but in America some cooks discovered that oats make a suitable substitute. Of course, traditionalists insist on bulgur. Syrians tend to prefer their pumpkin pancakes savory and somewhat spicy, while Sephardim from Turkey and Greece generally like them slightly sweet. These might be served at a Syrian Hanukkah meal alongside bazargan (Syrian bulgur relish), yerba (stuffed grape leaves), spinach salad, and rice with pine nuts.

Talk about convenient! Baking a whole sweet potato takes about an hour, but sautéing the grated potato takes only fifteen minutes from start to finish — and you end up concentrating the flavor to boot. This recipe dresses up your potato with Southwestern ingredients, but there's no reason not to go Asian (add ginger and soy) or Italian (add sage, brown butter, and pine nuts) as the mood strikes you. For that matter, you could swap out the sweet potato and use butternut squash instead.

Shlata Chizo Carrot salads are a relatively new dish, especially raw ones. Until well into the twentieth century, most Europeans ate only cooked carrots, primarily in stews and soups. In the Middle East, people also used them as a component of cooked dishes, but sometimes added grated or minced raw carrots as a minor ingredient to various salads. It was in northwestern Africa that carrots, both cooked and raw, became the featured component of salads — typically an accompaniment to couscous or part of an assortment of salads. Moroccans brought carrot salads to Israel in the 1940s, and they quickly became ubiquitous. These salads are a traditional Rosh Hashanah dish in Israel, a symbol of a sweet and fruitful year to come. At many Israeli restaurants, cooked carrot salad automatically appears on the table with the bread, pickles, and hummus. The carrots are usually flavored with charmoula, a characteristic Moroccan marinade of oil, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, and salt. Most cooks add heat with chilies, sometimes in dangerous proportions. I have tasted some that left me gasping and other that proved a lively appetizer, so adjust the amount of chilies to your own preference and that of your guests. For fancy presentation, Israelis serve raw carrot salad, commonly called gezer chai ("live carrots"), in quartered avocados or on a bed of lettuce leaves, garnished with a sprig of mint.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein's book, Raw.

SALAT TIS LESVOV Editor's note: This recipe is excerpted from Aglaia Kremezi's book The Foods of the Greek Islands. To read more about Kremezi and Greek Easter, click here. From the first October rains up until the end of April, the greengrocers of Mytilini, the capital of Lesbos, sell each head of romaine lettuce tied together with two or three sprigs of borage (often with its little blue flowers), two or three scallions, several sprigs of peppery arugula, four or five sprigs of dill or fennel fronds, a few sprigs of peppery wild cress and either fresh mint or a little wild celery. Once home, these essential ingredients for the local green winter salad are thinly sliced and tossed with a simple vinaigrette. It's important to cut the greens at the last moment and to slice them very thin. If they are coarsely cut, the salad will taste different.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein's book, Raw.

Utensils needed: Heavy-bottomed saucepan; four 8-ounce containers with lids, sterilized
Cooking time: Approximately 20 minutes
Storage: Refrigerate in an airtight container up to 3 weeks.
Serving suggestions: Use as a condiment for meat, poultry, or fish; as a dip for crudités; or as a topping for croutons, baguette slices, or sliced cooked potatoes.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein's book, Raw.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein's book, Raw.