South Asian

Why resort to takeout? This spicy coconut sauce, brimming with stewed tomatoes, is a wonderful way to make weeknight chicken tempting again.

The spices in Indian chai tea flavor this creamy cheesecake.

A Goan dish from the Savoi Spice Plantation.

Coconut milk adds a silky richness to this South Indian–style vegetarian meal.

These showcase all that's great about Indian food: They're vibrant, light, and fragrant. For a spicier patty, add a second stemmed and minced serrano chile.

Full of fiber-rich garbanzo beans, an Indian staple, this healthy dish from Maneet Chauhan is an ideal side or starter. Add grilled shrimp or chicken to make it a meal. You can use the marinade recipe from our tandoori tilapia with hearts of palm salad .

This refreshing treat, from Mridula Baljekar, author of Indian Cooking Without Fat (Metro Books), is a cool finish to spicy dishes.

Joseph Gomes, chef at Bombay Talkie in New York City, sprinkles this dish with classic Indian seasonings.

Maneet Chauhan, chef at Vermilion in Chicago, uses nonfat yogurt to reduce calories but not taste.

(Ground Beef Patties) My son Samir loves shami kebabs with pooris (deep-fried wheat bread). They are also very tasty with basmati rice and raita (yogurt sauce).

(Chickpeas Cooked in a Spicy Tomato Sauce) Cholay can be served as a snack with tea or as a vegetarian side dish. Some people like to add plain yogurt on the side to balance the spices.

(Deep-Fried Pastry Stuffed with Spicy Potatoes)

This scrambled egg dish in the style of the Parsi of India is known as akuri or akoori. The Parsis are an old Zoroastrian community located in the western part of India, especially around Mumbai, who were originally from Persia, hence their name. They revere, but do not worship, fire, and maybe that is evidenced in this dish with its own kind of fire. Clarified butter does not need to be store bought. You can easily make it at home by melting some butter and spooning off and discarding the white milk solids separate from the yellow butter. Store the clarified butter in the refrigerator.

This is our version of chai-shop chai, flavored with a little cardamom and mellowed with hot milk and sugar.

Idlee is the world-famous south Indian breakfast or tiffin treat.

This barfi is a fudge is made with cashew nuts that have been soaked in water.

Jhinga Mangaloree This dish is from the southern Indian coastal state of Karnataka, where seafood is an important part of the diet. The shrimp has extraordinary flavor. I sometimes vary the recipe by adding 1 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened shredded coconut along with the mustard seeds, or 2 to 6 chopped small fresh green chiles with the scallion. Serve with green chutney or lemon wedges, lemon rice, and a raita.

(Idlee Sambaar) Editor's note: These instructions are excerpted from Julie Sahni's book Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking. Sahni also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. Idlee sambaar is one of the great classic dishes of Indian vegetarian cooking. The dish consists of split peas in a spicy vegetable sauce that is a slightly milder version of the lentil and vegetable stew called sambaar. Radish and onion are the primary vegetables used to make this sauce, because their distict fragrance provides a marvelous contrast to the dumplings. Idlee sambaar traditionally are served in a generous amount of sauce in individual soup plates. Other spicy accompaniments, such as coconut chutney , Red Gun Powder (see tips, below), and hot-spicy pickles are also traditional. In India idlee sambaar are always served at tiffin or brunch.