South Asian

This vibrantly colored mango curry is authentically Keralan, and one we’d typically pair with a fish curry and accompany with rice.

This dish of seared paneer channels flavors traditionally found in matar paneer—coriander, cumin, chile, and ginger—by incorporating them into a quick-cooking cherry tomato sauce.

These crispy zucchini fritters take inspiration from the Bengali onion snack piyaju. Soaked and blended red lentils make up the batter, which is spiked with turmeric and chile powder.

Onions are the base—the very foundation—of Indian cooking, and yet here, they are used to add a crispy topping, as a finishing flourish to a dish.

While it is not uncommon to find ginger blended into limeades, lemonades, and fresh sugarcane juice in India, it also pairs nicely with tamarind. Serve cold and give it a good stir before drinking.    This recipe is made with tamarind pulp, which contains large seeds that you will need to remove. Avoid the temptation to use concentrates. They’re more convenient because they don’t have seeds, but they don’t taste nearly as fresh.

Bisibelabath is kitcheree’s spicier cousin. The name means “hot lentil rice,” so consider yourself warned—this is a spicy dish of vegetables, rice, and lentils straight out of South India. I like to serve it with raita to cool things off.

Quick pickled vegetables are welcomed any time of the year. Use fresh produce like cauliflower, carrots, radish, radish pods, or raw turmeric for this preparation.

This mango achaar is of our favorite ways to eat tart mangoes in the summer. This sweet-spicy preparation traditionally pairs with seasoned or stuffed rotis and parathas.

As with any fermented food, timing will depend on the ambient temperature (the hotter it is, the faster it will go). Indoor temperatures were about 68°F—72°F when we developed this recipe and that’s what our time range reflects, so use it just as a guideline. If possible, 82°F is ideal. Most important though will be checking for signs that indicate the batter is ready (bubbly, airy, and sour).

This one-pot dish, called khichdi in some regions, is made from rice, yellow lentils called moong dal, which are split mung beans without skin, and black pepper and cumin seeds fried in ghee or butter. The lentils and rice cook together, making a creamy, rich dish resembling risotto. 

Coconut crisp, laced with chile and garlic, brings texture and heat to this easy salmon dish. Make a double or triple batch of the garnish and use it as a topping for savory oatmeal, hearty soups, or roasted winter vegetables.

It’s a humble combination of two everyday ingredients, but Kiribath has enormous significance in Sri Lanka—it’s cooked by the Sinhalese to mark the new year in April, and on other special occasions that celebrate new beginnings.

Pol Sambol (like all sambols) is a versatile, vivid relish, given an intense hit of flavour from Maldive fish: smoked, sun-dried tuna, flaked and used sparingly

Hindus consider cows and all their milky produce—cream, butter, and cheese—sacred. I can’t argue with that. Traditionally, this dish would be made with a few large slabs of golden butter; here I've swapped out that butter for cubes of paneer. 

A light, fragrant and utterly delicious south-Indian-style curry, packed with juicy prawns and tempered with coconut milk.