Southeast Asian

Cauliflower might not be a traditional ingredient in larb recipes, but the toasted rice powder is. 

If the ingredient list didn’t tip you off, the seven-hour cooking time makes it official: This recipe is a project that you make for people you love. They’ll be thankful.

This creamy custard is popular in Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia and Singapore, where it's slathered onto toasted fluffy white bread and served with poached eggs as a morning snack. Often called the vanilla of Southeast Asia, the long, narrow, vibrant green pandan leaves give the jam its signature aromatic flavor.

Larb is hailed as the national dish of Laos. Traditionally the salad starts with extremely finely chopped lean meat or fish and is seasoned with lime juice, chiles, fish sauce, and toasted ground rice. This recipe calls for ground lamb, a fattier protein than what’s usually used, and subs ground peanuts as a nod to the texture of the rice.

This quick version of the classic Vietnamese soup is steeped with aromatic spices and finished off with a waft of refreshing herbs.

Easier to make than the beef version, chicken pho requires fewer ingredients and takes less finesse for superlative results.

Depending on your pho philosophy, you can go super simple or ornate with the tabletop pho garnishes.

Many people enjoy chicken pho with a side of this zippy sauce. They dip the flesh into the sauce as they eat the soup. The fresh ginger bite adds a last-minute layer of flavor that some find to be scintillating while others find to be distracting. Try it out and judge for yourself.

Get the richly flavored comforting broth of traditional pho in half the time when you use your Instant Pot.

Sticky rice is worth using for this porridge-y, comforting chicken soup recipe; it releases lots of creamy starches and helps builds nice body as it cooks.

The ingredient list for a curry can be a little daunting with all those spices, but the technique isn’t very far from a pasta sauce: you just toast the whole spices and then move on to a sort of sofrito of onion, garlic, and ginger. From that flavor base, you add tomatoes and whatever veggies you desire. At the end, a quick chutney, really just a rough chopped blend of herbs and coconut, gives the stew a bright pop of flavor (the way a few torn basil leaves make that tomato sauce sing).

Tamarind gives this hearty stew a pleasant sweet-sour pucker.

An craveable slaw with sweetness from the fresh coconut and sneaky, creeping heat from the chiles. This recipe is from Bad Saint, one of Bon Appétit's Hot 10, America's Best New Restaurants 2016.