Bean and Legume

All good and decent breakfast spreads deserve some slow-cooked beans. These also freeze very well should you find yourself with leftovers.

Tagines are typical street food in Morocco, and this is the one that is most commonly found, except that street vendors cut the potatoes into small dice and I prefer to use new potatoes, which I leave whole if they are very small or halve if they are medium.

Chanterelle mushrooms and a crunchy, sweet, and salty walnut-bacon topping make this holiday side dish a stand-out.

These beans cook with a combination of herbs, alliums, and chiles—and salt is added right from the start. No pre-soaking means this just might be the easiest pot of beans you'll ever make.

Pakistani haleem is a warmly spiced, satisfyingly thick stew made from long-simmered lentils, barley, and bone-in chunks of lamb or goat.

The secret to these stewy baked eggs is a can of lentil soup. Any basic variety of lentil soup will work—you'll dress it up with the earthy spices and caramelized onions.

Traditionally, enfrijoladas are made by dipping stale tortillas into leftover frijoles from the night before. They are also great topped with a fried egg, or with roasted vegetables instead of chorizo to make this a plant-based breakfast.

These turmeric-spiced pumpkin falafels come together in a food processor, then roast in the oven to golden-brown perfection. A punchy carrot slaw keeps things bright.

Pelau, rice cooked with meat and vegetables, really exemplifies Trinidadian cuisine because it is an admixture of various cooking styles. 

In this recipe, beets are cooked in two separate batches: One batch is used to make “beet water,” a kind of rich beet stock, and the other batch is cooked and grated. This two-step process gives the borscht its distinct taste and depth of flavor.

This summer soup is deeply savory, with anchovies, bacon, and a brown butter–tomato sauce anchoring the whole thing. 

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.

This super-flavorful dish spins the flavors of shish barak—lamb and pine nut dumplings from the Levant—in a pasta direction.

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.

Set yourself up for success: The farro, tofu, eggs, dressing, and pickles can all be made up to five days ahead.

This dish is all about assembly, not time at the stove. You’ll quickly sauté chickpeas and corn, then gather the supporting characters: lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, feta, and lime.

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.