Snack

These savory Indonesian cookies from cookbook author Lara Lee are perfectly buttery, crumbly, and cheesy. Make a big batch and enjoy them with coffee or tea all week long.

One great thing about dumplings is that you can use practically anything in the filling—and you can pan-fry them, or boil them, or deep-fry them.

Packed with greens, these boiled dumplings easily go vegetarian by switching out the ground pork for crumbled tofu.

The liberal spoonful of Chakalaka (spicy vegetable relish) makes these extra special. If you don’t have a jar of it in your fridge, you can use any type of relish or chutney.

These pan-fried dumplings are among the best selling items at Nom Wah Tea Parlor in New York City. The chicken gives the dumplings body, while the cabbage gives them volume.

The slightly sweet but mostly textural wrapper of the rice roll is the canvas for the sweetness of the shrimp.

Peanut butter tames the heat in this mild puréed salsa with serrano chiles and onions. Spoon it over mushroom tacos or use it as a dip for chips.

The best plant-based substitute for sour cream? Plant-based cream cheese. When blended, it best approximates the flavor and texture of sour cream. Top the bowl with crispy fried shallots for additional brightness and texture.

This is bread topped with an easy chile-pecan paste that can be used in so many different ways, but the paste spread on some bread and topped with slices of Brie, sprinkled with sugar, and then broiled.

Standing three tiers high, the magnificent Bombay sandwich is a whopper of a construction. It’s available on every street corner, and each stallholder obsesses over their own special blend of spices, vegetables, and chutneys, for that “better than yours” taste. Although it’s a wonder, it’s also a labor of love to make at home, and so in this recipe I’ve attempted to embody its spirit—a sharp, hot green chutney, cheese, and onion—but in a pastry roll that can be made in just minutes.

These date balls, which I make each year for Diwali, are nutty and fudgy—without any chocolate. In years when the celebrations for Diwali and Thanksgiving are close together, I like to make a double batch to add to our Thanksgiving spread. They fit right in. 

This roll can be filled with whatever you like: beef, pork, or vegetables. The combination in this recipe is my favorite.

You'll find these round chickpea flour and spiced potato fritters wherever Indian snack sellers congregate. Serve them with whatever chutney you like for dipping.

The dark brown sugar gives this cake a little molasses edge, which cuts the sweetness of the berries and the richness of the cream cheese.

These crispy fritters are made with grated carrots, onions, and ginger, plus garam masala and chile. The dipping sauce has a hefty pour of bourbon, which adds warming depth.

This vegetable fritter recipe calls for onions, cabbage, potato, and carrot, but you can use any combination of vegetables you have.