Simmer

This fast one-pot dinner is rich enough to comfort, but light enough that it won’t weigh you down.

This is probably the most famous lentil dish coming out of India—yellow lentils tempered with spices and the usual holy trinity of garlic, ginger and chile. It has always been a favorite of mine and it would grace our family dinner table at least once a week when I was growing up. There are lots of different recipes for flavoring the oil (tadka), so play around with your spice pantry and see what you come up with. If you don’t have half of these spices, then don’t worry; just add a tablespoon of your favorite spice paste and it will taste just as delicious.

This potent mix of scotch, grapefruit juice, and honey-ginger syrup is a winter-friendly twist on the classic cocktail.

Most store-bought lard (the traditional fat in refried beans) is nearly flavorless, unlike chicken fat, which is delicious and readily available.

Tom Yum is made so many different ways that no two batches are really ever alike. Simultaneously spicy, tart, and sweet, this soup grows on you the more you eat it. Try it along with rice to cut some of the heat, or eat it throughout a meal for a welcome contrast.

Rather than being cooked in salted water, the pasta is treated like risotto—simmered in stock and stirred until cooked and creamy—which gives it plenty of time to pick up meaty flavors.

Brewed tea is an easy way to infuse complex flavors into warming winter cocktails like this one.

This simple soup can be eaten hot or cold, in winter, or in summer. Many are aware of the healing benefits of carrots, mainly the antioxidant-rich carotenoids that are known to pack anticancer powers. We love them because they're a simple and delicious food. Combine them with a hefty dose of gelatin-rich bone broth, a touch of lemongrass and ginger, and you're left with a bowl of soup that beats any sugar-laden cold-pressed juice on the market.

Make your own broth with little more than dried porcini mushrooms for this light, filling, and deeply flavorful vegetarian soup.

Think of this as Indian-spiced ketchup, and use it in all the same ways.

Chicken soup with a head-clearing kick and a generous dose of seasonal veggies will sooth all that ails you.

All the rejuvenating powers of your grandmother's chicken stock, plus a head-clearing kick of chile. Reserve chicken for Spicy Feel-Good Chicken Soup or another use.

When your beans are tender, take them off the heat and focus on the cooking liquid, doctoring it with good olive oil, salt, and pepper, tasting and seasoning it until the liquid itself is straight-up delicious.

Chicken, seafood, glass noodles, and vegetables get briefly poached in dashi-based broth. Cutting the ingredients into uniform pieces ensures they cook in the same amount of time.

Add this harissa to your next tomato sauce or try it with our Roast Chicken with Harissa and Schmaltz.

An easy stovetop method that is quicker than a rice cooker and yields tender, distinct grains that cling gently to each other? Read on.

The base for countless dishes in Japanese cooking. This method requires just 30 minutes to soak the kombu, unlike some that call for overnight soaking.

The clams give up all their essence in this rich coconut-based stock. It's great for curries, or use it as the liquid base for a pot of steamed mussels or littleneck clams.

There are many ways to make beet soup, the most well-known of all being borscht, the hearty Russian classic that also contains veggies like potatoes and cabbage. Beet soup can be eaten cold, so we like to make it with more delicate flavors and puree it. Here, the ginger beautifully balances the beet, and the coconut milk adds a nice fat component. We find citrus finishes this dish perfectly, so we garnish it with a bit of orange.