During the recent stay-at-home order, I’ve noticed many people on social media posting amazing photographs of creative recipes. Some, although visually stunning and most likely delicious, look hard to make and impractical to the average home cook. Standard home recipes get repetitive, and many people are actively searching for easy, yet exciting, new dishes to try that anyone with basic cooking skills and limited space and utensils can do.
With this in mind, I’ve included my own variations of simple dishes with one thing in common: they’re all considered comfort foods—you know, the kind a loving grandparent would make for their family. There’s no pretension in these dishes, only simple techniques and a lot of love. Although some ingredients are harder to find if you don’t have an Asian grocery store in your area, we can easily substitute them. However, part of the fun of cooking is discovering something new, and I implore you to go out and find these ingredients and cook with them.
With new recipes for international comfort food included in your culinary tool belt, you will impress any dinner guest, even if it’s just you at the table. So treat yourself and your quarantine buddy well, and try making these fantastic meals!
Tom-Yum
If I had to choose my favorite soup, it would have to be tom-yum. You can find it all over Thailand; in homes, street food carts, small restaurants, and even in Bangkok’s top restaurants. It’s always served piping hot, with fresh rice and a heap of napkins to clear your nose when the spice takes hold. When I lived in Thailand, this was one of the first dishes I learned how to make and it’s been a staple of my cooking ever since.
There are two versions: one is a clear broth soup known as Tom yum goong nam sai and the other, tom yum goong nam khon, is red and creamy with a pungent, roasted chili flavor. Only two ingredients separate the two versions, yet the underlying flavor profile created by their shared magical broth remains the same. Spicy, herbal, sour, salty, and complex umami give this broth something special. Packed with powerful herbs, it’s perfect for keeping the immune system strong during a global pandemic.
Some ingredients, like kaffir lime leaf, Thai chili paste, and galangal, are hard to find unless you have access to an Asian grocery store in your community. In Southern California we have several. I also have access to a garden with plenty of cilantro and a healthy kaffir lime tree, so I consider myself geographically spoiled. If you are fortunate enough to have one, I encourage you to visit your local Asian grocery store and pick up the ingredients for this must try soup. It’s the epitome of healthy comfort food with powerful flavors that are sure to impress even the most picky eaters.
Ingredients:
For the Clear Soup:
- 2-3 liters of water
- 2cm whole chunk of galangal
- 3-4 stalks of lemongrass
- 10-12 kaffir lime leaves
- 6 cloves of fresh garlic
- 5-15 thai bird chili’s (depending on spice preference)
- Half kilo of shrimp or other seafood
- 1 shallot
- 1 sliced tomato
- Handful of oyster or shiitake mushrooms
- 10 – 12 tablespoons of lime juice
- 6 – 12 tablespoons of Thai fish sauce (depending on taste)
- 2 teaspoons of sugar
- Two stalk of whole cilantro, including the root if you have it
To make the creamy red version:
- 4 tablespoons of Thai roasted chili sauce
- 10 tablespoons of evaporated milk
Cooking Steps
- Boil the water in a large pot
- Squeeze your limes in a small bowl
- Slice your galangal thinly
- Dice some of your lime leaves and rip apart a few more.
- Take a few of your lemongrass stalks, remove the outer layer, then hit them with the back of your knife and cut small slices into it to release the aromatics.
- Peel your garlic and slice some and leave some whole
- Slice your chilis but be careful not to rub your eyes! If you don’t have Thai bird chili you can substitute with cayenne or serrano.
- Throw these ingredients into the pot of boiling water and boil. These are the basic and most important ingredients
- Once the soup has been boiling for a while add your chicken, cook until tender, then add your shrimp. (meat is optional)
- Turn the heat down to medium
- Add the mushrooms
- Add chunks of shallot and tomato
- Then add the fish sauce and sugar
- Turn the heat off and add your lime juice
- Taste the soup as you add the lime juice. Trust your taste buds. If you think it needs something, it does. Just add a little at a time.
- Add cilantro and you’re done making the clear version
The clear version is perfect for a refreshing side dish but if you want a big bowl of soup that will satisfy everyone, there are two more ingredients you must add.
- Add 4-5 tablespoons of the roasted chili sauce to the soup
- Then stir in 8 -12 tablespoons of the evaporated milk
- Play around with the flavors. You might need more chili sauce, lime juice, fish sauce, or evaporated milk to get it right but just add little bits at a time. You can always just add a little more water if the flavors are too strong.
Khao Man Gai
While walking through Bangkok or any city in Thailand, you will most likely see whole chickens hanging behind a glass window. These shops can either be street food carts or small restaurants but have two things in common: they are VERY popular and they specialize in only one thing — Khao man gai.
Every culture seems to have a beloved chicken dish that’s close to their heart; and for Thais, this is it. Khao man literally means oily rice and gai means chicken. There are four essential parts to this dish: boiled chicken, rice, soup, and sauce. Which part is more important is a topic that seems to divide people’s opinions between the rice and the sauce. Realistically, it must be both, right? What you’re looking for is the perfect balance of flavors, that when done correctly, create an incredible symphony that works your retro nasal olfaction like nothing else, keeping you coming back for more.
I learned this recipe from a friend in Thailand. Her family has been making this for generations. Originally from Hainan, China, chicken fat rice was brought to Thailand when immigrants from southern China arrived en-masse to Bangkok, setting up new businesses and industries and becoming Thailand’s largest immigrant community. The Thai-Chinese preserved many of their culinary traditions from the homeland but have incorporated countless cooking techniques and ingredients from Thailand, making their cuisines some of the most complex and flavorful in the world.
Ingredients:
For the Chicken and broth:
- 1 whole free range chicken with giblets
- Approximately 3 liters of water
- Two inch piece of fresh ginger sliced in half
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- Two tablespoons of salt
- One whole stalk of Cilantro (including the root if you can get it)
For the Rice:
- 2 cups of white rice
- Four cloves of fresh chopped garlic
- A couple of pieces of chicken skin
- 2.5 cups of chicken stock
For the soup:
- Remaining chicken broth
- 1 large daikon radish
- Handful of fresh cilantro
- A pinch of salt and pepper to taste
For the Sauce
- 1 tablespoon of fresh chopped ginger
- 1 tablespoon of chopped garlic
- 1-5 chopped thai bird chilis (depending on your spice tolerance) — substitute with either fresh cayenne or serrano chili
- 3 cilantro roots or substitute with stems
- 6 tablespoons of miso or Chinese-style soybean paste
- 6 tablespoons of rice wine or white vinegar
- 2 tablespoons of sugar
- 1.5 tablespoons Thai soy sauce (dark and sweet) — any soy sauce will do if you don’t have
- .5 – 1 cup of chicken broth
- 1-2 chopped kaffir lime leaves (substitute with more cilantro if you don’t have)
Cooking steps:
- Begin by boiling the whole chicken in a large pot of water and add the ginger, pepper, and cilantro root and or stalk. When you determine the chicken is about done, check its consistency to make sure it’s firm but not falling apart.
- Remove the whole bird from the water and set onto a pan to cool. Separate some broth for the soup and add a sliced daikon radish, salt, and pepper. Boil the radish in the soup until it’s soft.
- Next, make the chicken oil. Fry up several large pieces of skin collected from the butt of the chicken and maybe the belly. Cook it until the oil separates and the skin turns crispy and brown. Then throw in your chopped garlic. Once the garlic has browned, remove from heat and strain the oil, leaving beautiful golden brown pieces of garlic infused with chicken fat. You can choose to fry the garlic in regular vegetable oil but please, life’s short, do it the traditional way.
- Next, add the fried garlic to your rinsed rice and pour in your broth. If you have a rice cooker, perfect! If not, just follow the instructions for cooking rice in a covered pot. As the rice steams, it absorbs the rich flavors of the chicken and garlic.
- Now for the sauce. Add all the liquid and chopped ingredients into a bowl and stir. The sauce is so utterly important in this harmonic cacophony of flavors that it would be unthinkable without it. Every restaurant and food stall in Thailand makes their own and the ingredients vary. This is my own, based on my friend’s original recipe, but tweaked a little by the substitution of Thai or Chinese soybean paste with Japanese miso. Another key ingredient in my sauce is kaffir lime leaves. We can find fresh leaves in some Asian grocery stores and add an incredible floral lime aroma and flavor that, when used in combination with the other Thai flavors of chili, garlic, and ginger.
- To serve, simply place slices of the boiled chicken on top of the rice. Add a generous topping of sauce and garnish with cilantro and sliced cucumber. On the side, serve the soup with a garnish of cilantro. No frills, simple and satisfying. Everyone you serve it to will be thankful with a full belly and a happy heart.
Borscht
Sour vegetable based soups developed in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia several centuries ago. Originally made with Slavic hogweed, people began putting a more diverse array of vegetables into the recipe. The modern variant of Borscht, which uses beets as its base ingredient, spread across the former Soviet empire. The dish became rooted in many Eastern European households and became synonymous with festivities and holidays like Passover and Christmas. My version blends a few traditional recipes that incorporate both Eastern European Ashkenazi Jewish and Ukranian methods. I choose to make mine less sour and more creamy by adding sour cream and using boiled potato as a thickener. After adding it to a food processor, the soup becomes a rich, thick and creamy, blood-red liquid that’s satisfyingly hearty and flavorful. You can serve the same recipe cold on hot days and you can tweak the recipe however you like. So have fun making one of my favorite soups and a traditional comfort food for many people around the world.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups shredded fresh beets and their greens if available
- 4 large potatoes
- 2 shallots chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 carrot
- 3 cups of water
- 2 cups of beef broth
- 1 tablespoon of vinegar
- 1 cup of fresh dill
- 1 tablespoon of salt (depending on taste)
- 1 teaspoon of black pepper (depending on taste)
- 3-6 tablespoons of sour cream or yogurt (depending on taste)
Cooking steps:
- Boil the shredded beets in a large pot with 2 cups of water
- Add the two potatoes (peeled)
- Add ½ cup of fresh dill
- Add shallots
- Add carrot
- Cook until the vegetables become soft
- Remove two potatoes for later (the remaining potatoes will give the soup added thickness)
- Add cooked vegetables and broth into a food processor (optional)
— if you choose not to blend, chop all the ingredients finely. - Add the blended mixture back to the pot on medium heat
- Add 2 cups of beef broth (preferably bone broth)
- Cook for 10 minutes
- Add yogurt according to your preference
- Pour soup in a large bowl
- Add large pieces of the boiled potatoes you removed earlier
- Garnish with plenty of sour cream and fresh dill
Churrasco de Picanha (Brazilian BBQ)
There’s nothing better for a meat lover than steak rump flavored with sea salt and pepper and grilled slowly over an open wood fire. In Brazil and Argentina, BBQ is the most common comfort food, and many small restaurants known as churrascarias specialize in it. The slow and deliberate placement of the skewers allows the wood fire to do its magic, providing a rich smokey-ness unequaled by any gas or electric grill. Traditionally, the picanha section, the fatty rump of the cow, is used. The fat helps absorb the flavor of the smoke, infusing it into every morsel as it melts into a liquid coating of goodness.
Once the meat is cooked, it’s sliced and served with a generous portion of stewed black beans, rice, plantains, and the ground cassava dish known as farofa. All these side dishes aside, Brazilian BBQ wouldn’t be complete without the very special sauce known as chimi-churri. There are many variations, but it’s a combination of cilantro, parsley, viniger, and oil and sometimes other herbs like oregano blended or pureed together to form the perfect balance of fat, acid, and refreshing herbal flavors that cuts the smoky meat perfectly. When your side dishes of rice, beans, farofa, and plantains become soaked in smoky meat juice and chimichurri, you know you’ve done it right.
Ingredients:
BBQ:
- 400-500g of good quality, preferably free range grass fed, rump cuts.
- Sea salt
Chimi-churri:
- Several stalks of fresh cilantro
- Several stalks of fresh parsley
- 3 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- Three cloves of garlic
- 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper
- 1 – 2 teaspoons of salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon of water if needed
Cooking Steps
Chimi-churri Sauce:
- Chop up the herbs and throw them in a food processor
- Add the other ingredients
- Blend until you are left with a vibrant green paste
- Add water or olive oil if needed to thin the sauce
BBQ:
- Cut the beef rump into squares, leaving good amounts of fat
- Sprinkle sea salt and a little black pepper onto the meat
- Take two large metal skewers and pierce the pieces of meat in the middle. Make sure to leave the fat on the outside
- Create a large fire with dried wood. I prefer a cedar, oak, or cherry.
- Once the wood has burned and created smoking hot coals hold the skewered meat carefully over them, letting the smoke enter the meat
- Slow cook the meat for several minutes until the outside is cooked well. You should see a layer of liquified fat over every piece of meat. Cook longer if you prefer your meat medium or more well-done
- Once the meat appears done take it off the flames and slice into pieces
- Serve with rice, blackbeans, and your chimichurri sauce
Moroccan Chicken Tagine with Lemon Pickle
A Moroccan tagine is a cone shaped ceramic vessel used to cook many meats and vegetables in spices and dried fruit. The vessel’s name has carried over to refer to the dish itself or any North African-style stew. While the clay pots are still in use today, many homes and restaurants opt for a pressure cooker instead. No matter how they’re cooked in modern times, the stews themselves; warm, savory, and satisfying, are found in every household and restaurant in North Africa.
There are many variations of this classic dish. The most satisfying for me is a Moroccan version where chicken is slowly cooked in a broth full of onions, spices, olives, and lemon pickles. After letting these ingredients cook together over low heat for several hours, you get a perfect blend of flavors that’s the perfect meal for anyone who likes melt-in-your-mouth meat and vegetables with soothing aromatic flavors. Traditionally, tajine is served on a bed of couscous or with Morrocan flat bread and both do wonders at soaking up the delicious broth at the end of the meal.
Ingredients:
Ras el hanout
You can buy this spice mix in some grocery stores but to make your own you need:
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
Lemon pickle:
- 2 whole lemons (Eureka or a thick rinded variety works well)
- 2 tablespoons of salt
- 1 teaspoon of Ras El Hanout
Tajine
- 400-500g skinless chicken thighs cut into small cubes.
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 2-3 tablespoons of fresh minced garlic
- Two chopped yellow onions
- 1-2 shallots
- Handful of Black olives
- Slices of lemon pickle
- 2-3 tablespoons of ras el hanout
- 1 tablespoon of tumeric
- 1 teaspoon of ground sumac
- A couple pinches of saffron (if you have it)
- Pinch of salt
- 1 cup of water
Cooking Steps:
- In a pan, heat up the olive oil to medium
- Add onions and stir and cook for 5 minutes
- Add the shallots cook for 5 minutes
- Add chicken pieces and cook until browned on both sides
- Turn off heat
- In a pressure cooker, rice cooker, or large pot, drizzle a little olive oil on bottom
- Add cooked onions, shallots, and garlic
- Add chopped pieces of lemon pickle
- Add spices
- Add black olives
- Add salt and pepper to taste
- Pour 1 cup of water in
- Cover and cook on low for 1-2 hours
- Once the tajine is done cooking, serve on couscous or with flatbread
Chicken Curry Tikka Masala
Chicken Tikka has been around for centuries. Bits of chicken marinated in a rich blend of yogurt and spices, grilled on skewers or cooked on a hot pan, and coated with lemon and ghee. While the actual origins are unknown, somebody, either in India or Britain, decided to add these flavorful pieces of chicken into a rich Masala gravy and created this perfect dish. Chicken Masala is one of the most popular foods in Britain and is served in Indian restaurants around the world. This is my recipe which I’ve been working on for many years now. It’s the perfect hearty meal to get you through even the toughest days.
Ingredients:
For the Chicken Marinade:
- 600-800g skinless chicken thighs cut into small cubes.
- 2 tablespoons of fresh minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon of fresh ginger
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- 1 teaspoon of turmeric
- 1 teaspoon of ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons of garam masala
- 1 whole dried red chili or 1 teaspoon of chili powder
- Pinch of salt
Chicken Tikka Masala Gravy:
- 2 tablespoon of ghee (clarified butter) or vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 3 medium sized yellow onions, finely diced
- 1 shallot
- 4 medium sized tomatoes, finely diced
- 2 tablespoons of garlic
- 2 tablespoons of ginger
- 1 dried red chili or 1 teaspoon of red chili powder, or more based on personal preference
- 2 teaspoons of garam masala
- 2 teaspoons of dried cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 tablespoon of salt
- 1 tablespoon of honey
- ¼ cup or more of water
- 1 to 1.5 cups of heavy cream
- Handful of fresh, chopped cilantro for garnish
Cooking Steps
- For the marinade, add the chicken, yogurt, and spices into a large bowl and mix. Let the marinade sit in the refrigerator for a half hour to an hour.
- Heat the oil or ghee in a large pot, skillet, or wok on medium-high heat.
- Add marinated chicken, cook until brown, remove, and set aside.
- Once the oil or ghee heats add the whole cumin and stir for less than a minute
- Add onions and stir until transparent and light brown
- Add ginger and garlic and stir in with the caramelized onions, cook for a minute
- Add the diced tomatoes and cook for five minutes or until moisture evaporates
- Add the ground spices, stir, and saute until a paste forms. KEEP STIRRING!
- Add honey and cream to the sauce and continue to stir, lower heat to medium
- Add chicken pieces
- Add water if needed to thin out the sauce
- Add cilantro as a garnish and serve with steamed basmati rice or Indian style naan bread
Cactus Salad
To be honest, this is not a common dish as far as I know. I came up with this concoction at my friends house after harvesting a bunch of cactus pads and fruit growing in her driveway. It is, however, one of the best salads I’ve ever created and has become one of my favorite dishes to make for friends and family during the hot Californian summer and fall. This dish is easy, consisting of just four ingredients: nopal cactus pads, nopal fruit, fresh squeezed lime juice, and tajin (Mexican chili/ lime seasoning). These ingredients, however, are probably difficult to find if you live outside the American West. The key ingredients are the de-spined pads and fruit of the Nopal cactus. The fruit is commonly known in the US as a prickly pear or tuna in Spanish. In California, when these plants ripen, they become full of bright green pads and purple or red fruit that have a subtle but refreshing flavor similar to watermelon.
The process is simple: gather a few ripe prickly pears, some nopal pads, lime, and tajin seasoning. Next you MUST remove all spines and those tiny hairs in order to eat the nopal. If any of these stinging hairs get into your mouth, you’ll be in pain for a good hour. To remove the sharp spines and the stinging hairs, there are a few effective methods. Many experienced handlers use a sharp knife and water to remove them. Because I’m not an experienced handler, I like to use an open flame burner. Simply hold the cactus fruits and pads over the flame with thongs, carefully watch to make sure all the stinging hairs and spines burn off completely. Then run the cactus pieces under cold water to remove any remaining spines or burned fragments.
Ingredients:
- 2-3 cleaned and de-spined cactus pears
- 2-3 cleaned and de-spined cactus pads
- 1 tablespoon of fresh squeezed lime juice
- 1 teaspoon of tajin seasoning (more or less to taste)
Cooking Steps
- Carefully hold the cactus pears and pads over an open flame using thongs
- Once stinging hairs and spines are burned off, rinse with cold water
- Take the de-spined cactus pears and cactus pads and cut up into cubes
- Add the cubes to a bowl (the more the merrier)
- Squeeze lime juice onto the cubed cactus
- Apply the tajin seasoning to the mixture
- Stir in a bowl and serve cold