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Make this on a Monday and show Garfield what’s up.

Lara Lee’s vegetable nasi goreng combines the beloved Indonesian fried rice dish with sambal matah and a citrusy relish fragrant with lemongrass, ginger, and makrut lime leaf.

Tearing the sweet potatoes creates more surface area to char and glaze. (It’s also fun.)

Crunchy chicharrones are ideal for soaking up bright tomatillo salsa, taking on an ultimate crispy-gone-soggy chewy texture. 

This fragrant Cambodian salad is a multisensory experience—a combination of crispy shallots, juicy citrus, fresh herbs, and tender, grilled fish.

This Persian stew of tomatoes and spiced eggplant is just the warming dish you need on a cool, fall night.

This cheesy layered casserole is the ultimate sweet-and-savory mash-up, thanks to ground beef simmered with sofrito and tomato, melty mozzarella, and fried plantains to top it all off. 

The combination of corn, soy, and butter is as delicious as it is classic. As Hiroko Shimbo writes in her book Hiroko’s American Kitchen, corn and butter are a common pair in Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan, where both are produced. Here, the three come together along with pan-fried tofu, scallions, mirin, and sesame oil to make an ultra-flavorful, just-rich-enough vegetarian main. Serve it over rice, a chewy grain like farro or wheat berries, or arugula dressed with rice vinegar and more sesame oil. A crispy fried egg would also be welcome.

A classic yakhni pulao is meticulously prepared by simmering basmati rice in an aromatic chicken, lamb, or goat broth. In this version, chicken thighs are simmered in a spiced tomato base along with rice and whole spices like cinnamon and bay leaf. 

Alguashte, a Salvadoran seasoning, lends deep nuttiness to the spicy acidic tomato broth that the clams steam in.

Crisp, peppery radishes take center stage in this fresh limey Salvadoran salsa.

The glory of head-on shrimp is sucking all the sweet, briny juices out of their heads.

Salvadoran chicken braised in fizzy and tangy pineapple chicha from Anthony Salguero of Popoca in Oakland.

A vibrant Thai sausage made with ground chicken, plus its spicy chile dip, from chef Parnass Savang of Atlanta’s Talat Market.

The curry and ground pork reference the origins of the dish, while the brussels sprouts and leeks are a nod to the local ingredients of Georgia, from chef Parnass Savang of Talat Market.

An ultralight and puffy Thai omelet with crispy golden brown edges.

Thinly sliced flanken-cut short ribs, packed with rich flavor, are the key to this Thai stir-fry.

In this recipe, spiced ghee becomes a rich poaching liquid that cooks shrimp to perfection.

In Korean, ssam literally means “wrapped”—set the fish in the center of the table and pull the meat off the bones, using chopsticks to fill lettuce wraps along with radish salad, ssamjang, kimchi, and rice. Roasting a whole fish—skin, bones, and all—is surprisingly easy, and the flesh stays moist and flavorful even if you overcook it a touch. 

My grandma used to make a version of this dish using pork and showers of Parmesan. I have updated it to include ground chicken and miso for a lighter, late-summer dish with equally deep flavor,  but feel free to use whatever ground meat you prefer. Gently poaching the meatballs is not only faster than roasting, but means none of their flavor is lost to a baking sheet.

“My mother (like many Puerto Rican mothers) has always had a copy of Yvonne Ortiz’s A Taste of Puerto Rico in our kitchen,” writers chef and recipe developer Gabriella Vigoreaux. “I can tell which dishes she’s made the most because the book just naturally falls open to those recipes. Only during quarantine have I started using it myself, marking new territory with soffritto stains on the pages my mother managed to keep pristine all these years. I turn to it when I want to taste my grandmother’s and great-grandmother’s cooking with half of the effort. One of my go-tos is Ortiz’s guava barbecue sauce. It’s a wildly simple (four-ingredient) recipe with a single sentence procedure: ‘Thoroughly combine all the ingredients.’ It takes about five seconds to make but instantly conjures memories of childhood trips to the island, stopping at a kiosko for a pincho de pollo (chicken skewer) and licking the sticky sweet sauce from off my little fingers. My version is nothing like Ortiz’s, but it brings me back just the same. I’ve slathered this sauce on ribs and whole fish and used it as a glaze for pork belly, but I will always like it best with chicken. This is just to say, you might want to double it.”

Leela Punyaratabandhu’s phanaeng-marinated beef skewers belong at your next barbecue. 

Short ribs aren’t just for braising. Make sure to grill them to medium doneness, just long enough to render fat and tenderize, without letting them overcook or toughen.

For this dinner-worthy sandwich, you’ll sear the eggplant on the stove, then marinate it in oil and vinegar to make it silky-soft and flavor-packed.