Recipes By Bryan Washington
20 recipes found
Hiroshima-Style Okonomiyaki
Meals seldom get more soulful than okonomiyaki — the Japanese cabbage pancake is soothing and filling, hearty with pork and savory with a topping of seaweed and bonito flakes. Its name stems from “okonomi,” which translates closely to “how you like,” and the recipe is an exercise in variation and flexibility. With a framework of shredded cabbage and its accompanying batter, any number of proteins, vegetables, cheeses and seasonings are fair game, yielding a meal that’s as personal as you’d like it to be. This iteration’s locality is commonly attributed to Hiroshima: the layered pancake’s noodles add texture while absorbing sauce and flavor from pork belly, a fried egg and whichever other toppings of yours are adorning the dish. If you’re cooking with a griddle, it’s possible to make multiple pancakes at once; but if you’re using a pan on your stovetop, it’s worth cooking them one at a time, then serving each immediately.
Bánh Mì
Bánh mì are, frankly, perfect sandwiches. From the baguettes (“bánh mì” literally translates to bread) to the fillings, they leave room for endless variation while remaining entirely distinct as a complete, complex Vietnamese dish. For this recipe, pork is the star: Following a brief marinade, the meat is broiled, then stuffed in a warm baguette alongside pickles, mayo, butter and a sprinkling of herbs. Ideally, it’s worth picking up the baguettes and butter from your local Vietnamese bakery or bánh mì shop (just ask; they’ll likely sell some to you). Both the pork and the pickles can be made ahead of time. Any extra cooked pork shoulder would serve as delicious leftovers when reheated alongside rice and eggs, or tossed between noodles, or folded into yet another bánh mì. Any extra pickles will hold in the fridge for several weeks — and are endlessly adaptable for later meals.
Chilaquiles Verdes
Chilaquiles are beloved all over Mexico and across the U.S. Southwest. Tortillas are fried, simmered in salsa and adorned with a multitude of herbs and proteins that vary with the chefs cooking them. Some folks prefer their totopos (tortilla chips) crisper, while some like them softer. Chilaquiles can be doused in salsa, but just a bit can yield a meal just as delicious. Though it really is worth stretching for the best quality tortillas you can find and frying them to your liking, in a pinch, buying the best tortilla chips you can works, too. Bottled salsa will do, if absolutely necessary, but a quick homemade salsa will produce dividends in taste with relatively little labor.
Melon and Cho Cho Salad
This melon salad, from Denai Moore’s “Plentiful: Vegan Jamaican Recipes to Repeat” (Hardie Grant, 2023) is a delight on a summer day, and a quick, surprising start to the rest of your meal. Consisting largely of sliced cantaloupe and chayote (also known as cho cho), the dish requires minimal effort: chopping, tossing and serving. The amount of acidity and herbs can be adjusted and calibrated to your preference, or the crowd that you’re cooking for. As Ms. Moore writes, “This is a salad to be eaten seasonally, as it uses so few ingredients, so it’s important that each one has the best opportunity to shine.” Nodding toward a vibrancy of flavor, confluence of textures and an eye to pleasure, it’s a salad to look forward to.
Chorizo Taquitos
Chorizo taquitos are quick, filling and endlessly customizable. While a taquito’s more traditional iterations involve frying the filled and rolled tortilla until crisp, this recipe is styled after a fast-casual version from the Whataburger restaurant chain. It’s made with flour tortillas (rather than corn tortillas) and skips the frying process. The chorizo filling is cooked with aromatics and seasonings, then mixed with scrambled eggs, ladled across tortillas with cheese, rolled and garnished with salsa. The dish retains its Mexican origins while adapting to the flavor profiles and preferences of its many locales. The taquito is as straightforward or complex as you’d like it to be — which is another joy of this delicious dish.
Oyakodon (Chicken and Egg Rice Bowl)
Oyakodon is pure bliss, combining the ease of lightly poached chicken with the velvety richness of eggs and onions simmered in sauce. In Japanese, oya means parent, while ko translates to child. Consequently, chicken and egg come together in a blend of dashi, mirin and soy sauce. A perfect weekday meal, oyakodon cooks in just under 30 minutes and is delightful alongside pickles and a bowl of miso soup. The chicken and egg bowl is a dream of soulfulness ladled over rice. Leftovers, if you have any, will hold in the refrigerator for a day.
Bò Né (Steak and Eggs)
Bò né (which translates from Vietnamese to “dodging beef”) is often served for breakfast, but is delicious any time of day: The meal consists of sizzled beef (bò) and fried eggs, with a smattering of pâté and butter dashed across a crisp baguette. Bò né is generally served alongside a salad plate, and offered on roadsides throughout Vietnam, and in Vietnamese restaurants all over the globe. You can partake in each component individually, or fill your baguette to make a sandwich, or figure out a third way that works best for you; there are as many routes to eat bò né as there are diners, and each of them is flawless. Purchasing the pâté and butter from your local Vietnamese market or diner would be ideal (just ask if they sell it by the pound), but whatever you can find will be solid. And if you’re short on time, simply seasoning the beef with salt and black pepper also works.
Chicken Doria
Doria is a warm blanket in a ramekin, an embrace in a casserole dish. This Japanese dish sits firmly in the canon of yōshoku, Western-inspired meals, and while the final product is reminiscent of a gratin, the meal is simmered with a base sauce prepared beforehand. Doria fillings run the gamut of your preferences — myriad proteins work exceedingly well here — while also serving as a keen means of utilizing extra vegetables. In this instance, diced chicken is folded into onions, mushrooms, carrots and spinach. That sauce overlays the rice in its entirety. Doria is a filling, comforting meal, perfect for taking care of yourself and those you hold dear.
Miso Pecan Banana Bread
This banana bread is a formidable treat: moist on the inside, with a crunchy bite around the edges. Banana bread may have emerged to prominence around the 1930’s — in the midst of the U.S.’s Great Depression, alongside the urge to economize recipes and the emergence of widespread baking powder usage — but the dish is now a global mainstay. It’s just as satisfying over coffee in the morning, as a quick bite for lunch or shared over a scoop of ice cream after dinner. The crunch of pecans complements the bread’s softness. Miso adds complexity alongside the banana’s sweetness. Be sure to utilize the ripest bananas you can find because it really will make a difference. This banana bread can hold for several days on the counter or in the fridge, if you have any left.
Stew Peas and Spinners
Jamaican stew peas are ubiquitous to the island nation, and each version is as individual as the person cooking them. Red peas (kidney beans) are mellowed out with coconut milk and stewed alongside beef, pork, chicken or even vegetarian options. Allowing ample time to soak the peas before cooking makes for a streamlined process. And, as ever, your most crucial ingredient will be time. But the more you make this dish, the more it’ll gel alongside your personal preferences: more garlic, less meat, larger peppers or varied herbs. The choices are entirely yours. Spinners, flour dumplings that you roll into ropes between your hands, are essential to making this a full-fledged meal, adding texture and body to the stew.
Pecan Tarts
Pecan pastries are synonymous with the American South; this recipe is a handheld compendium of community. The flavor profile mirrors its larger cousin — the full-sized pecan pie — but tarts serve just as ably as a crowd-pleaser. This pastry dough comes together easily, but be sure to chill it for at least an hour and a half before forming your tart shells in the pan. And resist the urge to overfill each pastry cup: the sweet, sticky pecan mixture should come only three-quarters of the way up the side because it will rise as it bakes. These pecan tarts can hold at room temperature for several days, if you have any left by then.
Jamaican Beef Patties
The Jamaican beef patty is an island’s history in the palm of a hand. Dubbed Jamaica’s “No. 1 fast food” by Enid Donaldson, author of “The Real Taste of Jamaica,” a beef patty’s filling is spiced, then baked inside of a suet dough. These pastries are often filled with seasoned ground beef, but can include pork, lamb, lobster, shrimp, cheese, chicken and ackee. The dish is a byproduct of Jamaica’s long history — the introduction of spices from African slaves, as well as Indian and Chinese indentured laborers, impacted the patty’s development. But while this meal is found throughout Jamaica, it’s also present wherever the Caribbean diaspora is around the globe. Both the dough and the filling can be made prior to baking. Eat with coco bread for a more substantial meal.
Menudo
Menudo is magic in a bowl — sporting tripe, a deeply spiced broth, and the choice of many different seasonings, the Mexican soup is a gift. Also known as pancita, the dish is amenable to many variations and this version from Mely Martínez’s book, “The Mexican Home Kitchen” (Rock Point, 2020), is especially soothing. Most menudo recipes follow a similar blueprint: protein (usually tripe) is simmered in broth until it reaches a silky completion. Your choice of meat sits nestled in a base which can be as spicy or soothing as your tolerance and preference allows. On the side, lime, oregano and onions are among the accoutrements to season your dish — and hominy can be a hearty addition to the bowl, complementing the textures that have been stacked atop one another.
Kimchi Cheddar Biscuits
Regardless of where, or even when, you’re eating a biscuit, the formula’s the same: a little flour, a little water, frozen butter. A pair of deft, knowing hands and an oven to bring them home. A biscuit can be a side dish of little note, or it can characterize an entire place and time, etching its own corner in your memory. The acidity and crunch of ripe kimchi meld deeply with Cheddar here, and also in versions from Kay Chun and Joy Cho, resulting in a biscuit that traverses multiple flavors from bite to bite. For the best results, chill your butter in the freezer and your buttermilk in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
Kare Rice (Curry Rice)
Kare rice is instantly nostalgic and hearty, a dish that’s both warming and filling. Japanese curry has origins in India, and it made its way to Japan’s populace by way of the British. By the late 1960s, kare rice became a common sight in Japanese markets and restaurants, and the dish has since found its way into kitchens all over the world. There are as many variations of kare rice as there are cooks preparing the dish: It can easily be made pescatarian (utilizing seafood as the protein), vegetarian or even vegan (omitting the chicken and utilizing a vegetable-based broth). In this version, dashi is used to add umami, with a range of vegetables to add texture to the dish alongside its chicken.
Kakuni (Braised Pork Belly)
Kakuni — “square-simmered” in Japanese — is a dish of pork belly cubes that are tender and savory after simmering slowly in a base of soy sauce, sugar and sake. The dish is eaten all over Japan, but its origins are in China. The dish most likely stemmed from dongpo pork: a Chinese braised pork belly dish believed to have been created in the Song dynasty. Because of a strong Chinese presence on Japan’s island of Kyushu, Japanese-Chinese style dishes emerged over time, becoming more distinctly local with each passing century. Now, kakuni remains popular in hubs like Nagasaki — but it’s cooked in homes and izakayas all over. By blending basic Japanese ingredients and allowing ample patience while cooking, a deeply flavorful and rich dish that embodies comfort results.
Potato Korokke
Korokke, or Japanese croquettes, are comforting oval-shaped staples. The dish was introduced to Japan in the late 1800s and is said to have descended from French croquettes. Now, you’re as likely to find these crunchy-creamy cakes in a neighbor’s kitchen as at a butcher’s shop, street vendor or convenience store counter. Potato korokke consists of mashed potatoes folded into a mixture of onion and ground beef, but that formula is a platform for endless variation. Kabocha korokke substitutes potatoes with Japanese squash; kani cream korokke is filled with crabmeat and bound by bechamel; kare rice korokke eats like a distant cousin of arancini; kon kurimu korokke uses corn and cream. Leftover korokke can be reheated and eaten with toasted milk bread for a miracle sandwich.
Creamy Collard Greens Dip With Shito
Cooking Dawn Burrell’s creamed greens is an exercise in extracting as much flavor as possible, as economically as possible: With the trinity of garlic, onion and bell pepper, the dip’s flavor profile is distinct, but the collard greens and shito, a chile sauce from Ghana, are still allowed to shine. This dip can be served as an appetizer, side dish or as the star of a series of smaller plates. And its texture is both inviting and distinct, creamy and wholly spiced. Ms. Burrell serves the dip with crunchy fritters made with rice and fonio, a tiny grain popular throughout West Africa. Pairing the dip with a baguette, a bowl of tortilla chips or slices of toasted bread would also make a solid meal.
Cheese Enchiladas
Enchiladas are an essential component of Houston’s ebullient, dynamic foodways. Mexican in origin, while distinctly Tex-Mex at the same time, the dish adapts to its surroundings. Each enchilada recipe is deeply local: The style ubiquitous in Monterrey, Mexico, will be different from those found in San Antonio or El Paso or Mexico City. But from enchilada to enchilada, the common denominator is deliciousness. In “The Enchilada Queen Cookbook,” Sylvia Casares notes, “for Tex-Mex-style cheese enchiladas, yellow cheese, such as Cheddar, is the traditional choice” yielding “the quintessential Tex-Mex enchilada.”
Bánh Cuốn
Bánh cuốn, or Vietnamese steamed rice rolls, pack platefuls of flavor into every bite. The dish originated in northern Vietnam, utilizing a batter that forms a delicate rice sheet, which gets rolled around a mixture of pork and wood ear mushrooms. Bánh cuốn’s accompaniments generally include bean sprouts, fried shallots, herbs and chả lụa (Vietnamese pork sausage), along with a dipping sauce of nước chấm. Though the dish has a number of ingredients, its preparation consists of simple steps; give yourself ample time to prepare and the cooking process will be seamless. This meal is best eaten immediately, but it can hold in the refrigerator for a day or two.