Recipes By Francis Lam
44 recipes found
Easy Sofrito
The flavor bases called sofritos exist throughout the Hispanic world, and many are made with peppers, tomatoes, onions and garlic. Blanca Arzu, a Garifuna woman from Honduras, makes a lighter, more herbal version based on cilantro, onions, garlic and sweet peppers.
Kimchi Fried Rice
Not the high-heat stir-fry you might expect, Grace Lee’s home-style fried-rice recipe uses a simple technique — make an easy, flavorful kimchi sauce, mellowed out with butter, and sauté leftover rice in it. It's perfect for a snack or a quick, simple meal. The Spam, though optional, reflects many Koreans’ love of foods introduced by the American military.
Stuffed Calamari
Long a star on Camille Orrichio Loccisano’s traditional Italian-American Feast of the Seven Fishes table, these stuffed squid were also a hit at her restaurant, the appropriately named Casa Calamari. After a slow simmer in briny tomato sauce, diced shrimp and peppery crumbs plump up into a rich stuffing that fills tender calamari bodies; they're like seafood dumplings in reverse.
Bigos
Bigos is usually translated as “hunter’s stew” and is sometimes referred to as the national dish of Poland. This version, adapted from Monika Woods, is rich with meat but heightened with caraway balanced by the tartness of sauerkraut, tomato and sweet fresh cabbage. Woods's mother makes it with the ends and scraps of meat saved and frozen over months’ worth of meals, so feel free to experiment with different cuts. Smoky kielbasa is the only necessary constant.
Caramelized-Scallion Noodles
The key here is the scallion dressing for the noodles and the bit of oyster sauce you drizzle on for depth and umami. Feel free to substitute in any meats, fish, tofu or vegetables you like for the toppings; this is just a template for any number of quick, delicious meals.
Brazilian Collard Greens
Unlike slow-cooked southern American treatments of this vegetable, this version retains the collards’ vibrant color and satisfying crunch.
Crispy Shallots and Garlic
This gently-fried topping takes a little patience, but leaves you with sweet, aromatic, crunchy bits that will elevate salads, sandwiches, pasta or noodles. And the oil you fry it in also takes on terrific flavor — also great for drizzling on most anything you can think of.
Chinese Stir-Fried Tomatoes and Eggs
Home-style Chinese food at its simplest and, arguably, tastiest, this dish is the object of nostalgia for many Chinese immigrants (and their children). Well-seasoned eggs scrambled until just-set combine at the last moment with a sweet-tart ginger-tomato sauce. Serve with lots of steamed rice. When tomatoes are out of season, canned tomatoes in juice work best.
Maha Sarsour’s Maqluba (Upside-Down Chicken and Rice)
A Palestinian tradition, maqluba means “upside down” in Arabic and is a pot of stewed meat, rice and fried vegetables, cooked and flipped onto a serving dish to form an impressive tower. In Maha Sarsour’s version, the rice is richly spiced with cinnamon, allspice and more, and the chicken simmers to tenderness as it gives its flavor to the rice.
Edna Lewis’s Biscuits
Edna Lewis mastered dozens of bread and biscuit recipes over the years, and in “The Taste of Country Cooking,” she offers two for biscuits; this is the flannel-soft version. Be sure to use homemade baking powder, which you can make easily by sifting together 2 parts cream of tartar with 1 part baking soda. It leaves no chemical or metallic taste.
Curtido
Often served alongside pupusas, curtido is quick to assemble, but aged over three days so the shock of pink cabbage can develop high notes and deep flavor. Transfer your finished curtido to clean jars, which make it easy to store and give away to friends.
Sos Pwa Nwa (Black-Bean Sauce)
This velvety purée of black beans and coconut milk is the perfect accompaniment to Mayi Moulen, a Haitian recipe for garlicky polenta-like porridge. Slices of nutty avocado offer a gentle contrast in texture and another element of richness. It was adapted from the Haitian cooking instructor Cindy Similien-Johnson, who remembers it from her grandmother’s house.
Lemon-Herb Buttermilk Dressing
Packed with herbs and plenty of lemon, this quick buttermilk dressing can be considered a brighter, lighter cousin of ranch. It's terrific in grain bowls, for salads or even as a sauce for poached, sautéed or grilled fish.
Trini Chana and Aloo
This savory, herbal Trinidadian chickpea-and-potato curry is an island adaptation of a common north Indian dish. It comes from the Trini cooking teacher Dolly Sirju, who dislikes comparisons of Trinidadian food to Indian. “India is totally different than Trinidad,” she says. This dish swaps out tomatoes, ginger and whole spices for Madras curry powder and waves of cilantro-like flavor. Serve it with steamed white rice or roti flatbread.
Bangladeshi Chicken Korma
Homestyle Bangladeshi chicken korma is likely more aromatic, flavorful, and deeply chicken-flavored than the heavy, creamy versions served in Indian restaurants. This recipe, adapted from Shama Mubdi, is also incredibly easy to make: You just stir everything together in a pot and turn on the heat. A last-minute addition of butter-fried onions adds sweet complexity. Serve with basmati rice and salad or South Asian pickles.
Edna Lewis’s Spiced Pears
These sweet, sour and aromatic pears are terrific served with ice cream or yogurt, or they can be canned for preserving after cooking. Edna Lewis calls for Seckel pears, but this recipe works for Bosc or other varieties that will keep their shape when cooked. If you have to substitute, try to find smaller fruit, and halve them lengthwise if needed to fit in the pan. The leftover syrup is delicious in drinks.
Ghanaian Spinach Stew With Sweet Plantains
This recipe is an adaptation of the smoky spinach stew served at Papaye, Samuel Obeng's restaurant in the Bronx. Built on a base of onions and ginger sauteed in palm oil, made fiery with habanero, and thickened with ground pumpkin seeds and tomatoes, the stew calls for African smoked, dried shrimp powder; its flavor is amazing. (Asian versions are typically unsmoked and chewier.) But smoked paprika and fish sauce make a serviceable substitute.
Poulet à la Normande
This simple, classic braise from northern France brings together the fall flavors of sweet apples, yeasty cider, cream and chicken. The only trick is flambéing the Calvados or brandy, which gives it a toasty flavor — it’s literally playing with fire, so if you’d prefer not to do that, you can stay safe and get very similar results by pouring the liquor in off-heat, and gently simmering it to evaporate the alcohol.
Mexican Street-Corn Paleta (Corn, Sour Cream and Lime Popsicle)
Fany Gerson makes her paletas, Mexican fruit ice-pops, the traditional way: with real fruit for intense flavors. Although this flavor isn't traditional, it was inspired by esquites, a favorite Mexican street food of corn dressed with sour cream, lime and chile. To make it, infuse milk with fresh sweet corn and chile, and then blend it into a smooth base. Fold in some lime and sautéed corn for texture, and freeze for a rich, sweet-savory treat.
Caramelized-Scallion Sauce
A twist on the Cantonese classic ginger-scallion sauce, this aromatic purée focuses on the flavor of scallions slow-cooked to draw out their gentle sweetness. Adding more scallions at the end brings a fresh complexity to the sauce, but if you want to keep the whole thing mellow and sweet, feel free to omit that step, and just cook all the scallions at once. It's great as a dressing for noodles, boiled or roasted vegetables and simple meats and fish.
Tortilla Española
Perhaps the most Spanish of all tapas, this potato omelet makes a satisfying meal on its own; you can also serve it as a part of a spread with jamón, serrano, chorizo, cheese, olives and piquillo peppers. Poaching the potatoes and onions in olive oil makes them almost creamy. (Keep the infused oil in the fridge; it’s great for dipping bread or other uses.)
Chicken Mafe
This West African favorite, adapted from Rama Dione and Papa Diagne, balances the richness of peanut butter with tomato and aromatics, cooked down to a thick gravy. The addition of Southeast Asian fish sauce gives the dish depth and is somewhat traditional, given the Vietnamese influence, via the French, in Senegal. But absolutely traditional would be to eat this with guests, directly from a large platter, to demonstrate welcome and unity.
Melted-Pepper-Ricotta Toast
With the vegetal sweetness of caramelized peppers and onions as the base, a topping of fresh ricotta, flaky salt, and mint leaves is a simple way to make a terrific breakfast or lunch. It tastes fresh, deep, milky and rich, and the flavor of mint comes on like a surprise.
Corviches
Many cuisines have some version of a starchy vegetable stuffed, then fried, but the corviches of Ecuador speak to tropical and African influences in a delicious way; the plantains give them great crunch and a mild sweetness, while the peanuts offer an intriguing toasted, buttery taste. Stuffed here with quickly stewed tuna, they're great as appetizers or as a light meal when paired with a salad.