Recipes By Tejal Rao
135 recipes found
Bibingka (Filipino Coconut-Rice Cake)
This recipe for bibingka, the celebratory rice cake traditionally eaten around Christmastime in the Philippines, comes from the New York restaurateur Nicole Ponseca. It's a savory side dish with an edge of sweetness, and she always includes it on her Thanksgiving table. Cooked in cast-iron for a deeply golden crust, and hiding slices of salty preserved eggs, the bibingka is topped with grated cheese that gets brown and crisp. Though Ms. Ponseca prefers bibingka without additional coconut on top, traditionalists may want to add a sprinkle.
Blender Chocolate Mousse
This recipe for chocolate mousse made in a blender comes via the pastry chef Natasha Pickowicz, who got it from a cook named Monica Stolbach, who in turn got it from her mother-in-law, who got it from a Junior League cookbook published in the 1980s. Straightforward, adaptable and extremely satisfying, it’s one of those recipes that you want to pass along to as many people as you can. Instead of separating the egg yolks and whites, this technique simply involves pouring hot sugar syrup into a blender with chocolate and whole eggs, then folding that mixture into softly whipped cream. The resulting texture is so creamy and rich, it doesn’t need anything at all, though you can top it with extra whipped cream, if you like.
Fried Chicken Biscuits With Hot Honey Butter
This recipe for chicken biscuits could be a weeknight dinner with a side of greens, but it's made to travel, and perfectly suited for a picnic. The biscuit dough, adapted from Sam Sifton's all-purpose biscuit recipe, is lightly kneaded here, so it's not too tender to work in a sandwich. The chicken tenders, inspired by Masaharu Morimoto's katsu in the cookbook "Mastering the Art of Japanese Home Cooking," are pounded and coated in panko for plenty of crunch. Prepare both components the day you want to eat them, giving yourself at least one extra hour for everything to cool before you assemble, so the sandwich stays crisp. You can also cook well in advance, and assemble the sandwiches the next day. Either way, cooling the chicken completely, on a wire rack, is crucial. If you prefer breast meat over thigh, feel free to swap it in.
Gajjara Kosambari (Carrot Salad)
There are countless variations of this style of salad from Karnataka, but my favorite is a simple version made with crunchy raw carrots, dressed with a little tempered fat, coconut, citrus and chopped herbs. If fresh coconut isn’t available, keep a bag of frozen grated coconut in the freezer. It’s easy to find at most Indian grocery stores and, when you have it on hand, you can bring this salad together in less than five minutes.
How to Make Rice
Rice is comfort food, just the way it is, but master it, and a world of dishes are at hand. Tejal Rao will teach you the basics.
Egg Curry
Eggs have long been an important source of nutrition across the country, and form the base of many classic regional dishes. In Andhra Pradesh, this spicy, tomato-rich egg curry would have firmer, more crumbly yolks (boiled for about 11 or 12 minutes), but I like to cook them a little softer (8 minutes, max).
BBQ Chicken Pizza
This simple recipe celebrates a 1980s classic invented by the American pizza genius Ed LaDou (whose fingerprints are also on Wolfgang Puck’s famous smoked-salmon pizza). The pizza matches the flavors of chicken with barbecue sauce, red onion, two kinds of cheese and a little cilantro. Use homemade dough and barbecue sauce, cook it in the hottest setting of your oven, and the classic pie goes from good to great. Want to make the recipe vegetarian? Simply substitute mushrooms for the chicken and sauté until most of their moisture is evaporated.
Garlic Rasam
While working on her new cookbook, “Usha’s Rasam Digest,” the author Usha Prabakaran gathered over 1,000 recipes for rasam, a thin, tangy broth from southern India with many names and infinite variations. This one comes together in minutes, from a base of gently sautéed garlic and a peppery spice mixture that is ground to make rasam powder. Ms. Prabakara suggests the soup for anyone feeling unwell. Don’t let the garlic color, or it’ll add a note of bitterness to the rasam.
Shrikhand (Sweet Strained Yogurt)
Shrikhand is a creamy yogurt-based dessert from western India made simply by straining yogurt and sweetening it. The yogurt is traditionally strained by pressing it between newspaper (to soak up extra whey), but if you can find thick, full-fat Greek yogurt at the grocery store, then the process is even simpler: Hang it in a mesh strainer over a bowl for a day, and let the excess whey drip out. You can substitute slivered almonds for pistachios, if that's more your speed, or even skip the nuts altogether for a smooth shrikhand flavored only with sugar, cardamom and a celebratory sprinkle of saffron threads.
Matar Kachori (Fried Pea-Filled Pastries)
Kachori started as street food in Rajasthan, where Marwari cooks sealed food in pastry and deep-fried it, making it ideal for the hungry traders doing business at outdoor markets. Kachori can be filled with potatoes, dal and vegetables, but when peas are in season, they make what I consider the pinnacle of the genre. The filling is fresh, green, bright, juicy and lightly seasoned with herbs and lemon, all tucked inside a thin, flaky crust. The dough behaves nothing like pie dough, but somehow achieves the same effect after it’s deep-fried. Though the snack was originally made to be portable and to keep for a long time, these kachori are best the day they’re made.
Party Wreath
This party-size vegetarian version of a sausage roll takes a bit of inspiration from potato- and pea-filled samosas: The filling is a coarse mash of peas and potato mixed with fresh ginger and green chiles, along with cumin, fennel and sesame seeds. Seasoned with lemon juice and garam masala, it has a tangy, gently spicy flavor that’s even more sumptuous when it’s wrapped in buttery store-bought puff pastry. Be sure to cut the roll almost all the way to the inner edge before sliding it into the oven, so that the baked pieces are easy to tear away. Serve with green chutney, tamarind chutney, a squirt of Maggi ketchup, or just as is, with a few wedges of lemon or lime on the side.
Aloo Masala (Spiced Potatoes)
A little bowl of simply spiced half-mashed potatoes and onion, glistening with fat, is a standard side dish at bustling restaurants that serve dosas. It’s also one of the best vegetable dishes — inexpensive, quick and delicious — to add to your repertoire as a home cook. The key to these potatoes is water, not fat. Overcooking them just slightly ensures that they’re tender, and that they hold enough moisture so when you drop them into the hot pan, they break up and meld into the sautéed onion mix, becoming almost indistinguishable from it. Though aloo masala is great with a hot dosa, it’s a versatile dish that can also work as a side with other meals.
Tamales de Chile Rojo (Red Chile Tamales With Meat)
Tamales are often served with complementing salsas and soups, but Claudia Serrato serves her exquisite tamales de chile rojo — made with freshly ground nixtamalized blue corn and filled with tender, braised bison — plain, exactly as they are, with nothing else on the plate. The tamal is so deeply flavored, so perfumed with corn and chiles, that it doesn’t need a thing to hold your attention. Eat these the day you steam them, when they’re still piping with steam from the tamalera, and the next day, fry leftover unwrapped tamales in a hot pan for a perfect holiday breakfast.
Brigadeiros
The Brazilian sweets known as brigadeiros are a classic treat at birthday parties and family get-togethers, where the fudgy, chocolate-milk caramels are often rolled in sprinkles. The chef Natalia Pereira of Woodspoon in Los Angeles also makes more grownup, bittersweet brigadeiros by rolling them in cocoa powder or shredded coconut. Try her recipe, which she learned from her mother in Minas Gerais, Brazil, using either canned condensed milk or a homemade version. Either way, the candies will be tender and delicious.
Tinga de Pollo (Chicken with Chipotle and Onions)
Guadalupe Moreno runs Mi Morena, a tacos de guisado business in the Bay Area, where a number of saucy fillings and toppings are used to mix and match tacos to order. She shared her recipe for tinga de pollo with Leticia Landa and Caleb Zigas for their cookbook "We Are La Cocina." Ms. Moreno's tinga de pollo works perfectly in tacos and also on top of crisp tostadas with lettuce and salsa, inside quesadillas or as a tamal filling. It’s a great way to use up any leftover cooked chicken (just skip straight to step 2), whether pulled from a roast or poached bird, or grocery-store rotisserie.
Long-Cooked Broccoli
If you’re used to quick-cooked broccoli, barely blanched in boiling water, or crisp, raw florets, this old Alice Waters recipe from “Chez Panisse Vegetables” (HarperCollins, 1996) might seem a little off. A whole hour of simmering with the lid on? Yes! The result is an incredibly sweet, tender, juicy and delicious vegetable with almost no hands-on work. Finish the dish with plenty of cheese and lemon zest, and an extra drizzle of olive oil, and eat it just the way it is, or break it up into some hot, just-cooked pasta for a bigger meal.
Spicy and Tingly Beef
This recipe for a simple dish of mala beef comes from Jason Wang of Xi’an Famous Foods in New York, but as Wang puts it, “You can mala anything.” Spicy chiles and tingly Sichuan peppercorns define mala, one of the many flavors of Sichuan cuisine, and though it can season beef, the same technique for a vivid, brilliant sauce can be applied to a big pile of sautéed mushrooms, or simmered tofu and sautéed greens. However you choose to make it, serve the dish over hot rice or simmered noodles and finish it with a little drizzle of Sichuan chile oil, if you’ve got it.
Crispy Chickpea Pancakes With Roasted Mushroom Salad
Italian farinata are simple pancakes made from chickpea flour, which gives them a deep, nutty flavor and unexpectedly luxurious texture. Make sure to use an ovenproof pan so you can finish the pancake in a hot oven to give it golden, crisp edges. Top the farinata however you like — roasted vegetables, a dressed salad, a mix of fresh herbs — or even eat it plain, with a cold drink, just before dinner. But a mix of roasted mushrooms and radicchio seasoned simply with vinegar and olive oil is perfect in the fall.
Onion Sandwich
James Beard took this recipe from his colleagues Irma and Bill Rhode over 60 years ago, but there’s something delicate, fresh and unfussy about the sandwich even now. There isn’t much to it, so each component really matters: Slice the onions thinly and evenly, season well, and be gentle so you don’t squish the bread as you press each sandwich shut. Rolling the edge of the sandwich in chopped parsley (or a mix of parsley and other fresh herbs), gives it a retro styling touch, but it’s crucial for flavor, too.
Jingalov Hats
This recipe for jingalov hats, the simple flatbread stuffed with a mix of greens, comes from “Lavash,” an Armenian cookbook by John Lee, Ara Zada and Kate Leahy. The authors got the recipe in Artsakh from Lilia Harutyunyan, a local baker who mixes tangy wild sorrel and dandelion greens with soft herbs such as chervil and cilantro, as well as earthy beet greens, chard and spinach. The key to a great bread is in the mix of greens, which gently steam inside the bread as it cooks on the stovetop. Wash and dry all the greens in a salad spinner to remove as much moisture as possible before chopping. The pomegranate seeds are optional, though Ms. Harutyunyan likes to add them for extra tang.
Hoshigaki (Dried Persimmons)
Japanese hoshigaki are a special, seasonal treat made with firm, astringent Hachiya persimmons that are dried for a few weeks until they become extremely tender and sweet. The prep is a little intensive — each fruit must be peeled, dunked in boiling water and suspended in such a way that it doesn’t touch anything, to discourage mold from forming. If the stems haven’t been cut so they’re easy to tie with string, they will require binder clips or another makeshift hanging solutions. But after the persimmons are set up, all they need is plenty of time, sunlight and air to transform into succulent hoshigaki. Slice the dried fruit and nibble it as is for dessert, pair it with good cheese, or toss it into a simple green salad.
Paneer Ajwaini Tikka (Fresh Roasted Paneer With Carom)
This dish of marinated, roasted paneer is inspired by the one served by the chef Chintan Pandya at Dhamaka in New York City, and is flavored intensely with ajwain, or carom seeds, and a paste of garlic and ginger. You could use the marinade on store-bought paneer, but fresh paneer is one of the simplest and most satisfying cheeses for a home cook to make, and doesn’t require any special ingredients. And unlike store-bought paneer, which is generally quite firm, a homemade version can be tender and delicate, and extremely creamy. Just be sure to stir the milk mixture very gently to keep the curds large and intact.
Broccoli-Dill Pasta
Bryant Terry, an Oakland, Calif., chef with two young daughters, developed this recipe to make eating broccoli a treat. It worked: Blanched and puréed with lemon, garlic and a little of what he calls “umami powder,” the broccoli transforms into a deeply flavorful vegan spread that’s also highly adaptable. Thin it with pasta water and toss it with hot noodles, as seen here, or scrape it into a bowl as a dip for crudités. Spread it onto a thick piece of toast and cover it with sliced radishes, dill and crunchy salt. Use some to drown a softly poached egg, drizzle with olive oil, and eat with a spoon, or to dress warm white beans, then shower them with black pepper and grated cheese. Whatever you do, don’t skip rinsing the broccoli with cold water after you blanch it; the step keeps the spread a vibrant green.
Meen Gassi (Fish Curry)
Sour with tamarind, full-bodied with coconut and smoldering with dry red chiles, this dish has roots in the coastal city of Mangalore. In India, a cook might reach for Byadagi chiles from Karnataka to stain the sauce a bright red color. In the United States, chiles de árbol are easier to find. A stone mortar and pestle is the best tool for grinding the curry paste; the finer you can get the coconut and chile, the smoother and richer the texture of the final sauce. From there, the recipe is very adaptable — replace the fillets with any fish you like, including nice oily ones like mackerel or sardines.