Main Course
8665 recipes found
General Tso’s Tofu Sub
Tyler Kord, the chef-owner of the No. 7 Sub shops in New York, has made the submarine a thing of juiciness, beauty and exoticism. “I like soft bread and fancy ingredients inside,” said Mr. Kord, who worked at a Subway when he was 16, in Ithaca, N.Y., and eventually became sous-chef at Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Perry Street restaurant in New York. Take General Tso’s Tofu Sub, a brilliant study of layered textures and flavors. The centerpiece is a deep-fried panko-crusted rectangle of firm tofu, golden and crusty outside, and creamy inside. Mr. Kord layers the tofu between edamame purée, homemade pickled cucumbers and a piquant sauce named after General Tso that includes ginger, garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, sugar and chilis. The blender does the work, in three quick steps. The result is startling. It is what Mr. Kord wants it to be: crunchy, creamy, salty, sweet and sour, all in one bite.
Muffuletta Chopped Salad
This crisp, vibrant salad is inspired by muffuletta, a popular sandwich created in New Orleans and packed with cured meats, provolone cheese and a signature chunky olive relish. This salad’s pantry-driven vinaigrette comes together quickly, with briny olives, sweet roasted peppers, nutty provolone, cured deli meats and tangy pickled pepperoncini for mild heat. (To keep the salad vegetarian, simply omit the meat.) Fresh romaine lettuce and celery are combined with avocado and chickpeas to create both crunchy and creamy textures. This recipe makes a great side salad for pizza night, but it’s equally delicious served alongside rotisserie chicken or roasted salmon.
Vegan Mapo Tofu
Mapo tofu is a justly popular menu item in many Chinese restaurants. It is a quickly cooked dish of braised tofu with minced pork (sometimes beef) in a bracing spicy sauce made with fermented black beans and fermented broad bean paste, along with hot red pepper and Sichuan pepper. This meatless version with fresh shiitake mushrooms is completely satisfying, and surprisingly easy to make. For the best texture, use soft tofu rather than firm, taking care to cook it gently to keep it from crumbling.
Za’atar Roasted Tofu With Chickpeas, Tomatoes and Lemony Tahini
Tofu and chickpeas form the hearty base for vibrant, woodsy za’atar, the popular Middle Eastern spice blend. The tomatoes, when roasted, become acidic, little bursts in the salad, a great complement to the earthiness of the other ingredients. The roasted vegetables, chickpeas and tofu and the tahini dressing will keep for days once refrigerated. Assemble your bowl to order, and enjoy it for lunch or as a light dinner.
Bulgur Mujadara
Mujadara is one of the most popular dishes across the Levant, with a complex taste that belies its simple ingredients. The mix of contrasting tastes — sweet onions with savory hearty lentils, tender bulgur with crunchy fried onions — is a feast for the tastebuds. The dish is quite forgiving as there is no right or wrong texture. Some people prefer it fluffy like a pilaf while others prefer it more dense, like sticky rice. This version falls somewhere in the middle. Since lentils and bulgur absorb different amounts of liquid depending on variety, check on them periodically, taste and add water as necessary while cooking. The finished dish is equally delicious warm or at room temperature. It is wholesome on its own, but combined with yogurt and served with a chopped salad, bread and olives, it becomes a most satisfying meal.
Mapo Tofu Spaghetti
Conventional mapo tofu calls for cubed tofu, but, if you blend silken tofu for a twist on the Sichuan favorite, you’ll yield a creamy pasta sauce with deep numbing, spicy mala flavor. For velvety results, select silken tofu that’s molded into its refrigerated tub. Shop at a Chinese market for the doubanjiang (fermented chile bean sauce or paste). Look for the kind that is jarred and labeled as toban djan or packaged as plastic-sealed paper cubes, and originating from Pixian. Also grab some Sichuan peppercorns, and for extra umami oomph, some douchi (fermented black beans), too. If beef or pork isn’t your thing, try ground turkey, lamb or a plant-based meat alternative. Chefs (Mei Lin of Nightshade in Los Angeles, and Yu Bo of Yu’s Family Kitchen in Chengdu) and home cooks (the family of Zhong Yi, a former graduate student at Sichuan University) alike have tinkered with mapo tofu, pushing its definition and inspiring this cross-cultural iteration.
Tofu and Mushroom Jorim (Soy-Braised Tofu)
Korean jorim is a traditional braised dish typically made with beef that is stewed in a savory garlic- and ginger-spiked soy sauce until tender. This version highlights tofu’s ability to absorb the aromatic salty-sweet sauce like a sponge; earthy shiitake mushrooms add depth and a meaty texture that contrasts the tofu’s softness. The dish is as delicious cold as it is hot, so it’s a great make-ahead meal; simply cool and chill overnight in an airtight container.
Tomato-Marinated Greens and Beans Toast
This fresh, no-cook dish makes the most out of tomatoes by grating the flesh, which preserves all of the sweet juices and raw pulp. The natural acidity in the tomato juice, combined with capers and vinegar, create a piquant sauce that tenderizes and subdues sturdy greens. Earthy Swiss chard is used here, but other leafy greens like lacinato kale would work, as would spicy mustard greens. The lentils add a meaty bite, but red kidney beans or chickpeas would also work. Refrigerate leftovers and serve over eggs, tossed with warm pasta or as a sauce for roasted chicken or fish.
One-Pan Paprika Chicken With Lentils, Squash and Daqa
This oven bake requires minimal effort and is very much a meal in itself. Daqa is a vinegar-based condiment, most commonly used when making the much-loved Egyptian koshari, a hearty dish of rice, pasta and lentils. Daqa is a nifty way to brighten stews, braises and anything that needs an acidic lift. Feel free to swap out the kabocha squash for root vegetables, such as sweet potato or celery root, and serve the whole thing with nothing more than a leafy green salad.
Crisped Chickpeas in Spicy Brown Butter
This recipe for crisped chickpeas dressed in spicy brown butter is your new, 15-minute way to turn a simple can of chickpeas into a satisfying dinner. Chickpeas are fried in a little olive oil, then butter is added, which turns browns and nutty. Crushed fennel seeds and red-pepper flakes season the brown butter, but feel free play around: Add a sprig of thyme or rosemary, a few tablespoons of olives or capers, some grated garlic and ginger, or a drizzle of tahini or honey. You can also toast some nuts or seeds, like cashews or sesame, in the browning butter. Just before serving, add a little lemon juice or vinegar to offset the richness. Serve over yogurt, orzo or rice, or top with a fried egg.
Spaghetti With Lentils, Tomato and Fennel
There are many recipes for pasta with lentils, a multitude of which are thick and stewlike, more lentil than pasta. This one emphasizes the pasta. The hearty lentil topping is a bit like a Bolognese ragù, and the addition of fennel — seeds, bulb and chopped green fronds — gives it surprising brightness and zest. For even more flavor, add some of your stored-away Parmesan rinds to the sauce. (Carnivores can add a little chopped anchovy or Italian fennel sausage.)
Coconut Curry Chickpeas With Pumpkin and Lime
Canned pumpkin purée and coconut milk, heavily seasoned with curry spices and lots of fresh lime juice, make a sweet-sharp sauce for chickpeas. It’s a rich, creamy curry that you can eat on its own, or serve over rice or couscous. If you want to incorporate more vegetables, stir in some spinach, baby kale or sliced green beans during the last few minutes of cooking, letting them soften in the sauce.
Curried Red Lentil Soup With Toasted Coconut
Fresh ginger along with plenty of earthy spices like turmeric and coriander add complexity to this otherwise unassuming lentil soup. The dish is perfect for a weeknight as the legumes here cook fairly quickly. Pairing the lentils with bold, warming spices gives them a big boost of flavor in a short amount of time. To make the soup feel extra special, toast coconut flakes for a crunchy topping, and put out bowls of roughly chopped cilantro, thinly sliced scallions and lime wedges, so guests can top their soup as they please. If you’re feeling ambitious, a topping of fried shallots seasoned with flaky salt would also be nice.
Chickpea and Winter Vegetable Stew
Vegetarian Gumbo
This meatless gumbo has a distinct Louisiana flavor, thanks to the roux, Creole seasoning and the “holy trinity” of Creole cooking (onion, celery, bell pepper). Gumbo is traditionally made with a variety of smoked meats and seafood, but this version gets an added bit of smokiness from an optional splash of liquid smoke. Here, the okra is roasted in the oven before being added to the pot, which eliminates the gooeyness. There is also no skimping on vegetables in this gumbo, and the red lentils thicken it while adding protein. Serving this gumbo over white rice helps make it a complete meal.
Roasted Cabbage Caesar Salad With Chickpeas
This is not your usual Caesar salad. It forgoes the lettuce for wedges of roasted cabbage and replaces the croutons with roasted chickpeas. The Caesar dressing is a cheater’s version, using store-bought mayonnaise instead of fresh egg yolks; roasted garlic adds creamy richness, while briny capers and lemon evoke traditional Caesar flavors. A hot oven and a heated sheet pan are your friends here — start heating as soon as you think about cooking this dish — ensuring that everything cooks quickly and evenly. The cabbage caramelizes on the outside while the interior retains crisp-tenderness, and the chickpeas become warm and creamy with just a bit of crunch. (If you want them crispier, roast for 10 to 15 minutes more.) To make this dish vegan, use plant-based mayonnaise and omit the Parmesan.
Red Lentil Loaf
Vegetarian lentil loaf has a long history of masquerading as meatloaf. With its brownish-grey color and a red ketchup glaze, it does its best to look and taste like meat (though it never does). This delicate red lentil loaf is not at all like that. It’s all about the lentil flavor — sweet and vegetal. The seasoning veers a little bit Turkish, with lemon, cumin, cilantro, dill and yogurt. It is delicious served at room temperature or warm.
Spicy Noodle Soup With Mushrooms and Herbs
Sautéed mushrooms lend extreme and surprising depth of flavor to this clean, spicy noodle soup, which also happens to be vegan. With the addition of soy sauce, the broth takes on an almost beefy flavor; the vinegar helps to perk it right back up for a nearly hot and sour flavor profile. For the best (and most interesting) results, try to seek out a mix of mushrooms for a variety of flavors and textures.
One-Pan Spicy Meatballs With Lentils and Fennel
In this one-pan meal, you get spicy meatballs, savory lentils and sweet fennel that are all perked up with vinegar and parsley. For the speediest meatballs, use uncased bulk Italian sausage, which comes fully seasoned. When cooked at high heat and partly submerged in the chicken stock, the meatballs brown on top and stay moist on the inside — and the lentils soak up the flavorful pork juices. The roasted fennel provides sweetness and echoes the fennel seed in the meatballs, but feel free to use another vegetable that cooks at the same rate, like thinly sliced carrots.
Squash and Chickpea Stew With Lemongrass
This comforting weeknight squash stew is inspired by Thai curries that combine rich coconut and fragrant lemongrass, but it’s quite mild and soothing rather than spicy. Deeply orange kabocha is used here, but butternut, delicata or acorn squash would all work well. The secret behind this quick yet flavorful dish is peanut butter; it adds nutty depth to balance the aromatic and bright lemongrass-infused broth. Chickpeas pair well with squash, but this customizable stew can accommodate any bean (like white, pinto or black beans); lightly mashing half of the tender squash and beans at the end thickens the sauce.
Spicy Sichuan Noodles
This recipe for spicy peanut noodles is adapted from Ken Hom, the chef and cookbook author best known for his BBC television show "Ken Hom's Chinese Cookery." It is incredibly easy to put together on a weeknight, yet loaded with complex flavors and textures.
Stewed Lentils With Sausage
In Italy, lentils are traditionally eaten at midnight to bring luck in the coming year. Because lentils are round, resembling coins, they are believed to bring prosperity to those who eat them. For this one-pot preparation, sausages are fried in oil to brown and release a bit of fat. Next, the soffritto and tomatoes come together, lentils are added, then the dish simmers until the legumes are tender and the liquid is saucy and thick. Like most stews, this dish can be made a few days ahead and reheated for company.
Lablabi (Tunisian Chickpea Soup)
There are myriad ways to cook lablabi, the classic, cumin and garlic scented chickpea soup from Tunisia. This version, adapted from Joe Yonan’s cookbook “Cool Beans” (Ten Speed Press, 2020), has crunchy, spice-sprinkled chickpeas garnishing the top, and a creamy, silky broth made from puréeing some of the chickpeas and stirring them back into the pot. It’s earthy and satisfying, with a chile kick from harissa and a bright tanginess from a squeeze of lemon at the end.
Crispy Chickpea Stew With Greens and Lemon
The hardest part about making this dish is not eating all the garlic-strewn crispy chickpeas right after you’ve made them. But try to resist — they will taste even better as a crunchy topping to this gorgeous, velvety stew laden with tender greens, salty feta and even more chickpeas. All the textures here make this dish, adapted from “Dinner in One: Exceptional & Easy One-Pan Meals” (Clarkson Potter, 2022), highly appealing, and very hard to stop eating. You’ve been warned.