Recipes

Limón-Chile Tomato Salad

10 min

Introducing our vibrant Limón-Chile Tomato Salad—a delightful summer dish that bursts with flavor. Sliced steak tomatoes form the base, adorned with thin radish, jalapeno, and cilantro layers. A drizzle of lime juice and olive oil adds tanginess. Sprinkle on crumbled queso fresco, Limón-Chile, and Pacific sea salt for a crunchy, juicy, and refreshing experience. Vegetarian by default, easily vegan without the cheese. No tossing required—simply assemble and enjoy! For perfectly sliced veggies, a mandoline or Benriner works wonders. Experience the essence of summer on your plate with the unique blend of three chile flakes and fruity tartness from sumac in Limón-Chile—it'll elevate your summer veggies to new heights!

Aji Pimento Cheese Crackers

These little crackers combine a range of delightful chile flavors into every bite and will add a unique twist to your snacking or appetizer lineup. The mild pimento cheese is complimented with Aji mirasol chile peppers. They are mild and fruity with hints of tamarind and tomato. The pickled jalapeño on top adds a kick- but not too much. Orange zest brings the flavors together nicely.

Flour Tortillas

It's no secret that flour tortillas are champions of versatility! You can top them with anything, fill them with anything, and they work great for snacks or for meals. What's less well known, however, is that they're also incredibly easy to make! Really! And nothing beats a fresh, warm tortilla.When making tortillas at home, use the opportunity to be creative! By using different spices or flours, you can inject a little flair into your recipe, and make your tortillas truly unique! In this recipe, we use Saffron and Butterfly Pea Flower to give our tortillas unique and distinctive colors. You can substitute a portion of the all-purpose flour for other flours, too, for more flavor and texture variety.Recipes such as this one traditionally use lard, but we've found that vegetable oil makes a perfectly suitable substitution. It's easy to double or triple this recipe, and they'll keep in your refrigerator in an airtight container for a couple of weeks. Homemade tortillas are best when fresh, though, and we don't think you'll have any problem finding ways to use them!

Mary’s Salsa Roja

This is my Mom's recipe. The smell of this sauce perfumed my childhood weekly. Native to Chihuahua in Northern Mexico, this salsa roja is the base for many staple dishes in Mexican cuisine. Guajillo chiles are the foundation and they get seasoned with garden herbs like Mexican oregano, thyme, bay leaf and garlic. If you've never played with whole chiles, this sauce is a great staple to learn.

Southern-Style Pork Vindaloo and Green Bean Verakka with Cardamom Cornbread

If you've never had vindaloo, you don't know what you're missing. From My Two Souths and Chef Asha Gomez, we get this recipe for a Southern-Style Pork Vindaloo and Green Bean Verakka with Cardamom Cornbread. Tangy, spicy, garlicky pork goes perfectly with the Cardamom Cornbread. The Green Bean Verakka is the perfect flavorful complement to both dishes. If you're not one to eat pork, lamb will also work perfectly as a substitute. Here's one dish that you'll make over and over again. From the author: "Vindaloo is a recipe that best represents Kerala's diverse culinary influences, and it also reflects many of my own. My first encounter with tongue-searing pork vindaloo served in many Indian restaurants in the US was a bit jarring. I remember thinking how vastly different it was from the pork vindaloo I grew up eating in Kerala. Like many dishes traveling across the seas amid many interpretations, I feel vindaloo got lost in translation. Vindaloo was originally inspired by a Portuguese dish, carne de vinha d'alhos (meat with wine and garlic), with the wine substituted with palm wine vinegar. This dish was introduced to Kerala and Goa by Portuguese who stored chunks of meat in wine barrels on the ship; the wine would turn to vinegar and thus preserve the meat for long journeys. When they got to shore, the sailors would add local spices to the meat and cook a stew. This dish has many nuances: your palate experiences the tang from the vinegar, sweetness from the sugar, heat generated more from garlic than chiles, and a touch of bitterness from ground mustard seeds. Here, sugar, hot paprika, and a generous amount of garlic transport the pork roast to a faraway land. Choose a nice fatty pork shoulder, or Boston butt, to ensure lusciousness. I particularly enjoy the flavor of the rich sauce once it seeps down into the Cardamom Cornbread. Serving it this way brings to the plate a little something extra; my Louisiana friends refer to this as lagniappe."

Bebinca de Rabano (XO Daikon Cake)

Cuisine from Macau is a delicious combination of influences from Chinese, Indian, Portuguese and Malaysian food. This recipe from The Adventures of Fat Rice may take a little work and ingredient hunting, but the spicy and crunchy result is well worth it. If you're a fan of turnip cake found on any dim sum cart, then you'll love this. From the Author: "Throughout the Portuguese-speaking world, bebinca basically describes something that has been steamed or baked to set. Also known as Bebinca de Nabo, turnip cake, white carrot cake, and chai tow kway, this dish isn’t really a cake per se, but more of a steamed loaf. Confusing as hell but absolutely delicious."

“Portuguese” Barbecued Clams

We love this recipe from The Adventures of Fat Rice, a fabulous cookbook that delves into the vibrant food of Macau, which is a melting pot of Chinese, Portuguese, Malaysian and Indian food. With a sauce that can be prepared weeks ahead of time and stored until needed, this clam dish requires little more time than that necessary to obtain and clean the clams. Perfect for easy summer time dinners! From the Author: "This is our version of a plate of beautiful clams we found at the night market on Jonker Street in Malacca. They’re simply steamed with a fiery, garlicky, smoky, slightly sour sambal that finds its way inside to coat each briny, plump clam. Crisp, fresh cucumbers provide a refreshing contrast to the heat. Served steaming on banana leaves, the dish has a beautiful fragrance that transports us right back to Malacca. Serve alongside Coconut Rice (page 75) or Papo Seco (page 264), with beer or a nice clean white Portuguese wine."

Szechuan Crisp Fried Wild Mushrooms

Coming out of such a vast country, authentic Chinese home cooking means different things to different people. This gorgeous Szechuan Crisp Fried Wild Mushrooms recipe from Phoenix Claws and Jade Trees by Kian Lam Kho, is just the thing to expand your understanding of Chinese Cooking. Included with this dish is a recipe for an addictive Szechuan Spiced Salt, which lends itself to endless creative possibilities.From the Author: "The batter used in this recipe is based on Japanese tempura batter. It is light and crisp while having the effect of bringing out the mushroom flavor. But the spicy and numbing flavor of the Szechuan spiced salt, made with dried red chile and Sichuan peppercorns, is all Chinese. This is a great vegetarian finger food for a party."

Kung Pao Chicken

Many Americans would be surprised to learn that their favorite Chinese dishes are either not Chinese at all, or greatly altered from the original. One of our favorite Chinese cookbooks, Phoenix Claws and Jade Trees by Kian Lam Kho, helps cut through the confusion with dozens of authentic recipes of Chinese classics such as this traditional version of Kung Pao Chicken. It may not be the Kung Pao Chicken you are used to, but it will quickly become a new favorite.From the Author: "Kung Pao Chicken is one of those takeout dishes that is usually covered by a landslide of sickeningly sweet brown sauce. It would not be recognized by anyone arriving in the United States from China. Kung Pao Chicken is in fact a dry stir-fry dish. The spicy sauce should only lightly coat the chicken pieces, giving them enough flavor to delight the palate and provide subtle contrast to the crunchy peanuts."