Asian

Serving whole fish during Chinese New Year symbolizes the wish for prosperity throughout the year and many happy returns. When you serve whole fish, it's traditional to point the head toward the most distinguished guest.

This mixed vegetable dish takes its inspiration from Buddhist vegetarian cooking and can include any combination of ingredients that represent good luck, prosperity, happiness, family wholeness, and longevity. 

Rice cakes are available sliced, marble-shaped, and in batons. There are dried versions, but the refrigerated version is widely available and easier to work with. You can use any combination of vegetables and seasonings here, so feel free to experiment with flavors.

One great thing about dumplings is that you can use practically anything in the filling—and you can pan-fry them, or boil them, or deep-fry them.

This recipe for salted salmon is excerpted from Maori Murota’s Tokyo Cult Recipes. The method, called shioyaki, can be adapted to fish collars as well.

Packed with greens, these boiled dumplings easily go vegetarian by switching out the ground pork for crumbled tofu.

Named for the famous 8th century Tang dynasty consort, Yang Guifei, this dish of juicy dark-meat chicken and peppers is sweet, sour, and just a little spicy.

The goal of longevity noodles is to create one long, slick, uniform strand, gently pulled over and over again until you get the right thickness.

These pan-fried dumplings are among the best selling items at Nom Wah Tea Parlor in New York City. The chicken gives the dumplings body, while the cabbage gives them volume.

The slightly sweet but mostly textural wrapper of the rice roll is the canvas for the sweetness of the shrimp.

Want showstopping presentation? Make homemade dumpling wrappers to stuff with a filling of spinach, hearty tofu, vermicelli, and fruity Sichuan peppercorns.

Melty, cheesy, crunchy, spicy: These sandwiches, a street food favorite in India, check all the boxes.

Sinhalese unroasted curry powder is called amu thuna paha (literally, raw three-five). The name refers to the three to five spices that unroasted curry powder traditionally contains. The three essential spice seeds include cumin seeds, fennel seeds, and coriander seeds, and additional curry leaves and/or pandanus leaves, and cinnamon bark.

Whole cashews are the star of this comforting Sri Lankan curry. They simmer and soften enough to sip up luscious coconut milk, scented with ginger, cumin, turmeric, and fennel.

Enough cannot be said of the Sri Lankan delicacy black pork curry. It is a delicious and truly flavorful dish—every family has their own generational recipe. 

This cucumber salad is a staple dish in my household. I am not sure why it is so satisfying, but I’m inclined to think it’s its simplicity.

Frequently used to stuff soup dumplings, this rich stock is sliceable when cold. As it's heated, the stock will become soupy.