Sambal Short Rib Stir-Fry

This dish is not only a quick meal option but also a practical way to use leftover phở noodles when you’re out of broth.

Reliable cabbage is cooked in the punchy sauce and then combined with store-bought baked tofu and roasted cashews for a salad that can also be eaten with rice.

This traditional dish of beef, sour cream, and mustard may have originated in Russia, but it’s about time for a version with ramen noodles, don’t you think?

The tofu is crunchy on the outside, in part thanks to a panko-studded exterior, and squishy-in-a-good-way on the inside. It also comes together in 20 minutes.

This is what I call a fridge-eater recipe. The key here is getting a nice sear on the sausage and cooking the tomato down until it coats the sausage and vegetables well.

Oyster mushrooms are a strong all-rounder in the kitchen, seeming to straddle both plant and meat worlds in what they look and taste like when cooked. Here they’re coated in a marinade my mother used to use when cooking Chinese food at home—honey, soy, garlic and ginger—and roasted until golden, crisp, and juicy.

Traditionally, this Mexican staple is simmered for hours in an olla, or clay pot. You can achieve a similar result by using canned beans and instant ramen.

An ex-boyfriend’s mom—who emigrated from Colombia—made the best meat sauce—she would fry sofrito for the base and simply add cooked ground beef, sazón, and jarred tomato sauce. My version is a bit more bougie—it calls for caramelized tomato paste and white wine—but the result is just as good.