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Found 11 results for "sesame"

Dan Dan Noodles

Found these at a delicious restaurant in Montreal's Chinatown and immediately knew I had to recreate them at home. The secret to proper dan dan noodles isn't the sauce—it's the rhythm. Toss too gently and the noodles stay naked; too aggressively and everything clumps.

sichuanspicynoodles

main-dish

Mole Negro Oaxaqueño

Thirty ingredients charred, toasted, fried, and blended into Mexico's most complex sauce—that's mole negro. The depth comes from charring chilies until they're almost burnt, creating layers of smoke and earth that build into something that tastes like ancient Oaxaca itself.

mexicanoaxacamole

main-dish

Beef Bulgogi

Paper-thin beef, properly marinated, transforms into something entirely different when it hits a screaming hot pan. The sugars caramelize, the edges char, and suddenly everyone's leaning in closer, stealing pieces before they even make it to the plate.

beefkoreanmarinated

main-dish

Korean BBQ Short Ribs Galbi

Korean galbi transforms tough short ribs into something tender enough to cut with chopsticks while maintaining enough structure to handle aggressive grilling. The secret lies in the marinade—a perfect balance of sweet, salty, and umami that penetrates deep into the meat during its long overnight bath.

koreanbbqshort-ribs

side-dish

Cucumber Salad with Sambal and Mustard Greens

Cool cucumber ribbons meet fiery sambal and tangy pickled mustard greens in this refreshing salad that bridges cuisines without apology. The trick is salting the cucumbers first to draw out excess water, then letting sambal oelek provide the heat while pickled greens add that essential sour crunch.

cucumbersambalmustard-greens

side-dish

Japanese Cucumber Sunomono

Sunomono teaches you that technique can be more important than ingredients. Take cucumbers—something most people slice without thinking—and cut them with Japanese precision, dress them with perfectly balanced sweet-sour vinegar, and suddenly you have something that cleanses your palate, refreshes your spirit, and demonstrates why Japanese cuisine values restraint over excess.

japanesecucumberpickled

appetizer

Korean Scallion Pancakes

The sizzle when batter hits hot oil tells you everything you need to know about pajeon—these aren't delicate crepes or fluffy American pancakes. They're Korea's answer to the question of what happens when you load a crispy pancake with enough scallions to make it practically a vegetable dish.

pancakesscallionskorean

main-dish

Chinese Congee

Congee teaches patience in the most gentle way possible. What starts as rice and water becomes something silky, soothing, and infinitely adaptable through nothing more than time and occasional stirring. This is Chinese comfort food at its purest—simple ingredients transformed into liquid embrace.

congeechineserice-porridge

travel

Lebanon

Lebanese hospitality doesn't start with hello—it starts with setting more food on the table than you could possibly eat, then insisting you haven't eaten enough. In Lebanon, the word "mezze" doesn't just describe small plates; it describes a way of life where meals become gatherings, and every gathering becomes a celebration.

lebanontravelmezze

fermentation

Sourdough: The Wild Yeast Adventure

It started with pandemic boredom and a bag of flour. Like millions of others, I thought I'd try making sourdough. Unlike millions of others, I became completely obsessed. My kitchen transformed into a flour-dusted laboratory where I learned to read bubble patterns like tea leaves and judge fermentation by smell alone.

fermentationsourdoughbread

travel

Turkey

Turkish cuisine doesn't just bridge Europe and Asia—it marries them, creating something entirely new from the union. Walking through Istanbul's Grand Bazaar or along the Bosphorus, you taste this geographical reality in every dish: Ottoman palace sophistication meets Anatolian peasant wisdom, Mediterranean freshness mingles with Central Asian spices, and the result is a cuisine that feels both exotic and familiar.

turkeytravelottoman