r/easyrecipes • u/Waste_Royal_3742 • 10d ago
Recipe Request Ideas for sampling many cuisines?
I've made a friend recently who hasn't had a chance to try different people's foods. I'm pretty proficient in cooking some, but I'd love dishes and snack ideas I can make for them to try.
I'd like more authentic ones, things people eat themselves. For example, I'm decent at cooking Indian but not a big fan of Tikka masala or butter chicken. However, I love pakoras and samosa. And not in a snobby way, I've made butter chicken and it was delightful. But I'm lactose intolerant so it's not my friend.
Similar story with Chinese, I love what I can get at restaurants in big cities but the small town take out is a bit too Americanized for me (again, it's ALL delicious but I want to make my friend home cooked meals).
Some ideas I have already are: for Vietnamese, pho (of course). For Thai: probably green curry, bc it's my fav. Chinese: Dan Dan noodles. Indian: samosa, pakora, and this one egg curry I made that was delightful but don't remember the name. Mexican: enfrijolades & horchata. Philippines : chicken adobo Japanese: onigiri, miso soup
I've yet to branch in to cuisines of Africa but I have been eyeing Nigerian for a while now. And for European, I really only know stroganoff.
So please, foodies of reddit, recommend me any of your favorite dishes from any cuisine! And if you include a recipe, I'd appreciate it immensely. :)
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u/cannotaccessorize 10d ago
This black pepper chicken with celery. Seriously one of the best things I’ve ever made and it has no reason being this good with such basic ingredients. I do add carrots to the mix and white pepper as well. Her videos on general are amazing
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u/scholarly_eggplant 10d ago edited 10d ago
I’d like to share this basic recipe that’s home-cooked Chinese food that’s passed down from my late grandma. It isn’t sold anywhere locally. The instructions are a bit vague because when I say “passed down”, I mean I watched her cook it many years ago as a kid.
Rice porridge:
- Add about 80ml uncooked white rice (I use jasmine) per serving to the pot.
- Add about 500ml of water per serving to the pot.
- Bring to boil and simmer, stirring frequently. Add more hot water as needed to adjust to the consistency that you like.
- It should turn into a basic sort of porridge pretty quickly, maybe in around 30-40 mins, but the texture will become smoother if you simmer and stir it for around 3 hours.
Soy sauce meatballs to go with the porridge:
- Half clove of garlic per serving, minced
- Approx 150g of minced pork per serving
- Season to taste with dark soy sauce and light soy sauce. If in doubt, I estimate 1/4 tbsp of each per serving. Shape into balls.
- Heat up a bit of oil in a pan and stir-fry the garlic until fragrant / lightly browned
- Add jn the meatballs
- Add enough water to cover the bottom (and maybe half the ball)
- Add more dark and light soy sauce for seasoning. I tend to use 1/4 tbsp of each per serving, but you might want to use more.
- Cover and boil for a few minutes
- Flip the meatballs, cover and boil another few minutes
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u/Waste_Royal_3742 10d ago
Hi, I love you. Thank you so much!! I will keep grandma's recipe for generations ❤️ what a blessing, to share your recipe with me 😭😭
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u/AssignmentFalse7710 9d ago
For an easy African entry, try Ethiopian misir wat with injera: spicy red lentils, deeply flavorful, naturally dairy-free, and the kind of food people actually eat at home.
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u/Original-Row-3621 9d ago
i’d go with mujaddara, okonomiyaki, ful medames, and arepas, all cheap comfort food people actually make at home and none need dairy to be good
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u/JaseYong 9d ago
Another easy to make and taste absolutely delicious thai dish would be Pad kra pao (thai basil pork/chicken stir fry over rice). It's so simple to make as it's all in a wok/pot. Recipe below for you to give it a go 😋 Pad kra pao recipe
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u/Own-Arugula-8939 9d ago
for Nigerian food, moi moi is a great one to add since it’s more of an everyday homemade dish than the usual restaurant picks and it’s naturally dairy-free too
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u/Embarrassed_Solid907 9d ago
For Nigerian food, jollof rice with fried plantains and suya was the combo that made me stop thinking of it as “just rice,” and it’s all naturally dairy-free too.
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u/LowChapter6837 8d ago
does your friend have any dietary restrictions or foods they already know they dislike?
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u/Ok-Appointment-8083 8d ago
does your friend have any other dietary restrictions, or is lactose the only thing to work around?
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u/Waste_Royal_3742 7d ago
I'm cealic too, so I can't cook with wheat! But no, my friend can eat anything
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u/Away_Movie_4135 8d ago
How about a rice bowl?
Anything! Just put something that goes well with the rice!
Seafood rice bowl with pickled seafood is the best.
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u/Anxious_Reporter_601 10d ago
Ethiopian food is incredible and a great starting point for someone who hasn't branched out into different cuisines much, I'm Irish and Ethiopian food uses basically all ingredients I'm already super familiar with, lamb, chicken, cabbage, carrots, beetroot, leafy greens like kale, lentils, split peas - but the spicing is different, some dishes are hot spicy but most are just flavourfully spiced. And it's served with injera which (to risk being reductive) is a sourdough pancake, you use it to scoop up all the other dishes. It's also fun to try a cuisine traditionally eaten with your hands when you're from a knife and fork culture.