191 root recipes

Thai-style marinade with soy sauce, oyster sauce, honey, fresh ginger, garlic, cilantro, and citrus zest. A sweet-savory marinade for chicken and grilled meats, ready in 5 minutes.

Chinese vegetable soup with shiitake mushrooms, napa cabbage, soba noodles, and a ginger-tamari broth. A low-fat, brothy noodle bowl with savory mushroom depth.

Otak otak: Southeast Asian fish mousse with a lemongrass-galangal-chili spice paste and coconut milk, wrapped in banana leaves and grilled. Each packet holds a shrimp inside a fragrant, spiced fish paste.

I used Cornish Game Hens, but you could also use a cut up chicken. If you can't get winter melon, watermelon will work. Winter melon is white, very mild tasting and a tad denser than watermelon. I think you could get away using something like Honeydew too.

This is the hot and exotic spice mixture that give Eritrean and Ethiopian cooking its characteristic flavor.

Keep these in the freezer and enjoy anytime you feel like having something sweet. Perfect with an afternoon cup of tea or coffee.

Traditional Thai green curry with chicken, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, green peas, serrano chiles, and loads of fresh basil in a rich separated-coconut-cream sauce.

Oil-free curried chickpeas simmered with potatoes, tomatoes, and warm spices like cumin, cinnamon, coriander, and cloves. A naturally vegan one-pot meal that's rich, hearty, and packed with flavor.

Deep-fried ginger shrimp in a light batter with garlic, chili sauce, and whipped egg white. Crispy, golden, and served with the tail on for easy dipping.

Piña colada punch with homemade coconut milk, fresh pineapple juice, ginger-cassia tea, and rum or gin. Big-batch tropical party drink that serves a crowd.

Salt-smothered chicken buried in a bed of red-hot rock salt with ginger, tangerine peel, and Szechuan peppercorn marinade sealed in the cavity. An ancient Cantonese technique that steams the bird to silken tenderness.

Asian-style green salad with napa cabbage, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, and broccoli in a soy-ginger-rice vinegar dressing. A crunchy, low-fat vegetarian side that comes together in 20 minutes with no cooking.

Cold green vegetable soup with poached fish. Source: Olga Gorechev, St. Petersburg, Russia

A whole chicken gently poached in an aromatic Thai broth of lemongrass, galangal, garlic, shallots, and chilies, finished with lime juice, cilantro, and fresh basil. Fall-off-the-bone comfort.

Crisp, colorful Chinese pickled vegetables in sweet-sour brine. Carrots, radish, cucumber, and peppers ferment for a week to create the perfect tangy condiment.

Practically fat-free York gingerbread bars made with pureed carrots, buttermilk, fresh ginger, and molasses. No butter, no oil. Moist crumb with bright orange zest and a cinnamon-sugar top.