East Asian

Preparation time: 25 minutes Cooking time: 5 minutes Sichuan cooking is popular throughout China, and in recent years, adventurous Chinese restaurant diners have discovered how delicious it can be. This is one of the best known dishes from that area.

The secret to this Chinese favorite is not to let the noodles sit in the sauce very long — toss them together a few seconds before serving.

These hors d'oeuvres—a dressed-up version of shrimp toasts—are adapted from a recipe by Chinese cooking authority Nina Simonds, a longtime contributor to our pages.

In addition to dressing greens, this is especially good drizzled over sliced avocado. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

After being tenderized by a beer marinade, these chops require only a quick turn on the grill or under the broiler to form the centerpiece of a hearty meal.

Shao mai are classic Chinese steamed dumplings. They make a nice starter or an innovative addition to a buffet.

In the forties and fifties, before the widespread popularity of fortune cookies, countless Chinese meals were brought to a close with traditional almond cakes like these. The customary all-lard base of this once very popular sweet is here lightened with vegetable shortening. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This chilled noodle salad from Zygot Bookworks & Cafe is loaded with crisp vegetables.

Dashi is a subtly flavored soup stock that is used throughout Japanese cooking.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from chef Neil Perry's book Rockpool. Neil also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. For your convenience, we've converted the measures — with as much accuracy as possible — from Australian to American. For those who have metric equipment and wish to follow Neil's recipe to the milliliter, we've included the original measures too. This recipe is an accompaniment for Lobster, Soy Chicken, and Mango Salad . Master Stock Chicken is to me the Chinese equivalent of a beautifully roasted chicken with garlic. I find the best thing to do with the chicken the next day is to fry it.

Kalbi Editor's note: The recipe below is excerpted from restaurateur Jenny Kwak's book, Dok Suni: Recipes from My Mother's Korean Kitchen. Kwak also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. To read more about Kwak and Korean cuisine, click here.

Bibim Gooksu Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from restaurateur Jenny Kwak's book, Dok Suni: Recipes from My Mother's Korean Kitchen. Kwak also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. To read more about Kwak and Korean cuisine, click here. This noodle dish is very gratifying on hot summer days when you want to eat something light, healthy, and refreshingly cold. The crisp, clean texture of the cucumber combined with the spiciness from kimchi, the tang from the rice vinegar and a subtle sweetness from the sugar makes the dish so good. The noodles are served over a bed of ice, then topped with this spicy salad-like mixture.

Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 4 hr In China, northern China in particular, pork belly — fresh (unsmoked) bacon with skin and bones — is cooked just like the rest of the pig. Chef Susur Lee simmers it, then steams it until its fall-off-the-bone-tender. Pork belly is available at Chinese meat markets and some butcher shops.

In Japan a bamboo sushi mat, known as a sudare or a maki su, is used to roll this omelet roll. However, even without a mat, you should have no trouble making the roll.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This simple, comforting, home-style dish evolved after the Meiji Restoration, when beef entered the Japanese diet. You can easily use pork or chicken instead of the beef. Enjoy it on a snowy winter night with a side of greens.