Ginger

This beautiful and delicious soup is served at The Kinloch Lodge Hotel.

The traditional b'stilla is an enormous pigeon or chicken pie wrapped in golden paper-thin pastry leaves. However, we made individual pies for ease of serving. The idea of meat mixed with spices and encased in pastry was brought to Morocco by Arabs from the Middle East; the delicate pastry sheets, it is thought, came specifically from Persia. Spices play a big part in Moroccan cooking. This legendary spice mixture is translated as "top of the shop."

This zesty soup is based on a chicken and curry stew popular in the South. The origin of its name is unclear, but according to one account, it was brought to Savannah in the early 1800s by a sea captain who traveled the spice route from India.

A combination of spicy, tangy and aromatic flavors, this light soup is also really satisfying.

Serve over freshly steamed rice and garnish with chopped green onions.

Here we've adapted the classic Chinese dish "squab in jade," in which the meat is minced, stir-fried, and served in "cups" of lettuce.

This fragrant stew is great over couscous.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This was inspired by a similar dish served at the now defunct China Moon restaurant in San Francisco. Serve the salsa with a bowl of Parmesan Pita Crisps.

This is a coleslaw-style salad — its sweet, spicy, and crunchy elements make it a terrific accompaniment to anything fried. Sichuan peppercorns, sometimes called fagara, can be found at many Asian markets (though they're technically banned from import because they come from a plant that is susceptible to citrus canker, a disease that devastates citrus orchards). There's no substitute for their flavor, but if you can't find them, the recipe works perfectly well without them.

Cook and refrigerate the rice ahead of time. This meal needs only a bottle of Chardonnay.

To roll out this dough you will need a pastry cloth and a rolling-pin cover, which are available at kitchenware stores and by mail order from Bridge Kitchenware, tel. (800) 274-3435 or (212) 838-1901.

In Chinese culture, noodles symbolize longevity and are often served at New Year celebrations and traditionally left very long.