Recipe Archive

Side Dishes

Side dishes should earn their place at the table. These recipes focus on contrast, seasoning, and supporting flavors that make the whole meal better.

1006 recipes

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Recipes

Miyeokjulgi-bokkeum (미역줄기볶음, Stir-Fried Seaweed Stems)

Chef Jeong-sun

Miyeokjulgi-bokkeum (미역줄기볶음, Stir-Fried Seaweed Stems)

Salted seaweed stems drawn back from the brine, cut short, and stir-fried until glossy and tender-chewy, the kind of quiet banchan that earns its place beside rice all week.

Moloda Kartoplia v Smetani (молода картопля в сметані, new potatoes in smetana)

Chef Lesia

Moloda Kartoplia v Smetani (молода картопля в сметані, new potatoes in smetana)

The first potatoes of summer need almost nothing: smetana warmed until glossy, garlic crushed with salt, and enough dill that the bowl looks like it wandered in from the garden.

Moquequinha de Banana-da-terra

Chef Juliana

Moquequinha de Banana-da-terra

You think a clay-pot moqueca belongs to someone else's kitchen. Wrong. Ripe plantain, tomato, onion, coentro, and urucum make the side that turns rice and fish into dinner.

Moros y Cristianos Veracruzanos

Chef Lupita

Moros y Cristianos Veracruzanos

Veracruz's jarocho rice and black beans, darkened with bean broth, epazote, achiote, and pork lard, then sharpened with the Afro-Cuban garlic-vinegar mojo that came through the port.

Moros y Cristianos Yucatecos

Chef Lupita

Moros y Cristianos Yucatecos

Yucatan's one-pot rice and black beans, built on lard, epazote, and a whole habanero, with the dark bean broth giving the grains their color and their backbone.

Mountain Vegetable Sticky Rice (山菜おこわ, Sansai Okowa)

Chef Takumi

Mountain Vegetable Sticky Rice (山菜おこわ, Sansai Okowa)

Spring mountain vegetables carry their own small bitterness. Steam them into soaked mochigome with clear dashi, and the rice turns glossy, chewy, and quietly fragrant without needing anything heavy.

Mu-namul (Sautéed White Radish)

Chef Jeong-sun

Mu-namul (Sautéed White Radish)

The quiet white radish banchan that turns sweet when cooked slowly, seasoned with restraint so the radish stays itself, tender, clear-edged, and ready for rice.

Münsterländer Pillekauken

Chef Klaus

Münsterländer Pillekauken

Münsterland puts the potato into one thick pan cake, not a stack of little fritters: crisp edges, soft centre, bacon fat doing honest work.

Mumallaengi-muchim (Seasoned Dried Radish)

Chef Jeong-sun

Mumallaengi-muchim (Seasoned Dried Radish)

Sun-dried radish strips brought back just enough to stay chewy, then worked by hand with gochujang, perilla oil, garlic, and sesame into the banchan that makes plain rice feel cared for.

Mushi-zushi (蒸し寿司, Kyoto winter steamed sushi)

Chef Takumi

Mushi-zushi (蒸し寿司, Kyoto winter steamed sushi)

Mushi-zushi is Kyoto's cold-weather comfort: vinegared rice warmed in a small bowl, anago and shiitake shining on top, and the vinegar softened by patient steaming.

Mushy Peas

Chef Thomas

Mushy Peas

Dried marrowfat peas soaked overnight and simmered slowly until they give up and fall apart, finished with butter and torn mint into something the chip shop only half remembers.

Myeolchi-bokkeum (Stir-Fried Anchovies)

Chef Jeong-sun

Myeolchi-bokkeum (Stir-Fried Anchovies)

Tiny dried anchovies, toasted until clean and crisp, then glossed off the heat with soy, rice syrup, sesame, and restraint: the make-ahead mitbanchan that keeps rice from ever feeling lonely.

Myeongyeopchae-bokkeum (명엽채볶음, Stir-Fried Pollack Strips)

Chef Jeong-sun

Myeongyeopchae-bokkeum (명엽채볶음, Stir-Fried Pollack Strips)

Pale dried pollack ribbons softened with mayonnaise, then turned quickly through a soy-rice syrup glaze so they stay tender, glossy, and useful beside rice for several days.

Naengi-namul (Seasoned Shepherd's Purse)

Chef Jeong-sun

Naengi-namul (Seasoned Shepherd's Purse)

The first wild green of spring, root and leaf blanched just long enough to soften, then dressed with doenjang and sesame so its field-earth bitterness still speaks.

New Orleans Red Beans and Rice

Chef Dean

New Orleans Red Beans and Rice

The legendary Monday supper of the Crescent City: velvety red kidney beans slow-simmered with smoky ham hock and spicy andouille, spooned over fluffy white rice and finished with bright green onions. This is the dish that fed generations of New Orleans families.

New Potatoes with Mint and Butter

Chef Thomas

New Potatoes with Mint and Butter

The first new potatoes of June, boiled in salted water until waxy and tender, then rolled in melting butter with torn mint. Three ingredients and no reason on earth to do anything more.

Noodle Kugel with Cinnamon

Chef Dean

Noodle Kugel with Cinnamon

A golden-topped casserole of tender egg noodles bound in sweet custard, studded with plump raisins, and crowned with a shattering cinnamon streusel that fills the kitchen with warmth.

Nopales a la Mexicana con Chilcuague

Chef Lupita

Nopales a la Mexicana con Chilcuague

Guanajuato's nopalitos a la mexicana, cooked in manteca with tomato, onion, xoconostle, serrano, and chilcuague from the Sierra Gorda for that sharp Bajio tingle.

Nopales Asados con Cebolla

Chef Lupita

Nopales Asados con Cebolla

Ciudad de México's southern nopal country gives you this comal side: whole cactus paddles blistered until tender, onions charred black at the edges, lime and salt doing honest work.

Nopales Asados con Limón

Chef Lupita

Nopales Asados con Limón

Whole cactus paddles charred on a hot comal until tender and smoky, sliced into ribbons, dressed with lime, raw white onion, and coarse salt. The everyday side from the central plateau.

Nopales Asados con Xoconostle, Sierra Gorda Otomí

Chef Lupita

Nopales Asados con Xoconostle, Sierra Gorda Otomí

Querétaro's Sierra Gorda Otomí side dish of thick nopal paddles charred on a dry comal, then covered with tart xoconostle, white onion, chile serrano, limón, and oregano de monte.

Nopales Asados Jalisciences

Chef Lupita

Nopales Asados Jalisciences

Jalisco's cookout cactus paddles, scored and charred on a hot comal, then dressed with lime, white onion, cilantro, and a rough salsa of Yahualica chile de arbol.

Nopales Asados Norteños

Chef Lupita

Nopales Asados Norteños

Northern Mexico's grilled cactus paddles, charred over mesquite until tender and chopped with white onion, lime, and crushed chiltepin. A Sonoran ranch side dish that has fed cowboys and families for generations.

Nopales en Chilke Rojo Estilo Cherán

Chef Lupita

Nopales en Chilke Rojo Estilo Cherán

Michoacán's Meseta P'urhépecha gives these nopales their character: clean cactus bite, dry-toasted guajillo and pasilla chilke rojo, epazote, and manteca de cerdo in a barro cazuela.

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