We know it’s a bit odd to ascribe an emotion to a dish, but chicken teriyaki is happy. It’s iconically salty-sweet, shiny and glossy, with the most tender cut of chicken (boneless, skinless thighs) made even more succulent. This five-star recipe from Sujan Shrestha, adapted by John T. Edge, is particularly bright and cheerful, the sauce punched up with garlic, ginger, pineapple juice and cinnamon. With fluffy steamed rice and simply blanched veggies (or shredded cabbage or cucumber pickles or mac salad), it’s a dinner that never fails to delight.
Featured Recipe
Chicken Teriyaki
Chicken teriyaki would be right at home in our collection of cheap and easy dinner ideas, as would this new recipe for mussels in spicy green broth from David Tanis. (Tanya Sichynsky, senior editor and resident shellfish queen, confirms that mussels are “anecdotally the most affordable shellfish.”) The spicy green broth here is a heady mix of ginger, cilantro, lime and serrano chiles, tempered with butter and shallots. We very likely don’t need to remind you, but we will anyway: Have a good hunk of bread ready for sopping up that sauce.
Hetty Lui McKinnon’s stir-fried tofu with ginger isn’t shy with the ginger — everyone’s favorite sassy rhizome gets equal billing with tofu in this easy, economical stir-fry. A light dusting of cornstarch helps keep the bouncy tofu from falling apart, though whatever little crumbles you do get only add body to the chile-spiked soy sauce.
Should you need an inexpensive way to feed a crowd — or just love having reassuring containers of leftovers in the fridge, ready for lunches and dinners — here’s chicken spaghetti, Naz Deravian’s take on this classic Southern casserole. Also crowd-friendly is Martha Rose Shulman’s baba ghanouj, tangy with yogurt and plenty of lemon juice.
And if, post-Valentine’s Day, you’re chocolated out (or you can never get enough chocolate but still appreciate variety), try this lovely ferni. Fariba Nafissi’s recipe for Iranian rice flour pudding, adapted by Naz, comes together with four inexpensive ingredients — milk, rice flour, sugar and rose water — and some serious whisking. But your reward for all that effort (besides buff forearms) is a lightly sweetened pudding with a custard consistency to serve either warm or cold, garnished with berries or nuts or a sprinkle of ground cinnamon. MIA LEIMKUHLER
