Side Dishes

Beans, vegetables and breads to go with the main event.

A deep oxblood-red baking dish of Southern cornbread dressing on a worn wooden table, the top craggy and golden-brown, one corner scooped out with a spoon to show a moist yellow inside flecked with celery, onion and sage, with fresh sage leaves, a bowl of cranberry sauce and an orange napkin nearby

American

Southern Cornbread Dressing from Scratch, for Thanksgiving

10 servings · 1 hr 50 min

Two moi moi on a speckled stoneware plate: one unwrapped from a steamed, olive-green banana leaf, soft and coral-orange with leaf creases on its sides, the other cut open to show a smooth orange inside with a quarter of boiled egg and smoked mackerel, beside jollof rice and fried plantain

Nigerian

Moi Moi: Nigerian Steamed Bean Pudding with Egg and Fish

6 servings · 2 hr 30 min

A whole tahdig turned out onto a cream platter with a blue rim: a round cake of rice with a glossy golden-amber crust, one wedge cut away to show fluffy white basmati under the crust, with red barberries, pistachio slivers and saffron rice around it, and yogurt and fresh herbs behind

Persian

Tahdig: Persian Crispy Rice with a Golden Saffron Crust

6 servings · 2 hr 35 min

Fattoush in a wide pale clay bowl: torn romaine, chunks of tomato, cucumber half-moons, pink radish slices, green pepper, whole parsley and mint leaves and small glossy purslane leaves, glistening with a brown dressing and dusted with dark red sumac, with curled golden shards of crisp pita on top

Lebanese

Fattoush: Lebanese Bread Salad with Sumac and Crisp Pita

4 servings · 35 min

A quarter of a whole napa cabbage kimchi on a white rectangular plate, its soft, wilted leaves coated in deep orange-red chili seasoning with shreds of radish and green onion between them, with a brown onggi jar of kimchi and a bowl of white rice behind on a linen cloth

Korean

Napa Cabbage Kimchi: Classic Korean Baechu-Kimchi at Home

40 servings · 9 hr 20 min

A woven straw basket lined with a cream cloth, full of round golden pão de queijo rolls with crackled tops, one torn open in front to show a soft, stretchy, pale crumb, beside a cup of black coffee and a wedge of aged cheese

Brazilian

Pão de Queijo: Brazilian Cheese Bread from Minas Gerais

about 40 small rolls · 1 hr

Sopa paraguaya in a white enamelware baking pan with a navy-blue rim, cut into squares with a deep golden, cracked and toasted top and a moist pale-yellow crumb with pockets of white cheese and soft onion, two squares lifted out, one on a cream plate with a fork, beside a bowl of crumbled fresh cheese and a whole onion

Paraguayan

Sopa Paraguaya: Paraguay's Cheese and Onion Cornbread

12 squares · 1 hr 50 min

Javanese tempe bacem on a round woven bamboo tray lined with banana leaf: twelve thick slabs of tempeh braised in palm sugar and coconut water, glossy and deep caramel brown, one cut open at the front to show the packed soybeans inside, with a stone mortar of red sambal, a bowl of white rice, salam leaves and sliced galangal beside it

Indonesian

Tempe Bacem: Javanese Sweet Tempeh Braised in Palm Sugar

6 servings · 1 hr 30 min

Mujadara in a charcoal-grey enameled Dutch oven: fluffy rice and brown lentils under a pile of dark fried onions and a few parsley leaves, with a bowl of plain yogurt beside the pot and a cucumber and tomato salad behind it

Lebanese

Mujadara: Lebanese Lentils and Rice with Fried Onions

6 servings · 1 hr 40 min

Frijoles de la olla in a glazed clay pot, pinto beans in their broth with a sprig of epazote, a small bowl of beans topped with chopped onion and cilantro beside it

Mexican

Frijoles de la Olla: Mexican Pot Beans with Epazote

8 servings · 7 hr 45 min