Sohla El-Waylly

You could be totally hammered halfway through the Super Bowl and still make this queso. It’s that easy.

These grown-up moon pies are made with shortbread cookies loaded with blitzed-up pretzels and salty potato chips—the perfect contrast to the sticky-sweet marshmallows and bitter dark chocolate.

This cheesecake has a vanilla pound cake base, because why the hell not? You bake the cheesecake first, then the pound cake on top, and flip the whole thing over before decorating and serving. Room temperature eggs, cream cheese, and butter are vital to an evenly mixed cheesecake and fluffy pound cake. If you’re in a hurry, place the eggs in a bowl of hot tap water and zap the butter and cream cheese in the microwave in 10-second increments to quickly warm them up.

A creamy custard pie with an extra-milky flavored meringue.

Bharta is a Bangladeshi style of seasoned meat or mashed vegetables usually served at room temperature alongside hot steamed rice.

These make-ahead green beans soak up a bright lemon and sumac dressing overnight.

This tahdig is dressed up with cranberries and woody herbs for a Thanksgiving-y, festive feel.

Flaky, nutty, buttery paratha you can prep ahead.

Ginger and orange juice give this raita a holiday feel. Treat it like cranberry sauce–it goes with everything.

This roast is cooked in the style of American barbecue and has a spice-coated crust, like bark on a brisket.

This refreshing drink Sohla El-Waylly often uses to break fast during Ramadan gives all kinds of holiday vibes.

In Korean, ssam literally means “wrapped”—set the fish in the center of the table and pull the meat off the bones, using chopsticks to fill lettuce wraps along with radish salad, ssamjang, kimchi, and rice. Roasting a whole fish—skin, bones, and all—is surprisingly easy, and the flesh stays moist and flavorful even if you overcook it a touch. 

Short ribs aren’t just for braising. Make sure to grill them to medium doneness, just long enough to render fat and tenderize, without letting them overcook or toughen.

Adobo—both a style of preparation as well as the name of a dish—is one of the most widely known foods of the Philippines, often referred to as its national dish. To make adobo, which can be wet (very saucy) or dry (crispier and less soupy), pork, chicken, tubers, vegetables, squid, lamb, shrimp, or even duck, is simmered in vinegar, often with soy sauce, black peppercorns, and bay leaves. This recipe channels the same flavors of bright vinegar and dark soy sauce, using eggplant as the base, with the addition of ground pork for extra richness.

These Bangladeshi sweet fritters are fluffy and tender on the inside, crispy and craggy on the outside.

Juicy ripe peaches, raw sweet corn, and roasted peanuts come together in this peak summer snack—a perfect way to refresh after a day in the sun.

Snatch up summer’s last big, juicy heirloom tomatoes and join Sohla El-Waylly for a grilled naan and tomato party. Grated raw tomato and ghee-sizzled nigella seeds create a base for pretty-in-pink raita and do double duty smeared on the naan during grilling. Meanwhile, big tomato wedges get tossed in spiced yogurt before charring on the grill. The dough for the naan is sticky and soft, but don’t be tempted to add flour. A supple and moist dough is key to a tender, bubbly bread. Just keep kneading and the dough will grow bouncy and smooth. If you haven’t worked much with yeast, don’t fear! Flatbread is a forgiving place to start playing with fermentation.