Recipes.

Wash the rice until the water runs clean — several changes of water. Drain it well; you don't want the extra surface starch or the extra liquid it carries in.

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil with the packet of Sazón and the Knorr cube, crumbling the cube so it dissolves. Let it simmer down a bit — you're concentrating it, and you only need 1½ cups in the end.

Turn the Instant Pot on to the Sauté function and melt the butter — add the turmeric or cumin here if you're using them. Add the drained rice and stir thoroughly so every grain is coated, toasting briefly.

Pour 1½ cups of the seasoned liquid over the toasted rice — that's 1½ cups of liquid to 1½ cups of rice. Stir and scrape any browned bits off the bottom to prevent a burn warning.

Secure the lid. Using the Manual setting, pressure cook on High for exactly 3 minutes.

Once the 3 minutes are up, leave the Instant Pot alone for a 10-minute natural release. After 10 minutes, manually vent any remaining pressure, open the lid, and fluff the rice with a fork.

Drain and finely chop the pepperoncini, mince the garlic, chop the parsley, and drain the capers. Hold back 2 tablespoons of the pepperoncini brine before the rest goes down the sink.

Stir everything into the mayonnaise — pepperoncini, brine, garlic, parsley, and capers — until it's evenly combined and flecked green throughout.

Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes so the raw garlic and brine mellow into the mayo. Stir once more before it hits the table.

Rinse the moong and masoor together until the water runs mostly clear — the masoor throws off extra starch, so expect an extra pass or two. Drain and set aside.

Set the Instant Pot to Sauté (high). Add the 2 tbsp ghee, let it melt, then the cumin seeds — wait for them to crackle. Add the onions and green chili. This is a deep layer of onion, so stir only every 3–4 minutes and let it sit in contact with the metal; stirring more just keeps it wet and steamed. Cook until genuinely golden-brown at the edges. If the pot isn't getting there, finish it in a wide skillet on the stove and transfer back.

Add the minced garlic and ginger paste, stir 1 minute until fragrant. Add the turmeric, coriander, and Kashmiri chili, stirring constantly for another 30 seconds so the spices hit the fat rather than water. Splash in a tablespoon of water if anything catches.

Add the tomatoes and 1 tsp salt. Press the tomato against the bottom of the pot with the back of your spoon every few minutes to help it collapse. It's ready when the mixture has thickened and fat pools at the edges — go by that, not the clock.

Turn off Sauté. Stir the crumbled bouillon into the 1½ cups water until dissolved, then add it with the rinsed dal. Scrape the bottom thoroughly — with this little liquid, unscraped fond is the main cause of a burn warning. Seal and cook on High for 5 minutes.

Let the pressure drop on its own for 10 minutes, then vent the rest. Whisk about 15 seconds — lightly, since the masoor has already broken down and the moong is there for texture.

Heat the 4 tbsp ghee in a small pan until shimmering. Add the cumin seeds and let them crackle, then the sliced garlic until pale gold — pull it the moment it turns. Add the curry leaves with a lid ready, as they spit hard; about 15 seconds until translucent and crisp. Take the pan off the heat, then crumble in the kasuri methi between your palms and let the residual warmth bloom it for 5 seconds.

Stir the garam masala into the daal, then the lemon juice. Taste and add salt as needed. Pour in most of the tadka, stir, and top with the cilantro and the last spoonful.

Combine the wet ingredients in a bowl first — oil, Walkerswood, green seasoning, browning, all-purpose seasoning, and salt — then add the chicken and coat every piece.

4 to 8 hours. Don't push past 12 with boneless thighs or it goes salty.

400°F for 20–25 minutes, flipping halfway. Use two sheets on separate racks and rotate them at the flip — crowded thighs steam instead of browning.

Broil 2–3 minutes at the end, then pull at 175°F. Skinless thighs have no fat cap, so that final broil is doing the work the skin normally would.

Set the pot to Sauté on More. Once it reads Hot, add the olive oil, then the onion, stirring until softened, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and green onions and stir 30 seconds more.

Press Cancel and let the pot sit a full minute to come off peak heat. Pour in the coconut milk and scrape the base with a wooden spoon until nothing is stuck. With this much coconut fat in the pot, a clean base is the whole difference between dinner and a burn notice.

Add the rinsed rice, water, salt, all-purpose seasoning, Walkerswood, and black pepper. Stir until the rice is sitting in liquid with nothing catching on the bottom.

Pour the kidney beans over the rice. Do not stir — they stay layered on top. Lay the thyme sprigs over the beans.

Lid on, valve to Sealing. Pressure Cook on High for 6 minutes — or press Rice and let the cycle run if yours is a newer model.

Leave the valve alone for 10 minutes, then move it to Venting to release the rest.

Lift out the thyme stems. Add the butter and fluff with a fork, folding the beans down through the rice. Taste for salt and rest 5 minutes before serving.

Whisk the flour and salt, mound it, and hollow a well in the center. Eggs, oil, and water into the well.

Beat the eggs with a fork, pulling in flour from the inner wall a bit at a time. When it's too stiff to fork, switch to hands and press into a shaggy ball.

Heel of your hand, fold, quarter turn, repeat. Done when it's smooth and a poke springs back slowly.

30 minutes minimum, wrapped tight at room temp. An hour is better.

Divide into 4 and cover what you're not using. Mixer at speed 5–6. Flatten a piece to ~1cm and run it at level 8 six to eight times, folding in half and rotating 90° between passes. Then single passes: 7 → 6 → 5 → 4. Halve the sheet crosswise once it's longer than your forearm.

15 minutes on a floured towel. The surface should feel like soft leather — dry to the touch but still flexible.

Through the fettuccine cutter. Flour the ribbons immediately and coil them into loose nests.

Large pot, salted, rolling boil. Leave it going.

Olive oil in a wide skillet, medium-high. Single layer, don't stir, don't salt. Flip when the undersides are properly browned.

Push the mushrooms aside and add the coins. They're already cooked, so you're just after browned edges. Leave the fond in the pan.

Onion translucent, peppers softened but still snappy.

Heat to medium. Garlic, onion powder, garlic powder, adobo, chili flakes, black pepper. Stir constantly — garlic burns fast.

Cream and milk in, scrape up the fond. Barely-trembling simmer, no real bubbles. Reduce until it coats the back of a spoon. This takes longer than a straight-cream sauce because half of it is milk.

Into the boiling water, stir immediately. Done when it floats and turns slightly translucent. Reserve a mug of pasta water before draining.

Heat completely off. Butter and parmesan in, stir until smooth. Pasta in, toss hard 30–60 seconds with splashes of pasta water until the sauce clings to the strands.

250 ml water, tomato, birria mix, and bouillon into the blender until smooth. Set aside — it doesn't go in yet.

Instant Pot on Sauté, oil in, meat in batches so it browns instead of steams. Season with salt, a pinch of sugar, and black pepper as it goes. You want an actual dark crust, not grey — this is most of your flavor.

Stir constantly, it scorches fast on Sauté mode. If you want this to taste more Mexican than nihari, drop the ginger and use garlic alone — your call.

250 ml of plain water. Scrape until nothing is stuck to the bottom. Add the vinegar, bay leaf, and cinnamon stick.

Pour the blended sauce on top and leave it. Thin liquid stays on the bottom, thick sauce sits above it. Stirring it together is what triggers the BURN error.

High, 55 minutes.

15–20 minutes, then vent whatever's left. Don't rush this — quick-releasing makes the meat seize up and go stringy.

There should be a red layer floating on top. Spoon it into a small bowl — that's your tortilla dip. If you used shank and there isn't much, stir ½–1 cup oil into the hot consomé now, let it sit 5 minutes, then skim.

Pull the meat out, shred it, taste the consomé for salt and adjust. Spoon a little consomé over the shredded meat so it doesn't dry out while you're griddling.

Chop onion and cilantro, shred cheese, strain some consomé into small cups for dipping.

Dip a tortilla in the reserved red fat → straight onto a hot griddle → cheese on one half → meat on top → fold while it's still soft → crisp both sides until the outside is deep red and crunchy.

Onion, cilantro, lime, and a cup of consomé alongside.