Plum torte, yogurt rice and beef stir-fry: 3 iconic New York Times recipes
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CEO and co-founder of Food52 Amanda Hesser is joining TODAY to share a few of her favorite recipes from her iconic cookbook, "The Essential New York Times Cookbook: Classic Recipes for a New Century." She shows us how to make a Thai beef stir-fry with fragrant basil, Indian yogurt rice and the ever-popular purple plum torte.
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Purple Plum Torte by Amanda Hesser and Marian Burros
This is both the most often published and the most requested recipe in the Times archives. By my count, Marian Burros (who was given the recipe by Lois Levine, with whom Burros wrote "Elegant but Easy") ran the recipe in the paper twelve times. The torte happily lives up to its billing: crusty and light, with deep wells of slackened, sugar-glazed plums. I've thought a lot about why this torte struck such a chord with people: the answer, I think, is that it's a nearly perfect recipe. There are only eight ingredients, all of which, except for the plums, you probably already have in your kitchen.
Yogurt Rice by Amanda Hesser and Ammini Ramachandran
The real name of this dish, which comes from India, is Thayir Choru, and it means, simply, yogurt rice or curd rice. I love this dish as much as I love my children and my husband.
Spicy Beef Stir-Fry with Basil by Amanda Hesser and Leela Punyaratabandhu
Leela Punyaratabandhu, a food blogger, adapted this recipe from Soei, a family-run restaurant in Bangkok, where she grew up. At Soei, they make it with sliced beef shanks and makrut lime leaves, which perfume the dish. The method is fast: You sauté a mashed paste of chiles and garlic in lard, then add thinly sliced beef to the hot pan, followed by fish sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce, a smidge of palm sugar and a smattering of makrut lime leaves to glaze and swaddle the beef.
If you like those timeless recipes, you should also try these:
Summer Vegetable Galette by Melissa Clark
Cumin-Roasted Pork Chops and Brussels Sprouts by Melissa Clark
