Suvir Saran

When Suvir Saran’s mother tried this spicy, crunchy cabbage slaw at his restaurant Tapestry in New York City, she said, “Baba, this is the best chaat I’ve ever eaten!” While Saran didn’t intend to make over the traditional Indian snack, a dish with chickpeas, potatoes, yogurt and chutney, the crunch, spice and tang immediately elicit an iconic chaat. “There is nothing Indian about it, and yet, it’s entirely Indian,” says Saran. Slideshow: More Slaw Recipes 

These cheese melts are spicy, gooey, and fragrant with red onion, jalapeño, cilantro, and Sriracha.

Instead of making a simple burger, chef and cookbook author Suvir Saran mixes ground beef chuck with bacon, scallions, mint and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for stellar flavor. Slideshow:  More Burger Recipes 

This chicken is tangy and sweet with aromatic hints of ginger and lime. Be sure to serve it with rice or naan to sop up the delicious juices. Plus:  More Chicken Recipes 

This tasty shrimp is brightly flavored and nicely spiced, with an appealing heat that lingers. Slideshow:  More Shrimp Recipes 

The star of this dish is the turniplike vegetable kohlrabi; it's sliced and sautéed until browned, which enhances its sweetness and adds a light crispness. The rice noodles can be found at Asian markets.Plus: More Pasta Recipes and Tips

When Indians hear the word for this spicy, crunchy, sweet and sour snack, their mouths begin to water. Whether served on a banana leaf on the streets of India or on porcelain plates at Suvir Saran's restaurants, Dévi and Véda, chaat is a fabulous treat. More Tasty Snacks

This refreshing salad is unique in a couple of ways: It's made with whole wheat bread, which adds nuttiness, and it's got a warm, spice-infused dressing. Use a hearty bakery loaf rather than packaged sandwich bread. More Terrific Salads

While many Indian bean dishes, known as dals, are thick and soupy, chef Suvir Saran of New York's Devi restaurant simmers the yellow mung beans here without stirring so they become fluffy, like a pilaf. To enhance the beans' natural buttery taste, he flavors them with a chile-and-cumin-scented butter, then tops the dish with sweet fried onions. Satisfying Vegetarian Recipes

When Indians hear the word for this spicy, crunchy, sweet and sour snack, their mouths begin to water. Whether served on a banana leaf on the streets of India or on porcelain plates at Suvir Saran's restaurants, Dévi and Véda, chaat is a fabulous treat. More Tasty Snacks

This refreshing salad is unique in a couple of ways: It's made with whole wheat bread, which adds nuttiness, and it's got a warm, spice-infused dressing. Use a hearty bakery loaf rather than packaged sandwich bread. More Terrific Salads

While many Indian bean dishes, known as dals, are thick and soupy, chef Suvir Saran of New York's Devi restaurant simmers the yellow mung beans here without stirring so they become fluffy, like a pilaf. To enhance the beans' natural buttery taste, he flavors them with a chile-and-cumin-scented butter, then tops the dish with sweet fried onions. Satisfying Vegetarian Recipes

Many Indian restaurants call any spiced rice dish biryani, but Suvir Saran insists, "Biryani must be layered." Here, he boils rice like pasta to make it fluffy, then layers it in a casserole dish with yogurt, pistachios, and apricots.

Suvir Saran grew up in Delhi, in northern India, but he clearly appreciates the vegetarian cooking of Kerala, the state at India's southwestern tip, where recipes often feature shredded coconut, curry leaves, chiles and black mustard seeds. The black mustard seeds have a nuttier flavor than the common yellow variety. More Recipes With Squash

Raitas, yogurt dishes that offer a cooling contrast to spicy Indian dishes, are simple to prepare: Stir the yogurt until creamy, then flavor it with some combination of raw or cooked vegetables, herbs, fruit and spices. Add salt just before serving to prevent the vegetables from getting watery. More Easy Indian Recipes

Suvir Saran thinks these sizzling, marinated chops, inspired by a recipe from the 90-year-old restaurant Karim in the Grand Mosque (Jama Masjid) area of Delhi, epitomize the very best of northwestern India's opulent Moghul cuisine. To give the marinade the richness of Indian yogurt, which is made from whole milk, Saran adds heavy cream. At Karim (and at Dévi and Véda), these chops are cooked in a searingly hot tandoor (clay oven), so grilling is a good alternative. More Lamb Recipes

This spicy burger, served with a cooling yogurt sauce, is Suvir Saran's take on lamb vindaloo, the classic Indian dish. His new Manhattan restaurant is Devi. Slideshow:  10 Favorite Burger Recipes 

Firm tofu can be mashed and cooked like scrambled eggs. Here, it's infused with onion, tomatoes, toasted cumin and cilantro for a lovely Indian flavor. Satisfying Vegetarian Recipes

At an Indian restaurant, this dish might be cooked in a tandoor oven, but Suvir Saran loves to char the shrimp on the grill. Instead of marinating shrimp in homemade yogurt that's been drained for hours, as is traditional, Saran opts for sour cream—it's not only faster, but he thinks it's tastier. More Shrimp Recipes

Fresh spices and jalapeños add a twist to these open-faced grilled cheese sandwiches. Serve them with a mixed green salad for a satisfying lunch. More Great Sandwiches

Tandoori chicken, with its smoky flavor and shocking red color, is as popular in India as fried chicken is in America. Suvir Saran is a fan too, especially of the version he tried at Delhi's Sahara Chicken Palace, with its tangy yogurt marinade seasoned with ginger, garlic and cumin. Saran's not fond of food dye, however, which is why his chicken is a lovely golden brown.

"I love green chutney prepared with fresh mint, cilantro, and green mango," says Suvir Savan. "When I'm in India I'm ecstatically happy for the simple reason that I get to eat it every single day." This chutney is traditionally made with a sil batta, a tremendously versatile stone grinder. A blender also does the job easily.

In 2018, Food & Wine named this recipe one of our 40 best: Okra can fall into the love-it-or-hate-it category. But this method for preparing the vegetable, where it's sliced into thin strips and fried until crispy, sways even the biggest skeptics. It's the brainchild of Indian chef Suvir Saran, who first thought to cut okra into strips and not rounds when he was just a kid. As an adult, he took it one step further and incorporated the crispy okra into a spiced salad with crunchy onions and fresh tomatoes.

Even though it contains some chile, this easy chutney (made in a blender) is a cooling accompaniment to anything spicy. Chef Suvir Saran of New York's Devi Restaurant likes to serve the chutney with cheelas (chickpea-flour crêpes) or dosas (lentil-flour crêpes). "But my partner, Charlie, likes it with almost anything," says Saran, including scrambled eggs with cilantro and chiles. The recipe calls for a pinch of asafetida, a plant resin which adds a distinctive depth of flavor; if you can't find it, the chutney is also delicious without it. Delicious, Quick Side Dishes

Suvir Saran rolls the savory flatbread dough into a cone shape before griddling, flattening it to create extra-flaky layers.

For a soup that's not strictly vegetarian but with more Southeast Asian flavor, replace 3 tablespoons of soy sauce with an equal amount of fish sauce.Plus: More Soup Recipes and Tips