Recipe Sifter

Singapore chilli crab: cracked blue swimmer crabs simmered in a sweet-tangy tamarind, ginger and bird's eye chili sauce. Hawker stall classic, messy, hands-on, completely worth the cleanup.

This fat-free blond fruitcake is packed with candied pineapple, dried apricots, and peaches, held together with applesauce instead of butter. Aged in orange liqueur for deep, boozy flavor.

Two thick porterhouse steaks rubbed with crushed garlic and olive oil, scored, brightened with lemon, then broiled to a seared, juicy finish. Steakhouse flavor at home with just 6 ingredients.

Chewy banana oat bars with cinnamon and raisins, made with no butter, no oil, and egg whites only. A wholesome grab-and-go snack or breakfast bar that cuts into 24 squares.

Warm cannellini beans with olive oil, lemon, and garlic spooned over pasta and topped with chunky canned tuna and scallions. A 20-minute Italian pantry dinner.

Thai scented rice that you make in your rice cooker from the Rice Cooker Gourmet.

Homemade Balkan-style skinless sausages (cevapi) made from a three-meat blend of lamb, veal, and pork with paprika and garlic. Grilled until charred and smoky.

Cheddar cheese biscuits brushed with fresh garlic butter, a quick copycat of Red Lobster's Cheddar Bay biscuits made from biscuit mix. Drop-and-bake, golden, and ready in about 25 minutes.

No-bake bourbon whiskey balls rolled in powdered sugar with vanilla wafer crumbs, pecans, and cocoa. A classic Southern holiday treat that gets better the longer it chills.

Here's a tasty, mayonnaise-free version of a favorite American salad.

Polvorones: traditional Mexican pecan cookies made with butter and lard, spiced with cinnamon and anise seed. Sandy, crumbly, and sugar-coated.

Seafood crepes stuff thin pancakes with poached monkfish, scallops, and shrimp bound in a garlic-infused Gruyère cream sauce, then bake until bubbling. A French bistro starter or light luncheon dish that punches well above its ingredient list.

You can try, but they taste great and your guests will have trouble figuring out what they are.

Spanish gazpacho mashes ripe tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and garlic with olive oil and lemon for a chilled no-cook summer soup. Five fresh herbs make it sing.

These scrumptious cookies are a great treat for dessert after a hearty meal.

No-bake energy balls made with dried apricots, walnuts, coconut, and wheat germ, bound with orange juice and rolled in chopped nuts.