Spice, Dum & Tandoor
The CHEF AK home cuisine — layered biryanis, silky makhani gravies and breads from a screaming-hot clay oven.
Try: Dum Biryani • Butter Chicken • Garlic NaanRecipes from Every Country
Tap “Full Recipe” on any card — gram + cup ingredients, a servings scaler, and step-by-step tutorial mode where you tick off each step as you cook.
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Cuisines of the World
Fourteen food cultures, one method: weigh everything, learn the base technique, and the whole cuisine opens up.
Pasta, Pizza & Marinara
Fresh egg dough, 20-minute marinara and the emulsion trick that makes five-ingredient pastas taste like a trattoria.
Try: Pasta Dough • Alfredo • Aglio e OlioTacos & Guacamole
Warm corn tortillas, chile-lime chicken and guacamole made at the table — chunky, bright, never brown.
Try: Chicken Street Tacos • GuacamoleSweet, Sour, Salty, Hot
Tamarind pad thai and coconut green curry — Thai cooking is a balancing act you can taste and adjust.
Try: Shrimp Pad Thai • Green CurryWok Hei at Home
Day-old rice, a ripping-hot wok and 90 seconds of tossing — that smoky breath of the wok, without a restaurant burner.
Try: Chicken Fried Rice • Hakka NoodlesRamen & Teriyaki
A weeknight ramen with jammy eggs, and glossy teriyaki made from four pantry ingredients — no bottled sauce.
Try: Chicken Ramen • Teriyaki BowlDiner Classics
Lacy-edged smash burgers with secret sauce, and tall buttermilk pancakes with crisp edges and a fluffy middle.
Try: Smash Burger • PancakesSaffron & Socarrat
Paella cooked wide and never stirred so the bottom crisps, and café churros dunked in chocolate thick enough to stand a spoon in.
Try: Seafood Paella • ChurrosMix It & Double-Fry It
Bibimbap — every vegetable seasoned separately, then mixed hard at the table — and fried chicken fried twice so the crust survives the glaze.
Try: Bibimbap • Korean Fried ChickenClear Broth, Fresh Herbs
Pho with charred ginger and toasted star anise, and translucent fresh spring rolls with peanut sauce — lightness is the technique.
Try: Chicken Pho • Fresh Spring RollsArgentina • Greece • France • Lebanon
Chimichurri, tzatziki, béchamel and hummus — four mother sauces of four cultures, each under 15 minutes.
Try: Chimichurri • Béchamel • HummusCooking Tutorials — Technique First, Recipe Second
Master these six techniques and you don't just fix these 42 recipes — you unlock entire cuisines.
01
Dum Technique — The Biryani Secret (India)
Dum means sealed steam. Lid on, heat low — the aroma has nowhere to escape, so it goes into the rice.
- Cook the rice only 70% — the grain should still have a firm core.
- Layer: chicken → rice → fried onions → saffron milk → ghee.
- Seal the lid with dough: 5 min high heat, then 25 min on the lowest flame.
- Rest 10 min before opening — open early and the steam runs away.
02
Onion Color — The Base of Every Gravy (India)
Every Indian gravy's sweetness is decided by onion color. Rush it and it's bitter; nail it and it's sweet.
Pale
Gold
Gold
Golden
Birista
Birista
Deep
Brown
Brown
Too Dark
⚠ Bitter
⚠ Bitter
- For fried onions (birista), stop at Golden — they darken one more shade off the heat.
- For butter chicken gravy, pale gold is enough.
03
The Masala Dabba — 7 Spices, Every Tadka (India)
One well-stocked spice box and half of Indian cooking is already done. Every home should keep these 7:
- Turmeric, red chili, coriander powder
- Garam masala, cumin, mustard seed, whole warm spices
- Bloom spices in hot oil for just 10–20 seconds — longer and the aroma burns off.
- For all 12 blends, gram-exact, see The Masala Bible in the books below.
04
Pasta Water & Emulsion (Italy)
The difference between restaurant pasta and home pasta is one mug of starchy pasta water.
- Salt the water like the sea: 10 g salt per liter (about 1 Tbsp per quart).
- Finish pasta in the sauce pan for the last 2 minutes, never sauce-on-top.
- Add pasta water splash by splash, tossing hard — starch + fat = glossy emulsion.
- Cheese goes in off the heat, or it clumps and turns greasy.
05
Dough Science — Pizza, Pasta, Naan (World)
Every great dough on this page follows the same four rules, from Naples to Delhi.
- Weigh the flour. Cups vary by 20% — grams never lie.
- Hydration decides texture: pasta 57%, naan 60%, pizza 65%, focaccia 75%+.
- Knead to the windowpane test — stretch a piece thin enough to see light through it.
- Rest is an ingredient: 30 min for pasta, 1 hr for naan, up to 48 hrs cold for pizza flavor.
06
Sauce Families of the World
Every cuisine has mother sauces. Learn the family and you can improvise a hundred children.
- France: béchamel (roux + milk) → cheese sauce, lasagna, gratins.
- Italy: marinara (tomato + garlic) → pizza sauce, arrabbiata, shakshuka-style eggs.
- Argentina: chimichurri (herbs + acid + oil) → any grilled meat or vegetables.
- Levant: hummus & tzatziki (blend or strain + lemon) → dips, wraps, grain bowls.
- Full gram-exact sauce system: The Sauce Lab, in the books below.
CHEF AK Books — Go Deeper
All 42 recipes on this page are free. When you want the complete systems — world sauces, spice blends, and the full 110-recipe course — the books are live on Gumroad:
New • 15 SaucesThe Sauce Lab
Burger, pasta and all-rounder sauces from every cuisine — gram-exact formulas, fridge life, hero dish for each.
$14.99 → BestsellerThe Biryani MasterclassHyderabadi dum biryani, the complete book with step-by-step guide photos.
$19.99 → 12 BlendsThe Masala Bible12 Indian spice blends — a gram-exact formula plus a hero recipe for every blend.
$19.99 → Flagship • 413 pagesComplete Cooking MasterclassBeginner to professional chef — 110 recipes, 9 parts, 30-day learning plan.
$29.99 → Free SampleBiryani Masterclass — Free SampleTry it free first, then get the full book.
Free →