Kwanzaa

File under: Breakfast for dinner.

Our fried chicken thighs begin with a brown-sugar brine, make a pit stop in buttermilk marinade, and end their journey garnished with honey and sea salt.

A true Southerner wouldn’t dare add sugar to this cornbread recipe, but a Yankee might miss it. Do what you will; we don’t judge.

This decadent, main course–worthy version of the classic side dish is packed with corn, green chiles, and two kinds of oozing, melty cheese.

This is the dish that first got me into cooking. Talking about it got me my first job in a kitchen, and together with the help of friends, local restaurants, and family it’s the recipe we have worked on the most for this book, because we all know how good it should be. If I could only eat one thing in the world it would probably be my grandma’s jollof. She would regularly cook a big pot with care and patience and insist that everyone took home a small container of it. Cooking the rice and storing it for the following day or to give to friends to take away is part of a sharing culture that surrounds jollof—just remember to return the Tupperware!

A fragrant, herbaceous sauce acts as both a marinade and a dressing for this pretty, Moroccan-inspired salad.

This hand-rolled biscuit recipe produces a fluffy (rather than flaky) biscuit, ready to be split and spread with flavorful honey butter.

Here, we make flaky biscuits with just 3 ingredients.

Winter’s answer to the grain bowl, this feels super hearty and satisfying.

Sweet honey butter, seasoned with a kiss of flaky sea salt, is the ultimate topping for these light-as-air biscuits.

Light and fluffy, these peppery biscuits are as good alongside a hearty dinner as they are with jam for breakfast.

Collards really cook down a lot, so don't be fooled into buying some puny little bunch. I like my collards on the smaller, younger side of life. (The younger the collards, the shorter the cooking time.) The addition of kimchi gives the classic creamed greens an umami bite that I adore.

An overnight soak in buttermilk and a few key spices makes for the most flavorful, tender fried chicken.

No trip to South Carolina’s Low-Country is complete without a nibble of the region’s famed shrimp and grits. This recipe, from the Boathouse in Charleston, South Carolina, uses smoked andouille sausage and green hot pepper sauce to provide the essential kick, while a generous cup of whipping cream mellows the heat and smoothes the grits. Serve this for a casual dinner party, or use it to liven up a midweek meal. Epicurious members also serve this with pasta or polenta.

This tropical dish, adapted from the Mnemba Island Lodge off the coast of Zanzibar, pairs chiles-piced mangos with freshly grilled shrimp. Complex in flavor and easy in execution, this sweet, spicy, and creamy entrée makes a balanced and beautiful meal that Epicurious members make again and again.

These sweet–savory biscuits put a fresh spin on the classic buttermilk variety. Self-rising flour saves precious prep time. In fact, from start to finish, the whole recipe can be completed in about 30 minutes. To enjoy these fresh out of the oven, measure and combine the dry ingredients in advance, then bake the biscuits at the last minute.

This cornbread—made slightly sweet with the addition of dark brown sugar—mixes very easily: Just whisk together the dry ingredients; melt the butter and sugar; and whisk in cold milk to cool the liquid. Next, whisk in the eggs, then stir the brown sugar mixture into the cornmeal, scrape the batter into the pan, and bake.

This island staple is also known as “Jamaican coat of arms.” Some people add chiles to make it spicy, but we like it mild and slightly sweet to complement the heat of jerk chicken. For this dish, there’s no need to soak the kidney beans before cooking.

Enjoy a delicious island meal by making your own fragrant jerk seasoning to flavor grilled or broiled pork chops.

Sour cream replaces mayonnaise as the base for the tartar sauce here. Serve this fish with corn on the cob and chilled slices of melon on the side.

Sweet smoked paprika is also known as Pimentòn de la Vera. If you prefer foods less spicy, omit it from the biscuit tops.

You can freeze the unbaked biscuits on a baking sheet, then store in a resealable plastic bag for up to three weeks. When ready to serve, bake them (without thawing) on a parchment-lined sheet (the baking time will be the same).

Crunchy coconut biscuits are a Jamaican specialty and are crispest the day they’re baked. To toast coconut, preheat the oven to 325°F. Spread the coconut in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and toast, stirring occasionally, until light golden and fragrant, about 10 minutes.