Non-Traditional Thanksgiving Recipes With International Flavor

Thanksgiving is the quintessential American meal, and there’s value in respecting the OGs: turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, green beans. But it’s also the original immigrants meal, a fact we decided to celebrate by asking four restaurateurs—Bryant Ng, Maiko Kyogoku, Hugo Ortega, and Anjan Mitra—all immigrants or from immigrant families, how they channel their culinary identities through the traditional feast. Behold, non-traditional Thanksgiving recipes with international flavor.

You handle the main course and have your guests bake or pick up dessert. Your holiday is about to get a lot more interesting.

Oh, and if cranky uncle whoever complains, just remind him: This is America.

Non-Traditional Thanksgiving Recipes With International Flavor

Lemongrass-Rubbed Turkey With Sticky Rice Stuffing

Ham with Chinese hot mustard and dinner rolls with scallion butter were two of the dishes you’d find on Bryant Ng’s parents’ Thanksgiving table. “They were inspired by traditional Thanksgiving but always had some Chinese or Singaporean influence,” says Ng, who co-owns Cassia, in Los Angeles. Here, he re-creates the centerpiece of his childhood holiday—turkey stuffed with Chinese-sausage sticky rice.

Get the full Lemongrass-Rubbed Turkey With Sticky Rice Stuffing recipe here.

Blistered Green Beans and Shishito Peppers

“For my family, Thanksgiving was about providing a traditional American meal to employees who were having it for the first time,” says Maiko Kyogoku, owner of the New York restaurant Bessou, who practically grew up in her parents’ Upper West Side sushi bar. Her mom would add subtle Japanese influences, like making gravy with dashi instead of chicken stock. Kyogoku continues that tradition with dishes like these green beans.

Get the full Blistered Green Beans and Shishito Peppers recipe here.

Sweet Potatoes With Blue Cheese and Salsa Macha

Celebrated Houston chef and restaurateur Hugo Ortega remembers his first Thanksgiving, in the 1980s, with his then girlfriend, Tracy Vaught. “The sweet potatoes had marshmallows on them,” he says. “I thought, ‘Weird.’” Three decades later, Ortega and Vaught are married, and their table still includes that classic casserole, alongside this traditional preparation from Ortega’s native Mexico City. Instead of sweet-on-sweet, the natural sugars are balanced by salt, tang, and umami.

Get the full Sweet Potatoes With Blue Cheese and Salsa Macha recipe here.

Roasted Cranberries With Cinnamon, Cardamom, and Jaggery Cane Sugar

As owner of Dosa, in San Francisco, Anjan Mitra hosts Thanksgiving for his staff, many of whom hail from India, adding familiar spices to an unfamiliar meal. This spiced and spicy hybrid cranberry sauce/chutney is a main-stay. If you can’t find jaggery (evaporated unrefined palm sap or sugarcane juice, sold in blocks), Mitra suggests coconut sugar or light brown sugar.

Get the full Roasted Cranberries With Cinnamon, Cardamom, and Jaggery Cane Sugar recipe here.

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