Five-Ingredient Snacks

About this collection

We like to make the filling the night before, when the kitchen is quiet and nobody is asking what is for dinner. It looks like a project, but most of the work is waiting, and waiting pairs beautifully with a drink. We tested this 3 times in the Snack Crawl kitchen, and the version with miso paste won every single round. If you can chop red onion and hold a bamboo steamer, you can make this. We promise.

Bea, who runs our test kitchen on Thursdays, calls this “the one that ruins other snacks for you”. We tested this 6 times in the Snack Crawl kitchen, and the version with white pepper won every single round. Do not skip the mint; it is the bright note that stops the whole plate from feeling heavy. A spoonful of sesame oil does the heavy lifting here, giving the ingredients a depth that tastes like you cooked all day.

1. Fiery Sweetcorn Dumplings

Kenji, who runs our test kitchen on Thursdays, calls this “the one that ruins other snacks for you”.

A spoonful of rice vinegar does the heavy lifting here, giving the ingredients a depth that tastes like you cooked all day. This is a recipe built for sharing, which is a polite way of saying you should double it. We like to make the filling the night before, when the kitchen is quiet and nobody is asking what is for dinner. We tested this 8 times in the Snack Crawl kitchen, and the version with za'atar won every single round.

Imani swears by adding the dill in two stages: half cooked in for sweetness, half raw at the end for crunch. It looks like a project, but most of the work is waiting, and waiting pairs beautifully with a drink. A spoonful of pomegranate molasses does the heavy lifting here, giving the ingredients a depth that tastes like you cooked all day. We first ate something like this at a street stall in Oaxaca, balanced on a plastic stool, and spent the flight home reverse-engineering it.

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2. Sticky Potato Flatbreads

The trick with potato flatbreads is patience: let the potato take on proper colour before you even think about moving it.

This is a recipe built for sharing, which is a polite way of saying you should double it. A spoonful of maple syrup does the heavy lifting here, giving the ingredients a depth that tastes like you cooked all day. The trick with sticky potato flatbreads is patience: let the ingredients take on proper colour before you even think about moving it. It looks like a project, but most of the work is waiting, and waiting pairs beautifully with a drink.

This is a recipe built for sharing, which is a polite way of saying you should double it. A digital thermometer takes the guesswork out. You are aiming for steaming hot in the centre and audibly crisp outside.

Get the full recipe →