Yogurt

A creamy blend of ripe avocados, cucumbers, yogurt, lime juice—and a bit of jalapeño—make this soup bright, spicy, and satisfying. Have we mentioned it only takes ten minutes?

Complete this meatless dinner with a salad of red leaf lettuce and sliced Asian pears. Pass a basket of warm pita bread. For dessert, top split bananas with brown sugar and coconut and broil until caramelized.

This recipe adapts traditional Indian tandoori cooking for a barbecue. The chicken needs to marinate overnight, so start this one day ahead.

The sauce is a twist on raita, the cooling yogurt side dish served with spicy foods. Like all the best buffet dishes, the eggplant is equally good warm or at room temperature.

Drained nonfat yogurt—rather than mayonnaise or sour cream—provides the creamy texture. Start making this dip a day ahead, and try it with apple or pear slices.

Just about every book we've ever seen on southwest cooking includes a recipe for one of the spicy cornbreads of the region. Once you've tasted one, you'll know why — they are really delicious. This version is more of a pudding than a bread because it is quite moist and cheesy in texture. It makes a wonderful side dish to replace potatoes or rice, or it is quite satisfying eaten as a light entrée or lunch with a salad of fresh young greens.

Serve this entrée with steamed white rice and warm pita rounds.

The raita — a type of Indian yogurt sauce — makes a terrific dip for the rolls. A cilantro raita seemed right for this global menu because cilantro is one of the most widely used herbs in the world.

These are great with maple syrup, honey, marmalade, or even cottage cheese.

Easy to make and absolutely delicious. Pour a good Cabernet Sauvignon with this.