Chef Leah Cohen's ultimate beef short ribs

One thing you can count on in New York is variety, and that helps explain why Chef Leah Cohen, a New York native, has such eclectic tastes.

Half Filipina and half Russian-Romanian Jew, she's competed on Bravo's "Top Chef" and traveled to Asia, sampling street food everywhere.

Star Chefs named her a "Rising Star Chef." She's the chef and co-owner of Pig & Khoa, a unique restaurant on Manhattan's Lower East Side that focuses on Southeast Asian cuisine.

On "CBS This Morning: Saturday," Cohen shared some of that fare on "THE Dish."

Check out the recipes for those dishes seen on the broadcast:

Braised Beef Short Rib with Massaman Curry, Potato Puree and Kale

For the Beef: Serves 8

4 pounds Bone-in beef short ribs
1/2 C canola oil
Kosher salt for seasoning meat

Season the beef liberally with salt.  Heat up a large pan and add enough oil to sear the meat on all sides. Once meat is seared remove from pan and add it to the braising liquid. Cover with aluminum foil and cook in oven at 300 degrees for 3-31/2 hours. When meat is tender, remove the meat from liquid and strain the braising liquid. Return the meat back to the liquid and cool down overnight.

Beef braising liquid:

225 g shallots quartered
50 g garlic cloves
10 g kaffir
2 g bay leaves
50 g cilantro root
150 g lemongrass smashed
2 QT Chicken stock
2 cans chefs choice coconut milk
250 g  fish sauce
32 g salt
100 g sugar
5 g cinnamon stick
4 g star anise
5 ea cardamom

Massaman Curry sauce:

400 g  massaman curry paste
150 g canola oil
150 g tamarind paste
150 g palm sugar
6 cans chefs choice coconut milk
2QT beef braising liquid
t.t. Fish sauce
4 ea star anise
4 ea cloves
4 ea cardamom

In a large pot combine 2 cans coconut milk, canola oil and curry paste. Fry curry paste over medium heat for 15-20 minutes. Deglaze with fish sauce and add palm sugar and tamarind paste. Add the braising liquid plus 4 remaining cans of coconut milk and spices. Bring up to a boil and then turned down to a simmer and cook for 30 min on low. Remove spices and cool down.

Massaman Curry Paste:

10 g coriander seed toasted
15 g cumin seed toasted
1 g cardamom
6 g ground cinnamon
100 g roasted unsalted peanuts
200 g shallot
150 g garlic cloves peeled
150 g  dried Thai chili, seeded
90 g lemongrass
120 g  fresh galangal peeled
36 g fresh red Thai chili
7 g kaffir lime leaves
1 tbs shrimp paste

In a robot coupe blend dried Thai chili to a powder. Then combine the rest of the ingredients and blend until it forms a smooth paste. While blending add just enough ice water to help blend.

Potato Puree:

2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes medium diced
1/2 C cream
1/2 pounds unsalted butter

Boil potatoes in a pot of salted water until tender, about 25 minutes.

In the meantime combine cream and butter in a saucepan and heat up until butter melts.

When potatoes are cooked pass them through a food mill. Slowly add cream and butter mixture into the potatoes and season with salt t.t.

Sauteed Kale:

Heat up 2 tbs of canola oil in a pan and add 1 tsp minced garlic. Add 1 bu kale (stems removed) 1/4 C water and cook until kale is tender. Season with salt to taste.

Crispy shallots:

Thinly slice 3 large shallots on a mandolin. Coat sliced shallots with rice flour and fry at 300 degrees until light golden brown and season with salt.

To plate the dish:

Heat up with short ribs in Massaman curry sauce. Once meat is hot and tender turn off the heat and season the sauce with fresh lime juice and fish sauce to taste.

Spoon potato puree on the bottom of the plate then place kale on top. Place short rib on top of kale and garnish with crispy shallots and cilantro leaves. 

(serves 4)

2 pounds pei mussels
2 Tbs canola oil
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp sliced Thai chili (less if you don’t want spicy)
1/2 ea limejuice
t.t. fish sauce
15 ea Thai basil leaves

In a wok (or large saucepan) heat up oil and saute garlic and Thai chili for 1 min. Add mussels and deglaze with pineapple curry broth. Cover the wok with a bowl or lid and let mussels steam open. Once mussels open turn off the heat and season with fish sauce and lime juice. Garnish with freshly torn Thai basil leaves.

Pineapple curry broth:

250 g  Yellow Curry paste
44 g canola oil
94 g Fish sauce (squid brand)
2.5 Cans Chefs choice coconut milk
1094 g Pineapple juice
11 g Kaffir

In a pot heat up oil and fry curry paste for 5-8 min (until you smell spices toasting) stirring constantly to prevent burning. Deglaze with fish sauce and cook for 1 minute.

Add pineapple, coconut milk and kaffir. Bring to a boil and then down to a simmer and cook on low heat for 20 min. Remove kaffir leaves.

Yellow curry Paste:

8 g coriander seed (toasted)
136 g Lemongrass sliced
38 g Thai red chili
25 g fresh yellow turmeric
75 g shallot
75 g garlic
1.5 tbs kosher salt
2 tbs shrimp paste
ice for blending

In a robot coupe combine all ingredients and blend until it forms a smooth paste. While blending add ice cubes one at a time to help blend.

Grilled Pork Jowl and Brussels Sprout Salad:

1.5 pounds cooked pork jowl
2 ea shallots sliced
1/4 C mint leaves
1/4 C cilantro leaves
1 pound Brussels sprouts (trimmed and quartered)
1/3 C Dressing
2-3 tbs toasted rice powder
salt t.t.

Grill pork jowl until slightly charred and hot. Slice thin

Fry the Brussel sprouts at 350 degrees until crispy but still retaining some of the green. Drain on paper towel and lightly season with salt.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, mix will and garnish with toasted rice powder.

House Dressing 

Yield 1.5QT

22 g Fresh Chilies, rough chopped
10 g Garlic
370 g  Lime Juice
205 g  Fish Sauce
112 g Sugar
325 g Water

In a food processor buzz chilies and garlic while adding some of the lime juice to help the process.  The garlic and the chilies should be well pureed but you can still see some of the seeds from the chilies.

Transfer the mixture into a bain and mix everything together 

Cooking the jowl sous vide:

The jowl is cooked in a vacuum-sealed bag in a water bath for 12 hours at 145 degrees Celsius. Once jowl is cooked cool down in ice bath. Once cool remove jowl from bag and place in marinade for 3 hours or overnight.

Marinade for Jowl 

Yield 1 qt 

46 g Cilantro Root
17 g Garlic
5 g Salt
1.5 cans Coconut Milk (Chefs Choice)
86 g Fish Sauce
37 g Sugar, granulated
3 g White Pepper, grounded

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Spicy Mango Dylan Cocktail

1.5 oz Thai chili infused tequila
1.5 oz grapefruit cordial
.75oz mango nectar (Gina brand)
.75 oz lime juice

Served over ice in garnish with lime wedge

Thai infused tequila:

1 bottle clear tequila
15 ea Thai chili diced

Combine tequila and Thai chili for one hour and then strain.

Mango Sticky Rice
Serves 4

1 C Thai sticky rice soaked for 2-4 hours and rinsed to get rid of extra starch
1 C Chaokoh canned coconut milk
1 C granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
2 ea ripe mango peeled and sliced
2 tbs crunchy mung beans

Line a steamer with cheesecloth and steam rice over medium heat for about 20 minutes.

While the rice is steaming, combine coconut milk, sugar and salt in saucepan and heat up until sugar and salt dissolve and mixture is hot.

When rice is cooked put it in a bowl and mix in coconut mixture. Mix gently so you don’t break up the rice. Cover with plastic wrap for 20 minutes

Serve sticky rice with fresh sliced mango and garnish with crispy mung beans

Crispy Mung Beans

Soak yellow skinned mung beans in water for 1 hour, drain and dry on paper towel.

In a small saucepot heat up enough oil to shallow fry the mung beans. Fry until golden brown and crunchy and drain on paper towel.