Skip to content
Pańska skórka
Featured recipe

Pańska skórka

Chewy pink and white candy

On 1 November the paths outside Powązki cemetery in Warsaw are lined with sellers in white coats breaking off chunks of pańska skórka from big pink-and-white blocks. The name means ‘lord's skin’, and the candy is chewy, sticky and pull-apart, like a firm marshmallow crossed with nougat, smelling of vanilla and a little lemon. It is made by whipping a hot sugar syrup into egg whites, so the whites cook as you go; pasteurised whites make it safer still. The usual slip is under-cooking the syrup, which leaves a mass that never sets. For the pink half, use a plant-based colouring such as beetroot powder, not carmine, which is not vegetarian. Chef's tip: use a sugar thermometer; 125 °C is the number that matters.

Read more 0 views

What to eat today?

Around the world

Today's trip: Persian

A new country every day, from every cuisine on the site.

Persian

Shir berenj

Rose water rice pudding 70 minMore from Persian (181) →

This week's collection

Kid-friendly dinners
756 recipes · a new collection every Monday

Coming up

All occasions →

Latest recipes

Menestra de lentejasCumin lentil stew

Menestra is the backbone of Ecuador's set lunches: in Guayaquil's almuerzo cafés, plates arrive with white rice, a ladle of thick menestra, fried plantain (patacones or maduros) and a little salad, usually beside grilled meat. On its own it makes a complete meatless meal. Lentils are cooked down with a refrito of onion, pepper, garlic, cumin and achiote until thick enough to hold a mound. Chef's tip: stir in a handful of chopped coriander right at the end; it's the fresh lift that makes menestra taste Ecuadorian.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Golbheda ko acharRoasted tomato relish

No momo is served in Nepal without a small bowl of golbheda ko achar, and no dal bhat feels complete without a dab of it on the side. Tomatoes (golbheda) are charred over a flame or on a dry griddle until black-blistered and soft, then pounded with garlic, green chilli and timur, the citrusy Nepali pepper that leaves a buzz on the tongue. Grandmothers grind it on the flat stone silauto; a blender or mortar does the job at home. It is smoky, sour and hot, and is made fresh in most kitchens every day or two. A spoonful of toasted sesame or soybean powder thickens the version served with momos in Kathmandu. Don't purée it smooth: the skins and seeds give it its rustic body. Chef's tip: char the garlic and chillies beside the tomatoes; their sharp edge softens and the achar tastes sweeter and deeper.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

GolfeadosSticky panela and cheese spiral buns

Golfeados are the sticky sweet buns of Caracas bakeries and especially of the old roadside panaderías on the road to El Junquito, eaten warm with a slice of salty white cheese and a coffee. The soft yeast dough is rolled up with grated papelón (panela), anise seeds and crumbled cheese, baked in a tight tray and soaked with a dark panela syrup so they glisten. They are sweet, salty and fragrant. Chef's tip: roll them tightly and pack them close together in the tin; they rise up instead of out and stay soft and moist.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Goli bajeYogurt and flour fritters

Goli baje is the tea-time snack of coastal Karnataka: round, golden fritters that are crisp outside and soft and spongy inside, sold by the plateful in Udupi hotels and Mangaluru tea shops around four in the afternoon. The batter is made from plain flour and sour yogurt, with green chilli, ginger, curry leaves and coconut bits, and left to rest so it turns slightly tangy and airy. Serve them piping hot with coconut chutney and a strong cup of coffee. Chef's tip: beat the batter hard for a few minutes before resting it; a well-beaten batter is stretchy, traps air, and gives fritters with an open, bread-like crumb.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

GombapaprikásMushroom paprika stew

Gombapaprikás is the meatless cousin of chicken paprikás, cooked in Hungarian homes on Fridays and through Lent, and a regular on the vegetarian line of Budapest's self-service étkezde lunch rooms. Mushrooms simmer in onion, paprika and a little pepper and tomato, then the sauce is finished with sour cream until it turns a soft brick-pink. It is quick, rich and comforting, and nokedli are its natural partner, though rice or boiled potatoes work too. Chef's tip: brown the mushrooms in a hot pan in two batches before they meet the onions, so they fry instead of stewing in their own water and the sauce tastes deep rather than watery.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

GomenBraised collard greens

Gomen is the everyday green on Ethiopian tables, cooked in homes across the highlands and always part of a fasting platter in Addis Ababa restaurants on Wednesdays and Fridays. Collard greens (or kale) are chopped fine and braised gently with onion, garlic, ginger and green chilli until they turn soft, dark and silky, without any berbere, so they cool the palate next to the red stews. On non-fasting days many cooks add a little niter kibbeh at the end; this oil version keeps it vegan. Chef's tip: cut out the thick central stalks before chopping; left in, they stay stringy long after the leaves are tender.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Gongura pachadiSorrel leaf chutney

Gongura, the sour leaf of the roselle plant, is so central to Andhra cooking that it's called the state's own vegetable, and gongura pachadi is its best-known form. The leaves are fried in oil until they melt, then pounded with roasted red chillies, garlic, coriander seeds and fenugreek, and finished with a mustard tempering. It's intensely tangy, hot and garlicky, and in Guntur and Vijayawada homes a spoonful is mixed into hot rice with ghee or eaten with jowar rotte. It keeps in the fridge for a couple of weeks. Chef's tip: fry the leaves until all their water cooks off and they turn dark olive; any moisture left shortens how long the pachadi keeps.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

GorditasStuffed masa pockets

Gorditas, 'little fat ones', are thick corn masa cakes cooked on a comal until they puff, then split open like a pitta and stuffed. They are eaten from the north of Mexico down to the central states, at street stalls and at home, with fillings that change from town to town. This vegetarian version is filled with rajas con crema: strips of roasted poblano pepper, onion and sweetcorn in a creamy sauce with melting cheese, smoky and mild. Use masa harina for tortillas, made from nixtamalised corn, not cornmeal or polenta. Poblanos can be hard to find: green bell peppers with a jalapeño give a similar effect. Choose a cheese made with vegetarian rennet. Chef's tip: shape the gorditas no thicker than 1 cm; any thicker and the outside burns before the inside cooks and puffs.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Gotu kola sambolPennywort and coconut salad

Gotu kola (Asiatic pennywort) grows wild along the paddy edges in the south and centre of Sri Lanka, and a raw sambol of its leaves is the green, slightly bitter bite that balances a rice-and-curry lunch. Families in Galle and Matara will tell you it is good for the memory, and it is often served at the start of a meal or with kola kenda, the herbal porridge. The leaves are shredded as finely as possible, then tossed with shallot, tomato, green chilli, a little fresh coconut and plenty of lime, so it's crunchy, peppery and bright. Look for pennywort bunches in Sri Lankan, Thai and Vietnamese shops. The mistake to avoid is dressing it too early: the salt and lime wilt the leaves within half an hour. Chef's tip: roll a stack of leaves into a tight cigar and slice it hair-thin with a sharp knife; the finer the shreds, the better it tastes.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Göyərti qutabıHerb-filled flatbreads

Qutab are the thin half-moon flatbreads that Baku eats at any hour, folded around a filling and cooked in seconds on a domed iron saj, then stacked and brushed with butter. Göyərti qutabı, the green version, is the spring favourite: a handful of chopped spinach, sorrel, dill, coriander and spring onion sealed inside dough rolled so thin the greens show through. They are eaten hot, three or four at a time, sprinkled with sumac and dipped in garlicky yogurt, and appear on every table at Novruz in March. In autumn the same dough wraps pumpkin; that variation is in the steps. Chef's tip: season the greens only just before filling; salt draws out water, and wet greens tear the paper-thin dough.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Granita al limoneLemon ice

On summer mornings in Sicily, especially around Catania and Messina, breakfast is granita: a cup of soft, spoonable lemon ice with a warm brioche on the side for dipping. Sicilian granita is finer and creamier than a slushy, because it is stirred as it freezes. All you need is lemons, sugar and water, plus a fork and a freezer. It takes about four hours of occasional scraping. Chef's tip: steep the zest in the warm syrup for 20 minutes; the oils in the peel give a much fuller lemon flavour than juice alone.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Gratin dauphinoisPotato and cream gratin

Gratin dauphinois comes from the Dauphiné, the mountain region around Grenoble, where it has been made since at least the 1700s. Thinly sliced potatoes are simmered in milk and cream with garlic and nutmeg, then baked slowly until the top is golden and blistered and the inside is soft and creamy enough to cut with a spoon. Purists in the Dauphiné insist there is no cheese; the crust comes from the cream itself. It is a side for Sunday lunch and festive meals, especially good with a green salad or roasted mushrooms. Chef's tip: don't rinse the potato slices; washing off the starch is the common mistake that leaves the cream thin and watery.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Green borschtSorrel soup with egg

When the first sorrel comes up in village gardens around Chernihiv and Sumy in May, Ukrainian grandmothers stop making red borshch and switch to green: a light, lemony soup of sorrel, potato and herbs, served with halved boiled eggs. It is the soup of early summer and of Trinity Sunday, eaten hot with sour cream or chilled on a warm day. Sorrel gives it a clean sourness, so no vinegar is needed. This version uses vegetable stock instead of the chicken or pork stock some families use. Chef's tip: add the sorrel only in the last two minutes; it turns olive green the moment it hits the heat, but if it boils longer it collapses into stringy khaki threads.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Green fig and saltfishGreen bananas with salt cod

In St Lucia green bananas are called figs, and green fig and saltfish is the national dish: a Saturday lunch in Castries homes and the plate served everywhere on Jounen Kwéyòl, the island's Creole Day in October. The bananas are boiled until tender and mild, a little like potato, and served with salt cod sautéed with onion, sweet pepper, tomato, thyme and hot pepper. Add sliced avocado or cucumber on the side. The most common mistake is not soaking the saltfish long enough, which leaves the whole plate far too salty; taste a flake before you cook it. Chef's tip: rub oil on your hands (or wear gloves) before peeling the green bananas; the sap stains skin black.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Mish-mashScrambled eggs with peppers and cheese

Mish-mash is the quick summer supper of Bulgaria, cooked in every home from Sofia flats to Black Sea holiday villas once the peppers and tomatoes are cheap and ripe. Roasted peppers, onion and tomato are fried down, then sirene and beaten eggs are stirred through until soft and creamy, finished with parsley. The crumbled white brined cheese melting into the eggs is what makes it Bulgarian rather than Turkish menemen. It is eaten straight from the pan with fresh bread, often with a glass of cold beer. Chef's tip: cook the eggs gently and take them off while still a little wet; overcooking is the common mistake, and they turn rubbery and weep water.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

GudegYoung jackfruit stew

Gudeg is the signature of Yogyakarta: whole streets around Wijilan are lined with stalls selling it from dawn, and visitors carry it home in clay pots or woven baskets. Unripe jackfruit is cooked for hours with palm sugar, coconut milk, galangal and salam leaves until it turns reddish-brown, soft as pulled meat, and deeply sweet and savoury. The classic plate adds chicken, egg and spicy cattle-skin stew; this vegan plate pairs it with sticky-sweet tempeh and tofu and a sharp sambal to cut the sweetness. Chef's tip: let the pot cook down slowly until almost all the liquid is gone — drier gudeg keeps for days and tastes better on the second.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Guiyang si wa waPancake rolls with shredded vegetables

Guiyang's favourite street snack is a do-it-yourself meal: stalls set out twenty or more small bowls of shredded vegetables, and each person wraps a few strands in a pancake no bigger than a palm, folds it like a swaddled baby and pours in a spoonful of sour, chilli-flecked broth. It's light, crunchy and fun to eat with friends. Use as many fillings as you like; the more colours, the better. Chef's tip: shred everything as fine as you can, so the little parcels stay neat and each mouthful has several flavours.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

GujeolpanNine-section vegetable platter

Gujeolpan (구절판) takes its name from the octagonal lacquered tray it is served on: eight outer compartments of finely cut, separately seasoned fillings around a stack of paper-thin wheat crêpes in the middle. It was a dish of the Seoul royal court and noble households, and it still appears at weddings, 60th birthdays and Seollal tables, where everyone builds their own little rolls. Classic trays include beef; this one keeps all the colour with shiitake, wood ear, cucumber, carrot, peppers, radish and yellow and white egg. It takes patience rather than skill. Chef's tip: cut every filling into matchsticks the same length as the crêpes are wide, about 5 cm, so each roll closes neatly.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Gulai daun singkongCassava leaves in coconut gravy

No Padang restaurant in West Sumatra is complete without a dish of gulai daun singkong: dark cassava leaves simmered until silky in a yellow coconut gravy fragrant with lemongrass, turmeric leaf and galangal. It is the cooling green on a table of rich, fiery plates, ladled over rice with sambal hijau. Restaurants sometimes add dried anchovies; this version doesn't. Frozen cassava leaves from Asian shops work well; kale is the best stand-in. Chef's tip: squeeze the boiled leaves hard before adding them, or the gravy goes thin and grassy.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Gulai nangkaYoung jackfruit curry

In a nasi Padang restaurant, where dozens of dishes are stacked in the window and brought to the table on small plates, gulai nangka is the bright yellow one that gets spooned over rice to moisten everything else. Young jackfruit and long beans simmer in a thin, golden coconut sauce with turmeric, chilli and lemongrass until the jackfruit is tender and full of sauce. It's lighter and saucier than rendang and cooks in under an hour, so Padang households make it on ordinary weekdays. Chef's tip: stir the pot almost constantly for the first few minutes after the coconut milk goes in — Padang cooks say it keeps the gulai smooth and stops it splitting.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

LinseneintopfLentil stew

Linseneintopf is the one-pot lentil stew that German families cook on cold weekdays, and in many school and works canteens it's still the Thursday or Saturday lunch. Brown lentils simmer with potatoes, carrots, celeriac and leek until thick and soft; the finishing touch, all over Germany, is a good splash of vinegar at the table, which wakes the whole bowl up. It's usually made with smoked sausage or bacon; here smoked paprika and vegetable stock give the smoky depth instead. Chef's tip: add the vinegar only at the end, because acid added early keeps the lentils hard.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

GulyáslevesBeef goulash soup

Real Hungarian goulash is a soup, gulyásleves, born in the cattle herders' kettles of the Great Plain and still cooked over open fires at summer festivals and in every csárda (country inn) between Budapest and Debrecen. Beef shin or chuck simmers with lots of onion, sweet paprika, caraway and green pepper until tender, then potatoes and carrots go in. It is brothy, rich red and gently spicy, eaten with fresh bread. Chef's tip: take the pot off the heat before adding the paprika; it burns in seconds in hot fat and turns bitter.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Gundel palacsintaWalnut pancakes with chocolate sauce

Gundel palacsinta is the festive pancake of Budapest, named after the Gundel restaurant by City Park, where it became the showpiece dessert of the mid-twentieth century. Thin Hungarian pancakes are filled with a rum-scented walnut and raisin paste, folded into triangles and drowned in a dark chocolate sauce, sometimes flamed at the table. Everyday palacsinta at home are simpler, rolled with apricot jam, cocoa sugar or sweet túró; this is the version for name days, Christmas and guests. Chef's tip: rest the batter for 30 minutes; the pancakes become thinner and more elastic and stop tearing when you fold them. Common mistake: overfilling, which makes the triangles burst open.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Gundruk ko jholSour fermented greens soup

In the terraced hill villages between Pokhara and Ilam, families pack mustard, radish and cauliflower leaves into clay pots after the autumn harvest, let them ferment for a week or two and then sun-dry them into gundruk. That dark, tangy leaf is the store cupboard of the winter months, and its most common use is this thin, sour soup (jhol), served on the side of dal bhat or with dhido, the stiff buckwheat or millet porridge of the hills. It tastes a little like a smoky, vinegary green tea and is light, warming and very cheap. A handful of roasted soybeans (bhatmas) is often thrown in for crunch. The mistake is to cook gundruk without soaking it first, which leaves it gritty and too sour. Chef's tip: squeeze the soaked leaves hard and fry them in the oil until they crackle before you add water; that frying gives the soup its toasty depth.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Gungjung tteokbokkiSoy rice cakes with mushrooms

Long before red gochujang tteokbokki took over Seoul's street stalls, the Joseon palace kitchens served gungjung tteokbokki (궁중떡볶이): chewy cylinders of rice cake tossed in a glossy soy and sesame glaze with mushrooms, peppers and onion. It is mild, savoury-sweet and fragrant with toasted sesame, which makes it the version Korean parents cook for children and for anyone who can't take heat. The court recipe used beef; shiitake and oyster mushrooms carry the same savoury depth here. Eat it warm as a snack or alongside rice and kimchi. Chef's tip: soften the rice cakes in hot water before they meet the pan, or the outsides scorch while the centres stay hard.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Litti chokhaStuffed wheat balls with mashed vegetables

Litti chokha is Bihar's signature meal, cooked on street corners and at village gatherings over smouldering embers. Litti are rustic wheat balls stuffed with sattu (roasted gram flour) sharpened with garlic, ginger, mustard oil and pickle masala; they bake until crusty outside and crumbly inside. Chokha is a smoky mash of fire-roasted aubergine, potato and tomato with raw mustard oil and green chilli. Together they are filling, protein-rich and deeply savoury. Many Biharis dunk hot litti in melted ghee; for a vegan plate, brush them with mustard oil instead. Chef's tip: roast the aubergine and tomatoes right on a gas flame until the skins are black all over; that charring is the whole flavour of chokha.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

GurasaThick wheat flatbread

Gurasa is a thick, soft, round wheat bread from Sudan, especially the north and west (Darfur and Kordofan), cooked in a covered pan rather than an oven. It is torn and eaten with mullah, ful or salata aswad, and for breakfast with sugar and a little oil or butter. The dough is a loose, yeasted batter, closer to a giant crumpet than a flatbread. Chef's tip: cook it covered over a low heat; a hot open pan burns the base before the thick centre cooks.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Showing 27 of 10,569 recipes

Show more recipes

Page 1,035 of 1,175