Featured recipe

Choripán

Chorizo sandwich

Choripán is what fans buy outside football stadiums in Buenos Aires, what the asador hands round while the beef is still cooking, and what stalls sell along Costanera Sur on a Sunday afternoon. This is a pork dish: a fat Argentine-style fresh chorizo (pork, sometimes mixed with beef) is grilled slowly, split open (a mariposa) and tucked into a crusty roll with chimichurri or salsa criolla. That's it, and it doesn't need more. The common mistake is grilling the chorizos too hot, so the skins burst and the centre stays raw; low and slow is the rule. Chef's tip: once cooked, split each chorizo lengthways and give the cut sides 1 minute on the grill so they char a little.

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DovgaHerb and yogurt soup

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From Lamongan to Semarang, Java's soto carts start ladling before the morning commute, and a bowl of soto ayam is how many people begin a working day. The broth is light but bright yellow with fresh turmeric, scented with lemongrass and lime leaf, and poured over slippery glass noodles, shredded chicken, crunchy bean sprouts and half a boiled egg. Squeeze in lime, stir in as much sambal as you dare and eat it with plain rice or rice cakes on the side. In East Java vendors finish it with koya, a sandy powder of prawn crackers and fried garlic that thickens the broth as you eat. Chef's tip: keep the pot at a lazy simmer the whole time; a hard boil turns the golden broth cloudy and greasy.

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60 min

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Soto BanjarSpiced chicken soup

Along the rivers of Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan, breakfast often means soto Banjar eaten at a wooden riverside warung, sometimes after a dawn trip to the floating market. Unlike the turmeric sotos of Java, this broth is pale and clear, perfumed with the sweet spices that traders brought up the river centuries ago: cinnamon, cloves, star anise, cardamom and nutmeg. Shredded chicken, glass noodles, carrot and a boiled egg go into the bowl with rice cakes, and lime and a little chilli sharpen it at the table. Chef's tip: toast the whole spices in the pan for a minute before the paste goes in; it brings out their sweetness without the dusty edge of ground spice.

75 min

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120 min

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Rakott krumpliLayered potato and egg bake

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5 min

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KayaPandan coconut jam

Kaya is the coconut and egg jam spread thickly on toast in every kopitiam in Singapore, from heritage chains to the coffee shop under a housing block. This is the green Nyonya-style kaya, gently cooked with pandan leaves until it turns thick, glossy and custardy; the Hainanese version adds caramel for a brown colour. It keeps for a week in the fridge and is the essential part of kaya toast. Chef's tip: cook it slowly over a pan of barely simmering water and keep stirring; rushed kaya scrambles and turns grainy.

60 min

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Kaya toastToast with coconut jam

The kaya toast set is Singapore's breakfast ritual: thin, crisp toast sandwiched with kaya and a cold slab of butter, served with two runny soft-boiled eggs seasoned at the table with dark soy and white pepper, and a cup of kopi. Office workers eat it at kopitiams in Tiong Bahru and Tanjong Pagar before work; children love dunking the toast in the eggs. Chef's tip: put the eggs in water that's just off the boil for exactly 6–7 minutes; the whites should be barely set and wobbly, the yolks completely runny.

15 min

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Penang rojakFruit salad with prawn paste dressing

Few salads are as divisive or as loved as the rojak sold from carts along Penang's Gurney Drive: crisp jicama, cucumber, green mango, pineapple and guava cut into bite-size pieces and tossed in a black, toffee-thick dressing of hae ko (fermented prawn paste), tamarind and sugar. The fruit stays cold and crunchy while the sauce is sweet, sour, salty and funky at once, finished with a snowfall of crushed peanuts. Stalls often add fried dough fritters and tofu puffs for chew. Eat it as an afternoon snack or alongside grilled meats. Chef's tip: toss only just before serving; the salt in the dressing draws water out of the fruit and turns it watery within 15 minutes.

20 min

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KedjenouPot-steamed chicken

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95 min

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Keerai masiyalMashed greens

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22 min

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A true hāngī is cooked by Māori communities across Aotearoa New Zealand in a pit lined with stones heated in a wood fire, with baskets of meat and vegetables covered with damp cloths and earth and left for hours; it is made for tangihanga (funerals), weddings, marae gatherings and fundraisers, and the skill is passed down through whānau. An oven can't reproduce that earthy, smoky steam, and this recipe does not claim to. It borrows the idea: pork, chicken, kūmara, pumpkin and potato packed tightly, covered and steamed for hours until everything is meltingly soft. It contains pork. The mistake to avoid is loose foil; if steam escapes, the meat dries out instead of steaming. Chef's tip: sit the meat on top of the vegetables so its juices drip down and season them.

225 min

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Dongbei da la piMung bean sheet salad

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25 min

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Pepián de verdurasRoasted seed and vegetable stew

Pepián is often called Guatemala's national dish, a recado (sauce) from the Kaqchikel Maya highlands around Antigua and Chimaltenango, served at fiestas and family Sundays. Its depth comes from charring tomatoes, tomatillos and dried chillies and toasting pumpkin and sesame seeds before grinding them into a thick, smoky, reddish-brown sauce. Traditionally it simmers chicken; here chayote, potato, green beans and carrot soak it up. Serve with white rice and tamalitos or warm corn tortillas. Chef's tip: toast the seeds separately and stop when they smell nutty; burnt seeds turn the whole pot bitter.

75 minCentral American Curries

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Café cubanoSweet Cuban espresso

Café cubano, or cafecito, is the tiny, intensely sweet coffee poured into thimble-sized cups at every ventanita (walk-up window) in Miami and in homes across Cuba, often shared around the office at 3 o'clock. The secret is the espumita: the first few drops of coffee beaten hard with sugar into a pale caramel-coloured cream that floats on top. You need a stovetop moka pot. Chef's tip: catch only the very first, strongest drops for the foam; if you add too much coffee the sugar won't whip up.

7 min

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Ker sangriDesert berries and beans

Ker sangri is a true desert dish from the Thar in Rajasthan: ker are small, sour wild caper berries and sangri are the thin, chewy bean pods of the khejri tree, both picked in summer and sun-dried to last the year. Soaked, boiled and fried in plenty of mustard oil with chilli, mango powder and coriander, they become tangy, earthy and almost pickle-like. It keeps for days, which is why it travelled with camel herders. Serve with bajra roti or puri, or as a side to dal baati. Chef's tip: taste a ker berry after boiling; if it is still very bitter, boil it again in fresh water before frying.

40 min

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Kerak telorSticky rice and egg omelette

Kerak telor is the Betawi snack of Jakarta, cooked over charcoal by vendors at the Jakarta Fair and around Monas: a little soaked sticky rice is cooked in a tiny wok, an egg cracked on top, then the wok is turned upside down over the coals so the bottom forms a crust. It is finished with serundeng, a spiced toasted coconut, and fried shallots. Vendors usually add dried shrimp to the coconut; this version doesn't. Chef's tip: soak the sticky rice overnight; half-soaked grains stay hard in the middle.

45 min

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Kerala meen currySour red fish curry

Down the southern backwater districts of Travancore, around Kottayam and Alappuzha, the everyday fish curry has no coconut at all: just a brick-red gravy of chilli, shallots and coconut oil, made sour and smoky with kudampuli (Malabar tamarind). It is traditionally made in a clay pot (manchatti) and left to sit, because it tastes better hours later or the next morning, when the fish has soaked up the sourness. Kingfish, sardines and mackerel are the usual choices; eat it with boiled red Kerala rice or tapioca. Chef's tip: once the fish is in, never use a spoon — hold the pot with a cloth and swirl it so the sauce coats the pieces without breaking them.

45 min

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PesarattuGreen moong crêpes

Pesarattu is the breakfast dosa of Andhra Pradesh, made from whole green moong beans ground with ginger, green chilli and cumin rather than rice and urad dal. Because the batter needs no fermenting, you can soak the beans before bed and have crisp, nutty, bright-green dosas on the table by morning. In Andhra homes they're scattered with onion and eaten with a sharp ginger chutney, and on festive days filled with upma to make 'MLA pesarattu'. They're high in protein, light and naturally gluten free. Chef's tip: add a small handful of raw rice to the soak; it isn't traditional everywhere, but it gives the dosa a crisper edge and stops it tearing on the pan.

30 min

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DomodaBeef and peanut stew

Domoda is the stew that most families in the Gambia, from Banjul to the riverside villages upcountry, cook several times a week. Beef is browned and simmered with tomato and onion, then smooth peanut butter is stirred in until the sauce turns thick, glossy and rich, with pumpkin and sweet potato melting into it. It is spooned over white rice with a squeeze of lime, and a scotch bonnet floats in the pot for whoever likes it hot. The mistake to avoid is adding the peanut butter too early and leaving it unstirred, as it catches and burns on the bottom; add it once the beef is nearly tender and stir often. Chef's tip: whisk the peanut butter with a ladle of hot broth before it goes in, so it melts smoothly instead of forming lumps.

125 min

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On the long beach of Barra Vieja, just south of Acapulco in Guerrero, whole fish are split open, painted with chilli paste and grilled over wood embers in palapa restaurants with their feet in the sand. One half gets a brick-red adobo of guajillo and ancho, the other a bright green paste of herbs and fresh chilli, so a single fish brings two flavours to share. It is eaten straight off the platter with tortillas, rice, lime and cold drinks. Chef's tip: cook it mostly skin-side down in a hinged fish basket, so the skin protects the flesh and the fish turns without breaking.

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Keropok lekorFried fish sausages

Along the beach road from Kuala Terengganu to Marang, roadside huts sell keropok lekor in paper bags, still hot from the wok. These are long, grey-white sausages of fish and sago starch, boiled until they float and then sliced and fried, so the outside puffs and crisps while the inside stays dense, bouncy and tasting clearly of the sea. Locals dip them in a sweet, garlicky chilli sauce and eat them with tea in the late afternoon. They freeze well after boiling, ready to fry any time. Chef's tip: knead the fish with ice-cold water; keeping the dough cold is what gives the springy bite.

60 min

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KetoprakTofu and noodles in peanut sauce

Ketoprak is a Jakarta cart dish, made to order: the seller grinds peanuts, garlic and chilli in a wide stone mortar, loosens them with water and sweet soy, then tips fried tofu, rice cake, rice vermicelli and bean sprouts on top. It is a cousin of gado-gado but simpler, with no egg-and-greens platter, and the raw-garlic sauce is the whole point. Eat it at lunch with plenty of crackers. Chef's tip: grind the garlic with the hot fried peanuts so the garlic mellows slightly; a raw paste made with cold nuts is harsh.

35 min

Indonesian Snacks & Starters

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PulihoraTamarind rice

Pulihora is the rice Andhra families cook for Ugadi, Sankranti and every temple festival in between, and it's also the dish wrapped in banana leaves for long train trips because it keeps all day. The Telugu version is sharper and hotter than Tamil puliyodarai or Karnataka puliyogare: cooked rice is tossed with a thick tamarind paste, turmeric, mustard and a hefty tempering of peanuts, chana dal, green and red chillies and curry leaves, with no sweet spice powder. It's sour, hot, nutty and fragrant with sesame oil. Eat it at room temperature with curd or a crisp papad. Chef's tip: cook the tamarind paste until oil separates at the edges; under-cooked tamarind gives the rice a raw, puckery sourness.

45 min

Indian Rice & Grains

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Key watSpicy beef stew

Ask for key wat at a restaurant in Addis Ababa and you get a bowl of tender beef drowned in a sauce so red it gives the dish its name: key means red in Amharic. It is everyday celebration food, cooked for Sunday lunch, weddings and the end of a fast, and it shares the slow-cooked onion base of doro wat but with chunks of beef and a sharper, more peppery heat. The sauce should be thick and glossy, with a layer of red oil on top. Spoon it over injera with a cooling plate of greens or lentils beside it. Chef's tip: cut the beef into small, even 2 cm cubes so it soaks up the sauce and becomes tender in under an hour and a half.

90 min

Ethiopian Meat

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Bolas de BerlimCustard-filled doughnuts

On Portuguese beaches in summer, from Praia da Rocha in the Algarve to Nazaré and Figueira da Foz, vendors walk the sand with a glass box on their shoulder calling 'Olha a bola!': soft fried doughnuts rolled in sugar, split along one side and stuffed with thick yellow creme pasteleiro. Though named after the Berliner, the Portuguese version is cut open rather than injected, so the custard shows like a smile. They are eaten in swimsuits, sticky-fingered, mid-afternoon, and in cafés the rest of the year. Chef's tip: let the shaped balls rise until they look puffy and a gentle finger press springs back slowly; under-proved dough fries dense and over-proved dough collapses and soaks up oil.

70 min

Portuguese Desserts

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Ram ladooMoong dal fritters with chutney

Despite the name, ram ladoo aren't sweet. They're small, crisp moong and chana dal fritters, sold from carts across Delhi in winter, when white radish is at its best. The vendor splits a few hot ones, smears them with a sharp coriander chutney and buries them under a heap of grated mooli and its leaves, with lemon and chaat masala over the top. Hot, crunchy fritters against cold, peppery radish is the whole appeal; it's a light snack for a foggy evening. Chef's tip: grind the soaked dal with as little water as possible, then beat the batter by hand for 3–4 minutes; air whipped into it is what makes the ladoos puff up and stay light.

50 min

Indian Snacks & Starters

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SingjuCabbage and lotus stem salad

Singju is Imphal's favourite evening snack, sold from stalls at Khwairamband market and Thangal Bazar: a pile of finely shredded cabbage, lotus stem, banana flower, onion and fresh herbs, tossed with roasted chilli and toasted gram flour. Most stalls add a little ngari (fermented fish); vegetarian Meitei homes skip it and use extra roasted perilla or sesame and toasted gram flour, which give a nutty, savoury depth. It is crunchy, hot and herby. Chef's tip: shred everything as thinly as you can, almost like hair; the dressing clings better.

25 min

Indian Salads

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SingodiCoconut milk fudge in leaf cones

Singodi is Almora's other famous sweet, sold in the same shops as bal mithai but looking nothing like it: a soft, pale mix of khoya and coconut packed into a cone of maalu leaf and pinned shut with a twig. The leaf leaves a faint green, woody scent in the sweet, which is the whole point, and people in Kumaon unwrap them at weddings and on trips home. Maalu leaves are almost impossible to buy elsewhere, so this version uses banana leaf or fresh betel (paan) leaves; both give a gentle leafy aroma. Chef's tip: wrap the singodi while the filling is still warm and leave them in the fridge overnight, so the scent of the leaf soaks in.

45 min

Indian Indian Sweets

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Khao jee pâtéBaguette sandwich with pâté

Khao jee pâté is the breakfast sandwich of Vientiane, sold from glass-fronted carts on street corners since the French era left Laos its love of baguettes. It is a pork sandwich: a crisp, light baguette is warmed over charcoal, spread with pork liver pâté and filled with Lao-style cold cuts (pork sausage or ham), pickled papaya or carrot, cucumber, herbs, chilli sauce and a splash of Maggi-style seasoning. Pregnant people should avoid pâté because of listeria risk. Chef's tip: warm the bread until the crust crackles; a soft baguette makes a soggy sandwich.

20 min

Lao Fast Food

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JianbingSavoury egg crêpe

Jianbing guozi began in Tianjin and is now Beijing's favourite breakfast on the go: a crêpe spread on a round griddle, cracked over with egg, brushed with sauces and folded round a crunchy fried cracker. Vendors make one in two minutes; at home a large non-stick pan works. The batter mixes mung bean and wheat flour for a tender, slightly nutty pancake. Chef's tip: spread the batter thin and fast while the pan is hot, then lower the heat before adding the egg so the crêpe stays pliable.

25 min

Chinese Breakfast & Brunch

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Khao man gaiChicken and ginger rice

Around Pratunam market in Bangkok, the khao man gai stalls are easy to spot: a queue, pale poached chickens hanging in a glass cabinet, and a cook slicing with a cleaver at speed. Like its Hainanese ancestor, the dish pairs silky chicken with rice cooked in the bird's fat and broth, but the Thai plate stands apart for its sauce, a punchy mix of fermented soybeans (tao jiao), ginger, garlic, chilli and vinegar, and for the little bowl of clear broth with winter melon served on the side. Bangkok eats it for breakfast, lunch or a late supper, always with cucumber slices and coriander. Chef's tip: plunge the cooked chicken into iced water for 10 minutes; the skin firms to a jelly-like snap and the meat stays juicy.

75 min

Thai Chicken

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Khao piak sen with mushroom brothRice noodles in mushroom broth

Khao piak sen is the soup Laotians crave on a cool morning or when they feel unwell, and roadside shops in Vientiane and Luang Prabang sell it from dawn. The noodles are cut by hand from a soft rice and tapioca dough and cooked straight in the broth, so their starch turns the soup thick, slippery and comforting. Instead of the usual chicken stock, this version builds a deep broth from dried shiitake, charred onion and ginger, and finishes it with crisp fried garlic, spring onion and coriander. Chef's tip: dust the cut noodles well with tapioca starch and keep them apart; they stick together into a clump in seconds if left in a pile.

75 min

Lao Soups

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Khao poon with tofu and vegetablesCoconut curry noodle soup

Khao poon is celebration food in Laos, ladled out at weddings, baci ceremonies and big family gatherings, and sold at morning markets in Vientiane by women with huge steaming pots. Fine round rice noodles sit under a spicy, red-tinged broth of coconut milk, lemongrass and galangal, and everyone adds their own shredded cabbage, banana blossom, beansprouts, mint and lime. The usual chicken or fish is swapped for golden fried tofu and bamboo shoots. Chef's tip: fry the red chilli paste in the coconut cream until oil seeps out in red drops on the surface; that's when the colour and heat are fully released.

60 min

Lao Pasta & Noodles

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KharRaw papaya and lentil dish

Every traditional Assamese lunch begins with khar, a mouthful of it mixed into the first ball of rice to settle the stomach. The defining ingredient is khar itself, an alkaline liquid filtered from the ash of dried bhim kol (seeded banana) peels; it gives the dish its soft, slightly soapy, earthy taste. Raw papaya and a handful of lentils are cooked in it with mustard oil, garlic and green chilli until silky. At home in Guwahati or Jorhat it is made several times a week. Chef's tip: outside Assam, use a small pinch of bicarbonate of soda in place of khar; too much tastes metallic, so start with ⅛ tsp.

40 min

Indian Curries

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Soto BetawiBeef and coconut milk soup

Jakarta's original Betawi community gave the capital this rich, pale-gold soup, and on a Sunday the soto Betawi stalls along the city's side streets are packed with families. Beef brisket (and, for many, tripe) simmers until tender, then goes into a gently spiced broth made creamy with coconut milk and a splash of fresh milk, scented with lemongrass, cinnamon and cloves. Each bowl is loaded with fried potato, raw tomato and spring onion and comes with rice, lime, sambal and bitter-crisp emping crackers. It's comforting and mellow rather than fiery. Chef's tip: for a dairy-free bowl, swap the milk for more coconut milk; the soup will be a little heavier but just as good.

90 min

Indonesian Soups

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Khorkhog-style lambHot stone-style lamb

Khorkhog is the feast of the Mongolian countryside, cooked when a herding family welcomes guests: a sheep is cut into pieces and sealed into a milk churn with hot river stones, onion, carrot and potato, and the churn is set over the fire until the meat is tender and smoky. Guests pass the hot, greasy stones from hand to hand for good health. This home version cooks the lamb in a heavy sealed casserole in the oven, which gives the same tender meat and rich juices; please don't heat stones in a kitchen pot, which is dangerous. The mistake is adding water: the lamb steams in its own juice with only a little liquid. Chef's tip: use lamb on the bone, such as neck or shoulder, for the deepest flavour.

140 min

Mongolian Meat

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Dolma batataStuffed potatoes in chickpea sauce

Dolma batata belongs to the Algiers home kitchen, where it is a Ramadan favourite and a Friday dish: hollowed potatoes filled with beef mince, onion, parsley and cinnamon, fried until golden, then simmered in a pale sauce (marqa beida) of onion, chickpeas, black pepper and cinnamon. The sauce stays white because no tomato goes in. The mistake is hollowing the potatoes too thinly, so they split in the pot; leave walls about 1 cm thick. Chef's tip: fry the scooped-out potato flesh and add it to the sauce to thicken it.

95 min

Algerian Meat

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Khua klingDry-fried spicy minced pork

Ask for this at a rice-and-curry shop in Phuket or Hat Yai and it comes as a small, dark heap beside your rice, smelling of lime leaf and black pepper and hot enough to bring tears. There is no sauce at all: minced pork or beef is fried with a turmeric-heavy southern paste until every crumb is dry, separate and coated in spice. The heat is fierce, so it is always eaten with jasmine rice, sliced cucumber, raw long beans and herbs to cool the mouth. It also keeps well for a couple of days and is excellent cold in a lunchbox. Chef's tip: keep stirring and pressing the meat against the hot wok at the end; the name means 'roll and roast', and that last dry-frying is what makes it.

25 min

Thai Meat

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Hanhor mangxoDuck curry

When Magh Bihu brings bonfires and feasting to the villages of Assam in January, duck curry is one of the dishes families look forward to. Duck meat is simmered with ash gourd (kumura), which soaks up the rich juices, and the gravy is thickened with toasted black sesame for a deep, nutty taste. It is eaten with rice, often after the night-long community feast called uruka. Chef's tip: brown the duck skin-side down first and pour off some of the rendered fat; you need its flavour, not all of it.

120 min

Indian Meat

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BolaniStuffed flatbread

Bolani are thin, crisp half-moon flatbreads sold hot from griddles in Kabul's bazaars and made at home for Ramadan iftar, picnics and guests who drop in unannounced. The dough is rolled paper-thin, filled with mashed potato and spring onion (or with leeks or pumpkin), folded and fried in a little oil until blistered and golden. Cut them into wedges and serve with plain yoghurt or a green chutney. Chef's tip: spread the filling in a thin, even layer right to the edges; bolani should be flat and crackly, not puffy and doughy.

65 min

Afghan Breads & Parathas

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Pulpo a la gallegaOctopus with paprika and potatoes

Pulpo a feira is fair-day food in Galicia: at markets and village fiestas, pulpeiras boil whole octopus in big copper pots, snip it with scissors onto round wooden plates and finish it with coarse salt, pimentón and olive oil. The town of O Carballiño in Ourense holds an octopus festival every August, and you'll find the dish in pulperías across the region all year. At home it is simpler than it looks; the secret is that a frozen octopus is a tender one, because freezing breaks down the tough fibres. Chef's tip: use the octopus cooking water to boil the potatoes, which picks up its flavour and pink colour.

60 min

Spanish Fish

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ErisseryPumpkin and cowpea curry

Erissery is the golden, slightly sweet pumpkin dish of the Onam sadya in Kerala, and a favourite in homes all through the harvest season when the yellow mathanga pumpkins are piled up in the markets. Soft pumpkin and red cowpeas are bound with a coconut, cumin and green chilli paste, and the whole pot is crowned with grated coconut fried in coconut oil until it turns the colour of cinnamon. That crunchy, nutty topping is what makes it erissery. Serve with rice and parippu, or scoop it up with chapati. Chef's tip: keep the pumpkin pieces large so some stay whole while others melt into the sauce.

60 min

Indian Curries

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KhuraBuckwheat pancakes

Khura are the buckwheat pancakes of the Monpa people of Tawang and West Kameng, high in Arunachal Pradesh, where buckwheat grows better than wheat. A thick, egg-enriched batter of buckwheat flour is cooked into soft, spongy pancakes for breakfast, eaten with butter tea, chilli-cheese chutney (chamin) or vegetable curry. They are earthy, slightly sour and filling on a cold morning. Chef's tip: let the batter stand for 20 minutes; buckwheat absorbs water slowly and the pancakes hold together much better.

45 min

Indian Breakfast & Brunch

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Rava dosaCrisp semolina crêpes

Rava dosa is the instant dosa of Karnataka's Udupi restaurants: a thin, pourable batter of semolina and rice flour, studded with cumin, cracked pepper, ginger and curry leaves, poured onto a very hot griddle so it sets into a crisp, holey lace. There's no soaking or fermenting, so it's the dosa to make when the craving strikes. Serve straight from the pan with coconut chutney and sambar. Because it contains semolina it's not gluten free. Chef's tip: the batter must be watery, thinner than single cream; pour it from a height onto the pan instead of spreading it, and stir the bowl before every dosa because the semolina sinks.

30 min

Indian Breakfast & Brunch

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Ravitoto with porkPounded cassava leaves with pork

Ravitoto sy henakisoa, cassava leaves with pork, is a favourite of the Malagasy highlands around Antananarivo and is served at family Sunday lunches with a mound of white rice. This dish contains pork. The cassava leaves are pounded to a dark green paste and simmered for a long time with fatty pork, garlic and ginger until rich and soft, often finished with coconut milk. The mistake is undercooking the cassava leaves: they must cook for at least an hour to be safe and lose their bitterness, so don't cut it short. Chef's tip: frozen pounded cassava leaves (sold as ravitoto, pondu or saka saka) save a lot of work.

120 min

Malagasy Meat

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HawawshiSpiced beef stuffed bread

Walk through downtown Cairo in the evening and you will smell hawawshi before you see it: round baladi breads split open, packed with minced beef, onion, green chilli and warm spices, then baked until the bread turns crisp and the fat from the meat soaks into the crumb. Street stalls sell it wrapped in paper with pickles and tahini; at home it is a quick Friday supper. Pitta works well if you can't find baladi bread. The mistake most people make is packing in too thick a layer of meat, so the bread burns before the middle is cooked; keep it about 1 cm thick. Chef's tip: squeeze the grated onion in a sieve before mixing it in, or the filling turns wet and the bread goes soggy.

40 min

Egyptian Fast Food

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DohneiiongPork in black sesame gravy

The name says it plainly in Khasi: 'doh' is meat and 'neiiong' is black sesame. In the Khasi Hills around Shillong this near-black pork curry is cooked for family feasts and Sunday meals, and its roasted, nutty flavour is unlike any other curry in India. The sesame is toasted and ground into a paste that thickens the gravy and coats the pork. Serve with plain rice or jadoh. Chef's tip: pork belly gives the silkiest result; mix it half and half with shoulder if you prefer it less rich.

90 min

Indian Meat

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Doh khliehBoiled pork salad

Doh khlieh is the cool, sharp side dish that sits next to jadoh on almost every Khasi table in Meghalaya. Tender boiled pork is chopped small and tossed with raw onion, ginger, green chilli and lime, so it is fresh and fiery rather than rich. In Shillong it is eaten at lunch and at gatherings, and some families add boiled pork brain, which this version leaves out. Chef's tip: chop the pork while it is still slightly warm; it takes up the lime and ginger much better.

60 min

Indian Salads

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Kik alichaMild yellow split pea stew

Kik alicha is the gentle golden stew on Ethiopian platters: 'alicha' means a mild dish made without berbere, so it is coloured with turmeric instead and flavoured with garlic, ginger and onion. Cooks in the Amhara highlands and in Addis make it all through the fasting seasons, and it sits next to fiery shiro and misir wat to cool things down. Yellow split peas are simmered until they collapse into a thick, smooth purée. Chef's tip: stir it regularly towards the end; split peas thicken suddenly and catch on the bottom of the pan.

45 min

Ethiopian Curries

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HaydariStrained yogurt and feta dip

Order meze in an Istanbul meyhane and haydari is usually among the first small plates to land: very thick strained yogurt beaten with crumbled white cheese, garlic, dill and mint, then crowned with a drizzle of oil warmed with dried mint and chilli flakes. It is eaten with bread, beside roasted vegetables or with crisp börek, and it takes minutes once you have the yogurt. The mistake to avoid is using thin pouring yogurt, which gives you a runny sauce rather than a dip that holds its shape. Chef's tip: use Greek-style strained yogurt, or hang plain yogurt in a cloth for an hour, and check the beyaz peynir or feta is made with vegetarian rennet.

10 min

Turkish Chutneys & Dips

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Kinema curryFermented soybean curry

Kinema is the Limbu and Nepali fermented soybean of Sikkim and the Darjeeling hills: boiled soybeans wrapped in leaves and left by the hearth for a couple of days until sticky and pungent. Cooked with onion, tomato, turmeric and fiery dalle or green chilli, it becomes a thick, savoury curry eaten with rice in Gangtok and Kalimpong homes, especially in winter. It is rich in protein and has a deep, almost meaty savour. Chef's tip: dry-fry the kinema before adding the masala; it tames the smell and brings out a toasted flavour. Outside the hills, Japanese natto is the closest substitute.

30 min

Indian Curries

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PhagshapaPork with radish and chilli

High in the hills of Sikkim, where winters are long and cold, Bhutia and Lepcha households make phagshapa from fatty strips of pork, white radish and fiery dried red chillies. Traditionally it uses no oil at all: the pork renders its own fat, and the radish soaks it up and turns meltingly soft. It is everyday warming food in Gangtok kitchens, eaten with rice and a bowl of clear soup. Chef's tip: cut the radish thick, in batons, so it holds its shape through the long simmer.

80 min

Indian Meat

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