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Škubánky
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Škubánky

Potato dough lumps with poppy seed

Škubánky (sometimes called šúlance or 'pulled ones') are what you get when a Bohemian farmhouse turns its potatoes into pudding. Potatoes and flour are steamed together in the same pot, mashed into a heavy, smooth dough, then torn into lumps with a spoon dipped in butter. They are rolled in ground poppy seed and sugar and doused with brown butter, and children in Czechia often eat them as a sweet main course on a weekday. They are soft and dense, with a nutty crunch from the poppy. The usual slip is lifting the lid while the flour steams, which leaves raw pockets of flour; keep it covered the whole time. Chef's tip: dip the spoon in hot melted butter before every scoop, and the lumps slide off clean and glossy.

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Shiro watSpiced chickpea flour stew

Shiro is the most eaten dish in Ethiopia: on Wednesdays and Fridays and during Lent, when Orthodox Christians fast from all animal food, kitchens from Addis Ababa to Mekelle make it daily, and it is a favourite in Eritrea too. It is made from shiro powder, a ground mix of roasted chickpeas or field peas with garlic, ginger and berbere, whisked into a red onion base and simmered into a smooth, thick sauce. Served bubbling in a clay pot over injera, it is comforting, spicy and very cheap. On non-fasting days, a spoon of niter kibbeh stirred in at the end makes it richer. Chef's tip: whisk the shiro powder in slowly, a spoonful at a time, and keep whisking; dumped in all at once it forms lumps that never dissolve.

30 minEthiopianCurriesVeganGluten free
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Shish taoukMarinated chicken skewers

Walk past any grill shop in Beirut in the evening and you'll smell shish taouk: cubes of chicken soaked in yogurt, lemon, garlic and a little tomato paste, charred over coals and stuffed into thin bread with toum, pickles and chips. At home it is a weekend barbecue favourite and an easy weeknight dinner under the grill, with fattoush or hummus on the side. The yogurt tenderises the meat and the tomato paste gives the edges their red-gold char. Chef's tip: use thighs rather than breast if you can; they stay juicy even when the edges catch.

35 minLebaneseChickenGluten free
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ShitoDried fish chilli oil

Shito is the black pepper sauce that sits on every Ghanaian table and travels in every student's suitcase. Onions, ginger and garlic are cooked down slowly in a lot of oil with ground dried shrimp, smoked dried fish and chilli until the mixture turns almost black, rich and crunchy-savoury. A spoonful lifts kenkey, waakye, jollof rice, eggs or plain bread. The mistake almost everyone makes the first time is cooking it on high heat: it scorches and turns bitter. Low and slow is the whole secret. Chef's tip: stir the bottom of the pot every few minutes in the last half hour, when it darkens fastest.

80 minGhanaianChutneys & DipsGluten freeSpicy
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Shivit oshiDill noodles with vegetable sauce

Shivit oshi is the pride of Khorezm, the western oasis around Khiva and Urgench: bright green noodles made with a paste of fresh dill (shivit), topped with a stew of vegetables and a cooling spoon of katyk (thick yogurt). In Khiva's old town it is served at lunch in summer, when the dill is fragrant and the heat makes heavy plov unwelcome. The usual topping has meat; this one is a vadja of potato, carrot, pepper and tomato. Chef's tip: blend the dill with the water rather than chopping it; the dough turns an even jade green and the noodles taste of dill all the way through.

75 minUzbekPasta & Noodles
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Sholeh zardSaffron rice pudding

Sholeh zard is the bright yellow rice pudding that Iranians cook in huge pots as nazri, food given away to neighbours and strangers, especially during the month of Muharram and on religious feast days; neighbourhoods in Tehran and Mashhad fill with its smell of saffron and rose. Rice is simmered until it almost melts, then sweetened, coloured gold with saffron and perfumed with rosewater and cardamom. It sets softly as it cools and is decorated with cinnamon lines, almonds and pistachios. This version uses a little oil instead of butter, so it is vegan. Chef's tip: add the sugar only when the rice is completely soft; sugar added early stops the grains from breaking down.

75 minPersianDessertsVeganGluten free
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Shorshe ilishHilsa in mustard sauce

Hilsa, ilish, is the national fish of Bangladesh, and during the monsoon, when the shoals swim up the Padma and Meghna rivers, families in Dhaka and Chandpur cook it almost daily. Shorshe ilish is the most loved way: steaks of the rich, silvery fish gently simmered in a paste of ground yellow and black mustard seed, green chillies and mustard oil until the sauce turns sharp, creamy and nose-tingling. Eat it with plain white rice and nothing else. Hilsa is very bony, so warn guests and eat slowly; salmon steaks are an easier, less traditional swap. The common mistake is boiling the sauce hard after the mustard paste goes in, which turns it bitter. Chef's tip: grind the mustard seeds with a pinch of salt and a green chilli, and let the paste rest for 10 minutes before cooking; this tames the bitterness.

45 minBangladeshiFishGluten freeSpicy
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Shui zhu fishFish in chilli broth

'Water-boiled fish' is Sichuan humour at its driest, because what arrives at the table in Chongqing and Chengdu restaurants is a great basin of silky fish slices half hidden under a red sea of chillies and Sichuan pepper, still crackling from a ladle of smoking oil poured over at the last moment. Underneath is a savoury broth of chilli bean paste with soft bean sprouts and celery. It is a dish for sharing with friends over beer or tea: you fish out the slices with chopsticks and leave the oil behind, as everyone does. Plain rice is essential, and something cooling such as smacked cucumber helps. Chef's tip: coat the fish in egg white and cornflour and give it no more than three minutes in the broth; the coating keeps each slice tender and stops it breaking up.

45 minChineseFishSpicy
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ShuktoBitter mixed vegetable stew

Shukto opens a traditional Bengali meal: a mild, slightly bitter stew of bitter gourd, raw banana, sweet potato, drumsticks and aubergine, eaten with the first mouthfuls of rice to wake up the palate. The vegetables are fried, then simmered with a paste of mustard and poppy seeds and finished with milk and a spoonful of ghee, so the bitterness is balanced by a creamy, faintly sweet sauce. It is a dish of West Bengal's home kitchens, cooked especially in spring. Chef's tip: fry the bitter gourd separately until well browned and add it at the end; this keeps its bitterness pleasant and stops it spreading through the whole pot.

45 minIndianCurriesGluten free
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Zanzibar spiced tea (chai ya viungo)

Zanzibar is the spice island, and chai ya viungo is its everyday tea: black tea boiled with a home-roasted masala of cardamom, dry ginger, black pepper, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. The masala keeps for months in an airtight jar. Milk is optional; serve the tea hot.

35 minAfricanDrinksGluten free
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Shwe yin ayeIced coconut dessert

Shwe yin aye, roughly 'golden heart cooler', is what Yangon drinks during the scorching weeks of Thingyan, the April water festival, when stalls set up along the streets to hand it out. It's a bowl of sweet, lightly salted coconut milk over crushed ice, filled with chewy sago pearls, cubes of green agar jelly, a scoop of sticky rice and, surprisingly, a few pieces of soft white bread that soak up the coconut. Chef's tip: make the jelly, sago and sticky rice in the morning and chill everything; assembled cold, the bowl stays refreshing to the last spoonful.

65 minBurmeseDessertsVegan
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SidduSteamed stuffed wheat buns

Siddu are soft, steamed wheat buns from the hills of Himachal Pradesh, especially around Kullu and Manali, made on cold days with a warming filling. The yeasted wholemeal dough is wrapped around ground walnuts, poppy seeds, garlic and green chilli, then steamed until fluffy. Torn open and drenched in melted ghee, they're eaten with green chutney or dal. Some homes fill them with spiced urad dal instead. Chef's tip: let the shaped siddu rise for 15 minutes before steaming, and don't open the lid early; a sudden draught makes them collapse and turn dense.

120 minIndianBreads & Parathas
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Lentilles du Puy saladGreen lentil salad

Le Puy-en-Velay, in the volcanic hills of the Auvergne, grows a small, slate-green lentil with its own protected name. Lentilles du Puy hold their shape when cooked and have a peppery, almost mineral taste, which makes them perfect for salad. In French homes and bistros this salad is dressed while warm with a sharp mustard vinaigrette, shallot, carrot and parsley, then eaten as a starter, a packed lunch or a side to a quiche. Chef's tip: dress the lentils while they're still warm so they absorb the vinaigrette; dressing them cold is the common mistake and the flavour just sits on the outside.

30 minFrenchSaladsVeganGluten free
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SilpanchoBreaded steak over rice and potatoes

Silpancho is the pride of Cochabamba in Bolivia and is sold in huge portions at the city's lunchtime silpancherías: a layer of rice, then sliced fried potatoes, then a beef steak pounded so thin it covers the plate, breaded and fried, topped with a fried egg and a fresh salsa of tomato, onion and locoto chilli. The mistake is not pounding the meat thin enough; it should be about 3 mm, so it fries in a minute and stays tender. Chef's tip: press the breadcrumbs into the meat with the palm of your hand, then pound lightly once more so they stick.

70 minAndeanMeat
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Silao khajaLayered syrup pastry

Travellers on the road from Patna to Rajgir stop at Silao, a small town near the ruins of Nalanda, for one thing: khaja, a pastry built from dozens of paper-thin layers that flake apart in the mouth and are glazed with a crackly sugar coat. Silao's halwais have made it for generations, and it is carried home in boxes as a present; it is also offered in temples and at weddings across Bihar and Odisha. It takes patience but no special equipment. Chef's tip: fry at a really low heat so the layers have time to open out like pages before the outside colours; hot oil seals them shut.

90 minIndianIndian Sweets
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SimitSesame bread rings

Stacked high on wooden trays and pushed through Istanbul on red carts, simit is the city's breakfast on the move: commuters tear one apart on the ferry across the Bosphorus, throwing the odd piece to the gulls. The ring is twisted, dipped in diluted grape molasses (pekmez) and pressed into sesame, so it bakes up with a crackly, nutty, deep brown crust and a chewy, close crumb. Unlike a bagel it is never boiled. At home, serve warm with tea, white cheese, olives and tomatoes. Chef's tip: toast the sesame seeds in a dry pan before coating; raw seeds stay pale and taste of very little.

120 minTurkishBakingVegan
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Sigara böreğiFried cheese pastry rolls

These pencil-thin rolls take their name from the cigarettes they resemble, and they are the börek every Turkish child grows up on. Triangles of yufka (thin Turkish pastry) are rolled round a finger of white cheese and parsley and fried until they shatter when you bite them. They turn up at five o'clock tea parties, on the iftar table during Ramadan and in many a school lunchbox. Yufka is sold in Turkish shops; filo works too if you use two sheets brushed with oil. Chef's tip: shape them all, cover with a damp cloth and fry just before eating; they lose their crunch within an hour.

30 minTurkishSnacks & Starters
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Pimientos de PadrónBlistered green peppers

Pimientos de Padrón come from Herbón, near the town of Padrón in Galicia, where they are fried whole in olive oil and showered with coarse salt. They are small, thin-skinned and mostly mild and grassy, but the Galician saying goes 'os pementos de Padrón, uns pican e outros non' (some are hot and some are not): roughly one in ten has a real kick, which is half the fun. They take five minutes and make the perfect tapa with a cold drink, tortilla or bread. Chef's tip: get the oil properly hot and leave the peppers alone for the first minute so the skins blister and puff; stewing them in lukewarm oil makes them soft and khaki instead of bright and blistered.

8 minSpanishSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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Pisto manchegoPepper, courgette and tomato stew

Pisto manchego is the summer vegetable stew of La Mancha, the high plains of Don Quixote country: onions, green and red peppers and courgette cooked slowly in olive oil, then simmered with fresh tomato until soft, sweet and jammy. Spain's answer to ratatouille is humbler and softer, with the vegetables cooked one after another rather than all at once. In La Mancha it is eaten with bread and very often topped with a fried egg; it is also served alongside rice or potatoes, or cold the next day as a tapa. Chef's tip: be patient with the onion and peppers; give them a full 15–20 minutes over a low heat until really soft and sweet before the tomato goes in, because that slow start is where pisto gets its deep, mellow flavour.

55 minSpanishVegetarianVeganGluten free
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Lentejas estofadasLentil stew

Lentejas estofadas, or lentejas a la española, is the stew that every Spanish household knows from childhood, cooked once a week from Castile to Andalusia. Small brown lentils (pardinas, ideally from Tierra de Campos in León) are simmered with a sofrito of onion, pepper, garlic and tomato, carrot, potato and bay until thick, savoury and soothing. Most families add chorizo; here smoked pimentón de la Vera brings the same smoky warmth. Serve in deep bowls with crusty bread and a few pickled guindilla peppers on the side. Chef's tip: add a splash of sherry vinegar right at the end; it lifts the earthy lentils and is what Spanish grandmothers do to make the stew taste finished.

45 minSpanishCurriesVegan
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Morning glory with garlicGarlic stir-fried water spinach

Rau muống, water spinach or morning glory, is the everyday green of Vietnam, and a plate of it stir-fried with garlic sits on family tables everywhere, from Hanoi rice-shops to Saigon street stalls. Done well, the hollow stems stay crunchy and bright green and the leaves silky, with a strong hit of garlic. Look for it in Asian grocers as water spinach or ong choy. This version is seasoned with soy sauce instead of fish sauce. Chef's tip: blanch the greens for 30 seconds and plunge them into iced water, as Hanoi cooks do, then stir-fry over the highest heat for barely a minute; they stay vivid green and never go soggy.

10 minVietnameseSidesVegan
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Paella de verdurasVegetable paella

Paella comes from the rice fields around the Albufera lagoon south of Valencia, where it was cooked over orange-wood fires in a wide, shallow pan. Valencians are strict about it: short round rice, saffron, sweet pimentón, flat green beans (ferraúra) and big white garrofó beans, and never any stirring once the rice is in. This all-vegetable paella keeps those rules and adds artichokes and red pepper, as the market gardeners of the Huerta do in spring. It is cooked and served in the same pan, straight onto the table. Chef's tip: listen for the socarrat at the end. Turn up the heat for the last 1–2 minutes until the rice crackles and smells toasty; that caramelised crust on the bottom is the best part of any paella.

60 minSpanishRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
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Ajoblanco malagueñoChilled almond and garlic soup

Ajoblanco is one of the oldest soups in Spain, a white gazpacho from Málaga that dates back to Moorish times, before tomatoes ever reached Europe. Blanched almonds, bread, garlic, olive oil, sherry vinegar and ice-cold water are blended into a silky, nutty and surprisingly refreshing cream, traditionally served with sweet green grapes or slices of melon floating on top. In Málaga it is the star of the Fiesta del Ajoblanco in the village of Almáchar each September. Chef's tip: let the blended soup rest in the fridge overnight before serving; the garlic mellows, the almond flavour deepens and the texture becomes smoother and creamier.

15 minSpanishSoupsVegan
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Salmorejo cordobésThick chilled tomato and bread soup

Salmorejo is Córdoba's answer to gazpacho: thicker, richer and simpler, made with just ripe tomatoes, bread, garlic, olive oil and salt, blended into a cream so dense a spoon almost stands up in it. In Córdoba it is served in a shallow earthenware bowl as a first course or tapa, topped with chopped hard-boiled egg and diced cured ham; this vegetarian version keeps the egg (leave it out for a vegan dish) and adds a few crunchy croutons and a thread of olive oil. Chef's tip: use bread with a dense, tight crumb, like a day-old Spanish 'pan de telera' or a firm white loaf; airy supermarket bread makes salmorejo thin and gluey.

15 minSpanishSoups
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Pan con tomateTomato rubbed toast

Pa amb tomàquet (pan con tomate in Spanish) is the everyday bread of Catalonia: toasted country bread rubbed with garlic and a cut ripe tomato, drizzled with good olive oil and sprinkled with salt. Catalans eat it at breakfast, as a side to grilled vegetables or with a slice of tortilla, and it is so basic to the table that it is rarely even listed on menus. With so few ingredients the quality of each one matters: the ripest tomatoes, a rustic open-crumbed loaf and fruity extra virgin olive oil. Chef's tip: in Catalonia they use small, juicy 'tomàquets de penjar', hanging tomatoes; at home choose the ripest, softest vine tomatoes you can find and rub them in hard until only the skin is left in your hand.

10 minSpanishBreakfast & BrunchVegan
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Patatas bravasFried potatoes with paprika sauce

Patatas bravas are Madrid's favourite bar snack: chunky potatoes fried until crisp outside and fluffy inside, then splashed with a brick-red sauce of olive oil, pimentón and a little stock. In Madrid the sauce is not ketchup or tomato sauce but a smooth, smoky paprika sauce with a kick; in Barcelona and Valencia you often get it with a spoon of alioli as well. This home version is fried twice for crunch and keeps the heat moderate so children can join in; add more hot paprika for the grown-ups. Serve with cold drinks, tortilla and pimientos de Padrón for a tapas spread. Chef's tip: take the pan off the heat before adding the pimentón; paprika burns in seconds and turns bitter, and that bitterness is the most common reason homemade bravas sauce tastes wrong.

40 minSpanishSnacks & StartersGluten free
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Berenjenas con miel de cañaFried aubergine with molasses

Berenjenas con miel are a classic tapa in Andalusia, especially in Córdoba, Málaga and Granada: thin batons or slices of aubergine, lightly floured and fried until crisp, then drizzled with dark, treacly miel de caña. Despite the name, miel de caña is not bee honey but sugarcane molasses, made in the last cane mill in Europe at Frigiliana on the Málaga coast, so the dish is naturally vegan. The contrast of salty, crunchy aubergine and bittersweet syrup is irresistible; serve it the moment it leaves the pan with a cold drink. Chef's tip: soak the aubergine in salted water (or milk, as many Andalusian cooks do) for 15 minutes and pat dry; it seasons the flesh, softens any bitterness and helps the flour cling so the coating stays thin and crisp.

30 minSpanishSnacks & StartersVegan
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Vegan nuoc chamSweet and sour dipping sauce

Nước chấm is the dipping sauce that goes with almost everything in Vietnam: spring rolls, bánh xèo, noodle salads and broken rice. Buddhist vegetarian cooks, all over the country, make it without fish sauce, using light soy sauce and a little coconut water for the deep, rounded taste. It should be thin, clear and pale amber, with flecks of garlic and chilli floating on top. Chef's tip: dissolve the sugar in the warm water first, then add the lime and soy, and stir in the garlic and chilli last, pounded with a pinch of sugar, so they float on the surface instead of sinking.

5 minVietnameseChutneys & DipsVegan
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Flan de huevoBaked egg custard

Flan de huevo is the most common dessert in Spain: on the menú del día in every town, from Galicia to the Canary Islands, and made at home for Sunday lunch. It is simply eggs, milk and sugar, flavoured with a little lemon zest and vanilla, baked gently in a water bath over a layer of dark caramel. When it's turned out, the caramel becomes a glossy sauce running down the sides. Spanish flan is firmer and more eggy than French crème caramel, and it slices cleanly. Chef's tip: bake it slowly in a water bath and stop when the centre still wobbles slightly like jelly; overbaking leaves little holes and a grainy texture, the sign of a flan cooked too hot or too long.

60 minSpanishDessertsGluten free
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Gazpacho andaluzChilled tomato and cucumber soup

Gazpacho is the cold soup of Andalusia, drunk from a glass or eaten from a bowl through the scorching summers of Seville and Córdoba. It began as a farm workers' meal of bread, oil, garlic and vinegar pounded in a wooden bowl; tomatoes and peppers came later and turned it into the bright red, refreshing soup we know. Ripe tomatoes, cucumber, green pepper, garlic, sherry vinegar and plenty of olive oil are blended until silky and chilled hard. Serve it with tiny dice of cucumber, pepper and onion and a few crunchy croutons. Chef's tip: add the olive oil last, in a thin stream with the blender running; it emulsifies the soup to a creamy, pale-orange texture instead of leaving a slick of oil on top.

15 minSpanishSoupsVegan
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Tortilla españolaSpanish potato omelette

Tortilla de patatas is the dish every Spanish bar keeps on the counter, from Madrid to Seville: a thick cake of soft potato and sweet onion bound with just-set egg, served warm or at room temperature in wedges or small squares (pinchos) with bread. The potatoes are not fried crisp but gently poached in plenty of olive oil until tender, then soaked in the beaten egg so every slice holds together. Spaniards argue about onion (con cebolla or sin) and about how runny the centre should be; this version has onion and a juicy middle, the way most bars in Madrid serve it. Eat it for breakfast, as a tapa or for a light supper with a tomato salad. Chef's tip: once the hot potatoes go into the beaten eggs, leave them to sit for 10 minutes before cooking; the egg starts to set around the potato and the tortilla turns out creamy and holds its shape.

50 minSpanishBreakfast & BrunchGluten free
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Vegetarian feijoadaSmoky black bean stew

Feijoada is Brazil's national dish, the slow black bean stew that Rio de Janeiro and the rest of the country eat for long Saturday lunches. The classic version is loaded with smoked pork; this feijoada vegetariana gets its depth from well-browned mushrooms, smoked paprika and bay instead, with sweet potato melting into the dark, glossy broth. Serve it the proper way: white rice, couve à mineira, farofa and slices of orange to cut the richness. Chef's tip: once the beans are tender, mash a ladleful against the side of the pot and stir it back in. That's how Brazilian cooks get the thick, velvety caldo that coats the rice, rather than a thin soup.

105 minBrazilianCurriesVeganGluten free
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Vegetable phoVegetable rice noodle soup

Pho began in the north, around Hanoi and Nam Định, and is now eaten all over Vietnam, often for breakfast. Phở chay is the Buddhist vegetarian version served in temple kitchens and chay restaurants: the deep, clear broth comes from charred onion and ginger, toasted star anise, cinnamon and cloves, simmered with daikon, carrot, sweetcorn and dried shiitake instead of beef bones. Silky flat rice noodles, golden tofu and mushrooms go in the bowl, and everyone adds their own bean sprouts, Thai basil, lime and chilli at the table. Chef's tip: char the onion and ginger until properly blackened in patches and toast the spices in a dry pan until they smell like warm Christmas cake; that smoky, perfumed base is what makes the broth taste like pho and not vegetable soup.

60 minVietnameseSoupsVeganGluten free
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Espinacas con garbanzosSpinach and chickpeas

Espinacas con garbanzos is one of the great tapas of Seville, served in little earthenware dishes in the bars around the cathedral and the Triana market. It carries the city's Moorish past in its spices: cumin, smoked paprika and a little vinegar, with a sauce thickened by a paste of garlic and bread fried in olive oil, the old Andalusian trick called a majado. Earthy chickpeas, soft spinach and a sauce rich enough to mop up with bread make it a filling vegan supper too. It is traditional in Seville during Lent. Chef's tip: pound the fried bread and garlic with the spices and vinegar into a thick paste before it goes into the pan; this majado is what gives the dish its smoky, velvety sauce, so don't skip it.

30 minSpanishVegetarianVegan
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TorrijasCinnamon fried bread

Torrijas are the Easter sweet of Spain, eaten all over the country during Semana Santa and especially in Madrid and Andalusia, where bakeries pile them in their windows. Thick slices of day-old bread are soaked in milk infused with cinnamon and lemon peel, dipped in beaten egg, fried in olive oil and rolled in cinnamon sugar. They were born as a way to use up stale bread during Lent, and they are crisp outside and soft and custardy inside, like a richer, crunchier French toast. Eat them warm or cold, the next day they are even more set and sweet. Chef's tip: use a dense day-old loaf (a Spanish 'pan de torrijas' or a firm baguette) cut 2–3 cm thick, and soak just until saturated; fresh, airy bread falls apart and fries greasy.

30 minSpanishDesserts
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Horchata de chufaTiger nut milk

Horchata de chufa is the drink of Valencia's summer, sold ice-cold in the city's horchaterías with long, soft fartons pastries for dipping. It is made from chufas, or tiger nuts: small wrinkled tubers grown around the village of Alboraya just north of Valencia, which have their own protected designation of origin. Soaked, ground with water, strained and sweetened, they give a creamy, nutty, naturally dairy-free milk with a hint of cinnamon. Valencians drink it very cold, or half-frozen as 'granizada'. Chef's tip: soak the tiger nuts for a full 24 hours and change the water once; they must be plump and soft enough to blend into a fine pulp, or the horchata will be thin and taste of raw starch.

15 minSpanishDrinksVeganGluten free
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Vegetarian broken rice plateBroken rice with lemongrass tofu

Cơm tấm, 'broken rice', is the breakfast and lunch plate of Saigon. Broken grains, once sold cheaply to the poor, cook up soft and slightly sticky, and street stalls serve them with grilled meat, a crisp-edged fried egg, spring onion oil, pickles and cucumber. This vegetarian plate has caramelised lemongrass tofu in place of pork. Every part goes with the sweet-sour nước chấm spooned over the top. Chef's tip: fry the egg in hot oil and spoon the oil over the white, so the edges go lacy and crisp and the yolk stays runny, Saigon-style; break it over the rice and it becomes part of the sauce.

45 minVietnameseRice & Grains
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Vegetarian sour soupTamarind and pineapple soup

Canh chua, 'sour soup', is on the table at nearly every family meal in the Mekong Delta, served with plain rice. The broth is soured with tamarind and sweetened with pineapple and tomato, then filled with okra, celery-like taro stems, bean sprouts and lots of herbs. This vegetarian version uses fried tofu in place of fish. It is light, tangy and refreshing in hot weather. Chef's tip: fry the tomato with the shallot until it collapses before adding the liquid, so the broth turns rosy, then add the herbs and bean sprouts only off the heat and finish with garlic fried in oil, which gives the soup its southern fragrance.

30 minVietnameseSoupsVegan
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Sopa de ajoGarlic and bread soup

Sopa de ajo, also called sopa castellana, is the warming winter soup of Castile and León, from Segovia to Burgos: stale bread fried in olive oil with lots of garlic and smoky pimentón, simmered in stock and finished with eggs poached right in the soup. It was shepherds' and farmers' food, made from what was always in the kitchen, and is still eaten after a cold night out or on Ash Wednesday. Castilian cooks often add cured ham; this vegetarian version gets its depth from smoked pimentón and a good vegetable stock. Serve it in earthenware bowls, piping hot. Chef's tip: use bread that is truly stale and dry, and toast it in the garlicky oil until golden before adding the stock; fresh bread turns to mush, while toasted stale bread swells but keeps a little texture.

30 minSpanishSoups
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Mushroom croquetas

Croquetas are the pride of Spanish home cooking and tapas bars alike: a thick, silky béchamel full of flavour, chilled, rolled in egg and breadcrumbs and fried until crisp. Every family has its own; ham and chicken are classic, but croquetas de setas, made with wild or chestnut mushrooms, are found all over the country and are especially loved in the mushroom-picking regions of Castile and Catalonia. A good croqueta is creamy, almost liquid, inside, with a thin shell. Make a big batch: they freeze beautifully raw. Chef's tip: cook the flour in the butter and oil for a full 2 minutes and then beat the milk in slowly over a low heat for 10–15 minutes; this long cooking takes away the raw taste of flour and gives the creamy centre that makes Spanish croquetas special.

120 minSpanishSnacks & Starters
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