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Vla
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Vla

Vanilla custard drink

Vla is the pourable custard that Dutch children eat by the bowlful after dinner, bought in cartons in every supermarket in vanilla, chocolate and caramel, and often swirled together into 'dubbelvla'. Homemade, it is just milk, egg yolks, sugar, vanilla and a little cornflour, cooked until it coats a spoon, then chilled. It should be thinner than English custard, pouring slowly like double cream. A common mistake is boiling it after the yolks go in, which curdles them. Chef's tip: stir a spoon of cocoa into half and swirl the two together for dubbelvla.

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Agua de tuna (prickly pear drink)

Late summer is tuna season across the central highlands, from Hidalgo and the Estado de México down to Puebla's Teotihuacán valley, and that is when the big vitroleros in markets and taquerías turn shocking pink. Agua de tuna is just the cactus fruit blended with water, lime and a little sugar, strained, and poured over ice with lunch. Red tunas give a vivid colour and a taste between watermelon and pear; green ones make a paler, more herbal drink. It should be light and thirst-quenching, never syrupy. The commonest mistake is blending too long: the hard seeds crack and the agua turns gritty and slightly bitter. Pulse briefly, just enough to free the pulp, then strain well. It is ready when the liquid runs smooth through the sieve and tastes clearly of fruit with only a lift of lime. Handle unpeeled tunas with tongs or gloves: even 'cleaned' ones keep tiny glochids. Chef's tip: chill the peeled fruit before blending; cold pulp keeps its colour bright and needs less ice to dilute it.

15 minMexicanDrinksVeganGluten free
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Hongzao guiyuan cha (red date and longan tea)

Across southern China, from Fujian to Guangdong, a pot of red dates and dried longan is what mothers and grandmothers put on the stove when the weather turns cold, and it is the classic drink brought to new mothers during zuo yuezi, the month of rest after childbirth. It is also sipped through the winter in the afternoon, or offered to visitors at Lunar New Year because the red dates promise sweetness ahead. The tea is amber-brown, naturally sweet and fruity, with a caramel, smoky depth from the longan and a gentle warmth if you add ginger. The common mistake is simmering whole dates: their skins stay tight and the tea tastes thin. Slit or tear each date so the flesh can give up its sweetness, then simmer slowly. It is ready when the dates are puffed and soft, the longan has swollen and the liquid is the colour of weak tea and tastes of toffee. It is traditionally drunk for comfort and warmth, not as a medicine; it is high in natural sugar, so go easy if you watch your blood sugar, and goji can interact with blood-thinning medicines, so check with a doctor if you take them. Chef's tip: eat the softened fruit from the bottom of the cup with a spoon; nothing is wasted.

40 minChineseDrinksVeganGluten free
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Sungnyung (scorched rice tea)

Before electric rice cookers, every Korean pot of rice left a golden crust, nurungji, stuck to the bottom. Rather than waste it, cooks poured in water and simmered it while the family ate, and the warm, cloudy sungnyung was drunk at the end of the meal in place of tea. Older Koreans still describe it as the taste of home, and many Seoul restaurants that cook rice in stone pots finish by pouring water over the crust at the table. It tastes of toasted grain and has a faint natural sweetness, with soft pieces of crust to spoon up at the bottom. Without a stone pot you can make the crust from leftover rice in a frying pan. The common mistake is rushing the crust over high heat: it blackens on the outside and turns the drink bitter while the middle stays soft. Keep the heat low and patient, and aim for even golden-brown. The crust is ready when it lifts away from the pan in one sheet and smells like popcorn; the sungnyung is ready when the water is milky and pale gold. Chef's tip: make extra crust, dry it completely and keep it in a jar, so you can make sungnyung in ten minutes any evening.

35 minKoreanDrinksVeganGluten free
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Yuja-cha (citron tea)

Goheung, on the southern coast of South Jeolla, is Korea's yuja country: in November the groves turn gold and families slice the knobbly citrons for yuja-cheong, the honeyed preserve that becomes tea all winter. From December to March a spoonful in hot water is offered to guests, to students cramming late and to anyone with a scratchy throat, as it is traditionally drunk for colds. The tea is sweet, floral and sharp, with soft, chewy strands of peel that you eat at the end with a spoon. The common mistake is leaving the fruit damp or the pith too thick: wet fruit lets mould in, and thick white pith makes the preserve bitter. Scrub, dry completely and pare away any pith thicker than a few millimetres. The cheong is ready after a day or two, when the sugar has dissolved into a clear, glossy syrup around the peel. Keep it in the fridge for up to three months, always with a dry spoon; throw it away if you see fuzzy mould, smell alcohol or it bubbles. No yuja? Japanese yuzu is the same fruit; otherwise use 2 lemons and 2 mandarins. Chef's tip: soak the seeds in a little of the honey and add that liquid back for a silkier syrup.

45 minKoreanDrinksGluten free
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Portuguese sausage, eggs and rice

In Hawaii, a breakfast plate at a diner in Honolulu or Hilo, or at a drive-in on Maui, often means slices of smoky, garlicky, paprika-red Portuguese pork sausage (brought to the islands by Madeiran and Azorean immigrants in the 1800s) fried until caramelised, two eggs, and two scoops of short-grain rice. A splash of shoyu on the rice is optional. The common mistake is frying the sausage over a high heat so the sugar in it burns before it heats through; fry it steadily over a medium heat until sizzling and piping hot (71 °C if your sausage is uncooked rather than smoked). Cook the eggs fully set for pregnant people, young children, older or vulnerable people. Chef's tip: fry the eggs in the red fat the sausage leaves behind; they come out lacy and full of flavour.

20 minPacific IslanderBreakfast & BrunchGluten free
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Daechu-cha (jujube tea)

Boeun county in North Chungcheong is famous for its large, sweet jujubes, harvested each October and sold at a lively autumn festival. Once dried, they become daechu-cha, the deep amber tea Korean traditional teahouses in Insadong and Jeonju serve from late autumn to early spring, topped with pine nuts. Long, slow simmering with ginger and a stick of cinnamon draws out a flavour like dates, caramel and baked apple; pressing the softened flesh through a sieve gives the tea its velvety, almost soup-thick body. It is traditionally drunk to warm up on cold nights. The common mistake is simply boiling whole jujubes and straining: the skins stay sealed, the tea comes out thin and pale, and most of the sweetness is thrown away. Slit each jujube, simmer until the flesh slides off the stone, then mash the pulp through the sieve. It is ready when the liquid has reduced by about half, is dark amber and lightly coats a spoon. Keep it covered in the fridge for up to 5 days and reheat gently. Chef's tip: a few slices of fresh ginger added in the last 20 minutes give a brighter heat than ginger boiled for the whole time.

110 minKoreanDrinksGluten free
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Kyuchan cucumber pickle

Kyuchan is the sweet-salty soy pickle that Japanese mothers tuck into the corner of a bento: thin coins of cucumber that stay crunchy for days thanks to an old trick of pouring hot pickling liquid over them several times. It brightens plain rice and cuts the richness of fried karaage-style dishes. The common mistake is simmering the cucumbers in the sauce, which makes them soft and grey; they should only ever sit in hot liquid off the heat. Chef's tip: squeeze the salted cucumbers really hard in a cloth, because every drop of water you remove is crunch you keep.

45 minJapaneseSidesVegan
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Chapor ghontoFried lentil cake vegetable curry

In West Bengal, chapor ghonto is the thrifty, comforting dish that turns up at weekday lunch and on the vegetarian days of the Durga Puja season. Soaked yellow peas are ground and fried into small savoury cakes (chapor), then broken into a slow-cooked mix of potato, pumpkin and banana stem tempered with panch phoron, ginger and a little sugar, until everything turns soft, jammy and lightly sweet. Eat it with plain rice and a squeeze of lime. The usual mistake is stirring the chapor in too early, so they dissolve into mush; add them in the last ten minutes. Chef's tip: soak the banana stem in water with a pinch of turmeric as you slice it and pull away the fibres that wind round your finger, or it stays stringy.

55 minIndianVegetarianVeganGluten free
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Chech bhajiJute leaf curry

Chech bhaji is a monsoon green in Chhattisgarh, picked from the jute plants that come up in field edges and village gardens, and cooked almost every week during Sawan. The leaves turn slippery as they soften, a bit like okra, and the cook reins that in with tomato and a little rice water left from washing the rice. It is eaten with plain rice and dal or bore baasi. The mistake to avoid is stirring it endlessly; the leaves go stringy and gluey, so stir only now and then. Chef's tip: frozen or dried molokhia leaves from an Arab grocery are the same plant and work well outside India.

25 minIndianVegetarianVeganGluten free
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Bobo chickenCold chicken skewers in chilli oil

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60 minChineseChickenSpicy
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Sem ki sabzi (flat beans with potato)

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32 minIndianSidesVeganGluten free
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Tian shui mianSweet spiced soy noodles

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45 minChinesePasta & NoodlesVeganSpicy
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Mushroom kaalanCrisp fried mushroom

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40 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganSpicy
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Cheonggukjang jjigaeFermented soybean stew

Cheonggukjang is a sticky, quick-fermented soybean paste made over two or three days in a warm room, and in Korean homes it becomes a bubbling winter stew, cooked in an earthenware pot and set in the middle of the table with rice and banchan. Its smell is famously strong, but the taste is nutty and deeply savoury, with tofu, courgette, onion and greens simmered in an anchovy-kelp stock. Suitable as part of a balanced diet: it is high in plant protein and fibre. About 230 kcal and 14 g carbohydrate per portion; eat it with a small bowl of mixed-grain rice. The usual mistake is boiling the cheonggukjang for a long time, which makes it bitter and dulls its flavour; it goes in for the last few minutes. Chef's tip: mash a spoon of doenjang in with it for a rounder, saltier base.

30 minKoreanSoups
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Semur tahuTofu in sweet soy

Semur is the dark, glossy sweet-soy stew of Java, shaped by Dutch spice traders' love of nutmeg and clove, and the tofu version is a thrifty bekal favourite that tastes better each day it sits. The tofu is fried first so it holds together and soaks up the sauce like a sponge. The common mistake is using silken or soft tofu, which crumbles; choose firm tofu and fry it until the skin is golden. Chef's tip: let the sauce reduce until it coats the back of a spoon, then rest the semur for an hour before eating so the spices go right into the tofu.

35 minIndonesianVegetarianVegan
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Chhurpi ko jholCheese curry

Soft chhurpi is the fresh, crumbly cheese that Sikkimese and Darjeeling hill families make by souring leftover buttermilk, and on cold, misty evenings it goes into this thin, fiery soup that is drunk from a bowl alongside rice. The broth is little more than tomato, onion, chilli and coriander, so the cheese has to be good: ricotta-like and mild. The most common mistake is boiling hard once the cheese is in, which makes it rubbery and the soup grainy; keep it at a gentle simmer. Chef's tip: if you cannot find chhurpi, drain fresh ricotta or crumble homemade paneer while it is still soft.

23 minIndianSoupsGluten freeSpicy
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ChichemeCold cracked corn drink

Chicheme comes from La Chorrera, just west of Panama City, where it is sold by the glass at the town's fairs alongside bollos and chorizo, and it is now drunk all over the country on hot afternoons. Cracked white corn is cooked until soft and swollen, then mixed with sweetened milk, cinnamon and vanilla and served very cold, so every sip has chewy grains in it. Undercooked corn is the classic mistake; the kernels must be soft right through or the drink feels gritty. Chef's tip: soak the corn overnight, and it cooks in under an hour instead of two.

60 minCentral AmericanDrinksGluten free
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Chichi dangoCoconut milk mochi

Chichi dango are the soft, pastel-pink mochi squares made for Girls' Day, birthdays and graduations in Hawaii's Japanese-American families, and sold in little boxes at manapua shops and crack seed stores in Honolulu. Mochiko (sweet rice flour) is mixed with coconut milk and sugar, baked until set, then cut and dusted with potato starch. They are chewy, milky and lightly sweet. A common mistake is cutting them warm with a dry knife, which tears them; cool fully and use a plastic knife dusted with starch. Chef's tip: wrap the tin tightly in foil while baking so the top stays soft and smooth.

70 minPacific IslanderDessertsVeganGluten free
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Chicons braisésBraised endives

Belgian endive, called chicon in Wallonia and witloof in Flanders, is grown in the dark around Brussels and eaten all winter, from November to March. Braised slowly in butter with a pinch of sugar and a squeeze of lemon, the pale heads turn golden, soft and gently caramelised, with only a whisper of their raw bitterness left. Serve them beside mashed potatoes and a fried egg, or as a side for a Sunday roast. The usual mistake is crowding the pan and boiling them in their own water, which leaves them grey and bitter. Chef's tip: lay the heads in a single layer and press a round of baking paper on top, so they steam gently and then brown in the butter once the juices cook off.

45 minBelgianSidesGluten free
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ChifrijoRice, beans and crisp pork bowl

Chifrijo was born in a San José bar in the 1990s and is now on every Costa Rican cantina menu as the snack to share over a cold drink: a bowl layered with rice, saucy red beans, crunchy pork chicharrón, pico de gallo and avocado, with tortilla chips stuck in for scooping. The name joins chicharrón and frijoles. The pork is belly, simmered and then fried in its own fat until crisp. Soggy chips are the common mistake: add them at the very last moment, never before serving. Chef's tip: squeeze lime over the pork right before it goes on top; the acid cuts the richness and wakes up the beans.

50 minCentral AmericanSnacks & StartersGluten free
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KneippbrødWholemeal loaf

Open almost any Norwegian matpakke (the packed lunch wrapped in paper) and you will find slices of kneippbrød, a soft, lightly sweet loaf of sammalt hvete (wholemeal wheat) baked in a tin. Its fine crumb slices thin without crumbling, perfect for brown cheese, jam or cucumber at the school desk. The common mistake is adding too much flour while kneading because wholemeal dough feels sticky; the loaf then bakes dense and dry. Chef's tip: let the dough rest for 20 minutes after mixing, before kneading, so the bran softens and the dough turns smooth on its own.

70 minScandinavianBakingVegan
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Chileajo de verdurasVegetables in guajillo garlic sauce

Chileajo is a cold dish of the Mixteca and the Oaxaca valley markets, sold from big clay bowls on Sundays and during Lent, and piled onto crisp tostadas at family fiestas. Potatoes, green beans, carrots, chayote, cauliflower and peas are cooked just tender and folded into a brick-red sauce of guajillo chiles, plenty of garlic, cloves and vinegar, then left to soak up its tangy, smoky heat. It keeps for days and improves as it sits. The usual mistake is overcooking the vegetables before they meet the sauce, so they turn mushy once mixed; they should still have a little bite. Chef's tip: toast the chiles only until they smell fragrant and blister, a few seconds a side; burnt chiles make the whole sauce bitter.

60 minMexicanVegetarianVeganGluten freeSpicy
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Chintha chiguru pappuDal with young tamarind leaves

Every spring the tamarind trees of Telangana put out soft, coppery new leaves, chintha chiguru, and housewives in Hyderabad and the districts strip them by the handful for a few weeks of this pleasantly sour dal. The leaves give the tang that tamarind pulp gives the rest of the year, and the pappu is eaten with hot rice, ghee and a crisp papad. The common mistake is adding all the leaves at the start; they lose their fresh sourness, so stir half in near the end. Chef's tip: if tamarind shoots are out of reach, use a mix of sorrel and a teaspoon of tamarind paste.

35 minIndianCurriesVeganGluten free
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Chirimoya alegreCherimoya in orange juice

Chileans call it 'happy cherimoya': ripe custard-apple pulp dropped into fresh orange juice and served ice-cold. It turns up as the summer dessert after a big lunch in the Central Valley and in the Aconcagua valley, where much of Chile's cherimoya grows. The fruit should be soft like a ripe avocado; a hard one tastes starchy. The most common mistake is preparing the fruit ahead without juice, so it turns brown and loses its perfume: drop each piece straight into the orange juice. Remove every black seed, as the seeds must not be eaten or crushed. Chef's tip: squeeze the oranges yourself and taste before you sweeten; good juice often needs no sugar at all.

15 minChileanDessertsVeganGluten free
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Chivo en cocoGoat in coconut milk

Goats graze the dry scrub of the Guajira peninsula, and in Zulia the meat is stewed in fresh coconut milk with a sofrito of onion, ají dulce and garlic until it falls from the bone. It's party and Sunday food in Maracaibo, served with fried ripe plantain, white rice or arepas to soak up the sauce. The common mistake is boiling the coconut milk hard, which splits it into a greasy sauce. Chef's tip: add the coconut milk only for the last 40 minutes and keep the pot at a gentle bubble.

180 minVenezuelanMeatGluten free
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Chłodnik litewskiChilled beet leaf soup

In Podlasie and the lake country of north-east Poland, chłodnik is the soup of hot June and July days, when young beets are pulled with their leaves still tender. The beet greens and baby beets are cooked briefly, chilled, then stirred into kefir with cucumber, radish, spring onion and lots of dill, so the soup turns shocking pink, tangy and cold. It is served as a starter or a light lunch with half a hard-boiled egg in each bowl. Suitable as part of a balanced diet. About 170 kcal and 13 g carbohydrate per portion. The usual mistake is mixing the kefir into warm beets, which makes it split and dulls the colour, so chill them completely first. Chef's tip: add a squeeze of lemon to the cooking beets; the acid keeps the colour a vivid pink instead of brownish.

30 minPolishSoupsGluten free
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Pathola currySnake gourd coconut curry

Pathola curry is a quick, gentle white curry from everyday Sri Lankan rice-and-curry lunches, especially loved in the south where snake gourd grows on trellises behind most houses. Thin half-moons of gourd simmer for a few minutes in coconut milk with turmeric, green chilli, curry leaves and a pinch of fenugreek, so they stay pale green, soft and juicy. Serve it with rice, dal and a fiery sambol. The usual mistake is overcooking, which turns the gourd watery and grey; pull it off as soon as it is translucent. Chef's tip: scrape the soft white pith and seeds out with a spoon; they water the curry down.

25 minSri LankanCurriesVeganGluten free
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Chochos con tostadoLupin bean and toasted corn salad

On street corners in Quito and Latacunga vendors pile paper cups with chochos, the pale Andean lupin beans, tossed with lime-soaked red onion and tomato and showered with crunchy toasted corn. It is a cheap, filling mid-morning snack, sour and salty with a nutty crunch, and it doubles as a light lunch with a fried plantain on the side. Buy chochos ready debittered, sold cooked in jars or vacuum packs: raw lupins are bitter and contain toxic alkaloids until they have been soaked and boiled for several days, so never use dried ones without that long treatment. Lupin is also a declared allergen and can affect people with peanut allergy. The common mistake is skipping the rinse, which leaves the beans tasting of brine. Chef's tip: salt the onion with the lime juice 10 minutes ahead so it softens and turns pink.

25 minAndeanSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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Chouris paoSpicy pork sausage in a bun

Chouris pao is Goa's favourite pork snack, sold from feast-day stalls at Mapusa's Friday market and village church fairs, and made at home whenever a string of chouriço comes out of the larder. The Goan pork sausage is cured with red chilli, garlic, spices and toddy vinegar (vinegar, not alcohol), then crumbled out of its casing and fried with onion and potato until sticky and red. The common mistake is frying it fiercely from the start: the fat needs a splash of water and gentle heat to render, otherwise the outside burns while the pork stays raw. Cook until the pork is no longer pink and reaches 71 °C. Chef's tip: soak the sausage links in hot water for 10 minutes first; it softens the casing and takes away harsh salt.

30 minIndianMeatSpicy
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ChumbequeLayered honey biscuit

Iquique's Chinese community began baking chumbeque in the port's corner shops more than a century ago, and today it is the city's edible souvenir: crisp, honey-sweet pastry stacked in thin layers with a sharp lemon filling and a sticky guava one, cut into small bricks. People take it home from the Zofri market or nibble it with tea at once. At home, bake it as one slab and slice it when cold. Many people roll the dough too thick, which gives a cakey, dry bar instead of fine layers; aim for 3 mm. Chef's tip: chill the rolled sheets for 10 minutes before you stack them so they don't stretch out of shape.

85 minChileanBaking
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Churma na ladvaWheat crumb and jaggery balls

Churma na ladva are the laddus that sit beside Ganesh at Chaturthi in Kathiawad and fill the sweet course at Gujarati weddings, big rough-edged balls with a sandy crumb and a coat of white poppy seeds. Coarse wholewheat dough is shaped into fist-pressed muthiya, fried slowly in ghee until crisp right through, ground to crumbs and bound with jaggery melted in ghee, nutmeg and cardamom. The mistake that ruins them is frying the muthiya too fast: the outside browns while the inside stays doughy and the crumbs turn gummy. Chef's tip: break one muthiya open before you take the batch out; it should be dry and biscuit-like right to the centre.

70 minIndianIndian Sweets
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ChutagiWheat pasta in vegetable soup

In Leh and the villages along the Indus, chutagi is the one-pot supper of the long winter: little hand-pinched bow-ties of wheat dough dropped into a broth of turnip, carrot, onion and greens. Families sit around the stove pinching the dough together while the pot comes to the boil, and the soup is eaten piping hot, often with a spoon of chilli paste on the side. The broth is light but the pasta makes it filling. The usual mistake is rolling the dough too thick, which leaves the centres of the bows doughy; roll it about as thin as a coin. Chef's tip: let the shaped bows dry on a floured tray for ten minutes before they go in, so they hold their pinched centre instead of opening up in the pot.

55 minIndianSoupsVegan
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Citron presséFresh lemon drink

Order a citron pressé on a Paris terrace in July, or at a café in Nice after the beach, and the waiter brings a tall glass with an inch of freshly squeezed lemon juice, a carafe of iced water, a sugar bowl or a little jug of syrup and a long spoon. You build the drink yourself, as sharp or as sweet as you like, which is half the pleasure; French children learn to drink it with plenty of sugar, grown-ups often with almost none. It is bright, sour and cleansing, nothing like bottled lemonade, and best in the late afternoon heat. The common mistake is stirring granulated sugar straight into cold lemon water: it sinks and never dissolves, so the first sips are sour and the last a sludge. Dissolve the sugar in the juice first, or use a quick syrup. It is ready when the sugar has vanished, the drink tastes balanced to you and the glass is beaded with cold. Unwaxed lemons matter if you add a twist of peel. Chef's tip: pour the water over ice slowly and taste after half the carafe; most people find they need less water than they expect.

5 minFrenchDrinksVeganGluten free
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Cocido quemadoBurnt sugar mate drink

Cocido is how Paraguay starts the day: in Asunción, in the villages of Guairá and Itapúa, and in school kitchens, a pot of burnt yerba is brewed and poured into cups with chipa, the cheesy cassava bread, or with a hard galleta. The old way is to drop a glowing piece of charcoal into a pot with yerba and sugar and stir until the sugar burns. On a home stove you caramelise them together in a dry pan instead, which is safer and gives the same smoky, toffee-like taste. The drink is clear amber-brown, with roasted, slightly bitter mate notes over burnt-sugar sweetness; with milk added it becomes cocido con leche, creamy and coffee-coloured. Yerba mate contains caffeine, so treat it like a cup of coffee. The common mistake is letting the sugar go black: it turns acrid and bitter. Pull it off the heat when the caramel is deep amber and the yerba smells toasted, not burnt. It is ready when the liquid is a clear dark amber and tastes of toffee and smoke. Chef's tip: the water will spit fiercely when it hits the hot caramel, so pour it in from the side, at arm's length.

14 minParaguayanDrinksVeganGluten free
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Godamba rotiThin griddle flatbread

Walk down Galle Road through Wellawatte or Bambalapitiya in the evening and you hear the roti shops before you see them: one cook slapping balls of oiled dough into sheets so thin you can read through them, another clattering the kottu blades. That stretched sheet, folded into a square and cooked on the iron plate, is godamba roti, flaky and chewy, torn to scoop up dhal and chicken curry, or chopped up for kottu. Contains wheat. Chef's tip: rest the oiled dough balls for at least 2 hours; the gluten relaxes so the dough stretches thin without tearing.

60 minSri LankanBreads & ParathasVegan
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Cơm nắm muối vừngRice blocks with sesame salt

Before trains, buses and school trips, families in northern Vietnam press warm rice into firm, dense blocks and wrap them in banana leaf or paper with a twist of muối vừng, toasted sesame and peanut salt, for dipping. It is humble, filling and keeps its shape for a whole day's journey. Peanuts and sesame are both allergens. The common mistake is using cold or loose rice, which will not stick; it must be pressed hot. Chef's tip: mix a handful of sticky rice into ordinary jasmine rice before cooking, and the blocks hold together firmly without being gluey.

40 minVietnameseRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
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Conservas de cocoSpiced coconut bars

Along the roads of Zulia and down the Caribbean coast, sellers wrap conservas de coco in squares of paper: dense, chewy bars of grated coconut cooked in dark panela syrup with cinnamon and clove. Children buy them with their change after school. The mistake most people make is taking the pan off too early; the mixture never sets and stays sticky. Chef's tip: keep stirring until the mass pulls away in one lump and a spoon dragged across the base leaves a clean line.

50 minVenezuelanDessertsVeganGluten free
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Consomé de chipichipiTiny clam broth

On the beaches of Margarita and the Sucre coast, vendors ladle steaming cups of consomé de chipichipi, a clear, salty broth of tiny clams with garlic, ají dulce and coriander, famous as a cure after a long night. Chipichipi are hard to find outside Venezuela; small clams such as palourdes or Manila clams are a good stand-in. The common mistake is boiling the clams too long, which makes them rubbery. Chef's tip: let the clams soak in salted water first so they spit out their sand.

55 minVenezuelanSoupsGluten free
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Daing na bangusMarinated fried milkfish

Bangus (milkfish) is the national fish of the Philippines, and daing na bangus, butterflied and soaked overnight in vinegar, garlic and pepper, then fried until the skin shatters, is a favourite morning plate from Pangasinan to Manila. It comes with garlic rice, a fried egg and a dip of spiced vinegar. Buy it boneless (deboned bangus) from Filipino shops, or use mackerel fillets. The usual mistake is putting the wet fish straight into the oil, which spits and stops it crisping. Chef's tip: pat the fish completely dry and fry skin side down first, pressing gently, without moving it for five minutes.

40 minFilipinoFishGluten free
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Dak hanmariWhole chicken hot pot

Dak hanmari, literally 'one chicken', comes from the alley of restaurants beside Dongdaemun market in Seoul, where a whole chicken arrives in a basin of pale broth and finishes cooking on a burner at the table. Potatoes and chewy rice cakes simmer alongside, and each piece is dunked in a sharp dipping sauce of chilli, soy, vinegar and mustard that you mix to your own taste. When the chicken is gone, knife-cut noodles go into the broth. The usual mistake is rushing the first simmer: the broth needs its full time with garlic and leek to taste of chicken. Chef's tip: let everyone build their own dip, adding a spoon of hot broth so the chilli flakes bloom.

75 minKoreanChicken
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Dal dhokli for toddlersWheat dumplings in dal for toddlers

In Ahmedabad pols and Surat kitchens dal dhokli is the Sunday one-pot lunch: diamonds of spiced wheat dough cooked straight in tangy toor dal. This toddler version, for children from 12 months, keeps the soft pasta-like pieces small, leaves out the chilli, peanuts and cloves, and uses only a pinch of jaggery so the dal stays sweet-sour the way Gujarati families like it. It is cooked in oil, so it is dairy free and vegan. It contains wheat (gluten); there is no milk, egg, nuts or soya. Chef's tip: roll the dough thin, about 2 mm; thick dhokli stay chewy in the middle.

45 minIndianCurriesVegan
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Dal panniyeMaize flour breads baked in leaves

Panniye are the festive breads of the Bhil communities of Jhabua and Alirajpur in western Madhya Pradesh, made for weddings, Bhagoria and harvest gatherings. Thick maize-flour discs are pressed between palash or banana leaves and baked over cow-dung embers until smoky and crisp outside, then served with a garlicky dal and ghee. At home you can bake them on a tawa and finish in the oven. The common mistake is rolling the dough too thin, so it dries out and cracks before it cooks through. Chef's tip: knead the maize dough with warm water and a little curd and let it rest; it holds together much better.

65 minIndianBreads & ParathasGluten free
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Daniwal kormaMutton in yogurt and onion gravy

Daniwal korma is one of the gentler dishes of the Kashmiri wazwan, the many-course Muslim wedding feast cooked by the waza, and it is also a favourite for Eid lunches at home. Mutton is cooked with fried onion and whisked yogurt, scented with cardamom and fennel, and finished with a great fistful of fresh coriander, 'daniwal', that turns the pale gravy green-flecked and fresh. It is served with plenty of rice. The common mistake is adding cold yogurt to a hot pan, which makes it split; whisk it smooth and stir it in off the heat. Chef's tip: fry the onions dark gold, then grind them to a paste with the yogurt for a silky, nutty gravy.

95 minIndianMeatGluten free
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DebreceniPaprika pork sausage

Debreceni are long, thin pork sausages seasoned with sweet paprika, garlic and caraway, and they are the standing snack of Budapest's büfé counters: at the Nagyvásárcsarnok, at Christmas markets on Vörösmarty tér and outside the Keleti railway station. The stand heats them on a griddle (or simmers them), then hands them over on a paper plate with a slice of rye bread, a big spoon of mustard and a pile of pickled peppers or gherkins. This home version uses bought debreceni and adds a quick paprika glaze. Chef's tip: simmer them gently before grilling; a hard boil splits the skins and dries the pork.

20 minHungarianMeat
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Moong dal pakodeMoong dal fritters

When the monsoon breaks over Delhi, the pakora stalls of Lajpat Nagar and the lanes off Chandni Chowk do their best trade, and moong dal pakode are the favourite: light, airy balls of soaked and coarsely ground yellow lentils, fried until crunchy and served in paper plates with grated white radish and green chutney. They are naturally gluten free and vegan. Chef's tip: beat the ground batter hard with your hand for a few minutes; the trapped air is what makes them fluffy inside.

40 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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Nagori halwaSemolina puris with halwa

On cold winter mornings in Old Delhi, the halwais near Chawri Bazar and Sitaram Bazar set out trays of nagori: thumb-sized, rock-crisp puris made with semolina. You crack one open, spoon in warm, ghee-rich sooji halwa and eat it with a bite of spicy potato curry, the sweet and the savoury taking turns. It is a breakfast that keeps you going through a foggy December day. Chef's tip: roast the semolina for the halwa slowly until it smells of toasted nuts; under-roasted semolina makes a pasty, flat halwa.

60 minIndianBreakfast & Brunch
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DiphaphataGriddle muffins

In Gaborone and villages across Botswana, diphaphata (sometimes called flat cakes or Botswana muffins) are a weekend breakfast: little rounds of soft yeast dough cooked on a dry, heavy pan until they puff and brown on both sides, then split while hot and spread with butter, jam or syrup. They look like English muffins but are softer and slightly sweet. The common mistake is a pan that is too hot: the outsides scorch while the centres stay doughy, so cook them slowly over a medium-low heat. Chef's tip: dust them with flour rather than oiling the pan; a dry pan gives the matt, freckled crust they are known for.

100 minSouthern AfricanBreads & Parathas
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DobladitasFolded lard breads

In the south of Chile, from Concepción down through Temuco and Chiloé, dobladitas are baked for breakfast and the evening once: rounds of a lard-enriched dough brushed with more melted pork lard, folded in half and in half again, and baked until the layers puff and flake apart. Eat them warm, pulled into their layers, with tea and butter (or margarine to keep them dairy free), jam or avocado. The lard is pork fat. The common mistake is using cold, hard lard for brushing; it must be melted and warm, so it soaks between the layers and makes them separate. Chef's tip: roll the folded pieces only lightly, just to seal the layers; pressing hard squeezes the lard out and they bake up tough.

45 minChileanBreads & Parathas
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Domashnia hirchytsiaHomemade mustard

Ask a Ukrainian grandmother from Poltava or Kharkiv what to do with the brine left in the jar once the winter cucumbers are gone, and she will make hirchytsia. Dry mustard powder is mixed with that salty, garlicky, dill-scented brine, a little sugar, oil and vinegar, and after a night's rest it is fierce enough to make your eyes water. It is non-negotiable beside kholodets (meat jelly) at New Year, with salo and rye bread, with boiled sausages and with varenyky, and it is spread thin on bread for a quick snack. The texture is smooth and creamy, the flavour hot, salty and slightly sweet with a whiff of dill and garlic from the brine. Common mistake: using boiling brine; heat kills the enzyme that makes mustard hot, so the brine must be lukewarm or cool. It needs at least 12 hours in the jar for the bitterness to fade. It is ready when the colour has deepened to warm yellow and the first taste makes your nose tingle. Chef's tip: use brine from naturally fermented or vinegar cucumbers; if you have none, mix 150 ml water with 1 tsp salt and 1 tbsp vinegar.

10 minUkrainianChutneys & DipsVeganGluten freeSpicy
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DomboloSteamed dumplings on vegetable stew

Big, soft rounds of yeasted dough steamed on top of a simmering stew are Sunday food in Durban townships and KwaZulu-Natal homesteads, the same dough that is also steamed whole as an ujeqe loaf for funerals and family gatherings. Here the dumplings sit on a vegetarian stew of sugar beans, carrot, potato and tomato, so they drink up the curry-spiced steam as they puff. They should be pillowy and slightly chewy inside, with a damp, shiny skin rather than a crust. Lifting the lid to peek is the mistake that ruins them: the steam escapes and the dumplings sink and turn stodgy. Chef's tip: make sure the stew is at a steady simmer with plenty of liquid before the dough goes on, or the bottoms will scorch before the tops are cooked.

120 minSouth AfricanBreads & ParathasVegan
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DouchiFermented black beans

Yangjiang in western Guangdong and Liuyang in Hunan are the two great douchi towns, and both traditionally make their fermented black beans in the dry season, when beans can be moulded indoors and dried in the sun without spoiling. Cooked black soybeans are covered until a yellow-green koji mould grows over them, then washed, salted, packed and fermented for weeks before drying. The result is wrinkled, soft-chewy beans with an intense salty, savoury, almost chocolate-dark flavour. A spoonful steamed with spare ribs or a whole fish, stir-fried with bitter melon or pounded into Hunan's chilli dishes seasons the whole plate. At home, buying koji spores (Aspergillus oryzae) is far more reliable than waiting for wild moulds. Common mistake: letting the beans sit wet or warm in a sealed container during the moulding stage; they must breathe at 28–32 °C. Good koji smells sweet and chestnut-like; discard any batch with black, pink or bright coloured mould, slime or a rotten smell. Keep the salt as given. It is ready when the beans are dark, wrinkled and dry outside but supple within. Store dried douchi in the fridge for 1 year. Chef's tip: rinse and lightly crush the beans before cooking.

180 minChineseBasicsVeganGluten free
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DrachenaBaked egg and milk custard

Drachena belongs to the old peasant cooking of northern Russia, from Arkhangelsk to Vologda, where it was baked in the cooling Russian stove on Sunday mornings. Eggs are whisked with milk, a little sour cream and flour, poured into a hot buttered pan and baked until puffed, golden and wobbly, somewhere between an omelette and a soufflé. It is eaten warm, plain or with sour cream. The common mistake is opening the oven early; the drachena collapses if it gets a draught before it is set. Chef's tip: heat the buttered dish in the oven before pouring in the batter, so it starts to set and rise from the bottom at once.

40 minRussianBreakfast & Brunch
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Dưa giáPickled bean sprouts

In southern Vietnam, dưa giá appears beside thịt kho trứng, the pork and egg braised in coconut water that every Saigon family cooks for Tết, and beside clay-pot caramel fish the rest of the year. The sprouts and chives sit overnight in a lightly salted, sweetened brine and come out tangy, crisp and squeaky, with a hint of garlic-chive sharpness that cuts straight through the fatty, sweet braises. Some cooks add carrot strips for colour. Raw bean sprouts can carry bacteria, so buy them very fresh and chilled, rinse them well, and pour the brine on hot to scald them lightly; pregnant people, small children, older people and anyone with weak immunity should blanch the sprouts for 30 seconds first. Common mistake: leaving the jar out too long in a warm kitchen, so the sprouts go limp and too sour; once it tastes right, chill it. It is ready when the brine is cloudy and smells pleasantly sour, and the sprouts are translucent but still snap. Chef's tip: pinch the brown root tails off the sprouts; it is fiddly, but they stay crunchier and look neater.

25 minVietnameseChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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Dubki kadhiUrad dal dumplings in curd curry

Dubki means a dip, and in this Chhattisgarhi kadhi the spiced urad dal batter is dropped raw straight into the simmering curd so the dumplings cook in the pot rather than in hot oil. It is the lighter, everyday cousin of pakora kadhi, served with rice at lunch across Durg and Raipur and at village feasts. The common mistake is dropping the batter into kadhi that is barely warm; the dumplings fall apart, so the kadhi must be at a lively simmer. Chef's tip: whisk the batter by hand for a full 3 minutes until a spoonful floats in water, and the dumplings will be airy, not dense.

290 minIndianCurriesGluten free
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Dulceață de nuci verziCandied green walnuts

Around Sânziene in late June, families in Moldavia and Transylvania climb the walnut trees to gather nuts that are still green and soft, before the shell has begun to form. A week of patient work follows: peeling, pricking and soaking in water changed morning and evening until the harsh bitterness leaches out, then slow simmering in a syrup scented with cloves and lemon until the nuts turn glossy black. The finished dulceață is offered the old way, one walnut on a small glass saucer with a teaspoon and a glass of cold water for a visitor, or with coffee on a winter afternoon. Each nut is tender all the way through with a faint crunch at the heart, tasting of caramel, cloves and something resinous and bittersweet. The decisive mistake is picking too late: if a darning needle no longer slides easily through the centre, the shell is hardening and the nuts will stay woody whatever you do. The syrup is done when a drop holds its shape on a cold plate. Chef's tip: wear gloves for every stage, as green walnut juice stains skin brown-black for days.

175 minRomanianDessertsVeganGluten free
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Dulces abrillantadosGlazed milk fudge figures

Walk through the old centre of Mérida and you'll pass windows full of tiny shiny sweets shaped like fruit, flowers and animals: dulces abrillantados, made from milk and sugar cooked down to a fudge, hand-moulded and dipped in syrup that dries to a glassy crust. Families buy boxes to take home from the Andes. They need patience: the shaping is fun, but the milk must be cooked until it truly pulls away from the pan. The common mistake is stopping too early, so the figures flatten. Chef's tip: dust your hands with icing sugar while shaping, and dry the figures overnight before glazing.

110 minVenezuelanDessertsGluten free
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Duo jiaoFermented chopped chillies

In late summer, Hunan kitchens ring with the thud of two cleavers chopping heaps of red chillies, the sound of duo jiao (chopped chilli) being made for the year. Chillies, garlic and ginger are chopped coarse, salted heavily and packed into jars to ferment for about a week, until the heat turns rounder, slightly sour and fruity. Spread thickly over steamed fish fillets, stirred into stir-fried pork or eggs, or spooned over steamed taro, it brings colour as much as fire. Common mistake: chopping it to a smooth paste in a blender; the texture should be rough, pieces the size of rice grains, so pulse briefly or use a knife. Normal ferment signs are a few bubbles, a sour smell and a little liquid rising; a fuzzy coloured mould or a rotten smell means discard. It is ready after 5–7 days at cool room temperature, when it tastes tangy rather than raw. Because it contains garlic and ginger and is a low-sugar paste, it then lives in the fridge for up to 3 months, or in the freezer for a year. Chef's tip: wear gloves and open a window; a kilo of chopped chillies is fierce.

30 minChineseChutneys & DipsVeganGluten freeSpicy
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Durofrío de mangoFrozen mango milk pops

In the hot streets of Centro Habana, durofríos are sold straight from the front windows of family homes: a few pesos buys a frozen cup of fruit juice or fruit and milk, popped out and eaten on a stick or straight from its paper cup. Children queue for them after school in the long summer afternoons, when the sea breeze has dropped. This version blends ripe mango with milk and lime into a creamy, fruity ice that is firm, as the name says ("hard-cold"), rather than soft like ice cream. Swap the milk for water or guava juice for a dairy-free fruit ice. It contains milk. Chef's tip: make the mix taste a little too sweet before freezing; cold dulls sweetness.

240 minCubanDessertsGluten free
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Egg banjo (Indore style)Spicy egg pav

Indore eats late, and after the jewellery shops of Sarafa Bazaar shut their shutters at night the lane turns into a food market; egg banjo stalls there and at Chhappan Dukan keep frying until long after midnight. A soft pav is split, toasted in butter and packed with a masala omelette folded to fit, then green chutney, raw onion and a heap of fine sev for crunch. It is soft, buttery and hot all at once. Contains egg, wheat and dairy. Chef's tip: cook the omelette in a shape the size of the bun, so every bite has egg in it.

20 minIndianFast Food
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Egg kalakkiSpicy soft-set eggs

Kalakki means 'stirred up', and it was born on the parotta stalls of Madurai; in Chennai you find it late at night at the parotta shops of Triplicane and along Arcot Road, where the cook whisks eggs with a ladle of the house chicken salna and swirls them on the tawa for under a minute. The result is a soft, wobbly fold of egg, rich with spiced gravy, eaten with flaky parotta. The salna here is a quick home version made with chicken stock, so the dish is not vegetarian. Contains egg. The centre is meant to be just set; for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system, cook it until fully firm. Chef's tip: take it off the heat while the top still looks slightly glossy; it keeps setting on the plate.

17 minIndianBreakfast & BrunchSpicy
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Batates sandwichFrench fries sandwich

Every foul and ta'meya shop in Cairo also sells sandwich batates, a pocket of baladi bread stuffed with hot, salty fries, and it is one of the cheapest and best late-night bites in the city. In Downtown, around Talaat Harb Square and along Champollion Street, the counters stay busy after midnight as cinema crowds and students order them by the handful, with garlicky tahini, crunchy pickled turnip and cucumber and a hit of chilli. Egyptian baladi bread is a wholemeal flatbread; wholemeal pitta is a good stand-in. It contains sesame and wheat. Chef's tip: salt the fries the moment they leave the oil, while they are still glistening, so it sticks.

30 minEgyptianFast FoodVegan
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Ei im GlasSoft-boiled eggs in a glass

In the old coffee houses of Vienna, the breakfast menu still lists Ei im Glas: two very soft-boiled eggs, scooped warm from their shells into a small glass, with a knob of butter, chives, salt and pepper. You stir it into a golden, custardy mess and eat it with a crisp Semmel roll (gluten-free bread if you need it) and a Melange coffee. The mistake almost everyone makes is boiling the eggs a minute too long, so the yolk sets and the dish turns into plain egg salad. Chef's tip: warm the glass with hot water while the eggs cook, so the butter melts on contact and the eggs stay hot to the last spoonful.

8 minAustrianBreakfast & BrunchGluten free
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Empanadas de vientoFried cheese empanadas

In Quito cafés and markets, empanadas de viento ("wind empanadas") are fried to order: big, thin pastries stuffed with crumbled fresh cheese and onion that puff up like balloons in the hot oil, then get a generous shower of sugar. Ecuadorians eat them for breakfast or afternoon cafecito with coffee or a mug of colada morada. The salty-sweet contrast is the point. The common mistake is overfilling; too much cheese stops them puffing and makes them burst. Some queso fresco is made with animal rennet; choose a vegetarian one made with microbial rennet. Chef's tip: roll the dough very thin, under 2 mm, and press the edges firmly; that's what traps the steam and makes the "wind".

55 minAndeanBreakfast & Brunch
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Ensalada chilenaTomato and onion salad

Every Chilean barbecue, every plate of empanadas on 18 September and most weekday lunches come with this salad: ripe peeled tomatoes and white onion cut into fine 'feathers' (corte pluma), dressed with oil, salt and coriander, sometimes with a little green chilli. It is cool, juicy and sharp, the perfect counterweight to grilled meat or a bean stew. The mistake that ruins it is using raw onion straight from the board: it overpowers everything. Soak the slices in cold salted water first and they turn sweet and crunchy. Chef's tip: peel the tomatoes, as Chileans do, so they drink up the dressing.

20 minChileanSaladsVeganGluten free
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Manipuri boraGram flour fritters

Bora are the crisp fritters that Meitei families fry for evening tea, for guests and for festivals like Cheiraoba, using whatever is in season: onion and herbs, gourd flowers, or tender greens. The batter is gram flour with a little rice flour, so they stay crisp. The common mistake is a thick batter that makes doughy fritters; it should just coat the vegetables. Fill the pan no more than a third deep with oil, test it with a drop of batter (it should rise in 2–3 seconds) and never leave it unattended. Chef's tip: mix the batter just before frying so the vegetables don't weep and make it watery.

30 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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Ensalada de gallinaChristmas chicken salad

Ensalada de gallina is the creamy salad that sits on every Venezuelan plato navideño, next to hallaca, pan de jamón and dulce de lechosa: poached chicken shredded with diced potato, carrot, peas and crisp apple, bound with mayonnaise and a squeeze of lime. It is made the day before and served cold. Because it combines chicken and mayonnaise, keep it in the fridge and don't leave it out for more than 2 hours. The common mistake is overcooking the potatoes until they turn to mash when dressed. Chef's tip: cook them only until a knife just goes in, and cool them fully before adding the mayonnaise.

70 minVenezuelanSaladsGluten free
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ErbokvertskhiEggs fried in butter

Erbokvertskhi means simply "butter-egg", and in Georgian homes from Tbilisi to the Imereti villages it is the breakfast cooked in a small clay ketsi or pan: eggs fried in plenty of erbo, the golden clarified butter, with slices of salty sulguni cheese melting around them. It is eaten with shoti bread and fresh herbs. Sulguni is often made with animal rennet; use a vegetarian mozzarella-style cheese if needed. The mistake is a timid amount of butter: the eggs should sizzle in it so the edges crisp. Serve the yolks fully set for anyone pregnant, young children, older people or anyone with a weakened immune system. Chef's tip: let the cheese melt and brown slightly before adding the eggs, so you get crisp cheese edges under soft whites.

11 minGeorgianBreakfast & BrunchGluten free
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Erizos con salsa verdeSea urchin with green salsa

On the docks of Punta Arenas and in the markets of Valparaíso and Puerto Montt, Chilean sea urchins are cracked open in front of you and their orange tongues (lenguas) piled on a plate with a sharp green sauce of onion, parsley, coriander and lemon. They taste of the sea, sweet and creamy, and are eaten raw with bread. Because the urchin is raw, this dish is not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system. Buy urchins live or freshly packed roe from a licensed fishmonger, keep it at 0–4 °C and eat it the same day. The common mistake is drowning the delicate roe in lemon, which 'cooks' and toughens it. Chef's tip: spoon the sauce over just before eating. For a safer version, serve the same salsa verde over cooked, chilled prawns.

15 minChileanFishGluten free
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Arvi ka salanColocasia in tangy gravy

Arvi ka salan is a Lahore and Karachi home curry, cooked on weekday evenings when the vegetable seller has a basket of small, hairy colocasia roots. The roots are boiled, peeled and simmered in a loose, sour gravy of onion, tomato, ajwain and a squeeze of lemon, so the slightly slippery arvi soaks up the spice and turns creamy at the centre. Eat it with hot roti or plain rice and a little raw onion. The usual mistake is undercooking the arvi: half-cooked colocasia leaves an itchy, scratchy feeling in the throat, so it must be soft all the way through. Chef's tip: once the boiled arvi is peeled, press each piece flat with your palm before it goes into the gravy, so the rough edges thicken the sauce.

50 minPakistaniCurriesVeganGluten free
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Escabeche de pescadoFried fish in sweet-sour onion sauce

In Lima, escabeche de pescado belongs to the criollo kitchen of the old city: it turns up on Friday lunch menus, on buffet tables, and above all in Lent and Holy Week, when families eat fish and this dish can be made the day before. Fish is fried until golden, then covered in a warm sauce of thick-cut red onion softened in oil with garlic, ají amarillo, ají panca, cumin and vinegar, and left to cool so the flavours soak in. It is served cold or at room temperature with boiled sweet potato, hard-boiled egg and purple botija olives. It tastes tangy, sweet and gently fruity-hot, with crunchy onion over tender fish. The fish here is fully cooked, but because it is a cold seafood dish, pregnant people, babies, older people and anyone with weak immunity should eat it well chilled and within 2 days. Common mistake: stewing the onions until limp; they should only lose their raw bite. It is ready when the sauce has soaked a little into the fish and smells of vinegar and toasted chilli. Chef's tip: use thick fillets of corvina or bonito; thin fillets break under the sauce.

50 minPeruvianFishGluten free
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Karawila curryBitter gourd coconut curry

Bitter gourd is a favourite of older Sri Lankan cooks, and karawila curry appears on weekday tables across the island alongside rice, dal and a mild white curry to balance its bite. The gourd is salted, squeezed and lightly fried, then stewed in coconut milk with roasted curry powder, tamarind and a touch of sugar, so it becomes dark, glossy and pleasantly bitter rather than harsh. The usual mistake is skipping the salting and squeezing, which leaves the curry fiercely bitter. Chef's tip: fry the gourd until the edges are brown before it meets the coconut milk; the browning softens the bitterness more than sugar does.

35 minSri LankanCurriesVeganGluten free
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Papayas en almíbarPapayas in clove syrup

Drive up the Elqui Valley from La Serena and every roadside stall sells jars of these: small, intensely fragrant mountain papayas (papaya chilena) poached until they turn amber and translucent. Families spoon them over vanilla ice cream, eat them with a slice of fresh cheese, or simply serve them chilled after Sunday lunch. Outside Chile, tinned Chilean papayas are easy to find, or use firm, under-ripe ordinary papaya, which holds its shape in the syrup. The usual mistake is boiling the fruit hard: it breaks up and clouds the syrup, so keep it at a lazy simmer. Chef's tip: once the fruit is cooked, lift it out and boil the syrup alone for 5 minutes, so it is thick enough to cling and keeps longer in the jar.

65 minChileanDessertsVeganGluten free
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