Featured recipe

Saluf

Puffy flatbread

Saluf is the everyday bread of Yemenite Israelis, slapped onto a hot pan or taboon in Rosh HaAyin and Sha'arayim in Rehovot and eaten with marak temani, hilbe and zhug. It is soft and blistered, thicker than pita and with no pocket, made to tear and dunk. Home cooks often roll it too thin, which gives a cracker; it should be about 1 cm thick so it stays pillowy. Chef's tip: cook it under a lid on a very hot dry pan for the first minute, which traps steam and puffs it the way a taboon does.

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Nasi timbelRice with fried chicken and tofu

Nasi timbel is the packed lunch of West Java: rice pressed tight into a banana leaf, which keeps it warm and fragrant until noon, served with turmeric fried chicken, fried tofu and tempeh, crisp salted fish, raw vegetables (lalapan) and a fiery sambal terasi. Sundanese restaurants in Bandung and Jakarta serve it as a lunch platter. The usual mistake is frying the chicken straight from raw, which browns the outside long before the bone is cooked; simmer it in the spice paste first. Chef's tip: roll the rice in the leaf while it is very hot and wrap it tightly, then let it rest for 10 minutes so it sets firm.

85 min

Indonesian Rice & Grains

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Mojito en cocoFlaked fish in coconut sauce

Around Lake Maracaibo, 'mojito' means not a cocktail but a home dish of poached fish flaked into a sofrito of peppers, onion and ají dulce and finished with coconut milk. Families serve it at weekday lunch with white rice and tostones. Any firm white fish works. The common mistake is leaving bones in the flakes. Chef's tip: flake the fish with your fingers rather than a fork, so you can feel and remove every pin bone.

45 min

Venezuelan Fish

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Bandar ladduGram flour and jaggery balls

Bandar laddu is named after Bandar, the old name of Machilipatnam on the Andhra coast, and it is the sweet families carry home after a trip there, offer at Sankranti and give at weddings. Gram-flour pearls are fried, then pounded with jaggery syrup and ghee until the mixture turns dense, smooth and fudgy, unlike the grainy besan laddu of the north. The common mistake is not cooking the jaggery syrup far enough: it needs to reach the soft-ball stage, or the laddus slump and turn sticky. Chef's tip: pound the mix while it is still warm, in batches, in a heavy mortar or food processor, until it clumps when pressed.

60 min

Indian Indian Sweets

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Mihogo chomaGrilled cassava with chilli

On Mombasa's Jomo Kenyatta beach and along the seafront at Dar es Salaam, vendors fan little charcoal grills loaded with cassava, then slice each piece open, rub in chilli and salt and squeeze lime over it. The outside chars and crisps while the inside stays soft and starchy, and the chilli-lime rub makes it hot, sour and salty all at once. Eat it as an evening snack or alongside beans and kachumbari. Cassava must never be eaten raw: peel it, pull out the woody core and boil it until tender before grilling; skipping that parboil is the classic mistake, and it leaves the centre hard. Chef's tip: let the boiled cassava cool and dry for 10 minutes before grilling; a dry surface chars, a wet one only steams.

45 minEast African Snacks & Starters

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Bánh khúcCudweed sticky rice dumplings

Long before sunrise, vendors walk Hanoi's Old Quarter with steaming baskets, calling out for xôi xéo and bánh khúc. These are soft green dumplings coloured and scented with rau khúc, a grassy, herbal cudweed, wrapped around mung bean paste and peppery pork belly, then rolled in sticky rice grains and steamed until the grains turn glossy. They are eaten hot from a scrap of banana leaf with a pinch of sesame salt, often on a cold winter morning. Look for frozen or dried cudweed at Vietnamese grocers. Chef's tip: keep the green dough thin but even; thick dough cracks and lets the filling escape.

120 min

Vietnamese Snacks & Starters

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Bánh da lợnSteamed layer cake

Bánh da lợn is piled up in glistening slabs at the dessert stalls of Bến Thành Market and on the trays of Saigon's afternoon sweet sellers. Thin layers of tapioca and coconut batter are steamed one at a time, alternating fragrant pandan green with nutty mung bean yellow, so every slice shows neat stripes and has a soft, bouncy, slightly springy bite. People peel the layers off one by one, especially children. Chef's tip: let each layer set until it turns translucent before pouring the next, or the colours run into each other.

100 min

Vietnamese Desserts

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Batido de lechosaPapaya and orange shake

Lechosa is what Venezuelans call papaya, and on breakfast tables from Valencia to Puerto La Cruz it turns up as a batido beside arepas or empanadas, often blended with the oranges that are piled cheap in every market. It is thick, smooth and sunset-orange, tasting of honeyed papaya and bright citrus, and it fills you up until lunch. Some families blend it with milk instead of juice, which turns it into a creamy merengada. The common mistake with milk is letting it stand: papaya's natural enzyme starts to turn milk bitter within half an hour, so drink it straight away. Another mistake is scraping the seed cavity too hard; the black seeds and their slippery coating make the batido bitter and peppery. It is ready when there are no fibres left, it pours in a thick stream and the colour is an even orange. Choose papaya that is mostly yellow-orange and gives slightly under your thumb; a green-streaked one tastes flat and a little musky. Chef's tip: a few drops of lime juice cut through papaya's musky note and make it taste fresher.

5 min

Venezuelan Drinks

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MotohoFermented sorghum porridge

Highland mornings in Lesotho can be bitterly cold, and a mug or bowl of warm motoho, thin enough to sip and pleasantly tangy, is how many Basotho families in Maseru and the mountain villages start the day. Sorghum meal is mixed with warm water and a spoonful of starter from the last batch, left overnight by the stove to sour, then cooked into a smooth, pourable porridge with a yoghurt-like tang and a nutty, toasty flavour. Some sweeten it with sugar; others drink it plain with bread. If you have no starter, make one two days ahead with sorghum and water, as below. Chef's tip: keep the ferment warm but not hot; a pot left right on the stove gets too sour and too thin, so a spot nearby is perfect.

30 minSouthern African Breakfast & Brunch

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BatagorFried fish dumplings with peanut sauce

Batagor, short for bakso tahu goreng (fried fish-ball tofu), is the crunchy cousin of siomay and a favourite after-school snack sold from glass-sided carts outside Jakarta's schools and along Jalan Pecenongan's evening food strip. Tofu squares and wonton skins are stuffed with a mackerel and tapioca paste and deep-fried until golden and crackly, then snipped up and covered in a spicy peanut sauce, kecap manis and lime. The contrast of crisp skin and soft, bouncy fish is the whole point. Contains fish, peanuts, soy, egg and wheat. Chef's tip: fry the tofu side with the fish paste facing down first; it seals the filling so it doesn't puff away from the tofu.

60 min

Indonesian Fish

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Bathua raitaChenopodium leaf yogurt

Bathua (chenopodium or lamb's quarters) grows wild in the wheat fields of western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana in winter, and from December to February families blanch it and stir it into yogurt as a cooling raita beside paratha, dal or bajra roti. The leaves are boiled briefly, chopped and folded into whisked yogurt with roasted cumin, black salt and a little green chilli, so it tastes earthy, tangy and fresh. It is suitable as part of a balanced diet. About 90 kcal and 7 g carbohydrate per portion. The usual mistake is adding the greens while they are still hot or wet, which makes the yogurt thin and grainy; squeeze them dry and cool them first. Chef's tip: grind half the blanched leaves to a paste so the raita turns an even pale green.

15 min

Indian Sides

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Roti sardinSardine-filled bread rolls

Roti sardin is a Malaysian school-bag and teatime favourite: tinned sardines in tomato sauce mashed with onion, chilli and lime, rolled inside flattened white bread and pan-fried until golden. Mothers across Malaysia make them for bekal and they are sold at Ramadan bazaars. The common mistake is leaving the sardine filling wet, which soaks through the bread; cook it down until it is thick. Chef's tip: seal the rolls with a little beaten egg, then fry seam side down first so they hold together.

20 min

Malaysian Fish

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Batido de mameyMamey milkshake

In Havana and all over the island, the cafeteria counter has a blender that never stops, turning out batidos of mango, guanábana, papaya and the favourite of all, mamey. The fruit has a rough brown skin and a soft, salmon-red flesh that tastes like sweet potato, pumpkin pie, almond and apricot at once, and blended with cold milk it makes a shake so thick it is almost a dessert. It is drunk mid-afternoon on hot days, at breakfast with toast, or at a kid's birthday party; Miami's Cuban cafés keep the tradition alive with frozen pulp. The common mistake is using a hard mamey, which tastes starchy and slightly bitter; the fruit must give like a ripe avocado when pressed and show deep red flesh when you scratch the skin with a fingernail. The batido is ready when it is smooth, pumpkin-orange and pours slowly in a thick ribbon. Frozen mamey pulp from Latin American shops is a good substitute; reduce the ice because the pulp is already cold. Chef's tip: a pinch of salt and a drop of vanilla bring out mamey's almond notes.

5 min

Cuban Drinks

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Shanghai cai fanRice with bok choy and pork

Cai fan, "vegetable rice", is what Shanghai grandmothers cook on cold winter days and what office workers buy steaming from the canteen: rice cooked in one pot with Shanghai bok choy and diced salted pork, enriched with a spoon of lard so every grain glistens. It goes into an insulated lunch tin piping hot. The common mistake is adding the greens with the raw rice, which turns them khaki and mushy; fry the stems first and stir the leaves in at the end. For a vegetarian version, use oil instead of lard, leave out the pork and add diced shiitake. Chef's tip: let the pot sit undisturbed on the lowest heat for the last 5 minutes to form a thin golden crust, guoba, at the bottom.

45 min

Chinese Rice & Grains

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BortsAir-dried beef strips

Borts is the winter-dried meat of Mongolian herding families: in the cold, dry air of late autumn, strips of beef are hung inside the ger until they shrink to hard, dark sticks, then pounded and stored in a bag to last until spring. A handful of borts dropped into hot water makes an instant soup, and nomads carry it on long journeys. In Mongolia it is also made from horse or camel meat; this recipe uses beef. Home kitchens don't have the steppe's freezing dry air, so here the meat is heated to a safe temperature first and dried in a low oven. A common mistake is leaving fat on the strips; fat turns rancid, so trim it all. Chef's tip: slice the meat while half-frozen to get thin, even strips.

450 min

Mongolian Meat

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TitiyasCoconut milk flatbread

Titiyas are the soft, slightly sweet flatbreads of Guam and the Marianas, cooked on a griddle and eaten warm at breakfast, with fiesta food or rolled round a piece of grilled meat. Flour titiyas are made with coconut milk, which keeps them tender and gives a faint coconut taste; there is also a corn version (titiyas mai'es). A common mistake is rolling them too thick; 5 mm cooks through without burning. Chef's tip: cook on a dry, medium-hot pan and wrap each one in a towel as it comes off so they stay soft.

30 minPacific Islander Breads & Parathas

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Beni shogaRed pickled ginger

Beni shoga is the bright pink tangle you see on Osaka street food: piled beside yakisoba, scattered on okonomiyaki, folded into takoyaki batter and heaped on a bowl of gyudon at lunchtime. Kansai cooks make it in early summer, when umeboshi plums finish salting and leave behind red umezu, the salty, sour, shiso-coloured plum vinegar that both cures and dyes the ginger. The result is crunchy, sharp and salty, with a clean ginger heat and none of the sweetness of sushi gari. Young summer ginger gives the most tender threads; mature ginger works but is hotter and more fibrous, so cut it thinner. If you cannot find red umezu, use rice vinegar with salt and a slice of raw beetroot for colour (see the note). The common mistake is skipping the salting and drying: wet ginger dilutes the umezu and turns soft and dull. Squeeze it and let it dry so it drinks up the vinegar. It is ready when the threads are evenly rosy right through and taste salty-sour rather than raw. Chef's tip: save the pink vinegar left in the jar; a spoonful in potato salad or rice for onigiri is excellent.

20 min

Japanese Chutneys & Dips

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Bellam paramannamRice and moong dal jaggery pudding

Bellam paramannam is the naivedyam of Telangana and Andhra homes, cooked for Sankranti, Ugadi, Varalakshmi Vratam and almost any puja, a soft rice-and-moong pudding sweetened with jaggery and glossed with ghee. Its colour is a warm caramel and its taste deeper than a sugar kheer. The classic mistake is adding jaggery to milk that is still on a high boil, which can split it; take the pot off the heat, let it stop bubbling, then stir the jaggery in. Chef's tip: roast the moong dal in a spoon of ghee until it smells toasty before cooking; it gives the paramannam its homely flavour.

45 min

Indian Indian Sweets

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Bellam avakayaSweet raw mango pickle

In the Godavari districts of coastal Andhra, the same May afternoon that produces a jar of fiery avakaya usually produces a second jar of bellam avakaya for the children and anyone who likes it sweet. The mangoes are hacked into chunks with their skin and the hard shell of the stone still attached, then tossed with chilli, mustard powder, salt and plenty of grated jaggery. Over three or four days the jaggery melts into a dark, glossy syrup that clings to every piece. It tastes sweet first, then the mustard catches the nose and the chilli warms the back of the throat; the mango stays firm and sour. Eat it with pesarattu, dosa, chapati or curd rice. The salt is about 8% of the mango weight and the fruit is acidic, so it keeps all year under oil in a dry jar. Common mistake: cutting the mangoes wet or leaving sap and water on them; any moisture invites mould, so dry each piece with a cloth. It is ready when no jaggery grains remain and a film of oil rises to the top. Chef's tip: wipe off the milky sap at the stalk end before cutting; it stings the skin and tastes bitter.

45 min

Indian Chutneys & Dips

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Morcilla dulceSweet blood sausage with walnuts

No Uruguayan parrilla is complete without morcilla dulce: a soft pork blood sausage sweetened with sugar and scented with orange peel, studded with walnuts and raisins, grilled until the skin crisps and served first, as part of the achuras, while the beef is still cooking. It is pork throughout: pork blood, pork back fat and natural pork casings. Making it at home is a project. Buy fresh pork blood with an anticoagulant added from a butcher who supplies it for sausage making, keep it chilled below 4 °C and use it within a day. The common mistake is poaching at a rolling boil, which bursts the casings. Chef's tip: keep the water at 80–85 °C, just shivering, and prick a sausage after 25 minutes: it is done when brown, not red, juice comes out.

120 min

Paraguayan Meat

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MorochoCracked white corn drink

Morocho is what Quiteños drink on a chilly evening at a market stall, often with a crisp empanada de morocho alongside: cracked white corn simmered for an hour with milk, cinnamon and cloves until it turns into a thick, creamy drink you half sip, half spoon, studded with plump raisins. It tastes like a gently spiced rice pudding made with corn. The usual mistake is adding the milk too early and not stirring, so it catches and scorches on the bottom of the pan. Chef's tip: soak the corn overnight; it cooks faster and more evenly and turns properly creamy.

80 minAndean Drinks

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MosbolletjiesAniseed grape buns

Each harvest, wine farms around Paarl and the Boland once used foaming fresh grape must to raise these sweet, tear-apart buns, and some families still bake them every January and dry what is left into rusks for coffee dunking. This home method replaces the must with a starter of pure grape juice, raisins and a little yeast, bubbled overnight; the tiny trace of alcohol the fermentation makes bakes off in the oven. The buns are soft and feathery, gently sweet, scented with aniseed and glazed with a sticky sugar wash. Rushing is the mistake: this dough rises slowly overnight and needs to double properly at each stage, or the buns turn out dense. Chef's tip: use juice with no added preservatives, which stop the starter from fermenting.

105 min

South African Baking

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Mote pilloHominy with egg and spring onion

In Cuenca's old cafés mote pillo arrives at breakfast or with the late-afternoon coffee, a plate of fat white hominy kernels fried in achiote butter and folded through with just-set egg and crumbled fresh cheese. The kernels stay chewy and nutty, the egg soft and glossy, and a big cup of black coffee or a slice of grilled cheese bread is all it wants beside it. The usual mistake is leaving the eggs on the heat until they dry into rubbery crumbs; pull the pan off while they still shine. Traditional queso fresco is often set with animal rennet; choose a cheese labelled vegetarian if that matters to you. Chef's tip: dry the drained mote on a tea towel first, so it fries and colours in the butter instead of steaming.

25 minAndean Breakfast & Brunch

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BettarazukeSweet koji-cured daikon

Every 19 and 20 October, the lanes around Takarada Ebisu Shrine in Nihonbashi fill with stalls for the Bettara-ichi, Tokyo's old pickle fair, where vendors hold up whole daikon dripping with rice koji and passers-by try not to get 'bettari', sticky. The pickle has been an Edo favourite since the 1700s: daikon salted, then buried in amazake, the sweet porridge that koji makes from rice. It tastes mild, sweet and fresh, with a clean crunch and a faint fermented, sake-lees perfume, which makes it a favourite with children and a pause between salty dishes. Bettarazuke is low in salt and acid, so it lives in the fridge from start to finish. The common mistake is adding the daikon while the amazake is still warm: it cooks the surface and softens the crunch, so cool it fully. It is ready when the daikon is translucent at the edges, juicy, and the koji coating tastes sweet with a light tang. Chef's tip: make the amazake in a rice cooker on keep-warm with the lid ajar and a cloth over it, so it holds about 60 °C; a thermometer helps the first time.

55 min

Japanese Chutneys & Dips

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Besan chillaGram flour pancakes

Across North India, besan chilla is the answer when the tiffin needs packing in fifteen minutes: a pourable gram flour batter studded with onion, tomato, chilli and coriander, cooked thin on a tawa, then rolled up with chutney or ketchup. It is naturally egg-free and filling. The common mistake is a thick batter, which gives a heavy, raw-tasting pancake; it should flow like single cream. Chef's tip: spread the batter with the back of a ladle in quick circles from the centre outward, and cover the pan for the first minute so the top steams set.

25 min

Indian Breakfast & Brunch

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Rissóis de camarãoCreamy prawn turnovers

Pastelarias along Avenida Julius Nyerere in Maputo stack trays of these golden half-moons by mid-morning, and they disappear at birthday parties, christenings and office leaving dos by the dozen. The dough is a cooked, soft milk-and-butter pastry rather than a raw one, rolled thin, filled with prawns in a thick, nutmeg-scented white sauce with a little lemon and chilli, then dipped in egg and crumbs and fried. Bite through and you get a crisp shell, a tender pastry layer and a molten, sweet-savoury filling. Serve them warm with a squeeze of lemon and a little piri-piri sauce for the grown-ups. Chef's tip: chill the filling until it is completely cold and firm before you fill; warm filling is the usual reason rissóis burst in the oil.

90 minSouthern African Snacks & Starters

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Mu jorimBraised radish

In Korean homes, when the winter radishes are sweet and juicy, they are cut into thick rounds and braised slowly in soy, chilli flakes and garlic until they turn amber and almost melting. Mackerel or hairtail is often cooked on top; this version leaves the fish out and uses a quick kelp broth for depth. It is even better the next day, cold, in a dosirak. The common mistake is cutting the radish thin, so it breaks up before it has absorbed the sauce. Chef's tip: simmer the radish in the broth alone first, until a chopstick slides in, and only then add the soy, so the salt does not toughen it.

45 min

Korean Sides

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Bhopali mutton pasandeMarinated mutton escalopes

Pasande come from the Nawabi kitchens of Bhopal, where boneless leg of mutton is cut into thin slices and beaten flat, then marinated in yogurt, raw papaya, ground fried onion and spices and cooked low until meltingly tender. They are made for Eid, weddings and dawats and eaten with sheermal or rotis. This dish contains mutton: marinate it in the fridge and cook it until the meat reaches 71 °C and is fork-tender. The common mistake is cooking on high heat, which seizes the thin slices and toughens them. Chef's tip: beat the slices between cling film with a rolling pin to an even 5 mm; even thickness means every piece is tender at the same time.

100 min

Indian Meat

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Bhapa ilishSteamed hilsa in mustard

When the monsoon brings hilsa up the Padma and Hooghly rivers, Kolkata households cook bhapa ilish, the fish steamed in a pungent paste of mustard seeds, green chilli and mustard oil in a closed tiffin box. It is the star of Jamai Sasthi and of any rainy-season Sunday, served with plain rice. The fish is rich and tender, with a nose-tingling mustard heat. Suitable as part of a balanced diet: high in protein and omega-3 fats, with no starch in the dish itself. About 340 kcal and 4 g carbohydrate per portion; keep the rice portion modest. The usual mistake is grinding the mustard seeds too long or with warm water, which turns the paste bitter; grind briefly with cold water, a pinch of salt and a green chilli. Hilsa is bony, so eat slowly and warn guests. Chef's tip: drizzle raw mustard oil over the top just before closing the box; it gives the true Bengali aroma.

40 min

Indian Fish

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BhaturuStuffed fermented wheat bread

Bhaturu is the breakfast bread of the Kangra and Kullu valleys, made from wheat dough left to ferment overnight with a little old starter or curd until it is light and sour, then rolled out, sometimes stuffed with a spiced lentil filling, and baked on the griddle. It is eaten hot with ghee, a tangy chutney or the madra left from the night before, and is a fixture at village fairs. Ferment it somewhere warm (25–30 °C) for 8–10 hours; it should smell pleasantly sour and be bubbly. Discard the dough if it smells of nail varnish, turns pink, grey or fuzzy, or has a slimy feel. The common mistake is rolling it thin like a chapati, which loses the soft crumb; keep it as thick as your little finger. Chef's tip: cook it on a medium, not fierce, tawa so the centre bakes through before the outside burns.

60 min

Indian Breads & Parathas

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Chinese bhelCrispy noodle bhel

Mumbai's Indo-Chinese carts, parked outside colleges in Dadar and Matunga from late afternoon, sell this street invention that borrows the idea of bhel and swaps the puffed rice for golden fried noodles. Raw shredded cabbage, carrot and capsicum are thrown in with Schezwan sauce, ketchup, a dash of soy and vinegar, and tossed so fast the noodles still crackle when you eat them. Chef's tip: dry the boiled noodles thoroughly on a tray before frying; wet noodles spit and fry up chewy rather than crisp.

25 min

Indian Snacks & Starters

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OgokbapFive-grain rice

Ogokbap is cooked across Korea for Jeongwol Daeboreum, the first full moon of the lunar year, when families share five-grain rice with nine kinds of dried namul and crack nuts to wish for good health. Sticky rice, millet, sorghum, black soybeans and adzuki beans cook together into a chewy, purple-tinged rice with a nutty, gently sweet flavour. It is good any time of year beside soup and banchan. The usual mistake is putting the adzuki beans in raw with the rice: they stay hard while the rice turns soft, so parboil them first. Chef's tip: keep a little of the adzuki cooking water for the rice, as it gives ogokbap its lovely rosy colour.

70 min

Korean Rice & Grains

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Golden syrup dumplings

Golden syrup dumplings are a winter pudding from Australian country kitchens, made during the Depression and still cooked by grandmothers in the Riverina and the Victorian high country when the nights turn cold. Soft scone-dough balls simmer in a sauce of golden syrup, butter and brown sugar until they swell and turn sticky. Serve with vanilla ice cream or custard. A common mistake is a pan that's too small; the dumplings double in size and need space. Chef's tip: keep the lid on and resist peeking, so the tops steam light and fluffy.

35 min

Australian Desserts

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Bir pletokSpiced ginger drink

Bir pletok was the Betawi answer, in old Batavia, to the beer and wine drunk by the Dutch: a red, warming spice drink with no alcohol at all, served at weddings, at Lebaran open houses and in the evenings at Jakarta's Setu Babakan cultural village. 'Pletok' is said to be the popping sound it made when shaken in a bamboo tube to raise a foam. Ginger, lemongrass, pandan, cloves, cinnamon and cardamom are simmered with chips of secang (sappanwood), which turns the liquid deep ruby. It tastes hot and peppery from the ginger, perfumed from the pandan, sweet and lightly woody, and is drunk warm or with ice. The common mistake is skimping on ginger or slicing it thin and boiling briefly; you need plenty, bruised, and a slow simmer to draw out the heat. It is ready when the liquid is a clear ruby red and the ginger burn catches at the back of your throat. Secang chips are in Indonesian shops; dried hibiscus flowers give a similar red, slightly sourer. Keeps 5 days in the fridge. Chef's tip: shake each serving hard in a closed jar before pouring to get the foamy head.

40 min

Indonesian Drinks

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Boller i karry for toddlersMeatballs in mild curry for toddlers

Boller i karry, meatballs in curry, is one of Denmark's best-loved dinners, voted a national favourite and cooked on weeknights from Copenhagen's Nørrebro to farmhouses in Jutland. The meatballs are pork, poached gently rather than fried, and the sauce is mild and creamy, made from the poaching liquid with apple and leek and just a pinch of curry powder. For toddlers from 12 months there is no stock cube and very little salt, and the meatballs are cut small. It contains wheat (gluten), milk and egg; there are no nuts or soya. Chef's tip: keep the poaching water at a bare shiver; boiling makes the meatballs tough and crumbly.

60 minScandinavian Meat

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Pineapple gojjuSweet and sour pineapple gravy

Pineapple gojju turns up on banana leaves at Kannada weddings, housewarmings and Ugadi feasts, where its bright sweet-sour-hot taste cuts through the rice, saaru and payasa. Ripe pineapple is simmered with tamarind and jaggery, then thickened with a roasted paste of sesame, coconut, chilli and lentils until glossy. It is eaten in small spoonfuls with rice or chapati, or as a relish on the side. The usual mistake is adding the jaggery too early and boiling it hard, which makes it sticky and dull; let the pineapple soften first. It keeps for 4 days in the fridge. Chef's tip: toast the sesame seeds separately and add them last, so they stay nutty and you can hear them crackle.

40 min

Indian Curries

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Bilahi chutneySweet-sour tomato chutney

Bilahi is the Assamese word for tomato, and this glossy red chutney, sweet with jaggery and warmed with nigella and dried chilli, closes a festive Assamese meal, especially at weddings and on Bihu, as the sweet-sour last course before curd and sweets. Everyday cooks in Jorhat and Guwahati make a quick batch in winter when tomatoes are cheap. The mistake to avoid is adding the jaggery too early, which scorches before the tomatoes have broken down. Chef's tip: a few dates or raisins added with the jaggery give the chutney a deeper, jammy sweetness.

25 min

Indian Chutneys & Dips

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ButterbrotRye bread with cheese and vegetables

Every German schoolchild knows the Pausenbrot: two slices of rye or mixed-grain bread spread with good butter, closed around a slice of cheese, wrapped in paper and eaten in the mid-morning break, with a few cucumber or apple slices on the side. Adults take the same Butterbrot to work. The common mistake is spreading cold, hard butter, which tears the bread and leaves bare patches that let any wet filling soak in. Many Gouda-style cheeses use animal rennet, so choose one marked vegetarian. Chef's tip: butter right to the crust on both slices; the butter is a waterproof layer that keeps the bread fresh until lunchtime.

10 min

German Breakfast & Brunch

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BinatogBoiled hominy with coconut

Binatog is an afternoon snack sold from bicycle carts that ring their way through the side streets of Manila, especially around Tondo and Sampaloc, the vendor scooping steaming white corn from a big tin can into small cups. The kernels are plump, chewy and nutty, piled with snowy grated coconut and finished with salt or sugar to taste, so everyone gets it the way they like. It is simple, filling and naturally vegan. Dried white hominy (pozole corn) has already been treated with lime, which gives the chewy, popped kernels; if you can only find canned hominy, rinse it and warm it for 10 minutes instead. Chef's tip: keep the kernels at a gentle simmer; a hard boil splits them before they become tender.

120 min

Filipino Snacks & Starters

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Huangmen jimifanBraised chicken rice

Huangmen jimifan began in Jinan, in Shandong, and spread to thousands of little clay-pot shops across China where office workers queue at noon for a bubbling pot of chicken braised dark and glossy with shiitake, ginger and green pepper, eaten over plain rice. It reheats perfectly in a work microwave. The common mistake is using breast, which goes dry and stringy in the braise; bone-in thigh stays juicy. Chef's tip: caramelise the rock sugar in the oil before the chicken goes in, which gives the sauce its amber colour without extra dark soy.

45 min

Chinese Chicken

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Mayai pasuaSplit eggs with kachumbari

Glass-boxed carts outside Nairobi's bars and matatu stages sell mayai pasua into the evening: a vendor splits a hard-boiled egg with a knife, packs the gap with fresh kachumbari and shakes over salt and chilli. It is a quick, protein-heavy snack that tastes cool and sharp from the onion, tomato and lime against the soft yolk. Make a plateful for a party or a packed lunch, and serve with a dash of chilli sauce. The mistake to avoid is a soft or jammy yolk; for street style the eggs must be fully hard-boiled so they split cleanly. Chef's tip: salt the chopped onion with the lime juice for 5 minutes before adding the tomato; it softens the raw bite the way the vendors' pre-mixed kachumbari does.

15 minEast African Snacks & Starters

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Khao kai jiaoThai omelette over rice

When there is no time for anything else, Bangkok office workers, students and taxi drivers eat khao khai jiao: eggs beaten with fish sauce and poured into very hot oil so they puff into a lacy, golden, crisp-edged omelette, slid onto a mound of jasmine rice with a squirt of chilli sauce. It is also the omelette mothers put in school lunch boxes. The common mistake is oil that is not hot enough, so the egg sits flat and greasy instead of ballooning up. For a vegetarian version, season with light soy sauce instead of fish sauce. Chef's tip: beat in a squeeze of lime and a spoon of water until very frothy; the air and steam make it puff dramatically.

10 min

Thai Rice & Grains

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KapanaGrilled beef strips with chilli salt

Walk into the Single Quarters market in Katutura on a Friday afternoon and the smoke hits you first: rows of braai stands, butchers cutting beef into small pieces straight onto the grill, and customers standing around eating with their fingers. The meat is charred and salty outside, juicy within, dipped into a pile of red chilli salt and topped with a raw tomato, onion and chilli relish. Kapana means roughly 'small pieces', and it is eaten on the spot, with fat cakes (vetkoek) or just more relish. Cook the beef right through until no pink remains, as the market grills do, and let it rest a moment. Chef's tip: cut the strips small and thin so they char quickly; the common mistake is cutting them chunky, so the outside burns before the middle is done.

30 minSouthern African Meat

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LongganisaGarlic pork sausages

Every Philippine province has its longganisa, from the garlicky, sour sausages of Vigan to the oregano-scented ones of Lucban and the sweet, sticky Pampanga style; this homemade skinless (hubad) version sits between them. These pork sausages are fried until caramelised, then packed into the baon (packed lunch) with sinangag garlic rice and a fried egg. The common mistake is frying them hard from raw, which burns the sugar before the pork is cooked; simmer them in a little water first. Chef's tip: roll the mixture in baking paper and chill overnight, and the sausages slice and fry far more neatly.

45 min

Filipino Meat

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BlåbärssoppaBilberry soup

Swedes have drunk blåbärssoppa for generations, warm on a winter morning and cold from a cup after the Vasaloppet ski race, where skiers are handed it at every station. It is a thin, deep purple soup of bilberries or blueberries, sweetened and thickened just enough with potato starch to coat the tongue. The common mistake is boiling the soup after adding the starch: it turns stringy and then thins out again, so take it off the heat as soon as it thickens. Chef's tip: wild bilberries give a far deeper colour and flavour than cultivated blueberries, and frozen ones work perfectly.

15 minScandinavian Soups

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TovveToor dal with green chilli

Tovve is the plainest dal of the Udupi temple kitchens and of Kannada homes along the coast: toor or moong cooked soft, seasoned with green chilli and ginger and finished with a sizzling ghee tempering. There is no tomato, no onion and no masala, so it is the first dal children eat and what families cook for a light dinner or after a fast, with rice, a spoon of ghee and a lemon pickle. Its flavour depends on a well-cooked dal, so it must be soft enough to fall apart when stirred. The usual mistake is adding salt before the dal is tender, which keeps it grainy. Chef's tip: whisk the cooked dal hard for 30 seconds before tempering; the smooth, creamy texture is what makes tovve taste of more than its few ingredients.

40 min

Indian Curries

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BlatjangDried apricot chutney

Bo-Kaap households keep a jar of blatjang beside the salt, because a spoonful goes next to almost everything: bobotie, a bowl of curry and rice, cheese on toast, a braaied mielie. Dried apricots are simmered down in vinegar with onion, ginger, garlic and red chilli until the fruit collapses into a thick, glossy, burnt-orange paste that is sweet first, then sour, then warm at the back of the throat. Some aunties keep it chunky, others push it through a sieve until it is as smooth as a sauce; both are right. The usual mistake is to take it off the heat while it still looks loose in the pot, which leaves a runny chutney that weeps in the jar. Chef's tip: soak the apricots overnight in the vinegar and they break down in half the time, with a cleaner, brighter fruit flavour.

60 min

South African Chutneys & Dips

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Bò bíaJicama and sausage rice paper rolls

Bò bía carts park outside the schools of Chợ Lớn, Saigon's Chinatown, every afternoon, and the vendor rolls each one to order: sweet stir-fried jicama and carrot, crisp slices of lạp xưởng (Chinese pork sausage), toasted dried shrimp and ribbons of omelette, wrapped with basil and lettuce in soft rice paper and dipped in hoisin sauce loosened with peanut butter. It is a cousin of Chinese popiah and a favourite after-school snack. Chef's tip: dip the rice paper for only a second or two; it keeps softening as you fill it.

40 min

Vietnamese Snacks & Starters

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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 min

Korean Drinks

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Café de higoFig and grain coffee

In the farmhouses of central Chile, in the Maule and O'Higgins valleys, people have long drunk café de higo: a dark, caffeine-free "coffee" made from dried figs roasted with grains such as barley and wheat, then ground. It's mellow, fruity and slightly caramel-like, and many Chileans still prefer it with milk at breakfast. The fig granules are sold in Chilean and Latin grocers. The common mistake is brewing it like instant coffee, with a quick stir; it's a ground blend, so simmer it briefly and strain. It contains grains, so it is not gluten free. Chef's tip: a strip of orange peel in the pan brings out the fig flavour.

10 min

Chilean Drinks

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Bolo de pubaFermented cassava cake

In Bahia, Pernambuco and Maranhão the afternoon and early-morning coffee table often carries a slab of bolo de puba, a dense, custardy cake made from puba, cassava that has been soaked until it ferments and softens into a tangy white paste. Coconut milk, grated coconut, eggs and butter turn it into something between a cake and a pudding, with a caramel-brown crust and a moist, slightly springy middle; it is especially loved around the June São João festivals. Puba is sold in Brazilian and African grocers as massa puba or carimã; it contains no wheat, so the cake is naturally gluten free. The common mistake is cutting it hot: it sets as it cools and will be gummy if sliced too early. Chef's tip: squeeze the puba in a clean cloth first if it is very wet, so the batter is thick enough to hold the coconut in suspension rather than letting it sink.

75 min

Brazilian Baking

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Mochai kottai kuzhambuField bean gravy

Across Tamil Nadu, from Madurai to Tirunelveli, mochai kottai kuzhambu is a winter and weekend curry: dried field beans and small brinjals stewed in a thick tamarind and sambar-powder gravy with shallots and garlic. It is cooked in a big batch, because everyone agrees it tastes better the next day, and eaten with rice, a spoon of sesame oil and appalam or a simple keerai. The beans turn creamy and the brinjal melts into the sauce. Dried field beans must be soaked and boiled until completely soft; never eat them undercooked. The usual mistake is adding the tamarind before the beans are tender, because acid stops them softening. Slow-cooker: boil the soaked beans hard on the hob for 10 minutes first, then cook everything on low for 6 hours. Chef's tip: fry the brinjal in the oil before the gravy goes in, so it holds its shape instead of dissolving.

85 min

Indian Curries

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NeureosCoconut and jaggery pastries

No Goan Catholic kuswar, the tray of Christmas sweets sent to neighbours, is complete without neureos, little crimped half-moons of crisp pastry stuffed with fresh coconut cooked down with jaggery, cardamom and a few raisins or cashews. Families gather in the week before Christmas to roll, fill and pinch them by the hundred, and they keep well in a tin until New Year. The common mistake is a wet filling: if the coconut mix is still moist when sealed the pastries burst in the oil, so cook it until it leaves the pan and cool it fully. Chef's tip: use a fluted pastry wheel to trim the edge after crimping, which gives the classic frilly finish and a tighter seal.

75 min

Indian Indian Sweets

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Bossam kimchiWrapped cabbage kimchi

Bossam kimchi comes from Gaeseong, the old Goryeo capital just north of today's border, and it is the kimchi families make with special care at kimjang time in late November and set out for Seollal guests. Instead of rubbing seasoning into whole cabbage halves, the inner leaves are folded around a rich filling of radish, Korean pear, chestnut, jujube, pine nuts and herbs, then wrapped in large outer leaves like a gift. Unwrapped at the table, it is crisp, juicy and sweet from the pear, with mellow chilli heat and the savoury depth of salted shrimp. Traditional versions add raw oysters; here they are optional. Raw oysters are not safe for pregnant people, babies, older people or anyone with weak immunity, so leave them out for those guests or for any kimchi you mean to keep beyond 3 days. The common mistake is under-rinsing the cabbage, which makes every parcel too salty; rinse three times and taste a stem. It is ready after 3–4 days in the fridge, when the juice turns pleasantly sour and slightly fizzy. Chef's tip: tie each parcel with a blanched scallion if the leaves won't stay closed.

130 min

Korean Chutneys & Dips

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Nilagang saba mash for babiesBoiled banana mash for babies

Saba, the short, square-edged cooking banana piled in every palengke from Quezon City to Davao, is boiled in its skin for nilagang saging, a merienda (afternoon snack) eaten with a cup of coffee. For babies, the same boiled saba is peeled and mashed into a soft, peachy, honey-sweet purée, and it is one of the most common first foods in Filipino homes. Saba is firmer and starchier than an eating banana, which is why it is always cooked. Nothing is added: no salt, sugar or condensed milk under one. It is free of the major allergens. Chef's tip: pick saba whose skins are yellow with black spots; green ones are too starchy and can upset small tummies.

20 min

Filipino Desserts

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Sop konroBeef rib soup

Sop konro is the pride of Makassar in South Sulawesi, where warung near the harbour serve big bowls of beef ribs in an almost black broth from lunchtime into the night, often with burasa (rice cooked in coconut milk) or plain rice. The colour and earthy, chocolatey depth come from keluak (kluwek) nuts, simmered with a paste of shallots, garlic, ginger, galangal, toasted coriander seed and candlenut until the rib meat slides off the bone. The usual mistake is using raw keluak: the nuts are only safe after long fermentation, so buy them ready-prepared from an Indonesian shop, and discard any that smell sour or are dry inside. A pressure cooker gets the ribs tender in 50 minutes. Chef's tip: toast the coriander seeds until they crackle before grinding; they carry the whole soup.

180 min

Indonesian Soups

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Bogobe jwa lerotseSorghum and melon porridge

When the lerotse melons ripen on the lands around Serowe and Mahalapye after the summer rains, households stir their pale flesh into the evening pot of sorghum, and the porridge turns soft, smooth and quietly sweet. Lerotse is a hard-skinned field melon, closer to a mild marrow than a dessert melon, so it melts into the bogobe and gives it a light, fresh taste against the sour, nutty grain. It is eaten as a side with seswaa, beans or morogo, or on its own for supper with a sprinkle of sugar. Outside Botswana, look for lerotse at African grocers; otherwise a firm cooking melon or a winter melon gives a very close result. Chef's tip: the mistake people make is dumping the sorghum in at once, which gives lumps; rain it in slowly while you whisk.

45 minSouthern African Sides

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Naengchae jokbalCold sliced pork trotter

Busan's Jokbal Alley in Bupyeong-dong, beside Kkangtong Market, is where braised pork trotter was first served cold as a salad, a summer trick that spread across Korea. The pork trotters are simmered for hours in soy, ginger and spices until the skin turns sticky and tender, chilled, sliced thin and tossed with cucumber, shredded jellyfish and a nose-tingling dressing of Korean mustard, vinegar and garlic. It is evening food, shared from a big platter. Chef's tip: slice the meat only once it is fully cold; warm trotter meat tears instead of cutting into clean slices.

190 min

Korean Meat

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LaphingCold starch sheet noodles

Laphing came to Kathmandu with Tibetan families, and the alleys around the great stupa at Boudha are full of tiny stalls selling it every afternoon, to monks, students and office workers alike. Flour dough is washed in water to separate the starch from the gluten; the starch is steamed into thin, jelly-like sheets and the gluten into a spongy filling, then everything is rolled up and drowned in fiery chilli oil, garlic water, soy sauce and vinegar. It is cold, slippery, chewy and very hot. Contains wheat (gluten) and soya. Chef's tip: steam each sheet no thicker than 3 mm; thick layers set rubbery instead of silky.

180 min

Nepali Snacks & Starters

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Paruppu urundai kuzhambuLentil dumpling gravy

Paruppu urundai kuzhambu is a Sunday-lunch treat in Tamil homes from Chennai to Coimbatore: coarse balls of soaked chana and toor dal, spiked with fennel, chilli and shallot, dropped raw into a bubbling tamarind gravy where they steam and firm up. The dumplings come out soft inside and soak up the sour, spicy sauce, and the crumbs that escape thicken the gravy. Serve it with plain rice, a spoon of sesame oil and a vegetable poriyal. The usual mistake is stirring as soon as the balls go in, which breaks them; leave them alone until they float and feel firm. Chef's tip: drop one test ball in first; if it cracks, knead a spoon of rice flour into the mixture before shaping the rest.

65 min

Indian Curries

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ThenthukHand-pulled noodle soup

In the Tibetan restaurants around Boudha stupa in Kathmandu, thenthuk is what people order on cold evenings and winter mornings: pieces of dough are pulled flat and pinched straight into a light broth with mutton or buffalo, tomato, radish and spinach. The noodles are thick, soft and slightly uneven, and the soup is gentle and warming, with a little soy and spring onion. This home version uses mutton or lamb. Contains wheat and soya. Chef's tip: pull the dough so thin you can almost see your fingers through it; thick pieces stay doughy in the middle.

50 min

Nepali Soups

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Berinjela refogadaSauteed aubergine with tomato

Brazilian home cooks make berinjela refogada on Sunday and spoon it into the week's marmitas beside rice, beans and a piece of grilled chicken or an egg; it reheats beautifully and tastes even better on the second day. The aubergine cooks down until silky with garlic, onion, tomato and oregano. The common mistake is pouring in more oil every time the pan looks dry; aubergine soaks it up and turns greasy. Add a splash of water instead and cover the pan so the cubes steam soft. Chef's tip: a squeeze of lime and a little chopped parsley just before packing lift the flavour after a night in the fridge.

30 min

Brazilian Sides

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BourrideFish stew with garlic sauce

Bourride is the fish stew of Sète and the Provençal coast, a quieter, creamier cousin of bouillabaisse eaten for Friday lunch and summer dinners by the sea. Firm white fish poaches in a broth of fennel, leek, orange peel and thyme, then the broth is thickened with a rich garlic aïoli until it turns silky and pale gold. It is high in protein and suitable as part of a balanced diet; skip the traditional bread or keep it to one thin slice, and serve with steamed greens. About 400 kcal and 8 g carbohydrate per portion. The usual mistake is letting the broth boil after the aïoli goes in, which splits it like scrambled egg. Chef's tip: use pasteurised egg yolks, and stir the broth over a low heat until it coats a spoon and reaches about 72 °C.

50 min

French Fish

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Chikuwa isobe-ageSeaweed-battered fish cake

Isobe-age, "fried in the style of the rocky shore", means anything coated in a batter speckled with green aonori seaweed, and chikuwa isobe-age is the one every Japanese parent tucks into a bento: tubes of chikuwa fish cake fried until puffed and crisp. It is just as good cold and takes ten minutes. The common mistake is a thick batter, which turns bready; it should be like single cream. Chef's tip: dust the chikuwa with a little flour before dipping, so the batter clings and does not slide off in the oil.

15 min

Japanese Fish

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Cowheel soup

In Trinidad and Tobago, cowheel soup is Saturday soup: the big pot people make at home or buy from roadside soup vendors after a fete, believed to set you right again. Cow heel is simmered for hours until gelatinous, then yellow split peas, pumpkin and 'provisions' such as dasheen, cassava, eddoes and green bananas go in, with green seasoning, a whole scotch bonnet for perfume and soft flour dumplings dropped in at the end. The broth turns thick and silky from the collagen and split peas. The usual mistake is bursting the scotch bonnet, which makes the pot fiercely hot; leave it whole and lift it out. A pressure cooker gets the cow heel tender in 50 minutes. Chef's tip: buy cow heel already cut and scraped by the butcher, then scrub it with lime before cooking.

200 min

Trinidadian Soups

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Lolly cakeNo-bake malt biscuit log

Lolly cake is the no-bake treat every New Zealand child helps make for birthday parties and bake sales, a log of crushed malt biscuits bound with butter and condensed milk, studded with chewy, brightly coloured fruit lollies (fruit puffs) and rolled in coconut. Sliced into rounds, it shows off the colours. A common mistake is crushing the biscuits to dust; leave some small chunks for texture. Many fruit lollies contain gelatine, so choose gelatine-free ones to keep it vegetarian. Chef's tip: wrap the log tightly in cling film and twist the ends so it chills into a neat cylinder.

20 min

New Zealand Desserts

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'O pere e 'o mussoCold boiled pork trotters

"The foot and the snout" is one of Naples' oldest street foods: pork trotters and veal muzzle, boiled for hours, cooled and sliced, then sold from marble-topped carts in Porta Nolana, the Pignasecca and around Piazza Garibaldi. The vendor dresses each paper plate with coarse salt from a hollowed ox horn and a squeeze of lemon. It is eaten cold, at any hour, often as a snack with a beer or a glass of wine, though lemonade works just as well. The texture is soft and gelatinous with a little chew from the skin. Buy the snout already cleaned and scalded from a butcher. Chef's tip: slice everything while it is fridge-cold and firm; at room temperature the gelatin turns slippery and the slices tear.

210 min

Italian Meat

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Katsu sandoPork cutlet sandwich

Katsu sando began in Tokyo tonkatsu shops in the 1930s as a cutlet you could carry, and is now a fixture of department-store food halls, train-station kiosks and lunchboxes all over Japan: a crisp panko pork loin cutlet soaked in sweet-sour tonkatsu sauce between pillowy white bread, crusts trimmed off. The common mistake is slicing it while hot, which squashes the bread and makes it soggy; let it rest under a light weight first. Pork loin is a whole cut, so cook it to 63 °C and rest it for 3 minutes. Chef's tip: butter the bread with a little mustard mixed in; it stops the sauce soaking through and adds a gentle kick.

35 min

Japanese Meat

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BrudetFisherman's fish stew

Brudet (or brodetto) is the fisherman's stew of the Dalmatian coast and islands, cooked in Split, Hvar and Korčula with whatever the morning's catch brings, and eaten for Friday lunch and summer suppers. Thick fish steaks on the bone stew slowly in olive oil with onion, garlic, tomato and a dash of wine vinegar, and the pot is shaken, never stirred. It is high in protein and suitable as part of a balanced diet; polenta is the classic partner, but grilled courgettes, chard or a small portion of soft polenta keep the carbohydrate down. About 330 kcal and 10 g carbohydrate per portion. The usual mistake is stirring with a spoon, which breaks the fish into shreds. Chef's tip: use at least three kinds of fish, mixing firm and softer ones, for a deeper broth.

60 minBalkan Fish

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Bokkeum kimchiStir-fried kimchi with pork belly

When a jar of kimchi turns very sour in Korean homes, it gets stir-fried with a little sugar and sesame oil, and often with pork belly, into bokkeum kimchi, a deep, mellow side dish that keeps for days and is a favourite in school and office dosirak. For a vegan version, use kimchi made without fish sauce or salted shrimp and leave out the pork. The usual mistake is using fresh, crisp kimchi, which tastes harsh when fried; it needs to be properly sour. Chef's tip: fry the kimchi until the edges just begin to catch and caramelise, which is where the flavour is.

17 min

Korean Sides

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OijiSalt-brined cucumber pickle

Oiji is the Korean way of keeping early-summer cucumbers into the dog days. In June, when short, thin-skinned pickling cucumbers flood markets from Seoul to the southern provinces, they are packed into a crock and covered with boiling salt brine, which keeps them crisp. A week later they are olive-gold, wrinkled and sour-salty. Nobody eats them straight: they are sliced, soaked and squeezed, then dressed as oiji muchim with chilli flakes, garlic and sesame, or floated in cold water with vinegar and spring onion as oiji naengguk, a cooling summer soup. Over rice on a hot afternoon, the crunch is everything. The brine is about 10% salt (200 g per 2 litres of water), strong enough to keep them all summer. The common mistake is leaving any cucumber above the brine; it softens and moulds, so weigh them down well. It is ready when the cucumbers are evenly yellow-green, wrinkled and firm, and the brine smells cleanly sour. Normal: cloudy brine and bubbles; bad: fuzzy coloured mould, mushy or slimy cucumbers, a rotten smell. Chef's tip: squeeze the soaked slices in a cotton cloth as hard as you can before dressing; the drier they are, the better they crunch.

40 min

Korean Chutneys & Dips

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DakgangjeongSticky glazed fried chicken

Dakgangjeong is the boxed fried chicken of Sokcho's Jungang market on Korea's east coast, carried home by the tub and packed into lunchboxes the next day, because the double-fried pieces in their sticky glaze stay crunchy even when cold. The common mistake is frying only once; the second fry drives out moisture so the crust holds up to the sauce. Chef's tip: coat with potato starch rather than flour, and let the coated chicken sit for 5 minutes so the starch hydrates into a craggy crust.

55 min

Korean Chicken

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Bún thangVermicelli with chicken and egg

Bún thang began as a thrifty Hanoi meal made from the leftovers of Tết, the lunar new year feast, and it is still the most delicate noodle soup in the city, served in small, careful bowls on Cầu Gỗ Street near Hoàn Kiếm Lake. Fine vermicelli sits under neat piles of shredded chicken, thread-thin omelette strips and giò lụa, a smooth Vietnamese pork roll, all covered with a clear broth sweetened by dried shrimp and shiitake. It is eaten for a light lunch or a late breakfast. Chef's tip: keep the broth at a bare simmer and skim often; boiling makes it cloudy.

125 min

Vietnamese Soups

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Jambon-beurreHam and butter baguette

France sells millions of jambon-beurre every working day: half a crusty baguette, split, spread with good salted butter and filled with thin slices of jambon de Paris, the delicate cooked pork ham. Parisians eat it at the office, on a park bench or on the train. The common mistake is a stingy smear of hard butter; the butter is a filling, not a glue, so spread it soft and generous. Some add cornichons, which purists call a different sandwich. Chef's tip: fold each slice of ham loosely in half rather than laying it flat, so the sandwich is airy and every bite has ham.

5 min

French Fast Food

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Budín de zapallo italianoBaked courgette pudding

In late summer, when courgettes (zapallo italiano) pile up in Santiago's ferias, home cooks turn them into budín: a soft, savoury bake bound with eggs, milk and cheese, served in squares with rice or a tomato salad for a light weekday lunch. Chileans use mild queso chanco or gouda, which is usually made with animal rennet; choose a cheese marked vegetarian if that matters to you. The big mistake is skipping the draining step: courgettes are mostly water, and a budín made with wet courgette weeps in the dish. Chef's tip: salt the grated courgette, leave it 15 minutes and squeeze it hard in a clean tea towel until it stops dripping.

65 min

Chilean Vegetarian

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Coconut icePink and white coconut fudge

Coconut ice is the pink and white sweet that fills Australian school fete stalls, Christmas hampers and CWA cake tables, a no-cook fudge of desiccated coconut, condensed milk and icing sugar. It is soft, chewy and very sweet, so cut small squares. A common mistake is a mixture that's too wet to hold; add more coconut until it's firm enough to press. Chef's tip: press the white layer first, then the pink, and chill before cutting for sharp stripes.

20 min

Australian Desserts

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NakatiBitter eggplant leaves with tomato

Nakati are the leaves of the African eggplant, and in Kampala and the Buganda countryside they are cooked as an everyday green beside matooke, posho or rice. The leaves are simmered down with onion and tomato until soft, then often enriched with a spoonful of groundnut paste that softens their pleasant bitterness and makes a creamy sauce. Look for nakati at African grocers; young spinach with a handful of kale is a good stand-in. The usual mistake is adding the groundnut paste too early, which lets it catch and burn. Chef's tip: loosen the groundnut paste with a little hot water before stirring it in, so it melts smoothly into the greens.

28 minEast African Vegetarian

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Pâté en croûtePork and veal pie in pastry

Lyon's charcuteries display pâté en croûte like jewellery: a tall loaf of crisp, golden pastry wrapped around a coarse terrine of pork and veal. A slice wrapped in paper is a picnic and lunchbox luxury, and the whole loaf is a Sunday project eaten over several days. The common mistake is undercooking it for fear of drying it out: as it is made with minced pork, the centre must reach 71 °C, so use a probe thermometer. The classic farce has a splash of cognac; it's optional here, and apple juice or extra stock is the alcohol-free swap. Chef's tip: chill the filled, unbaked loaf for 30 minutes before baking so the pastry keeps its shape and pattern.

150 min

French Meat

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Bún mắmFermented fish noodle soup

Vạn Kiếp Street in Saigon's Bình Thạnh district is lined with stalls serving bún mắm, a noodle soup that came up the river from the Mekong Delta. The broth is built on mắm cá linh or mắm cá sặc, small river fish fermented with salt, simmered until the bones dissolve and strained into a dark, savoury, lemongrass-scented stock. It is loaded with prawns, squid, white fish, slices of boiled pork belly and soft aubergine, and eaten with a mountain of herbs and bean sprouts. Look for jars of mắm at Vietnamese grocers. Chef's tip: strain the fermented fish through a fine sieve, pressing hard; tiny bones make the broth gritty.

95 min

Vietnamese Soups

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Aussie salad sandwich

The salad sandwich is the backbone of the Australian lunchbox and the school tuckshop order: soft bread built up with tinned beetroot, grated carrot, tasty cheese, tomato and crisp lettuce, cut into triangles and wrapped in paper. Beetroot is what makes it unmistakably Aussie. The common mistake is laying wet beetroot and tomato straight on bare bread, so by lunchtime it is pink and soggy. Many Cheddar-style "tasty" cheeses use animal rennet; choose one labelled vegetarian. Chef's tip: butter both slices to the edge and put the cheese and lettuce next to the bread, with the wet fillings sealed in the middle.

10 min

Australian Snacks & Starters

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Kue apePandan pancakes with crisp edges

Kue ape (also called kue tetek for its shape) is a Betawi snack sold from pushcarts outside schools and along the lanes of Kebon Kacang in the late afternoon, when children come out hungry. The vendor swirls pandan batter around a small domed pan so the edges fry paper-thin and lacy while the centre puffs into a soft, slightly chewy bump. They are sweet, fragrant and best eaten within minutes. A small non-stick pan or a Chinese wok-shaped crêpe pan works at home. The batter contains wheat and egg. Chef's tip: the swirl must happen the second the batter hits the pan; hesitate and the edge sets thick instead of lacy.

30 min

Indonesian Snacks & Starters

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Curried egg sandwich

A school canteen and church-fete favourite across Australia, the curried egg sandwich is soft white or wholemeal bread filled with hard-boiled egg mashed with mayonnaise and a little mild curry powder, often with lettuce or cress. It goes into lunch boxes cut into fingers. The common mistake is mashing the eggs while warm, which turns the mayonnaise oily and the filling runny; let them cool completely. Chef's tip: warm the curry powder in a dry pan for 20 seconds first, and the raw, dusty taste turns sweet and toasty.

20 min

Australian Snacks & Starters

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Buñuelos de algasSea lettuce fritters

On the beaches of Rocha, from La Paloma to Punta del Diablo, vendors walk the sand with baskets of hot buñuelos de algas: puffy, salty fritters speckled green with sea lettuce, eaten with a squeeze of lemon. Use dried sea lettuce or mixed seaweed flakes from a shop, or fresh sea lettuce only from a seller who harvests clean water; never pick it from a harbour or near drains. The usual mistake is frying in oil that isn't hot enough, so the fritters soak it up and turn greasy. Chef's tip: rest the batter for 15 minutes so the seaweed softens and the fritters puff more.

35 min

Paraguayan Snacks & Starters

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Tarta de zapallitosCourgette and cheese tart

In Buenos Aires every rotisería sells tartas by the slice, and at home a tarta de zapallitos is baked on Sunday evening so that a wedge can go into the vianda (packed lunch) for school and work all week. Zapallitos are round green courgettes; ordinary courgettes work just as well. The common mistake is adding the courgette raw, which floods the pastry; sauté it until the liquid has cooked away. Argentine queso rallado and many hard cheeses are made with animal rennet, so use a vegetarian hard cheese. Chef's tip: bake the tart on a preheated baking tray so the base crisps before the filling soaks in.

70 min

Argentinian Baking

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Burong isdaFermented fish and rice

Burong isda is a Kapampangan treasure. In Pampanga, and in neighbouring Bulacan and Tarlac, families make buro in the rainy months when mudfish and tilapia are plentiful, and the sautéed paste is set out at home lunches with fried or grilled fish, steamed okra and eggplant, and blanched mustard leaves (mustasa) to wrap it in. Cooked rice and salted fish ferment together for about a week until the rice has melted into a soft, pinkish porridge and the fish bones soften. Sautéed with garlic, onion and tomato, it becomes creamy, sour, salty and deeply savoury, a little like a cheese spread. Because the fish ferments raw, two rules matter: cure it first in 20% salt, and always cook the buro until bubbling hot before eating; never eat it straight from the jar. Pregnant people, babies, older people and anyone with weak immunity should only eat it freshly cooked, or skip it. Common mistake: packing hot rice, which spoils the ferment; cool it fully. It is ready to cook when it smells pleasantly sour, like sourdough, and the rice is soft. Chef's tip: a teaspoon of angkak (red yeast rice) gives the traditional pink colour.

75 min

Filipino Chutneys & Dips

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Torta de chile rellenoStuffed poblano sandwich

At Mexico City's torta stands and school gates, the chile relleno torta is the meat-free favourite: a whole poblano, roasted, peeled, stuffed with melting cheese, dipped in fluffy egg batter and fried, then pressed into a bolillo spread with refried beans and salsa. People buy them warm mid-morning or wrap them in foil for lunch. The common mistake is frying a wet chile: the batter slides off, so pat it dry and dust it with flour first. Oaxaca cheese and Monterey Jack are often made with animal rennet, so choose a vegetarian melting cheese, and check the refried beans are made without lard. Chef's tip: beat the egg whites to stiff peaks before folding in the yolks; that airy capeado is what makes it puff and stay crisp.

60 min

Mexican Fast Food

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Burma athoBurmese noodle salad

When Tamil families returned from Burma in the 1960s they brought atho with them, and today it is cooked on carts around Burma Bazaar, Parry's Corner and along the roads near the harbour in George Town, busiest at lunch and in the early evening. Cold noodles are mixed by hand with raw cabbage and onion, crisp fried garlic, tamarind, chilli flakes, roasted gram powder and lime, and come with a peppery banana-stem soup on the side. It is sour, hot, crunchy and very moreish. Contains wheat. Chef's tip: fry the garlic slowly until only pale gold; it keeps darkening off the heat and turns bitter if you wait for brown.

35 min

Indian Pasta & Noodles

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TsukuneChicken meatball skewers

Tsukune are the minced chicken patties of yakitori bars all over Japan, and squashed into small ovals they are one of the most loved bento fillers, eaten cold at school or the office. Ginger and spring onion keep them fresh, and a glossy soy tare makes them sticky and sweet. The tare uses mirin, a sweet rice wine; most of its alcohol cooks off as it bubbles, and for an alcohol-free glaze use 1 tbsp sugar and 2 tbsp water instead. The common mistake is a loose mix that falls apart in the pan; knead it until sticky. Chef's tip: add a spoon of grated tofu or potato starch to the mince, which keeps the patties juicy even the next day.

30 min

Japanese Chicken

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Chanko nabeChicken meatball hot pot

Chanko nabe is the daily meal of the sumo stables around Ryōgoku in east Tokyo, where young wrestlers cook a huge pot after morning practice and the senior ranks eat first. At home it is a winter supper cooked on a tabletop burner or on the hob: a clear chicken and kombu dashi seasoned lightly with soy, then loaded with ginger-scented chicken meatballs, tofu, napa cabbage, leek, carrot and mushrooms. Everything cooks in the one pot, and the last of the broth is often finished with udon or rice. The usual mistake is boiling the pot hard once the meatballs go in, which turns the broth cloudy and the tofu ragged; keep it at a lazy simmer. Chef's tip: shape the meatballs with two wet spoons and drop them in before the vegetables, so they flavour the broth while the cabbage softens.

60 min

Japanese Soups

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Menchi katsuCrumbed meat patties

Menchi katsu, a juicy mince patty of beef and pork in a crisp panko coat, is sold hot at Tokyo butchers' shops like the famous ones in Kichijoji and packed cold in bento across Japan, with shredded cabbage and a drizzle of tonkatsu sauce. Sweet fried onion makes the inside tender. The common mistake is frying in oil that is too hot, so the crumb burns before the pork and beef in the middle are cooked. Chef's tip: chill the shaped patties for 20 minutes before crumbing so they keep their shape and stay juicy.

45 min

Japanese Meat

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TaucoFermented soybean paste

Cianjur, in the hills of West Java, has made tauco since the late 1800s, when Chinese Peranakan families brought the technique, and the town's sweet, thick version is still sold in squat jars to every traveller on the Puncak road. Sundanese and Peranakan cooks fry it with garlic and chilli for tumis tauco with tofu, long beans or kangkung, and add a spoonful to fish stews. The beans are first grown with a mould culture, then ripened in strong salt brine in the sun for weeks, and finally simmered with palm sugar. The result is salty-sweet and deeply savoury, like a soft, chunky miso with caramel notes, half-whole beans in a glossy brown sauce. Common mistake: fermenting the moulded beans in a sealed tub; they sweat, turn slimy and smell of ammonia. They need air and 28–32 °C. Readiness cues: after the mould stage, the beans are knitted with white fluff turning pale yellow-green; after brining, they are brown and smell like soy sauce; after cooking, the sauce is thick and glossy. Chef's tip: a pandan leaf and a slice of galangal in the final simmer give the Cianjur fragrance.

170 min

Indonesian Basics

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