Featured recipe

Smoked omul

On the shingle beaches of Listvyanka, at the edge of Lake Baikal, women sell omul still warm from the smoke, the fish split open, threaded onto alder sticks and set around a fire until the skin turns bronze and the flesh pulls away in moist, salty flakes. Omul lives only in Baikal, so at home use small whitefish, trout or mackerel, gutted and split. A short brine in the fridge seasons the fish, then it is hot-smoked in a kettle barbecue or a lidded smoker until cooked right through. Serve it warm or cold with boiled potatoes, black bread and spring onions. The usual slip is smoking over flames rather than smouldering chips, which chars the skin before the inside is done. Chef's tip: let the brined fish dry in the fridge, uncovered, for an hour: the tacky surface takes the smoke far better.

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Kir

Dijon's own aperitif carries the name of Canon Félix Kir, the priest who became the city's mayor after the war and poured blanc-cassis at every reception to show off two Burgundy products at once: the sharp white Aligoté grape and the blackcurrant liqueur made around the city. It is still what you are offered before a family Sunday lunch in Burgundy, with a warm plate of gougères. It is a drink for adults only, low-key and refreshing: tart, mineral white wine with a dark, jammy blackcurrant note, deep ruby-violet in the glass, served cold with no ice. The usual mistake is too much cassis, which makes a sticky, syrupy drink that hides the wine. Keep to about one part cassis to five or six parts wine. It is ready when the colour is a clear, deep pink-purple you can still see light through and the glass mists with cold. Enjoy one before the meal and drink responsibly. If you cannot find Aligoté, use any dry, unoaked, high-acid white. Swap the wine for Champagne or crémant and you have a kir royal. Chef's tip: pour the cassis in first and the wine on top; it mixes itself and you need not stir.

3 min

French Drinks

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Bellini

Venice invented the Bellini in the late 1940s, when a bar owner near San Marco mixed puréed white peaches with Prosecco and named the pale pink result after the Renaissance painter Giovanni Bellini. It is still a seasonal pleasure, best from July to September when white peaches are ripe and scented, and drunk late in the morning, at weddings or before lunch on the lagoon. This is a drink for adults only, though a gentle one. It should taste of fresh peach first, soft and perfumed, with the Prosecco adding light fizz and dryness, and the texture should be smooth and lightly velvety, never pulpy. The usual mistake is pouring the Prosecco fast onto the purée: it foams over and the peach stays sunk at the bottom. Tilt the glass, pour slowly in two goes and give a single gentle stir. It is ready when the drink is an even blush pink from top to bottom with a fine, slow bead. Enjoy it with food and drink responsibly. Out of season, use frozen white peach purée or ripe yellow peaches with a little more lemon. Chef's tip: a single raspberry blended into the purée gives the classic pink colour without changing the taste.

12 min

Italian Drinks

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Margarita

Several towns along Mexico's northern border, from Tijuana and Ensenada to Ciudad Juárez, claim the margarita as their own, born in the 1930s and 40s when visitors crossed over for tequila and tacos. Today it is the Friday-evening drink of norteño restaurants and family parties, poured beside carne asada and guacamole. This version is for adults only and it is simple: good 100% agave blanco tequila, fresh lime and orange liqueur. It should be bright and tart first, then gently sweet, with the salt on the rim making the lime taste even sharper. The usual mistake is reaching for bottled lime juice or ready-made sour mix, which gives a flat, sugary drink with a chemical bite. Squeeze limes just before shaking. A second slip is salting the whole rim inside and out; salt only the outside of half the rim so each sip is your choice. It is ready when the shaker is too cold to hold comfortably and a thin layer of ice crystals floats on top. Enjoy one slowly and drink responsibly. Chef's tip: use coarse sea salt mixed with a little grated lime zest for the rim; it sticks better and smells of lime.

5 min

Mexican Drinks

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Arepa pelúaArepa with shredded beef and cheese

Late at night in the areperas of Caracas, the pelúa is the order for the hungry: a split corn arepa packed with carne mechada (slow-cooked shredded beef in sofrito) and a heap of grated yellow cheese that melts into 'hairy' strands, which is what pelúa means. The beef can be made a day ahead, and many families cook a big pot to fill arepas all week. The common mistake is a dry arepa dough that cracks on the griddle. Chef's tip: the dough should feel like soft play-dough and leave your palms just damp; add water a spoonful at a time until it does.

135 min

Venezuelan Snacks & Starters

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Arrollado huasoRolled spiced pork belly

Arrollado huaso, the 'countryman's roll', is the pork belly roll of the Central Valley: a flat piece of pork belly spread with ají paste, garlic and cumin, rolled tight, tied and wrapped, then simmered for hours and sliced cold. It is the star of September fondas and Christmas tables, sliced thin with hot bread, pebre and boiled potatoes. The mistake that spoils it is a loose roll, which unwinds and cooks unevenly; tie it every 3 cm. Chef's tip: cool it overnight in its cooking liquid with a weight on top; it sets firm and slices into neat spirals. The pork must reach 71 °C in the centre, as the rolled-in surface is now inside.

190 min

Chilean Meat

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Arrope de chañarChañar fruit syrup

In the oases of the Atacama, from San Pedro to Toconao, the small brown fruit of the chañar tree is gathered in late summer, dried in the sun and boiled for hours into arrope, a molasses-like syrup with notes of dates and caramel. Grandmothers keep a bottle for winter coughs, but most of it ends up on toast, stirred into hot water or over mote (cooked wheat) and fresh cheese. Dried chañar is sold in northern markets and online; it needs no sugar at all. The classic mistake is walking away at the end, when the syrup thickens fast and scorches, turning bitter. Chef's tip: stop reducing when the syrup coats a spoon thinly; it sets much thicker as it cools.

240 min

Chilean Basics

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Caesar

The Caesar was created in Calgary in 1969, when a hotel bartender was asked to invent a drink for a new Italian restaurant and thought of spaghetti alle vongole: clams, tomato, garlic, a squeeze of lemon. It has become Canada's own cocktail, ordered at weekend brunch, poured at the cottage on long weekends and raised on Canada Day, often with a celery stick or a spicy green bean standing in the glass. It is for adults only. Note that it is not vegetarian: the clam-tomato juice is made with clam broth, and Worcestershire sauce contains anchovy. A Caesar tastes savoury before anything else, briny and tomatoey, with heat from the hot sauce, tang from lime and a salty, herbal crunch from the celery-salt rim. The common mistake is shaking it hard like a sour: the tomato juice turns frothy, pale and watery. Roll it instead, pouring it back and forth between two glasses a few times. It is ready when the drink is evenly red, ice-cold and the rim is still neatly coated. Drink responsibly; it goes down easily. No clam-tomato juice? Mix 120 ml tomato juice with 30 ml bottled clam broth. Chef's tip: add a little grated horseradish for a sharper, more peppery Caesar.

5 min

Canadian Drinks

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Arroz con palmitoBaked rice with hearts of palm

Hearts of palm grow commercially in Costa Rica's northern lowlands, and arroz con palmito is the creamy, cheesy rice bake that turns up at family birthdays, first communions and Christmas buffets across the country. Cooked rice is folded with sliced palmito, sweet corn and a light white sauce, then baked under melted cheese until bubbling. Overcooking the rice at the start is the usual mistake; it keeps softening in the oven, so cook it just tender. Costa Rica's Turrialba cheese and most mozzarella use animal rennet, so choose a vegetarian melting cheese if needed. Chef's tip: slice the palm hearts into coins rather than chopping them; they keep their delicate, artichoke-like bite.

45 minCentral American Rice & Grains

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Xôi mặnSticky rice with sausage

In Ho Chi Minh City, xôi mặn is bought from a street cart in a banana leaf or a foam box and eaten at your desk for breakfast or lunch: chewy sticky rice under sweet slices of lạp xưởng (Chinese pork sausage), pork floss, braised quail eggs, spring onion oil and crisp shallots. Soak the rice for at least 4 hours or overnight before you start. The common mistake is steaming unsoaked rice, which stays hard in the middle. Chef's tip: sprinkle the rice with salted water halfway through steaming and fluff it, so every grain turns glossy and evenly soft.

70 min

Vietnamese Rice & Grains

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Arroz e feijão amassadinho for babiesMashed rice and beans for babies

Rice and beans are on almost every lunch plate in Brazil, from São Paulo office canteens to family tables in Minas Gerais, and babies join in from about eight or nine months with an amassadinho, a soft fork-mashed version. The beans are simmered with a little onion, garlic and bay leaf for flavour instead of salt, bacon or stock cubes, then mashed into soft rice with their thick broth. It is creamy, earthy and filling. It is free of the major allergens: no milk, egg, gluten, nuts, soya, sesame or fish. Chef's tip: mash the beans well and press them through a sieve the first few times; the skins are the part babies find hardest.

50 min

Brazilian Rice & Grains

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Asal-o-khamehClotted cream and honey on flatbread

On Friday mornings in Tehran and Isfahan, families queue at the bakery for hot barbari or sangak, then come home to a treat: thick clotted cream, called khameh or sarshir, drizzled with honey and scooped up with the warm bread, alongside glasses of black tea. The mistake is serving it with cold bread; the warmth is what softens the cream into the honey. Honey is not suitable for babies under one. Chef's tip: let the cream sit out for 10 minutes and spread it first, then drizzle the honey in a thin stream so you get sweet ribbons rather than a puddle.

8 min

Persian Breakfast & Brunch

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AsierSweet dill pickled cucumbers

Late August in Danish allotments means the asie, a fat yellow-green cucumber left on the vine until its skin turns thick and its seeds big, and the smell of hot vinegar in every kitchen. The cucumbers are peeled, seeded and salted overnight, then sealed in jars with a sweet vinegar lage, dill crowns and mustard seeds. Asier are a fixture of the Danish table all winter: beside frikadeller, flæskesteg and roast duck at Christmas, sliced onto smørrebrød with liver pâté, and with boiled potatoes and brown gravy on any Tuesday. The pickle is crisp yet tender, sweet first and then sharply sour, with dill and mustard on the finish. Common mistake: skipping the overnight salting, which leaves watery, flabby asier that dilute the vinegar. The salt draws the water out so the cucumber stays firm. They are ready after two weeks, when the flesh has turned translucent and sweet-sour right through. Chef's tip: no asier? Use large, overgrown ridge or field cucumbers; ordinary salad cucumbers are too watery.

55 minScandinavian Chutneys & Dips

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Kluay pingGrilled banana

Kluay ping carts work the pavements of Silom and the lanes off Sukhumvit from mid-morning, when office workers want something sweet with their iced coffee. The vendor grills small, starchy nam wa bananas slowly over embers, presses each one flat with a wooden board and then brushes it with coconut cream cooked down with palm sugar and a pinch of salt. The outside turns sticky and smoky; the inside stays soft and fudgy. Ladyfinger bananas or firm, just-ripe small bananas work at home. Chef's tip: choose bananas that are yellow with no brown spots; overripe fruit turns to mush on the grill.

35 min

Thai Desserts

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Ash-e shalghamTurnip and rice soup

In Tehran and Mashhad homes, ash-e shalgham is the pot put on the stove when someone in the family catches a cold in the first frosts of winter. Turnips and rice are simmered together until the turnips melt and the rice thickens the soup, which ends up soft, sweet and peppery, with a fried-onion and turmeric base. Many families add a little lamb; this one is vegan. The usual mistake is using big, old turnips, which taste bitter and woody; choose small, heavy ones. Chef's tip: grate half the turnips and dice the rest, so the soup is creamy yet still has pieces to bite.

65 min

Persian Soups

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Jolpai acharIndian olive pickle

Jolpai, the small, hard, sour Indian olive, appears in Bengal and Bangladesh markets from October to December, and no winter afternoon is complete without a jar of jolpai achar warming in the sun. It is no relation to the Mediterranean olive: it is tart and astringent, almost like a green plum. The olives are boiled, lightly crushed so the flesh splits from the stone, then cooked in mustard oil with panch phoron, dried chilli and plenty of jaggery. The pickle is sticky, sweet-sour and slightly tannic, with soft flesh to nibble off the stones. Eat it with khichuri on a cold evening, with dal-bhaat, or straight from the jar as a snack. The common mistake is under-boiling: the olives must be soft enough to press flat, or the syrup cannot get in and they stay bitter. It is done when the syrup is thick and shiny and clings to the olives. Very sweet and acidic, it keeps a month in a cool cupboard in winter and 3 months in the fridge. Abroad, look for frozen jolpai in Bangladeshi grocers; firm, sour green plums are the closest substitute. Chef's tip: keep a few olives whole and only scored; they give a nicer bite.

50 min

Indian Chutneys & Dips

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Carottes VichyGlazed carrots

Carottes Vichy come from the spa town of Vichy in the Auvergne, where they were cooked in the local mineral water; today they are the classic French bistro and Sunday-lunch side, loved by children. Thin rounds of carrot simmer with butter, a little sugar and salt in just enough water, so that when the carrots are tender the water has boiled down to a shiny glaze. Serve with roast chicken, an omelette or lentils. The usual mistake is using too much water, so you must drain away the flavour; it should just cover the carrots. Chef's tip: a pinch of bicarbonate of soda in the water copies Vichy's alkaline water and helps the carrots turn sweet and bright.

30 min

French Sides

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Kathirikai gothsuSmoky aubergine tamarind gravy

At the Nataraja temple in Chidambaram, ven pongal, the peppery rice and moong porridge, is always served with gothsu, and the pairing has spread to breakfast tables and wedding feasts all over Tamil Nadu. Brinjal is charred over the flame, mashed and simmered with a little moong dal, shallots and tamarind, then seasoned with a freshly roasted powder of coriander, chana dal and chilli. The result is smoky, tangy and spoonable, also good with idli or dosa. The usual mistake is using big, seedy aubergines: choose small, firm, glossy ones, which are sweeter. Chef's tip: char at least one brinjal right over the gas flame until the skin is black all over; that smoky note is what makes Chidambaram gothsu.

50 min

Indian Curries

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Morabba-ye albalooSour cherry preserve

Sour cherry season in Iran is short, a few weeks in late June and July, and in towns from Mashhad to Tabriz it is the moment when every kitchen has a pot of morabba-ye albaloo on the stove. The jam is kept for the year's breakfasts: spooned onto warm barbari or lavash with butter and white cheese, stirred into tea for children, or kept aside for albaloo polo's syrup. Persian morabba is not a set jam: the cherries stay whole and plump in a loose, glossy, deep-red syrup that is very sour-sweet. They are left overnight in sugar so the juice comes out before cooking, which keeps the fruit intact. Common mistake: boiling hard for a long time to thicken it; the cherries shrivel and the syrup turns brown and toffee-like. Simmer gently and stop early, because it thickens as it cools. It is ready when a drop of syrup on a cold plate wrinkles slightly when pushed and the cherries look translucent. Chef's tip: frozen pitted morello cherries make an excellent morabba out of season; thaw them in the sugar and use their juice.

65 min

Persian Chutneys & Dips

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SanpiauRice porridge with fish sauce

Sanpiau is the street-stall breakfast and afternoon snack of Aizawl, Mizoram: a thin, silky rice porridge ladled into bowls and finished at the table with fish sauce, black pepper, crisp fried shallots, coriander and, often, shredded chicken. It came to Mizoram via Myanmar and is now as Mizo as bai. The common mistake is under-stirring, so the rice catches on the base; stir every few minutes once it thickens. Chef's tip: let everyone season their own bowl, since fish sauce brands vary a lot in saltiness.

50 min

Indian Rice & Grains

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Atol shucoSour black corn drink

In San Salvador's Plaza Libertad and outside churches on cool mornings, atol shuco is ladled from steaming clay pots into gourd bowls. Shuco means 'dirty', for its dusky purple-grey colour: it is made from fermented black corn, so it tastes slightly sour and earthy, topped with ground toasted pumpkin seeds, a few whole black beans and a pinch of chilli salt. It is savoury and filling rather than sweet. The usual mistake is leaving the masa to ferment too long in a hot kitchen; check it after a day and use it as soon as it smells pleasantly tangy. Throw it away if you see mould or it smells unpleasant. Chef's tip: if you can't wait for fermentation, a squeeze of lime at the end gives a similar tang.

40 minCentral American Drinks

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Rum ballsChocolate rum balls

Rum balls are the grown-ups' Christmas sweet in Australia, rolled by the trayful in December and handed round at end-of-year parties from Sydney to Perth. They are made from chocolate cake crumbs or crushed biscuits, condensed milk, cocoa and dark rum, rolled in coconut. They contain alcohol and are for adults only; for children or anyone avoiding alcohol, use rum essence and a splash of orange juice instead. A common mistake is a mix that's too wet; chill it before rolling. Chef's tip: make them a day ahead so the flavours mellow.

30 min

Australian Desserts

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Finger bunsIced coconut finger buns

Finger buns are the classic Australian school canteen and tuckshop bun, sold in every suburban bakery and supermarket from Perth to Brisbane: soft, slightly sweet long rolls, sometimes with sultanas, topped with bright pink icing and a scatter of desiccated coconut. Kids eat them split and buttered. A common mistake is icing them warm, which makes it run off; let them cool completely. Chef's tip: brush them with a sugar glaze straight from the oven for a soft, shiny crust under the icing.

45 min

Australian Baking

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AyampacoLeaf-steamed chicken and palm heart

From Macas and the Shuar communities of Morona Santiago comes ayampaco: chicken with palm heart, garlic, culantro and spring onion wrapped in bijao leaves and cooked over the fire, so everything steams together into a fragrant, juicy bundle. It is a celebration dish at festivals and family gatherings, served with boiled cassava and a sharp chilli sauce. Banana leaves stand in for bijao at home. The usual mistake is packing the parcels too full, so the middle stays undercooked; keep them flat and check the chicken reaches 74 °C. Chef's tip: let the chicken marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes so the garlic and herbs flavour it right through.

75 minAndean Chicken

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Caril de caranguejoCoconut crab curry

Mud crabs from the mangrove creeks around Inhambane and Maputo Bay end up in this curry at Sunday lunch and on beach-shack menus, and eating it is a happy, messy job with fingers and crackers. The sauce is a gentle Mozambican caril rather than an Indian one: onion, tomato, garlic and a mild curry powder cooked down and finished with coconut milk, so it turns rich, orange and slightly sweet, with crab juices running through it. Serve it with plenty of white rice or xima to mop up the sauce, and lemon wedges on the side. Ask the fishmonger for freshly cooked crabs, cleaned and cracked, or crabs already killed and prepared by them, so there is no live crab to handle at home. Chef's tip: the common mistake is boiling the crab in the sauce for ages, which makes the meat stringy; warm cooked crab through for just a few minutes.

60 minSouthern African Fish

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Del curryBreadfruit coconut curry

Breadfruit trees grow in almost every village garden in Sri Lanka, and del curry is the filling weekday and almsgiving dish that makes use of them, especially in the wet south-west. Chunks of breadfruit are simmered in coconut milk with roasted curry powder, a little mustard paste, curry leaves and pandan, until they turn soft, creamy and starchy like a good potato. Eat it with rice, pol sambol and a green mallung. The usual mistake is skipping the pre-boil; breadfruit contains a sticky latex and can stay firm, so boil the pieces first. Chef's tip: stir the mustard paste in only at the end and don't boil it hard afterwards, or it turns bitter.

45 min

Sri Lankan Curries

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Ayote en mielSquash in spiced syrup

Nicaraguan grandmothers set a pot of ayote en miel on the stove on Holy Wednesday, so there is something sweet to share with neighbours right through Easter week, often alongside sweet green mango and coconut. Chunks of squash simmer in dark panela syrup with cinnamon, cloves and allspice until they are glossy and tender and the syrup tastes of caramel and spice. Stirring is the common mistake: a spoon breaks the soft squash into mush, so shake the pot instead. Chef's tip: leave the skin on the squash; it holds each piece together and turns soft enough to eat.

75 minCentral American Desserts

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Masala doodhSaffron nut milk

Late evening at Ahmedabad's Manek Chowk, milk sellers pour masala doodh from a height between two brass pots to cool and froth it, and on Sharad Purnima families set a pot of it under the full moon before drinking it chilled. It is richer and more fragrant than plain badam milk: a home-ground masala of almonds, pistachios, cardamom, nutmeg and a little black pepper is stirred into milk reduced with saffron and sugar. The common mistake is boiling it hard after the nut masala goes in, which makes it catch and taste scorched. Chef's tip: grind a jar of the masala in one go and keep it in the fridge; two teaspoons turn any glass of milk into a treat.

20 min

Indian Drinks

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Badam ka halwaAlmond halwa

In Jaipur, badam ka halwa came out of the royal kitchens and now appears at winter weddings and on cold nights when someone wants a real treat. Soaked, peeled almonds are ground to a coarse paste and cooked slowly in ghee with milk, sugar and saffron until the halwa turns golden, glossy and leaves the sides of the pan. It is very rich, so a small bowl is enough. The common mistake is grinding the almonds too fine, which gives a pasty halwa instead of a soft, grainy one. Chef's tip: stop grinding when the almonds look like wet semolina and add the milk only during grinding, never water.

55 min

Indian Indian Sweets

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HacheeBeef and onion stew

Hachee is the Dutch stoofpotje that grandmothers in Friesland, Groningen and Brabant leave murmuring on the back of the stove on cold Sundays: beef braised with almost as much onion as meat, plus bay leaves, cloves and a splash of vinegar, until it falls apart into a dark, sweet-sour gravy. It goes on boiled potatoes with red cabbage, or with stamppot, and leftovers are eaten on toast. The usual mistake is rushing the onions: they need a good 15 minutes to turn deep golden, or the gravy stays pale and sharp. Slow-cooker option: after browning, cook on low for 8 hours. Chef's tip: stir in a spoon of dark syrup or apple butter at the end only if the vinegar tastes too sharp; taste first, as good onions often make it unnecessary.

190 min

Dutch Meat

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Bachali kura pappuDal with Malabar spinach

Bachali, or Malabar spinach, climbs over back walls all across Telangana and Andhra, and its thick, glossy leaves go into this everyday pappu that turns up at lunch several times a month with rice, ghee and a pickle. The leaves give the dal a silky body and a faint lemony note. People often overcook it until the greens turn khaki; add them after the dal is soft and cook just long enough to wilt. Chef's tip: use the tender stems too, chopped small; they add a pleasant crunch.

35 min

Indian Curries

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Sopa de cazónSmall shark soup

In Porlamar and the beach kitchens of Margarita, cazón (small shark) is simmered into a golden soup with pumpkin, potato and lots of ají dulce and coriander, eaten for Friday lunch and during Lent. Shark should only be bought from a sustainable, legal fishery; firm white fish such as pollock, hake or monkfish gives a very similar soup. The common mistake is overcooking the fish until it turns to threads. Chef's tip: poach the fish first, set it aside and only return it to the pot in the last 5 minutes.

60 min

Venezuelan Soups

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Bagoong alamangFried krill paste

Across Luzon, a jar of ginisang bagoong sits in nearly every kitchen. In the hot months from March to May, when green mangoes are sour and crisp, it becomes the classic merienda: thin slices of unripe mango dragged through sweet, salty, garlicky shrimp paste, often shared on a porch in the afternoon. It is also the essential partner to kare-kare and the base of binagoongang baboy. Raw salted alamang (tiny krill or shrimp) is sold pink and wet; frying it with garlic, onion and tomato, then sugar and cane vinegar, turns it deep reddish brown, thick, glossy and rounded, with the briny punch still there. The raw paste is a raw-cured seafood, so this recipe always cooks it right through; pregnant people, babies, older people and anyone with weak immunity should only eat bagoong that has been fully sautéed and kept cold. Common mistake: high heat after the sugar goes in, which scorches it and turns the bagoong bitter. Keep it at a medium-low simmer. It is ready when the oil separates and shines on top and it smells toasty rather than fishy. Chef's tip: a few slivers of crisp pork belly fried first make it richer.

40 min

Filipino Chutneys & Dips

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Misa mach pooraPrawns grilled in banana leaf

Misa mach poora is a simple Mizo way with river prawns: rubbed with ginger, garlic, chilli and salt, wrapped in banana leaf and cooked over embers until the leaf chars and the prawns steam in their own juices. It is made at riverside picnics and family cookouts and eaten with rice and a chilli relish. The common mistake is overcooking, which makes prawns tough; they are done the moment they turn opaque and pink all through. Chef's tip: keep the marinated parcels in the fridge until the grill is hot.

27 min

Indian Fish

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Jini dosaCrisp dosa with Schezwan vegetables

Jini dosa was born in the late-night food lane of Ghatkopar, Mumbai's Khau Galli, where dosa men turned the South Indian pancake into a Mumbai-Chinese hybrid. A thin dosa goes on the griddle, then cabbage, onion, capsicum and Schezwan sauce are chopped and spread right on top with the edge of a spatula, cheese melts in, and the whole thing is cut into strips and rolled into little upright cylinders. It is crunchy, spicy, buttery and messy, a favourite after evening college classes. Many cheeses are set with animal rennet, so choose one labelled vegetarian. Chef's tip: get the griddle properly hot before each dosa; a lukewarm tawa makes the batter stick and tear.

40 min

Indian Breakfast & Brunch

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BahoSteamed beef, plantain and cassava

Baho, also spelled vaho, is the dish Nicaraguan families plan a Sunday around, especially in Granada and Managua: beef marinated overnight in sour orange and garlic, then steamed for hours in a big pot lined with banana leaves on a bed of green plantain, ripe plantain and cassava. Everything comes out tender and fragrant with the leaves, and it is served with a crunchy, vinegary cabbage salad to cut through the richness. Marinate the beef in the fridge, never at room temperature. The mistake that ruins it is letting the pot boil dry, which scorches the leaves and the plantain at the bottom; top up the water every hour. Chef's tip: keep a few banana leaves back to tuck over the top, so the steam stays trapped inside the parcel.

250 minCentral American Meat

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Bajre ki raabdiFermented pearl millet buttermilk porridge

In the villages of Haryana and the Rajasthan border, raabdi is drunk at midday in May and June to keep cool in the fields. Pearl-millet flour is stirred into buttermilk and left to ferment for a few hours, then cooked slowly until thick, cooled in a clay pot and thinned with more buttermilk and salt. It tastes tangy and earthy, a little like a savoury porridge you can drink. Ferment at warm room temperature (25–32 °C) for 4–6 hours: it should smell pleasantly sour with a few bubbles. Throw it away if you see pink, black or furry mould or it smells rotten or of nail varnish. The common mistake is cooking on high heat, which scorches the millet and leaves raw lumps. Chef's tip: keep the cooked raabdi in the fridge and drink it within 2 days, thinning each glass to taste.

35 min

Indian Drinks

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NametakeSoy-simmered enoki mushrooms

Jars of nametake sit in almost every Japanese fridge: enoki mushrooms cooked down in sweet soy until they turn silky and slightly slippery, ready to spoon on plain rice, tofu or a bento's onigiri for a quick hit of savoury flavour. Homemade takes ten minutes and costs a fraction of the shop jars. The common mistake is chopping the enoki too short, which turns the relish to mush; 3 cm lengths keep a little bite. Chef's tip: add the vinegar at the very end, off the heat, for a brighter taste and a longer life in the fridge.

15 min

Japanese Sides

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Myoga no amazuzukeSweet pickled myoga ginger

Myoga is the flower bud of a Japanese ginger plant, harvested from the shady corners of gardens across Japan from July to September, and its pickled form is one of summer's small pleasures. Halved buds are blanched and dropped into warm sweet vinegar, and within half an hour the pale purple-white layers blush a vivid pink. They taste crisp and fresh, gently sweet-sour, with the floral, slightly resinous bite that makes myoga unlike ordinary ginger. Serve them beside grilled fish, with cold somen noodles on a hot evening, or tucked into a bento. Look for myoga in Japanese grocers, often frozen; there is no real substitute, but young ginger or small shallots pickled the same way make a pleasing alternative. The common mistake is over-blanching: past 30 seconds the layers turn soft and floppy and lose their crunch. Pour the vinegar over while the buds are still hot, which sets the colour. They are ready when they are evenly pink and taste sour-sweet right through. Chef's tip: slice a few pickled buds into thin strips and fold them into sushi rice for a quick summer chirashi.

15 min

Japanese Chutneys & Dips

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Carato de maízChilled corn drink

Out on the hot plains of the Llanos, a jug of carato is kept cold for the afternoon: white corn cooked until soft, blended with its water, strained and sweetened with panela, cinnamon and clove. It is thick, creamy and filling enough to be a snack in a glass. Keep it in the fridge, because left out it starts to ferment. The common mistake is skipping the straining, which leaves it gritty. Chef's tip: strain through a fine sieve and then once more through a clean cloth for the silkiest drink.

70 min

Venezuelan Drinks

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Bohar bhajiFlower bud curry

For a few weeks each spring, Raipur's markets sell small heaps of bohar, the young buds of the lasoda (Cordia) tree, and they are one of the most prized and pricey vegetables in Chhattisgarh. Cooked with onion, chilli and a spoon of curd, they have a pleasant, slightly sticky bite and an earthy taste, and families eat them with rice and dal for as long as the season lasts. People often skip the boiling step; without it the buds stay gummy and slightly bitter. Chef's tip: if you cannot find bohar, the same masala works with tender lasoda (gunda) fruit from Indian grocers, which is the same tree.

30 min

Indian Vegetarian

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Polvorosa de polloChicken pie

Polvorosa is the pie that comes out for family birthdays and Sunday gatherings in Caracas: a melt-in-the-mouth, slightly sweet shortcrust (polvorosa means 'crumbly') around chicken stewed with leek, peppers, olives, capers and raisins, so each bite is salty, sweet and savoury at once. Serve it warm with a green salad. The common mistake is filling the pastry with hot stew, which melts the butter and makes a soggy, torn crust. Chef's tip: make the filling the day before and fill the pie straight from the fridge.

120 min

Venezuelan Chicken

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Dalvada (Ahmedabad moong dal fritters)

The first monsoon shower in Ahmedabad sends people straight to the dalvada counters by Raipur Darwaja, where fritters of split green moong come out of the karahi by the basketful and are sold by weight with sliced raw onion and salted fried chillies. They are rough and craggy outside, light and steamy inside, warm with ginger and cracked pepper. Eat them hot with masala chai while the rain falls. Chef's tip: grind the dal coarse with almost no water, then whisk the batter by hand for a few minutes; the air you beat in is what keeps them light.

45 min

Indian Snacks & Starters

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Nasi tutug oncomRice mashed with roasted oncom

In Tasikmalaya, West Java, warung serve nasi tutug oncom from early morning: steaming rice pounded together with toasted oncom, a fermented cake of peanut press-cake with a savoury, nutty, slightly funky taste, plus chilli and kencur. It comes with fried tempeh and tofu, sambal and a pile of raw greens called lalapan. Outside Indonesia oncom can be hard to find; fresh tempeh, crumbled and fried, gives a similar earthy result. The common mistake is mixing oncom into cold rice: the rice must be freshly cooked and hot so it absorbs the oil and aroma. Chef's tip: dry-roast the oncom until crisp at the edges before seasoning, which takes away its raw sourness.

40 min

Indonesian Rice & Grains

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Nasi udukCoconut rice with fried chicken

Nasi uduk is the Betawi breakfast of Jakarta, sold from tents along Jalan Kebon Kacang near Tanah Abang from before dawn and again late at night after work. Rice is steamed with coconut milk, lemongrass, galangal and salam leaves until each grain is rich and fragrant, then plated with turmeric fried chicken, omelette strips, sweet fried tempeh, crisp shallots and a fiery sambal. It is filling, savoury and a little sweet. This home version cooks the chicken in its spices first and then fries it briefly, as the stalls do. Chef's tip: wash the rice until the water runs clear and steam it, not boil it, after the coconut milk is absorbed; it stays fluffy instead of turning sticky.

60 min

Indonesian Rice & Grains

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Natu kodi pulusuCountry chicken curry

Natu kodi means country chicken, the lean, free-ranging birds of Telangana's villages, and their pulusu is a Sunday and festival curry: fiery with chilli, soured with tamarind and thickened with a paste of roasted coconut, poppy seed and whole spices. It is mopped up with rice or jonna rotte. The mistake most cooks make is giving a country bird the timing of a broiler; desi chicken needs 40–50 minutes of slow simmering to turn tender, while ordinary chicken is done in about 20. Food safety: marinate in the fridge and cook until the thickest piece reaches 74 °C. Chef's tip: add the tamarind only once the chicken is tender, as acid slows the softening of tough meat.

140 min

Indian Chicken

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NazkhatoonSmoky aubergine with pomegranate

Nazkhatoon comes from Gilan, the green, rainy province on Iran's Caspian coast, where it is eaten in summer as a starter or side with grilled fish, rice and fresh herbs. Charred eggplant is chopped with tomato, garlic and mint, then sharpened with sour pomegranate molasses and verjuice, so it tastes smoky, tart and fresh at once. Suitable as part of a balanced diet, it is a vegetable salad with no grain: about 110 kcal and 14 g carbohydrate per portion. The usual mistake is using sweet pomegranate syrup; it must be the sour Gilani style, and a little goes a long way. Chef's tip: chop everything by hand rather than in a blender, so the salad keeps some texture.

40 min

Persian Salads

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BozaFermented millet drink

In Bulgaria boza is a breakfast habit: a plastic bottle of it from the corner pastry shop and a slice of hot, flaky banitsa, bought on the way to work or school, especially from autumn through to spring. Towns such as Radomir, Plovdiv and Sofia argue over whose is best. It is the colour of milky coffee, thick enough to coat the glass, sweet up front with a sour, bready finish and a faint prickle. Like every fermented grain drink it makes a trace of alcohol, well under 1% when drunk young. The base is millet flour, toasted for flavour, cooked into a thin porridge, then fermented for about a day before being strained and sweetened. The common mistake is adding the yeast while the porridge is still hot, which kills it and leaves you with sweet gruel; wait until it feels only just warm on your wrist. It is ready when the surface is covered in small bubbles, it smells like fresh bread with a sour edge and tastes pleasantly tangy. Chef's tip: keep back a glass of each batch in the fridge and use it instead of yeast next time; boza made from an old starter is rounder and more sour.

70 min

Bulgarian Drinks

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Ngô nướngGrilled corn

When the first cool winds of autumn reach Hanoi, women set up little charcoal braziers along Phan Đình Phùng and around Hoàn Kiếm Lake and turn cobs of corn over the coals late into the evening. Hanoians love the chewy, sticky ngô nếp, but sweetcorn is lovely too. The cobs are brushed at the end with mỡ hành, spring onions wilted in hot oil, which turns smoky and savoury on the charred kernels. Chef's tip: if you find sticky (waxy) corn, boil it for 5 minutes before grilling, as it is firmer than sweetcorn.

30 min

Vietnamese Snacks & Starters

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Nori tsukudaniSoy-simmered nori

When a pack of nori loses its crispness, Japanese cooks turn it into nori tsukudani, the jet-black, jammy seaweed paste sold in jars as "gohan desu yo" and spread over the rice in bento boxes up and down the country. It tastes of the sea, soy and a gentle sweetness. The common mistake is walking away: once the water has gone the paste catches on the bottom within a minute. Chef's tip: soak the torn nori before you heat it, so it melts into a smooth paste instead of leaving chewy shreds.

17 min

Japanese Sides

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OdiiRoasted peanut paste

A jar of odii sits in almost every northern Ugandan kitchen, made by roasting groundnuts, often with a handful of sesame, and grinding them to a paste. Thinned with a little salted water, it becomes a smooth, toasty, savoury spread for bread and roasted cassava, a dip for boiled sweet potatoes, or the starting point for malakwang and boo. Freshly made, it tastes far deeper than shop peanut butter. The error to avoid is under-roasting: pale nuts give a flat, beany paste, so take them to an even mid-brown. Chef's tip: add the water a teaspoon at a time while stirring; the paste will first seize and thicken, then turn silky, so keep going past that point.

20 minEast African Chutneys & Dips

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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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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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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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KundeCowpea leaves with peanut paste

Farms around Kisumu and Siaya grow cowpeas for the beans, but the young leaves are picked all season and sold in bundles at roadside stalls for an everyday village vegetable. Cooked down with onion and tomato, the leaves are soft with a gentle, almost green-bean flavour, and a spoon of peanut paste stirred through at the end makes the sauce nutty and creamy. Find cowpea leaves fresh or frozen at African grocers, or use young spinach with a few pea shoots, and serve with ugali, rice or boiled sweet potatoes. Adding the peanut paste too early and leaving it to boil is the usual pitfall: it catches and tastes scorched. Chef's tip: loosen the peanut paste with a few spoons of hot cooking liquid before stirring it in, so it melts smoothly instead of clumping.

30 minEast African Sides

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Braaied gem squashGem squash with sweetcorn and cheese

Small, round and dark green, gem squash is the vegetable South African children grow up scooping from the shell with a teaspoon, and at a weekend braai it goes into the coals wrapped in foil alongside the potatoes. The halves steam in their own juice until the orange flesh is tender and sweet, with a pool of melted butter, golden corn and cheese in the hollow. Serve them as a side for anything from the grid, or make a plate of them with pap tert and a tomato salad for a meat-free braai. Indoors, an oven gives the same result. Putting them straight onto flaming wood is the mistake: they char outside and stay hard inside, so wait for grey, glowing coals. Choose a vegetarian cheddar, since many are made with animal rennet. Chef's tip: trim a thin slice off the round base of each half so it sits flat and holds its filling.

40 min

South African Sides

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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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'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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Kos ata curryJackfruit seed curry

During the jackfruit season, roughly April to July, Sri Lankan households save every seed, and kos ata curry is how they become a hearty weekday dish served with rice and greens. The seeds are boiled tender, peeled of their papery skin, then simmered in a dark roasted curry powder and coconut milk gravy until they taste like chestnuts in a spicy sauce. Serve with red rice and a sambol. The usual mistake is undercooking the seeds; they must be boiled until a fork goes in easily, or they stay hard and are hard to digest. A pressure cooker saves time: boil the seeds for 10 minutes on high. Chef's tip: crack each seed lightly with the flat of a knife before simmering so it soaks up the gravy.

50 min

Sri Lankan Curries

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Batida de cocoCoconut cachaça cocktail

Along the barracas of Salvador's beaches and at the June São João parties across Bahia, batida de coco comes out of the blender in jugs, poured into plastic cups and drunk while the forró plays. It is a drink for adults only that hides its strength well: creamy, cold and sweet like a coconut milkshake, with cachaça warming the finish rather than shouting. The texture should be thick but pourable, pale ivory, with a soft froth on top. The common mistake is blending the ice for too long, which leaves a thin, watery drink that separates into a fatty layer within minutes. Blend the liquids smooth first, then add the ice and pulse only a few times, until the noise from the blender goes quiet and smooth. It is ready when no lumps of ice rattle and the batida coats the side of the glass. Because it tastes so gentle, keep the cups small and drink responsibly. Chef's tip: chill the cachaça, coconut milk and tin of condensed milk overnight, and you will need less ice and get a richer, denser batida.

8 min

Brazilian Drinks

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Arem-aremFilled rice rolls in banana leaf

Arem-arem are what Central Javanese cooks pack for meetings, trains and bekal lunchboxes: logs of coconut-scented rice wrapped round a spiced filling, rolled in banana leaf and steamed until firm, so they can be eaten in the hand, cold or warm. Chicken fillings are common in the city; this one uses tempeh, potato and carrot. The common mistake is cooking the rice fully before rolling, which makes the logs mushy; it should be only half-cooked, so it finishes in the leaf. Chef's tip: soften the banana leaves over a flame or in hot water first, or they will split as you roll.

90 min

Indonesian Rice & Grains

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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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PothichoruRice meal in banana leaf

Before steel tiffin carriers, Kerala's schoolchildren and office workers carried pothichoru, a parcel of hot rice, a dry vegetable thoran, coconut chammanthi and a dab of pickle, folded inside a banana leaf that had been passed over a flame. By lunchtime the leaf's aroma has seeped into the rice; the whole parcel is still sold on trains and at festivals. Fried egg or fish fry are often tucked in; this is the vegetarian version. The common mistake is wrapping the leaf without wilting it first, so it cracks and leaks. Chef's tip: pack the rice warm, not steaming, and eat within four hours, or cool everything and keep the parcel cold until lunch.

60 min

Indian Rice & Grains

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BekangFried fermented soybeans

Bekang is the Mizo name for soybeans boiled and left to ferment in leaves until sticky and strongly savoury, and fried bekang is one of the most loved sides on the Aizawl table, spooned over plain rice. To ferment your own, keep the wrapped, drained beans at 30–40 °C for 2–3 days: they are ready when coated in sticky white threads and smell of ammonia and nuts. Throw them out if you see black, green or pink mould or they smell rotten. The common mistake is frying on high heat until the beans scorch and turn bitter. Chef's tip: bought kinema, axone or natto work in place of homemade bekang.

17 min

Indian Sides

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DashmiMilk and jaggery flatbread

Dashmi is the bread Maharashtrian mothers make for pilgrimages, school trips and the first days of a long journey: wholewheat dough kneaded with warm milk instead of water and sweetened with jaggery, cooked on a tawa until soft and spotted. Milk and ghee keep it tender for two or three days without a fridge in cool weather, and children eat it plain or with pickle. The common mistake is rolling it too thin and cooking it on a fierce tawa, which makes it crisp like a khakhra; it should stay soft and pliable. Chef's tip: stack the dashmis in a cloth as they come off the tawa, so the trapped steam softens them further.

40 min

Indian Breads & Parathas

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BelgramiChewy fresh cheese sweet

Belgrami belongs to Udwantnagar in Bihar's Bhojpur district, where sweet makers have cooked it for generations and travellers buy boxes on the way through. Fresh chhena is cooked down with sugar until it firms into a dense, slightly chewy, pale cream block with a gentle caramel note, then cut into pieces. It keeps for days, which makes it a favourite gift at weddings and Chhath. The common mistake is stopping too early: it must cook until the mass pulls into one lump and no longer sticks to the pan, or the pieces stay soft and weep. Chef's tip: use chhena from full-fat cow's milk and hang it for an hour, so it is dry enough to cook down quickly.

105 min

Indian Indian Sweets

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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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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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DhebraPearl millet flatbreads

Gujarati families pack a stack of dhebra for every train journey, picnic and tiffin box, because the yogurt and oil in the dough keep these spicy millet and fenugreek flatbreads soft for two or three days. They are thicker than a thepla and earthy from the bajra, and they are eaten with pickle, chhundo or a cup of tea. The common mistake is adding too much water at once: the yogurt and fenugreek release moisture as you knead, and a slack dough sticks and tears. Chef's tip: pat them out on a damp cloth or between two sheets of plastic rather than rolling, the way Gujarati kitchens do, so the delicate millet dough does not crack.

40 min

Indian Breads & Parathas

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Omogeneizzato di carne fatto in casaHomemade meat puree for babies

In Italy, little jars of omogeneizzato di carne line every supermarket shelf, but plenty of mothers in Milan, Bologna and Naples make their own: a lean piece of turkey breast, chicken or veal cooked with a carrot and blended with its own broth into a very smooth cream. A teaspoon or two is stirred into the baby's midday pappa of crema di riso in brodo vegetale from about six months, giving iron and protein. For babies there is no salt, stock cube, sugar or honey. It is free of the major allergens. Chef's tip: blend the meat while it is still hot with plenty of its broth, then sieve; cold meat goes grainy and never turns properly creamy.

40 min

Italian Meat

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Matar paratha (green pea paratha)

In Delhi and Punjab, matar paratha is the winter tiffin made when the first sweet peas arrive: the peas are boiled, mashed coarse and spiced with ginger, green chilli, cumin and amchur, then sealed inside wholewheat dough and roasted on the tawa with a little ghee. Rolled up in foil with a spoon of pickle, they are still soft at lunch. The mistake is a wet filling, which bursts through the dough; cook the mashed peas in a pan until dry and cool them before stuffing. Chef's tip: make the filling slightly saltier than tastes right, because the dough around it is unsalted and mutes it.

45 min

Indian Breads & Parathas

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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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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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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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Lemon sevai (lemon rice noodles)

Sevai is pressed rice-flour vermicelli, and in Tamil Nadu and the Mysuru region the lemon version is a lighter alternative to lemon rice for a school lunch box. Today most homes use dried rice sevai, softened in hot water and steamed, then tossed with a turmeric tempering of mustard, dal, peanuts and green chilli and plenty of lemon. The common mistake is soaking the dry sevai too long, so it breaks into short mushy bits; it should be just pliable before it goes into the steamer. Chef's tip: toss with a fork, not a spoon, and lift rather than stir so the strands stay long.

22 min

Indian Pasta & Noodles

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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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Tudou si bing (shredded potato pancakes)

In Shandong, Hebei and the northeast, these thin, lacy potato pancakes are a cheap street breakfast and a favourite filler for children's lunch boxes, crisp at the edges and soft in the middle. The potato is cut into very fine matchsticks, seasoned with spring onion, salt and a little white pepper, and bound with just enough flour to hold. The mistake is rinsing away all the starch and squeezing too hard: the shreds then won't stick together. Rinse once, drain, and squeeze lightly. Chef's tip: press the pancake thin with the back of a spatula as soon as it hits the pan; thin pancakes crisp right through and stay crisp longer in a box.

30 min

Chinese Snacks & Starters

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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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Bhure chawalRice with ghee and sugar

Bhure chawal is about as simple as Haryanvi village cooking gets: steaming rice tossed with plenty of desi ghee and bura, the fine, fluffy sugar sold in Haryana, and sometimes a few chopped nuts. It is the treat grandmothers make after the evening milking, at a new daughter-in-law's first meal, or on cold nights when something sweet is needed fast. Use fragrant, well-cooked rice and good ghee, as there is nothing to hide behind. The common mistake is adding the sugar to lukewarm rice, so it stays gritty instead of melting into the ghee. Chef's tip: no bura? Blitz ordinary sugar to a powder and add a pinch of cardamom.

25 min

Indian Rice & Grains

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Pacayas envueltas en huevoEgg-battered palm flowers

Pacaya is the young flower cluster of a mountain palm, sold in bundles at markets from Antigua to Quetzaltenango and in jars of brine abroad. During Lent, Guatemalan families dip the branched stems in a cloud of whipped egg, fry them golden and let them soak for a minute in a thin tomato sauce, so the gentle bitterness of the pacaya meets soft, savoury egg. Eat them with corn tortillas, black beans and rice. The usual mistake is skipping the rinse and blanch: jarred pacayas straight from the brine taste harsh and salty. Chef's tip: beat the whites until they hold firm peaks, then fold in the yolks by hand; a stiff foam clings to the stems instead of sliding off into the oil.

45 minCentral American Vegetarian

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Akkha masoorWhole brown lentil curry

Akkha masoor is the dish that made the dhabas on the Kolhapur–Pune highway famous: whole brown lentils cooked into a rich, fiery onion, tomato and Kolhapuri-masala gravy, finished with a big knob of butter and eaten with jowar bhakri, tandoori roti or jeera rice. At home it is a weeknight dinner and a favourite on cold evenings. The lentils keep their shape while the roasted dry coconut and red chilli give a deep, nutty heat. The usual mistake is undercooking the onions; they must turn deep brown before the tomatoes go in, or the gravy tastes thin. Slow-cooker: cook everything except the butter on low for 6 hours, then stir the butter in at the end. Chef's tip: toast the dry coconut until it is the colour of a biscuit; it is the secret of the dhaba flavour.

60 min

Indian Curries

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Pain-omeletteBaguette with onion omelette

At dawn in Abidjan, kiosks on every street corner from Cocody to Treichville fry eggs to order and stuff them into a split baguette for workers and schoolchildren: the pain-omelette. The omelette is loaded with onion, tomato and fresh chilli, sometimes with a smear of mayonnaise or a spoon of spaghetti tucked in, and eaten wrapped in paper on the way to work. The common mistake is a thick, dry omelette; keep it thin and still soft so it folds neatly into the bread. Stock cubes often contain meat, so use a vegetable one. Cook the egg fully set for pregnant people, young children, older or vulnerable people. Chef's tip: warm the split baguette on the same pan for 30 seconds while the omelette sets, so it's crisp and soaks up the oniony juices.

15 min

Ivorian Breakfast & Brunch

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Lajiao chao jidan (green chilli and egg)

Hunan home cooks in Changsha make this in ten minutes when there is nothing but eggs and long green chillies in the kitchen, and it is a standard dish at lunchbox shops: the chillies are dry-fried until blistered and smoky, then tossed with big soft curds of egg and a splash of soy. It is hot, so choose mild long chillies or green peppers if you prefer. The mistake is cooking the eggs with the chillies from the start, which makes them tough and grey; scramble them separately and combine at the end. Chef's tip: press the chillies against the hot dry wok with a spatula until they wrinkle and char in spots before any oil goes in. Contains egg and soya.

13 min

Chinese Vegetarian

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Bihari aloo bhujiaFried potato sticks

In Bihar, aloo bhujia is not the packaged snack but the everyday matchstick-potato fry that sits beside dal, bhaat and chokha on the lunch plate, cooked in mustard oil with panch phoron and a slit green chilli. Patna households make it most days of the week because it takes twenty minutes and pleases everyone. The common slip is crowding the pan and stirring too much, which turns the sticks to mash; give them room and toss gently. Chef's tip: soak the cut potatoes in cold water for 10 minutes and dry them well; washing off surface starch keeps the sticks separate and lightly crisp.

25 min

Indian Sides

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Su shi jin (mixed vegetable stir-fry)

Su shi jin means "vegetarian assortment", and it comes from the Buddhist kitchens of eastern China; today it is a staple of office lunchbox shops in Shanghai and Hangzhou. Crunchy wood ear mushrooms, strips of tofu skin, chewy wheat gluten (kao fu or mian jin), carrot, snow peas and bamboo shoot are stir-fried quickly and glossed with a light soy and ginger sauce. The mistake is adding everything at once, so the firm vegetables are raw and the snow peas overcooked; cook in order of hardness. Chef's tip: soak dried wood ear in cold water rather than hot; it plumps up crunchier.

30 min

Chinese Vegetarian

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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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Sri Lankan rice and curry lunch packet

Across Colombo at midday, office workers unfold a lunch packet: rice wrapped in a banana leaf or waxed paper with a little of everything around it. This vegan version is the one the rice-and-curry shops call "veg packet": coconut-milk parippu (red lentil dhal), a dry potato curry, a crisp mallung of chopped greens and fiery pol sambol. Chicken or fish curry is often added, but the vegetables alone make a full meal. The mistake is packing the dhal runny, which soaks the whole parcel; cook it thick enough to hold on a spoon. Chef's tip: wilt the banana leaf over a flame for a few seconds so it folds without splitting and gives the rice its scent.

75 min

Sri Lankan Rice & Grains

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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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Cheese pimiento sandwich

Cheese pimiento is the orange spread every Filipino child knows from school baon, birthday party trays and afternoon merienda in Manila: grated cheese mashed with mayonnaise, chopped pimiento and a little sugar, spread thick on soft white bread with the crusts cut off. The mistake is grating the cheese too coarsely, which gives a lumpy spread that tears the soft bread; grate it finely and let it soften for a few minutes in the mayonnaise. Many processed and cheddar cheeses are made with animal rennet, so choose one labelled vegetarian. Chef's tip: a spoon of evaporated milk makes the spread silkier and easier to spread on soft bread. Contains milk, egg (mayonnaise) and gluten.

10 min

Filipino Snacks & Starters

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Sopa de pataCow's foot and tripe soup

Sunday is sopa de pata day in many Salvadoran towns, and market stalls in San Miguel and Santa Ana sell it from huge pots from early morning. Cow's foot and tripe are simmered for hours until the broth turns rich and sticky with gelatine, then corn, yuca, chayote and green plantain go in, with lime, chilli and tortillas on the side. Ask the butcher to cut the foot into pieces and buy tripe already cleaned and blanched. The big mistake is under-cooking: the tripe must be soft enough to cut with a spoon and the foot falling off the bone. Chef's tip: blanch the foot and tripe for 10 minutes and pour that water away before the long simmer; it gives a clean-tasting broth.

240 minCentral American Soups

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