Featured recipe

Droëwors

Dried coriander beef sausage

Long before road trips had petrol-station snacks, Voortrekker families packed droëwors: thin beef sausage seasoned with roasted coriander, clove and vinegar and dried until it keeps for weeks. Today it hangs in coils in every butchery from Bloemfontein to Bellville, and bags of it go to cricket matches, hikes and the back seat of long drives to the coast. The bite is chewy and slightly crumbly, salty-sour with that toasted coriander warmth. The fat must be beef or lamb, never pork: pork fat goes rancid as it dries, and too much of any fat does the same, so keep it to about a sixth of the mix. This home method cooks the sausage to 71 °C before drying, but it is still not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system. Chef's tip: use thin sheep casings, and don't twist the sausage into links; a long, even rope dries evenly.

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Cape brandy puddingDate and walnut brandy pudding

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In the harbour town of Tongyeong (once called Chungmu), fishermen's wives made plain rice rolls in laver with the spicy side dishes packed separately, because filled gimbap spoiled in the heat of the boats. Today Chungmu gimbap is a lunchbox and road-trip classic all over Korea: finger-sized rolls eaten with a toothpick, sweet-spicy squid and fish cake, and crunchy radish kimchi. The common mistake is overcooking the squid, which goes rubbery; blanch it just until it turns white and curls. Chef's tip: brush the gim lightly with sesame oil before rolling, which keeps it from going chewy.

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Winter Sundays in the Boland and the Cape Flats smell of tamatiebredie: fatty mutton neck left to murmur for two hours with a kilo of ripe tomatoes, a stick of cinnamon, a few cloves and potatoes that soften into the sauce. The tomatoes collapse into a thick, brick-red gravy that is sweet, gently spiced and glossy with mutton fat, and the meat falls from the bone at a nudge. Serve it over plain white rice with a spoonful of fruit chutney or a beetroot salad on the side; like most bredies it tastes even better the next day. Most people drown it in water at the start, which leaves a thin, sour soup, so let the tomatoes provide the liquid and top up only by the splash. Chef's tip: for a meat-free pot, skip the mutton, soften the onions and spices the same way, then simmer two drained 400 g tins of butter beans with the tomatoes and potatoes for 40 minutes.

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Born in an Athlone fish-and-chip shop in the 1970s, the Gatsby is Cape Town's sharing sandwich: a roll as long as your arm, stuffed with hot chips, salad, sauce and a filling, then chopped into four and handed round at a match, a birthday or after Friday prayers. This version uses masala steak, thin strips of beef fried hard with Cape curry masala, garlic and chilli-garlic sauce until sticky and dark. Many takeaways add sliced polony too, which usually contains pork and/or beef or chicken, so check the label if that matters to you. The usual letdown is soggy chips, so fry them last and build the roll the moment they come out of the oil. Chef's tip: for masala chicken, swap in 600 g thin-sliced boneless chicken thigh and fry until it reaches 74 °C in the thickest piece, with no pink left.

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75 minEast African Curries

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25 min

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15 min

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When winter daikon is fat, sweet and cheap in every Japanese market, home cooks from Hokkaido to Kyushu simmer it with strips of aburaage, the thin fried tofu pouches, as an everyday side for rice and grilled food. The radish turns soft and see-through and drinks up a light soy broth, while the tofu soaks up the rest like a sponge. This version uses a kelp and shiitake dashi instead of bonito, so the whole pot is vegan, and it tastes even better reheated the next day. The usual mistake is boiling it hard: the daikon edges crumble and the broth goes cloudy, so keep it at a lazy simmer under a drop lid. Chef's tip: pour boiling water over the aburaage before cutting it, which rinses off the stale frying oil and lets the broth soak in.

40 min

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NuegadosCassava fritters in syrup

On Holy Week and at the patron-saint fairs of towns like Izalco and Suchitoto, women fry nuegados in big pans and ladle hot panela syrup over them to order. The fritters are made from mashed sweet cassava and egg, crisp outside and soft and stretchy inside, and the syrup is scented with cinnamon and cloves. Use sweet cassava, the kind sold fresh or frozen in shops; bitter varieties are not for home cooking. The most common mistake is a wet mash, which drinks up oil and falls apart; dry the cooked cassava well before mashing. Chef's tip: wet your hands or the spoon before shaping each fritter so the sticky dough drops cleanly into the oil.

50 minCentral American Desserts

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Hobak jjigaeCourgette and tofu stew

Hobak jjigae is the late-summer stew of Korean home kitchens, made when the garden throws up more courgettes (aehobak) than anyone can eat, and it lands on the table in its own pot next to rice and kimchi on any ordinary weeknight. Potato and soft tofu soften in a red, gently spicy broth of gochujang and kelp, and the courgette turns silky without falling apart. Most cooks start with anchovy stock; this one uses dried kelp and shiitake so it stays vegan. The usual mistake is adding the courgette with the potato, which leaves it mushy and grey by the time the potato is cooked. Chef's tip: a final splash of soup soy sauce (guk-ganjang) seasons the broth more deeply than salt without darkening it.

30 min

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BusecaTripe and white bean stew

Buseca arrived in Montevideo with Italian immigrants from Lombardy and became a classic winter dish of Uruguayan bodegones and family kitchens, eaten on cold June and July days. Honeycomb tripe is simmered until tender, then stewed with white beans, pork chorizo, bacon, peppers, tomato and paprika into a thick, warming stew served with crusty bread. Buy tripe that is already cleaned and blanched (dressed). The usual mistake is undercooking the tripe: it needs a full 2 hours, until it's soft enough to cut with a spoon. Slow-cooker option: after step 4, cook on low for 8 hours. Chef's tip: a little grated lemon zest and parsley stirred in at the end lifts the rich, gelatinous sauce.

185 min

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Aloo potoler dalnaPotato and pointed gourd curry

Pointed gourd (potol) floods the markets of Kolkata in summer, and aloo potoler dalna is how most Bengali homes cook it for a weekday lunch or a light Sunday meal. Half-peeled gourds and halved potatoes are fried until golden, then simmered in a loose gravy of ginger, cumin and tomato and finished with ghee and garam masala, so it tastes warm and gently sweet rather than hot. Serve it with rice or luchi. The usual mistake is peeling the gourds completely, which makes them fall apart; scrape off only the waxy skin in stripes. Chef's tip: prick each gourd once with a fork before frying so the gravy can soak into the seeds.

40 min

Indian Vegetarian

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Chai pohPreserved radish

Chaozhou and Shantou on the Guangdong coast dry chai poh in the clear, breezy weeks after the winter radish harvest, laying white strips across bamboo mats on every flat roof. Repeated rounds of salting and drying turn juicy daikon into golden, chewy strips that are salty, sweet and faintly funky, and the Teochew diaspora carried it to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Diced and fried until crisp, it goes into chai poh neng (preserved radish omelette), chwee kueh topping, congee and stir-fried kway teow. This home version uses a little sugar for the sweet style. Common mistake: drying the strips too fast in a hot oven; the outside hardens while the inside stays wet and spoils. Low and slow keeps the texture chewy-supple. It is ready when the strips are amber, flexible and leathery, have lost about 80% of their weight and feel dry, not tacky. Store in a clean airtight jar in the fridge for up to 6 months; discard if mould, slime or a sour, rotten smell appears. Chef's tip: soak the chopped radish for 5 minutes and squeeze before frying, then fry with a pinch of sugar until it smells toasty.

45 min

Chinese Chutneys & Dips

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Gulai pakisFern tip coconut curry

Gulai pakis is one of the green dishes on the counter of every Minangkabau rice shop (rumah makan Padang), from Bukittinggi to Jakarta, and it is cooked at home in West Sumatra whenever fern shoots are gathered from the riverbanks. Tender fern tips simmer in a yellow coconut milk sauce of turmeric, galangal, chilli and lime leaves until rich and gently spicy; many cooks add tiny dried shrimp, which this vegan version leaves out. Serve it with rice, sambal and fried tempeh. The usual mistake is boiling the coconut milk hard or covering the pan, which makes it split into curds; stir it often and keep it at a simmer. Chef's tip: always cook fern shoots thoroughly as below, as some ferns are not safe raw or lightly cooked; buy vegetable fern (paku) or fiddleheads sold for eating.

40 min

Indonesian Vegetarian

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Chamorro red riceAchiote rice

Red rice, hineksa' agaga', is on the table at every Chamorro fiesta, christening and Sunday barbecue in Guam and the Northern Marianas, its sunset colour coming from achiote (annatto) seeds soaked in water. The rice is cooked with onion and garlic and sometimes peas; it is soft, savoury and mild, the perfect side for grilled chicken, kelaguen and finadene. A common mistake is leaving the seeds in the rice; they're tough and bitter, so soak and strain them. Chef's tip: rub the soaking seeds between your fingers to release more colour.

45 minPacific Islander Rice & Grains

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ThechwaniCrushed radish curry

Thechwani is a winter dish from the hill villages of Garhwal, Uttarakhand, cooked when the radishes are fat and sweet. Instead of chopping, the radish (or potato) is bashed with a stone or pestle so it cracks into rough pieces with lots of surface, then simmered in an iron kadhai with mustard oil, jakhya seeds and a little tomato. The broken pieces soak up the spices, and the iron pot darkens the gravy. It is eaten with rice or mandua (finger-millet) roti. Jakhya, a crunchy wild seed, is sold in hill stores; cumin is the swap. The usual mistake is slicing the radish neatly with a knife, which keeps the spices on the outside. Chef's tip: add the radish greens, finely chopped, in the last 5 minutes for colour and a peppery bite.

40 min

Indian Vegetarian

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Chalta acharElephant apple pickle

Chalta, the elephant apple, is a big green fruit of tightly wrapped, fleshy petals, and in Bengal it arrives in the markets in autumn, around Durga Puja, staying through early winter. Raw it is so sour and fibrous that it is almost impossible to eat, but cooked with jaggery and mustard it becomes one of the best-loved sweet-sour pickles of the region. The petals soften into chewy, slightly crunchy pieces in a thick, amber syrup, sour and sweet with a sharp kick of ground mustard and chilli. Serve it with dal and rice at the end of a meal, or with khichuri on a rainy day. The common mistake is skipping the pounding: after boiling, the pieces need a few firm knocks with a pestle to break the fibres, or they stay tough and never absorb the syrup. It is ready when the syrup coats a spoon and the chalta pieces look glossy and translucent. Keep it in a clean jar in the fridge for up to a month. Outside India, frozen chalta is sold in Bangladeshi grocers; hard, sour cooking apples with a squeeze of lime are a passable stand-in. Chef's tip: a pinch of ground mustard added at the very end gives the classic nose-tingling bite.

65 min

Indian Chutneys & Dips

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PhaanuGround mixed lentil stew

Phaanu is everyday food in Garhwal's hill villages, from Pauri to Tehri, made on cold days and in large pots for family gatherings. Mixed lentils are soaked overnight, ground to a coarse paste and simmered slowly in an iron pot until the paste turns into a thick, earthy stew, with spinach or other greens and a mustard-oil and jakhya tempering. It is eaten with steamed rice and a little ghee. The usual mistake is adding the paste to the pot and walking away; for the first 10 minutes it must be stirred constantly or it forms lumps and sticks to the bottom. Chef's tip: whisk the lentil paste into cold water before it goes on the heat; it thickens smoothly and never catches.

70 min

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Tandoori pomfret

Tandoori pomfret is a fixture of Mumbai's coastal restaurants and Koli fishing families' feasts, especially in the cooler months when silver pomfret is at its best. Whole fish are slashed, given a lemon-and-salt first marinade, then coated in thick yogurt with ginger-garlic, Kashmiri chilli, ajwain and garam masala and roasted until charred at the edges and juicy inside. Suitable as part of a balanced diet: high-protein fish with no batter. About 280 kcal and 6 g carbohydrate per portion; serve with onion-cucumber salad and mint chutney. The usual mistake is using runny yogurt, which slides off and steams the fish; strain it first. Chef's tip: a spoon of roasted gram flour (besan) in the marinade helps it cling and char.

55 min

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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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Bunelos agaBanana fritters

Bunelos aga are the banana fritters of Guam, sold at fiesta food tables and church fundraisers in Hagåtña and made at home whenever the bananas over-ripen. Mashed sweet bananas are mixed into a soft batter, fried in spoonfuls and rolled in sugar, so they're crisp outside and custardy within. A common mistake is frying at too low a temperature, which makes them greasy. Chef's tip: use the small, sweet local bananas or the ripest regular ones you can find.

30 minPacific Islander Desserts

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Chanachur makhaSpicy snack mix

In Dhaka, chanachur makha is made in seconds by vendors with a tin box and a lid: a scoop of the crunchy, spicy fried mix of lentils, gram flour sticks and peanuts is shaken with chopped onion, tomato, chilli and coriander, splashed with raw mustard oil and lime, and poured into a cone of newspaper. It is the snack of the launch terminal at Sadarghat, of Ramna Park and of evening chats outside every university hall. Shop chanachur usually contains peanuts and may contain wheat. Chef's tip: deseed the tomato; its juice is the fastest way to turn the crunch soft.

10 min

Bangladeshi Snacks & Starters

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Chana methi nu athanuChickpea and fenugreek pickle

This is the thrifty, protein-rich pickle of Kathiawad and the Gujarati countryside, made in the May pickle season alongside methia keri. Brown chickpeas and fenugreek seeds are soaked until plump, then mixed with salted raw mango, split mustard, chilli and hing and sealed under oil. Over a few days the chana and methi drink up the sour mango juice and soften to a pleasant bite; the methi seeds lose most of their bitterness and turn nutty. The pickle is sour, hot and pungent, with plenty of crunch. A spoonful brightens khichdi-kadhi, bajra rotla or a plain dal-bhaat-shaak lunch. The common mistake is mixing in chickpeas that are still wet after soaking: dry them on a cloth for a few hours or the pickle will turn mouldy. It is ready in 4–5 days, when the chickpeas can be bitten through easily and taste sour all the way in. Because soaked pulses are low in acid, keep this one in the fridge once it is mixed, where it lasts up to 3 months, with the oil always covering the top. Chef's tip: use kala chana (small brown chickpeas); they stay firmer than large white ones.

50 min

Indian Chutneys & Dips

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ChandrakalaSyrup-soaked milk pastries

Chandrakala is the round, moon-shaped sweet of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, made for Holi, Diwali and Chhath and sold by sweet shops in Patna and Varanasi. Two circles of flaky pastry enclose a filling of mawa, nuts and cardamom; the edge is pleated into a rope, then the pastry is fried slowly and dipped in sugar syrup. Its sister suryakala is the same sweet shaped like a sun. The common mistake is syrup that is too thin, which makes the crust soggy within hours; it should reach one-string consistency. Chef's tip: pleat the edge firmly with damp fingertips, because a loose seal is where the filling leaks out in the hot ghee.

105 min

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Chancho en piedraCrushed tomato, garlic and chilli salsa

Despite the name, 'pig in stone' has no pork in it. It is a rough salsa of ripe tomato, garlic and chilli crushed in a stone mortar (piedra), and it is on the table at every September fonda during the Fiestas Patrias, with hot sopaipillas, bread straight from the oven or choripán. Blending it smooth in a machine is the classic mistake: it should be rustic and juicy, with small pieces. Chef's tip: pound the garlic, chilli and salt to a paste first, then add the tomatoes; the salt acts as grit and the flavour gets into every bit.

15 min

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ChapalelePotato dumplings

Chapalele is milcao's softer island cousin: mashed potato kneaded with wheat flour, shaped into flat discs and boiled, so the outside is smooth and slightly chewy and the inside soft. On Chiloé they come out of the curanto, sit next to a stew, or are eaten warm as a pudding with sugar syrup. The classic mistake is adding too much flour to a sticky dough, which makes them heavy and stodgy; dust your hands instead. Chef's tip: use dry, floury potatoes and mash them while hot, and the dough needs far less flour. For a sweet afternoon plate, drizzle them with dark cane-sugar syrup (chancaca) or honey if you eat it.

55 min

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Cháo sườnRice porridge with pork ribs

On Hanoi street corners, cháo sườn sellers ladle out this porridge from first light, and children eat it before school with a heap of crisp quẩy (fried dough) and fluffy pork floss on top. Unlike whole-grain congee, the rice is ground first, so it cooks into a pale, silky cream flavoured by a long-simmered pork rib broth. The usual mistake is adding the ground rice to boiling broth all at once, which makes stubborn lumps; whisk it into a slurry first. Chef's tip: toast the rice in a dry pan until it smells like popcorn before you grind it, which gives the porridge its gentle nutty depth.

120 min

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Chapor ghontoFried lentil cake vegetable curry

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

55 min

Indian Vegetarian

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Oksusu-chaRoasted corn tea

Oksusu-cha is the tea Korean households boil by the kettleful and keep in the fridge in old glass bottles, drunk instead of water with meals from Seoul apartments to Gangwon farmhouses, chilled in summer and hot in winter. Dried corn kernels are roasted until dark golden, then simmered to make a pale amber tea that tastes gently sweet and toasty, though nothing is added at all. About 0.0 g salt per glass. The usual mistake is boiling the kernels too long, which makes the tea cloudy and starchy; 15 minutes is plenty. Ready-roasted corn kernels are sold in Korean shops; if roasting your own, use dried corn, not fresh or tinned. Chef's tip: mix in a spoon of roasted barley for the classic boricha blend, rounder and more nutty, though no longer gluten free.

22 min

Korean Drinks

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ChauselaRice flour puris

Chausela is the puri of the Chhattisgarh plains, where rice rather than wheat fills the granary, and it turns up at Hareli, Pola and any Sunday breakfast with a sharp tomato chutney or a potato curry. The dough is scalded with boiling water so the rice flour holds together, and the puris fry up pale, soft and lightly crisp at the edges. The usual mistake is mixing the flour with cold water; it cracks as you roll and the puris split in the oil. Chef's tip: knead the dough while it is still warm, using the heel of an oiled palm, and keep it under a damp cloth so the rounds stay supple.

30 min

Indian Breads & Parathas

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OotiSoft dried pea curry

Ooti is a Meitei comfort dish from Manipur, especially loved in winter and at the community feasts of Ningol Chakouba: dried peas simmered with a pinch of soda until they collapse into a soft, mild stew scented with garlic and spring onion. It goes with rice and a fiery eromba. The mistake is adding too much soda, which tastes soapy; a small pinch is enough. Chef's tip: soak the peas overnight and they will be soft in about 40 minutes.

55 min

Indian Curries

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Chech bhajiJute leaf curry

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

25 min

Indian Vegetarian

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DoteyakiMiso-simmered beef tendon

Walk along the narrow Jan-Jan Yokochō alley in Shinsekai, under the Tsūtenkaku tower, and every kushikatsu counter has a long shallow tray of doteyaki bubbling at the front. Beef tendon is simmered until it wobbles, then stewed slowly in a glossy sauce of white miso, sugar and mirin, and it is eaten from the afternoon on, piled with raw spring onion and a shake of shichimi. The sauce contains mirin, which contains alcohol; for an alcohol-free version use 60 ml water, 1 extra tablespoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of rice vinegar instead. Chef's tip: blanch the tendon twice and rinse it well, or the sauce turns cloudy and tastes of the butcher's shop.

180 min

Japanese Meat

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Yuja-cha (citron tea)

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

45 min

Korean Drinks

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UmfinoMaize meal with greens

Imifino is the word rural cooks in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal use for the leafy greens gathered after the rains, and umfino is the comforting dish they become when folded into maize meal. This version uses shop-bought spinach and Swiss chard, with pumpkin or beetroot leaves from a greengrocer if you can find them; please don't forage wild plants. The result is soft, green-flecked pap, savoury with fried onion and earthy from the greens, eaten on its own at a weekday supper or alongside beans, amasi or a tomato and onion gravy. Watch the water: too much and it turns to porridge, too little and the maize stays raw and gritty. Chef's tip: wilt the greens in the pot first and keep their liquid, because that green water is what flavours the pap.

35 min

South African Sides

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