Featured recipe

Mish

Aged chilli cheese

Traditionally made in clay jars that are kept going for years, mish is the strong, salty aged cheese that farmers in Upper Egypt and the Delta eat with bread, onions and tomatoes in the fields. It is sharp, creamy and very pungent, with chilli heat and a bitter-sweet note from fenugreek, and a little goes a long way beside bettaw, roz me'ammar or ful. This safer home version starts from pasteurised white cheese and ages in the fridge for 4 to 8 weeks instead of months on a shelf. White cheeses are often set with animal rennet, so choose one labelled vegetarian. As a home-fermented food it is best skipped by pregnant women, young children and anyone with a weakened immune system. Chef's tip: always use a clean, dry spoon; one wet spoon is the mistake that lets mould in.

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Chivo en cocoGoat in coconut milk

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Paba is the plain, sustaining staple of Ladakhi farm kitchens, especially in Zanskar and the Nubra valley, where roasted barley, dried peas and wheat are ground together and stirred into hot water with a little butter. It is eaten at lunch with tangtur, the cool curd-and-greens side, or with a thin vegetable soup, pinched off by hand. The texture is dense and earthy, with a nutty taste from the roasting. The most common mistake is adding the flour all at once, which leaves dry lumps in the middle; sprinkle it in while stirring hard. Chef's tip: toast the flours in a dry pan until they smell like biscuits before you start, even if the bag says roasted, because fresh toasting makes all the difference.

20 min

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Pacayas envueltas en huevoEgg-battered palm flowers

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Chirimoya alegreCherimoya in orange juice

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

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Kangaroo steak with pepperberry sauce

Kangaroo is a lean, everyday red meat in Australia, sold in supermarkets from Perth to Brisbane and loved by home cooks for its rich, slightly gamey flavour and very low fat. Here the fillets are seared hot and fast and served with a creamy sauce spiced with Tasmanian pepperberry, a native pepper with a warm, fruity heat. Because there's almost no fat, kangaroo dries out if cooked past medium. A common mistake is putting cold meat in a lukewarm pan; it stews instead of searing. Serve rare to medium-rare for best texture, but cook to at least 63 °C for pregnant women, young children and anyone with a weakened immune system. Chef's tip: rest it for as long as you cooked it.

25 min

Australian Meat

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ChorreadasSweet corn pancakes

In the Costa Rican countryside, from the Central Valley to Guanacaste, chorreadas are made when the corn is fresh and milky: kernels are blended into a thick batter with a little sugar and butter and "poured" (chorrear) onto a hot griddle, then eaten with a dollop of natilla, Costa Rica's soured cream, and a cup of coffee. They are soft, sweet and taste purely of corn. The common mistake is a thin batter that spreads and tears; it should drop thickly from a spoon, so add masa harina if your corn is very juicy. Chef's tip: leave a few kernels only half-blended so the pancakes have little pops of whole corn.

30 minCentral American Breakfast & Brunch

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Caribou stew

Caribou is the everyday red meat of many Dene, Inuit and northern families in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Labrador, and a pot of caribou stew is what simmers on the stove in Yellowknife or Inuvik through the long winter. The meat is lean and slightly sweet and gamey, and slow-braising with onion, carrot, potato and turnip makes it meltingly tender. Outside the North, farmed reindeer, venison or beef chuck work in exactly the same way. A common mistake is boiling hard, which toughens lean meat; it should barely bubble. Chef's tip: dust the meat in flour and brown it well in batches for a rich, thick gravy.

175 min

Canadian Meat

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Chocolate cracklesChocolate puffed rice cakes

No Australian child's birthday party is complete without chocolate crackles, served in paper patty cases alongside fairy bread at backyard parties from Adelaide to Cairns. Puffed rice cereal is bound with melted solid coconut fat, icing sugar, cocoa and desiccated coconut, then set in the fridge. Kids can make them almost entirely on their own. A common mistake is using hot fat, which makes the mixture greasy; let it cool a few minutes. Chef's tip: use solid white hydrogenated coconut fat sold in blocks, not jarred coconut oil, which won't set firm at room temperature.

20 min

Australian Desserts

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Pan con paltaBread with mashed avocado

Chileans eat more avocado than almost anyone, and in Santiago homes the breakfast table (and the evening once) almost always has warm marraqueta or round hallulla bread spread with palta: ripe avocado simply mashed with salt. It is less a recipe than a ritual, but getting it right matters. The common mistake is using hard avocados or mashing them into a smooth purée with lime and onion like guacamole; Chileans want ripe Hass avocado, only lightly mashed, and salt, nothing more. Chef's tip: warm the bread first and mash the avocado right on it with a fork, so it sinks into the crumb.

8 min

Chilean Breakfast & Brunch

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Pan de coco garífunaCoconut milk bread rolls

In Garifuna towns along the Caribbean coast, from Dangriga in Belize to Trujillo and La Ceiba in Honduras, pan de coco is baked almost every morning and eaten with fried fish, beans or a bowl of hudut. The dough is made with coconut milk in place of water, which gives soft, slightly sweet rolls with a golden crust and a faint coconut perfume; this version uses coconut oil and is fully vegan. The common mistake is using coconut milk that is too hot, which kills the yeast: it should feel just warm on your wrist. Chef's tip: if you can, grate a fresh coconut and squeeze it with hot water to make your own milk, as Garifuna bakers do; the flavour is noticeably richer.

125 minCentral American Baking

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Pan de jamónChristmas ham bread

Caracas bakeries start taking orders for pan de jamón in early December, and families set it on the Christmas table beside the hallacas: a soft, slightly sweet bread rolled around cooked ham and smoked bacon (both pork), green olives and raisins, glazed with panela syrup. Each slice shows a spiral of salty and sweet. The common mistake is rolling loosely, which leaves gaps in the spiral. Chef's tip: roll it as tightly as you can, pressing as you go, and seal the seam well before it proves.

170 min

Venezuelan Baking

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Pan-fried Arctic char

Arctic char, iqaluk in Inuktitut, is the fish of Nunavut, netted in the rivers around Cambridge Bay and Pangnirtung when it runs to the sea in summer and through the ice in spring. It tastes like a cross between salmon and trout, with rosy, delicate flesh. In Iqaluit homes it is eaten many ways; here it is simply pan-fried until the skin crackles, with lemon and a piece of warm bannock. A common mistake is moving the fillet too early; leave it until the skin releases on its own. Chef's tip: press the fillet flat with a spatula for the first 30 seconds so the skin doesn't curl.

15 min

Canadian Fish

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Chupe de centollaKing crab and cheese stew

In Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales, at the bottom of Chile, centolla (southern king crab) is the pride of every restaurant, and chupe is how it is served on a cold Magallanes evening: a soft, spoonable stew of crab meat cooked with bread, milk and stock until creamy, then topped with cheese and browned for a minute. It is looser than a crab gratin and eaten with a spoon. Any good cooked crab meat works. The usual mistake is boiling it fiercely once the cheese and cream go in, which makes the chupe grainy; keep it at a gentle bubble. Chef's tip: add the crab right at the end, just to heat through, so the big pieces of king crab stay whole and sweet.

45 min

Chilean Fish

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Panes con chumpeTurkey rolls in pumpkin seed sauce

On Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve in El Salvador, families line up crusty rolls and fill them with turkey (chumpe) soaked in a rich, rust-coloured recado of tomatoes, toasted pumpkin and sesame seeds, mild dried chillies and warm spices, then stuff in watercress, cucumber, radish and tomato. At home, turkey legs and thighs give all the flavour of a whole bird and fit an ordinary oven. The common mistake is a thin, watery sauce; it should be thick enough to cling to the meat and soak into the bread without dripping off. Chef's tip: marinate the turkey overnight in the fridge and add its roasting juices to the recado; they carry most of the flavour.

180 minCentral American Chicken

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ChumbequeLayered honey biscuit

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

85 min

Chilean Baking

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Chura matarFlattened rice with peas

When fresh peas pile up in the markets of Varanasi and eastern Uttar Pradesh in winter, breakfast becomes chura matar: thick flattened rice tossed in ghee with sweet green peas, ginger, green chilli and a pinch of sugar, finished with lemon and coriander. It is softer and richer than poha, and is often eaten on the ghats with a cup of chai. The mistake is soaking the chura in water; it turns mushy. Rinse it quickly in a sieve and let it rest, and it softens just enough. Chef's tip: crush half the peas lightly with the back of a spoon in the pan so they coat the rice and make each mouthful sweeter.

25 min

Indian Breakfast & Brunch

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Pap tertLayered pap and tomato bake

When a braai is planned for a crowd in Pretoria or the Free State, someone is always asked to bring the paptert, because it can be built in the morning and baked while the fire burns down to coals. Firm maize porridge is spread in a dish, covered with a sweet-sharp sauce of onion, tomato and green pepper, then topped with more pap and a thick blanket of grated cheese that bubbles into a golden crust. It slices into soft, savoury squares that hold their layers, with a creamy maize base and a jammy, tangy middle, ideal beside grilled vegetables, mielies and a green salad. Many mature cheddars are made with animal rennet, so check the label and choose a vegetarian cheddar. Watery pap is the mistake to avoid, as it never sets and the whole thing slumps. Chef's tip: let the tert stand for ten minutes out of the oven before you cut it, and the slices come out clean.

60 min

South African Sides

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Churma na ladvaWheat crumb and jaggery balls

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

70 min

Indian Indian Sweets

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Chura sabjiFermented cheese curry

High in Tawang, Monpa families make chura sabji from chhurpi, a cheese of yak or cow's milk left to ferment until it is pungent and soft, cooked down with green chillies and onion into a creamy, fiery curry. It is everyday food in the cold months, eaten with rice or buckwheat bread. The usual mistake is cooking on high heat once the cheese goes in, which splits it into oily curds; melt it gently. Chef's tip: if you cannot get fermented chura, use a strong, crumbly blue or feta mixed with a spoon of curd to imitate the tang.

23 min

Indian Vegetarian

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Durban mutton curry

Grey Street spice shops in Durban blend their own red masalas, and this is the curry they are meant for: bone-in mutton cooked slowly until the gravy turns deep brick red and oily, with potatoes that drink up the chilli. Families in Chatsworth and Phoenix put it on the table for Sunday lunch and at weddings, with white rice or rotis, carrot-and-chilli salad and a bowl of tomato-and-onion sambal to cool things down. It is properly hot, but warm whole spices and curry leaves keep it from tasting only of chilli. Burning the masala is the commonest mistake, so add a splash of water the moment it starts to stick. Chef's tip: wait until the mutton is almost soft before adding the potatoes, or they will crumble into the gravy before the meat is ready.

120 min

South African Curries

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Godamba rotiThin griddle flatbread

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

60 min

Sri Lankan Breads & Parathas

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ChyhyrtmaEggs with tomatoes and onions

Çığırtma is the Azerbaijani way with breakfast eggs: onions softened slowly in butter, ripe tomatoes cooked down with them, then beaten eggs poured over and set gently, sometimes with spinach or herbs and sometimes over chicken. This vegetarian tomato version is eaten in Baku with lavash or tandir bread and strong tea. The mistake is rushing the onions; they must turn soft and sweet before the tomatoes go in. Cook the eggs until set if serving anyone pregnant, young children, older people or anyone with a weakened immune system. Chef's tip: do not stir once the eggs are in; cover the pan and let them puff over the tomatoes like a soft omelette.

25 min

Azerbaijani Breakfast & Brunch

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Atol de plátanoWarm plantain and milk drink

In Guatemalan markets, steaming pots of atol are sold from early morning: thick, sweet, drinkable porridges made from corn, rice, oats or, in this case, very ripe plantain blended with milk and cinnamon. Atol de plátano is creamy and fruity, a filling breakfast in a mug. The common mistake is boiling it hard after the milk goes in, which catches and burns on the bottom; keep it at a gentle bubble and stir. Chef's tip: simmer the plantain with the cinnamon in water first, then blend; this cooks the starch fully and gives a silky drink without any raw-banana taste.

30 minCentral American Drinks

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MchemshoBeef and vegetable pot

The name just means 'boiled', but Dar es Salaam families treat mchemsho as comfort food, made on a cool rainy evening or for anyone feeling under the weather. Beef on the bone simmers with garlic and ginger into a clear, savoury broth, and whole potatoes, carrots, green bananas and wedges of cabbage go in late so each stays distinct. It arrives in wide bowls, everything in big pieces, with lime and fresh chilli on the table to sharpen it to your taste; some cooks make it with chicken instead. Adding all the vegetables at once is the common error, leaving the cabbage grey and the potatoes in pieces. Chef's tip: blanch and rinse the beef first, then start again in fresh water, for a broth that stays clear.

90 minEast African Meat

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Colada moradaPurple corn and berry drink

Every year in the days before 2 November, the Día de los Difuntos, Quito's kitchens and bakeries fill with the smell of colada morada: a warm, spoon-thick drink of purple corn flour cooked with blackberries, blueberries, pineapple and a bundle of fragrant herbs and spices. It is deep violet, sweet-tart and full of chopped fruit, and it is always served with guaguas de pan, the bread babies, often shared with family at the cemetery. The most common mistake is stirring the corn flour straight into hot liquid, which makes lumps: whisk it into cold water first. Chef's tip: lemon verbena and lemongrass give the authentic perfume; if you can find naranjilla or a few orange leaves, add them to the spice pot too.

100 minAndean Drinks

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Pasta jajecznaEgg spread

In Poland pasta jajeczna is the everyday breakfast and kanapki spread, piled thickly on rye bread or a crusty roll and topped with radish slices, and it is always on the table at Easter breakfast. Hard-boiled eggs are chopped finely or mashed with mayonnaise, a little mustard and a lot of chives into a creamy, savoury spread. The common mistake is boiling the eggs too long: overcooked yolks turn grey-green and taste sulphurous, so stop at 10 minutes and chill them at once. Chef's tip: grate the eggs on the coarse side of a box grater instead of chopping; you get a fluffy, even spread in seconds without mashing it to paste.

18 min

Polish Breakfast & Brunch

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Pastel de chuchoStingray, plantain and cheese bake

On Margarita island, pastel de chucho is the pride of fishing villages like Juan Griego and El Tirano, and a fixture of Holy Week: shredded stingray (chucho) cooked in a rich sofrito, layered with fried ripe plantain and white cheese and set with beaten egg. Stingray can be hard to find and is not always sustainable, so a firm white fish such as hake, pollock or responsibly caught skate wing works well. The common mistake is a watery sofrito, which makes the bake soggy. Chef's tip: cook the fish sofrito until the pan is almost dry before layering.

120 min

Venezuelan Fish

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Pumpkin scones

Pumpkin scones are a Queensland country tradition, made famous by the farm-raised wife of a long-serving state premier and baked for every Country Women's Association morning tea from Toowoomba to Rockhampton. Mashed pumpkin makes them golden, soft and slightly sweet, and they are best warm from the oven with plenty of butter. A common mistake is wet pumpkin; steam or roast it and let it cool so the dough isn't sticky. Chef's tip: cut straight down without twisting the cutter, so the scones rise tall and even.

35 min

Australian Baking

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Citron presséFresh lemon drink

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

5 min

French Drinks

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Pāua frittersAbalone fritters

Pāua, the New Zealand black-footed abalone with its rainbow shell, is gathered by divers on the rocky coasts of Kaikōura, the Chatham Islands and Stewart Island, and minced into rich, savoury fritters that are a Kiwi beach-bach favourite. Only take or buy pāua within the legal limits, and buy from a licensed seller. The meat must be cleaned and tenderised before mincing. A common mistake is overcooking the fritters, which turns the pāua tough; they need just a couple of minutes a side. Chef's tip: mince the meat finely, the old way was through a hand mincer, so the fritters are tender.

25 min

New Zealand Fish

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Pavakka acharBitter gourd pickle

Bitter gourd pickle is a speciality of Kerala's Syrian Christian kitchens in Kottayam and Thiruvalla, made through the year and always on the table at Christmas and wedding lunches. Thin rounds of pavakka are salted to tame the bitterness, fried until crisp at the edges, then tossed in a garlicky, ginger-sharp masala of Kashmiri chilli and vinegar cooked in gingelly oil. The pieces stay slightly crunchy and chewy, the masala is tangy and hot, and the bitterness is there but rounded off by a little sugar. Eat it with rice and moru curry, appam or chapati. The common mistake is under-frying: pale, soft pavakka goes soggy and spoils fast in the vinegar. Fry until the rounds are deep golden and the bubbling in the oil almost stops. The masala is ready when the oil separates and the vinegar's sharp smell has mellowed. Because it holds garlic and ginger in oil, the vinegar (at least 5% acidity, never diluted) and the fridge both matter: keep it chilled and eat within a month. Chef's tip: choose small, dark green Kerala pavakka with tight ridges; they are firmer and less watery than the big pale ones.

55 min

Indian Chutneys & Dips

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PemmicanDried beef, fat and berry bars

Pemmican was the essential food of the Cree, Métis and other Plains and northern peoples, and later of the fur trade: dried, pounded bison meat mixed with rendered fat and sometimes saskatoon berries, packed into hide bags and kept for months. This home version uses lean beef, heated to a safe temperature before drying in a low oven, then ground and bound with beef tallow and dried berries into dense bars. It is very rich and very filling, eaten in small pieces on hikes and camping trips. A common mistake is leaving fat on the meat before drying; fat goes rancid, so trim it all off. Chef's tip: dry the meat until it snaps, not bends; any moisture shortens its keeping time.

510 min

Canadian Meat

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Boiled mutton

Chanasan makh is the simplest and most loved meal of the Mongolian countryside, boiled in a big pot on the ger stove in Övörkhangai or Khentii whenever guests arrive or a holiday comes round. Large bone-in pieces of mutton are simmered with nothing but salt and a little onion, then served steaming on a platter to be cut with a knife and eaten by hand, with the rich broth drunk from bowls alongside. Potato, carrot and turnip are often cooked in the same pot. A common mistake is boiling hard, which makes the meat tough and the broth cloudy; keep it at a lazy simmer and skim. Chef's tip: mutton or older lamb with some fat on it gives the deepest flavour.

135 min

Mongolian Meat

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Bol renverséUpside-down rice bowl

Order a bol renversé in a Port Louis canteen or a Grand Baie food court and it arrives as a neat dome of rice with a fried egg perched on top; break into it and a glossy stir-fry of chicken, prawns, mushrooms and Chinese leaves spills out. The trick is building it backwards in a bowl, egg first, then the stir-fry, then rice packed down, before flipping it onto a plate. The sauce should be thick enough to coat the vegetables but loose enough to soak into the rice. People often make the sauce too thin and the dome slides apart in a flood, so simmer it until it glazes the back of a spoon. Chef's tip: fry the eggs only until the whites are set and the edges are crisp, and lay them yolk-side down in the bowl so the yolk faces up and stays runny when you turn it out.

45 min

Mauritian Rice & Grains

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Anda parathaEgg-stuffed paratha

At the dhabas along the GT Road and the breakfast stalls of Rawalpindi's Saddar, the paratha-wala cracks an egg straight into a bowl with onion and chilli, half-cooks a paratha, pours the egg over and flips the whole thing onto the tawa so the egg fries into the bread. The result is one golden, layered disc that is crisp at the edges, soft where the egg meets the dough, and peppery with green chilli. Truck drivers, students and office workers eat it folded in half with chai, ketchup or green chutney, and it is a common packed lunch for school because it needs no curry. The problem most people run into is pouring the egg onto a raw paratha, which tears, or onto a fully cooked one, which will not let the egg stick. Chef's tip: cook the first side only until brown spots appear, then add the egg to the cooked side and flip so the egg sets against the hot iron.

30 min

Pakistani Breakfast & Brunch

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Christmas mushroom soup

In many Polish homes the Christmas Eve supper opens with either beetroot barszcz or this soup, and families argue about which is better. Dried porcini picked and threaded on strings in September are soaked and simmered with root vegetables into a clear, deep-brown broth with a smoky, almost meaty depth, then served with thin noodles or łazanki. It is fully meat-free, as Wigilia tradition requires, and kept dairy-free here. A common mistake is pouring the soaking water in with its grit; let it settle and leave the last spoonfuls behind. Chef's tip: soak the mushrooms overnight in cold water and cook them in that water for the most flavour.

90 min

Polish Soups

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