Featured recipe

Fantastic fennel

Fennel, apple and pear juice

Crisp fennel juiced with sweet apples, pears and a carrot, giving a fresh juice with a gentle aniseed flavour. Serve it chilled.

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Arroz mamposteaoFried rice and stewed beans

Fondas around San Juan put arroz mamposteao on the menu as a way to use yesterday's white rice and the last ladle of habichuelas, and at home it is the Sunday-night fix when the pots from lunch come out of the fridge. The rice is fried in olive oil with a fresh sofrito, then the beans and their sauce go in until every grain is stained pink and the edges catch and crisp. Many cooks add ham or bacon; this version stays meat-free and gets its depth from the sofrito and a little smoked paprika. The common mistake is using freshly cooked rice, which turns to paste; cold, day-old rice keeps separate grains. Chef's tip: leave the pan alone for the last few minutes so a crunchy layer forms on the bottom, then fold it through.

25 min

Puerto Rican Rice & Grains

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Asa watFish in berbere stew

Around Lake Tana in Bahir Dar and on the shores of Lake Hawassa, fresh tilapia, Nile perch and catfish are cheap and plentiful, so fish goes into the same deep red berbere sauce that elsewhere would hold beef or chicken. Asa wat has the familiar long-cooked onion base and warming spice, but it is lighter than a meat wat, with tender, sweet chunks of fish soaking up the sauce. It is eaten with injera, often alongside a lentil or greens dish, and is a popular choice on fasting days for those who eat fish. Stirring once the fish is in is the classic mistake; it breaks into shreds, so shake the pan instead. Chef's tip: add the fish only once the sauce is fully cooked and thick, then give it no more than 10 minutes.

55 min

Ethiopian Fish

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Apricot preserve

The apricot is Armenia's national fruit, and in July families in the Ararat Valley villages around Artashat and Masis cook whole ones slowly in syrup so they keep their shape and turn translucent, sometimes slipping a peeled kernel back inside each fruit. The jars come out on winter evenings, served in tiny glass bowls with black tea or coffee. A common mistake is boiling the fruit hard, which breaks it into jam. Chef's tip: cook in short spells, resting the pan overnight between them; the syrup seeps in slowly and the apricots stay whole and glossy. Bitter kernels contain a natural toxin, so use sweet almonds instead.

90 min

Armenian Basics

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Gefilte fishPoached fish dumplings

Poached fish dumplings start the Shabbat and Passover meal in many Ashkenazi homes across Israel, and families still argue about whether they should be sweet, Polish-style, or peppery like the Lithuanian version. Minced carp, pike or whiting is beaten with onion, egg and matzo meal, shaped into ovals and simmered in a broth made from the fish bones and vegetables, which sets into a light jelly when chilled. Each piece is served cold with a coin of carrot on top and a spoonful of sharp beetroot horseradish. The commonest mistake is boiling the broth hard, which makes the dumplings tough and breaks them up; it should barely tremble. Chef's tip: wet your hands with cold water before shaping each dumpling so the soft mixture does not stick.

120 min

Israeli Fish

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Aiyu jelly with lemonAiyu fig jelly with lemon

Squeezing a little cloth bag of seeds in a bowl of water until it turns into jelly sounds like a magic trick, yet that's how aiyu has been made for well over a century in Chiayi, at the foot of the Alishan hills where the climbing fig grows wild. The pectin in the dried seeds sets the water into a soft, glassy, pale-gold jelly with almost no taste of its own, so it's cut into cubes and served icy cold with tart lemon juice and honey syrup, the most refreshing thing on a sticky Taipei summer afternoon. The classic failure is a bowl that won't set, usually because the bowl was oily or the water was distilled or very soft; it needs ordinary tap or mineral water. Chef's tip: rub the bag steadily for 8–10 minutes and stop as soon as it feels slippery and nothing more comes out, or the jelly turns cloudy and bitter.

30 min

Taiwanese Drinks

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Gari fotoGari with tomato and egg

Gari foto is Ghanaian fast home cooking at its best, most associated with the Volta Region but made in student hostels everywhere: a quick tomato and onion sauce, eggs scrambled into it, then gari folded through until it soaks up the juices and becomes moist and fluffy. It is savoury, slightly tangy and comforting, and it is eaten with fried ripe plantain or avocado on the side. Many cooks add tinned sardines or corned beef; this egg version is vegetarian. The common mistake is adding gari dry, which makes it sandy and heavy, so sprinkle it with water first. Chef's tip: take the pan off the heat before folding in the gari, so it absorbs the sauce gently without sticking.

25 min

Ghanaian Vegetarian

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GánicaPotato and flour crumble

Up in the hills of northern Hungary, in Nógrád and Borsod, potatoes and flour were often all a farmhouse kitchen had in late winter, and gánica made a meal of them. The potatoes are mashed with flour into a heavy dough, then torn apart with two forks into small, uneven crumbs, which are tossed in a pan of onion-scented oil until golden in places. The result is soft and fluffy with crunchy edges, more like a savoury crumble than a dumpling. Eat it as a side with a mushroom stew, or sweet, spooned over with plum jam. The usual slip is under-cooking the flour, which leaves the crumbs pasty; give it the full time over the heat while you beat it. Chef's tip: tear the dough while it is still hot; once it cools it sets into a lump and will not crumble.

40 min

Hungarian Sides

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Shorbet lesan asfour (orzo soup)

Bowls of this golden broth start the meal on winter nights all over Cairo, and it is one of the first things set on the table at iftar, when a gentle, warm soup comes before anything heavier. Lesan asfour means "bird's tongue", the Egyptian name for the small rice-shaped pasta the rest of the world calls orzo. Fried in butter until nutty and then simmered in a well-seasoned chicken stock, the grains turn plump and silky, and a squeeze of lemon at the table lifts the whole bowl. Children love it, and it is what many Egyptian households cook for anyone feeling under the weather. Chef's tip: toast the pasta until it is the colour of roasted hazelnuts, not just pale gold; that browning is where all the flavour comes from.

25 min

Egyptian Soups

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Lo mai gai (sticky rice in lotus leaf)

Unfold the dried lotus leaf at a Hong Kong yum cha table and a cloud of tea-scented steam rises from a parcel of glossy sticky rice, hiding a centre of soy-braised chicken thigh, shiitake and slices of lap cheong, the sweet Chinese pork sausage. Teahouses from Sheung Wan to Mong Kok sell it from the morning trolleys, and office workers grab one as a filling breakfast with a pot of pu'er. The rice is chewy and sticky but each grain stays whole, and the leaf gives it a faint grassy perfume. Shaoxing rice wine goes into the filling; an alcohol-free swap is given in the ingredient list. The most common mistake is cooking the rice in water like plain rice: soaked glutinous rice must be steamed, or it turns into paste. Chef's tip: wrap the parcels tightly and steam them again from cold or frozen; they reheat better than almost any dim sum.

130 min

Hong Kong Rice & Grains

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Garash tortaWalnut meringue chocolate cake

In 1885 a Hungarian confectioner named Kosta Garaš created this cake in Ruse, the elegant Danube town, and it has been the pride of Bulgarian patisseries ever since. Five thin, chewy layers of walnut meringue are stacked with a dark, glossy chocolate ganache and finished with a mirror-like chocolate glaze. Because it uses no flour, it is naturally gluten-free; it is rich and dense, so slices are thin, served with black coffee on name days and anniversaries. The cake is best made a day ahead and chilled so the meringue softens slightly into the ganache. Where most people go wrong is grinding the walnuts to an oily paste; pulse them only until like coarse sand. You will have ten yolks left over: use them for custard or pasta. Chef's tip: bake each layer on a circle drawn on baking paper and trim them all to the same size while still warm, when they cut cleanly.

120 min

Bulgarian Baking

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GarnaalkrokettenGrey shrimp croquettes

Along the Flemish coast, from De Panne to Knokke, the North Sea grey shrimp is king, and garnaalkroketten are the dish every seaside restaurant is judged by: a molten, creamy shrimp-flavoured béchamel packed with little brown shrimps, set firm, crumbed and fried until golden, served with fried parsley and lemon. In Oostduinkerke, shrimp fishers on horseback still drag their nets through the shallows. A common mistake is a béchamel that isn't thick enough, so the croquettes burst in the oil. Chef's tip: make a strong shrimp stock from the shells, if you have them, for the béchamel, and chill the mix overnight so it is firm to shape. The shrimp are already cooked; fry until golden and hot through.

90 min

Belgian Snacks & Starters

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Arroz con dulceCoconut rice pudding

From the start of December to the Three Kings in January, trays of arroz con dulce cool on Puerto Rican kitchen counters, sliced into squares and handed round at parrandas when carollers arrive at the door late at night. Unlike a milky rice pudding, it is cooked in a water steeped with fresh ginger, cinnamon, cloves and star anise, then finished with coconut milk and raisins, so it is fragrant, firm enough to cut and dairy free. The common mistake is adding the sugar too early, which keeps the rice grains hard; sweeten only once they are soft. Chef's tip: soak the rice for an hour first, and it cooks evenly and absorbs the spiced coconut far better.

120 min

Puerto Rican Desserts

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Arroz con maízRice with sweetcorn

In central Cuba, when the fields are full of young corn, families cut the kernels straight off the cob into the rice pot with a sofrito of onion, pepper, garlic and annatto, cooking everything together until golden and sticky at the base. Many farm cooks add salt pork; this vegan version leans on cumin and a little smoked paprika. A common mistake is using too much water, as fresh corn releases its own milk, so keep to the amounts given. Serve with black beans or a tomato and avocado salad. Chef's tip: scrape the cobs with the back of the knife after cutting off the kernels and add that milky pulp; it gives the rice a creamy sweetness.

45 min

Cuban Rice & Grains

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Guddaim (Sudanese grewia berry drink)

Small, round guddaim berries, the fruit of a wild grewia shrub that grows across Kordofan and Darfur, are dried and sold by the cupful in Sudanese markets. Soaked in water and rubbed off their stones, they give a cloudy reddish-brown drink that tastes a little like dates and sour cherries, with a pleasantly sharp finish. It is drunk ice-cold in the heat of the day, at iftar and to welcome guests. Look for dried guddaim in Sudanese or East African shops. If you cannot find it, a mix of 150 g pitted dates and 50 g tamarind pulp soaked the same way gives a similar sweet-sour drink, though not the same. Rubbing too hard and breaking the stones is the usual mistake, as it clouds the drink with grit; rub gently. Chef's tip: soak the berries in cool water overnight in the fridge for the fullest flavour.

20 min

Sudanese Drinks

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Jamaican curried soy chunks

Ital cookshops in Half Way Tree and Papine sell curried "chunks" by the box with brown rice, steamed cabbage and a slice of ripe plantain, the Rastafarian answer to curry goat. The dried soya pieces soak up a deep, turmeric-gold sauce of Jamaican curry powder, thyme, pimento and coconut milk, and the potato thickens it as it breaks down. Most people skip squeezing the soaked chunks, which leaves them watery and bland; wring them out hard so they drink in the curry instead. Leave the scotch bonnet whole for warmth, or slit it for real heat. Chef's tip: fry the curry powder in the oil until it darkens a shade before anything wet goes in, the Jamaican "burn the curry" step that stops it tasting raw.

45 min

Jamaican Curries

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Cocktail bunCoconut-filled sweet buns

Bakeries across Hong Kong pull trays of cocktail buns from the oven before the morning rush, and schoolchildren and commuters buy them warm in paper bags to eat on the bus or with milk tea at a cha chaan teng. The story goes that 1950s bakers invented them to use up day-old bread mixed with sugar and coconut, so the name is a playful nod to a cocktail of leftovers. Today the soft, milky roll holds a sweet, buttery coconut filling that's slightly sandy and chewy, under two piped stripes and a scatter of sesame seeds. A soft, warm filling tends to ooze out during proving and baking, so chill it until firm before you roll the buns. Chef's tip: roll each bun up tightly from the long side and pinch the seam well, then place it seam-down; loose rolls split open in the oven.

150 min

Hong Kong Baking

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Jamaican red pea soup

Saturday in many Jamaican homes means a big pot of red peas soup, thick enough to stand a spoon in and finished with chewy spinner dumplings. Outside Rasta households it usually carries pig's tail or salted beef; this is the ital version, where coconut milk, pimento, thyme and a smoky handful of browned onion do the savoury work. Dried kidney beans must be soaked and then boiled hard for at least 10 minutes before simmering, as undercooked red kidney beans are toxic, and many cooks spoil the soup by adding salt too early, which keeps the skins tough. Serve it on its own as a full meal. Chef's tip: mash a ladleful of cooked beans against the side of the pot near the end to give the soup its creamy body without any flour.

140 min

Jamaican Soups

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Ka'ak nakache (date-filled semolina rings)

Constantine bakers own a special brass tweezer, the nakache, just for decorating these rings: a rope of buttery semolina dough is wrapped round spiced date paste, joined into a circle and pinched along the top into chevrons and leaves. Baked pale, ka'ak nakache is crisp and short outside with a soft, cinnamon and clove scented filling, a classic of Eid trays and of the coffee served to guests in the old city. Without the tweezer, a fork or the back of a small knife makes a good pattern. Chef's tip: let the buttered semolina rest for at least 30 minutes before adding water; skipping the rest is the usual mistake, and the rings crack as you shape them.

85 min

Algerian Baking

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GajakSesame jaggery brittle

Winter in Punjab has a sound, and it is the snap of gajak: thin, glossy sheets of toasted sesame bound in jaggery, sold from piled trays outside the sweet shops of Multan, Gujranwala and Lahore from the first cold week of December. It is nutty, crunchy and toffee-sweet, with the earthy depth of gur, and families keep a tin of it beside the heater to nibble after dinner with green tea or to share with visitors. The commercial kind is hammered and pulled into flaky layers, but the home version poured thin and rolled flat is what most households make. The pitfall is pulling the jaggery off the heat too early, which gives a brittle that turns chewy and sticky after a day. Chef's tip: test the syrup by dropping a little into cold water; it must snap cleanly at once, and that hard-crack stage is reached quickly, so have the sesame warm and ready. Take care: the syrup is far hotter than boiling water.

40 min

Pakistani Indian Sweets

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Gammeldags æblekageLayered apple compote dessert

'Old-fashioned apple cake' is not a cake at all but a Danish trifle, made on autumn weekends when the apple trees are heavy: tart apple compote layered in a glass bowl with breadcrumbs or crushed macaroons toasted in butter and sugar, topped with whipped cream and a few dots of redcurrant jelly. The crumbs stay crunchy against the soft fruit. A common mistake is assembling it hours ahead, which turns the crumbs soggy. Chef's tip: toast the crumbs until deep golden and crisp, and assemble within an hour of serving.

45 minScandinavian Desserts

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Fuži s tartufimaHand-rolled pasta with truffle

Autumn in the Mirna valley of inland Istria, around Motovun and Buzet, means truffle hunters and dogs in the oak woods and plates of fuži in every village konoba. Fuži are small squares of egg pasta wrapped round a stick into quills, and here they are tossed with butter, a splash of their cooking water and grated truffle, so each one carries a glossy, earthy coat. Fresh black or white truffle is best; a little truffle paste works too, but read the label and avoid products that rely on artificial truffle aroma. The aged hard cheese is often made with animal rennet, so choose a vegetarian hard cheese if you need to. Where most people go wrong is cooking the truffle: heat kills its scent, so add it off the heat. Chef's tip: store the fresh truffle overnight in a closed jar in the fridge with the eggs for the dough; they soak up its perfume through the shell.

60 minBalkan Pasta & Noodles

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Jamaican roast yam

Roast yam stands beside roast fish at the beach shacks of Treasure Beach and at the roadside stalls along the Ocho Rios road, long pieces pulled out of the coals with blackened, smoky skins. Yellow yam roasted this way turns dense, dry and nutty, quite different from boiled, and it is eaten hot with a little coconut oil or butter and a sprinkle of salt. The usual mistake is cutting the yam too short or thin, so it dries out; roast it in thick 20 cm lengths with the skin on. Here it is done in a hot oven, with a flame option for a smoky edge. Chef's tip: wrap the pieces in foil for the first 30 minutes so they steam inside, then unwrap them to char the outside.

60 min

Jamaican Sides

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FyddzhynBeef and onion pie

In North Ossetia, pies come in threes, for the sun, earth and sky, and the meat pie in that stack is fyddzhyn: a thin, soft yeast crust wrapped around juicy minced beef, onion, garlic and a little chilli, with a small hole in the middle to let out steam. The Ossetian people serve it at every family gathering and feast, hot and dripping with butter brushed on as it leaves the oven, cut into wedges and eaten with the hands. A common mistake is rolling the crust thick; good fyddzhyn is all filling and the dough should be barely 4 mm. Chef's tip: add a few spoons of cold stock to the mince; it turns to steam in the oven and keeps the filling juicy.

105 min

Russian Meat

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Galinha à portuguesa (Portuguese chicken)

Puzzlingly, you will not find this in Portugal: galinha à portuguesa belongs to Macau, where cooks mixed a Portuguese idea of a creamy baked chicken with the turmeric, curry powder and coconut milk that came through the Portuguese trading routes from Goa and Malacca. Macanese restaurants and Hong Kong's cha chaan teng serve it bubbling in a clay pot or baking dish, golden on top, with chicken and potatoes in a mild, yellow, gently sweet coconut sauce, always with white rice to soak it up. It is a favourite for family dinners and Christmas tables. The thing people get wrong is boiling the coconut sauce hard, so it splits and turns oily; keep it at a gentle simmer. Chef's tip: brown the chicken well first, and finish under a hot grill for the speckled golden top that Macau restaurants are known for.

75 min

Macanese Chicken

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Tainan beef soup

Before dawn in Tainan, workers and night owls fill steamy shops near the slaughterhouse districts for bowls of fresh local beef sliced paper-thin and blanched by a ladle of boiling broth, eaten with rice and a saucer of soy and ginger as a sunrise breakfast. The meat is tender and rosy, the broth clean, sweet and beefy. Traditionally the slices are barely cooked; this recipe gives a safer 30-second dip in simmering broth and a fully cooked option. The pink version is not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system. People often cut the beef too thick, so it toughens before it cooks through; firm it in the freezer and slice it as thin as you can. Chef's tip: bring the broth to a hard, rolling boil right before every ladle; a broth that has dropped off the boil never cooks the beef evenly.

30 min

Taiwanese Soups

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Steamed scallops with garlic and glass noodles

At the seafood stalls of Sai Kung and Lei Yue Mun, diners pick shellfish from the tanks and the kitchen sends them back in minutes: scallops on the half shell, each sitting on a nest of glass noodles under a heap of garlic, half fried golden and half left raw, steamed just until the scallop turns opaque, then finished with a splash of soy and a hiss of hot oil over spring onions. The noodles soak up all the sweet juices, the scallop is soft and barely firm, and the garlic is both mellow and sharp. Serve one or two each as a starter. Use only very fresh scallops: discard any that smell off or have cracked or broken shells. Most people overcook them; a large scallop needs only 5 to 6 minutes. Chef's tip: frying half the garlic and keeping half raw is the restaurant trick for deep, rounded garlic flavour.

25 min

Hong Kong Fish

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Fah-fah (Djiboutian spicy goat soup)

Djibouti City's cafés and Somali-speaking homes across the Horn claim fah-fah as a national dish: a clear but deeply flavoured goat broth simmered on the bone with garlic, cumin and black pepper, filled with potatoes and carrots and sharpened at the end with plenty of green chilli and coriander. It is often eaten at lunch or as a restorative supper, and is especially loved during the cool season and Ramadan, with canjeero torn into the bowl to soak. The broth should be clean-tasting and spicy rather than thick. Letting the soup boil hard makes it cloudy and greasy, so skim well and keep it at a gentle simmer. Don't skip skimming the broth at the start, or the soup stays cloudy and tastes muddy. Chef's tip: add the chilli and coriander only in the final minutes so they stay bright and green.

110 min

Somali Soups

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Djouzia (walnut and honey nougat)

Shops in old Constantine wrap djouzia in twists of paper and sell it by weight, a soft, pale caramel-coloured nougat of honey, whipped egg white and plenty of walnuts. It is chewier and darker than white Provençal nougat, with a deep honey flavour and the slight bitterness of walnut skins. Djouzia is a gift sweet, carried to weddings and offered with coffee to visitors, and keeps for weeks. A sugar thermometer makes it reliable. Chef's tip: cook the honey syrup to 125 °C; syrup that is pulled off too early is the most common mistake, and the nougat stays sticky and will not set enough to cut.

55 min

Algerian Desserts

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Trout with tarragon

In the river valleys of Racha, around Ambrolauri and Oni, cafés keep live trout in stone tanks fed by mountain streams, and the classic way to cook them is simply: stuffed with tarragon, garlic and a little salt, roasted or grilled over vine cuttings, and finished with a shower of pomegranate seeds and a squeeze of their juice. A common mistake is cooking the fish too long, which dries the delicate flesh. Chef's tip: slash the skin twice on each side so the heat reaches the thickest part evenly, then check by pressing the backbone: the flesh is done when it is opaque and lifts away in clean flakes.

30 min

Georgian Fish

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Arroz a la cubanaRice with tomato and egg

Havana cafeterías put this plate on the lunch board when cooks want something cheap, fast and filling: a mound of plain white rice, a ladle of garlicky tomato sauce, a fried egg with a runny yolk and slices of caramelised ripe plantain. Breaking the yolk into the rice and sauce is the whole point, so the eggs should be fried at the last minute. The usual mistake is using plantains that are still yellow-green; they need black-spotted skins to turn soft and sweet in the pan. Serve with a simple avocado salad. Chef's tip: baste the egg whites with hot oil from the pan so they set with lacy edges while the yolks stay liquid.

30 min

Cuban Rice & Grains

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GaboutStuffed dumplings in tomato stew

Gabout is old Kuwaiti home cooking, the kind grandmothers in Kuwait City still make for family lunches in winter, and a close relative of the Iraqi dumplings brought along the trading routes of the Gulf. Soft flour dough is wrapped around spiced lamb or beef mince with chickpeas, and the dumplings are simmered in a sour tomato and dried-lime stew until they are tender and plump. It is filling and comforting, eaten with bread or on its own. The mistake people make is rolling the dough too thick, which makes the dumplings heavy and doughy. Chef's tip: wet your fingers when sealing, the dough must close tightly or the filling leaks into the stew.

120 minGulf Arabian Meat

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GanfanRice with stir-fried beef and peppers

Ganfan is a dish of the Dungan people, Chinese Muslim communities who settled in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan in the 1870s, and it is ordered in every Dungan café in Bishkek and Karakol: a plate of plain rice with a ladle of stew on top, made by stir-frying thin strips of beef or lamb with peppers, aubergine, celery, tomato and garlic, seasoned with soy sauce and vinegar. A common mistake is crowding the wok, which makes the meat grey and watery. Chef's tip: cut the beef into thin strips against the grain and stir-fry it first in small batches over a fierce heat, then return it at the end. No pork is used in Dungan cooking. Beef strips are done when no pink remains.

60 min

Kyrgyz Rice & Grains

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Burmese tomato salad

Come the cool season, when tomatoes are at their sweetest in Mandalay and the dry towns of Upper Burma, this thoke (a salad 'mixed by hand') is the quick dish that appears beside rice and curry at almost every meal. Slices of ripe tomato and onion are squeezed together with toasted chickpea flour, crushed peanuts and fried shallots in their oil, so the juices and flour turn into a light, nutty dressing that clings to every piece. Lime and fresh chilli sharpen it, and coriander lifts it. Home cooks often add fish sauce; this vegetarian version uses salt and a pinch of sugar. Dressing it too early is the most common mistake: salt pulls water from the tomatoes and leaves a soupy plate. Chef's tip: mix with your fingertips just before serving, pressing lightly so some tomato juice blends into the flour.

15 min

Burmese Salads

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ArikanchanTaro leaf rolls in mustard gravy

Arikanchan is a monsoon speciality of Maithil kitchens in Janakpur and the eastern Terai, cooked when the taro plants in the courtyard put out huge, tender leaves. A spiced chickpea-flour paste is spread over the leaves, which are rolled up tight like a Swiss roll and steamed, then the rolls are sliced into spirals, fried and simmered in a punchy gravy of ground mustard seed, garlic, chilli and tomato cooked in mustard oil. The result is soft and layered, with a gentle sourness and the nose-tingling heat of fresh mustard, eaten with rice and a dal. The biggest risk is undercooking the taro leaves, which can leave an itchy, scratchy feeling in the throat. Chef's tip: use only young leaves, strip the thick ribs, and always include the tamarind in the paste, because the sourness neutralises the irritant in the leaves.

70 min

Nepali Vegetarian

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Singapore prawn noodle soup

Long before lunch, the big pots at Singapore's prawn mee stalls have been bubbling with fried prawn shells and pork bones, and the regulars from Zion Road to Tiong Bahru arrive with one question: soup or dry? This is the soup version, which is different from the stir-fried Hokkien prawn mee: a sweet, briny, rust-coloured broth poured over yellow noodles and rice vermicelli, topped with halved prawns, tender pork ribs, kangkong and bean sprouts, finished with fried shallots and a dusting of chilli powder. A dish of sliced red chilli in soy sauce sits alongside. The most common mistake is boiling the shells without frying them first, which gives a pale, thin broth; the depth comes from shells toasted in oil until they are deep red and smell like the sea. Chef's tip: freeze prawn shells and heads from other meals over a few weeks so you have a big bag ready for the stock.

135 min

Singaporean Pasta & Noodles

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June plum juice

When June plums (ambarella) fall from backyard trees across Jamaica, families blend the sour green-gold fruit into a sharp, refreshing juice with fresh ginger and lime. It is tangy like green apple, with a faintly mango-like perfume, and is drunk ice-cold with Sunday lunch. The big mistake is blending the spiny stone in with the flesh; cut the flesh away first or the juice turns bitter and fibrous. Chef's tip: use slightly underripe, firm plums for the brightest, sharpest flavour.

15 min

Jamaican Drinks

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ArishtaButtered egg noodles

In Gyumri and the villages of Shirak, grandmothers still roll arishta by hand, cut it into thin strips and dry it in the sun to store for winter. To serve, the noodles are first toasted in butter until they turn golden and nutty, then boiled until tender and topped with garlicky matsun yogurt. It is simple, filling food for cold days on the Shirak plateau. A common mistake is skipping the toasting step, which gives soft, plain noodles without the characteristic roasted flavour. Chef's tip: dry the cut noodles for at least an hour before toasting, so they brown evenly instead of clumping.

60 min

Armenian Pasta & Noodles

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Arepa di pampunaCinnamon pumpkin pancakes

Curaçao and Aruba use the word arepa differently from their South American neighbours: arepa di pampuna are not corn arepas but small, sweet pumpkin pancakes, fried in a little oil and eaten warm for breakfast, or alongside a bowl of soup or stoba at lunch. The mashed pumpkin makes them tender and bright orange, with cinnamon and a little sugar. The mistake is too much flour, which makes them dense; the batter should be thick but soft. Chef's tip: cook the pumpkin the day before and drain it overnight in the fridge for the lightest pancakes.

30 minCaribbean Breakfast & Brunch

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Imeretian cheese

Imeruli kveli is the everyday cheese of western Georgia: in Kutaisi's Green Bazaar it sits in wet white wheels, mild and milky with a faint sourness, ready to be grated into khachapuri, sliced with tomatoes and herbs, or stretched into sulguni. Families in Imereti make it in a morning from the day's milk. Traditionally it is set with animal rennet; use vegetarian (microbial) rennet for a vegetarian cheese. A common mistake is heating the curd too hard, which squeezes out the moisture and gives a rubbery cheese instead of a soft, springy one. Chef's tip: make a double batch, keep one wheel fresh for eating and leave the other in brine for two or three days, which gives it the saltier bite that bakers prefer for khachapuri.

70 min

Georgian Basics

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Arepa dominicanaSweet cornmeal coconut cake

Not the stuffed corn patty of Venezuela: in the Dominican Republic arepa means a dense, sweet cornmeal cake that grandmothers once baked in a covered pot with hot coals on the lid. The cornmeal is first cooked with coconut milk, milk, butter, sugar and cinnamon into a thick porridge, then baked until it sets with a dark, caramelised crust and a soft, pudding-like centre. It is eaten at merienda with coffee or a glass of cold milk. The common mistake is not cooking the cornmeal long enough on the hob, which leaves the cake gritty. Chef's tip: let the arepa cool completely before slicing; warm, it is too soft to cut cleanly.

75 min

Puerto Rican Baking

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Sevan trout

Ishkhan, 'the prince', is the name Armenians give to the trout of Lake Sevan, the vast blue lake high in the mountains north-east of Yerevan, and lakeside restaurants on the Sevan peninsula serve it grilled whole or stuffed with herbs and baked. The native ishkhan is now rare and protected, so the fish served today is farmed trout, cooked the same way: stuffed with tarragon, dill, coriander and garlic, roasted until the skin crisps, with lavash and lemon. A common mistake is wrapping the fish tightly in foil, which steams it soft; leave it uncovered for a crisp skin. Chef's tip: brush the fish with a little tkemali or pomegranate molasses in the last five minutes for a sweet-sour glaze. The fish is done when the flesh is opaque and flakes easily at the backbone.

40 min

Armenian Fish

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Doum drink

Spice and herb sellers in the Aswan souk pile up the hard, glossy brown fruit of the doum palm, and Nubian households soak it into a cold, sweet drink for the hot months and for Ramadan iftar. The dried flesh gives a cloudy amber drink that tastes surprisingly like gingerbread or caramel, with a faint woody bitterness. Buy it crushed or as coarse powder at Egyptian and African grocers; whole fruit is extremely hard to break. Leaving it to steep too long is the mistake to avoid, because it turns bitter. Chef's tip: strain twice, once through a sieve and again through muslin, to remove the gritty fibre.

15 min

Egyptian Drinks

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Sambal stingray

Weekend evenings at the seafood stalls of Newton, Chomp Chomp and East Coast Lagoon smell of charring banana leaf, and the dish sending up that smoke is usually sambal stingray. A fan-shaped stingray wing is spread thickly with a dark red, slow-fried sambal of chillies, shallots, candlenuts and toasted shrimp paste, laid on banana leaf and cooked over high heat until the sweet, delicate flesh pulls cleanly off the soft cartilage in strands. It comes with calamansi or lime, raw sliced shallots and a little dish of sour chinchalok, and a plate of steamed rice. Underfrying the sambal is the classic error: until the oil splits away and turns red, the paste tastes raw and harsh. If you can't find stingray, skate wing is the best substitute and cooks the same way. Chef's tip: score the thick end of the wing and push sambal into the cuts, so the flavour gets right into the flesh.

50 min

Singaporean Fish

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Fritaja sa šparogamaWild asparagus scrambled eggs

Come April, families across Istria and the Kvarner coast of Croatia walk the hedgerows picking thin, dark wild asparagus, and the first bunch nearly always becomes fritaja. Despite the name it is softer than an omelette: the spears are fried in olive oil, then beaten eggs are stirred through until they set in loose, creamy curds. Wild asparagus tastes greener and slightly bitter, which is lovely against the rich egg; thin garden asparagus works if you can't forage. Eat it for breakfast or a light supper with crusty bread and a glass of cold water or fresh juice. The usual slip is cooking the eggs hard and dry; stir gently over a low heat and stop while they still look moist. Chef's tip: snap each spear and keep only the part that breaks cleanly; the woody ends never soften.

20 minBalkan Breakfast & Brunch

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AreekaWholemeal bread with ghee and honey

In the green mountains of Asir in south-west Saudi Arabia, areeka is the breakfast for guests, weddings and cold mornings in Abha: thick wholemeal breads are torn while still hot and kneaded with ghee into a smooth, soft dome, then hollowed out and filled with a pool of warm ghee, mountain honey and date syrup. Everyone eats from the same plate, pinching off pieces and dragging them through the sweet centre. It is rich, warm and comforting, with a nutty wheat flavour. The usual mistake is letting the bread cool before kneading; it must be worked hot or it will not bind. Serve with cardamom coffee or milky tea, and a spoonful of cream if you like. Chef's tip: wear clean rubber gloves so you can knead the bread while it is properly hot.

45 minGulf Arabian Breakfast & Brunch

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