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Tocăniță de ciuperci
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Tocăniță de ciuperci

Mushroom stew

Tocăniță is the everyday stew of Romanian home cooking, and the mushroom version is a fixture of the Orthodox fasting days, when Transylvanian cooks use forest mushrooms gathered in the Apuseni hills and city cooks use button mushrooms from the market. Onions, garlic, tomato, white wine and thyme cook down into a thick, glossy sauce, without the sour cream and paprika of a Hungarian paprikás. It is always eaten with hot mămăligă and a spoon of the sauce over the top. Chef's tip: brown the mushrooms in batches in a hot pan; crowding them is the usual mistake, and they then stew grey in their own water instead of turning golden.

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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 minPuerto RicanRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Tamina (roasted semolina with honey)

Word of a birth in an Algiers household brings a steady flow of visitors, and each is offered a small dish of tamina with coffee: semolina roasted in a dry pan until it smells like toasted hazelnuts, then bound with melted butter and honey and dusted with cinnamon. It is soft, crumbly and sweet, a little like a spoonable halva, and is said to give strength to the new mother. Tamina is also made for Mawlid and served with tea, with the cinnamon often sifted over in a lattice pattern. Chef's tip: toast the semolina slowly over a medium-low heat and stir without stopping; burnt dark specks make the whole batch bitter and cannot be picked out.

25 minAlgerianDesserts
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Bein montJaggery coconut rice pancake

When the November nights cool down for the Tazaungdaing festival, food stalls outside pagodas in Yangon and Mandalay start cooking bein mont in small, lidded iron pans with embers piled on top, so the cake bakes from above and below at once. The batter is rice flour sweetened with dark jaggery, so it cooks into a thick, springy, brown pancake with a crisp base, studded on top with shreds of coconut and sliced peanuts; some vendors still scatter poppy seeds, the bein that may have given the snack its name. It is eaten warm in wedges with hot green tea. High heat is what usually goes wrong: the base scorches while the centre stays raw, so keep the flame low and the lid on. Chef's tip: a small cast-iron pan finished under the grill copies the charcoal top heat at home.

45 minBurmeseDessertsVeganGluten free
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Taiwanese radish omelette

Ask a Taiwanese grandmother what to cook when there's nothing in the fridge and the answer is often this: a few eggs and a handful of preserved radish turned into a thick, golden omelette, cut into wedges and passed round. It's a staple of the rice-and-small-dishes spread at Taipei breakfast shops and late-night congee counters, and it reappears on the stir-fry restaurant table and in home lunchboxes. The chopped radish fries up crunchy and caramel-sweet inside soft, puffy egg, with crisp brown lacy edges. Skipping the rinse is where most go wrong: unrinsed radish makes the omelette far too salty. Chef's tip: dry-fry the radish first until it smells toasty, then use plenty of oil and a hot pan so the egg puffs and the edges frill.

15 minTaiwaneseBreakfast & BrunchGluten free
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GazozFruit syrup soda

Before bottled soft drinks, the kiosks along Rothschild Boulevard and in Florentin sold gazoz: a squirt of fruit syrup topped up with fizzy water from a tap. Tel Aviv cafés have revived it as a glass crammed with fresh and lightly fermented fruit, flowers and herbs, so it is pretty, tart and only gently sweet. Make it on hot afternoons, for children's birthdays or as an alcohol-free welcome drink. The mistake is pouring the soda too early, so it goes flat before you drink it. Chef's tip: macerate the fruit in syrup for at least 30 minutes, ideally overnight in the fridge, so it bleeds colour into the glass.

10 minIsraeliDrinksVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

GebzhaliaCheese rolls in mint yogurt sauce

Gebzhalia is one of the dishes Mingrelian hosts in Zugdidi and Martvili bring out when guests arrive: soft, freshly made cheese is warmed in hot milk until pliable, flattened into sheets, scattered with mint and rolled up, then served in a cool, minty yogurt sauce. It is mild, salty and refreshing, served as a starter at a supra. Fresh imeruli cheese is the traditional choice; fresh mozzarella curd works well too. A common mistake is overheating the cheese, which makes it squeaky and tough instead of silky. Chef's tip: keep the milk just below a simmer and work the cheese with a spoon until it is soft enough to stretch, then roll while it is still warm. Fresh cheeses are often made with animal rennet, so choose a vegetarian one.

40 minGeorgianSnacks & StartersGluten free
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Ojojo (water yam fritters)

Ojojo is what Yoruba households do with water yam when they want a snack instead of a pottage, and roadside fryers in the Southwest sell it hot in paper with akara. The grated yam is mixed with chopped onion, fresh chilli and salt, then dropped by the spoonful into hot oil, where it puffs into craggy, golden fritters with a crisp shell and a soft, slightly chewy centre. Eat it hot with a pepper sauce, or with ogi (fermented corn pap) for breakfast. Wear gloves to peel and grate water yam, which makes the skin itch. Chef's tip: grate the yam just before frying and don't let the batter sit; it darkens and loosens as it stands.

30 minNigerianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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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 minBelgianSnacks & Starters
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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 minIsraeliFish
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Burmese pennywort salad

Myin khwa, 'horse's hoof', is the Burmese name for pennywort, after the shape of its round leaves, and Mandalay grandmothers swear by a plate of it to cool the body during the hot months before the monsoon. The fresh leaves are slightly bitter and grassy, a little like watercress, and they are tossed by hand with toasted chickpea flour, crushed peanuts, crunchy fried garlic and its oil, lime juice, tomato and sliced onion. The salad is served as a side to rich curries, where its clean sourness cuts through the oil. Wet leaves ruin it: the dressing slides off and turns watery, so dry them completely after washing. Chef's tip: look for pennywort sold as gotu kola at Asian and Sri Lankan grocers; young watercress makes a fair stand-in.

20 minBurmeseSaladsVeganGluten free
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Steamed spare ribs with black bean sauce

Small saucers of pork spare ribs, chopped into bite-sized chunks and glistening with fermented black bean and garlic, come out of every Hong Kong teahouse steamer from dawn until lunch. Done right, the meat is plump and tender, slips off the little bone with your chopsticks, and sits in a salty, garlicky, faintly sweet juice that is wonderful spooned over rice. At home it makes an easy weeknight dish with rice and some blanched choi sum. The mistake to avoid is skipping the rinse: soak the ribs in cold water first to draw out the blood, otherwise the sauce turns grey and murky. Chef's tip: ask the butcher to chop the ribs into 3 cm pieces across the bone, and add a little potato starch to the marinade, which gives the teahouse silky coating.

40 minHong KongMeatGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Burmese pork curry

Glistening under a layer of brick-red oil, pork curry sits at the front of every Yangon htamin zain, the rice-and-curry shops where office workers queue at lunchtime and point at pots. Chunks of pork belly and shoulder are cooked very slowly in a paste of onion, garlic and ginger until the meat is spoon-tender, the fat has melted into the sauce and the oil floats free on top. It tastes savoury and gently sweet rather than fiery, and arrives with plain rice, a sour leaf soup, boiled vegetables and a dish of fish-paste dip. People often fry the onion paste too fast; it scorches before the water has cooked out and the curry turns bitter, so keep the heat at a steady medium. Chef's tip: the curry tastes even better the next day, when the pork has soaked up the sauce; lift off a little of the oil before reheating if you prefer it leaner.

120 minBurmeseCurriesGluten free
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Owo soup with fish

Owo looks almost like custard: palm oil is whisked with a little potash water until it turns from red to a creamy yellow, then thickened with cassava starch and seasoned with crayfish and pepper. Urhobo and Isoko homes in Delta State serve it with boiled unripe plantain or yam, which you dip and scoop rather than swallow, and it is a favourite on market days because it is quick once the fish is ready. Fresh or smoked fish both work; many cooks use both. Too much potash makes the soup soapy and bitter, so add the strained potash water little by little and stop as soon as the colour changes. The usual mistake is pouring in the potash too fast, which splits the palm oil instead of turning it smooth and yellow. Chef's tip: mix the starch with cold water first, then pour it into the pot in a thin stream while stirring, or it will set in lumps.

55 minNigerianFishGluten free
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Chapman (Nigerian fruit punch)

Order a chapman in a Lagos club house or at an owambe party and it arrives in a tall glass full of ice, glowing red and crowded with slices of cucumber, orange and lemon. Lemon-lime and orange sodas are mixed with blackcurrant cordial and grenadine for a sweet, fruity, fizzy drink with a fresh edge from the cucumber. The classic recipe adds a few dashes of aromatic bitters, and those bitters contain alcohol; leave them out (or use an alcohol-free bitters) and it is fully alcohol-free and fine for children. Adding the soda too early is the usual mistake, as it goes flat, so mix the syrups and fruit first and top up just before serving. Chef's tip: chill every bottle well beforehand, so less ice melts into the drink.

10 minNigerianDrinksVeganGluten free
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Jamaican jerk pork

Boston Bay in Portland is where jerk pork was born, and the jerk pits there still slow-smoke pork shoulder over green pimento wood under sheets of zinc until the outside is dark and crusted and the meat is smoky and juicy. This home version uses boneless pork shoulder rubbed with a wet paste of scotch bonnet, pimento, scallion, thyme and ginger, then cooked slowly in a covered barbecue or oven and finished over high heat. The biggest mistake is rushing the marinade; it needs at least 12 hours in the fridge to get into the pork. Cook until the thickest part reaches at least 63 °C, then rest; for tender, chopped jerk like the stalls, keep going to about 85 °C. Chef's tip: throw a handful of soaked allspice berries and bay leaves onto the coals for the smoky pimento flavour of the real pits.

240 minJamaicanMeatGluten freeSpicy
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Aseedat bobarPumpkin pudding with ghee

In Doha and Kuwait City, aseedat bobar arrives on winter evenings and at Ramadan iftar in a shallow dish, smooth and orange, with a little pool of melted ghee in the centre. Bobar is the Gulf word for red pumpkin, cooked down and thickened with toasted flour, sugar and cardamom into a soft, spoonable sweet that tastes a bit like a spiced pumpkin pie filling. Scoop it warm with a spoon or with pieces of bread, alongside Arabic coffee. Stopping the stirring too soon is the usual mistake: the pudding must cook until it pulls away from the sides, or it tastes of raw flour. Chef's tip: toast the flour in a dry pan until it smells like biscuits before it goes in; that nutty note is what makes it.

45 minGulf ArabianDesserts
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BankuFermented corn and cassava dough

Chop bars from Jamestown to Teshie serve banku all day, usually beside grilled tilapia, okro stew and a fierce raw pepper sauce. Fermented corn dough and cassava dough are cooked together and turned hard with a wooden spatula until they become a smooth, stretchy, faintly sour ball that you pinch off with your fingers and dip into soup or stew. At home it is good with any Ghanaian soup, and a meat-free okro stew or pepper sauce keeps the whole meal vegan. Ready-made doughs are sold in African grocers. A lumpy banku comes from adding dough to hot water; always mix it with cold water first, then heat. The commonest mistake is stopping the stirring; banku needs constant turning with a wooden spoon or it goes lumpy and raw in patches. Chef's tip: keep a bowl of water next to the pot and wet the spatula and your hands as you shape the balls, so the banku comes out glossy and nothing sticks.

40 minGhanaianBasicsVeganGluten free
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Grechka po-kupecheskiMerchant-style buckwheat

Russian merchants of the nineteenth century liked their buckwheat with meat in it, and "merchant-style" grechka became a hearty one-pan supper that students, soldiers and busy parents still cook today. Cubes of pork shoulder are browned with onion and carrot, enriched with tomato, then roasted buckwheat simmers in the same pan until every grain is separate and steeped in the juices. It is earthy, savoury and filling, best with a salted cucumber or a spoon of tsakhdon-style garlic sour cream. The usual slip is stirring the buckwheat while it cooks, which breaks the grains into mush; cover the pan and leave it alone. Pork pieces should be fully cooked to 71 °C. Chef's tip: toast the buckwheat in the pan for a minute before adding water to deepen its nutty taste.

45 minRussianRice & GrainsGluten free
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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 minPuerto RicanDessertsVeganGluten free
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Black sesame soup

Steaming bowls of inky ji ma wu are a staple of Hong Kong dessert shops on cool evenings, eaten after dinner or as a late-night snack on the way home. The soup is thick enough to coat a spoon, nutty and roasted with a faint bitterness that balances the rock sugar, and so smooth it feels like warm velvet. It's often paired half-and-half in one bowl with almond tea or walnut soup, or served with sweet glutinous rice balls. Over-toasting the sesame is the mistake to avoid; once the seeds scorch, the whole pot tastes acrid. Chef's tip: blend the toasted seeds with water for a full two minutes, until no grit is left between your fingers, before it goes into the pan.

30 minHong KongDessertsVeganGluten free
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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 minHungarianSidesVegan
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Ginger scallion sauce

Every Hong Kong siu mei shop keeps a tub of this pale green relish beside the chopping block, spooned next to white-cut poached chicken over rice or tossed through plain lo mein at late-night dai pai dong stalls. Smoking-hot oil is poured over raw ginger and spring onion, and the sizzle softens their bite into a sweet, salty, fragrant sauce with a gentle heat from the ginger. It is just as good with steamed tofu, plain congee, poached fish or a bowl of rice on its own. Many home cooks blitz everything in a food processor, which bruises the spring onions into a watery paste; chop them by hand instead. Chef's tip: pour the oil while it is properly hot, shimmering and just starting to smoke, so you hear a loud crackle; lukewarm oil leaves the sauce raw and greasy.

10 minHong KongChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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Zviti (pounded pepper and flatbread mash)

Fire-blistered green chillies, a few tomatoes and a fist of garlic go into a wooden mortar, and the cook in Bou Saâda or M'Sila pounds them with torn flatbread until everything turns into a coarse, hot, smoky mash. Zviti is served straight from that wooden bowl, sometimes in a carved mortar the size of a salad bowl, and eaten by hand with more bread, often on cold evenings in the steppe towns. The flavour is sharp and grassy from the chillies, sweet from the charred tomato and soothed by plenty of olive oil. Choose a mix of hot and milder long chillies to set the heat you like. Don't leave the charred skins on the peppers and tomatoes: they turn the mash bitter and stringy. Chef's tip: pound rather than blend; a food processor whips it into a watery soup, so if you must use one, pulse briefly and add the bread last.

30 minAlgerianVegetarianVeganSpicy
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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 minCubanRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
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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 minBulgarianBakingGluten free
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Rougag (Saharan paper-thin flatbread)

Across the oases of the Algerian Sahara, from Biskra to Ouargla, women spread a soft semolina dough over a domed griddle so thin that light shows through it, then lift the sheet off within a couple of minutes. Rougag is the base of chakhchoukha and rfis, torn into pieces and soaked in sauce, but fresh sheets are also eaten folded around dates or a spoon of stew. Freshly made it is soft and flexible with toasty brown blisters; left to dry, it keeps for weeks in a tin. An upturned wok or a large non-stick pan stands in for the griddle. Chef's tip: oil your hands, not the pan; dough that is not wet enough to stretch is the common mistake, so it should feel almost too sticky to handle.

45 minAlgerianBreads & ParathasVegan
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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 minKyrgyzRice & Grains
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Grenadian nutmeg ice cream

Grenada, the Spice Isle, grows much of the world's nutmeg, and in St George's ice cream parlours the local favourite is a rich egg-custard ice cream scented with freshly grated nutmeg. The flavour is warm and almost floral, nothing like the dusty jar spice, and it is lovely with fried plantain or a slice of black cake. The common mistake is overheating the custard so the eggs scramble; take it off the heat as soon as it coats a spoon. Chef's tip: grate the nutmeg straight into the hot milk and let it steep for 20 minutes before making the custard, so the flavour runs all the way through.

40 minCaribbeanDessertsGluten free
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Kaware' (cow's trotter soup with fatta)

Old Cairo eateries that specialise in it open early, and kaware' has a loyal following on cold winter mornings and as a restorative after Ramadan nights; at home it is usually made after Eid al-Adha. Cow's feet are cleaned, blanched and then simmered for hours with onion, garlic and whole spices until the meat and skin turn soft and sticky and the broth sets like jelly when cold. It is served over fatta: layers of toasted flatbread and rice drenched with broth and a sharp garlic-and-vinegar sauce, with the tender trotter pieces on top. Ask the butcher to clean the feet and saw them into pieces. Chef's tip: a pressure cooker cuts the simmering to about 1 hour 30 minutes with no loss of flavour.

260 minEgyptianMeat
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Red bean soup

Hong Kong Cantonese restaurants often send out a small bowl of hung dau sa on the house at the end of a banquet dinner, and dessert shops in Mong Kok serve it hot in winter and chilled with ice in summer. Long simmering breaks the adzuki beans down into a thick, velvety soup, part smooth and part whole beans, scented with the faintly bitter citrus of aged tangerine peel and sweetened with clean-tasting rock sugar. Some add a spoonful of coconut milk, lotus seeds or little glutinous rice balls. Adding the sugar too early is the common misstep, because it keeps the bean skins tough so they never collapse. Chef's tip: soak the beans, then freeze them in their soaking water for a few hours; the ice crystals crack the skins and halve the simmering time.

120 minHong KongDessertsVeganGluten free
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White cherry preserve

Absheron is famous for its white cherries, pale yellow fruit with a pink blush that ripen in June in the sandy orchards around Mardakan and Shuvalan. Baku families stone them one by one with a hairpin and cook them slowly into a clear golden preserve, sharpened with lemon, which is served in tiny glass bowls (mürəbbə qabı) with black tea; you sip the tea and eat a spoon of cherries between sips. A common mistake is cooking the fruit in one long boil, which shrivels it. Chef's tip: cook in short spells with long rests in between, so the cherries plump up with syrup and stay whole and glossy.

100 minAzerbaijaniBasicsVeganGluten free
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Fryske dúmkesAnise and hazelnut biscuits

Dúmkes, 'little thumbs', are crisp, spiced biscuits from Friesland, shaped by pressing the dough with a thumb or rolling it into a log and slicing; their flavour comes from aniseed and toasted hazelnuts, and they are dunked in coffee at Frisian kitchen tables. A common mistake is baking them pale, which leaves them soft; they should be golden and snap when broken. Chef's tip: lightly crush the aniseed before mixing, so its sweet liquorice flavour runs through every bite.

40 minDutchBaking
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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 minPakistaniIndian SweetsGluten free
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African chicken (Macanese galinha africana)

Macau restaurants have served galinha africana since the 1940s, and the story most often told is that a hotel chef in the city created it from spices that Portuguese sailors brought back from Mozambique and Angola. Today it is a signature at Macanese and Portuguese restaurants from Taipa village to Coloane, eaten at long weekend lunches with rice or crusty bread. Chicken pieces are marinated, grilled until charred, then baked under a thick, brick-coloured sauce of ground peanuts, coconut milk, chilli, paprika, garlic and onion that is rich, nutty and quietly fiery. It is often made with a pale, timid sauce; cook the onion, garlic and paprika slowly until really deep red before the coconut goes in. Chef's tip: marinate the chicken overnight in the fridge so the garlic and chilli reach the bone.

75 minMacaneseChickenGluten freeSpicy
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Aghroum (Kabyle semolina flatbread)

Up in the villages of Kabylie, aghroum is simply the word for bread, and the everyday loaf is a flat, unleavened round of semolina, water, salt and a thread of olive oil, baked on a clay griddle over a low fire. It comes out firm and close-textured, with a crust speckled brown and a faintly sweet, nutty crumb that tastes of the grain. Kabyle families tear it to scoop up olive oil, dried figs and buttermilk at breakfast, or to mop the sauce of a bean or vegetable stew at midday. A heavy cast-iron pan or flat griddle does the job of the clay one at home. Chef's tip: keep the heat at medium-low and turn the bread often; a griddle that is too hot is the usual mistake, leaving a burnt crust around a raw, gummy middle.

45 minAlgerianBreads & ParathasVegan
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Tagella (Tuareg sand-baked bread)

Out in the Hoggar mountains around Tamanrasset, Tuareg cooks bury a thick disc of dough in sand heated by a wood fire, cover it with embers and dig it up half an hour later with a dense, chewy crumb and a thick crust that is beaten clean of sand. The bread is then broken into pieces and soaked in a spicy tomato and onion sauce, a hearty meal for a camp or a desert evening; meat goes in when there is some, and this is the plain version cooked on ordinary days. At home, a very hot oven with a cast-iron pan gives a similar crust. Expect a filling, rustic dish with a smoky, peppery sauce. A frequent slip is making the dough too dry; it should be soft, or the thick round cracks and stays raw in the middle. Chef's tip: bake the bread until it sounds hollow when knocked, because an underbaked, doughy centre turns to paste in the sauce.

90 minAlgerianBreads & ParathasVegan
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Gollash meat pie (filo and spiced beef)

Egyptian bakeries sell sweet and savoury gollash, but the minced-beef version is the one home cooks make for Ramadan iftar, Eid visits and big family lunches, cut into neat diamonds on a large round tray. Thin sheets of filo are brushed with melted butter and stacked around a filling of beef cooked dry with onion, pepper and a little allspice, then soaked with a splash of milk and egg so the top layers bake puffed and shatteringly crisp while the middle stays tender. Serve warm with a salad and yoghurt or as part of a spread of mezze. Avoid skimping on butter between the sheets; unbuttered layers bake dry and papery instead of crisp and golden. Chef's tip: let the cooked filling cool completely before layering; hot, steamy mince turns the bottom sheets soggy, which is the most common gollash disappointment.

80 minEgyptianBaking
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Bradj (date-filled semolina diamonds)

When the first warm days arrive, families in Constantine and across eastern Algeria mark the spring festival with picnics, boiled eggs and plates of bradj: diamonds of buttery semolina sandwiching a layer of spiced date paste, cooked slowly on a griddle rather than baked. The outside turns golden and crumbly, the date layer stays soft and sticky, and orange-blossom water perfumes the whole thing. Bradj is served warm with a drizzle of honey or a cold glass of buttermilk, and is just as good the next day with coffee. Chef's tip: press the dough together rather than kneading it; worked like bread dough, semolina turns tough, and bradj should break with a crumble.

75 minAlgerianDesserts
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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 minCubanRice & GrainsGluten free
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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 minScandinavianDesserts
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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 minArmenianPasta & Noodles
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Guda cheese

Tush shepherds make guda in summer huts high above the Alazani valley, pressing sheep's-milk curd into bags sewn from sheepskin, where it ripens into a crumbly, pungent cheese that travels down to Telavi markets in autumn. You cannot copy the sheepskin at home, but you can make a firm, salty sheep's-milk cheese and ripen it in a cloth in the fridge for two to three weeks, which gives a similar sharp, grassy bite. Traditionally the milk is set with animal rennet; vegetarian (microbial) rennet works the same way. A common mistake is cutting the curd before it gives a clean break, which leaves a soft, wet cheese that sours instead of ripening. Chef's tip: grate aged guda over hot ghomi or khinkali; its strong flavour goes a long way.

120 minGeorgianBasicsGluten free
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Griwech (honey-dipped pastry knots)

No Ramadan table in Algeria feels complete without a plate of griwech next to the chorba, ready for the sweet craving that follows the fast. Thin sheets of dough are cut into rectangles, slit and twisted into knots, fried until crisp and golden, then plunged into warm honey and scattered with toasted sesame. Each piece snaps cleanly, then melts into a sticky, orange-blossom sweetness. Batches are made days ahead and kept in tins for visitors through the month and on into Eid. Chef's tip: keep the oil at 170 °C; oil that is too hot is the usual mistake, colouring the outside before the layers inside crisp, so the griwech goes soft in the honey.

120 minAlgerianDesserts
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Mushrooms on ketsi

Every Tbilisi tavern has its sizzling ketsi, a shallow clay dish heated on the fire, and mushrooms baked in one with butter and a crust of melted sulguni are among the most ordered starters, brought to the table still crackling. In autumn, Georgian cooks use wild oyster mushrooms or field mushrooms; cups set gills up hold the butter like little bowls. A common mistake is overcrowding the dish, which makes the mushrooms steam instead of browning. Chef's tip: salt the mushrooms only after the first 10 minutes, so their juices stay inside and they cook in their own butter. Sulguni is usually made with animal rennet, so choose a vegetarian cheese.

25 minGeorgianVegetarianGluten free
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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 minNepaliVegetarianVeganGluten freeSpicy
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