Featured recipe

Kosa bel bechamel

Courgette bake with béchamel

Cairene home cooks bake kosa bel bechamel in the same deep tray they use for macarona, and it turns up on Friday lunch tables and at family gatherings all year. Plenty of households layer the courgettes with spiced minced beef; this is the meat-free version, where soft, sweet courgette and onion sit under a deep blanket of nutmeg-scented white sauce that browns in patches on top. Spoon it out beside plain vermicelli rice, a baladi salad and a dish of pickles. The usual hard grating cheese, like most aged cheeses, is often made with animal rennet, so pick one labelled vegetarian. Chef's tip: let the bake stand for ten minutes before cutting, or the béchamel runs and the slices fall apart.

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Egyptian mixed pickles

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Bole (roasted plantain with pepper sauce)

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Egyptian stuffed pickled aubergines

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40 min

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Dodo Ikire (Ikire plantain balls)

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60 min

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Agashe (Sudanese peanut-crusted beef skewers)

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40 min

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Ila asepo (Yoruba okra soup)

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Grilled bolti (Nile tilapia)

From the Nubian villages near Aswan to the fishing camps on Lake Nasser, bolti caught that morning is gutted, slashed and grilled over charcoal for lunch, and fish grills all over Egypt cook it the same way. The rub is simple: crushed garlic, plenty of cumin, lemon, chilli and oil, which toasts on the skin and seasons the sweet, mild flesh. A stuffing of onion and parsley in the belly keeps it moist. Eat it with your hands, picking the flesh from the bones, alongside tahini, green salad and rice or bread. Chef's tip: oil the grill bars as well as the fish and leave it alone for the first 6 minutes; fish moved too early tears and sticks, which is the usual grilling mistake.

40 min

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Usi (Urhobo starch swallow)

Bright yellow-orange and wobbly, usi, often just called starch, is the pride of Urhobo cooking in Delta State, and in Warri and Ughelli it is the only proper partner for banga (palm-nut) soup or owo soup. It is made from cassava starch cooked with water and a little palm oil, stirred hard over a low heat until it turns from a chalky white paste into a translucent, glossy, elastic mass. It tastes very mild; it is a vehicle for rich soups, and its smooth stretch is the point. Look for cassava starch (wet or dried) in African shops. Banga and owo soup are usually made with fish, so serve usi with a meat-free banga for a vegan meal. Chef's tip: keep the heat low and never stop stirring; a high flame is the mistake that scorches the bottom and leaves raw, white lumps.

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Trida (steamed pasta squares in chicken sauce)

Making trida is an afternoon's work shared around a Constantine kitchen table, especially before Mawlid or a family celebration: a firm semolina dough is rolled paper-thin, cut into small squares, dried, and then steamed twice over a pot of chicken and chickpea sauce flavoured with cinnamon and a touch of tomato. The squares come out tender with a slight bite, glossy with butter and sauce, and are piled on a platter under the chicken. A pasta machine saves a lot of rolling. Chef's tip: dust the cut squares well with semolina and let them dry for half an hour; damp squares are the usual mistake and stick into a single mass in the steamer.

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Cheese blintzes are the star of Shavuot breakfasts in Ashkenazi homes across Israel, and Jerusalem dairy cafés have served them for generations with soured cream and berry sauce. Thin crêpes, cooked on one side only, are wrapped around sweetened farmer cheese with lemon and vanilla, then fried in butter until crisp and golden outside and creamy within. Serve two per person with soured cream and a spoon of cherry or blueberry compote. Farmer cheese is usually rennet-free, but check the label and choose a vegetarian one. A common mistake is a wet filling: drain the cheese well or it leaks and the blintzes burst in the pan. Chef's tip: fill on the cooked side, so the pale raw side ends up outside and browns properly in the final fry.

55 min

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Quebec pea soup

In Quebec farmhouses a pot of soupe aux pois went on the back of the wood stove on Saturday and fed the family through the cold weeks; it is still served at sugar shacks and on chilly Sundays from Gaspé to Gatineau. Whole yellow peas break down over three hours into a thick, golden, earthy soup scented with summer savory. The old version is cooked with a slab of salt pork; this pot leaves it out and builds depth with browned onion and a bay leaf instead, so it is vegan. Serve with crusty bread or a ploye. Chef's tip: use whole yellow peas, not split ones; they hold some bite and give the soup its proper rustic body.

200 min

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Before sunrise in Kano, Sokoto and Katsina, women set out clay or cast-iron pans with round hollows and fry masa by the dozen for breakfast, and during Ramadan they are a favourite at the breaking of the fast. Soaked rice is ground with a little cooked rice, left to ferment until bubbly, then cooked in the hollows, so each cake is crisp and brown underneath and soft and spongy inside, with a gentle sourness. They are eaten with sugar syrup, yaji pepper or miyan taushe (honey is common too, while syrup keeps them vegan). A thin batter is the classic mistake: it spreads and fries flat, so aim for the thickness of a thick pancake batter. Chef's tip: start the night before, since the rice soaks 8 hours and the batter ferments 4–8 hours more, and use an aebleskiver or paniyaram pan if you have no masa pan.

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Alkaki (Hausa syrup-dipped twists)

Trays of alkaki are a sign that a Hausa wedding is close: in Sokoto and Kano the twisted fried dough is made in big batches for the bride's family to share out, and again for Sallah visits. The dough is simple flour and water, rolled into ropes and twisted before frying, then dipped in a thick syrup that sets into a thin, crackly white coat. Under it the dough is crunchy at the edges and slightly chewy inside. Frying too hot is the trap; the outside browns while the middle stays raw, so keep the oil moderate and be patient. Chef's tip: boil the syrup until it falls from a spoon in a thin thread, and it will dry glossy rather than sticky.

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Ogi (pap, fermented maize porridge)

Early mornings across Nigeria smell of akara frying and ogi being stirred: the smooth, pourable porridge that Yoruba homes call ogi and Igbo homes call akamu. It is made from maize soaked for two or three days, ground, sieved and left to settle into a soft white paste, which is sold fresh in markets wrapped in leaves or plastic. Boiling water turns the paste glossy and thick, with a clean sourness that is often softened with sugar and milk. Water that is merely hot rather than boiling is the usual mistake, leaving the pap thin and chalky; if that happens, stir it over a low flame for a minute. Chef's tip: sorghum ogi (ogi baba) is redder and earthier, and millet ogi is lighter; all three cook the same way.

15 min

Nigerian Breakfast & Brunch

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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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MuhammarSweet saffron rice

Muhammar is a golden, gently sweet rice from Bahrain, cooked with date syrup or sugar, saffron and rosewater, and its natural partner is fried or grilled fish, especially safi or hamour, so that the sweet rice and the salty, crisp fish balance on the same plate. It is a Friday lunch and Ramadan dish in Manama and Muharraq, and each family argues for its own ratio of sweetness. The grains should be separate and glossy with a faint caramel colour, not sticky. The most common error is boiling the rice too long before steaming, which turns it mushy once the sugar goes in. Chef's tip: let a thin crust form on the base during the steam; Bahrainis prize those crunchy sweet bits.

70 minGulf Arabian Rice & Grains

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Chakhchoukha (torn flatbread in lamb sauce)

Biskra claims chakhchoukha as its own, though Constantine and the whole east cook it for weddings, Eid and the arrival of guests: sheets of thin rougag are torn into small pieces, softened with steam and soaked in a fiery red sauce of lamb, tomato, chickpeas and whole green chillies, then served from one big wooden or clay dish. The bread turns soft and silky, almost like pasta, and soaks up the peppery, deeply savoury sauce. Use homemade rougag or the dried sheets sold in Algerian shops. Chef's tip: moisten the bread with sauce a ladle at a time and toss between additions; pouring it all over at once is the usual mistake, and the bread turns to paste.

120 min

Algerian Meat

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Chbah essafra (almond fritters in lamb sauce)

Cooks in Algiers bring out chbah essafra for weddings and grand family dinners, where it is served as the sweet main course: diamonds of almond paste scented with lemon and cinnamon are dipped in egg, fried golden and laid around tender lamb in a pale, buttery sauce sweetened with sugar and orange-blossom water. The contrast of savoury meat and soft, sweet almond is the point, and the dish is rich, so small portions with bread are usual. Chicken can replace the lamb, with a shorter cooking time. Chef's tip: warm the fritters in the sauce only at the table; dropping them into bubbling sauce is a common mistake, and they fall apart.

130 min

Algerian Meat

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Tlitli (Algerian rice-shaped pasta with chicken)

Tlitli is a tiny pasta shaped like grains of rice, once rolled by hand and now sold dried, and in Algiers and Constantine it is cooked for family feasts such as Ennayer, the Amazigh New Year, or the return of a pilgrim. The pasta soaks up a red sauce of chicken, onion, tomato, paprika, cinnamon and chickpeas, and is piled on a platter with the chicken and halved boiled eggs on top. Expect a cosy, gently spiced dish, a bit like a red risotto, with soft pasta and tender chicken. Orzo is a good stand-in if you cannot find tlitli. Chef's tip: toast the pasta in oil before adding sauce; untoasted tlitli tends to clump and turn mushy, a common mistake.

75 min

Algerian Pasta & Noodles

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Sfiria (cheese croquettes in chicken sauce)

Sfiria belongs to the old bourgeois cooking of Algiers, served on Ramadan evenings and at family celebrations: little croquettes of soaked bread, grated cheese and egg, scented with cinnamon, are fried golden and then laid in a pale chicken and chickpea sauce flavoured with cinnamon and white pepper. The croquettes are light and spongy, soaking up just enough sauce to be juicy, and the dish tastes delicate and faintly sweet. Day-old white bread without crusts gives the best texture. Chef's tip: add the croquettes to the sauce only at the last minute; leaving them to simmer is the common mistake, and they swell, go soggy and fall apart.

80 min

Algerian Chicken

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Eba (gari swallow)

Students in hostels, office workers at lunchtime buka and families from Warri to Lagos all lean on eba, because it is ready in about five minutes from a bag of gari, the toasted granules of fermented cassava. Stirred into hot water, gari swells into a smooth, firm, slightly tangy dough that you pinch, roll and dip into egusi, okra, ogbono or efo riro. Yellow gari has been fried with a little palm oil and gives a richer, golden eba; white gari is sharper and paler. Chef's tip: pour the gari onto the water, never the water onto the gari, and wait a minute before stirring so every grain soaks evenly.

7 min

Nigerian Basics

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Jaffna goat curry

Goat is the celebration meat of the Tamil north, and a Jaffna aattukkari cooked for a temple feast day, a wedding lunch or a Sunday at home is thick, brick-red and ferociously spicy. The secret is the local curry powder, roasted much darker and hotter than in the south, fried in oil with onion, garlic and fennel until it almost catches, then simmered slowly with the meat until the gravy reduces to a coating. Chunks of potato soak up the sauce, and the whole thing is eaten with rice, idiyappam or Jaffna-style puttu, with a cooling bowl of curd or coconut sambol on the side. The pitfall here is rushing the simmer; goat needs patience and goes chewy if it is cooked hard and fast. Chef's tip: brown the meat well in the spice paste before any liquid goes in, which gives the gravy its deep, almost smoky flavour.

120 min

Sri Lankan Meat

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Boiled yam with egg sauce

Saturday breakfast in many Nigerian homes means thick slices of boiled white yam and a pan of egg sauce, eggs gently scrambled into a quick fried sauce of tomato, onion and fresh chilli. The yam is fluffy and starchy, the sauce juicy, peppery and soft, and the two are made in the same half hour. It is just as popular for supper. Overcooking the eggs is the usual mistake: take the pan off the heat while they still look slightly wet and they finish in their own warmth. Chef's tip: wear gloves or oil your hands while peeling yam, since the raw skin and flesh can make your hands itch.

30 min

Nigerian Breakfast & Brunch

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Estonian kringle

Kringel is the celebration bread of Estonia, baked for birthdays and name days and carried to every visit: a rich yeast dough rolled with cinnamon butter and sugar, sliced lengthways, twisted into a braided wreath so the layers show, and baked until golden. In Tallinn's old-town cafés it is sold by the slice with coffee. A common mistake is cutting the roll with a blunt knife, which squashes the layers. Chef's tip: chill the filled roll for 15 minutes before slicing; it cuts cleanly and twists without the filling escaping.

70 minBaltic Baking

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Chorba beida (Algerian white chicken soup)

Unlike the red chorba of the rest of the country, the 'white' chorba of Algiers has no tomato at all: chicken, onion and a cinnamon stick are cooked gently in butter, simmered with chickpeas and fine vermicelli, then thickened at the end with egg yolks and lemon. It is a classic of Ramadan tables in the capital, and is also cooked for guests at weddings and family gatherings. The soup is silky and pale gold, mild and comforting, with a soft lemony tang. Serve it with bread and a squeeze of extra lemon. Chef's tip: once the egg yolks are in, never let the soup boil; boiling is the common mistake that curdles it into scrambled threads.

60 min

Algerian Soups

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Djelbana (Algerian lamb and pea stew)

Spring markets in Algiers fill with sacks of fresh peas and violet artichokes, and that is the moment for djelbana, a light, pale stew of lamb, peas, artichoke hearts and potatoes cooked with onion, garlic and a little turmeric, finished with fresh coriander. Families serve it at lunch with plenty of bread to soak up the sauce; on meat-free days it is made the same way without the lamb. It tastes fresh, sweet and gently peppery rather than heavily spiced. Frozen peas and artichoke hearts are fine out of season. Chef's tip: add the peas only for the last 10 minutes; peas put in with the meat are the usual mistake and turn grey and mushy.

90 min

Algerian Curries

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Ofe Owerri (festive ugu and okazi soup)

Owerri people speak of their soup with pride, and it is famous for how much goes into the pot: goat meat, tripe, stockfish and dried fish, simmered in palm oil and thickened with cocoyam, then finished with two leaves, chewy okazi and soft, sweet ugu. It is festive food for weddings, Christmas and big family gatherings across Imo State, and it is served with pounded yam or fufu. Adding the ugu too early is a common mistake that leaves the leaves dark and mushy; it goes in last, after the okazi has had time to soften. Stockfish needs an overnight soak first unless bought pre-soaked. Chef's tip: soak dried okazi in warm water for 10 minutes before cooking so it softens evenly.

140 min

Nigerian Meat

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Ayamase (ofada green pepper stew)

Ofada rice, the short, fragrant local rice from Ogun State, is almost always served in Lagos with ayamase, a stew so green and so hot it is sometimes called designer stew. Green bell peppers and green scotch bonnets are blended coarse, dried out in the pot, then fried in palm oil that has been bleached clear, with plenty of iru for a deep, funky savouriness. Assorted meat (beef, tripe and cow skin) and boiled eggs are folded in. Watery pepper is the mistake that makes it taste sour and raw, so boil the blended pepper dry before it meets the oil. Chef's tip: bleaching palm oil makes heavy smoke; open the windows, keep the lid nearby and never leave the pot.

120 min

Nigerian Meat

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