What to eat today?

Canadian Breakfast & Brunch

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Tuwo masara (stiff maize swallow)

On the Plateau and throughout the north, a pot of white maize flour turned stiff with a wooden paddle is the daily partner to miyan kubewa (okra soup), miyan kuka and vegetable soups. Tuwon masara is smooth, slightly springy and mild, with a faint sweetness of corn. The secret is to start with a thin cooked paste and only then add the dry flour, which keeps it lump-free; dumping all the flour into boiling water is the mistake that gives raw, gritty pockets. Chef's tip: use a sturdy, flat wooden spoon and press the tuwo hard against the side of the pot when you turn it.

30 min

Nigerian Basics

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Puffed maple omelette

A tall, golden puffed omelette arrives on every table at the cabanes à sucre of the Laurentians and the Eastern Townships, sliced into wedges and drowned in fresh maple syrup alongside beans and ham. The eggs are separated, the whites whipped and folded back in, then the omelette starts on the hob and finishes in the oven so it rises like a soufflé. It must go to the table at once, before it sinks. A common mistake is beating the whites until stiff and dry, which makes the omelette grainy. Chef's tip: fold the whites in with a large metal spoon in three goes, keeping as much air as you can.

28 min

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Boiled groundnuts in the shell

Freshly dug groundnuts appear in markets from Ibadan to Kano when the rains come, still muddy in their pale shells, and hawkers sell them boiled in salt water by the cupful, often next to roasted corn. Boiling turns the kernels soft and creamy, like a cooked bean, with salt seeping through the shell. They are eaten warm on the way home, cracked open with the thumbs. Using dried shop peanuts and boiling them for the same time is the usual mistake: they stay hard, so soak dried ones overnight and boil for 2–3 hours. Chef's tip: let them sit in the hot brine for 15 minutes after cooking, so the salt soaks in.

55 min

Nigerian Snacks & Starters

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Houbový kubaBarley and mushroom bake

On Štědrý den, the Czech Christmas Eve, many families kept a meat-free fast until the evening carp, and houbový kuba was what filled the gap at lunch. Village cooks in Bohemia baked pearl barley with mushrooms picked and dried in autumn, plenty of garlic and marjoram, until the top went crunchy. The inside stays moist and chewy, almost like a mushroom risotto, while the edges crisp. It used to be made with lard; this version uses oil and is fully plant-based. Serve it on its own with sauerkraut or a sharp pickled salad, or as a side to roast vegetables. A common mistake is boiling the barley until soft right through, which turns the bake to paste; it should still have a little bite before it goes in the oven. Chef's tip: save the mushroom soaking water and cook the barley in it, for flavour all the way through.

75 min

Czech Rice & Grains

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Dundun (fried yam)

In the evenings, Lagos street corners fill with the smell of dundun: big woks of oil, sliced white yam frying next to plantain and akara, sold by the piece in a twist of paper with a spoon of pepper sauce. Good dundun is golden and crisp outside and soft and fluffy as a baked potato inside, with a faint sweetness from the yam. At home it is a favourite Saturday breakfast or a quick supper, and children happily eat it on its own while the adults pile on the sauce. Don't fry over a very high heat: the outside browns before the middle cooks, the commonest dundun mistake. Chef's tip: soak the yam pieces in salted water for 5 minutes and pat them dry; the salt seasons them through and they fry crisper.

30 min

Nigerian Snacks & Starters

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Chorbet hout (Sfax fish soup)

Along the coast around Sfax, a bowl of chorbet hout often opens the meal at Ramadan iftar, after dates and water: a red, peppery broth of tomato, harissa and caraway, thick with tiny bird's-tongue pasta and flakes of white fish, finished with a squeeze of lemon. Grouper, sea bream or mullet are the local choices, and any firm white fish works. The soup is warming and spicy with a fresh lift from parsley and celery, and goes well with bread and a brik. Chef's tip: poach the fish briefly, lift it out and only return the flakes at the end; leaving it to boil with the pasta is the common mistake, and it breaks into threads.

50 min

Tunisian Soups

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Osban (Tunisian stuffed lamb sausages)

Eid al-Adha in Tunisia means using every part of the sheep, and osban is how the tripe is honoured: cleaned pieces are sewn into pouches and packed with rice, chopped liver and lamb, chard, a big bunch of parsley and coriander, dried mint and harissa, then simmered in a red chickpea sauce and served over couscous. Families all over the country, from Tunis to the south, make a batch and freeze some for later. The filling cooks into a soft, herby, peppery sausage and the tripe turns tender. Buy tripe that the butcher has already cleaned and scalded, or use natural sausage casings for an easier version. Chef's tip: fill the pouches only two-thirds full and prick them with a needle; the rice swells as it cooks, and overstuffed osban burst, which is the most common mistake.

180 min

Tunisian Meat

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Labrador tea

Labrador tea grows in the bogs and boreal forests right across northern Canada, and Cree, Dene and Inuit families have long dried its leathery, rust-backed leaves for a hot drink on the land and at home. It tastes resinous and piney, a bit like rosemary and eucalyptus, and is often sweetened with a little sugar. The leaves contain natural compounds that are harmful in large amounts, so brew it weak, drink a cup or two, and don't steep it for hours. It is not for pregnant or breastfeeding women. Only pick it if you know the plant well: the poisonous bog laurel grows alongside it; dried leaves from a trusted seller are safest. A common mistake is using a big handful of leaves; one tablespoon makes two cups. Chef's tip: steep below boiling and briefly; a long boil makes it bitter and stronger than you want.

10 min

Canadian Drinks

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Unripe plantain porridge

Green plantain porridge is everyday home food in Rivers and Delta states and well beyond, and many Nigerians cook it when they want something filling but lighter than yam or rice. Hard, green plantains are cut into chunks and cooked in a pepper broth with a little palm oil until they soften and the starch thickens the liquid into a savoury, slightly tangy stew, finished with peppery scent leaf. Smoked fish, crayfish or periwinkles often go in; this version is meat-free and still deeply savoury. It is a meal in itself. Adding the scent leaf too early is the usual mistake; stir it in at the very end so it stays fragrant rather than bitter. Chef's tip: oil your hands before peeling green plantain to stop the sticky sap staining your skin.

45 min

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Kammounia (Tunisian cumin beef stew)

Cumin, kammoun in Arabic, gives kammounia its name, and the dish uses it boldly: chunks of beef, or in many Tunis homes lamb's liver, simmer in a thick, dark sauce of garlic, tomato paste and a generous amount of ground cumin until the meat is tender and the sauce clings to it. It is everyday family food in Tunis and Sfax, scooped up with crusty bread or served alongside a salad and olives. The flavour is earthy, warm and garlicky with a gentle heat from harissa. The usual mistake is adding the cumin at the start and frying it hard, which makes it bitter; it goes in once the sauce is simmering. Chef's tip: add half the cumin at the start and the rest in the last 10 minutes; all of it at once risks a flat, slightly bitter sauce, while the late addition keeps the aroma bright.

90 min

Tunisian Meat

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Ofada rice with green pepper sauce

Ofada rice takes its name from a town in Ogun State and is grown on small farms across the Southwest; the grains are short, unpolished and sometimes speckled, with a nutty, earthy aroma that some love and others find strong. It is served wrapped in uma (thaumatococcus) leaves at parties and in Lagos restaurants, with ayamase, a fiery green pepper sauce cooked in bleached palm oil. Ayamase is usually loaded with assorted meats and boiled eggs; this vegan version keeps the green peppers, scotch bonnets and locust beans and adds mushrooms if you like. Banana leaves or a plain plate stand in for uma leaves. The mistake to avoid is skipping the picking and washing: local rice often holds small stones and husk. Chef's tip: bleach the palm oil with the lid nearby, the window open and the extractor on full, and never leave the pan.

75 min

Nigerian Rice & Grains

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Bkaila (Tunisian spinach and beef stew)

Tunisian Jewish families in Tunis, and those who carried the dish to Paris and Israel, cook bkaila for Rosh Hashanah and for Friday-night dinners: a heap of spinach is fried in olive oil for over an hour, until it shrinks to a dark, almost black, crumbly paste, then simmered for hours with chunks of beef, white beans, garlic and dried mint. The result looks dramatic and tastes deep and earthy, a little like a long-braised green sauce, with tender meat and creamy beans. It is eaten with couscous or bread, and is even better reheated the next day. Start the beans soaking the night before. Chef's tip: fry the spinach over a medium-low heat and stir often; turning up the heat to save time is the classic mistake, scorching the leaves so the whole pot turns bitter.

240 min

Tunisian Meat

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Miyan kuka (baobab leaf soup)

Dried baobab leaves, pounded to a fine green-grey powder, give miyan kuka its earthy, faintly tea-like taste and its slippery body, a little like okra. Northern households from Kano to Sokoto cook it as everyday food and pair it almost always with tuwon shinkafa or tuwon masara. Dried fish or a handful of meat often goes into the pot; this meat-free version, as many homes cook it when the budget is tight, gets its depth from dawadawa, onion and a peppery tomato base instead. A common mistake is tipping the kuka in all at once, which leaves stubborn green lumps; sift it in slowly while whisking. Chef's tip: once the kuka is in, simmer only 2–3 minutes, because long boiling dulls its colour and its fresh, grassy edge.

35 min

Nigerian Soups

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Wagasi in tomato sauce

In the Borgou and Alibori country of northern Benin, Fulani women carry wagasi to market in basins: small, springy rounds of fresh cheese, often with a red rind coloured by sorghum leaves. Sliced, fried golden and simmered in tomato and pepper sauce, it is sold across Benin and eaten with rice, akassa or bread. Herders traditionally set the milk with sap from the Calotropis shrub; that sap is toxic, so never use it at home. This version sets pasteurised whole milk with vegetarian rennet, giving the same mild, squeaky, slightly chewy cheese; bought wagasi, or paneer as a vegetarian stand-in, lets you skip straight to the frying. Chef's tip: let the slices sit undisturbed in the hot oil until a crust forms; moved too soon, fresh cheese sticks and tears.

120 minAfrican Vegetarian

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Gwote (grain-ball porridge with leaves)

Cold harmattan mornings in the villages around Kano and Bauchi are when gwote comes into its own: a pot of small, chewy maize or millet balls simmered in a tomato and pepper broth with whatever leaves are to hand. The balls swell and cloud the liquid until it becomes a thick, savoury porridge, warming and filling on a modest budget. It is eaten from a bowl with a spoon, with nothing else needed. Watch out for balls that are too big; they stay raw and floury in the middle, so keep them marble-sized. Chef's tip: knead the dough while it is still hot, so it turns smooth and the balls keep their shape in the pot.

60 min

Nigerian Snacks & Starters

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Burabisko (Borno millet couscous)

Kanuri cooks in Maiduguri and across Borno make burabisko by rubbing millet flour with water into tiny grains and steaming them twice, much like the couscous of the Sahara, to which it is related. The grains turn fluffy and slightly nutty, and they are heaped beside a tomato and pepper sauce for Sallah, weddings and Friday lunch. The sauce usually holds lamb or beef; this meat-free version uses carrots, green beans and potato, as is common on ordinary days. Too much water at the rubbing stage turns the flour into a paste instead of grains, so sprinkle and rub, never pour. Chef's tip: short of time, steam 300 g wheat couscous over the sauce instead (it will no longer be gluten free).

80 min

Nigerian Rice & Grains

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Kuli-kuli (crisp groundnut rings)

Kano's markets sell kuli-kuli by the bagful: hard, crunchy rings and sticks of roasted groundnut paste that has had its oil pressed out before frying. They taste deeply nutty, with a warm kick of ginger and chilli, and keep for weeks in a tin. People crunch them with soaked gari, with kunun drinks or crumble them over salads like zogale. If the oil isn't squeezed out properly the paste collapses in the pan, so keep working it until it feels firm and dry. The usual mistake is not pressing out enough oil from the groundnut paste, so the rings fall apart in the fryer. Chef's tip: they only crisp fully as they cool, so judge doneness by their deep brown colour, not by how hard they feel in the pan.

80 min

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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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Date squares

Date squares are on the tea table in every Canadian church hall and school bake sale, called carrés aux dattes in Quebec and matrimonial cake in the West. A buttery oat crumble is pressed into a tin, spread with a soft date filling and covered with more crumble, then baked until golden. They keep for days and freeze well. A common mistake is spreading the dates while hot onto loose crumb, which makes the base soggy; press the base firmly. Chef's tip: add a strip of orange zest to the dates for a brighter flavour.

60 min

Canadian Baking

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Nigerian pancakes

Somewhere between a crêpe and a Western pancake, the Nigerian version is thin, slightly chewy and folded into quarters, often cooked for children before school or on a slow Saturday. Savoury ones get chopped onion and a bit of fresh chilli in the batter; sweet ones simply have more sugar and a pinch of nutmeg. They need nothing alongside except tea or a cup of hot chocolate. A pan that isn't hot enough is the classic mistake and gives pale, greasy pancakes, so heat it until a drop of batter sets at once. Chef's tip: rest the batter for 10 minutes while the pan heats; it gives a smoother, chewier pancake.

30 min

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Miyan zogale (moringa leaves with groundnut)

Moringa trees grow by the compound walls of many northern Nigerian homes, and their small, round leaves end up in this quick, nourishing relish. The leaves are blanched, then cooked down with onion, tomato and dawadawa and bound with groundnut paste, giving a green, slightly peppery dish with a nutty finish. Families in Kano, Katsina and Zaria eat it with tuwo, or as a light meal on its own. Because only a little groundnut goes in, it stays light. Chef's tip: strip the leaves off their stalks completely, since even thin stems stay stringy after cooking.

40 min

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Masa (Hausa fermented rice cakes)

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.

60 min

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Danwake (bean flour dumplings)

Roadside danwake sellers in Kano and Kaduna ladle the little dumplings out of big pots, then dress them on the plate with groundnut oil, a dusting of fiery yaji, raw onion and tomato. The dough is bean flour stiffened with baobab leaf powder and a pinch of potash or bicarbonate, which gives the dumplings their dark colour and springy bite. Boiled eggs are often served alongside; leave them out, as here, and the dish is fully vegan and still satisfying, thanks to the beans. A dough that is too soft falls apart in the water, so boil one test dumpling before you shape the rest. Chef's tip: drop the cooked dumplings into cold water straight away; it stops them sticking together and firms the surface.

50 min

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Halwat tabaa (stamped jam biscuits)

Ask anyone who grew up in Algeria about the night before Eid and they will mention the smell of halwat tabaa baking: buttery shortbread cut and printed with a patterned metal stamp, then sandwiched in pairs with apricot jam. Children love helping to press the patterns, and the biscuits fill the tins offered to neighbours on the morning of the feast. They are tender and short, with a clean vanilla flavour against the tangy jam, and keep well for a week. A fluted round cutter and the tines of a fork will do if you have no stamp. Avoid working the dough too much or letting it get warm, as the stamped pattern then spreads and blurs in the oven. Chef's tip: dip the stamp in flour and tap off the excess before every press; a sticky stamp blurs the pattern, which is the most common disappointment.

45 min

Algerian Baking

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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

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Maple syrup pie

Tarte au sirop d'érable closes many a family meal in Quebec at Easter and through the sugaring season, a cousin of the sugar pie made with real maple syrup. The filling of syrup, cream and egg bakes into a soft, trembling, caramel-brown layer that tastes deeply of maple. Slice it thin; it is rich. A spoonful of crème fraîche or plain whipped cream cuts the sweetness. A common mistake is skipping the blind bake, which leaves a soggy base. Chef's tip: take the pie out while the centre still wobbles like jelly; it sets as it cools and over-baking makes it weep.

70 min

Canadian Desserts

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Mullah rob (Sudanese peanut and yoghurt stew)

Rob is the Sudanese word for soured milk, and in Khartoum kitchens it goes into one of the simplest, most comforting stews of all: onions cooked down until sweet, peanut butter stirred in for body, and rob whisked through at the end to make a creamy, tangy, pale-gold sauce. It is everyday food, eaten at lunch with sheets of kisra or a mound of aseeda, and it costs very little to make. Without fermented milk to hand, pasteurised natural yoghurt thinned with water does the job well. Boiling the sauce once the yoghurt is in is the classic mistake, because it curdles into grainy flecks; keep it just below a simmer. Chef's tip: let the onions go properly soft and golden, about 15 minutes; they carry the flavour of the whole dish.

40 min

Sudanese Curries

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Lac-Saint-Jean blueberry pie

Around Lac-Saint-Jean in Quebec the low wild blueberries ripen in August, and the region is so proud of them that locals are nicknamed bleuets. Every church supper and roadside casse-croûte there sells a deep tarte aux bleuets with a flaky top crust and a dark, jammy filling that holds when sliced. Wild berries are smaller and more intense than cultivated ones and frozen wild berries work well. Serve slightly warm with vanilla ice cream or a jug of cream. A common mistake is skimping on the cornflour, which leaves a soupy filling. Chef's tip: let the pie cool for at least three hours so the juices set; cut it hot and the filling runs all over the plate.

100 min

Canadian Desserts

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Jos potato pottage

Jos and the cool Plateau highlands grow most of Nigeria's potatoes, which everyone there calls Irish potatoes, and this pottage is how many households cook them on a weeknight. Chunks of potato simmer in a palm-oil, tomato and pepper sauce until some fall apart and thicken the pot while others stay whole, giving a comforting, gently spicy stew. It is often cooked with crayfish or fish; this version keeps it vegan, and children usually love it with the chilli kept mild. Dicing everything small and even is the mistake that turns it into mash, so cut big and small pieces on purpose. Chef's tip: finish with a handful of greens to brighten the orange sauce.

45 min

Canadian Breads & Parathas

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Montreal-style bagels

On Fairmount and St-Viateur streets in Montreal's Mile End the bagel bakeries run all night, rolling dough by hand, boiling it in honey water and baking it on long planks in wood-fired ovens. The result is smaller, sweeter and denser than a New York bagel, with a big hole and a crust thickly coated in sesame. They are eaten warm from the paper bag, plain or with cream cheese. Egg goes into the dough and there is no salt-heavy chew, which is what gives that light sweetness. Chef's tip: bake on the hottest oven setting and on a preheated stone or heavy tray, the closest a home oven gets to the wood fire.

85 min

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Kunun aya (tiger nut drink)

Street sellers in Jos, Kaduna and Kano keep kunun aya cold in coolers, and on a hot afternoon a glass of the creamy, nutty milk is hard to beat. Tiger nuts, which are small tubers rather than nuts, are soaked until plump, blended with dates, fresh coconut and a little ginger, then strained. Dates do the sweetening, so most people add no sugar at all. Skimping on the soak is the most common mistake; dry tiger nuts give a thin, gritty drink, so soak them for at least 8 hours. Chef's tip: soak them in the fridge and keep everything cold, because the fresh milk sours quickly in the heat.

20 min

Nigerian Drinks

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Puffed wheat squares

Puffed wheat squares are the Prairie kids' party treat, made in Alberta and Saskatchewan kitchens for hockey bake sales and lunchboxes since the 1950s. Puffed wheat is stirred into a quick toffee of butter, brown sugar, golden syrup and cocoa, pressed into a pan and cut once set. They are chewy rather than crunchy and very hard to stop eating. A common mistake is boiling the syrup too long, which sets them rock hard; one minute of boiling is enough. Chef's tip: butter your hands, not just the pan, to press the mix down evenly.

15 min

Canadian Baking

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Agidi (set fermented maize in leaves)

Wrapped in green leaves and stacked in pyramids, ẹ̀kọ (Yoruba) or agidi (Igbo) is the solid form of ogi: the same fermented maize paste cooked much thicker, then left to set into a cool, wobbly block. It tastes gently sour and very clean, which is why it suits a hot pepper stew, moi moi, akara or a bowl of efo. Buka in Lagos and Ibadan sell it at breakfast and lunch. Undercooking is the most common mistake, and the agidi then stays soft and runny, so cook until a spoon leaves a clear trail across the pot. Chef's tip: pass banana leaves quickly over a flame until they turn shiny and supple, and they will fold without tearing.

45 min

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Maple cream

Crème d'érable is sold in little jars in every Quebec market from Jean-Talon to the Beauce farm stands, and despite the name there is no cream in it: pure maple syrup is boiled to the soft-ball stage, cooled without stirring and then beaten until it turns pale and creamy. It is spread on toast, crêpes and warm bagels. Patience and a thermometer are the whole trick. The common mistake is stirring the syrup while it cools, which sets off large grainy crystals instead of a smooth cream. Chef's tip: use a light, golden syrup; dark syrups taste stronger but can stay runny.

65 min

Canadian Chutneys & Dips

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Kunun gyada (groundnut and rice gruel)

Breakfast sellers in Kano and Zaria pour kunun gyada from big flasks into bowls, steaming hot on cool mornings and at Ramadan suhoor. Raw groundnuts are blended into a milk, boiled with rice until it thickens, and then soured with tamarind, which gives a creamy, nutty, sweet-sour gruel with soft grains of rice. It is filling enough to stand as breakfast on its own, or with a few pieces of kosai. Groundnut milk foams up just like dairy milk and is the cause of the most common mishap, so use a big pan and stay close. A frequent slip is adding the tamarind too early, which can make the groundnut milk curdle; stir it in at the end. Chef's tip: add the tamarind off the heat; boiling it hard can make the gruel split grainily.

45 min

Singaporean Pasta & Noodles

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Green beans with egg

In the villages around Gori and Mtskheta, high summer brings sacks of flat green beans, and this is how many Kartli families eat them on a weekday: slowly softened with onion, then tossed with coriander, basil and garlic and bound at the last minute with beaten egg. The result sits halfway between a warm salad and a soft scramble, eaten with a hunk of shoti bread and a few slices of cheese. A common mistake is adding the eggs while the pan is still wet with bean water; they turn watery and grey instead of clinging in golden curds. Chef's tip: Georgian cooks use purple basil (reyhan), and its clove-like scent is what makes the dish taste of home, so look for it at Turkish or Georgian grocers.

30 min

Georgian Vegetarian

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Ofe nsala (catfish white soup)

No palm oil goes into ofe nsala, which is why Igbo cooks in Anambra, Enugu and Imo call it white soup: a light, peppery broth of fresh catfish thickened with pounded yam and perfumed with uziza seeds. It is warming and clean-tasting, often cooked for new mothers and for anyone feeling under the weather, and served with pounded yam. Stirring hard after the fish goes in is the usual mistake, as catfish breaks up easily, so swirl the pot instead. Chef's tip: scrub the catfish with hot water and a little salt before cooking to remove the slime, which keeps the broth clear.

60 min

Nigerian Fish

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Tahini cookies

Every Israeli bakery and grandmother's biscuit tin has ugiyot tahini, little domed cookies that crumble and melt on the tongue with a deep, toasty sesame flavour. They are baked for Shabbat coffee, for guests dropping by in Haifa or Jerusalem, and as an easy dairy-free sweet to follow a meat meal. This version uses oil rather than butter, so it is vegan. The mistake is baking until they turn golden all over; they firm up as they cool and should leave the oven pale with just-coloured bases. Chef's tip: stir the tahini jar thoroughly first, since the oil separates and a dry spoonful from the bottom makes sandy, dry cookies.

25 min

Israeli Baking

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Mimosa salad

Named for the fluffy yellow mimosa flowers sold on every Moscow street corner for Women's Day on 8 March, this Soviet-era party salad is crowned with a snowfall of grated egg yolk. Underneath are layers of tinned salmon or saury, potato, carrot, onion and egg white, each with a little mayonnaise, so a spoonful is soft, rich and gently fishy. It is made ahead for birthdays and holidays and served chilled. Use shop-bought mayonnaise, which is made with pasteurised egg. A common mistake is mashing the fish with all its oil, which makes the bottom layer soggy. Chef's tip: grate the yolk straight over the salad at the very end, on the finest side of the grater, for the fluffiest flowers.

60 min

Russian Salads

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Hong Kong borschtTomato beef and cabbage soup

Order a set lunch at a Hong Kong cha chaan teng and the waiter will ask "red or white?": red is lo sung tong, the diner's tomato version of borscht, brought to the city by Russians who arrived from Shanghai in the 1940s. It has no beetroot at all; instead, beef shin, cabbage, potato, carrot, onion and celery simmer with fresh tomatoes and a spoonful of ketchup into a thick, sweet-sour, brick-red soup. It comes with buttered toast or a bun before a plate of baked rice or spaghetti, and makes a filling meal by itself on a rainy day. A typical slip is adding all the vegetables at once, so the cabbage turns to mush before the beef is tender; add them in stages. Chef's tip: fry the tomato paste and ketchup until they darken before adding water, which gives the soup its deep red colour.

90 min

Hong Kong Soups

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Gizdodo (gizzards and plantain in pepper sauce)

No Lagos owambe buffet is complete without a tray of gizdodo, where chewy fried chicken gizzards and caramelised cubes of ripe plantain (dodo) are tossed together in a glossy, fiery tatashe and scotch bonnet sauce. It is sweet, hot and savoury all at once, and served as a starter, a side to jollof or a snack. Gizzards must be boiled until tender before frying, and for safety they should reach 74°C in the thickest part, which they easily do by the end of the simmer. Frying plantain that is too green is a common mistake, leaving it starchy instead of sweet, so choose yellow fruit with black spots. Chef's tip: fry the plantain last, just before tossing, so it stays crisp-edged rather than soggy.

70 min

Nigerian Chicken

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Braised brisket

A slowly braised brisket is the centrepiece of the Rosh Hashanah and Passover table for many Ashkenazi families in Israel, from Ra'anana to Jerusalem's German Colony, often made two days ahead because it slices better and tastes deeper once it has rested in its gravy. The beef sits on a bed of sliced onions with carrots, garlic, tomato paste and a little sugar and vinegar, covered tightly, and cooks for hours until fork-tender, while the onions melt into a rich brown sauce. Serve with potato kugel, tzimmes or mashed potatoes. Slicing it hot and along the grain is the usual mistake: chill it, then cut across the grain into thin slices. Chef's tip: return the slices to the gravy and reheat gently so every piece soaks up the sauce.

260 min

Israeli Meat

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Nkwobi (cow foot in spicy palm-oil sauce)

Pieces of cow foot, cooked for hours until gelatinous and sticky, are what make nkwobi so popular in bars and small restaurants across Anambra, Enugu and Lagos. The meat is tossed in the same kind of thick, peppery palm-oil and potash sauce used for isi ewu, spiked with ehuru and crayfish, then finished with sliced onion and bitter utazi leaves. It is eaten as an evening dish in its wooden bowl, slowly, with plenty of conversation. Undercooking the cow foot is the mistake to avoid; it should be soft enough to pull from the bone with a fork, so give it the full time or use a pressure cooker. Chef's tip: add the potash liquid to the oil slowly and stop when the sauce is thick, as too much potash makes it taste soapy.

170 min

Nigerian Meat

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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 min

Nigerian Fish

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Peppered snail

Peppered snail is a Yoruba delicacy, served on cocktail sticks at Lagos and Ibadan parties and in restaurants as a pricy small chop. The big African land snail has firm, meaty flesh like a cross between mushroom and clam; it is cleaned of its slime, boiled with seasoning, then fried briefly in a hot sauce of scotch bonnet and red pepper. Only use farmed snails that are sold cleaned and shelled, from a reputable African grocer or fishmonger; never collect wild snails, which can carry parasites. Cook them through, and wash your hands, boards and knives well after handling them raw. Chef's tip: do not skip the rubbing with lime and salt; leftover slime is the common mistake, and it makes the sauce cloudy and the snails slippery.

60 min

Nigerian Meat

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Bak chor meeMinced pork noodles

Queue at almost any Teochew noodle stall in a Singapore kopitiam before work and the order you hear most is a bowl of bak chor mee, dry, with extra vinegar. Springy flat mee pok is tossed at the bottom of the bowl in black vinegar, chilli paste, soy and a spoon of pork lard, then crowned with loosely poached minced pork, slices of pork liver, fish balls and sweet braised mushrooms, with a small bowl of clear pork soup on the side. It should taste sour first, then hot, then rich, and the noodles must stay bouncy rather than soft. Where most home cooks go wrong is cooking the noodles in one long boil: they turn limp and soak up the sauce instead of carrying it. Chef's tip: blanch the noodles twice, plunging them into cold water in between, which is how the hawkers get that al dente snap.

45 min

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Roasted safou

When the rainy season brings fresh maize to Cameroon, the safou trees fruit at the same time, and roadside grills from Douala to Yaoundé sell the violet plums alongside charred corn cobs. A few minutes over embers turns the firm, sour flesh soft, buttery and slightly tangy, which is why safou is often called the African butter fruit. People peel back the skin with their teeth, scrape the pale green flesh off the stone and alternate bites with sweet corn or a chunk of boiled plantain. Look for fresh or frozen safou in African grocers. Chef's tip: a pinch of salt sprinkled on while the fruit is hot brings out its savoury, olive-like side.

12 min

Cameroonian Snacks & Starters

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Nnam ngon with mushrooms

Steamed parcels of nnam ngon turn up at Beti weddings, funerals and big Sunday tables in the Centre, unwrapped to reveal a firm, pale cake of ground pumpkin seeds that slices like a terrine. The seeds are ground with onion, garlic, ginger and hot pepper, then bound with water and steamed slowly in leaves until rich, savoury and almost meaty. Smoked fish is the classic addition; here browned mushrooms take its place, so the parcels are vegan and still very filling. Serve with bobolo, boiled plantain or sweet ripe plantain. Chef's tip: brown the mushrooms in a dry pan first; added raw, they release water inside the parcel and leave the mixture loose.

120 min

Cameroonian Vegetarian

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Sweet potato pone

Potato pone came to Liberia with the settlers who arrived from the American South in the nineteenth century, and it is still baked in Monrovia and along the coast for holidays, church gatherings and Sunday dinner. Raw sweet potato is grated finely, mixed with sugar, butter, eggs, milk and plenty of ginger and nutmeg, then baked slowly until it sets into a dense, sliceable pudding with dark, chewy, caramelised edges. It is sweet, spicy and moist, lovely warm or cold the next day. Chef's tip: bake until the edges pull away and turn almost toffee-dark; those crisp corners are the part everyone fights over.

90 minAfrican Desserts

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Queen Elizabeth cake

Queen Elizabeth cake has been a favourite in Canadian homes and Quebec bakeries since the 1950s, especially around coronations and royal visits, and it still turns up at Montreal family birthdays and Sunday teas. A moist, tender date cake is baked, then covered in a bubbling coconut and brown-sugar topping and put under the grill until it caramelises. It is humble, rich and keeps well for days. A common mistake is walking away from the grill; the topping goes from golden to burnt in under a minute. Chef's tip: soak the dates in boiling water with the bicarbonate so they melt into the crumb.

65 min

Canadian Baking

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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 min

Burmese Desserts

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Barley water

Ask for 'barley' at any drinks stall in a Singapore kopitiam and you get a tall glass of cloudy, faintly sweet barley water, the drink older relatives swear by on the hottest afternoons because it is said to cool the body. Home cooks simmer pearl barley for an hour with knotted pandan leaves, and in Teochew and Cantonese households chunks of winter melon go in as well for a gentle, cucumber-like sweetness. The result is light and clean, ideal beside a plate of chicken rice, char kway teow or anything greasy and salty. The usual mistake is boiling it hard, which turns the liquid starchy and slimy instead of smooth and pale; keep it at a gentle simmer. Chef's tip: don't throw away the softened barley grains; spoon some into each glass, as the stalls do, or eat them warm with a little rock sugar as a light dessert.

65 min

Singaporean Drinks

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Nigerian fish roll

Hawkers carry glass boxes of fish rolls through Lagos traffic, and they are a fixture at parties among the small chops. The dough is a sweetish, slightly cakey one, wrapped around mackerel mashed with onion, pepper and thyme, then deep-fried to a deep gold with a crisp shell. They are good warm or at room temperature, with a soft drink or tea. Tinned mackerel works as well as fresh; poach fresh fish until it flakes before mashing. This version uses oil in the dough, so it is dairy free. Chef's tip: keep the oil at 170 °C; the common mistake is frying too hot, which browns the outside while the inner layer of dough stays raw.

75 min

Nigerian Fish

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Napoleon cake

Legend links this cake to 1912, the centenary of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow, when St Petersburg confectioners cut triangular pastries shaped like his hat. By Soviet times it had grown into the tall round cake every family baked for birthdays and New Year's Eve. Eight wafer-thin rounds of quick flaky pastry are stacked with vanilla custard enriched with butter, then left overnight so the layers soften into something between a mille-feuille and a tender sponge; crushed trimmings give the snowy finish. Where most people go wrong is serving it the same day; without the long rest in the fridge it is crisp and dry instead of melting. Chef's tip: roll each piece of pastry straight onto baking paper and trim it around a 24 cm plate before baking, so you never have to lift thin raw dough.

240 min

Russian Desserts

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Atadwe milkye (tiger nut pudding)

Tiger nuts, called atadwe in Twi, are small wrinkled tubers sold in heaps by market women across southern Ghana during the rainy season. For atadwe milkye they are soaked, blended and squeezed into a sweet, nutty milk, then cooked with ground rice and coconut milk into a pourable pudding that sets softly as it cools. Street sellers ladle it into small bags or cups, and at home it is eaten warm for breakfast or chilled as an afternoon treat. The flavour is mild, like almond and coconut with a light earthy note. Start soaking the tiger nuts the night before. Chef's tip: stir without stopping once the rice paste goes in; walking away for even a minute is the common mistake, and it leaves lumps and a scorched base.

55 min

Ghanaian Desserts

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Htamin jinSour rice with fish

On the floating gardens and stilt-house kitchens of Inle Lake, the Intha make htamin jin to take out on the boats or to sell at the rotating five-day markets around the shore. Warm rice coloured with turmeric is kneaded by hand with flaked lake fish and tomatoes cooked down in garlic oil, then pressed into soft, tangy balls the size of a fist. It is eaten at room temperature, dressed with more garlic oil and crispy garlic, with fried dried chillies, whole raw garlic cloves and garlic chives on the side for crunch. Many cooks use firm, day-old rice, which never binds and crumbles apart; use freshly cooked rice that is a touch soft and still warm. Chef's tip: wear a food-safe glove and knead like dough for a full couple of minutes; the more you work it, the smoother and more evenly sour each ball becomes.

45 min

Burmese Rice & Grains

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Lamugin (spiced ginger millet drink)

Around Tamale and across Northern Ghana, lamugin is the drink that bites back: millet flour stirred into ginger water spiked with cloves, black pepper and chilli, then sweetened and served very cold. Sellers keep it in sachets or calabashes at markets and roadside stands, and it is handed round at gatherings and during Ramadan evenings. It is cloudy and slightly thick from the millet, with a sweet start and a long peppery warmth. This version is non-alcoholic and cooks the millet briefly so it tastes clean rather than raw. Chef's tip: pass the ginger water through a fine cloth before adding the millet, so the drink stays smooth instead of stringy.

25 min

Ghanaian Drinks

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Mbourake (peanut and date bread crumble)

Yesterday's baguette never goes to waste in a Senegalese kitchen during Ramadan. Mbourake turns it into a rich, crumbly sweet: the bread is dried, rubbed to crumbs and pounded with roasted peanut paste and sugar until it clumps, then mixed with chopped dates and pressed into balls or served loose in a bowl at the ndogu, the evening meal that breaks the fast. Some families use steamed millet instead of bread. It tastes like a cross between peanut cookie dough and a date bar, sweet, nutty and filling, and it is good with a glass of café Touba or milk. Chef's tip: dry the bread fully until it snaps; soft bread gives a gummy paste instead of a light crumble.

25 min

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Ampesi with garden egg stew

Ampesi is about as plain and honest as Ashanti food gets: slices of yam, green plantain and cocoyam boiled until tender and eaten with a stew, here one made from garden eggs, the small white or green African eggplants sold by the bowlful in Kumasi markets. They are boiled, mashed and simmered with onion, tomato and pepper into a soft, slightly bitter, savoury stew with very little oil. Ghanaian homes often add fish or egg to it; this version is fully vegan and light. Asian or Thai aubergines are a good swap if you cannot get garden eggs. Chef's tip: boil the yam, plantain and cocoyam separately or add them in stages; cooking them together from the start is the common mistake, and the yam turns to mush before the plantain is done.

45 min

Ghanaian Vegetarian

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HusliankaFermented Hutsul milk

High in the Hutsul villages around Verkhovyna and Kosiv, milk was boiled, cooled and left to sour in a wooden keg called a berbenytsia, which held the cultures from the last batch and gave the drink its name and its gentle tang. The result is huslianka: thicker than kefir, smooth like loose yogurt, with a fresh, clean sourness that shepherds drank with mamalyha and new potatoes. Today you will find it bottled at Carpathian markets, but it is easy to make in a glass jar at home. For safety, always start from pasteurised milk, use a scrupulously clean jar and move it to the fridge as soon as it sets. The usual slip is adding the starter while the milk is still hot, which kills the cultures, so cool it to body temperature first. Discard any batch that grows fuzzy or pink mould or smells unpleasant. Chef's tip: keep two spoons of each batch to start the next one; the flavour gets rounder with every round.

1440 min

Ukrainian Drinks

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Aprapransa (Fante palm nut pottage with crab)

A coastal Fante dish from Cape Coast and the Central Region, aprapransa is made for festive days and big family meals: palm-nut soup with crab and smoked fish is stirred with toasted corn flour until it becomes a thick, spoonable pottage, then finished with tender black-eyed beans. The texture is somewhere between a stew and a soft dumpling, the colour a deep orange-brown, and the toasted corn gives a nutty, almost biscuity flavour under the rich palm fruit. It is often served with sliced avocado. Live crabs must come from a good fishmonger; discard any that are dead or smell off. The usual mistake is adding the toasted corn flour all at once, which makes lumps; sprinkle it in while stirring. Chef's tip: toast the corn flour until it is evenly deep golden and smells like popcorn, then add it to the soup gradually while stirring, because tipping it in at once is how the pottage turns lumpy.

90 min

Ghanaian Fish

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Superkanja (Gambian okra stew)

Superkanja is one of The Gambia's best-loved stews, cooked in compounds from Banjul to the river villages and always served with plain white rice. Okra is simmered and beaten into a thick, glossy stew with red palm oil, beef, fish and nététou, the pungent fermented locust beans that give West African cooking its deep savoury base. Smoked or dried fish adds smokiness, Scotch bonnets bring the heat, and the whole thing is slippery, rich and earthy. If you cannot find nététou, iru or dawadawa from African shops do the same job. Chef's tip: beat the okra vigorously with a wooden spoon for the last few minutes of cooking; that beating is what turns it into the smooth, cohesive kanja rather than a loose soup.

80 minAfrican Fish

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Ekwang with mushrooms

Rolling ekwang is a job for many hands: in the Southwest and around Douala, relatives sit together grating cocoyam and tucking it into leaves for a festive Sunday or a homecoming. The little green cigars are packed into a pot, drenched in red palm oil and left to simmer until the grated tuber binds into soft, almost creamy rolls in a rich, glossy sauce. Smoked fish and crayfish are the usual partners; this meat-free version gets its depth from fresh and dried mushrooms and a pinch of smoked paprika, so it suits vegetarian and vegan guests alike. Serve it on its own, scooping up the sauce, or with boiled plantain. Chef's tip: grate the cocoyam on the finest holes, almost to a purée, so the rolls hold together; coarse shreds stay separate and the pot turns grainy.

135 min

Cameroonian Vegetarian

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Lakh (millet porridge with sweet curd)

Thick, warm millet porridge topped with cold, sweetened curd: lakh is a Senegalese pairing of contrasts that turns up at naming ceremonies, family gatherings and on Ramadan evenings in Dakar. The millet is rolled into tiny pellets and simmered until it sets like soft polenta, then a creamy sauce of soured milk, sugar and baobab powder is poured over, its tang lifted by vanilla or orange flower water. Each spoonful mixes chewy, nutty grains with something cool and lightly sour. Plain yoghurt mixed with a little cream stands in well for Senegalese soow; use pasteurised dairy and keep leftovers in the fridge. Don't pour the curd over hot porridge; let the lakh cool so the curd stays thick and fresh. Chef's tip: cool the porridge until just warm before adding the curd, so the sauce stays thick instead of thinning out.

60 min

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Ngalakh (millet in baobab-peanut cream)

Every Easter, Christian families in Dakar, Thiès and Ziguinchor make big pots of ngalakh and carry bowls of it to Muslim neighbours and friends, a gesture of sharing that many Senegalese treasure. Steamed millet pellets are folded into a thick, tangy cream of baobab pulp and peanut butter, scented with vanilla, orange flower water and nutmeg, and sometimes studded with raisins. It is served chilled, sweet and nutty with a citrus-like sourness from the baobab, and it keeps well for a couple of days. No dairy is used, so it is vegan. Chef's tip: use plain peanut butter with no added sugar or palm oil, and let the dessert rest in the fridge for a few hours, because the flavours only come together once the millet has drunk up some of the cream.

70 min

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Sombi (Senegalese coconut rice pudding)

Spooned warm from a pot at the Ramadan ndogu, the evening break of the fast, or eaten as a gentle supper on cool Dakar nights, sombi is the Senegalese take on rice pudding. Broken rice is simmered in water first, then in coconut milk and a little dairy milk until it turns soft and creamy, sweetened just enough and finished with vanilla and a pinch of nutmeg. The texture is looser than a baked rice pudding, almost porridge-like, with a clean coconut taste. Broken rice, sold as brisures in African shops, cooks fastest and gives the right silky feel. Avoid boiling hard once the coconut milk goes in, or it splits and turns greasy. Chef's tip: add the coconut milk only after the rice is half cooked in water, because grains boiled from raw in coconut milk stay hard and the fat can split.

45 min