Featured recipe

Sakarpada

Sweet fried dough diamonds

Sakarpada (shakarpara) are little sweet diamonds of a rich dough made with ghee, milk and sugar, fried until golden and crunchy. They are a Diwali favourite with tea, and the cubes go into bhusu too. They keep for weeks in an air-tight tin.

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Rokak bel lahma (Eid meat pie)

When Eid comes round, Egyptian shops stack up rounds of rokak, a very thin, brittle unleavened pastry baked on a hot dome, and cooks turn them into this layered pie for the family lunch. Each sheet is moistened with hot meat broth and a little ghee, layered with beef mince fried with onion, then baked until the top crackles and the inside turns tender and savoury, somewhere between a pie and a lasagne. It is cut into squares and served with rice, salad and pickles. If you cannot find rokak, sheets of filo baked dry for a few minutes are the nearest substitute. Chef's tip: soak each layer just enough to soften it; too much broth makes a heavy, soggy pie, and too little leaves dry shards, the mistake most people make the first time.

90 min

Egyptian Baking

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Tklapi soup

Tklapi are thin sheets of plum purée dried on boards in the late-summer sun around Kutaisi, rolled up and hung from rafters for the winter; dissolved in hot water, they turn into a sharp, fruity base for soups and sauces. This Imeretian Lenten soup is made in the cold months when fresh fruit is gone, thickened with walnuts and lifted with coriander, mint and garlic. If you cannot find tklapi, use dried sour plum leather or a mix of tkemali sauce and prunes. A common mistake is boiling the soup hard after the walnuts go in; they turn oily and the soup splits. Chef's tip: soak the tklapi in hot water first and rub it through a sieve, so the soup is smooth and free of stones or skins.

40 min

Georgian Soups

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Pate (Nigerian maize porridge with greens)

Not the French spread at all: Nigerian pate is a thick, savoury porridge of coarsely ground maize from Southern Kaduna and the Plateau, where it is everyday food at home and in small chop houses. The maize simmers in a palm-oil and tomato base with groundnut and plenty of leaves until it is soft and spoonable, a bit like a rustic polenta packed with greens. Some cooks use acha (fonio) instead, and many add dried fish or meat; this version is meat-free. Pouring the maize in all at once makes lumps, so rain it in while stirring. Don't stop stirring after adding the maize: lumps form fast and stick to the base. Chef's tip: heat the palm oil gently, just until it melts and turns runny, so it keeps its colour and fruity taste.

60 min

Nigerian Vegetarian

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IrimshikDried sweet cottage cheese

Irimshik is the sweet, caramel-coloured dried curd that Kazakh herding families make in summer on the jailau pastures: milk is soured with a little starter, heated until it splits, and the curds are cooked slowly in their own whey until they turn golden and fudgy, then dried in the sun. It is nibbled with tea in winter, from Almaty flats to steppe villages. This version needs no rennet, so it is vegetarian. A common mistake is draining the curd too soon; the long cook in the whey is what browns and sweetens it. Chef's tip: stir more often as the whey reduces, because the curd catches easily at the end.

180 min

Kazakh Basics

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Garden egg sauce

Igbo families in Enugu, Anambra and Imo cook the little white-and-green garden eggs into a soft, chunky sauce to scoop up with boiled yam, plantain or rice. The aubergines are boiled, peeled and mashed, then simmered in palm oil with onion and fresh chilli, giving a smoky-sweet, slightly bitter, very savoury spread. Crayfish or dried fish is often stirred in; leave them out, as here, for a vegan sauce. Chef's tip: soften the garden eggs fully before mashing, or the sauce will be squeaky and raw-tasting instead of creamy.

30 min

Nigerian Chutneys & Dips

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IshlekliMinced meat pie

Ishlekli is the shepherds' pie of the Karakum desert: a large round of dough filled with chopped lamb and onion, sealed, and buried in sand heated by a fire, so it bakes slowly into a thick, golden crust filled with juicy meat. Turkmen families still make it on camping trips and at holidays in the countryside around Ashgabat. This version bakes it in a hot oven on a preheated tray. A common mistake is using lean meat, which makes the filling dry; the lamb fat bastes the inside as it bakes. Chef's tip: chop the lamb by hand rather than mincing it; small chunks stay juicy and give the pie its rustic texture. The filling should reach 71 °C.

100 min

Turkmen Meat

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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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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

Egyptian Fish

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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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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.

120 min

Algerian Pasta & Noodles

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Fura da nono (millet balls in cultured milk)

Fulani women carry fura da nono to markets across the north in calabashes balanced on their heads: balls of spiced, cooked millet dough sold next to nono, cow's milk that has been left to sour. Crumbled into the milk and sweetened, the fura makes a thick, cooling drink that is part breakfast, part refreshment, tangy with ginger and a gentle heat from the spices. Traditional nono is made from raw milk; this home version uses pasteurised yoghurt and milk for safety, and it should be kept in the fridge. Mashing the fura straight into all the milk leaves lumps, so crumble it with a little milk first. Don't crumble the fura balls coarsely; large lumps stay chalky in the drink. Chef's tip: dust the shaped fura in millet flour and it keeps for 3 days in the fridge, ready to mix.

55 min

Nigerian Drinks

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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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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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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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Kunun zaki (millet and ginger drink)

Chilled kunun zaki is what people reach for in the heat of Kano and Kaduna afternoons, and at Ramadan iftar it is one of the first things poured. Millet is soaked, ground with fresh ginger and cloves, then partly cooked; the uncooked portion stirred back in sweetens the drink naturally and gives it a light, refreshing tang. It is creamy-looking but thin, spicy at the back of the throat and best ice cold. Pouring boiling water over all the slurry is the classic mistake, since it stops the natural sweetening, so always keep a third raw. Chef's tip: start a day ahead (12 hours soaking, 4–6 hours resting) and strain twice through a fine cloth for a silky drink with no grit.

55 min

Nigerian Drinks

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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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Ofe oha (oha leaf soup)

Tender oha leaves, with their mild, slightly sweet taste, are prized in Enugu and Anambra, and ofe oha is the soup many Igbo families bring out for Christmas, weddings and Sunday visits. Boiled cocoyam is pounded and melted into a palm-oil broth rich with beef, stockfish, dried fish and crayfish, giving a thick, velvety soup with the oha folded in at the very end, to eat with pounded yam, fufu or eba. Adding all the cocoyam at once is a frequent mistake that turns the soup gluey; add it in stages and stop at the thickness you want. Stockfish needs an overnight soak first unless you buy it pre-soaked. Chef's tip: tear oha leaves by hand rather than cutting them, as cooks traditionally do, and add them in the last 2 minutes.

120 min

Nigerian 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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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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Imli aloo bukhara sharbatTamarind and plum cooler

Pakistani grandmothers prescribe this deep brown drink for heatstroke, an upset stomach and the sluggish days of Ramadan fasting in June, and it is sold in tall glasses at sehri and iftar stalls in Karachi, Hyderabad and Lahore. Tamarind and dried aloo bukhara plums are soaked, simmered, mashed and strained into a concentrate, which is then sweetened, seasoned with black salt and roasted cumin and served poured over ice. The flavour is fruity, tart and slightly smoky from the plums, with the savoury lift of the salt. The concentrate keeps for a week in the fridge, so a big batch lasts through a heatwave. The usual problem is skipping the straining step and serving it thick with fibres and seeds, which makes it more like a chutney than a drink. Chef's tip: let the plums soak in the hot liquid for an hour after simmering, so they give up all their sourness and colour before you strain them.

30 min

Pakistani Drinks

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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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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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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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Fisherman soup

Fishing families in the creeks of Rivers and Bayelsa made this soup from whatever came in on the boat, and it is still the pride of Port Harcourt and Yenagoa kitchens. Unlike heavier Nigerian soups it is light and brothy, just thickened with a little cocoyam paste, so the sweetness of fresh fish, prawns and periwinkles comes through the scotch bonnet heat and the scent leaf. Eat it with boiled yam, plantain or a light swallow such as eba or starch. Buy shellfish from a reputable fishmonger, discard any periwinkles with broken shells, and if you add clams, throw away any that stay open when tapped before cooking or stay shut after. Chef's tip: add the seafood in order of cooking time, fish first and prawns last, so nothing turns rubbery.

50 min

Nigerian Fish

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Ocho beniseed soup

Beniseed, the local name for sesame, grows widely in Benue, and the Idoma turn it into ocho: a creamy, nutty soup thickened with the ground seeds, cooked with beef, dried fish and green leaves. It has a gentle, toasty flavour and a slightly grainy, pleasant texture, and it is eaten with pounded yam, often at family gatherings and festive meals. Cooks vary the leaves; spinach or ugu are easy to find. Some families add palm oil and some leave it pale; this version uses a little. Chef's tip: toast the beniseed in a dry pan only until it smells nutty and turns light gold; the common mistake is letting it go brown, which makes the whole pot bitter.

80 min

Nigerian Meat

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Nigerian sausage roll

Every Lagos bakery and supermarket counter has a tray of these, wrapped in paper and eaten mid-morning with a cold soft drink, at school break or on the way to work. The Nigerian sausage roll is made with seasoned minced beef rather than pork sausage meat, flavoured with onion, thyme, curry powder and a little chilli, and wrapped in a rich, short pastry that flakes rather than puffs. Children love them, and they freeze well before baking. The filling goes in raw, so bake until the meat reaches 71 °C in the centre. Chef's tip: keep the butter and water ice cold and stop mixing as soon as the dough comes together; warm, overworked pastry is the common mistake that bakes up tough.

65 min

Nigerian Meat

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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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Ghana sugar bread

Bread vans, kiosks and hawkers balancing glass boxes on their heads sell sugar bread all over Ghana, from Accra lorry stations to small-town junctions. The crumb is soft, fine and slightly yellow from egg and butter, with a gentle sweetness and a hint of nutmeg, and it tears into fluffy strands. Ghanaians eat it with a mug of tea or cocoa drink, spread with groundnut paste, or wrapped around an omelette for a quick breakfast. Allow about two hours for the two rises. Chef's tip: the dough should stay soft and a little tacky after kneading; adding extra flour to make it easy to handle is the usual mistake, and it gives a dry, crumbly loaf.

180 min

Ghanaian Breads & Parathas

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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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Asaana (caramelised corn drink)

Chilled in plastic bottles and sold from cool boxes at lorry parks, schools and roadside stalls, asaana is one of the most loved soft drinks in Ghana. Maize is soaked, ground and left to sour for a day, then boiled and strained, and the pale liquid is coloured and sweetened with sugar caramelised almost to bitterness. The result is tangy, toasty and refreshing, a little like a light malt drink. Boiling after the souring stops the fermentation, so asaana is a non-alcoholic drink. It needs about two days of mostly hands-off waiting. Chef's tip: take the caramel to a deep mahogany colour before adding water; pale caramel is the usual mistake and gives a flat, sugary drink without the classic toasted edge.

85 min

Ghanaian Drinks

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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

Senegalese Desserts

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Moringa leaf stew (Konso shiferaw)

On the stone terraces of Konso, moringa trees grow beside almost every house, and their young leaves are picked daily for a simple green stew eaten with sorghum dumplings or injera. The leaves are stripped from their stems and simmered with onion, garlic, a little green chilli and oil until soft, giving a deep green, slightly peppery dish that tastes a little like spinach crossed with watercress. It is plain, nourishing and naturally vegan, so it fits any fasting day. Fresh or frozen moringa leaves are sold in many Indian and Asian grocers; if you cannot find them, use spinach with a squeeze of lemon. Leaving the stems in is the usual mistake; they stay woody, so strip the leaves off. Chef's tip: add the leaves in handfuls and stop cooking as soon as they are tender, so they keep their colour and their gentle bitterness does not deepen.

35 min

Ethiopian Sides

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Ghanaian rock buns

Rock buns came to Ghana with colonial-era baking and never left: every neighbourhood bakery and many school canteens sell these rough, golden mounds, eaten with tea in the morning or with a soft drink after school. They are crisp on the craggy outside, soft and cakey inside, scented with nutmeg and studded with raisins. They take minutes to mix and are a good first bake for children. Chef's tip: keep the dough stiff and drop it in rough heaps without smoothing; too much milk is the common mistake, and the buns spread into flat cookies instead of rising into 'rocks'.

33 min

Ghanaian Baking

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IngriyiAubergine meat patty bake

Ingriyi is a Baghdadi-Jewish Shabbat dish that Iraqi families in Ramat Gan and Kiryat Gat make when aubergines are cheap in late summer: slices of fried aubergine and thin spiced beef patties are layered in a dish and baked in a sauce of tomato and tamarind until everything turns soft and glossy. The tamarind gives a dark sweet-sour tang that sets it apart from Levantine aubergine bakes. Serve it with white rice and a sharp salad. A common slip is frying the aubergine in too little oil at too low a heat, so it soaks up grease and stays grey; use hot oil and drain well. Chef's tip: salting the slices for 30 minutes makes them fry faster and drink less oil.

90 min

Israeli 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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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

Senegalese Desserts

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Molasses with tahini

Upper Egypt grows the country's sugarcane, and its dark molasses, asal eswed or black honey, has found its way onto breakfast and supper tables from Aswan to Alexandria. Spooned over tahini and swirled together, it becomes a glossy, bittersweet, nutty dip that children love and grown-ups eat after a light evening meal, scooped up with warm aish baladi or fino. Many families eat it in winter, when they want something warming and filling. A frequent slip is stirring the molasses and tahini together completely; leave them swirled so each bite gets both. Chef's tip: stir the tahini jar thoroughly first; the thick paste at the bottom and the oil on top must be mixed, or the dip comes out stiff and dry.

5 min

Egyptian Breakfast & Brunch

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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

Senegalese Desserts

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Iftari chhola bhunaDry-fried spiced chickpeas

An hour before sunset during Ramadan, the pavement of Chawkbazar disappears under trays of iftar food, and the one thing every family buys or makes is a bowl of chhola bhuna. It is chickpeas fried down with onion, ginger, garlic and cumin until almost dry, so each one is coated in a thick, dark masala rather than swimming in gravy. On the iftar plate it sits beside piyaju, beguni, muri and dates, and many people toss it with puffed rice, chopped onion and mustard oil into a quick muri makha. A frequent error is adding the chickpeas while the onions are still pale, which leaves the dish flat and sweet instead of deep and savoury. Chef's tip: finish with a pinch of bhaja moshla, dry-roasted cumin, coriander and chilli ground together, for the smoky taste of the street version.

65 min

Bangladeshi Curries

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Domedo (Ghanaian spiced pork)

Domedo is pork: chunks of pork shoulder or belly rubbed with ginger, garlic, onion, cloves and chilli, simmered until tender, then roasted or fried until the edges turn crisp and caramelised. Around Accra it is a favourite at chop bars and roadside grills in the evening, wrapped in paper with raw onion, sliced tomato and a pile of fresh pepper, often alongside kenkey. The meat is juicy and spicy with a crackling, salty outside. Cooking it twice means the fat renders out and the chunks stay moist. Chef's tip: dry the boiled pork well before roasting and give the pieces space on the tray; crowding them is the usual mistake, and they steam instead of crisping.

90 min

Ghanaian Meat

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Rouz jerbi (Djerban steamed rice)

Djerba islanders cook rice the way the rest of Tunisia cooks couscous, in the top of a couscoussier: raw rice is mixed with small pieces of lamb, chopped spinach, a mound of herbs, chickpeas, tomato paste, harissa and spices, then steamed over boiling water until every grain is tender and stained red-gold. Rouz jerbi is a Friday and family-gathering dish on the island, served from one large platter. The rice stays separate and fluffy, the greens melt in, and the lamb picks up the scent of mint and tabil. Chef's tip: stir the rice from the bottom every 20 minutes; leaving it untouched is a common mistake, as the bottom turns soggy while the top stays hard.

100 min

Tunisian Rice & Grains

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Abunuabunu (Ghanaian green soup)

Green from cocoyam leaves (kontomire), garden eggs and green chillies, abunuabunu is a home-style soup from the Ashanti and Bono farmlands, cooked when the leaves are young and plentiful. Traditionally it is made with giant land snails or bush meat; this version uses goat or beef with smoked fish, which are easier to find. The leaves and vegetables are boiled, pounded or blended and returned to the meat stock, giving a fresh, grassy, peppery soup with a gentle bitterness. It is eaten with fufu or ampesi (boiled yam and plantain). Spinach works if you cannot buy cocoyam leaves. Don't skimp on the cooking time for the cocoyam leaves; undercooked, they leave an itchy, scratchy feel in the throat. Chef's tip: always boil cocoyam leaves for at least 15 minutes, because underdone leaves leave an itchy, scratchy feeling in the throat; if you use snails, buy them cleaned from a reputable seller and simmer them until firm.

90 min

Ghanaian Meat

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Café Touba (spiced Senegalese coffee)

Poured from tall kettles into small cups on street corners from Dakar to the holy city of Touba, café Touba is coffee roasted together with djar, the smoky, peppery pods also called grains of selim, and often a few cloves. The drink is linked with the Mouride brotherhood and its founder Cheikh Amadou Bamba, and it is drunk sweet and strong at any hour. It has a deep roasted bitterness with a tingle of pepper and clove at the back of the throat. Roasting green beans at home takes about 20 minutes and makes enough for several pots; if you cannot get green beans, toast the spices separately and grind them with medium-roast coffee. Most people go wrong by grinding the djar (selim pepper) too coarsely, so its peppery note never comes through. Chef's tip: roast over a moderate heat and keep the beans moving, since high heat burns the outside while the inside stays raw and sour.

30 min

Senegalese Drinks

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Senegalese ginger juice

Nearly every Senegalese party, baptism and wedding table carries a jug of jus de gingembre next to the bissap, and Dakar street sellers keep it in frosted plastic bottles. Fresh ginger is blended with water, left to steep, strained and sweetened, then brightened with lemon and mint. Expect a sweet first sip followed by a strong, warming burn that is surprisingly refreshing when the drink is ice cold. Some cooks add a little pineapple juice or vanilla for a rounder taste. Chef's tip: taste before serving and dilute with cold water if it is too fierce; the most common mistake is serving it undiluted, when it can be strong enough to make people cough.

20 min

Senegalese Drinks

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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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Buticha (whipped chickpea flour dip)

Ethiopian Orthodox kitchens make buticha on fasting days as a plant-based stand-in for scrambled egg or fresh cheese, and it often sits as a pale, fluffy mound on the vegan platters of Addis Ababa's restaurants. Chickpea flour is cooked with water into a thick paste, cooled, then beaten with oil and plenty of lemon juice and mixed with raw red onion and green chilli. The texture is soft, crumbly and light, the flavour tangy and fresh against the rich, red wats. Serve it cool with injera, or as a dip with kita. A common mistake is beating it while still hot, which makes it gluey instead of fluffy; let it cool completely first. Chef's tip: cook the paste a full eight minutes after it thickens, so no raw, beany taste is left.

20 min

Ethiopian Chutneys & Dips

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Moni (millet dumpling porridge with tamarind)

Bamako mornings, and especially Ramadan mornings before dawn, often start with a bowl of moni: tiny balls of millet flour rolled by hand and cooked in water until they turn plump and chewy in a smooth porridge. Tamarind gives it a clear sourness, sugar balances it, and some cooks add a squeeze of lemon or a little fresh ginger. It is thinner than tô and meant to be drunk from the bowl or eaten with a spoon. This version is vegan; some families stir in milk or soured milk at the table. Don't drop the dumplings into water that isn't boiling, or they dissolve into the porridge. Chef's tip: roll the balls small, no bigger than a chickpea, and let them dry on the tray for ten minutes before cooking so they hold together instead of dissolving.

45 minAfrican Breakfast & Brunch

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Meni-meniyong (Malian sesame honey sticks)

Toasted sesame seeds bound with hot honey and a knob of butter, then pulled into sticks before they harden: meni-meniyong is a little Malian sweet sold at markets and made at home for guests and festive days. The sticks are crisp at the edges, chewy in the middle, and taste deeply of toasted seeds and dark honey. They need only three ingredients but reward careful heat. Children love them, and they keep well in a tin. Chef's tip: cook the honey until a drop in cold water forms a firm ball; pulling it off too early is the usual mistake, and the sticks stay soft and sticky instead of setting.

30 minAfrican Desserts

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Ilish dim bhunaFried hilsa roe

Early in the hilsa season the female fish carry a pair of large, golden roe sacs, and in Barisal kitchens nobody would dream of wasting them. Ilish dim bhuna is the quick and greedy way to cook them: the roe is fried with lots of onion, turmeric and green chilli until it breaks into soft, rich, slightly grainy crumbs, a little like a savoury fish scramble. It is eaten as a side dish with plain rice and dal, often on the same day the fish itself is cooked in mustard. Roe spoils quickly, so buy it bright and fresh-smelling with the fish and cook it the same day. Many cooks stir the roe too early and too hard, turning it into paste; let it set first. Chef's tip: steam the roe sacs for 3 minutes before frying, so they firm up and break into neat crumbs.

25 min

Bangladeshi Fish

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Tapalapa (Gambian crusty bread)

Early each morning, small bakeries around Serekunda and Brikama pull trays of tapalapa from wood-fired ovens, and the short, rustic loaves are on every breakfast stall by sunrise. Denser and chewier than a French baguette, tapalapa has a thick, crackling crust and a slightly tight crumb that holds up to fillings: black-eyed beans in sauce, an omelette, or a smear of chocolate spread. A very hot oven, a baking stone and a tray of steam get you close at home. Allow about two and a half hours of rising. Chef's tip: let the shaped loaves rise only until puffy, not doubled; over-proving is the common mistake, and the loaves flatten and lose the chewy bite.

190 minAfrican Breads & Parathas

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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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Banku and grilled tilapia

Night falls in Accra and the smoke rises from Osu to Labadi: whole tilapia, slashed and rubbed with ginger, garlic and chilli, crackles over charcoal at roadside grills and beach spots, served with a ball of banku, a heap of raw pepper sauce and sliced onions. Banku is a smooth, stretchy dough of fermented corn and cassava, slightly sour, cooked and beaten in a pot until it pulls away from the sides. Together they make a messy, joyful meal eaten with the fingers: smoky fish, tangy banku and a sauce hot enough to make your eyes water. Corn and cassava dough are sold in African shops, often as banku mix. The commonest mistake is turning the fish too soon; leave it until it releases cleanly from the grill. Chef's tip: marinate the fish in the fridge, not on the counter, and oil the grill and the fish well, because skin sticking to the bars is the most common way to lose a whole tilapia.

65 min

Ghanaian Fish

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Ebbeh (Gambian cassava and fish soup)

Bowls of ebbeh are a favourite late-afternoon snack and supper at Gambian markets and beach stalls, sold steaming from big pots. Cassava is boiled until it breaks down and thickens the broth, then fish, red palm oil, onion and plenty of chilli go in, and the soup is finished with a sharp squeeze of lime. It is thick and starchy, hot, sour and savoury all at once, with soft chunks of cassava and flaky fish. Some cooks add crab or a little smoked fish; this version uses fresh fish with smoked fish for depth. Avoid stirring hard once the fish goes in, or it breaks into shreds. Chef's tip: cook the cassava until some of it collapses before adding the fish, because the cassava itself is the thickener; undercooked cassava gives a thin soup and is unsafe to eat.

65 minAfrican Fish

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Fetri detsi (Ewe okra soup with crab)

Along the Volta lagoons and in towns like Ho and Keta, the Ewe cook fetri detsi when there are fresh crabs to be had: a light tomato and pepper broth made rich with beef or goat, smoked fish and crab, then thickened at the last minute with chopped okra until it turns silky and slippery. It is eaten with akple, a smooth dough of corn and cassava, which is dipped and pulled through the soup. The flavours are of the sea, smoke and fresh pepper. Buy live crabs from a reputable fishmonger and discard any that are dead, cracked or smell off before cooking. Avoid overcooking the okra; added too early it loses its bright green and its draw. Chef's tip: add the okra only at the end and cook it for no more than 8 minutes; overcooked okra loses its green colour and its slipperiness, the very thing this soup is about.

75 min

Ghanaian Fish

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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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Mbakhal (Saloum rice with peanuts and dried fish)

Mbakhal belongs to the Saloum, the peanut country around Kaolack and the Sine-Saloum delta, where it is cooked for gatherings and the Muslim feast days. Rice is simmered until soft and almost porridge-like in a sauce of ground peanuts, tomato and onion, together with black-eyed beans and guedj, the sun-dried, salted fish of the Senegalese coast. The flavour is deep and savoury, the texture creamy with bursts of bean and chewy flakes of fish. Salt cod or smoked fish are fair substitutes for guedj. Chef's tip: soak and taste the dried fish before you season, and add salt only at the end; over-salting is the most common mistake with mbakhal, since guedj and stock both carry plenty.

90 min

Senegalese Fish

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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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Bassi salté (festive millet couscous)

When a Senegalese family celebrates, a wedding, a baptism or a religious feast, bassi salté may well be the dish that comes out in huge enamel bowls. Fine millet couscous is steamed twice until feather-light, then crowned with lamb and chicken in a tomato-onion sauce with carrots, cabbage, turnips and sweet potato, and a sweet note from raisins. It is a long cook but most of it is simmering, and the reward is a dish that feeds a crowd: fluffy grains, rich sauce, tender meat and soft vegetables in every spoonful. Don't drown the millet when moistening it between steamings; it should be damp, not wet, or it turns into porridge. Chef's tip: cook the chicken only for the last 35 minutes and check that the thickest piece reaches 74 °C; added at the start with the lamb, it overcooks to dry shreds while the lamb is still tough.

180 min

Senegalese Meat

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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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Yokhos (Casamance oysters with onion and lemon)

In the mangrove creeks of Casamance, women gather oysters from the roots at low tide, and in villages around Ziguinchor and Oussouye yokhos are grilled over wood until they pop open, then tossed in a sauce of soft onion, lemon and chilli. The oysters turn plump and firm, briny against the sharp, sweet onions. Eat them with rice or bread as a light meal. Mangrove oysters are rarely sold abroad, so use any fresh rock or Pacific oysters. This dish is always cooked: buy live oysters from a reputable fishmonger, discard any with broken shells or that are open and do not close when tapped, and throw away any that stay shut after grilling. Chef's tip: simmer the oyster meat in the sauce only until the edges curl and the flesh is firm right through; that takes about 3 minutes, and going much longer makes them rubbery.

30 min

Senegalese Fish

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Ilish polaoHilsa fish rice

Monsoon is hilsa season: as the fish run up the Meghna and the boats come back heavy into Chandpur ghat and the Barisal river markets, the richest cooks make ilish polao, a fragrant rice cooked in the oil left from frying the fish and in a light stock from the head and tail. Fried hilsa steaks are tucked into the rice to finish in the steam, so they stay moist and take on the scent of cardamom and bay. It is a dish for the hilsa season and for honoured guests, served with fried onions, a wedge of lime and a green chilli. The usual misjudgement is stirring once the fish is in; the steaks are fragile and fall apart into bones. Chef's tip: keep the oil the fish was fried in, because the whole dish depends on that hilsa-scented fat.

75 min

Bangladeshi Fish

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Corn chaff

Big pots of corn chaff are everyday food in the North West, from Bamenda's Food Market to boarding-school dining halls, where maize and beans stretch a long way. Dried corn and beans are simmered until soft, then folded into a red palm oil sauce with onion, tomato and hot pepper, with a handful of greens stirred through at the end. The result is hearty and chewy with a deep, slightly smoky sweetness from the oil, and it tastes even better the next day. Serve it in bowls, with ripe avocado on the side when it is in season. Soak the maize and beans overnight. Chef's tip: give the dried maize a head start of about 45 minutes before adding the beans, because it takes far longer to soften.

120 min

Cameroonian Vegetarian

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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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Key sir alicha (mild beetroot and potato)

A magenta heap of key sir is the splash of colour on a beyaynetu fasting platter, served in restaurants all over Addis Ababa and at home through Lent. Being an alicha, it is mild rather than fiery: beetroot and potato cook slowly with onion, garlic, ginger and oil until tender and shiny, sweet and earthy with only a little heat from green chilli. It balances the hotter wats and cools the palate between bites of injera. A common mistake is cutting the beetroot too large, so the potato turns to mush before the beet is tender; cut the beet smaller, or give it a ten-minute head start. Chef's tip: cook it a day ahead if you can, because the flavours mellow and the potatoes take on even more colour overnight.

50 min

Ethiopian Sides

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Inlagd sillPickled herring

No Swedish midsummer, Easter or Christmas table is without inlagd sill: salt herring fillets soaked to remove the salt, then pickled for at least two days in a sweet, clear brine of vinegar, sugar, onion, carrot, allspice and bay. It is eaten with new potatoes, sour cream, chives and crispbread, and a mustard sauce variant (senapssill) sits beside it. Herring that is pickled, not cooked, is not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system. Use salt herring that has been frozen, as commercial salt herring is. A common mistake is skipping the soak, which makes the herring far too salty. Chef's tip: taste a corner after soaking; it should be pleasantly salty, like an olive.

35 minScandinavian Fish

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Hutki shiraDried fish and aubergine curry

Hutki is what Sylhetis call shutki, sun-dried fish, and a pot of hutki shira, a thin, soupy curry, is pure home cooking from Sylhet, Sunamganj and the haor villages, where fish dried in the dry season feeds families through the rest of the year. The broth is fiery with fresh and dried chilli and full of garlic, softened with chunks of potato, brinjal and sometimes tomato or shatkora, and it is ladled over plenty of plain rice. The smell of the dried fish is strong as it cooks, but it mellows into a deep savoury taste. Skipping the soak is the error that ruins it: unwashed hutki is gritty and far too salty. Buy dried fish from a busy, reputable Asian grocer, and choose pieces that are dry, firm and free of mould. Chef's tip: keep the broth loose; shira should be soupy enough to drown the rice.

50 min

Bangladeshi Fish

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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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Rfis constantinois (date and semolina sweet)

Rather than toasting loose semolina, Constantine cooks first bake a thick semolina galette on the griddle, then crumble it while still hot and work it with melted butter and soft date paste until it turns into a fragrant, crumbly sweet. Rfis is made to celebrate a birth and for Mawlid, and is set out in a large dish, shaped into a dome and studded with almonds, for family to pinch from with coffee. It tastes of toasted bread, caramel-like dates and butter, with warm cinnamon at the end. Where rfis goes wrong is crumbling the galette after it has cooled; it must be broken up hot so the butter and dates bind it. Chef's tip: grate or rub the galette while it is hot; once it cools, it hardens and crumbles into coarse lumps instead of fine, even crumbs.

40 min

Algerian Desserts

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Tarragon lemonade

Tarkhuna is the emerald-green soda that every Tbilisi child knows, sold from street fountains since the early 1900s and still poured in tall glasses at cafés on Rustaveli Avenue. The bottled kind is coloured; the home version gets its green from blitzing fresh tarragon with lemon and syrup, giving an aniseedy, sweet-sour fizz. A common mistake is boiling the tarragon, which dulls the colour and turns the flavour stewed. Chef's tip: blitz the herb into cool syrup and strain it straight away; the drink stays vivid green for a day in the fridge.

20 min

Georgian Drinks

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