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Maple-glazed ham
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Maple-glazed ham

At the cabanes à sucre of Quebec in March and April, a smoked pork ham baked in maple syrup is the centrepiece of the long tables, carved alongside pea soup, beans and omelette. At home it is an Easter favourite in the Eastern Townships. The ham is simmered, then glazed and baked, basted again and again until it shines. Check the label: most smoked hams are already cooked and only need heating, while uncooked ones need full cooking. A common mistake is glazing too early, which burns the sugar before the ham is hot. Chef's tip: a splash of cider vinegar in the glaze balances the sweetness.

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Lafidi (Guinean rice with lamb and peanut sauce)

High in the green hills of the Fouta Djallon in Guinea, Fula (Peul) families prepare lafidi for feast days and for guests: a mound of white rice topped with tender lamb and a generous peanut sauce, served on a shared platter. Some households make it with a leaf sauce of cassava or sweet potato leaves instead; this version uses the peanut sauce, which is smooth, nutty and lightly tangy from tomato, with a steady warmth of chilli. The lamb is simmered slowly in the sauce, so it is soft enough to pull apart with your fingers. Chef's tip: simmer the peanut sauce uncovered and stir it from the bottom often; peanut sauces catch and burn easily, and a scorched taste runs through the whole pot.

100 minAfricanMeatGluten free
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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.

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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 minAfricanVegetarianGluten free
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African chicken (Macanese galinha africana)

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

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Sfiria (cheese croquettes in chicken sauce)

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80 minAlgerianChicken
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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.

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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 minAlgerianBaking
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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 minAlgerianCurries
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Freetown's Sunday pots and the cookshops of Lumley and Kissy turn out potato leaf almost as often as cassava leaf: tender sweet potato greens shredded finely, then simmered in red palm oil with onion and Scotch bonnet until the oil floats to the top. It is usually rich with fish or beef; this meat-free pot leans on a good spoonful of groundnut paste instead, which makes the sauce creamy and nutty and gives it real body. Spoon it over a mound of white rice, the way it is eaten all over Sierra Leone. Chef's tip: wait until the palm oil gathers in a red layer on the surface before you take the pot off the heat; that is the sign the stew is properly cooked.

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Anchote (Oromo root with spiced butter)

Anchote is a climbing plant native to western Ethiopia, and its orange-fleshed root is treasured in Wollega, where it is served at Meskel, at weddings and whenever honoured guests arrive. The root is boiled whole in its skin, peeled, then chopped or roughly mashed and warmed through with niter kibbeh, garlic and a pinch of fiery mitmita. The result is soft, slightly sticky and buttery, with a gentle sweetness somewhere between sweet potato and squash, and it is eaten on its own or with ayib and injera. Look for anchote at Ethiopian grocers; if you cannot find it, taro or cassava boiled the same way gives a close texture with a milder taste. Peeling it raw is a mistake: the sap is sticky and the flesh crumbles; boil it in its skin and the peel slips off. Chef's tip: stir the butter in over a very low heat so the root becomes glossy without frying or catching.

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Liberian rice bread

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70 minAfricanBakingGluten free
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Ayamase (ofada green pepper stew)

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Jókai bablevesSmoky bean soup with pork

Mór Jókai, the nineteenth-century novelist, is said to have ordered this bean soup so often in his favourite Balatonfüred restaurant that it was named after him, and it is now a fixture of Budapest lunch menus and workers' canteens. This is a pork soup through and through: a smoked pork knuckle simmers with dried beans and roots until the meat falls apart, and slices of smoked pork sausage go in at the end. A paprika roux gives colour, a swirl of sour cream and a dash of vinegar add tang, and tiny pinched csipetke noodles make it a full meal with a slice of bread. Soak the beans overnight first. A common mistake is salting early; the smoked knuckle is salty, so taste only at the end. Chef's tip: simmer the knuckle for 30 minutes on its own first and taste the water; if it is very salty, throw it away and start again with fresh water.

150 minHungarianSoups
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Telba (roasted flaxseed drink)

Flax grows across the highlands of Gojjam, and on Wednesdays, Fridays and through Lent its toasted seeds become telba, a creamy, nutty drink that fills you up when animal food is off the menu. The seeds are dry-roasted until they pop, ground fine, then whisked with water and strained, giving a pale brown drink with a faint toasted-sesame flavour and a slightly silky body. It is also taken as a gentle remedy for an upset stomach. Families often sweeten it with honey; sugar keeps it fully vegan. Don't roast the flaxseed too far: over-roasted seeds turn the drink bitter. Chef's tip: grind only what you need that day, because ground flax goes stale and bitter within days; whole roasted seeds keep for weeks in a jar.

18 minEthiopianDrinksVeganGluten free
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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 minEgyptianBreakfast & BrunchVegan
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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 minTunisianRice & Grains
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Gomen kitfo (Gurage minced collards with spiced butter)

Meskel in the Gurage highlands is the year's great feast, and next to the beef kitfo on the table there is always gomen kitfo, the meat-free 'kitfo' of greens. Collards are boiled until tender, squeezed hard and chopped so finely they become almost a paste, then worked with warm niter kibbeh, mitmita and a little korerima. The result is dark green, silky and rich, with a sharp chilli kick and a deep, slightly bitter leafy flavour. It is eaten with kocho and a heap of fresh ayib, and is also made on its own on non-fasting days. The usual mistake is leaving water in the greens, which makes it soggy and dilutes the butter; wring them out in a clean cloth. Chef's tip: chop with a heavy knife, rocking it again and again, rather than blending; a blender turns it into a purée and loses the fine, almost-minced texture.

40 minEthiopianSidesGluten freeSpicy
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Besso (roasted barley flour drink and balls)

Farmers and travellers in Gojjam and Wollo have long carried a pouch of besso on journeys, because a handful of this roasted barley flour turns a cup of water into a filling meal. The barley is roasted until deep brown, ground fine and stored for weeks; stirred into cold water with a little sugar it makes a smooth, malty, slightly toasty drink, and kneaded with oil it becomes chewy little balls called chibto. It is eaten on fasting days, in the fields and by students before exams. Many families sweeten it with honey; sugar keeps this version vegan. The usual mistake is adding the barley flour to water all at once, which leaves dry clumps; whisk it in gradually. Chef's tip: roast the barley until it is the colour of milk chocolate and smells like toast; pale grains give a raw, floury taste, while black ones taste burnt.

35 minEthiopianSnacks & StartersVegan
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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 minTunisianSoupsSpicy
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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 minTunisianMeat
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Buna qalaa (Oromo butter-roasted coffee beans)

Among the Oromo, buna qalaa is less a snack than a ritual: coffee beans are roasted in butter and shared at weddings, after a birth, at Irreecha and when elders bless a new undertaking, each guest taking a small spoonful. The beans turn glossy and dark, crunchy outside and slightly chewy within, with a bitter-sweet roast flavour, a rich buttery coating and a touch of salt. Some families use green beans and roast them right through in the butter, which is what this recipe does. Buy raw (green) coffee beans from a coffee roaster or Ethiopian shop. They are very high in caffeine, so serve a tablespoon each and keep them away from children. A common slip is frying the beans on high heat, which burns the butter before the beans are roasted. Chef's tip: keep the heat low and patient; on a high flame the butter burns black long before the beans are roasted inside.

17 minEthiopianSnacks & StartersGluten free
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Fetira (Harari layered egg flatbread with honey)

Morning in the old walled city of Harar and in Dire Dawa often starts with fetira, especially in Muslim homes during Ramadan's pre-dawn meal and on Eid mornings. A soft wheat dough is stretched until it is almost see-through, spread with beaten egg, folded into a parcel and fried in a little oil and butter until crisp and flaky outside, soft and eggy inside. It is cut into squares and eaten warm, drizzled with honey, with a cup of spiced tea or coffee. A common mistake is stretching the dough without a proper rest, so it tears; give it 30 minutes covered with oil and it stretches easily. Chef's tip: oil the worktop and your hands rather than flouring them, so the dough slides and stretches thin without sticking.

45 minEthiopianBreakfast & Brunch
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JidášeEaster honey buns

Maundy Thursday, "Green Thursday" in Czech, is the day for jidáše, sweet yeasted buns rolled into ropes and coiled into spirals or loose knots to recall the rope of Judas, which gives them their name. Families in Bohemia and Moravia bake them for breakfast that morning and brush them, still hot, with honey; eating one was once said to bring health for the year. They are soft and fluffy, lightly scented with lemon, with a sticky, shiny top. A common mistake is brushing the honey on cold buns, where it just sits; warm the honey and glaze them straight from the oven so it soaks in. Honey is not suitable for babies under one year old. Chef's tip: roll the ropes thinner than you think, about finger thickness; they double as they prove.

145 minCzechBaking
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Ayib be gomen (fresh cheese with spiced collards)

Gurage cooks bring ayib be gomen to the table beside kitfo, and it is just as welcome on its own with kocho or injera on an ordinary non-fasting day. Soft, mild ayib is mixed with collards that have been boiled and chopped fine, then dressed with warm niter kibbeh, garlic and mitmita, so the creamy cheese cools the chilli and the greens add an earthy bite. Ayib is an acid-set cheese made by gently heating soured milk or buttermilk (or milk with lemon juice) until curds form, so it needs no rennet and suits vegetarians. Ricotta or well-drained cottage cheese are close substitutes; if you use a bought cottage cheese, check the label for vegetarian rennet. Do not heat the cheese in the pan, or it turns rubbery and weeps; fold it in off the heat. Chef's tip: squeeze the cooked greens until they are almost dry so the dish stays fluffy rather than watery.

25 minEthiopianSidesGluten free
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Kocho (Gurage enset flatbread)

Across the green Gurage and Sidama highlands, the enset or 'false banana' plant feeds whole families, and its scraped, fermented pulp becomes kocho, the dense flatbread that is the only proper partner for kitfo. Fermentation happens over weeks or months in leaf-lined pits, so outside Ethiopia you start with ready-fermented kocho, sold frozen or chilled in Ethiopian shops; there is no real substitute. The pulp is squeezed, chopped fine, patted into a round on enset or banana leaves and baked slowly on a griddle. The bread is chewy, slightly fibrous and pleasantly sour, with a faint fermented aroma, and it is torn and used to scoop kitfo, gomen kitfo and ayib, especially at Meskel. Too much moisture is the classic mistake, giving a gummy, raw-tasting middle; wring the pulp out well. Chef's tip: cook it low and slow under a lid, so the centre dries and sets before the leaves burn.

90 minEthiopianBreads & ParathasVeganGluten free
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Datta (Gurage green chilli relish)

A small bowl of datta sits beside every plate of kitfo in Gurage country, and Addis kitfo houses serve it the same way; a dab of it wakes up mild ayib, kocho or a bowl of shiro. Fresh green chillies are pounded in a mortar with garlic, ginger and salt, sometimes with a little onion and lemon, into a coarse, bright paste that is sharp, grassy and very hot. It is a fasting-friendly relish, since it is nothing but vegetables, oil and lemon. Blitzing it to a smooth liquid in a blender is a common mistake: you lose the texture and the chillies turn bitter; pound it, or pulse briefly. Wear gloves when handling the chillies, and wash the board well afterwards. Chef's tip: for a milder datta, scrape out the seeds and pale ribs of half the chillies before pounding.

10 minEthiopianChutneys & DipsVeganGluten freeSpicy
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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 minTunisianMeatGluten free
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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 minTunisianMeatGluten free
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Godere (taro with spiced butter and mitmita)

Through the wet south of Ethiopia, from Wolaita to Sidama, taro (godere) grows in garden plots, and boiled and buttered it is the snack that comes out with the coffee pot or the side dish at harvest gatherings. The corms are boiled until creamy, cut into chunks and tossed in warm niter kibbeh with mitmita and salt, so they turn glossy, soft and nutty with a chilli edge. They are eaten with the fingers or alongside kitfo, ayib and greens. Raw taro must never be eaten: it contains irritant crystals that only proper cooking breaks down, and the raw sap can itch, so wear gloves to peel and boil it until fully tender. Chef's tip: boil the taro in its skin for a firmer, less slimy texture, then peel while still warm.

40 minEthiopianSidesGluten freeSpicy
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Ye-dinich wat (spicy Ethiopian potato stew)

Wednesday and Friday lunch in countless Ethiopian homes and canteens includes a pot of ye-dinich wat, the potato stew that turns a few cheap ingredients into something deeply savoury. Red onions are cooked down slowly, then berbere, garlic and ginger go in with oil to build a dark, glossy sauce, and cubes of potato simmer in it until they soften and start to thicken it at the edges. It is hot, earthy and comforting, and scooped up with injera next to shiro, misir and gomen on a fasting platter. Because it uses oil and no butter, it is fully vegan. Hurrying the onion base is the usual mistake; give it the full time or the sauce tastes thin and raw. Chef's tip: cut the potatoes into even 2 cm cubes, so they cook at the same rate and hold their shape.

45 minEthiopianCurriesVeganGluten freeSpicy
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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 minAlgerianDessertsGluten free
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Timatim fitfit (torn injera with fresh tomato)

Leftover injera never goes to waste: torn into bite-sized pieces and tossed with juicy chopped tomato, red onion, green chilli, lemon and oil, it becomes timatim fitfit, a cool, tangy salad eaten for a light lunch on hot days and on fasting days all over the country. Unlike timatim salata, which is just the tomato salad, this version is a meal in itself: the injera drinks up the dressing and turns soft and spongy while keeping a little chew. It is usually served in a bowl and eaten with more injera or with a spoon. The common mistake is mixing it too early, which turns the bread soggy; toss it no more than ten minutes before eating. It is gluten free only if your injera is made from 100% teff. Chef's tip: use day-old injera, which is slightly drier and holds its shape better than fresh.

15 minEthiopianSaladsVegan
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Sinig karia (stuffed green chillies)

Long, pale green karia chillies are piled high in the markets of Addis Ababa, and on fasting days cooks slit them, scrape out the seeds and fill them with a sharp little salad of onion and tomato soaked in lemon. The result is crunchy, fresh and juicy, with a mild chilli warmth, and the chillies are eaten with the fingers between mouthfuls of injera and spicy wat, or set out as a starter. Choose mild long peppers such as Anaheim, Hungarian wax or long sweet green peppers. A common mistake is leaving the white ribs in, which keeps the heat high and can make them bitter; scrape them out with a teaspoon. Chef's tip: dip the chillies in boiling water for one minute and cool them in cold water first if you want them a little softer and easier to stuff.

20 minEthiopianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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Senafich (Ethiopian mustard seed paste)

On Ethiopian fasting platters there is often one little dab of yellow among the reds and greens: senafich, a punchy mustard paste that clears the nose and cuts through the oil of the wats. Brown or yellow mustard seed is ground, mixed with warm water and left to rest, which takes the bitterness away, then beaten with lemon, oil, ginger and garlic until it is smooth and creamy. It is served with injera, shimbra asa and boiled vegetables, and some cooks thin it into a sauce for raw chillies. A common mistake is serving it straight after mixing, when it is harsh and bitter; let it stand for at least an hour (it is even better the next day). Chef's tip: use warm water rather than boiling for the soak; very hot water kills the mustard's heat and leaves it flat.

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Sri Lankan chicken curry

Sunday lunch in a Colombo family home very often means a pot of kukul mas curry, the chicken chopped small on the bone and simmered in a gravy darkened by curry powder that has been roasted until it smells almost like coffee. Pandan leaf, curry leaves, cinnamon bark and cardamom carry the perfume, while coconut milk stirred in towards the end rounds off the chilli heat without making the sauce heavy. It shares the table with red rice, parippu, pol sambol and a green mallung, and whatever is left over tastes even better the next morning with string hoppers. A common slip is using raw, unroasted curry powder, which tastes dusty and flat instead of deep and smoky. Chef's tip: roast the spices for the powder until they are the colour of milk chocolate and grind them while still warm, so the oils release into the powder.

70 minSri LankanChickenGluten freeSpicy
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Honey and milk bread (yemarina yewotet dabo)

Softer and sweeter than everyday ambasha, this round loaf is the bread Ethiopian families bake for a holiday table, a christening or guests at a coffee ceremony, when there is milk and good honey in the house. The dough is enriched with egg and butter, so it bakes up tender with a fine, cake-like crumb, and the spices are gentle: toasted coriander, a whisper of fenugreek and cardamom that perfumes the kitchen. It is sliced and eaten as it is, with spiced tea or coffee, or spread with a little honey. Allow about 1¾ hours for the two rises. Chef's tip: keep the fenugreek to a quarter teaspoon; any more and its bitterness takes over the honey.

165 minEthiopianBreads & Parathas
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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 minCanadianBaking
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Moukhbaza (Kassala mashed banana)

Kassala, in the green orchard country of eastern Sudan near the Eritrean border, grows bananas in abundance, and its signature dish uses them very simply: very ripe bananas mashed with a little sugar and cooked briefly until thick and jammy. Moukhbaza is eaten as a snack or light breakfast, torn kisra or soft gurasa pancakes dragged through it, and children adore it. It tastes like warm banana bread without the oven. Under-ripe fruit is the usual mistake; you want bananas with heavily speckled, almost black skins, or the mash is starchy and bland. Chef's tip: a squeeze of lime at the end keeps the colour bright and balances the sweetness.

15 minSudaneseSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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Jeow mak phetRoasted chilli dip

Of all the jeows on a Lao table, this is the most basic and most loved, roasted fresh chillies, garlic and shallots pounded together and eaten with sticky rice at almost every meal, from farm lunches in the rice fields to Vientiane office canteens. Made with long green chillies, as here, it is bright, grassy and more fragrant than fierce, with sweetness from the softened shallot; swap some for bird's eye chillies if you want it hotter. Serve it with sticky rice, boiled pumpkin shoots, steamed vegetables, eggs or grilled tofu. Charring the chillies to carbon is the trap, and burnt skins turn the whole jeow bitter. Fish sauce is the usual seasoning; this version uses salt and a little tamari to stay vegetarian. Chef's tip: wear gloves when peeling hot roasted chillies, and keep your hands away from your eyes for the next hour.

20 minLaoChutneys & DipsVeganGluten freeSpicy
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Eritrean frittata

Asmara's cafés kept the Italian word but changed the flavour: an Eritrean frittata is eggs beaten with softened onion, tomato and green chilli, warmed with berbere and cooked flat in a small pan until just set. It comes to the table in its pan with fresh bread and a coffee or sweet tea, and some places fold in a little extra chilli for those who ask. The texture is soft and moist in the middle, with sweet tomato and a gentle heat running through it. A common mistake is cooking the eggs over a high flame, which makes the base tough and brown before the top sets; keep the heat low and cover the pan. Chef's tip: cook the tomato until its juice has evaporated before the eggs go in, or the frittata turns watery.

20 minEritreanBreakfast & BrunchGluten free
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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 minCanadianDesserts
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Baasto (Somali spaghetti with spiced beef sauce)

Pasta arrived in Mogadishu during the Italian colonial period and was firmly adopted, so that today baasto with suugo is a standard Friday lunch and a staple of the city's restaurants. The sauce is a long-cooked mix of minced beef, onion, peppers and tomato seasoned with xawaash, garlic and a little chilli, closer to a spiced Somali stew than to an Italian ragù. A ripe banana is served alongside and eaten in alternate bites, cooling and sweet against the spice; a green chilli sauce and a squeeze of lime finish the plate. Overcooking the spaghetti is the usual error, because it carries on softening in the hot sauce; drain it a minute before the packet time. For a meat-free version simply leave out the beef and add a tin of chickpeas. Chef's tip: let the beef brown properly before the tomato goes in; that colour gives the sauce its depth.

50 minSomaliPasta & Noodles
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Jaffna goat curry

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

120 minSri LankanMeatGluten freeSpicy
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Jeow somSweet-sour chilli sauce

Grilled food in Laos rarely leaves the stall without a little bag of jeow som, the thin, sour-sweet sauce that every street grill from Vientiane's riverside to small-town bus stations ladles out beside the skewers. Unlike the pounded jeows, it is pourable: lime juice, garlic and raw chilli in a light, sweet-salty syrup, sharp enough to cut through anything charred. Dip grilled tofu, corn, aubergine or sticky rice into it, or spoon it over a plate of steamed vegetables. Stall versions lean on fish sauce; salt and tamari keep this one vegetarian. Tipping granulated sugar straight into cold lime juice is the usual fault, since it never fully dissolves and the sauce tastes gritty and unbalanced. Chef's tip: let the sauce sit for 15 minutes before serving so the garlic and chilli mellow into the lime.

10 minLaoChutneys & DipsVeganGluten freeSpicy
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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 minCanadianDesserts
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Muqmad (Somali spiced meat preserved in ghee)

Before fridges, nomadic families in Somaliland preserved meat as muqmad, also called oodkac: beef or camel cut into tiny cubes, dried in the sun, fried in ghee with garlic and spices and packed into a container topped with more ghee. A spoonful is eaten for breakfast with sabaayad or canjeero and tea, and jars are made for Eid, weddings and travellers. Sun-drying raw meat is risky in a home kitchen, so this safer version cooks the cubes through to 71 °C first, then dries them in a low oven and keeps the finished jar in the fridge. The traditional raw-dried version is not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system. Cutting the cubes unevenly is the common mistake: big pieces stay moist inside while small ones burn, so aim for 1 cm all round. Chef's tip: partly freeze the meat for 45 minutes and it cuts into neat cubes far more easily.

240 minSomaliMeatGluten free
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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 minCanadianChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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Kalluun duban (Somali grilled whole fish)

Seafront restaurants on Mogadishu's Lido beach are famous for kalluun duban, whole fish rubbed with a paste of garlic, lime, chilli and xawaash and grilled over charcoal until the skin blisters. Diners pick a fresh catch, often snapper, grouper or kingfish, and it comes to the table on a platter of spiced rice with lime, salad, banana and fiery basbaas. The flesh should be moist and smoky, tangy with lime. Marinating fish for hours in lime juice is a mistake: the acid starts to 'cook' it and the flesh turns mushy, so 20–30 minutes in the fridge is plenty. Chef's tip: slash the fish deeply down to the bone on both sides, so the marinade gets in and the thick part cooks as fast as the tail.

40 minSomaliFishGluten free
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Digaag qumbe (Somali chicken in coconut milk)

Coconut milk is the signature of the Benadir coast from Mogadishu south to Kismayo and Barawa, where the Swahili-speaking world meets Somali cooking, and digaag qumbe shows it off: chicken pieces simmered in a creamy coconut sauce with tomato, garlic, a hint of turmeric and xawaash. The sauce is mellow and gently spiced, coloured golden-orange, and generous enough to soak into rice, canjeero or sabaayad. Families make it for Friday lunch and to welcome guests. Boiling the sauce hard after the coconut milk goes in is the mistake to avoid, as it splits and turns oily; keep it at a gentle bubble. Chef's tip: brown the chicken well first, as the caramelised skin gives the mild sauce its savoury backbone.

60 minSomaliChickenGluten free
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Malawax (Somali cardamom crepes)

Fragrant with cardamom and just sweet enough, malawax are the thin, soft pancakes Somali families make on weekend mornings and for guests, stacked high and eaten with honey, sugar or a smear of ghee beside a pot of shaah. They are thinner than canjeero and contain egg and milk, so they cook in a minute and stay tender rather than spongy. Children roll them up and eat them in their hands; adults tend to tear them and dip them in tea. The batter should be as thin as single cream, and the classic mistake is a pan that is not hot enough, which gives pale, rubbery crepes that stick. Chef's tip: let the batter rest for 10 minutes so the flour hydrates; the first crepe is always a tester, so adjust the heat after it.

30 minSomaliBreakfast & Brunch
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Jhinuk pithaShell-shaped coconut rice pitha

Jhinuk is the Bengali word for a freshwater mussel shell, and these little ridged, curled pithas look exactly like the shells children pick from village ponds in winter. Small balls of rice dough enriched with grated coconut are pressed against the back of a fork or a comb and rolled so they curl up with fine grooves on the outside, then fried crisp and tossed in a thick cardamom syrup that dries into a thin, frosty sugar coat. Across Bangladesh they are made in the cold months and around Poush Sankranti, piled on a plate for guests with tea, and they keep well in a tin. A thin syrup leaves them soggy instead of glazed, which is where most batches disappoint; it must be boiled until it threads between your fingers. Chef's tip: keep the dough balls under a damp cloth while you shape, so the edges don't crack as they curl.

60 minBangladeshiIndian SweetsVeganGluten free
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Bean curd skin rolls with oyster sauce

A tea-house regular, fu pei guen arrive at Hong Kong dim sum tables in small steamer dishes, sitting in a pool of dark, glossy oyster sauce gravy. The bean curd skin is fried first, so it blisters and wrinkles, then it is braised until it turns soft and silky and soaks up the sauce, while the pork, bamboo shoot and mushroom filling inside stays juicy. The flavour is savoury and gently sweet, best with rice or between har gow and siu mai at Sunday yum cha. A splash of Shaoxing rice wine seasons the filling; there is an alcohol-free swap in the list. Where most home cooks go wrong is soaking the dried bean curd sheets in water, which turns them to rags; wipe them with a damp cloth instead so they just become supple. Chef's tip: make the rolls a day ahead, fry them, and braise them just before serving.

60 minHong KongSnacks & Starters
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Teochew fish soup

Office workers in the CBD form long lunch queues for a dish that looks almost plain: a bowl of clear, sweet broth with thick slices of batang (Spanish mackerel), wedges of tomato, silken tofu, lettuce and a little salted vegetable, served with rice or thick rice noodles. Good stalls simmer fish bones for hours, but at home a well-flavoured stock and plenty of ginger get you close in half an hour. The fish should be just set and springy, the broth light, gently tangy from tomato and savoury from fish sauce. Most home versions go wrong by boiling the slices hard, which breaks them up and turns them chalky; they need only a few minutes at a gentle simmer. Chef's tip: toss the fish slices with a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of tapioca starch before cooking, which keeps them silky and stops them falling apart.

30 minSingaporeanSoupsGluten free
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Sabaayad (Somali flaky layered flatbread)

Hargeisa cooks are proud of their sabaayad, a soft, flaky flatbread made by brushing a thin sheet of dough with oil or ghee, rolling it into a coil and flattening it again so it cooks into dozens of buttery layers. It is eaten for breakfast with sugar and shaah, torn into pieces with muqmad or liver, and served at lunch with beef or chicken stews; at Eid and weddings it is made in big stacks. The texture should be tender and pliable with crisp spots, never dry. Rolling the dough straight after kneading is a common mistake: it springs back and tears, so give it at least 20 minutes to relax. Chef's tip: once each bread is cooked, scrunch it between your hands while hot to open up the layers.

60 minSomaliBreads & Parathas
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Jeow hetGrilled mushroom dip

Monsoon jeow, this one: once the rains bring mushrooms to every Lao market from July onwards, cooks grill a basket of them over charcoal and pound them with roasted chilli and garlic for a meaty, smoky dip that disappears with sticky rice at dinner. The texture is shaggy rather than smooth, juicy shreds of mushroom held together by a hot, garlicky paste, with fresh herbs stirred through at the end. It is just as good with steamed greens, cucumber and long beans, or spooned over grilled tofu. Oyster and king oyster mushrooms are the closest match to the wild ones. Many people blitz or pound it to a paste and lose the chew, and that's the thing to avoid. Chef's tip: tear the grilled mushrooms into strips by hand before they go into the mortar, then pound only to bruise them.

25 minLaoChutneys & DipsVeganGluten freeSpicy
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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 minSingaporeanPasta & Noodles
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Sudanese shata (dried chilli, garlic and lime sauce)

No Sudanese meal is complete without a little dish of shata on the side, and every household and roadside grill from Port Sudan to Nyala has its own version. This one is the classic everyday type: dried red chillies soaked soft and pounded with raw garlic, salt and plenty of lime juice into a loose, brick-red sauce that is fiery, sour and garlicky all at once. A spoonful goes over ful, fried fish, grilled meat, salads and stews. Wear gloves when handling the chillies, and do not rub your eyes. Using the soaking water in place of fresh water is a mistake, as it can taste bitter and dusty; drain it off. Chef's tip: make it a few hours ahead and keep it in the fridge; the heat settles and the garlic mellows.

15 minSudaneseChutneys & DipsVeganGluten freeSpicy
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Bitifoor (Sudanese Eid butter biscuits)

During the last days of Ramadan, Khartoum neighbourhoods smell of butter and vanilla as women bake bitifoor, the piped biscuits whose name comes from the French petit four, for the Eid visits that follow. They are piped into rosettes, fingers and swirls, sometimes topped with a piece of glacé cherry or dipped in chocolate, and arranged on platters with ka'ak and sweets for guests. The texture is melt-in-the-mouth, short and delicate. Over-soft butter is the classic mistake, giving biscuits that spread into flat puddles; use butter soft enough to dent, not oily, and chill the piped trays for 15 minutes. Chef's tip: a little cornflour in the flour keeps them extra tender and crisp.

60 minSudaneseBaking
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MintumbaCassava and palm oil leaf parcels

Golden and glossy with red palm oil, mintumba is the richer cousin of bobolo, baked or steamed in leaves in the Centre region and eaten as a snack or alongside sauce, grilled fish or roasted groundnuts. The soured cassava dough is kneaded with oil and a little salt, then wrapped and cooked until it sets into a dense, chewy loaf with a toasty crust where it touched the leaf. Its flavour is tangy, earthy and buttery from the oil. Start with bought fermented cassava paste from an African grocer, or make the dough as for bobolo. Don't wrap the dough loosely; gaps let water in and the parcels turn soggy. Chef's tip: warm the palm oil until just liquid before kneading it in; poured in solid, it streaks the dough instead of colouring it evenly.

80 minCameroonianBasicsVeganGluten free
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Bein montJaggery coconut rice pancake

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

45 minBurmeseDessertsVeganGluten free
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Aradeib (Sudanese tamarind drink)

Tamarind trees shade villages throughout Darfur and Kordofan, and their sticky brown pods become aradeib, one of the best-loved Sudanese cold drinks. The pulp is soaked, rubbed and strained, then sweetened to make a deep amber, puckeringly sour drink that cuts through rich food and is much loved at iftar through Ramadan. It is also drunk as a home remedy for upset stomachs and heat. Seedy block tamarind from any Asian or African shop works perfectly. Pouring boiling water straight onto the pulp and leaving it too long draws out a harsh, tannic edge, so use hot rather than boiling water and strain after an hour. Avoid squeezing the soaked tamarind through a cloth too hard; fibres get through and make the drink cloudy and gritty. Chef's tip: make a concentrate and keep it in the fridge for up to a week; dilute with cold water by the glass.

20 minSudaneseDrinksVeganGluten free
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Madeeda (Sudanese warm millet and milk drink)

Thick enough to sip slowly from a glass but thinner than porridge, madeeda is a warming drink from northern Sudan made by cooking flour, often pearl millet, in milk and sweetening it with sugar or dates. Families make it on cool winter mornings, for anyone feeling under the weather and for new mothers, and it is a gentle way to break the fast in Ramadan. This version uses millet flour with cardamom and a little cinnamon, so it is smooth, nutty and lightly spiced. Lumps are the usual problem: whisk the flour into cold milk before it goes onto the heat. A frequent slip is not stirring enough, so the millet catches and the milk scorches. Chef's tip: for a date version, blitz 6 soft pitted dates with the milk and halve the sugar.

20 minSudaneseDrinksGluten free
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Hilu-mur (Sudanese spiced sorghum Ramadan drink)

Weeks before Ramadan, households across Sudan fill with the smell of hilu-mur, literally 'sweet-bitter', as sorghum is sprouted, dried, ground and mixed with flour, dates and a heady spice blend, left to sour for a day, then spread paper-thin on a hot griddle into brittle reddish-brown flakes. Each evening during the month a handful is soaked in water, strained and sweetened, giving the dark, tangy, clove-and-ginger-scented drink that breaks the fast. The souring is short, like a sourdough, and the flakes are cooked dry; the drink is non-alcoholic and served to the whole family. The full process takes about 5 days: 3 days to sprout, 1 to dry and a night to sour, so only active and cooking time are in the totals. Many people buy ready-made flakes from Sudanese shops. Discard any grain that smells musty or shows mould while sprouting. The usual mistake is pouring the batter too thick on the griddle; the flakes should be paper-thin to dry crisp. Chef's tip: spread the batter as thinly as you can; thick flakes stay chewy and go mouldy in storage.

210 minSudaneseDrinksVegan
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Abreh (Sudanese white sorghum flake drink)

Where hilu-mur is dark and spiced, abreh abyad, white abreh, is its pale, gentle partner: a batter of white sorghum flour is left to sour lightly, then baked into thin cream-coloured flakes that are soaked in cold, sweetened water and served at iftar across northern Sudan. The drink is cloudy, refreshing and faintly tangy, a good way to rehydrate after a long day of fasting; some families add a splash of lime or a little cardamom. The overnight souring takes 12–18 hours and is not counted in the totals; it is non-alcoholic, and the flakes are dried hard on the griddle. Spreading the batter too thickly is the classic mistake, so work fast and thin. Chef's tip: make a big batch in one session; the dry flakes keep for months in a tin, so a jug of abreh is only an hour away.

110 minSudaneseDrinksVegan
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Dama (Sudanese beef and tomato stew)

Thick, red and full of garlic, dama is the tomato stew that Khartoum families make for weekday lunches and that restaurants serve in shiny steel bowls with gurasa, the soft, thick Sudanese pancake, or with bread and rice. Beef is browned, then simmered with a generous amount of onion, fresh tomato, tomato paste and gentle warm spices, cardamom and a little cinnamon, until the sauce is rich enough to cling to every piece. The meat ends up spoon-tender. Adding all the liquid at once is the common mistake; it gives a thin, watery sauce, so add water little by little as the stew needs it. Chef's tip: grate the onions rather than chopping them, so they melt into the sauce and thicken it without flour.

105 minSudaneseMeatGluten free
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Sudanese shorba (lamb and peanut Ramadan soup)

Every evening during Ramadan, Khartoum tables are set with dates, juices and a big pot of shorba, a lamb broth full of carrots, potato and onion made creamy with peanut butter and sharpened with lime. It is the first thing many families eat after the dates, warm and gentle on an empty stomach, and it is made in quantity to share with neighbours. The soup is savoury, nutty and lightly spiced, thick enough to coat a spoon. Adding peanut butter straight into the pot is a mistake, as it clumps; whisk it smooth with hot broth first. Chef's tip: skim the broth carefully in the first 10 minutes for a clean taste, and finish with lime just before serving.

90 minSudaneseSoupsGluten free
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Agashe (Sudanese peanut-crusted beef skewers)

On Khartoum evenings the smoke from agashe grills drifts across the streets: thin slices of beef threaded onto sticks, coated in a dry rub of ground roasted peanuts, ginger, chilli and garlic, and grilled fast over charcoal until crusty and fragrant. The style came to Sudan with West African communities and is close cousin to Nigerian suya, but it has become a Khartoum favourite in its own right, served with sliced onion, tomato, lime and a sprinkle of extra spice. Slicing the beef too thick is the usual error, because the crust burns before the inside is done; aim for 5 mm. Marinate in the fridge, never on the counter. Chef's tip: dust the skewers with a second coat of peanut mix halfway through grilling for the best crust.

40 minSudaneseMeatGluten freeSpicy
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Mullah kawal (Darfur fermented-leaf stew)

Kawal is one of Darfur's great pantry secrets: the leaves of a wild legume that grows among the sorghum are pounded, fermented in a buried pot for a couple of weeks and dried into dark little balls with a smell as strong as blue cheese. Crumbled into a stew of fried onion, dried meat and tomato and thickened with okra powder, it gives a deep, savoury, almost meaty flavour that people in Darfur and Kordofan crave, and the stew is eaten with aseeda or kisra. Kawal is very hard to find outside Sudan; fermented locust beans (dawadawa or iru) from West African shops are the closest substitute, or use mashed fermented black beans. Too much kawal is the beginner's mistake; start with a little and taste. Chef's tip: soak the kawal in warm water for 10 minutes and mash it before it goes in, so it dissolves evenly.

90 minSudaneseCurriesGluten free
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Mullah tagalia (Sudanese dried-meat and okra stew)

Tagalia is the stew northern Sudanese families turn to for everyday lunches and when guests arrive unannounced, because it is made almost entirely from the store cupboard: pounded sharmout, dried okra powder called weika and a mountain of onions fried slowly until dark. Unlike mullah bamia, which uses fresh okra, it is smooth, thick and dark brown, with a rich, savoury, slightly smoky taste, and it is scooped up with kisra or aseeda from one shared bowl. Cooks in Nubia and along the Nile say good tagalia is all in the onion. Dumping the weika in at once is the classic mistake, and it sets into slimy lumps; sprinkle it slowly while whisking. Chef's tip: keep frying the onions until they are a deep chestnut colour but never black; burnt onion makes the whole pot bitter.

75 minSudaneseCurriesGluten free
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Kawari (Sudanese trotter soup)

Small restaurants in Khartoum's markets open early to sell bowls of kawari, a soup of cow's or sheep's trotters cooked for hours until the meat and gelatinous skin slip off the bone and the broth turns rich and sticky. It is seasoned simply with onion, garlic, cardamom and black pepper and then brightened at the table with lime, chilli and raw garlic, and it is eaten with bread, especially on cold mornings and as a reviving breakfast. The flavour is deep and meaty, the texture silky. Skipping the first blanch is the usual mistake: it leaves the soup murky and smelling of the farmyard. Buy trotters already cleaned and cut by the butcher, and scrape off any remaining hair. Chef's tip: a pressure cooker cuts the simmering to about 1½ hours.

270 minSudaneseSoupsGluten free
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Kamounia (Sudanese cumin offal stew)

Named after kammoun, cumin, this Sudanese stew of lamb offal is a Khartoum favourite after Eid al-Adha, when every household has fresh heart, kidneys and liver from the sacrifice, and it is also sold in restaurants for breakfast and lunch. The meat is cooked with lots of onion, garlic, tomato and a heavy hand of cumin until the sauce is thick and dark and smells wonderful. It is eaten with bread or kisra and a squeeze of lime. Putting the liver in with the heart is the classic mistake: liver turns grainy and dry when overcooked, so add it only in the last 10 minutes. Chef's tip: toast whole cumin seeds in a dry pan and grind them yourself; the flavour is twice as strong.

90 minSudaneseMeatGluten free
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Sharmout (Sudanese dried beef, oven method)

Across Darfur and Kordofan, and in kitchens throughout Sudan around Eid al-Adha, strips of lean beef are salted and hung to dry in the hot, dry air for several days until they turn hard and dark. That sharmout is then pounded and fried with onion to give tagalia, kawal and other stews their rich, savoury depth. Air-drying raw meat at home is risky, so this safer version heats the strips to 71 °C first and then dries them slowly in a low oven, and the finished sharmout is kept in the fridge. The traditional raw air-dried version is not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system. Leaving fat on the strips is the usual mistake: fat does not dry and turns rancid, so trim every bit. Chef's tip: partly freeze the beef so you can slice it into even 5 mm strips along the grain.

330 minSudaneseBasicsGluten free
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Seven-layer tea

Visitors to the tea gardens of Srimangal, in Sylhet's Moulvibazar district, queue at small tea cabins to see a glass of tea striped in seven distinct bands, from creamy white at the bottom to pale green-gold at the top. The original recipe is a closely guarded secret of the tea-maker who made it famous, but the principle is simple physics: each layer carries a different amount of sugar, so the heaviest sits at the bottom and the lightest floats on top. This home version uses condensed milk, green tea, strong black tea, milk tea, lemon tea, spiced tea and plain tea, and it is drunk slowly, layer by layer, with a long spoon. Pouring too fast is what ruins it; each layer should trickle down the inside of the glass over the back of a spoon. Chef's tip: let all the brews cool to warm, about 50 °C, so temperature differences don't stir the layers.

35 minBangladeshiDrinksGluten free
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Arayeche (almond star pastries)

Picture a star with three plump arms: arayeche are shaped from a ball of orange-blossom almond paste wrapped in very thin pastry and pinched into points, baked pale, dipped in honey and then rolled in icing sugar until snow-white. Along with dziriettes and makrout, they are fixtures of the sweet trays at weddings and Eid in Algiers, set out in paper cases with mint tea. The pastry is crisp and fine, the almond filling dense and fragrant, and the coating of sugar sticks to the honey in a sweet crust. Chef's tip: pull them out of the oven while still pale with barely golden tips; browned arayeche are a common mistake and taste dry once the sugar goes on.

120 minAlgerianDesserts
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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 minSingaporeanDrinksVegan
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Ginger scallion sauce

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

10 minHong KongChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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Jamaican peanut porridge

Before an early shift or a long day in the field, plenty of Jamaicans swear by peanut porridge, thick, nutty and filling enough to last until lunch; it is sold hot in cups from carts in downtown Kingston in the mornings. Roasted peanuts are blended with oats and water into a smooth paste, then cooked with milk until creamy and finished with nutmeg, vanilla and condensed milk. The mistake people make is cooking it over too high a heat, which scorches the bottom within minutes; peanuts burn easily, so stir and keep it at a simmer. This contains peanuts, milk and oats (gluten unless certified gluten-free). Chef's tip: toast the peanuts in a dry pan until they smell rich before blending, which deepens the flavour enormously.

30 minJamaicanBreakfast & Brunch
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Kandahari pomegranate juice

Kandahar's pomegranates, heavy fruits with dark ruby seeds and soft pips, are the pride of southern Afghanistan, and in October and November juice stalls in the city's bazaars press them to order in big iron hand presses. The juice is deep red, sweet with a clean sour finish and a faint tannic grip, drunk on its own in a tall glass, often with a pinch of salt. At home you can get almost the same thing with a citrus press or a blender. The bitterness that ruins many homemade glasses comes from crushing the white pith and hard pips, so blend the seeds only for a few seconds, or press the halves gently. Chef's tip: roll each whole pomegranate firmly on the worktop before cutting it, which bursts many of the seeds inside and makes juicing faster.

10 minAfghanDrinksVeganGluten free
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Pakistani chicken corn soup

Come the first cold evening of winter, carts with steaming steel pots appear on Karachi's Tariq Road and Lahore's Liberty Market, and queues form for chicken corn soup in disposable cups. It is Pakistani-Chinese food at its most loved: a thick, glossy soup of shredded chicken, creamed sweetcorn and silky egg ribbons, which each person seasons at the cart with chilli vinegar, soy sauce and chilli sauce from squeezy bottles. Children love it plain; adults douse it. Pouring the egg into a rapidly boiling soup turns it into scrambled lumps, so keep it at a gentle simmer and stir slowly in one direction. Chef's tip: for a vegetarian version, use a good vegetable stock, leave out the chicken and add a handful of finely chopped carrot and cabbage.

40 minPakistaniSoups
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Jeow mak keuaSmoky aubergine dip

Long purple aubergines laid straight on the embers turn into one of the softest dips on a Lao dinner tray, eaten up and down the country in the hot season when aubergines are cheap and plentiful. The skins blacken and the flesh collapses into a smoky, silky pulp, which is pounded loosely with charred garlic, shallot and green chilli until it is spoonable but still a little stringy. Pinch a ball of sticky rice, press a hollow in it and scoop up the jeow, or dip in cucumber, long beans and cabbage. Families often add fish sauce; here it is seasoned with salt and a little tamari so it suits vegetarians. Rinsing the charred aubergine under the tap is a mistake, as it washes away the very smoke you worked for. Chef's tip: peel with damp fingertips and leave a few flecks of black skin in the dip.

30 minLaoChutneys & DipsVeganGluten freeSpicy
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