Featured recipe

Fukagawa-meshi (Tokyo clam and miso rice)

Clam diggers on the shallow shores of Fukagawa, in what is now Koto ward in eastern Tokyo, used to make a fast meal by simmering fresh asari clams with leek in miso soup and tipping it over rice. The bay has long since been built over, but small restaurants near Monzen-Nakacho and Kiyosumi-Shirakawa still serve it in bowls or lacquered boxes, and it is a well-known station lunch box. Some cooks steam the clams into the rice instead; this is the older poured-over style. It is savoury, briny and very quick. Chef's tip: steam the clams open first and take them out of the pot, then return them only for the last 30 seconds, so they stay plump instead of shrinking into rubbery nubs.

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Empanadas de vientoFried cheese empanadas

In Quito cafés and markets, empanadas de viento ("wind empanadas") are fried to order: big, thin pastries stuffed with crumbled fresh cheese and onion that puff up like balloons in the hot oil, then get a generous shower of sugar. Ecuadorians eat them for breakfast or afternoon cafecito with coffee or a mug of colada morada. The salty-sweet contrast is the point. The common mistake is overfilling; too much cheese stops them puffing and makes them burst. Some queso fresco is made with animal rennet; choose a vegetarian one made with microbial rennet. Chef's tip: roll the dough very thin, under 2 mm, and press the edges firmly; that's what traps the steam and makes the "wind".

55 minAndean Breakfast & Brunch

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Goan tendli bhajiIvy gourd stir-fry

On an everyday Goan plate of rice, fish curry and a vegetable, the vegetable is very often this quick tendli bhaji. Thin rounds of ivy gourd are softened with onion and green chilli in coconut oil, then tossed with fresh grated coconut just before serving, so they stay crunchy-tender and sweet. Hindu homes make it without onion on fasting or puja days. The mistake to avoid is cutting the tendli thickly and covering the pan for too long, which gives grey, soggy rings; thin slices cooked mostly uncovered keep their green colour. Chef's tip: pick firm, bright green tendli and discard any that are red inside, as they are overripe and slimy.

25 min

Indian Sides

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Ensaladang talongGrilled aubergine salad

Ensaladang talong is the smoky side salad that sits beside grilled fish or pork at Filipino family lunches, from Pampanga to Davao, and on the table at weekend beach outings. Long Asian eggplants are charred whole until the flesh collapses, then peeled and topped with diced tomato, red onion and a sharp vinegar dressing. This version leaves out the usual fermented shrimp paste so it is vegan. Suitable as part of a balanced diet, it is low in starch: about 70 kcal and 10 g carbohydrate per portion. The usual mistake is pulling the eggplants off the heat too soon; they must be soft right through, or the flesh is spongy and raw. Chef's tip: peel the hot eggplants under a trickle of water with your fingertips to keep the smoky flesh whole.

25 min

Filipino Salads

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Golichina mamsamDry-fried mutton

Golichina mamsam is the dark, dry mutton fry of Telangana's village kitchens and Bonalu feasts, where mutton on the bone is first cooked soft with ginger-garlic and then fried with onions in plenty of oil until every piece is nearly black and crusted with masala. It is eaten with rice, sarva pindi or jonna rotte. The usual mistake is rushing the final fry on high heat; the masala burns before the meat darkens, so keep the heat medium and stir patiently. Food safety: cook the mutton until it reaches 71 °C inside and is tender before the final fry. Chef's tip: grind black pepper and cumin fresh just before they go in; that aroma defines the dish.

105 min

Indian Meat

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Ensalada de gallinaChristmas chicken salad

Ensalada de gallina is the creamy salad that sits on every Venezuelan plato navideño, next to hallaca, pan de jamón and dulce de lechosa: poached chicken shredded with diced potato, carrot, peas and crisp apple, bound with mayonnaise and a squeeze of lime. It is made the day before and served cold. Because it combines chicken and mayonnaise, keep it in the fridge and don't leave it out for more than 2 hours. The common mistake is overcooking the potatoes until they turn to mash when dressed. Chef's tip: cook them only until a knife just goes in, and cool them fully before adding the mayonnaise.

70 min

Venezuelan Salads

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Gucchi pulaoMorel mushroom pulao

Gucchi, the honeycombed wild morels gathered in spring on the slopes of Kashmir and Himachal, are among the most prized foods in India, and a pulao of them is kept for weddings, Eid and the most honoured guests. The mushrooms are soaked and simmered in their own soaking water, which then flavours the basmati along with ghee, cardamom and fennel, so every grain tastes deeply earthy. Morels must always be cooked thoroughly; never eat them raw or barely warmed. The common mistake is pouring in the soaking water with its grit, so let it settle and leave the last spoonfuls behind. Chef's tip: slit each morel lengthwise and rinse inside; sand hides in the hollow stems.

75 min

Indian Rice & Grains

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Guyanese tennis rollsSweet lemony buns

Nobody quite agrees why these buns are named after tennis, but every Guyanese person knows the pairing: a split tennis roll with a thick slice of cheddar, eaten mid-morning or packed for a long bus ride up the East Coast Demerara. They are round, pale golden and very soft, with a gentle sweetness and a hint of lemon zest. Overbaking is the usual problem; they should come out light gold, not brown, so the crust stays tender. Chef's tip: bake the rolls close together on the tray so they rise into each other and keep soft sides, then pull them apart once cool.

48 min

Guyanese Baking

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Hummus el shamHot chickpeas with tahini

When the cold winds of January blow through Cairo and Alexandria, carts with steaming copper pots appear on street corners, outside universities and along the Corniche. The vendor ladles hummus el sham — Levantine chickpeas — into glasses: soft chickpeas in their own cooking broth, seasoned with lemon, cumin, salt and a fiery spoon of shatta, sometimes with tomato and chopped onion. It is drunk and eaten with a spoon, a warming, peppery, sour-salty cup that is very different from the dip. The common mistake is using undercooked chickpeas or draining away the cooking water: the broth is the drink, and it should be cloudy and slightly thick from chickpeas that are soft enough to crush between your fingers. A pinch of bicarbonate of soda in the pot helps them soften, as Cairo vendors do. It is ready when the broth tastes deeply of chickpeas and lemon, the cumin is fragrant and the chilli leaves a warm burn. Adjust the heat for children. Canned chickpeas with their liquid work in a pinch: simmer them for 10 minutes with fresh water. Chef's tip: squeeze the lemon into each cup at the end; boiled lemon turns bitter.

85 min

Egyptian Drinks

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ErbokvertskhiEggs fried in butter

Erbokvertskhi means simply "butter-egg", and in Georgian homes from Tbilisi to the Imereti villages it is the breakfast cooked in a small clay ketsi or pan: eggs fried in plenty of erbo, the golden clarified butter, with slices of salty sulguni cheese melting around them. It is eaten with shoti bread and fresh herbs. Sulguni is often made with animal rennet; use a vegetarian mozzarella-style cheese if needed. The mistake is a timid amount of butter: the eggs should sizzle in it so the edges crisp. Serve the yolks fully set for anyone pregnant, young children, older people or anyone with a weakened immune system. Chef's tip: let the cheese melt and brown slightly before adding the eggs, so you get crisp cheese edges under soft whites.

11 min

Georgian Breakfast & Brunch

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Kerda nu athanuDesert berry pickle

Ker is a leafless desert shrub that grows wild across Kutch and the Thar, and in April and May, before the monsoon, it is covered in small green berries that families pick by hand. Fresh ker are fiercely bitter, so they are soaked and boiled until the bitterness fades, then pickled with split mustard, split fenugreek, chilli and lemon juice and covered in oil. The berries are firm, pea-sized and slightly chewy, with a sour, earthy, caper-like flavour under the mustard heat. In Kutch the pickle goes with bajra rotlo and buttermilk, or is mixed into khichdi; across Rajasthan the same berries go into ker sangri. The common mistake is rushing the soaking: if the water is not changed several times the pickle stays harsh. Taste a berry: it should be pleasantly sour-bitter, like an olive, not acrid. It is ready to eat after 3–4 days, once the berries have absorbed the lemon. Boiled ker are low in acid, so the lemon matters and the pickle lives in the fridge, where it keeps up to 2 months. Abroad, use dried ker from Indian grocers (they swell back well), or, at a pinch, capers soaked to remove the salt. Chef's tip: add a few cubes of raw mango in season for extra sourness.

45 min

Indian Chutneys & Dips

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Makhaniya lassiSaffron lassi with butter

Around the clock tower and old city of Jodhpur, lassi shops churn this rich drink all day in summer: chilled set curd whisked with sugar, saffron and cardamom, poured into tall glasses and crowned with a spoon of fresh white butter (makhan) and a layer of malai. You drink the cool lassi and eat the butter and cream with a spoon. It is a meal in itself. The common mistake is thinning it with too much water or ice, which loses the thick, almost spoonable texture that makes it Jodhpuri. Chef's tip: use curd set from full-fat milk the night before and whisk it by hand or with a few pulses only.

10 min

Indian Drinks

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Roti sardinSardine-filled bread rolls

Roti sardin is a Malaysian school-bag and teatime favourite: tinned sardines in tomato sauce mashed with onion, chilli and lime, rolled inside flattened white bread and pan-fried until golden. Mothers across Malaysia make them for bekal and they are sold at Ramadan bazaars. The common mistake is leaving the sardine filling wet, which soaks through the bread; cook it down until it is thick. Chef's tip: seal the rolls with a little beaten egg, then fry seam side down first so they hold together.

20 min

Malaysian Fish

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Fa'alifu fa'iGreen bananas in coconut cream

Fa'alifu fa'i is one of the everyday staples of Samoa, cooked in family kitchens in Apia and the villages of Savai'i to go with fish, chicken or a Sunday umu. Green cooking bananas are boiled until soft, then finished in a rich, salty-sweet coconut cream sauce with onion, so they turn silky and soak up the flavour. A common mistake is using ripe bananas, which fall apart; they must be hard and green. Chef's tip: oil your hands before peeling green bananas so the sticky sap doesn't stain your fingers.

30 minPacific Islander Sides

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Bol renverséUpside-down rice bowl

Order a bol renversé in a Port Louis canteen or a Grand Baie food court and it arrives as a neat dome of rice with a fried egg perched on top; break into it and a glossy stir-fry of chicken, prawns, mushrooms and Chinese leaves spills out. The trick is building it backwards in a bowl, egg first, then the stir-fry, then rice packed down, before flipping it onto a plate. The sauce should be thick enough to coat the vegetables but loose enough to soak into the rice. People often make the sauce too thin and the dome slides apart in a flood, so simmer it until it glazes the back of a spoon. Chef's tip: fry the eggs only until the whites are set and the edges are crisp, and lay them yolk-side down in the bowl so the yolk faces up and stays runny when you turn it out.

45 min

Mauritian Rice & Grains

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Mushroom julienne

Restaurants in Moscow took the French word for thin strips and gave it to a hot starter: mushrooms and onion in sour cream, baked bubbling under melted cheese in little metal cocottes with a handle. It became a fixture of New Year and birthday tables, served after the cold zakuski and before the main course, with a teaspoon and a slice of bread. The sauce is creamy and savoury, the top blistered and golden. Use mushrooms you can cut into neat strips; button or chestnut mushrooms work, and a handful of wild ones adds depth. The usual slip is crowding the pan so the mushrooms stew; fry them in a hot pan until their liquid has gone. Many hard cheeses are made with animal rennet, so choose a vegetarian hard cheese. Chef's tip: no cocottes? Bake it in ramekins or hollowed-out bread rolls.

35 min

Russian Snacks & Starters

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Eggplant rolls

Every birthday buffet in Russian flats seems to have a plate of these little rolls, brought out with the herring and the salads: thin strips of fried aubergine wrapped around a sharp garlic and cheese filling with a slice of tomato peeking out. The aubergine is silky, the filling creamy and punchy, and the tomato keeps it fresh. They are a cold starter, so make them an hour before guests arrive and keep them chilled. Where most people go wrong is frying thick slices in lots of oil, which leaves them greasy and stiff; slice thin, salt them, pat dry and fry in a shallow film of oil. Many hard cheeses use animal rennet, so pick a vegetarian one. Chef's tip: press the fried slices between paper towels while still warm; they shed surprising amounts of oil.

40 min

Russian Snacks & Starters

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Chicken tabaka

Tsitsila tabaka is named after the tapa, a heavy cast-iron pan with a screw-down lid that Tbilisi cooks use to press a split spring chicken flat as it fries, so every bit of skin touches the hot metal and turns golden and crackling. In old Tbilisi restaurants it comes with a little jug of garlic water (niortskali) and satsebeli tomato sauce. A common mistake is using a big chicken, which takes so long that the skin burns before the inside cooks; a small poussin is right. Chef's tip: a heavy saucepan filled with water works as the weight at home. Chicken is done when the thickest part of the thigh reaches 74 °C.

50 min

Georgian Chicken

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Lac-Saint-Jean blueberry pie

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

100 min

Canadian Desserts

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Salted saffron milk caps

Northern Russians rank ryzhiki, the orange saffron milk caps of the pine woods, above almost every other mushroom, and salted ones from around Arkhangelsk once travelled to the tsar's table. Salted, they keep their bright colour, turn firm and juicy with a clean, resinous taste, and are served with thin onion rings, sunflower oil and hot boiled potatoes; for non-vegans a spoon of sour cream is classic. Old cellars dry-salted them raw for months; this safer fridge version blanches the caps briefly and keeps them in a measured brine in the fridge, ready in about a week. Only use mushrooms identified by an experienced forager or bought from a trusted seller. Where most people go wrong is guessing the salt; too little lets spoilage start, so weigh it. Chef's tip: the caps bruise green where handled, which is normal, so don't worry when the edges darken.

30 min

Russian Basics

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Beet salad with garlic

Grated beetroot with garlic is about as everyday as Russian cooking gets: something from the school canteen, the work buffet and the Sunday table alike, served in a small bowl beside cutlets, boiled potatoes or black bread. This dressed-up version adds chopped prunes for sticky sweetness and toasted walnuts for crunch, all bound with a spoon of mayonnaise. It tastes earthy, sweet and bright with garlic. Buy ready-cooked beetroot (not pickled) to keep it a fifteen-minute job, or boil your own the day before. The usual slip is grating the beetroot fine and leaving it in its juice, which makes the salad watery and purple-grey; grate coarsely and squeeze lightly first. For a lighter dish use thick yoghurt or sour cream in place of mayonnaise. Chef's tip: toast the walnuts; raw ones taste bitter against the beet.

15 min

Russian Salads

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Asun peppered goatPeppered grilled goat

Asun started in Ekiti, where goat was roasted whole over an open fire, and it has become the star of Lagos owambe parties and Friday evenings at the bar. Skin-on goat is boiled with seasoning until just tender, grilled until smoky and charred at the edges, chopped into bite-size pieces, then tossed in a hot sauce of scotch bonnet, onion and a little oil. It is chewy in a good way, smoky and very spicy, eaten on its own, with jollof rice or with cold drinks. Cook the goat until tender and no pink remains. Chef's tip: dry the boiled goat well before grilling; wet meat steams and never takes on the charred, smoky flavour that makes asun.

95 min

Nigerian Meat

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Blini

Maslenitsa, the week of butter before Lent, is when Russia makes blini by the stack: thin, lacy, slightly sour pancakes raised with yeast and fried one after another in a hot pan, each brushed with melted butter. Old Moscow recipes used buckwheat, and a share of it here gives a nutty, earthy flavour and a speckled grey-gold colour. Eat them folded into quarters with sour cream, jam, honey or condensed milk; red caviar is the festive classic, but this version stays vegetarian. The usual slip is a pan that is not hot enough, which makes thick, pale blini that stick; the first one is always a test. A splash of boiling water whisked in at the end gives the lacy holes. Chef's tip: stack the blini on a plate and cover with a bowl as you go; the steam keeps them soft and supple.

120 min

Russian Breakfast & Brunch

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SalufPuffy flatbread

Saluf is the everyday bread of Yemenite Israelis, slapped onto a hot pan or taboon in Rosh HaAyin and Sha'arayim in Rehovot and eaten with marak temani, hilbe and zhug. It is soft and blistered, thicker than pita and with no pocket, made to tear and dunk. Home cooks often roll it too thin, which gives a cracker; it should be about 1 cm thick so it stays pillowy. Chef's tip: cook it under a lid on a very hot dry pan for the first minute, which traps steam and puffs it the way a taboon does.

45 min

Israeli Breads & Parathas

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Kissel

Kissel is the drink of Russian childhoods: a glass of silky, ruby-red berry juice, just thick enough to coat the tongue, poured warm at kindergarten lunch or cold in summer from a jug on the dacha veranda. It is also the old Maslenitsa and wake-table drink, and frozen berries make it possible all year. The flavour is sweet-sharp and fresh, the texture smooth and slightly jelly-like. A common mistake is adding the starch mixture to boiling liquid and letting it bubble for minutes; bring it just back to a simmer, then take it off, or it thins out again and can turn gluey. More starch makes a spoonable dessert kissel. Chef's tip: lay cling film or sprinkle a little sugar on the surface as it cools to stop a skin forming.

20 min

Russian Drinks

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Maple syrup pie

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

70 min

Canadian Desserts

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Mors

Northern Russia picks cranberries and lingonberries from the bogs in autumn, and many of them end up as mors, a tart, crimson drink served from a jug at family dinners and offered in cafes and canteens from Arkhangelsk to Siberia. Unlike kissel it is thin and refreshing, made by pressing out the raw berry juice, cooking the skins in water and then combining the two so the fresh vitamin-rich juice is never boiled. Honey goes in last, once the liquid has cooled a little, to keep its flavour. Where most people go wrong is boiling the pressed juice along with the pulp; keep it aside until the end. Honey is not for babies under one year old. Chef's tip: serve it cold with ice in summer or warmed gently in winter; it is good both ways.

20 min

Russian Drinks

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Vitamin salad

"Vitamin" salad was the bright spot on every Soviet stolovaya tray, scooped from a steel tray beside the cutlets and buckwheat, and it is still how many Russians start a light lunch. Fresh white cabbage, carrot and green apple are rubbed with salt and sugar, then dressed simply with sunflower oil and vinegar, so it tastes crisp, juicy and sweet-sour. It goes with almost anything hot and is a good way to use half a cabbage. A common mistake is skipping the squeeze: crushing the cabbage with salt for a minute or two softens it and draws out juice that becomes part of the dressing. Grate the apple last so it does not brown. Chef's tip: unrefined, toasted-seed sunflower oil gives the true canteen flavour; a splash goes a long way.

15 min

Russian Salads

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Jamaican pumpkin soup

Ital kitchens in the Blue Mountains cook pumpkin soup on cool evenings, when the mist comes down over the coffee farms and something golden and peppery is needed. This one is meat-free and dairy-free: calabaza, carrot and chocho simmer with thyme, scallion and pimento until the pumpkin breaks down into a thick, naturally sweet broth, with a few spinners for chew. People often add the scotch bonnet already cut, which can make the whole pot ferociously hot; drop it in whole and take it out when the soup tastes right. Chocho (chayote) is optional, and courgette is a fair swap. Chef's tip: leave the soup chunky rather than blending; Jamaicans like to see the pieces of pumpkin collapsing into it.

60 min

Jamaican Soups

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Asopao de polloSoupy chicken and rice

Somewhere between a soup and a risotto, asopao is the pot Puerto Rican mothers put on for a rainy Sunday, a cold, or a hangover after a long party night, and it is spooned straight from deep bowls with tostones on the side. Bone-in chicken is seasoned with garlic, oregano and lime, simmered in a sofrito broth, then rice goes in until the whole pot turns thick and brothy, finished with olives, capers, peas and strips of roasted pepper. The common mistake is making it ahead: the rice keeps drinking the broth and turns stodgy, so cook it just before eating, or keep extra stock to loosen leftovers. Chef's tip: take the pot off the heat while the rice is still a touch firm; it carries on cooking in the bowl.

75 min

Puerto Rican Soups

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Gari fotoGari with tomato and egg

Gari foto is Ghanaian fast home cooking at its best, most associated with the Volta Region but made in student hostels everywhere: a quick tomato and onion sauce, eggs scrambled into it, then gari folded through until it soaks up the juices and becomes moist and fluffy. It is savoury, slightly tangy and comforting, and it is eaten with fried ripe plantain or avocado on the side. Many cooks add tinned sardines or corned beef; this egg version is vegetarian. The common mistake is adding gari dry, which makes it sandy and heavy, so sprinkle it with water first. Chef's tip: take the pan off the heat before folding in the gari, so it absorbs the sauce gently without sticking.

25 min

Ghanaian Vegetarian

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Bajan coconut turnovers

Glass cases in Bridgetown bakeries hold rows of turnovers, soft golden half-moons of sweet yeasted dough with a sticky filling of grated coconut, brown sugar, almond essence and spice peeking out at the edges, often tinted red. Bajans eat them mid-morning with a mug of cocoa or a cold sweet drink. The mistake is overfilling, which bursts the seams in the oven; leave a clear border to seal. Chef's tip: cook the coconut filling until almost dry and cool it fully before using, as warm wet filling makes the dough soggy.

60 min

Bajan Baking

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Jamaican green banana porridge

Green banana porridge is the breakfast many Jamaicans remember from their grandmothers' kitchens in St Mary and St Ann, where bananas are cheap and plentiful and the porridge was said to "build you up" for the day. Unripe bananas grated or blended with water cook into a smooth, silky porridge with a gentle, earthy flavour, sweetened with condensed milk and scented with nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla. The common mistake is not whisking as it heats; the starch thickens suddenly and goes lumpy within a minute. Peel the green bananas with oiled hands or gloves, because the sap stains. Chef's tip: blend the bananas with the water until completely smooth before they go into the pot, which makes it far easier to keep lump-free.

30 min

Jamaican Breakfast & Brunch

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Jamaican soursop juice

Soursop punch is a Sunday-dinner drink in Jamaica, made when a ripe, soft soursop comes from the market or a yard tree, and it is also sold in bottles at roadside juice stands. The white, custardy pulp tastes of pineapple, banana and strawberry all at once, and blended with milk, nutmeg and vanilla it becomes thick and creamy. The common mistake is blending the black seeds, which taste bitter and should not be eaten; always pick them out by hand. Chef's tip: use a fruit that gives softly all over when pressed, like a ripe avocado.

20 min

Jamaican Drinks

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Pumpkin millet porridge

Autumn in central Ukraine means piles of grey-skinned pumpkins in every yard, and the first thing many grandmothers make with them is this golden breakfast porridge. Diced pumpkin is simmered until it collapses, then millet and milk are added and the pot is left to cook down into something thick, creamy and faintly sweet, finished with butter and a spoon of honey. In villages around Cherkasy and Vinnytsia it was once baked for hours in the clay stove; a heavy pan on a low heat gives a very similar result. Serve it hot in deep bowls, with extra honey and a few raisins for children. The usual slip is skipping the rinse: millet carries a bitter dust, and only washing it in several changes of hot water takes it away. Chef's tip: choose a dense, deep-orange pumpkin such as butternut or a Ukrainian 'muscat' type; watery Halloween pumpkins make a thin, pale kasha.

50 min

Ukrainian Breakfast & Brunch

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Napoleon cake

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

240 min

Russian Desserts

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Apricot preserve

The apricot is Armenia's national fruit, and in July families in the Ararat Valley villages around Artashat and Masis cook whole ones slowly in syrup so they keep their shape and turn translucent, sometimes slipping a peeled kernel back inside each fruit. The jars come out on winter evenings, served in tiny glass bowls with black tea or coffee. A common mistake is boiling the fruit hard, which breaks it into jam. Chef's tip: cook in short spells, resting the pan overnight between them; the syrup seeps in slowly and the apricots stay whole and glossy. Bitter kernels contain a natural toxin, so use sweet almonds instead.

90 min

Armenian Basics

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Soor (Somali maize porridge with butter and milk)

Herding families in Somaliland and the countryside around Hargeisa have long relied on soor, a thick porridge of maize meal stirred until it holds its shape on a plate. It is shaped into a mound, a well is pressed into the centre and filled with melted butter or ghee, then warm milk and a little sugar are poured round the edge; on other days the well is filled with a meat sauce instead. You eat it with your right hand or a spoon, scooping porridge through the butter. The result is mild, sweet and very filling. Lumps are the usual complaint, and they come from tipping the meal in all at once; mix part of it with cold water first, then rain the rest in while stirring. The usual mistake is adding the maize meal too fast, so it goes lumpy; whisk constantly as you pour. Chef's tip: cover the pan and let the porridge steam for 5 minutes at the end to cook out any raw taste.

30 min

Somali Sides

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CervelatGrilled sausage

The cervelat, a short, fat, smoked sausage of beef and pork, is called Switzerland's national sausage, and it is what every Swiss child grills on a stick over a campfire on 1 August, National Day, on school trips and on mountain hikes: the ends are cut into a cross so they curl open like a flower as they cook, and it is eaten with bread and mustard. This sausage contains pork. Cervelat is bought ready-cooked and smoked; grilling heats it through and crisps it. A common mistake is grilling over flames, which burns the skin black before the inside is hot. Chef's tip: grill over glowing embers and turn often until the scored ends open out; heat until piping hot, 71 °C.

15 min

Swiss Meat

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Sri Lankan vegetable roti

The glass cabinet of every Colombo bakery and railway canteen holds a pile of short eats at teatime, and the neat, golden triangles of vegetable roti are usually the first to go. They are made from godamba dough, oiled and rested until it can be stretched almost transparent, then wrapped around a peppery potato filling with leek, carrot, curry leaves and chilli, and cooked on a hot griddle until crisp and blistered. People eat them hot from the paper bag with a bottle of chilli sauce or a cup of milk tea. Fish and egg roti are just as common; this one is fully vegan. Most first attempts fail because the dough is not rested long enough and springs back when stretched; give it at least two hours under oil, or overnight in the fridge. Chef's tip: make the filling fairly dry and cool it completely before folding, otherwise the steam tears the delicate dough.

70 min

Sri Lankan Snacks & Starters

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Smoked omul

On the shingle beaches of Listvyanka, at the edge of Lake Baikal, women sell omul still warm from the smoke, the fish split open, threaded onto alder sticks and set around a fire until the skin turns bronze and the flesh pulls away in moist, salty flakes. Omul lives only in Baikal, so at home use small whitefish, trout or mackerel, gutted and split. A short brine in the fridge seasons the fish, then it is hot-smoked in a kettle barbecue or a lidded smoker until cooked right through. Serve it warm or cold with boiled potatoes, black bread and spring onions. The usual slip is smoking over flames rather than smouldering chips, which chars the skin before the inside is done. Chef's tip: let the brined fish dry in the fridge, uncovered, for an hour: the tacky surface takes the smoke far better.

120 min

Russian Fish

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Easter pâté

A thick slice of homemade pasztet belongs on the Easter breakfast table after the blessing of the food basket, next to ham, eggs, ćwikła and white sausage. This baked loaf combines pork shoulder, chicken thighs and pork liver, simmered with root vegetables and allspice, minced twice and baked until firm, so it slices cleanly yet stays moist and spreadable. Marjoram and nutmeg give it the classic Polish flavour; serve it cold with horseradish, beetroot relish and pickles. Overbaking dries it out, but underbaking is the bigger risk with poultry and liver, so always check the centre with a thermometer. Bake it two days ahead: it needs to chill overnight to set, and it keeps for five days in the fridge. Chef's tip: save the cooking stock and add it a ladle at a time as you mix; the mixture should be as soft as thick porridge, which keeps the finished loaf juicy.

180 min

Polish Meat

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Trout with tarragon

In the river valleys of Racha, around Ambrolauri and Oni, cafés keep live trout in stone tanks fed by mountain streams, and the classic way to cook them is simply: stuffed with tarragon, garlic and a little salt, roasted or grilled over vine cuttings, and finished with a shower of pomegranate seeds and a squeeze of their juice. A common mistake is cooking the fish too long, which dries the delicate flesh. Chef's tip: slash the skin twice on each side so the heat reaches the thickest part evenly, then check by pressing the backbone: the flesh is done when it is opaque and lifts away in clean flakes.

30 min

Georgian Fish

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Armenian string cheese

Chechil, called tel panir in Armenian, is the plaited string cheese of Armenian families from Yerevan to Beirut and Boston: fresh curd is melted in hot water, stretched again and again into long, fine strands with nigella seeds worked through, then twisted into a braid. To eat, you pull the braid apart into thread-fine strings, good with herbs, lavash and a glass of tan. Traditionally made with animal rennet; vegetarian rennet works too. A common mistake is stretching a curd that is not acidic enough; it melts into a blob instead of pulling. Chef's tip: test a small piece in hot water first, as for sulguni; if it stretches 30 cm without breaking, it is ready.

90 min

Armenian Basics

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GarnaalkrokettenGrey shrimp croquettes

Along the Flemish coast, from De Panne to Knokke, the North Sea grey shrimp is king, and garnaalkroketten are the dish every seaside restaurant is judged by: a molten, creamy shrimp-flavoured béchamel packed with little brown shrimps, set firm, crumbed and fried until golden, served with fried parsley and lemon. In Oostduinkerke, shrimp fishers on horseback still drag their nets through the shallows. A common mistake is a béchamel that isn't thick enough, so the croquettes burst in the oil. Chef's tip: make a strong shrimp stock from the shells, if you have them, for the béchamel, and chill the mix overnight so it is firm to shape. The shrimp are already cooked; fry until golden and hot through.

90 min

Belgian Snacks & Starters

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Kogel-mogel

Ask anyone who grew up in a Warsaw block of flats about kogel-mogel and they will remember standing in the kitchen beating yolks and sugar in a mug with a teaspoon, waiting for it to turn pale. It is the simplest Polish treat: thick, mousse-like and very sweet, sometimes with cocoa, eaten from a glass with a spoon or dolloped on fruit. Because the yolks are raw, use pasteurised eggs, which most supermarkets sell as cartons of yolks or as pasteurised whole eggs. Even so, raw eggs are not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system. The common mistake is stopping too soon; it needs a good 5 minutes of whisking until it doubles and almost all the sugar has dissolved. Chef's tip: use caster sugar, which disappears faster and gives a silkier result.

10 min

Polish Desserts

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Curd and treacle

Driving the southern coast road past Tangalle towards Hambantota, you pass stall after stall stacked with round clay chatties of meekiri, the firm, slightly sour curd made from buffalo milk, with bottles of dark kithul treacle hanging beside them. Turned out into a bowl and flooded with treacle, it is the South's great dessert: cool, rich and tangy against the smoky, toffee-like sweetness of the palm syrup, eaten after lunch or as a snack in the heat of the day. Setting it at home is easy with pasteurised buffalo milk or creamy whole cow's milk, a spoon of live curd and a warm spot overnight. The mistake that ruins most first batches is adding the starter while the milk is still too hot, which kills the culture and leaves you with warm milk in the morning. Chef's tip: unglazed clay pots draw out a little whey, which is why traditional curd is so thick; soak them in water and dry them well before using.

25 min

Sri Lankan Desserts

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Polish-style cauliflower

‘Po polsku’ on a Polish menu means one thing: a vegetable topped with crumbs fried in plenty of butter. In Warsaw canteens and on Sunday tables, a whole cauliflower arrives this way next to potatoes and a salad, and children who claim to hate cauliflower eat it happily. The florets are tender and sweet, the crumbs nutty and crisp. A common mistake is boiling the cauliflower until it falls apart; it should keep a slight bite in the stalk. Chef's tip: a pinch of sugar and a splash of milk in the boiling water keep the cauliflower white and sweet.

20 min

Polish Sides

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Gandofli (Alexandrian garlic clams)

Along the Alexandria Corniche and in the old Anfushi fish quarter, gandofli are a summer seaside snack, often sold by the plateful with lemon and sometimes eaten raw. Raw shellfish carries a real risk of food poisoning, so this home version cooks them: the little clams go into a hot pan with olive oil, garlic, a pinch of cumin and chilli, and steam open in a minute or two, releasing sweet, salty juices that mix with lemon into a sauce for mopping up with bread. Buy them live from a reputable fishmonger and cook them the same day. Chef's tip: soak the clams in salted water in the fridge for 30 minutes before cooking so they spit out their sand; nothing spoils them faster than grit.

25 min

Egyptian Fish

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Hamam mahshi (stuffed pigeon)

Pigeon towers still rise above villages in the Nile Delta, and stuffed pigeon is a celebration dish there and in Cairo's famous pigeon restaurants; it is traditionally served to newlyweds and at feasts. Each small bird is filled with freekeh (smoky green wheat) cooked with onion, giblets and warm spices, then simmered in a cardamom broth until tender and finished in a hot oven or fried so the skin turns deep brown and crackling. The meat is dark and rich, closer to duck than chicken, and the freekeh soaks up all the juices. Serve one bird each with a salad, pickles and the broth as soup. Use farmed squab from a poultry supplier. Chef's tip: stuff the birds loosely and sew or skewer them shut; freekeh swells as it cooks and an overfilled pigeon bursts.

125 min

Egyptian Chicken

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Amba maluwaSweet spicy mango curry

Maluwa usually means a fish curry, yet in Matara and the southern villages the name also goes to this mango dish, perhaps because it is cooked with the same bold spices and was once a stand-in for fish on fasting days. Half-ripe mangoes are cut into chunks with their skin on, then simmered with dark roasted curry powder, chilli, cinnamon and a sharp paste of ground mustard seed and vinegar, sweetened with sugar and finished with coconut milk. The result is hot, sweet and tangy at once, and it is a favourite on wedding and almsgiving spreads, eaten in small amounts with yellow or white rice. Fully ripe mangoes are the wrong choice, because they collapse into jam; pick fruit that is just turning yellow and still firm to the touch. Chef's tip: keep the skin on the mango pieces, as it holds them together during cooking and adds a pleasant, slightly chewy texture.

40 min

Sri Lankan Curries

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Jamaican curried soy chunks

Ital cookshops in Half Way Tree and Papine sell curried "chunks" by the box with brown rice, steamed cabbage and a slice of ripe plantain, the Rastafarian answer to curry goat. The dried soya pieces soak up a deep, turmeric-gold sauce of Jamaican curry powder, thyme, pimento and coconut milk, and the potato thickens it as it breaks down. Most people skip squeezing the soaked chunks, which leaves them watery and bland; wring them out hard so they drink in the curry instead. Leave the scotch bonnet whole for warmth, or slit it for real heat. Chef's tip: fry the curry powder in the oil until it darkens a shade before anything wet goes in, the Jamaican "burn the curry" step that stops it tasting raw.

45 min

Jamaican Curries

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Bangladeshi dal puriLentil-filled puri

Wherever there is a tea stall in Dhaka, from the Nilkhet book market to the gates of the university, there is a wok of oil and a man rolling dal puri at speed, three or four at a time. These are thin and flat, not puffed, with a seam of dry, cumin-scented red lentil filling that you can see through the blistered skin; they are eaten straight from the wok with a cup of sweet tea, a spoon of tamarind chutney or just a pinch of raw onion and green chilli. Students treat them as lunch and office workers as an afternoon snack. Where people usually go wrong is a filling that is too wet, which bursts through the dough and spits in the oil. Chef's tip: cook the lentils just until they crush, then dry the mash in the pan with the onions until it holds together like crumbly dough.

60 min

Bangladeshi Breads & Parathas

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Muri ghonto

For a Bengali family, the head of a big rohu is the part saved for the guest of honour or the new son-in-law at Jamai Shashthi, and the finest thing to do with it is muri ghonto. The head is fried in mustard oil, broken into pieces and cooked with a handful of fragrant short-grain rice, diced potato and warm spices until it becomes a thick, almost dry mash, finished with ghee and garam masala. In Dhaka homes it is eaten in the middle of a meal, after the shak and dal and before the main fish curry, with plain rice. Many cooks leave the head in big lumps, but it should be broken up after frying so the rich flavour from the head spreads through the rice. Chef's tip: buy the head from a large fish of at least 2 kg and ask the fishmonger to remove the gills and split it for you.

65 min

Bangladeshi Fish

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Sri Lankan love cake

Love cake is the Burgher Christmas and birthday cake, a legacy of Portuguese rule shaped by Sri Lankan spice gardens, and Colombo families argue happily over whose grandmother's recipe is best. Roasted semolina, butter and a huge quantity of whisked egg yolks and sugar are folded with chopped cashews, pumpkin preserve, rosewater, cardamom, cinnamon and nutmeg, then baked slowly so the top forms a crisp, sugary crust while the inside stays moist, dense and almost chewy. It is cut into small squares because it is very rich, and served with tea or packed into little boxes for guests. A common mistake is baking until a skewer comes out completely clean, which leaves it dry; the centre should still be slightly sticky. Pumpkin preserve (puhul dosi) is sold in Sri Lankan shops; candied winter melon, sold as petha, is the closest substitute. Chef's tip: make it two days ahead, as the spices and rosewater deepen as the cake rests.

110 min

Sri Lankan Baking

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Chakma bamboo shoot curry

When the monsoon reaches the Chittagong Hill Tracts, young bamboo shoots push up through the forest floor around Rangamati and Bandarban, and Chakma and Marma families cut them for a quick, clean-tasting curry. Hill cooking uses very little oil and few dry spices; the flavour comes from fistfuls of green chilli, garlic and herbs such as culantro (sawtooth coriander), and a spoon of ground rice thickens the broth. At home it is very often cooked with shidol, a fermented dried fish paste, or nappi; this version is fully vegetarian. The shoots are crunchy and faintly sweet, and the curry is eaten with plenty of plain rice. Raw fresh bamboo shoots contain natural toxins, so they must always be boiled first and the water thrown away; skipping that step is the one mistake you cannot make here. Chef's tip: if you use canned or vacuum-packed shoots, rinse and boil them for 5 minutes anyway to freshen their taste.

50 min

Bangladeshi Vegetarian

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Norwegian heart waffles

In Norway, waffles are not a breakfast but an everyday treat: thin, soft heart-shaped vafler made with sour cream and cardamom, sold at school fairs and football matches and made at home on Sunday afternoons, eaten folded with strawberry jam and sour cream or brown cheese. Their texture is soft rather than crisp. A common mistake is opening the iron too early, which tears them. Chef's tip: let the batter rest for 30 minutes and brush the iron with butter before each waffle; they lift out whole and golden.

30 minScandinavian Baking

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Pomor-style cod

Along the White Sea coast near Arkhangelsk, the Pomors lived on cod, and this is how a fisherman's household turned a fillet into a whole supper: fish laid over sliced potatoes and buttery onions, then covered with beaten egg and milk and baked until set and golden, like a savoury fish custard. It is soft, mild and filling, and is eaten with pickled mushrooms, sauerkraut or a green salad. Where most people go wrong is using raw potato slices, which take far longer than the fish; par-boil them first. Chef's tip: salt the cod lightly 15 minutes ahead in the fridge, it firms up and does not leak water into the egg.

50 min

Russian Fish

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Megrelian kharcho

In Samegrelo 'kharcho' means something quite different from the Tbilisi soup: chicken pieces simmered in a thick, golden sauce of ground walnuts, garlic, hot pepper and Imeretian saffron (dried marigold), so rich and spicy that it is eaten with plain ghomi to calm it down. Zugdidi families cook it for guests and for Sunday lunch. A common mistake is boiling the sauce hard once the walnuts go in; it turns oily and grainy. Chef's tip: grind the walnuts until they weep oil and spoon a little of that oil over the finished dish; Mingrelians judge kharcho by its glossy, orange sheen. Chicken must reach 74 °C in the thickest part.

90 min

Georgian Chicken

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Kimis (Somali thick pan bread)

Thicker and plainer than sabaayad, kimis is the everyday bread of Hargeisa and the north, cooked in a heavy pan and cut into wedges to soak up maraq, the thin spiced meat or vegetable broths eaten at lunch. The dough is simple flour and water raised with a little baking powder, so it puffs into a soft, bready round about 2 cm thick with a lightly freckled crust. It is also good for breakfast with tea and a spoonful of sugar or honey. This version uses oil, so it is vegan. Cooking over too high a heat is the classic mistake: the outside scorches before the middle is done, so keep the flame medium-low and cover the pan. Chef's tip: knock the bread on its base when you think it is ready; it should sound hollow.

40 min

Somali Breads & Parathas

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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 min

Sudanese Chutneys & Dips

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Afghan green chutney

No Afghan table of kebab or palaw feels complete without a little bowl of green chutni, the sharp, fiery relish spooned beside the rice, onto bolani and over grilled meat from Kabul to Kandahar. Unlike many South Asian green chutneys, the Afghan one leans on vinegar rather than lime and is thickened with walnuts, so it is slightly creamy, bright green and properly hot, with a pungent hit of raw garlic. Households make a jar at a time and keep it in the fridge through the week. People often blitz it into a thin juice; pulse it instead so you can still see flecks of leaf and nut. Chef's tip: keep the coriander stalks in, as they have more flavour than the leaves and help the chutney stay green for days.

10 min

Afghan Chutneys & Dips

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Bahamian chicken souseChicken in lime broth

In the Bahamas, souse is the Saturday-morning cure after a late Friday: chicken (or sheep tongue or pig's feet, for the old-timers) simmered in a clear, sharp broth of lime juice, allspice, onion, potatoes and hot pepper, eaten with johnnycake. It is light, sour, peppery and very reviving. The common mistake is adding the lime too early and boiling it, which makes the broth bitter; most goes in at the end. Use bone-in pieces for flavour. Chef's tip: let the bowl sit for a few minutes after serving so the lime mellows into the broth.

65 minCaribbean Soups

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Egyptian mixed pickles

Every koshari shop, ful cart and shawarma stall in Cairo puts a little dish of mekhalel on the counter, and Egyptians at home keep a jar going all year. Turnip batons are the star, dyed bright pink by a single slice of beetroot, with carrot, cucumber, chilli and lemon packed in alongside for crunch, heat and a bitter citrus edge. This quick fridge version is ready to eat in about 5 days and keeps for a month, cold. A common mistake is using iodised table salt, which clouds the brine and can soften the vegetables, so buy plain non-iodised salt. Chef's tip: cut the lemon into quarters but leave them joined at the base, so they flavour the brine without turning the whole jar bitter.

30 min

Egyptian Chutneys & Dips

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Jamaican red pea soup

Saturday in many Jamaican homes means a big pot of red peas soup, thick enough to stand a spoon in and finished with chewy spinner dumplings. Outside Rasta households it usually carries pig's tail or salted beef; this is the ital version, where coconut milk, pimento, thyme and a smoky handful of browned onion do the savoury work. Dried kidney beans must be soaked and then boiled hard for at least 10 minutes before simmering, as undercooked red kidney beans are toxic, and many cooks spoil the soup by adding salt too early, which keeps the skins tough. Serve it on its own as a full meal. Chef's tip: mash a ladleful of cooked beans against the side of the pot near the end to give the soup its creamy body without any flour.

140 min

Jamaican Soups

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Dziriettes (almond flower pastries)

Named after the women of Algiers, dziriettes are the jewels on any wedding or Eid tray: thin, crisp pastry pinched into a flower or crown, filled with a dome of almond paste scented with orange blossom, then baked and soaked in warm honey. They take patience, but the result is delicate and fragrant, with a shatter of pastry giving way to a soft, moist almond centre. Families often make a few hundred over several evenings, together, before a celebration, and serve them with mint tea or coffee. Chef's tip: roll the dough so thin you can almost see the worktop through it; thick pastry is the commonest mistake and turns dziriettes stodgy instead of crisp.

120 min

Algerian Baking

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GazozFruit syrup soda

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

10 min

Israeli Drinks

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Mchewek (almond cookies)

Mchewek means something like 'prickly', which is exactly how these cookies look: balls of almond paste rolled in flaked almonds so the flakes stick out like spines, each topped with half a candied cherry and baked only until the tips turn gold. Inside they stay soft and chewy, like a rustic macaroon. Being made with no flour, they suit anyone avoiding gluten, and they appear on Eid and wedding trays all over Algeria, often brushed with a little honey syrup for shine. Chef's tip: take them out when the edges are just golden and the centres still feel soft; overbaking is the classic mistake and leaves them dry and crumbly once cool.

38 min

Algerian Baking

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Gammeldags æblekageLayered apple compote dessert

'Old-fashioned apple cake' is not a cake at all but a Danish trifle, made on autumn weekends when the apple trees are heavy: tart apple compote layered in a glass bowl with breadcrumbs or crushed macaroons toasted in butter and sugar, topped with whipped cream and a few dots of redcurrant jelly. The crumbs stay crunchy against the soft fruit. A common mistake is assembling it hours ahead, which turns the crumbs soggy. Chef's tip: toast the crumbs until deep golden and crisp, and assemble within an hour of serving.

45 minScandinavian Desserts

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Cocktail bunCoconut-filled sweet buns

Bakeries across Hong Kong pull trays of cocktail buns from the oven before the morning rush, and schoolchildren and commuters buy them warm in paper bags to eat on the bus or with milk tea at a cha chaan teng. The story goes that 1950s bakers invented them to use up day-old bread mixed with sugar and coconut, so the name is a playful nod to a cocktail of leftovers. Today the soft, milky roll holds a sweet, buttery coconut filling that's slightly sandy and chewy, under two piped stripes and a scatter of sesame seeds. A soft, warm filling tends to ooze out during proving and baking, so chill it until firm before you roll the buns. Chef's tip: roll each bun up tightly from the long side and pinch the seam well, then place it seam-down; loose rolls split open in the oven.

150 min

Hong Kong Baking

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Jamaican roast corn

Drive the road over Mount Diablo or past Faith's Pen and you will see vendors fanning half-drums of glowing coal, with corn cobs turning slowly until the kernels are charred, chewy and smoky. Jamaican roast corn is drier and nuttier than boiled corn, closer to a snack to gnaw on the move, sometimes rubbed with salted butter and sometimes eaten plain with a cup of hot "fish tea" soup. The most common mistake is roasting over flames rather than embers, which blackens the outside before the inside cooks. Starchy, slightly mature cobs are traditional; very sweet corn burns faster, so keep it moving. Chef's tip: pull off the husks before roasting, as the vendors do, so the kernels char directly and pick up all the smoke.

30 min

Jamaican Snacks & Starters

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Svanetian salt

In the stone-towered villages of upper Svaneti, salt was precious and families stretched it by grinding it with garlic and the spices that grow on their slopes: blue fenugreek, coriander seed, dried dill seed, marigold and hot pepper. The result is a fragrant, damp, greenish salt that every Svan kitchen keeps in a jar, rubbed on potatoes, stirred into soups or sprinkled on tomatoes and cucumbers. A common mistake is using fine table salt, which turns to paste; coarse salt grinds the garlic and dries it at the same time. Chef's tip: spread the finished salt on a tray and let it dry for a day before jarring, so it keeps for months.

20 min

Georgian Basics

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GajakSesame jaggery brittle

Winter in Punjab has a sound, and it is the snap of gajak: thin, glossy sheets of toasted sesame bound in jaggery, sold from piled trays outside the sweet shops of Multan, Gujranwala and Lahore from the first cold week of December. It is nutty, crunchy and toffee-sweet, with the earthy depth of gur, and families keep a tin of it beside the heater to nibble after dinner with green tea or to share with visitors. The commercial kind is hammered and pulled into flaky layers, but the home version poured thin and rolled flat is what most households make. The pitfall is pulling the jaggery off the heat too early, which gives a brittle that turns chewy and sticky after a day. Chef's tip: test the syrup by dropping a little into cold water; it must snap cleanly at once, and that hard-crack stage is reached quickly, so have the sesame warm and ready. Take care: the syrup is far hotter than boiling water.

40 min

Pakistani Indian Sweets

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GanfanRice with stir-fried beef and peppers

Ganfan is a dish of the Dungan people, Chinese Muslim communities who settled in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan in the 1870s, and it is ordered in every Dungan café in Bishkek and Karakol: a plate of plain rice with a ladle of stew on top, made by stir-frying thin strips of beef or lamb with peppers, aubergine, celery, tomato and garlic, seasoned with soy sauce and vinegar. A common mistake is crowding the wok, which makes the meat grey and watery. Chef's tip: cut the beef into thin strips against the grain and stir-fry it first in small batches over a fierce heat, then return it at the end. No pork is used in Dungan cooking. Beef strips are done when no pink remains.

60 min

Kyrgyz Rice & Grains

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FyddzhynBeef and onion pie

In North Ossetia, pies come in threes, for the sun, earth and sky, and the meat pie in that stack is fyddzhyn: a thin, soft yeast crust wrapped around juicy minced beef, onion, garlic and a little chilli, with a small hole in the middle to let out steam. The Ossetian people serve it at every family gathering and feast, hot and dripping with butter brushed on as it leaves the oven, cut into wedges and eaten with the hands. A common mistake is rolling the crust thick; good fyddzhyn is all filling and the dough should be barely 4 mm. Chef's tip: add a few spoons of cold stock to the mince; it turns to steam in the oven and keeps the filling juicy.

105 min

Russian Meat

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GaboutStuffed dumplings in tomato stew

Gabout is old Kuwaiti home cooking, the kind grandmothers in Kuwait City still make for family lunches in winter, and a close relative of the Iraqi dumplings brought along the trading routes of the Gulf. Soft flour dough is wrapped around spiced lamb or beef mince with chickpeas, and the dumplings are simmered in a sour tomato and dried-lime stew until they are tender and plump. It is filling and comforting, eaten with bread or on its own. The mistake people make is rolling the dough too thick, which makes the dumplings heavy and doughy. Chef's tip: wet your fingers when sealing, the dough must close tightly or the filling leaks into the stew.

120 minGulf Arabian Meat

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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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Fuži s tartufimaHand-rolled pasta with truffle

Autumn in the Mirna valley of inland Istria, around Motovun and Buzet, means truffle hunters and dogs in the oak woods and plates of fuži in every village konoba. Fuži are small squares of egg pasta wrapped round a stick into quills, and here they are tossed with butter, a splash of their cooking water and grated truffle, so each one carries a glossy, earthy coat. Fresh black or white truffle is best; a little truffle paste works too, but read the label and avoid products that rely on artificial truffle aroma. The aged hard cheese is often made with animal rennet, so choose a vegetarian hard cheese if you need to. Where most people go wrong is cooking the truffle: heat kills its scent, so add it off the heat. Chef's tip: store the fresh truffle overnight in a closed jar in the fridge with the eggs for the dough; they soak up its perfume through the shell.

60 minBalkan Pasta & Noodles

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June plum juice

When June plums (ambarella) fall from backyard trees across Jamaica, families blend the sour green-gold fruit into a sharp, refreshing juice with fresh ginger and lime. It is tangy like green apple, with a faintly mango-like perfume, and is drunk ice-cold with Sunday lunch. The big mistake is blending the spiny stone in with the flesh; cut the flesh away first or the juice turns bitter and fibrous. Chef's tip: use slightly underripe, firm plums for the brightest, sharpest flavour.

15 min

Jamaican Drinks

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FrüchtewäheFruit custard tart

The Wähe is the open tart of German-speaking Switzerland, known as Kuchen or Fladen depending on the canton: a thin pastry base covered with sliced apples, plums, apricots or cherries, then a simple custard of cream, egg and sugar poured around the fruit and baked until set. Swiss families eat it as a light supper on Fridays, sometimes after a bowl of soup, and fruit Wähe is often dusted with cinnamon sugar. A common mistake is skipping the ground nuts on the base, which lets the fruit juice soak the pastry. Chef's tip: scatter ground hazelnuts on the pastry first; they soak up the juice and keep the base crisp.

60 min

Swiss Baking

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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 min

Algerian Desserts

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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 min

Jamaican Breakfast & Brunch

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GánicaPotato and flour crumble

Up in the hills of northern Hungary, in Nógrád and Borsod, potatoes and flour were often all a farmhouse kitchen had in late winter, and gánica made a meal of them. The potatoes are mashed with flour into a heavy dough, then torn apart with two forks into small, uneven crumbs, which are tossed in a pan of onion-scented oil until golden in places. The result is soft and fluffy with crunchy edges, more like a savoury crumble than a dumpling. Eat it as a side with a mushroom stew, or sweet, spooned over with plum jam. The usual slip is under-cooking the flour, which leaves the crumbs pasty; give it the full time over the heat while you beat it. Chef's tip: tear the dough while it is still hot; once it cools it sets into a lump and will not crumble.

40 min

Hungarian Sides

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FrikkadelsFried spiced meatballs

Frikkadels came to Sri Lanka with the Dutch in the 1600s and were reinvented by the Burgher community into small, crumbed, deep-fried meatballs scented with onion, garlic, cinnamon, cloves and dill. They are party food first, piled on platters at Burgher Christmas gatherings, christenings and Colombo club teas, and they are also tucked into lamprais parcels or eaten with a sharp seeni sambol and bread. Good ones are crunchy outside and very juicy within, never dense or dry. The trap to avoid is overworking the mince and skipping the soaked bread, which together make the balls tough. Chef's tip: shape them the size of a walnut and chill them for 30 minutes before crumbing, so the coating sticks and they hold their round shape in the hot oil.

60 min

Sri Lankan Meat

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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 min

Sudanese Meat

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Frikandel speciaalSausage with mayo and onion

The frikandel is the snack-bar sausage of the Netherlands, fried from frozen in every cafetaria and eaten at football matches and after a night out: a long, skinless sausage of finely minced meat, and 'speciaal' means split open and topped with mayonnaise, curry ketchup and raw chopped onion. Factory frikandellen use a mix of meats; this homemade version uses beef and pork mince, so it contains pork. A common mistake is skipping the poaching step, so the sausages break up in the fryer. Chef's tip: roll them in cling film and poach first, then chill; they hold their shape and fry crisp in minutes. Minced meat must reach 71 °C.

60 min

Dutch Fast Food

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Fritaja sa šparogamaWild asparagus scrambled eggs

Come April, families across Istria and the Kvarner coast of Croatia walk the hedgerows picking thin, dark wild asparagus, and the first bunch nearly always becomes fritaja. Despite the name it is softer than an omelette: the spears are fried in olive oil, then beaten eggs are stirred through until they set in loose, creamy curds. Wild asparagus tastes greener and slightly bitter, which is lovely against the rich egg; thin garden asparagus works if you can't forage. Eat it for breakfast or a light supper with crusty bread and a glass of cold water or fresh juice. The usual slip is cooking the eggs hard and dry; stir gently over a low heat and stop while they still look moist. Chef's tip: snap each spear and keep only the part that breaks cleanly; the woody ends never soften.

20 minBalkan Breakfast & Brunch

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Fries suikerbroodCinnamon sugar bread

Fries suikerbrood, sûkerbôle in Frisian, is the bread Frisian families bring when a baby is born: a soft white loaf filled with large sugar nibs and cinnamon, so that as it bakes the sugar melts into sticky, crunchy pockets. Leeuwarden bakeries sell it every day, sliced and buttered with coffee. A common mistake is using fine sugar, which dissolves completely; it must be the big pearl sugar nibs. Chef's tip: knead in the sugar only at the end and gently, and bake the loaf in a tin so the melting sugar caramelises against the sides.

80 min

Dutch Baking

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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 min

Afghan Drinks

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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 min

Sudanese Basics

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Fricasé de polloChicken stew with olives and raisins

Fricasé de pollo is a family dinner all over Cuba: chicken pieces marinated in sour orange and garlic, browned, then simmered with potatoes, green olives, capers and a few raisins in a light tomato sauce. The sweet-salty balance is what makes it so Cuban. A frequent mistake is skipping the marinade time; even an hour in the fridge seasons the meat right through. Serve with white rice. Chef's tip: add the raisins with the potatoes rather than at the start, so they plump up but don't melt into the sauce.

80 min

Cuban Chicken

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