Featured recipe

Cobb salad

The Cobb salad was born at the Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood in the 1930s, and it is still a lunch classic in Los Angeles delis and hotel coffee shops. Rows of chopped chicken, crisp bacon (pork), hard-boiled egg, avocado, tomato and blue cheese sit on crisp lettuce, and everyone mixes them with a sharp red wine vinegar dressing at the table. Chef's tip: chop everything to roughly the same small size so each forkful gets a bit of everything.

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KadaFlaky pastry with butter crumbs

Kada is a tea-time pastry found in bakeries from Tbilisi to the Mtskheta monastery stalls, where it is sold warm beside churchkhela: a round of rich yeasted dough, folded around a sweet filling of flour, butter and sugar rubbed into crumbs, then rolled flat so the filling bakes into soft, melting layers. A common mistake is rolling the filled dough too hard, which pushes the crumbs through the surface. Chef's tip: chill the filling so the butter stays cold; it melts in the oven and makes flaky, buttery pockets.

80 min

Georgian Baking

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Tlitli (Algerian rice-shaped pasta with chicken)

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

75 min

Algerian Pasta & Noodles

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Doolsho (Somali cardamom sponge cake)

Ask a Somali host what goes with afternoon shaah and doolsho will be near the top of the list: a plain, airy sponge flavoured with cardamom and sometimes a little vanilla, baked in a tray and cut into generous squares. It turns up at Eid visits, weddings and family get-togethers, and is just as welcome at breakfast. The crumb should be fine and springy, never dense, which comes from whisking the eggs and sugar for a long time. Knocking the air out when the flour goes in is the mistake that ruins it; fold gently with a large spoon, in three goes, and stop as soon as no dry flour shows. Chef's tip: use eggs at room temperature; cold eggs never whip to the thick, pale ribbon that holds the cake up.

55 min

Somali Baking

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Shushumow (Somali syrup-soaked rolled pastries)

Trays of shushumow appear for Eid across Somalia and in Somali homes abroad, made by the dozen a day or two ahead so there is plenty for visitors. A soft, buttery dough is rolled very thin, rolled up like a cigar, sliced and pressed so the layers show, then fried until crisp and soaked briefly in cardamom syrup. The result is flaky and crunchy at the edges with a sticky, sweet centre that is perfect with black tea. Soaking for too long is the usual error; a quick dip of a few seconds keeps the crunch, while minutes in the syrup leaves them soggy. Chef's tip: have the syrup warm and the pastries hot from the oil when they meet, so the syrup soaks in evenly without making them heavy.

75 min

Somali Desserts

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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 min

Somali Breads & Parathas

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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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Sfiria (cheese croquettes in chicken sauce)

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

80 min

Algerian Chicken

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Curaçao kabritu stobaGoat stew with peppers

Stoba di kabritu is the home cooking of Curaçao and Aruba, a goat stew made in nearly every kunuku (country) kitchen and at birthday parties: bone-in goat browned and slowly braised with sweet peppers, tomato, onion, cumin, a hint of nutmeg and hot madame jeanette pepper, often with cucumber or papaya stirred in at the end. It is served with funchi (cornmeal), rice or fried plantain. The usual mistake is browning the goat too briefly; deep colour at the start gives the stew its rich brown sauce. Ask your butcher for goat cut into small pieces. Chef's tip: a teaspoon of brown sugar caramelised in the oil before the meat goes in gives the authentic dark, slightly sweet base.

150 minCaribbean Meat

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Chorba beida (Algerian white chicken soup)

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

60 min

Algerian Soups

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Tabaldi (Sudanese baobab drink)

The great baobab trees of Kordofan and Darfur drop hard pods full of chalky, cream-coloured pulp, and Sudanese cooks soak it in water to make tabaldi, a thick, milky-looking drink with a sherbet-like tang. It is sold from big cool-boxes in Khartoum markets in summer, served at weddings, and appears on the iftar table during Ramadan. Fresh pulp pieces with seeds are sold in African and Middle Eastern shops; baobab powder is a good substitute and needs no straining. Leave the drink to soak for an hour in the fridge before straining (soaking time is not counted in the total). The usual mistake is blending the seeds, which makes the drink bitter; rub the pulp off by hand instead. Chef's tip: a few drops of rose water or a pinch of ground cardamom makes it feel festive.

20 min

Sudanese Drinks

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Djelbana (Algerian lamb and pea stew)

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

90 min

Algerian Curries

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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 min

Sudanese Drinks

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KabuniFestive rice with raisins and cinnamon

Kabuni is one of the oldest dishes of Albania, served in Tirana and the central lowlands at Bajram, weddings and wakes: rice fried in butter, cooked in a savoury lamb broth, then sweetened with sugar and studded with raisins and cinnamon. The result is buttery, gently sweet and fragrant, a sweet course with a savoury soul, eaten warm in small bowls. Because it is cooked in lamb stock it is not vegetarian. Where most people go wrong is skipping the frying of the rice; it is the toasting in butter that gives kabuni its nutty taste. Chef's tip: soak the raisins in hot water while the rice cooks so they swell and stay juicy.

60 minBalkan Desserts

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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 min

Sudanese Drinks

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Ayamase (ofada green pepper stew)

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

120 min

Nigerian Meat

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Molasses with tahini

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

5 min

Egyptian Breakfast & Brunch

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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 min

Sudanese Soups

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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 min

Sudanese Meat

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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 min

Sudanese Curries

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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 min

Sudanese Curries

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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 min

Sudanese Soups

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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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Rouz jerbi (Djerban steamed rice)

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

100 min

Tunisian Rice & Grains

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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 min

Bangladeshi Drinks

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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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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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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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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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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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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 min

Pakistani Soups

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Chorbet hout (Sfax fish soup)

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

50 min

Tunisian Soups

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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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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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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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ThamekfoultCouscous with broad beans and peas

Spring in the Kabyle villages means thamekfoult: when the first broad beans and peas come in, they are steamed in the same basket as the couscous, so grain and vegetables cook together in one fragrant cloud of steam. There is no sauce at all; instead, the hot couscous is dressed generously with the region's peppery olive oil, so it tastes green, sweet and grassy. It is a family lunch dish, often eaten with a glass of buttermilk or a few olives; this version keeps it vegan. Chef's tip: oil the couscous before the first steaming, rubbing every grain; that stops it clumping and helps it swell evenly.

75 min

Algerian Rice & Grains

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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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Osban (Tunisian stuffed lamb sausages)

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

180 min

Tunisian Meat

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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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Kammounia (Tunisian cumin beef stew)

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

90 min

Tunisian Meat

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Kabab-e-daygiPot-cooked lamb kebab

Daygi means from the pot, and this is the kebab Kabul families make when there is no grill or the weather is too cold for one: chunks of lamb browned hard, then left to cook slowly with onions, tomato, garlic and green chilli in a covered deg, with barely any water, until the meat is soft and coated in a thick, concentrated sauce. It is a Friday lunch and party dish, set out with stacks of naan, raw onion and radishes and a bowl of yogurt. The flavour is deep and meaty with black pepper and coriander seed. Adding water early to stop it sticking just boils the lamb; trust the onions and tomatoes to give up their juice and keep the heat low. Chef's tip: uncover for the final 10 minutes and let the sauce fry in the rendered fat, which gives the glossy finish that makes it a kebab rather than a stew.

120 min

Afghan Meat

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Bkaila (Tunisian spinach and beef stew)

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

240 min

Tunisian Meat

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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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Djouzia (walnut and honey nougat)

Shops in old Constantine wrap djouzia in twists of paper and sell it by weight, a soft, pale caramel-coloured nougat of honey, whipped egg white and plenty of walnuts. It is chewier and darker than white Provençal nougat, with a deep honey flavour and the slight bitterness of walnut skins. Djouzia is a gift sweet, carried to weddings and offered with coffee to visitors, and keeps for weeks. A sugar thermometer makes it reliable. Chef's tip: cook the honey syrup to 125 °C; syrup that is pulled off too early is the most common mistake, and the nougat stays sticky and will not set enough to cut.

55 min

Algerian Desserts

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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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Batticaloa fish curry

Batticaloa sits between a long lagoon and the sea, and its Tamil and Muslim cooks make a fish curry that tastes of both: sour with tamarind, round and mellow with coconut milk, and fragrant with fennel, fenugreek and curry leaves. Seer fish, called thora or vanjiram, is the favourite because its firm steaks hold together in the gravy, though any meaty sea fish works. The curry is a weekday staple, cooked in the morning and eaten at lunch with rice, a lentil dhal and a fried vegetable, and it is even better a few hours later once the fish has absorbed the sauce. Most disappointing versions come from stirring the pot after the fish goes in, which breaks the steaks into flakes. Chef's tip: swirl the pan instead of stirring, and spoon the sauce over the fish so it cooks evenly without being moved.

45 min

Sri Lankan Fish

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Beet kvass

Before lemons and vinegar were easy to buy, Ukrainian cooks soured their borscht with beet kvass, a ruby-red brine made by leaving sliced raw beetroot in salted water for a few days. It is lightly fermented, so it contains no more than a negligible trace of alcohol, and it tastes earthy, salty and pleasantly sharp. In Poltava and Chernihiv villages a jar always stood by the stove; a splash went into the soup pot and a small glass was drunk in the morning as a tonic. Some families add a crust of rye bread to speed things up, which makes it no longer gluten-free. The mistake most people make is leaving the beetroot floating: anything above the brine can grow mould, so keep it weighed down. Discard any batch with fuzzy or coloured mould, a slimy texture or a rotten smell. Chef's tip: a few slices left in the jar from the previous batch start the next one in half the time.

30 min

Ukrainian Drinks

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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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Kabachkovaya ikraCourgette spread

Late summer at the dacha means a glut of courgettes, and the answer across Russia is this soft orange spread, once sold in glass jars in every Soviet grocery and still made by the potful at home. Courgette, carrot and onion are fried in sunflower oil, stewed with tomato until they collapse, blended and then cooked down again until thick enough to stand on bread. It tastes sweet, mellow and lightly tangy, and is eaten cold on black rye bread, with boiled potatoes or as part of a zakuski spread. A common mistake is stopping too early: if the purée still looks watery it will taste flat, so keep stirring until a spoon leaves a trail across the pan. This is a fridge recipe, not a canning one. Chef's tip: make it a day ahead; the flavour rounds out overnight.

75 min

Russian Chutneys & Dips

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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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ThikourbabineSemolina dumplings in pepper sauce

High in the Kabylie mountains east of Algiers, thikourbabine is a winter dish made from what is in the store cupboard: small balls of semolina dough poached in a fragrant red sauce of tomato, paprika, garlic and dried red peppers, with chickpeas, potatoes and courgettes. The dumplings turn tender and slightly chewy and soak up the sauce, which is peppery and warming rather than very hot. Families eat it from a shared bowl on cold evenings. Some cooks add meat; this is the meatless way it is often made at home. Chef's tip: let the dumplings rest after shaping; the surface dries a little and they hold together in the simmering sauce.

65 min

Algerian Vegetarian

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Devilled chicken

Few plates are more Colombo than devilled chicken, the sticky, fiery stir-fry born in the city's Sri Lankan-Chinese restaurants and now cooked in home kitchens for birthday parties, Saturday fried-rice nights and office lunch boxes. Bite-sized pieces of chicken are fried crisp, then tossed in a wok with wedges of onion, green capsicum and tomato in a glossy sauce of chilli flakes, ketchup and soy, so every piece is sweet, salty and hot at once. It is served with yellow fried rice or simply as a side to a rice-and-curry spread, and for a meat-free version you can devil button mushrooms or parboiled potato cubes in exactly the same sauce. Where most people go wrong is overloading the wok with vegetables, which then steam and go limp instead of staying crunchy. Chef's tip: separate the onion wedges into single petals before they hit the pan, so they char at the edges in under a minute.

45 min

Sri Lankan Chicken

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Hot butter cuttlefish

Along Colombo's Galle Road and in the seafood restaurants of Negombo, hot butter cuttlefish is the dish nearly every table orders first, a heap of golden, crunchy strips that disappear while the rice and curries are still on their way. The cuttlefish is scored, dipped in a light, chilli-spiked batter and fried hard, then thrown into a pan of foaming butter with garlic, dried chilli flakes, green chilli and a big handful of spring onion. The result is crisp outside, tender within, rich, salty and properly hot, and it is eaten as a starter or alongside fried rice and a fresh lime. It goes wrong when the cuttlefish fries too long, because it turns rubbery after about two minutes in the oil. Chef's tip: score the inside of each piece in a fine criss-cross so it curls and grabs the batter, and fry in small batches so the oil stays hot.

35 min

Sri Lankan Fish

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Jaffna crab curry

The shallow lagoons around Jaffna and the islands of Kayts and Delft produce big, sweet mud crabs, and the town's answer to them is a curry so dark and hot that visitors are warned before they order. Jaffna curry powder, heavy with roasted red chilli, coriander and fennel, is fried in sesame oil with onion and garlic, then loosened with tamarind and a little coconut milk so the sauce clings to every crack in the shell. A handful of moringa leaves wilted in at the end adds a grassy note, and the crab is eaten with the hands, sucked from the shell, alongside plain rice or puttu. A frequent misstep is boiling the crab hard for too long, which makes the meat dry and stringy. Chef's tip: crack the claws before cooking so the sauce soaks in and the meat is easy to reach at the table.

60 min

Sri Lankan Fish

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Jaffna goat curry

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

120 min

Sri Lankan Meat

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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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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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Sri Lankan patties

Patties are the short eat that marks a Sri Lankan celebration, made by the hundred for weddings, Avurudu New Year visits and Christmas open houses, and sold warm from bakeries in paper bags. The pastry is the clue to their identity: rich with butter, egg and coconut milk, rolled thin, folded into half-moons and crimped with a fork, then fried until blistered and flaky. Inside is a gently spiced mix of chicken, potato and leeks with a hint of cinnamon, and a vegetable filling of potato, carrot and leek is equally common when guests are vegetarian. It goes wrong when the filling is still warm when it meets the pastry, which then softens, tears and leaks in the oil. Chef's tip: rest the pastry in the fridge for half an hour before rolling, and press the edges with a fork dipped in flour so they seal firmly.

75 min

Sri Lankan Snacks & Starters

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Fried gobies

Odesa's beloved bychky, the little big-headed gobies of the Black Sea, are sold by the bucket at Pryvoz market and fried in sunflower oil in kitchens and beach cafés all summer. Dusted with seasoned flour and fried hard, they come out crunchy and golden, with sweet white flesh and bones so small they are eaten whole. Serve with lemon, a tomato and cucumber salad, bread and plenty of dill. Most people go wrong by using too little oil, so the fish stick and the coating flakes away; you want a good centimetre in the pan. Outside the Black Sea region, smelt, sprats or small whiting work the same way. Chef's tip: for the crunchiest result, ask for the heads to be removed and the fish gutted, salt them 10 minutes in the fridge, then dry them very well before flouring.

25 min

Ukrainian Fish

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Jamaican pepper shrimp

Drive through Middle Quarters in St Elizabeth and women by the roadside will lean into the car window holding bags of bright red pepper shrimp, calling "pepa swimps!" The river shrimp are boiled whole in a fiery brine of scotch bonnet, pimento, garlic and salt, then left to soak up the heat, and eaten with the fingers, shells and all sucked clean. Large shell-on prawns make a fine substitute. The usual mistake is overboiling, which leaves the shrimp rubbery; they need only a few minutes before steeping off the heat. Discard any shrimp that smell of ammonia or have soft, slimy shells before cooking. Chef's tip: a teaspoon of annatto or paprika gives the deep red colour of the roadside bags.

25 min

Jamaican Fish

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Highland grilled trout

Trout farms fed by cold Tatra streams supply the roadside grills and mountain inns of Podhale, and pstrąg po góralsku is what hikers order on the terrace with a view of Giewont: a whole fish, stuffed with garlic and fresh herbs, crisped in butter until the skin crackles. The flesh is sweet and delicate, scented by dill and parsley from the inside out. Serve it with boiled new potatoes, lemon and a cucumber salad with sour cream. The classic error is flipping too early, so the skin tears and sticks; leave it until it releases on its own. If you have a grill basket, the same fish is excellent over charcoal. Chef's tip: score the thickest part of each side twice, right down to the bone, so the head end cooks as fast as the tail.

28 min

Polish Fish

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Grilled oscypek with cranberry

Walk down Krupówki street in Zakopane in any season and the smell of smoke and warm cheese leads you to the grills, where highlanders turn thick slices of oscypek until they are striped and soft. The real thing is a spindle-shaped, carved sheep's milk cheese smoked in mountain huts; grilled, it turns chewy and squeaky outside, salty and smoky within, and the sharp-sweet cranberry cuts through it perfectly. Oscypek is made with animal rennet, so for a vegetarian plate use a smoked sheep's or cow's cheese made with vegetarian rennet, firm enough to hold its shape. The usual slip is slicing too thin; the cheese then melts through the grill. Chef's tip: oil the pan, not the cheese, and don't move the slices until they release on their own.

15 min

Polish Snacks & Starters

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Chanterelles in cream

From July, roadside sellers along the lake roads of Masuria hold up baskets of golden chanterelles, and holidaymakers in Mrągowo and Giżycko cook them the same evening. The mushrooms are fried with onion until their juices cook away, then bathed in sour cream and dill, giving a sauce that is peppery, faintly apricot-scented and very rich. Spoon it over new potatoes, buckwheat or a thick slice of toast. Where most people go wrong is washing chanterelles under the tap, so they boil in their own water and turn rubbery. Only eat wild mushrooms you have bought from a trusted seller or that an expert has identified. Chef's tip: brush the mushrooms clean, tear large ones and cook them in a hot, wide pan so they sear rather than stew.

25 min

Polish Vegetarian

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Labrador tea

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

10 min

Canadian Drinks

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