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Chicken kdra with almonds
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Chicken kdra with almonds

Kdra takes its name from the tall copper pot it was cooked in, and in Fez it is a festive dish for weddings and family gatherings rather than an everyday tagine. The sauce is the point: kilos of onion melted down with smen, saffron, white pepper and cinnamon until it turns pale gold and creamy, with no tomato or paprika at all. Soft chickpeas and almonds simmered until tender go into it, and the whole thing is scooped up with bread. Expect a mellow, perfumed, buttery richness rather than heat. Chef's tip: soak and simmer the blanched almonds with the chicken; they lose their crunch and become creamy like the chickpeas, which is how Fassi cooks like them.

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75 minBalkanDesserts
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GuarapoSugarcane juice

Guarapo stands, or guaraperas, pop up across Cuba wherever cane grows, crushing fresh stalks through a press and pouring the pale green juice straight over ice. It tastes grassy and gently sweet, never sugary, and it is drunk the moment it is pressed. You need a sugarcane press or juicer, or fresh peeled cane and a strong blender; bottled cane juice is a poor substitute. The common mistake is pressing the cane long before serving, because the juice darkens and starts to ferment within an hour. Chef's tip: chill the cane before pressing and add the lime as you press, which keeps the colour bright.

10 minCubanDrinksVeganGluten free
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Grechka po-kupecheskiMerchant-style buckwheat

Russian merchants of the nineteenth century liked their buckwheat with meat in it, and "merchant-style" grechka became a hearty one-pan supper that students, soldiers and busy parents still cook today. Cubes of pork shoulder are browned with onion and carrot, enriched with tomato, then roasted buckwheat simmers in the same pan until every grain is separate and steeped in the juices. It is earthy, savoury and filling, best with a salted cucumber or a spoon of tsakhdon-style garlic sour cream. The usual slip is stirring the buckwheat while it cooks, which breaks the grains into mush; cover the pan and leave it alone. Pork pieces should be fully cooked to 71 °C. Chef's tip: toast the buckwheat in the pan for a minute before adding water to deepen its nutty taste.

45 minRussianRice & GrainsGluten free
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GozinakiWalnut and honey diamonds

Gozinaki is the sweet every Georgian family makes for New Year's Eve, from Tbilisi flats to Kakhetian farmhouses: toasted walnuts stirred into honey boiled until thick, spread on a wet board and cut into diamonds that set glossy and crunchy. Children help shell the walnuts in December, and a plate of gozinaki sits on the table for the midnight toasts. A common mistake is taking the honey off too early; it stays sticky and the pieces never set. Chef's tip: cook the honey until a drop in cold water forms a firm, pliable ball, then work fast, because the mixture sets as it cools.

30 minGeorgianDessertsGluten free
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Grandfathers in maple syrupDumplings in maple syrup

Grands-pères are the dessert of the Quebec sugar shack in March and April, when sap is running and the cabane à sucre serves long breakfasts. Soft scone-like dumplings are dropped into simmering maple syrup and cooked under a lid until they puff up and soak in the syrup from below. In Beauce and the Eastern Townships families make them at home with the first syrup of the year. Serve warm in bowls with cold cream poured over. A common mistake is letting the syrup boil hard, which scorches it and makes it bitter. Chef's tip: keep the lid on for the full cooking time; lifting it lets the steam out and the dumplings sink and turn heavy.

30 minCanadianDesserts
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Bean curd skin rolls with oyster sauce

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

60 minHong KongSnacks & Starters
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Banga soup with fresh catfish

Across Warri, Sapele and the Urhobo and Itsekiri towns of Delta State, a pot of banga is what Sunday lunch smells like: fresh palm fruit boiled and pounded into a rich orange cream, then simmered with the region's own banga spice and the dried, slightly minty beletete leaf. Fresh catfish is the favourite fish, cooked gently so the steaks stay whole in a soup that is thick enough to coat a spoon but never pasty. It is eaten with Delta starch, eba or plain boiled rice, and leftovers often become 'banga rice' the next day. Tinned palm-fruit concentrate saves hours and gives a very good result. Chef's tip: once the fish goes in, shake the pot by its handles instead of stirring, so the soft catfish does not break into shreds.

85 minNigerianFishGluten free
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Balish mishtiGiant pillow-shaped chhana sweet

Balish means pillow, and in Netrokona, in the north of Mymensingh division, this sweet is sold in sizes up to the length of a hand: a huge, soft, oblong chhana sweet cooked in syrup until golden and spongy, then smothered with a layer of thick, creamy reduced milk. A sweet-maker in the town created it in the early twentieth century and it is now the gift people bring to weddings and family visits in the region, sliced at the table and shared. The inside is soft and syrupy, the topping rich like clotted cream. Large chhana shapes crack open in the boiling syrup if the dough isn't kneaded long enough, which is the main thing that goes wrong, so take the full 10 minutes. Chef's tip: a spoon of plain flour in the chhana helps the big pillows hold their shape as they swell.

120 minBangladeshiIndian Sweets
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Jamaican sweet potato pudding

Once baked in Dutch pots with coals heaped on the lid, Jamaica's sweet potato pudding gave rise to the saying "hell a top, hell a bottom, hallelujah in the middle", and it is still a Sunday and Christmas favourite in homes across the island. Grated sweet potato, coconut milk, a little flour-free cornmeal and spice bake into a dense, moist slab with a soft, custardy layer on top. People often cut it hot, but it needs to cool for at least an hour to set. Chef's tip: grate the sweet potato on the fine side of the grater; coarse shreds make a grainy pudding.

110 minJamaicanDessertsGluten free
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Champola de guanábanaSoursop milk shake

On a sticky afternoon in Havana, a tall glass of champola is the classic cooler: soursop pulp blended with ice-cold milk and a little sugar into something between a shake and a fruit drink. Soursop (guanábana) tastes of pineapple, banana and lemon at once, with a creamy body all its own. The common mistake is blending the black seeds in, which makes the drink bitter, so remove every one or use frozen pulp. Chef's tip: add a squeeze of lime just before serving; it sharpens the fruit and stops the drink tasting flat.

10 minCubanDrinksGluten free
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Pandan chiffon cake

No Singapore birthday table, office tea or visit to grandma's feels complete without a pandan chiffon cake, the pale green ring sold whole at heritage bakeries and neighbourhood confectioners and carried home in a box, and travellers fly home with one in their hand luggage. The crumb is cottony and springy, moist from coconut milk, and the flavour comes from juice squeezed from blended pandan leaves: grassy, vanilla-like and faintly nutty. It is served plain, in tall wedges, with kopi or tea. The usual mistake is greasing the tube pan; a chiffon needs to cling to bare metal to climb, and cooling it upside down is what keeps it tall. Chef's tip: beat the egg whites only to firm, glossy peaks that curl over at the tip; stiff, dry whites won't fold in smoothly and leave white streaks and holes.

80 minSingaporeanBaking
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GowurmaSlow-fried preserved lamb

Gowurma is how Turkmen herders kept meat through the winter: lamb or mutton cut into pieces, salted and cooked slowly in its own rendered fat until tender and golden, then packed into clay pots under a layer of fat. Spoonfuls are reheated through the winter to fry with eggs, stir into rice or eat with bread and tea. Today it is kept in the fridge. A common mistake is cooking over high heat, which fries the outside hard before the inside softens. Chef's tip: make sure every piece is fully covered by fat in the jar; that seal is what keeps it. Store in the fridge and use within 2 weeks; always reheat until piping hot.

140 minTurkmenMeatGluten free
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Aiyu jelly with lemonAiyu fig jelly with lemon

Squeezing a little cloth bag of seeds in a bowl of water until it turns into jelly sounds like a magic trick, yet that's how aiyu has been made for well over a century in Chiayi, at the foot of the Alishan hills where the climbing fig grows wild. The pectin in the dried seeds sets the water into a soft, glassy, pale-gold jelly with almost no taste of its own, so it's cut into cubes and served icy cold with tart lemon juice and honey syrup, the most refreshing thing on a sticky Taipei summer afternoon. The classic failure is a bowl that won't set, usually because the bowl was oily or the water was distilled or very soft; it needs ordinary tap or mineral water. Chef's tip: rub the bag steadily for 8–10 minutes and stop as soon as it feels slippery and nothing more comes out, or the jelly turns cloudy and bitter.

30 minTaiwaneseDrinksGluten free
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Groninger mosterdsoepMustard and leek soup

Groningen in the far north of the Netherlands has been making mustard since the Middle Ages, and its creamy mustard soup is served in every café in the city: a velvety roux soup with leek, stock and cream, sharpened with a generous amount of coarse Groninger mustard. Most cafés top it with crisp bacon bits; this vegetarian version uses toasted croutons and chives. A common mistake is boiling the soup after the mustard goes in, which makes it bitter and grainy. Chef's tip: whisk the mustard in off the heat at the end, so it keeps its tang.

30 minDutchSoups
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Gola gandaShaved ice with syrups

Nothing says summer evening at Clifton beach or Burns Road quite like the clatter of a gola ganda cart, where a block of ice is shaved on a hand plane, packed round a stick into a fist-sized ball and doused in rose-pink, mango-orange and purple kala khatta syrups. It melts fast in the Karachi heat, so children lick it from the bottom as it drips, and the fancier stalls serve it in a plate with condensed milk, desiccated coconut and a pinch of chaat-style salt on the sour syrup. At home a hand ice shaver or a powerful blender makes snow fine enough to press into balls. The most common disappointment is ice crushed too coarsely, which will not hold together and lets the syrup run straight through. Chef's tip: freeze the ice from boiled and cooled drinking water in a shallow tray, and put the glasses or plates in the freezer too, so the gola keeps its shape for longer.

10 minPakistaniDessertsGluten free
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Gola kebabCharcoal-smoked beef mince kebabs

Gola kebabs are so soft that Karachi grill men have to pat the mince onto the skewer with a practised, quick hand, and they still slump as they cook; at Boat Basin and Burns Road at midnight you will see tray after tray of the plump, dark tubes waiting for customers. The softness comes from raw papaya, beef with plenty of fat, roasted gram flour and a very fine grind, and the flavour from browned onion, green chilli and a final smoking with a hot coal. They are eaten with paratha or puri, a pile of raw onion and green chutney. The mix will not stay on skewers if it is too wet, which is the usual frustration; chill it for at least an hour and use wet hands. Chef's tip: at home, shape the kebabs as fat fingers on a lined tray and cook them under a very hot grill; you lose nothing in taste.

40 minPakistaniMeatGluten free
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Gokul pithaCoconut milk patties in syrup

Gokul pitha is named after the pastoral home of the young Krishna, and it is a favourite of Hindu households across Bangladesh at Poush Sankranti, though by now everyone makes it for winter tea. Grated coconut is cooked slowly with milk and sugar until it dries into a fudgy filling, shaped into small flat patties, coated in a thin flour batter and fried, then dropped into hot syrup. Biting in you get a soft, crisp-edged shell, a milky coconut centre and a rush of syrup, all at once. Patties that are warm and soft when they go into the batter fall apart in the oil, which is the error most people make, so chill them first. Chef's tip: use khejur gur instead of sugar in the syrup for a darker, smokier version, as many families do when the new jaggery comes in.

60 minBangladeshiIndian Sweets
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Shan pickled mustard greens

Jars of sour, olive-gold mustard greens sit on every noodle stall in Shan State, from Kengtung to the five-day markets around Inle Lake, and families keep a crock going through the cool season. The greens are wilted, rubbed with salt and packed under cloudy water saved from rinsing rice; its starch feeds the natural fermentation, and after a few days the leaves turn crunchy, tangy and pleasantly funky. A spoonful goes on top of Shan noodles, beside sticky rice, into soups, or stir-fried with garlic and chilli as a side dish. Leaves poking above the brine are the main thing that goes wrong, since that is where mould starts; keep everything pressed under the liquid. Chef's tip: use the cloudiest rice water from the first rinse, and add a spoon of cooked rice to get the souring going faster.

30 minBurmeseSidesVeganGluten free
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GogalFlaky fennel and turmeric pastry

Gogal is baked for Novruz, the spring new year on 20 March, in kitchens all over Baku and the Absheron villages, beside shekerbura and pakhlava on the festive tray. A soft dough is rolled thin, brushed with butter mixed with ground fennel, turmeric and salt, then rolled, coiled and flattened again so it bakes into crisp, savoury, golden layers. A common mistake is using cold, hard butter for the spread; it tears the dough. Chef's tip: let the coiled pastries rest before flattening so the layers relax and stay distinct in the oven.

90 minAzerbaijaniBaking
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Steamed scallops with garlic and glass noodles

At the seafood stalls of Sai Kung and Lei Yue Mun, diners pick shellfish from the tanks and the kitchen sends them back in minutes: scallops on the half shell, each sitting on a nest of glass noodles under a heap of garlic, half fried golden and half left raw, steamed just until the scallop turns opaque, then finished with a splash of soy and a hiss of hot oil over spring onions. The noodles soak up all the sweet juices, the scallop is soft and barely firm, and the garlic is both mellow and sharp. Serve one or two each as a starter. Use only very fresh scallops: discard any that smell off or have cracked or broken shells. Most people overcook them; a large scallop needs only 5 to 6 minutes. Chef's tip: frying half the garlic and keeping half raw is the restaurant trick for deep, rounded garlic flavour.

25 minHong KongFishGluten free
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Wu gok (crispy taro dumplings)

Few dim sum crack like wu gok: the shell of mashed taro puffs in the fryer into a golden, honeycomb lace so delicate it shatters at a touch, giving way to a soft, nutty taro layer and a juicy filling of diced pork, shiitake and oyster sauce. Hong Kong teahouses fry them to order through the morning and they are a must at Lunar New Year banquets. Eat them straight away, with a pot of jasmine tea to cut the richness. Lard is the traditional fat in the taro dough; vegetable shortening works too. The classic failure is oil that is too cool or too hot: below about 170 °C the dumplings fall apart, above 190 °C they brown before the lace forms. Chef's tip: chill the shaped dumplings for half an hour so the dough is firm and the lace blooms evenly.

90 minHong KongSnacks & Starters
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GogoșiFried yeast doughnuts

Fairground stalls, seaside promenades in Constanța and every grandmother with a big frying pan produce gogoși, fat, golden rounds of yeast dough fried and rolled in sugar while still too hot to hold. They are an everyday treat rather than a feast-day one, eaten with a mug of milk or filled with plum jam, sour cherry jam or sweet cheese. The dough is soft and enriched with eggs, milk and butter, so the inside should be fluffy and the outside thin and crisp, never greasy. Where most people go wrong is the oil temperature: too cool and the doughnuts soak up fat, too hot and they brown before the centre cooks. Keep a thermometer in the pan and never leave hot oil unattended. Chef's tip: fry one test doughnut first and break it open, so you can adjust the heat before the whole batch.

120 minRomanianDesserts
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GiyalingBuckwheat pancakes

Buckwheat, known locally as bro, grows in the cold upper villages of Hunza and Nagar where wheat struggles, and giyaling are the thin, lacy pancakes made from its flour for breakfast. The batter is no more than buckwheat flour, water and a little milk, poured thin onto a hot griddle so the pancakes cook in a minute or two, with crisp edges and an earthy, nutty flavour. They are stacked and eaten warm, smeared with butter and a few drops of apricot-kernel oil, sometimes with a drizzle of honey and always with tea, especially on cold mornings. A thick, gloopy batter is the frequent mistake, because it makes heavy, raw-tasting pancakes. Chef's tip: rest the batter for 15 minutes, then thin it to the consistency of single cream, and buy flour labelled gluten-free if that matters to you, as buckwheat is often milled alongside wheat.

35 minPakistaniBreakfast & BrunchGluten free
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Usi (Urhobo starch swallow)

Bright yellow-orange and wobbly, usi, often just called starch, is the pride of Urhobo cooking in Delta State, and in Warri and Ughelli it is the only proper partner for banga (palm-nut) soup or owo soup. It is made from cassava starch cooked with water and a little palm oil, stirred hard over a low heat until it turns from a chalky white paste into a translucent, glossy, elastic mass. It tastes very mild; it is a vehicle for rich soups, and its smooth stretch is the point. Look for cassava starch (wet or dried) in African shops. Banga and owo soup are usually made with fish, so serve usi with a meat-free banga for a vegan meal. Chef's tip: keep the heat low and never stop stirring; a high flame is the mistake that scorches the bottom and leaves raw, white lumps.

20 minNigerianBasicsVeganGluten free
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Steamed spare ribs with black bean sauce

Small saucers of pork spare ribs, chopped into bite-sized chunks and glistening with fermented black bean and garlic, come out of every Hong Kong teahouse steamer from dawn until lunch. Done right, the meat is plump and tender, slips off the little bone with your chopsticks, and sits in a salty, garlicky, faintly sweet juice that is wonderful spooned over rice. At home it makes an easy weeknight dish with rice and some blanched choi sum. The mistake to avoid is skipping the rinse: soak the ribs in cold water first to draw out the blood, otherwise the sauce turns grey and murky. Chef's tip: ask the butcher to chop the ribs into 3 cm pieces across the bone, and add a little potato starch to the marinade, which gives the teahouse silky coating.

40 minHong KongMeatGluten free
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Bergen fish soup

Bergensk fiskesuppe is the soup of Bergen's rainy harbour: a creamy, slightly sweet-sour broth with julienned carrot, leek and celeriac, chunks of white fish and salmon, small fish dumplings and a spoon of sour cream, finished with chives. Bergen families make it on Saturdays, and every restaurant on the Bryggen wharf has its own. A common mistake is boiling the fish, which breaks it up and makes it dry. Chef's tip: add the fish at the end and poach it in barely trembling soup for 3–4 minutes, until just opaque and flaking.

55 minScandinavianSoups
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Rachan ham

Rachuli lori is the pride of Racha: pork legs salted and hung in the smoky rafters above a wood fire, then sliced and fried until crisp, and above all eaten with lobiani bean bread, which in Racha is made with fried ham inside. This is a pork dish. Home kitchens cannot copy months in a chimney, so this version brines a boneless pork leg joint for two days in the fridge and then hot-smokes and roasts it until cooked through, giving a ham you can slice cold or fry. A common mistake is skipping the rinse after brining, which makes the ham far too salty. Chef's tip: smoke over fruit wood with a few dried bay leaves for the dark, sweet smoke of a Rachan kitchen. Whole pork joints are safe at 63 °C followed by a 10-minute rest.

240 minGeorgianMeatGluten free
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Seared gored goredSeared beef cubes in spiced butter

Gored gored is a celebration dish in Addis Ababa, ordered at butcher-restaurants and served at weddings and holiday gatherings, where cubes of the best beef are dressed with melted niter kibbeh, awaze and mitmita and eaten with injera. Traditionally the meat is served raw. Raw beef is not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system, so this version sears the cubes over a fierce heat until well browned on every side and cooked to at least 63 °C in the centre, then rests them; take them to 71 °C if you prefer them fully cooked. The result is tender and juicy, rich with spiced butter and fiery from the awaze. Chef's tip: dry the cubes thoroughly with kitchen paper and sear them in two batches; a crowded pan steams the meat grey instead of browning it.

22 minEthiopianMeatGluten freeSpicy
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Gari soakingsSoaked gari with milk and groundnuts

Every Ghanaian who went to boarding school has a story about gari soakings, the cheap, quick fill-up that keeps students going between meals, and on hot Accra afternoons it is still the snack people make without thinking. Toasted cassava grains are soaked in cold water until they swell, then sweetened with sugar and evaporated milk and topped with roasted groundnuts, so it is cool, slightly sour, creamy and crunchy at once. Some add ice cubes or a little coconut. For a vegan bowl, swap the milk for coconut milk. A common slip is adding the groundnuts too early, so they go soft; scatter them on just before eating. Chef's tip: rinse the gari first and pour away the cloudy water with any floating husks, which makes the bowl cleaner and less sandy; eat it within a few minutes, before the grains go mushy.

5 minGhanaianSnacks & StartersGluten free
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Sweet potato pone

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

90 minAfricanDessertsGluten free
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Ghanaian fufuPounded cassava and plantain

The rhythmic thud of a pestle in a wooden mortar is the sound of lunchtime in Kumasi, where fufuo is pounded by two people, one lifting the pestle and one turning the dough between strokes. Boiled cassava and unripe plantain are beaten together until they become a soft, stretchy, slightly springy ball, served in a bowl of light soup, palm nut soup or groundnut soup and eaten with the right hand. Those soups are usually made with meat or fish; serve it with a vegetable soup for a meat-free meal. Cassava must always be fully cooked, never eaten raw. A food processor makes a good version at home. Chef's tip: pound the plantain first, then add the cassava; adding too much water is the common mistake and leaves the fufu sticky instead of smooth and elastic.

60 minGhanaianBasicsVeganGluten free
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Ghiya chana daalChickpea dal with bottle gourd

Bottle gourd is the vegetable Punjabi mothers reach for when someone in the house needs something gentle, and pairing it with chana daal turns that mildness into a proper meal. The split chickpeas cook until creamy but still slightly nubbly, the ghiya melts into soft, translucent pieces and lends the pot a quiet sweetness, and a last-minute tarka of cumin, garlic and dried red chilli wakes the whole thing up. You will find it on everyday tables from Gujranwala to Sahiwal, eaten with chapati or plain boiled rice and a little sliced onion on the side. A common slip is adding the gourd at the start with the dal, so it disappears completely by the time the lentils are soft. Chef's tip: give the soaked dal a 20-minute head start and add the ghiya only then, so both are done together.

55 minPakistaniCurriesVeganGluten free
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GesztenyepüréChestnut purée with cream

No Budapest cukrászda menu in autumn is complete without a glass of gesztenyepüré: sweet chestnut purée pushed through a potato ricer so it falls in loose brown strands, crowned with a cloud of whipped cream and often a glacé cherry. It is soft, nutty and creamy rather than sugary, and it came to Hungary from Viennese kitchens in the days of the empire. Classic café versions add a splash of rum to the chestnuts; this one leaves it out and uses vanilla and a little cocoa, so it is alcohol-free. A common mistake is pressing the purée into the glass with a spoon, which turns it into a dense paste; let the strands fall loosely straight from the ricer. Chef's tip: chill the purée well before ricing, because cold purée holds its strands and the cream stays on top.

20 minHungarianDessertsGluten free
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Red caviar butterbrods

When the Soviet festive table had one luxury, this was it: little slices of white bread, thick with cold butter and topped with glistening orange salmon roe, set out for New Year's Eve, birthdays and the first course of a wedding. The pleasure is in the textures, the bead-like eggs bursting with a salty sea taste against sweet butter and soft bread. Salmon roe is salted and cured, not cooked: buy pasteurised roe in a chilled jar or tin from a good fishmonger, keep it in the fridge and eat it the day it is opened; it is not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system. A common mistake is spreading the butter thin; you need a proper layer to anchor the roe. Chef's tip: spoon the roe with a plastic or bone spoon rather than metal, and add it at the last minute so it stays plump.

10 minRussianSnacks & Starters
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Green beans with egg

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

30 minGeorgianVegetarianGluten free
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BankuFermented corn and cassava dough

Chop bars from Jamestown to Teshie serve banku all day, usually beside grilled tilapia, okro stew and a fierce raw pepper sauce. Fermented corn dough and cassava dough are cooked together and turned hard with a wooden spatula until they become a smooth, stretchy, faintly sour ball that you pinch off with your fingers and dip into soup or stew. At home it is good with any Ghanaian soup, and a meat-free okro stew or pepper sauce keeps the whole meal vegan. Ready-made doughs are sold in African grocers. A lumpy banku comes from adding dough to hot water; always mix it with cold water first, then heat. The commonest mistake is stopping the stirring; banku needs constant turning with a wooden spoon or it goes lumpy and raw in patches. Chef's tip: keep a bowl of water next to the pot and wet the spatula and your hands as you shape the balls, so the banku comes out glossy and nothing sticks.

40 minGhanaianBasicsVeganGluten free
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GhomiWhite corn porridge

Across Samegrelo and Guria, ghomi plays the role bread plays elsewhere: a soft, smooth porridge of white corn and cornmeal, set on the table unseasoned so that slices of sulguni can be pushed into it to melt, and so that bazhe, ajika or bean stew can be scooped up with it. In Zugdidi homes it is cooked in a heavy pot and stirred with a flat wooden paddle. A common mistake is stirring too little; ghomi catches easily and lumps form at the bottom. Chef's tip: cook it until it comes away from the sides in one smooth mass, then wet a spoon and smooth the top; ghomi should feel like soft polenta that can be scooped, not runny porridge.

40 minGeorgianSidesVeganGluten free
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Gefilte fishPoached fish dumplings

Poached fish dumplings start the Shabbat and Passover meal in many Ashkenazi homes across Israel, and families still argue about whether they should be sweet, Polish-style, or peppery like the Lithuanian version. Minced carp, pike or whiting is beaten with onion, egg and matzo meal, shaped into ovals and simmered in a broth made from the fish bones and vegetables, which sets into a light jelly when chilled. Each piece is served cold with a coin of carrot on top and a spoonful of sharp beetroot horseradish. The commonest mistake is boiling the broth hard, which makes the dumplings tough and breaks them up; it should barely tremble. Chef's tip: wet your hands with cold water before shaping each dumpling so the soft mixture does not stick.

120 minIsraeliFish
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Djelbana (Algerian lamb and pea stew)

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

90 minAlgerianCurries
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GebzhaliaCheese rolls in mint yogurt sauce

Gebzhalia is one of the dishes Mingrelian hosts in Zugdidi and Martvili bring out when guests arrive: soft, freshly made cheese is warmed in hot milk until pliable, flattened into sheets, scattered with mint and rolled up, then served in a cool, minty yogurt sauce. It is mild, salty and refreshing, served as a starter at a supra. Fresh imeruli cheese is the traditional choice; fresh mozzarella curd works well too. A common mistake is overheating the cheese, which makes it squeaky and tough instead of silky. Chef's tip: keep the milk just below a simmer and work the cheese with a spoon until it is soft enough to stretch, then roll while it is still warm. Fresh cheeses are often made with animal rennet, so choose a vegetarian one.

40 minGeorgianSnacks & StartersGluten free
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Tklapi soup

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

40 minGeorgianSoupsVegan
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Cantonese roast goose

Drive out along the coast road to Sham Tseng in the New Territories and the restaurants there have been roasting geese for generations; Hong Kongers make the trip for a plate of it with lai fun noodles, or order a half goose for a family dinner. The skin is thin, crisp and deep mahogany, the meat dark, rich and juicy, scented from the inside with five-spice, bean paste and garlic. Sour plum sauce cuts through the fat. This home version uses an oven-ready goose (head already removed, as it is sold), dried overnight and roasted in a domestic oven. A frequent slip is roasting a goose straight from the wrapper: without its overnight drying and a glaze, the skin stays leathery. Chef's tip: pour off the rendered fat as it collects; it is superb for roasting potatoes or frying rice.

180 minHong KongMeat
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Tuwo shinkafa (soft rice swallow)

Across Kano, Kaduna and the wider Hausa north, the evening meal very often means a dome of tuwon shinkafa beside a bowl of soup. Short-grain rice is cooked well past the point most cooks would stop, then beaten with a wooden spoon until the grains collapse into a smooth, faintly sticky mass that still shows a few soft grains. It tastes mild and clean, which is exactly its job: you pinch off a piece, dip it into miyan kuka, miyan taushe or an okra soup and swallow. It also turns up at naming ceremonies and weddings, wrapped in plastic or leaves and carried home by guests. Chef's tip: wet the bowl or cup you mould it in, and the balls slide out glossy and round instead of tearing.

40 minNigerianBasicsVeganGluten free
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Skyr

Skyr has been made in Iceland since the Viking settlers arrived: skimmed milk soured with a spoonful of the last batch, set with a drop of rennet, then strained until very thick, high in protein and mildly sour. Icelanders eat it every day with milk or cream and berries, or whisked into a drink, and skyrkaka is a favourite cheesecake. You need a few spoonfuls of plain shop skyr with live cultures as a starter. A common mistake is skipping the long, slow set; rushed skyr is thin and grainy. Chef's tip: strain it in the fridge overnight and stir it smooth before serving. Rennet is traditionally animal; use vegetarian rennet.

50 minScandinavianBasicsGluten free
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BalkaimakHoney cream

Balkaimak, 'honey cream', is the dessert Kazakh hosts put out for guests with a mountain of baursak dough puffs: thick cream simmered with honey and a little sugar until it turns into a glossy, caramel-flavoured sauce that sets as it cools. It belongs to celebrations like Nauryz and weddings across Kazakhstan, from Almaty to Shymkent. A common mistake is boiling it too hard, which makes the cream split and turn greasy. Chef's tip: thicken it with a teaspoon of flour or cornflour only if your cream is thin; good double cream thickens by itself.

25 minKazakhDessertsGluten free
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Gers ogailySaffron cardamom sponge cake

Gers ogaily is the plain, golden sponge cake that sits on every coffee tray in Kuwait and the UAE: served to visitors, at Eid gatherings and after Friday lunch with small cups of cardamom coffee. It is light and springy but not fluffy like a Western sponge, more like a fragrant, slightly firm tea cake, yellow with saffron and with sesame seeds toasted on top. A slice needs nothing else beside it but coffee or tea. The mistake to avoid is whisking the eggs and sugar too briefly; the whole rise depends on that foam, as there is little baking powder. Chef's tip: soak the saffron in warm rosewater before you begin, so its colour spreads evenly through the batter.

60 minGulf ArabianBaking
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GhonghiSnail curry

When the monsoon fills the rice paddies of the western and central Terai, Tharu families gather ghonghi, the little freshwater snails, and cook them in a dark, fiery curry thickened with ground roasted linseed; the tip of each shell is snipped so the meat can be sucked out at the table, and the dish is loved as both a treat and a monsoon tonic, eaten with rice or dhikri. Wild freshwater snails can carry parasites such as rat lungworm and liver flukes, so never use snails you have collected from ponds, ditches or paddies yourself. At home use only cleaned, purged farmed snails in their shells from a specialist supplier, or cooked, frozen farmed escargots, or live periwinkles from a good fishmonger as a stand-in, and boil them hard before they go into the curry. The usual error is skimping on the boiling, which is both unsafe and leaves the snails rubbery; they need a rolling boil and then a long simmer. Chef's tip: roast the linseed until it pops before grinding, for the nutty, dark Tharu flavour.

80 minNepaliMeatGluten freeSpicy
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Barley water

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

65 minSingaporeanDrinksVegan
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Bein montJaggery coconut rice pancake

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

45 minBurmeseDessertsVeganGluten free
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Bak chor meeMinced pork noodles

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

45 minSingaporeanPasta & Noodles
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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 minRussianDrinksVeganGluten free
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Garash tortaWalnut meringue chocolate cake

In 1885 a Hungarian confectioner named Kosta Garaš created this cake in Ruse, the elegant Danube town, and it has been the pride of Bulgarian patisseries ever since. Five thin, chewy layers of walnut meringue are stacked with a dark, glossy chocolate ganache and finished with a mirror-like chocolate glaze. Because it uses no flour, it is naturally gluten-free; it is rich and dense, so slices are thin, served with black coffee on name days and anniversaries. The cake is best made a day ahead and chilled so the meringue softens slightly into the ganache. Where most people go wrong is grinding the walnuts to an oily paste; pulse them only until like coarse sand. You will have ten yolks left over: use them for custard or pasta. Chef's tip: bake each layer on a circle drawn on baking paper and trim them all to the same size while still warm, when they cut cleanly.

120 minBulgarianBakingGluten free
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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 minKyrgyzRice & Grains
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