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Greek village salad
Featured recipe

Greek village salad

A true Greek salad has no lettuce: just ripe tomatoes, crunchy cucumber, sharp onion and olives, dressed with good olive oil and dried oregano, with a whole slab of feta on top. Salt the tomatoes first and they'll make their own dressing.

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Kofi brokemanRoasted plantain with peanuts

The name jokes that this is food for 'Kofi who is broke': a ripe plantain roasted over a charcoal grill on a street corner in Accra or Kumasi, handed over with a twist of roasted groundnuts for very little money. The skin chars black while the inside turns soft, sweet and smoky, and the nuts give it salt and crunch, so it is surprisingly filling. At home a hot grill pan, oven or barbecue does the job. Chef's tip: choose plantains that are yellow with a few black spots, firm but not green; fully black ones collapse on the grill, and green ones, the usual mistake, stay starchy and dry.

30 minGhanaianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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Kochu shakTaro greens with coconut

In the wet villages of Khulna and Bagerhat, near the edge of the Sundarbans, taro grows wild along every pond, and its dark leaves and tender stems are cut, chopped fine and simmered into a soft, creamy green dish with grated coconut. At home it is often cooked with small shrimp or the head of a hilsa for richness; this version keeps it vegetarian and leans on coconut and mustard oil instead. Cooked well, it is soft and silky, coconut-sweet and earthy, and is eaten with rice and a squeeze of lime. Taro leaves contain calcium oxalate crystals that make the mouth itch if they are undercooked, so the classic error is pulling it off the heat too soon; it needs a full 25 minutes and a sour element at the end. Chef's tip: use young leaves from edible taro and wear gloves or oil your hands while cutting the stems.

45 minBangladeshiVegetarianVeganGluten free
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Kochur loti chingriTaro stolons with prawns

Kochur loti are the long, thin runners that taro plants send out across the pond banks in the rainy season, and in Khulna, where freshwater prawns are farmed in every second field, the two end up in the same karai. The stolons are peeled, cut into short lengths and cooked with small prawns, onion and freshly grated coconut until soft and almost melting, giving a mild, slightly sweet, gently earthy dish for lunch with rice and dal. Taro of all kinds contains crystals that make the mouth and throat itch if it is not cooked enough or balanced with something sour, so the stolons need peeling, a full cook and a squeeze of lime. Many people undercook the loti because they look tender early; give them the whole time. Chef's tip: oil your hands before peeling the stolons, or wear gloves, as the sap can irritate the skin.

50 minBangladeshiFishGluten free
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MatlouhSemolina flatbread

In Algiers and all over Algeria, homemade matlouh is the bread of choice for Ramadan iftar and for dipping into chorba or chakchouka. The dough is made with fine semolina and yeast, almost as wet as a batter, left to rise until airy, then shaped into thick rounds and cooked on a clay tajine or a heavy frying pan rather than in an oven. The result is soft and springy inside, with a thin, freckled, golden crust and the sweet, nutty taste of semolina. Eat it warm, torn by hand. Chef's tip: keep your hands wet with water, not floured, when shaping the sticky dough; flour makes the crust dry and floury.

55 minAlgerianBreads & ParathasVegan
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ChapshuroMeat-filled griddled bread pies

Climb up to Karimabad in Hunza or wander Gilgit's bazaar in the evening and you will smell chapshuro before you see it: round pies of thin wholewheat dough wrapped around raw spiced mince, onion, green chilli and coriander, cooked slowly on a griddle until the crust crisps and the meat inside steams in its own juices. They are cut into wedges like a pizza and eaten hot as a snack or a light lunch, with green tea or apricot juice, and every family has its own level of chilli. The difficulty is heat control: too hot and the crust burns before the filling is cooked through. Use a medium-low flame and turn often. Chef's tip: press the pie flat with your palm once it is on the griddle, so the filling forms a thin, even layer that cooks right through.

65 minPakistaniSnacks & Starters
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KokonteDried cassava swallow

Dried in the sun and ground to a coarse brown powder, cassava keeps for months as kokonte, and in Ashanti villages it is the swallow of the dry season and of lean times. Cooked, it turns into a smooth, firm, earthy-tasting dough, darker than fufu and with a faint smokiness, that is classically eaten with groundnut soup or palm nut soup; its colour earned it the joking nickname 'face the wall'. It takes only minutes to make. Those soups usually carry meat or fish, so serve a vegetable soup for a meat-free meal. Chef's tip: mix a third of the powder with cold water to a paste before it goes into the boiling water; dumping dry powder into hot water is the common mistake and makes stubborn lumps.

20 minGhanaianBasicsVeganGluten free
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KnäckebrödRye crispbread

Knäckebröd is the crispbread that Swedes have baked since the Vikings: rye flour and seeds rolled thin, pricked all over and baked until bone-dry, so it keeps for weeks; once it was baked with a hole in the middle and hung on poles under the kitchen ceiling. Today it is eaten at breakfast with butter, cheese and cucumber in every Swedish home. A common mistake is rolling unevenly, which leaves soft patches that go stale. Chef's tip: roll the dough directly on baking paper with a knobbled rolling pin or prick it heavily with a fork, then bake twice, the second time low, until completely dry.

60 minScandinavianBreads & ParathasVegan
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Kmínová polévkaCaraway soup

Few soups are as cheap or as old as this one. Kmínová polévka was the Bohemian peasant's breakfast long before coffee arrived, and Czech mothers still make it for an upset stomach or a hangover. The roux is cooked until it smells of toasted hazelnuts, the caraway is fried in butter until it pops, and the hot soup is poured straight onto crunchy toasted bread so it softens at the edges. Where most people go wrong is taking the roux off the heat while it is still pale: you get a floury, raw-tasting soup instead of a nutty one. A beaten egg trickled in at the end makes it more filling. Chef's tip: crush half the caraway in a mortar first, so the flavour spreads through the broth while the whole seeds give little bursts.

25 minCzechSoups
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KnyshiPotato-filled yeast buns

On Poltava farms knyshi came out of the stove alongside the bread on baking day: rounds of soft milk dough with their edges pinched up like a little open basket, so the filling shows in the middle. Potato mashed with plenty of onion fried in sunflower oil and a handful of dill is the everyday version, and the buns are eaten warm with a bowl of soup or cold on the way to the fields. Some cooks fill them with curd cheese or poppy seed instead, especially for Christmas Eve. The dough should be pillowy and the potato soft and peppery. Most people go wrong by spooning in warm, wet mash, which steams the dough from inside and makes it soggy; let the filling cool fully. Chef's tip: brush the baked buns with melted butter the moment they come out of the oven, then cover with a towel for 10 minutes so the crust turns soft and silky.

120 minUkrainianBaking
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MounaOrange-flower brioche

Oran's mouna came over with Spanish settlers as the Easter mona, and it is still baked for spring outings, recalling the Easter Monday picnics once held at the Santa Cruz chapel above the city. It is a tall, light, golden brioche with a crackly sugar crust, softly flavoured with orange-flower water and lemon zest rather than butter-heavy, and it tears into long, feathery strands. Eat it with coffee or hot chocolate, plain or with jam. The dough is slow and sticky, so give it time. Chef's tip: let the dough rise slowly overnight in the fridge after the first knead; it becomes easier to shape and the flavour deepens.

75 minAlgerianBaking
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Kluski z makiemNoodles with sweet poppy seed

Poppy seed is the taste of a Polish Christmas Eve, and in central and eastern Poland it often reaches the table as a bowl of wide noodles in a sweet, dark poppy mixture with honey, walnuts and raisins. It sounds strange to anyone who expects pasta to be savoury, but it is closer to a pudding: nutty, slightly bitter, sticky with honey, eaten at room temperature as the last dish of the night. Where most people go wrong is using whole poppy seeds straight from the packet; they must be scalded and ground, or the dish is gritty and bland. Chef's tip: buy ready-ground poppy seed or grind scalded seeds twice in a spice grinder until they turn grey and buttery.

45 minPolishDesserts
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KljukušaBaked grated potato batter

Ask anyone from Bihać or Cazin in north-western Bosnia about kljukuša and they will describe a big tray of it coming out of the oven on a weekday, golden and blistered, then soaked in garlic yogurt at the table. Grated raw potato is stirred into a loose flour batter and baked in a thin layer, giving a crisp, browned top and a soft, slightly chewy middle, a bit like a potato pancake from the oven. The cold, garlicky yogurt against the hot potato is the whole point, with a green salad or pickles on the side. The usual slip is spreading it too thick, which leaves a gummy, undercooked centre; keep the layer to about 1.5 cm. Chef's tip: get the oiled tray smoking hot in the oven first, so the bottom crisps as soon as the batter hits it.

60 minBalkanVegetarian
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Kluski leniweLazy cheese dumplings

Lazy dumplings earn their name honestly: instead of filling and pinching like pierogi, you knead the cheese straight into the dough and cut it into diamonds. Across Lesser Poland they are a school-day lunch, a canteen favourite and the first thing many Polish children learn to cook. Good ones are pillow-soft and faintly tangy from the twaróg, rolled in breadcrumbs toasted in butter and finished with a spoon of sugar, sometimes sour cream or cinnamon too. The usual slip is adding too much flour to stop the dough sticking, which makes the dumplings heavy and doughy. Twaróg is usually made without rennet, but check the label if you need it strictly vegetarian. Chef's tip: press the twaróg through a sieve or mash it with a fork until completely smooth, so the dough needs less flour.

35 minPolishVegetarian
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KlinRice and cheese filo pie

Klin is the festive pie of the Rhodopes, baked for Gergyovden in May, for weddings and for the end of the haymaking, in large round tins that come out to be shared across the village. Thin pastry sheets are layered with a loose, custardy mix of cooked rice, crumbled white cheese, eggs, milk and butter, so it bakes tender and soft inside with a crisp, golden lid. The rice makes it heartier than banitsa and gives every slice a gentle, creamy chew. It is eaten warm or cold with yogurt or ayran. Sirene is often made with animal rennet, so use a vegetarian white cheese. Where most people go wrong is cooking the rice fully; it must stay slightly firm, because it carries on soaking up milk in the oven. Chef's tip: pour any leftover egg and milk over the top just before baking, and the surface puffs into a glossy, golden crust.

90 minBulgarianBaking
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Kluski śląskieSilesian potato dumplings

No Sunday dinner in Katowice, Gliwice or Opole feels complete without a heap of these pale, bouncy dumplings, traditionally next to roulade and red cabbage. Here they are served the meatless way, with browned butter and fried onion, or with a mushroom sauce poured into the little dent each one gets from your thumb. They are made from boiled, riced potato and potato starch, so the texture is springy and smooth, almost elastic, with a clean potato taste. The classic error is guessing the starch: Silesian cooks press the cooled potatoes flat, cut out a quarter and fill the gap with starch, which gives the right ratio every time. Chef's tip: rice the potatoes while hot but let them cool completely before mixing, or the dough turns gluey.

50 minPolishSides
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KobeteLamb and potato pie

Kobete is the grand pie of Crimean Tatar celebrations, a tall golden dome cut at the table like a cake, its name thought to come from an old word for a pastry dome. Inside, small cubes of raw lamb, potato and onion are seasoned with black pepper and baked slowly in a soft, buttery yoghurt pastry, so the meat cooks in its own juices into a peppery broth that soaks the potato. Chicken versions are common too. Serve warm with a sharp salad or ayran. People tend to cut the meat too big; in a sealed pie, large chunks stay chewy while the crust burns. Allow time for the long bake and a short rest before slicing. Chef's tip: pour a ladle of hot stock through the steam hole halfway through baking, which keeps the filling juicy and tells you, by the bubbling, that it is cooking well inside.

150 minUkrainianMeat
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KoktalSmoked carp with vegetables

Koktal is the fishermen's dish of Lake Balkhash and the Ili River in south-east Kazakhstan: a large carp split open along the back, salted, scored and roasted skin-side out on a frame over smoky fires, then baked with tomatoes, peppers and onions. In Almaty restaurants it is brought to the table on a wooden board. This version smokes the fish briefly in a covered barbecue and finishes it in the oven. A common mistake is leaving the scales on near the head and tail; scale the fish well, or the skin turns leathery. Chef's tip: score the flesh in a deep diamond pattern so the smoke and seasoning get into the thick fillets. Cook until the flesh is opaque and flakes easily.

80 minKazakhFishGluten free
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Kittitian goat waterPeppery goat stew

Goat water is what St Kitts, Nevis and Montserrat serve at weddings, village fêtes and every Saturday cookshop: a thick, dark, peppery goat stew-soup flavoured with cloves, thyme, tomato and a heap of hot pepper, thickened with flour and studded with breadfruit, green papaya or dumplings. On Montserrat it is the national dish and comes with crusty bread rolls. The common mistake is thinning it out; despite the name, true goat water should coat a spoon. Ask your butcher to chop bone-in goat into small pieces. Chef's tip: brown a spoonful of flour in the pot before adding the liquid; it gives the gravy its deep colour and nutty taste.

180 minCaribbeanSoupsSpicy
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KjötsúpaLamb and root vegetable soup

Kjötsúpa is the soup every Icelander grew up on, simmered from bony lamb shoulder with swede, potatoes, carrots, onion and a handful of rolled oats or rice to thicken it. Icelandic lamb is free-grazing and flavourful, and on the first day of winter in late October, Kjötsúpudagurinn, free soup is ladled out on Skólavörðustígur in Reykjavík. A common mistake is skimming too little at the start, which leaves a greasy, cloudy soup. Chef's tip: serve the meat on a plate beside the soup, as many Icelandic families do, so everyone can pull it from the bone.

120 minScandinavianSoups
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Kishmish panirFresh cheese with raisins

Spring in Kabul is announced by sellers who appear on street corners with trays of soft white panir laid on leaves and a heap of dark red raisins beside it, and kishmish panir becomes the snack of the season. The cheese is unripened and barely salted, milky and springy like a just-set curd, and the chewy, sweet-tart raisins are eaten alongside it in alternate mouthfuls, usually with a piece of naan and a glass of green tea. Afghan panir is set with rennet, traditionally animal rennet, so use a vegetarian (microbial) rennet to keep it vegetarian, and always start with pasteurised milk. The batch that refuses to set has nearly always been made with UHT or ultra-filtered milk, which will not curdle with rennet. Chef's tip: soak the raisins in cold water for half an hour first; they plump up and stop tasting dusty.

25 minAfghanSnacks & StartersGluten free
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KishkeStuffed baked derma

Kishke, also called derma, was once stuffed into cleaned beef intestine and buried in the Shabbat cholent to cook overnight, and Haredi neighbourhoods such as Jerusalem's Geula still sell it at the butcher, orange with paprika, for Friday. The filling is humble: flour or matzo meal, onion, carrot and celery bound with rendered chicken fat, which cooks into a dense, savoury sausage with a crackling crust. This home version fills a sausage casing or rolls the mixture into a paper-and-foil log, then bakes it on its own or lays it on top of the cholent. Too dry a filling is the usual problem; it should feel like a soft, oily dough. Chef's tip: slice leftover kishke and fry the rounds in a dry pan until crisp on both sides.

145 minIsraeliMeat
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Arroz a la cubanaRice with tomato and egg

Havana cafeterías put this plate on the lunch board when cooks want something cheap, fast and filling: a mound of plain white rice, a ladle of garlicky tomato sauce, a fried egg with a runny yolk and slices of caramelised ripe plantain. Breaking the yolk into the rice and sauce is the whole point, so the eggs should be fried at the last minute. The usual mistake is using plantains that are still yellow-green; they need black-spotted skins to turn soft and sweet in the pan. Serve with a simple avocado salad. Chef's tip: baste the egg whites with hot oil from the pan so they set with lacy edges while the yolks stay liquid.

30 minCubanRice & GrainsGluten free
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Al yakhniBottle gourd in yogurt gravy

Yakhni in Kashmir means a gravy built on yogurt rather than tomato, and al yakhni, made with bottle gourd, is the version cooked in Muzaffarabad and the Neelum valley when the vines are heavy in late summer. The pale, delicately sour sauce is flavoured with ground fennel, dry ginger, cloves and cardamom, never chilli powder, and finished with a crumble of dried mint, so it tastes cool and aromatic rather than hot. It is eaten with a mound of plain rice, often alongside a red, chilli-hot dish so the two balance each other. Yogurt that splits into grainy curds is the trap: it happens when cold yogurt meets hot oil or when the pot is left alone before it boils. Chef's tip: whisk the yogurt with the spices and keep stirring in one direction over a medium heat until it comes to a full boil; after that it will not curdle.

40 minPakistaniVegetarianGluten free
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Kishk sa'idiFermented yoghurt and wheat porridge

Kishk sa'idi belongs to the villages of the Sa'id, from Minya down to Qena and Luxor, where wheat and soured yoghurt are mixed, rolled into balls and dried on rooftops in the summer sun so the family has it through the winter. Soaked and simmered, the kishk becomes a thick, tangy, creamy porridge, finished with plenty of onions fried in ghee and eaten hot with bread. It is usually cooked in chicken stock; this vegetarian version uses vegetable stock and a little milk for body. Look for Upper Egyptian kishk at Egyptian grocers; Levantine kishk powder works but is often sourer, so add a little extra milk. Allow at least 2 hours for soaking. Chef's tip: keep it at a gentle bubble and stir constantly, because the yoghurt catches on the bottom and turns lumpy within minutes.

50 minEgyptianCurries
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KleijaDate-filled cardamom cookies

Kleija is the pride of Qassim, the farming heartland north of Riyadh, where an entire festival in Buraidah is devoted to these round, stamped cookies filled with date paste and fragrant with cardamom, saffron and a little fennel. They are packed for journeys, offered to guests with Arabic coffee and baked in big batches before Eid. The pastry is short and crumbly with a soft, chewy date centre. A common mistake is overworking the dough after adding ghee, which makes it tough; mix just until it holds. Store them in a tin for a week. Chef's tip: roll the date paste into small balls with damp hands first, so each cookie gets the same amount and seals neatly.

75 minGulf ArabianBaking
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KilishiSpiced dried beef

Long-distance travellers in the Hausa north have carried kilishi for generations: beef sliced so thin you can see light through it, coated in a fiery paste of ground roasted groundnuts, ginger, onion and chilli, dried, then flashed over a fire until it crackles. It is sold in Kano and Sokoto markets in stacked sheets and eaten as a snack or with a cold drink. Traditionally it is sun-dried raw; this home version heats the meat to 71 °C in the oven before drying and is stored in the fridge, which makes it safer. Sun-dried, uncooked kilishi is not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system. Chef's tip: freeze the beef for an hour before slicing; firm meat is the only way to get sheets 3 mm thin at home.

240 minNigerianMeatGluten freeSpicy
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Kimbula banisCrocodile-shaped sweet bun

Kimbula means crocodile, and these long, ridged buns with tapered ends and a back glittering with sugar are a childhood favourite from every Sri Lankan village bakery and the bread vans that drive the lanes playing tinny music each morning. The sweet, slightly enriched yeast dough is rolled up like a Swiss roll, tapered into a head and a tail, slashed along the top and showered with coarse sugar, which caramelises in the oven into a crunchy crust over a soft, fluffy crumb. They are eaten for breakfast or an afternoon snack with plain tea, often pulled apart along the ridges. Under-baking is the error that bakers see most, leaving the centre doughy; the buns should be a deep golden brown and sound hollow underneath. Chef's tip: sprinkle a layer of sugar on the dough before you roll it up, which gives sweet streaks inside as well as the crust on top.

55 minSri LankanBaking
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Kiri hodiCoconut milk gravy

Think of kiri hodi as Sri Lanka's comfort sauce: a thin, pale-yellow coconut milk broth, gently soured with lime, that gets ladled over a plate of string hoppers or pittu at breakfast and soaks right into them. Little cafés in Colombo and the coastal towns serve it in a small steel bowl alongside pol sambol, and at home it is often the first thing cooks make when someone is unwell, because it is soothing rather than hot. The flavour comes from fenugreek, cinnamon and curry leaves softened in the milk, with a couple of green chillies for warmth; some families slip in halved boiled eggs or a pinch of Maldive fish, but the plain vegan version is the everyday one. The classic slip is letting it boil hard once the thick milk is in, which curdles it into oily flecks. Chef's tip: add the lime only after the pan is off the heat, so the gravy stays smooth and the sourness stays bright.

20 minSri LankanCurriesVeganGluten free
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AkutaqWhipped berry dessert

Akutaq, sometimes called Eskimo ice cream, is a festive Inuvialuit and Yup'ik dish of the Western Arctic, served at feasts, potlatches and Christmas gatherings. Traditionally animal fat was whipped by hand with snow and wild berries; today many families in the Mackenzie Delta and Alaska use white vegetable shortening, which is the version here, so it is vegan. Fat and sugar are beaten until white and fluffy, then fresh or frozen berries are folded through. It is eaten cold, by the spoonful, in small portions. A common mistake is using warm shortening, which won't whip. Chef's tip: beat in the cold water a spoonful at a time; that is what makes it light.

30 minCanadianDessertsVeganGluten free
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KleinurCardamom twisted doughnuts

Kleinur are the twisted doughnuts of Iceland, fried in big batches and kept in tins for coffee time; Icelandic grandmothers cut the dough into diamonds with a special wheel, slit the centre and pull one end through, so each one twists into a knot. The same pastry is known as klejner in Denmark and klenäter in Sweden, made especially at Christmas. The dough is flavoured with cardamom and enriched with buttermilk. A common mistake is frying at too low a heat, which makes them greasy. Chef's tip: roll the dough thin, about 5 mm, and fry at 175 °C; they puff, brown in a minute and stay light.

70 minScandinavianBaking
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KhupluBeef, lamb and potato pie

The Chuvash people of the middle Volga bake khuplu for harvest festivals and to welcome guests: one large, round, closed pie with a thin yeast crust and a deep filling of diced meat, potato and onion, traditionally with a little vent on top and a ring of dough to decorate it. Cut at the table, it spills meaty juice into the potatoes, and it is eaten warm with a glass of cold buttermilk or a bowl of soup. The usual slip is under-baking; a pie this deep needs well over an hour and a thermometer check. Chef's tip: lay the potatoes at the bottom and the meat on top, so the potatoes drink the juices and the base does not go soggy.

150 minRussianMeat
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Khubz ahmarRed date bread

In the palm groves of Al-Ahsa in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, bakers slap rounds of khubz ahmar onto the walls of tannour ovens, and its colour, a deep reddish brown, comes from date syrup kneaded straight into the dough. Locals eat it for breakfast and with tea, often spread with cream cheese or dipped in more syrup. Fenugreek and black seed give it a warm, almost maple-like perfume, and the crumb is dense and soft with a chewy crust. A common mistake is adding too much flour because the dough feels sticky; the syrup makes it tacky, and extra flour turns the bread heavy. Oil your hands instead. Chef's tip: bake on a very hot stone and pull the breads once the edges darken; the sugars burn quickly after that.

150 minGulf ArabianBreads & ParathasVegan
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KibbelingBattered white fish chunks

Kibbeling is the fish snack of Dutch markets and harbours, sold in paper trays from fish vans at Saturday markets from Volendam to Rotterdam: bite-sized chunks of cod or pollock coated in a spiced batter and fried until crisp, with a pot of garlic sauce or remoulade. It began as a way to use the cheeks of cod. A common mistake is a thick batter, which turns bready and greasy. Chef's tip: season the batter well with a little curry powder and paprika, the market-van secret, and fry at 180 °C until golden; the fish is done when opaque and flaking.

25 minDutchFish
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MazurekEaster tart with caramel

Easter tables in Poland show off several mazurki at once, each decorated like a little picture with almonds, walnuts, dried fruit and sometimes the word ‘Alleluja’ piped across. Beneath the decoration is a thin, crumbly, buttery shortcrust and a thick layer of kajmak, a fudgy milk caramel, here over a thin layer of tart jam for contrast. It is very sweet, so it is cut into small diamonds and served with coffee. A common mistake is spreading the caramel on a warm base, which melts it into a soggy, greasy layer. Chef's tip: cook the condensed milk in a pan rather than boiling an unopened tin, which can burst; it is quicker and safer.

90 minPolishDesserts
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Khobz mellaEmber-baked bread

Around Douz, on the edge of the Tunisian Sahara, nomadic herders bake khobz mella by digging a hollow in sand heated under a fire, laying in a thick round of dough and burying it under more hot sand and embers. Brushed off and broken up, the crusty, smoky bread is crumbled into a tomato, pepper and onion stew to make mella, or eaten with olive oil and dates. Visitors to desert camps watch it being made by firelight. At home, a pizza stone or an upturned heavy tray in a very hot oven gives a similar chewy loaf with a thick crust; a charcoal barbecue gets you close to the smoky flavour. Chef's tip: dock the dough well with a fork; without it the round puffs up into a hollow ball and the crust cracks.

90 minTunisianBreads & ParathasVegan
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KholodetsMeat jelly

Kholodets is winter food, made in big batches before New Year and Orthodox Christmas when the cold balcony doubles as a fridge. Pork trotters and beef shin are simmered for hours until the broth is rich enough to set on its own, no added setting agent; the meat is shredded, layered with garlic and covered with the strained stock to set into a trembling, clear jelly. It is eaten cold, cut into squares, with sharp horseradish and mustard and hot boiled potatoes. This dish uses pork (trotters and knuckle) as well as beef. Where most people go wrong is letting the pot boil hard, which makes the jelly cloudy and greasy. Chef's tip: spoon a little broth onto a cold saucer after 5 hours; if it sets firm in the fridge in 15 minutes, the stock is ready.

480 minRussianMeatGluten free
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KhirshaReduced milk fudge

In the dairy belt of Sirajganj and Pabna, where milk is cheap and plentiful, khirsha is made the patient way: milk is boiled in a wide iron karai and stirred for well over an hour until it has reduced to a sixth of its volume and become a thick, pale-caramel paste, then sweetened and cooked a little longer. Sold in clay saucers or pressed into blocks, it tastes of pure cooked milk, sweet and slightly toffee-like, with a fudgy, fine-grained texture. It is eaten on its own, spread on puffed rice, rolled into pithas or packed into the shells of other sweets. Burning the bottom is the classic mishap, which makes the whole batch taste scorched, so stir constantly and scrape the corners once it thickens. Chef's tip: use a wide, heavy pan rather than a deep one; the bigger the surface, the faster the milk reduces.

90 minBangladeshiIndian SweetsGluten free
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KibinaiLamb and onion pastries

Kibinai are the pastries of the Karaim, a small Turkic community settled in Trakai, the lake-island castle town near Vilnius, since the 14th century. Every café along Karaimų street sells them hot from the oven: half-moon pastries of flaky, buttery dough with a juicy filling of chopped lamb and onion, crimped along the top. A common mistake is mincing the meat; the Karaim chop it into small cubes so the filling stays juicy. Chef's tip: use cold dough and bake hot, so the pastry flakes and the juices stay sealed inside. The filling must reach 71 °C.

80 minBalticSnacks & Starters
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KhashlamaLamb and vegetable stew

Khashlama is a village dish from across Armenia, made in a big pot for family gatherings in Ararat and Kotayk: chunks of lamb on the bone, or beef, layered with onions, tomatoes, peppers and potatoes and cooked slowly with very little liquid, so the meat stews in its own juices and the vegetables soak them up. It is served in deep plates with lavash and lots of fresh herbs. A common mistake is adding water to cover; the result is a soup, not khashlama. Chef's tip: put the lamb on the bottom and the potatoes on top, so the meat browns slightly and the potatoes steam in the juices without breaking.

170 minArmenianMeatGluten free
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Khasi ko masuGoat curry

For most Nepali families the tenth day of Dashain, when elders put tika and jamara on younger relatives' foreheads, means a pot of khasi ko masu bubbling in the kitchen, bone-in castrated goat cooked in mustard oil with heaps of onion, ginger and garlic and whole spices until the meat falls from the bone. It is a celebratory but homely curry, with a loose, glossy, deep-red gravy, eaten with plain rice or sel roti and a cucumber achar, and the same curry fills plates at weddings and family visits for weeks after the festival. Use goat or mutton with plenty of bone, since the marrow and connective tissue give the gravy its body. The usual shortcut, rushing the onions, leaves the gravy thin and sharp; they must cook to a deep brown. Chef's tip: a pinch of jimbu, the dried Himalayan herb, added at the end gives the curry its unmistakable hill-country aroma.

100 minNepaliCurriesGluten free
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KharchoBeef, rice and walnut soup

Kharcho is the soup Tbilisi cooks make when the weather turns cold: beef brisket simmered until it falls apart, then thickened with rice and ground walnuts and given its sour, tangy edge by tkemali plum sauce, with khmeli-suneli, garlic and a lot of coriander. It is spooned into deep bowls in old-town cafés and eaten with shoti bread, and it is thick enough to be a whole meal. A common mistake is adding the rice too early, so it swells into porridge and the soup loses its body. Chef's tip: grind the walnuts with garlic and a ladle of hot broth before stirring them in, so they thicken the soup smoothly rather than floating as crumbs.

140 minGeorgianSoupsSpicy
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Khajoor shakeDate and almond milkshake

Dates are the first thing on the table when the azan sounds for iftar in Pakistan, and in many homes in Karachi and Islamabad the dates go straight into the blender with cold milk and a handful of soaked almonds, making a thick, caramel-sweet shake that restores energy quickly after a long summer fast. Soft, moist dates such as the Aseel from Khairpur in Sindh give the smoothest result, and the drink needs no added sugar at all. It is also a popular breakfast for children and a quick snack after school. The typical mistake is blending dry, hard dates straight from the packet, which leaves chewy fragments and a gritty shake. Chef's tip: soak the stoned dates and almonds in a little warm milk for 10 minutes first, and blend them to a smooth paste before adding the rest of the cold milk.

10 minPakistaniDrinksGluten free
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AkpleCorn and cassava swallow

Ewe homes in Ho, Keta and across the Volta Region eat akple at the main meal of the day, almost always with fetri detsi, the slippery okra soup that slides it down. It is firmer and less sour than banku, made by stirring fine maize meal into a hot base of fermented corn and cassava dough, and the finished balls are smooth, dense and mild. A vegetable okra soup makes it a meat-free meal. Chef's tip: add the dry maize meal in small handfuls and press every addition into the dough before the next; pouring it in all at once is the common mistake that leaves dry, floury pockets.

30 minGhanaianBasicsVeganGluten free
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Charmoula sfaxienneSweet-sour onion and raisin sauce

The first meal after Ramadan in Sfax is unlike anywhere else: on the morning of Eid al-Fitr, families eat salted dried fish with charmoula, a thick, almost black sauce of onions and raisins cooked for hours in olive oil with black pepper, cinnamon and cloves. It is sweet, sour and spicy at once, glossy like a chutney, and its strong flavour is meant to wake up a stomach that has fasted for a month. Fish lovers serve it with salted fish; this vegetarian version is lovely with roast vegetables, hard-boiled eggs or simply bread. It keeps for weeks. Chef's tip: cook the onions down slowly until they collapse and caramelise before adding the raisins; hurrying gives a sharp, raw-tasting sauce.

180 minTunisianChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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Khamiri rotiLeavened wholewheat flatbread

Long before packets of yeast reached Pakistani kitchens, households kept back a lump of yesterday's dough and worked it into the new batch, and khamiri roti is the bread that method makes: thicker and softer than a chapati, with an airy crumb and a gentle sourness. It is the standard bread of many neighbourhood tandoors from Multan to Peshawar, bought by the stack for lunch with chana, sabzi, dal or saag, and some families make it on a tawa during Ramadan because it stays soft until sehri. This version uses a little yeast and a long rise to get the same flavour without the starter. People often get it wrong by rolling it as thin as a chapati, which pushes out the gas and leaves a flat, leathery roti. Chef's tip: let the dough ferment for at least two and a half hours, or overnight in the fridge, and shape each roti by patting it out with your palms rather than with a rolling pin.

180 minPakistaniBreads & ParathasVegan
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KichelCrisp bow-tie egg cookies

At kiddush in Ashkenazi synagogues, from Bnei Brak to the old shuls of Haifa, plates of kichel sit beside pickled herring and a small glass of something, and children quietly fill their pockets. The dough is barely sweet, rich in eggs, rolled out on sugar and twisted into bow-ties that puff up hollow and shatter when you bite them. They are good with tea, or with salty herring the traditional way. The common mistake is underbaking: they must dry right through and turn golden, or they go soft and chewy within a day. Chef's tip: roll the dough directly onto a layer of sugar so the crystals press in and caramelise underneath.

45 minIsraeliBaking
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MeeshayRice noodles with pork sauce

Two places claim meeshay: Mandalay, where it is a teatime and late-afternoon snack sold from carts near the moat, and the Shan hills, where markets serve it in the morning. Soft rice noodles are dressed with soy, a splash of vinegar and garlic oil, then topped with a savoury minced pork sauce, crunchy bean sprouts, pickled mustard greens and strips of wobbly rice jelly that soak up the dressing. It tastes tangy, garlicky and comforting, with chilli oil and a cup of clear broth on the side. The most common slip is cutting the rice jelly before it has set; give it a full 30 minutes to cool so it slices cleanly. Chef's tip: dress the noodles at the table, not ahead: vinegar and soy added too early make the noodles soft and the jelly slippery.

75 minBurmesePasta & Noodles
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Khaddi kebabRoast spiced lamb over rice

A khaddi, in Baloch country, is a pit dug in the ground and lined with hot stones; a whole goat or lamb, rubbed with salt and spices and stuffed with rice, is lowered in, covered with earth and left for hours, then dug out for weddings and tribal feasts. Few home cooks have a pit, so this version roasts a bone-in lamb shoulder low and slow under foil, then sets it on a tray of part-cooked rice so the rice drinks the dripping juices, the same marriage of meat and rice the pit gives. The meat should pull apart with a spoon and the rice taste deeply of lamb. Stuffing raw rice inside a big joint is where cooks go wrong at home: the centre stays underdone and is not safe, so cook the rice under the meat instead. Chef's tip: roast the lamb the day before, chill it in its juices and lift off the hard fat, then reheat with the rice; it carves more neatly too.

300 minPakistaniMeatGluten free
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KhaginaSpiced scrambled eggs

Ask almost any Pakistani what their mother made on a school morning and khagina comes up: eggs beaten with salt and turmeric and stirred into onion, tomato and green chilli softened in oil, served in a heap beside a hot paratha with a cup of doodh patti. It comes from the old Mughal and Hyderabadi kitchens that reached Karachi after Partition, and it differs from a plain scramble in being cooked a little longer, so it sets into soft, moist clumps coloured by the masala rather than staying creamy. It is everyday food in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar alike, also eaten for a quick supper with chapati. The usual mistake is adding the eggs before the tomato has cooked down, which leaves the dish watery and the eggs rubbery. Chef's tip: take the pan off the heat while the eggs still look slightly glossy but no liquid egg remains, because they keep cooking on the plate.

15 minPakistaniBreakfast & BrunchGluten free
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Kesel muwa curryBanana blossom curry

Every banana plant in a Sri Lankan back garden eventually pushes out a heavy, purple, spear-shaped flower, and rather than waste it, home cooks across the western province slice it into this savoury, slightly meaty curry. Once the tough outer bracts come off, the pale heart is shredded and cooked with roasted curry powder, mustard seed and chilli, then finished with coconut milk until it is tender with a faint, pleasant astringency, a bit like artichoke. It is a weekday dish, served with red rice, parippu and a pol sambol. The flower browns and turns bitter within minutes of being cut, which is where most first attempts go wrong, so have a bowl of salted turmeric water waiting and drop the slices in as you go. Chef's tip: if you can only find tinned banana blossom in brine, rinse it well, chop it and skip the soaking; it needs only half the cooking time.

50 minSri LankanCurriesVeganGluten free
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Keshi yenaChicken-stuffed Edam cheese

Keshi yena, "stuffed cheese", is the most famous dish of Curaçao and Aruba, born when cooks on Dutch plantations reused the rinds of big Edam cheeses by filling them with leftover meat. Today it is a festive dish: a spiced chicken filling with tomato, onion, olives, capers, raisins and hot pepper, sealed in sliced Edam and baked until the cheese melts into a golden crust, eaten with white rice or funchi. The mistake to avoid is a wet filling, which makes the cheese case collapse; cook it down until thick. This home version is baked in ramekins lined with cheese slices. Chef's tip: oil the ramekins well and turn the cheese cups out onto plates for a dramatic presentation.

75 minCaribbeanChickenGluten free
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Khajoor ka halwaDate halwa

The oasis towns of Turbat and Panjgur in Makran grow some of Pakistan's finest dates, the soft, honeyed Begum Jangi and Muzawati among them, and after the late-summer harvest households turn the surplus into this rich, fudgy halwa. Dates are softened in warm milk, mashed and cooked down slowly in ghee until the mixture is dark and glossy and comes away from the pan, then finished with almonds, walnuts and cardamom. It needs little or no added sugar, and it is served in small portions at Eid, to new mothers and to guests with green tea. Using dry, hard dates without soaking is where it goes wrong, leaving the halwa lumpy and leathery. Chef's tip: choose soft, moist dates and blend them only briefly after soaking, so a few small pieces remain for texture.

40 minPakistaniIndian SweetsGluten free
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CharosetApple and walnut paste

At the Passover seder, Israeli families from Ashkenazi and Sephardic backgrounds alike set out charoset, a sweet brown paste that recalls the mortar the Israelites used as slaves in Egypt. This is the Ashkenazi style: chopped apples and walnuts with cinnamon and sweet red grape juice, coarse and crunchy; Sephardic tables more often blend dates, almonds and dried fruit. Many families use sweet red wine; this recipe is alcohol free, and if you do add wine it is for adults only. It is eaten on matzo with bitter herbs, and leftovers are great on yogurt. The common mistake is pulsing it to a purée: it should keep texture, like rough mortar. Chef's tip: chop the apple last and mix it with the juice at once so it doesn't brown.

15 minIsraeliChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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Khai paenCrispy river weed sheets

Along the Mekong and Nam Khan below Luang Prabang, women gather silky green river weed in the dry months, when the water runs low and clear, then press it into thin sheets and dry them in the sun. Those sheets turn up everywhere in town, stacked at the morning market and the night market, and a plate of fried khai paen is a favourite nibble with sticky rice and a pot of jeow bong in the late afternoon. Frying takes seconds: the sheets puff, darken and turn shatteringly crisp, tasting of the river, toasted sesame and garlic, a little like nori but earthier. Buy the sheets dried; outside Laos, look in Southeast Asian grocers, and if you can't find them, nori sheets make a stand-in, though they are thinner, sea-salty rather than freshwater and fry even faster. Leaving a sheet in the oil a moment too long is the classic error, as it goes bitter and brown almost instantly. Chef's tip: cut the sheets into squares with scissors before frying, not after, so they don't crumble into dust.

15 minLaoSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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Kola kendaHerbal red rice porridge

Early in the morning, outside bus stands in Kandy and along the walking paths of Colombo's parks, vendors ladle bright green kola kenda from big pots into cups, handing each customer a lump of jaggery to bite between sips. It is a thin, savoury porridge of red rice cooked until it breaks down, enriched with coconut milk and coloured with the juice of fresh leaves, most often gotu kola, though cooks also use hathawariya, mukunuwenna or even curry leaves. The taste is grassy, slightly bitter and very restoring, and older Sri Lankans drink it as a daily tonic. The leaf juice must never boil; adding it to a bubbling pot is the mistake that turns the porridge khaki and dulls the fresh flavour. Chef's tip: blend the leaves with cold water and strain them through a fine sieve, so the kenda stays silky with no stringy bits.

40 minSri LankanBreakfast & BrunchVeganGluten free
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Drob de mielLamb offal loaf

On Easter Sunday a Romanian table holds red-dyed eggs, cozonac and, nearly always, a slab of drob: lamb liver, heart and kidneys poached, chopped and bound with fresh bread, raw egg and a whole bunch of spring onions and dill, then baked with hard-boiled eggs hidden in the middle. Sliced cold, each piece shows a yellow-and-white eye of egg in a green-flecked, earthy loaf that is milder than you might expect. It is served as a starter with radishes, horseradish and green salad, and keeps well for the days of visiting that follow. Butchers often sell a lamb 'pluck'; ask for the lungs to be left out if you prefer, and use a little extra lamb mince instead. The classic mistake is under-seasoning: the loaf is eaten cold, which dulls salt and herbs, so the mix should taste bold. Chef's tip: wrap the loaf in caul fat (prapur) if your butcher has it; it bastes the drob as it bakes and gives a lacy, golden crust.

120 minRomanianMeat
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ChäschüechliCheese tartlets

Chäschüechli are the small, warm cheese tartlets of central Switzerland, sold in bakeries in Lucerne and Zug and eaten as a quick lunch with a salad or as a snack at a Fasnacht carnival stand: a crisp shortcrust case filled with a savoury custard of grated mountain cheese, cream, egg and a pinch of nutmeg, baked until puffed and golden. A common mistake is filling the cases to the brim; the custard puffs and spills over. Chef's tip: bake them on the lowest shelf so the bases crisp before the filling sets. Gruyère and Appenzeller are made with animal rennet, so choose a vegetarian Swiss-style cheese.

55 minSwissSnacks & Starters
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Changhua ba-wanPork-filled starch dumplings

Changhua's old market streets are lined with shops whose woks are full of these dumplings sitting in warm oil, ready to be split open, sauced and eaten as a mid-morning or afternoon snack. The wobbly, translucent skin of sweet potato starch is chewy and slightly sticky, wrapped around a savoury filling of marinated pork, bamboo shoot and shiitake, and the whole thing is drenched in a sweet pink-brown sauce with garlic and coriander. The trickiest part is the wrapper: a dough made only of raw starch cracks and turns gluey, so cook part of it into a paste first. Make it gluten-free by using tamari or gluten-free soy sauce, as here. Chef's tip: oil the saucers well and keep your fingers wet when shaping; the starch dough is sticky, and water lets you smooth it into neat domes.

90 minTaiwaneseSnacks & StartersGluten free
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Kichiri qurootRice and mung beans

Ask Afghans what their grandmother cooked on cold winter evenings and kichiri quroot comes up again and again: a soft mound of short-grain rice and mung beans cooked until creamy and sticky, with a well pressed into the top and filled with qurut, the salty sauce made from dried yogurt balls. Hot oil with dried mint is poured over just before it reaches the table, and the rice is eaten with a spoon from a shared plate. Families in Kabul often serve it with a pan of meatballs in tomato sauce on the side; this is the meatless version, which is just as common on a quiet night. If you rinse all the starch away it will never turn sticky, so wash the rice only once. Chef's tip: if you can't find qurut, thick strained yogurt with a pinch of salt and garlic gives you something close.

75 minAfghanRice & GrainsGluten free
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KoldskålCold buttermilk soup

On the first warm day of summer, Danes buy cartons of koldskål and packets of kammerjunker, small crunchy rusks, and the season has begun: koldskål is a cold, sweet, tangy buttermilk 'soup' with lemon and vanilla, eaten from bowls as a dessert or a light supper, sometimes with strawberries. Homemade, it is whisked with egg yolks for richness. Raw egg yolk is not suitable for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system, so this recipe uses pasteurised egg yolks. A common mistake is serving it at room temperature; it must be very cold. Chef's tip: whisk the yolks and sugar until thick and pale before the buttermilk goes in, which gives a silky, foamy soup.

15 minScandinavianDesserts
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MekeleshaWarm finishing spice blend

Berbere builds the heat and colour of a wat; mekelesha is what Ethiopian cooks add in the last few minutes to make it smell wonderful. It contains no chilli at all, only warm, aromatic spices: korerima (Ethiopian cardamom), cinnamon, cloves, black pepper and a little cumin and nutmeg, toasted and ground fine. A pinch goes into doro wat, key wat or misir wat just before serving, a little like garam masala in an Indian curry, and market spice sellers in Addis Ababa sell it in small twists of paper beside the berbere sacks. Korerima has a smoky, camphor-like note; if you cannot find it, mix green and black cardamom. The common mistake is adding it at the start of cooking, where long simmering dulls its perfume; stir it in at the end. Chef's tip: grind small batches and keep them in a dark jar, as the aroma fades after about two months.

10 minEthiopianBasicsVeganGluten free
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KattamaFlaky onion flatbread

Kattama is the layered flatbread of Kyrgyz homes, made to go with tea on cold mornings in Bishkek and the villages around Lake Issyk-Kul: a plain dough rolled thin, spread with butter and chopped onion, rolled up, coiled and rolled flat again, then fried in a pan so it puffs into flaky, crisp layers. A common mistake is pressing the coiled dough too hard, which squeezes out the butter and flattens the layers. Chef's tip: let the coils rest for 15 minutes before the final rolling; the gluten relaxes and the bread opens up into layers as it cooks.

65 minKyrgyzBreads & Parathas
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Kauk nyin baungSteamed sticky rice with peas

At sunrise on Yangon street corners, women sit behind bamboo baskets of steaming sticky rice wrapped in cloth, spooning portions onto squares of banana leaf for people heading to work. The glutinous rice is soaked and steamed until each grain is glossy, chewy and slightly translucent, then topped with soft pe pyot peas, freshly grated coconut and a sprinkle of toasted sesame pounded with salt. It is a plain, satisfying breakfast, sweet from the coconut, salty and nutty from the sesame, and usually eaten with a cup of green tea; some vendors use purple sticky rice for a darker, nuttier bowl. Boiling the rice like ordinary rice is the mistake that ruins it, turning it to glue, so always steam it. Chef's tip: soak the rice overnight; a short soak leaves hard white centres in the grains.

50 minBurmeseBreakfast & BrunchVeganGluten free
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ArishtaButtered egg noodles

In Gyumri and the villages of Shirak, grandmothers still roll arishta by hand, cut it into thin strips and dry it in the sun to store for winter. To serve, the noodles are first toasted in butter until they turn golden and nutty, then boiled until tender and topped with garlicky matsun yogurt. It is simple, filling food for cold days on the Shirak plateau. A common mistake is skipping the toasting step, which gives soft, plain noodles without the characteristic roasted flavour. Chef's tip: dry the cut noodles for at least an hour before toasting, so they brown evenly instead of clumping.

60 minArmenianPasta & Noodles
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KavumFried rice flour oil cakes

On the Sinhala and Tamil New Year tray in April, kavum is the sweet that marks a real Avurudu kitchen, and in villages neighbours still gather around a big pan of oil to fry them together. A thick batter of rice flour and dark kithul treacle is rested overnight, then ladled into hot coconut oil, where the cook pokes and bastes the middle with a thin stick until it puffs up into the famous konda, the little topknot. The cakes are dark brown, crisp at the rim and soft and chewy inside, with a smoky treacle flavour, and they are eaten with plantains, kokis and milk rice. A batter that is too runny is the classic disappointment, since it spreads flat and never forms a knob; it should drop thickly from the spoon, like cold honey. Chef's tip: fry one test cake first and adjust the batter with a spoon of rice flour or coconut milk before doing the rest.

80 minSri LankanDessertsVeganGluten free
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KategnaCrisp spiced injera

Kategna is what Ethiopian restaurants put on the table while the main order is still cooking: injera painted with niter kibbeh and a bold layer of berbere, toasted until the edges shatter, then rolled tight and cut into pieces. Every bite is crunchy at the rim, chewy in the middle, buttery and properly hot. In Addis Ababa homes it is a snack with coffee or a late breakfast, and it goes well with a cooling spoon of ayib or ergo. Unlike anababero, it is a single injera and is meant to be crisp, so the pan stays on the heat a little longer. Chef's tip: mix the berbere into the melted butter rather than sprinkling it dry; dry spice on a hot pan scorches in seconds and turns bitter.

13 minEthiopianSnacks & StartersSpicy
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Chana daal halwaSplit chickpea halwa

This is the halwa of family gatherings on cold winter evenings and of Shab-e-Barat, when households in Karachi, Lahore and Multan cook trays of sweets to share with neighbours, and among them all it is the one that rewards hard work most. Split chickpeas are soaked overnight, simmered soft in milk, ground to a paste and then fried in ghee for the best part of an hour, until the raw beany taste is replaced by a deep, toasty, almost caramel flavour and a soft, slightly grainy texture. Cardamom, a little khoya and plenty of almonds and pistachios finish it, and it is eaten warm, or pressed into a tray and cut. It keeps well, so many families make a large pot. The fault that most often spoils it is adding the sugar before the dal paste has been fried long enough, which leaves it pasty and heavy. Chef's tip: stir until the paste turns golden and smells like roasted nuts and the ghee begins to seep out again, and only then add the sugar.

90 minPakistaniIndian SweetsGluten free
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ChanakhiLamb and aubergine clay pot

In Tbilisi homes and restaurants chanakhi arrives in its own small clay pot, the lid lifted at the table to release a cloud of steam smelling of lamb, tomato, basil and garlic. Lamb, potato, aubergine, onion and tomato are layered raw with herbs and left to cook slowly in their own juices, so the vegetables soak up the lamb fat and the meat goes spoon-soft. A common mistake is adding too much water; the vegetables release plenty, and a watery pot tastes flat. Chef's tip: put a tomato slice on top of each pot as a lid of its own, which bastes everything below as it melts.

150 minGeorgianMeatGluten free
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Katino mezePork and mushrooms in cream

Every Bulgarian mehana, the wood-panelled tavern, has Katino meze on the menu, sizzling in a small clay dish next to a shopska salad, and it is quick enough for a weeknight at home. Thin strips of pork loin are seared, then tossed with mushrooms, onion and pickled gherkin, deglazed with dry white wine and finished with cream, black pepper and a pinch of hot chilli. For an alcohol-free sauce, swap the wine for the same amount of vegetable stock with a teaspoon of white wine vinegar or a splash of white grape juice. Serve with crusty bread or chips. A common mistake is crowding the pan: the pork stews grey instead of browning, so sear it in two batches. Chef's tip: cut the pork across the grain into finger-thin strips while it is half-frozen; it slices neatly and stays tender.

35 minBulgarianMeatGluten free
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KartofdzhynPotato and cheese pie

Ossetian pies come in threes at every celebration in Vladikavkaz, stacked on one plate for the sun, earth and water, and kartofdzhyn, with potato and cheese, is the everyday family favourite of North Ossetia. Soft kefir-yeast dough is wrapped around a ball of filling and patted flat by hand into a wide, thin round, so dough and filling are each barely a centimetre thick, then baked hot and soaked with butter. Ossetian cheese is a fresh brined cheese made with animal rennet; for a vegetarian pie use a feta-style or young brined cheese labelled vegetarian. The usual slip is overfilling, which makes the pie burst as you flatten it; aim for about the same weight of dough and filling. Chef's tip: stack the hot pies and butter each one, so the butter soaks through and they stay supple.

90 minRussianBaking
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KarpatkaCustard cream choux cake

Named after the Carpathians, karpatka is the cake whose crinkled, craggy top looks like a range of snowy peaks once it is dusted with icing sugar. Two thin layers of choux pastry, baked flat until they puff into hills and valleys, sandwich a deep layer of rich vanilla custard whipped with butter. It is a fixture of Polish name-day parties and café counters, and children love the cloud-like filling. The usual slip is opening the oven early, which makes the choux collapse into a flat, rubbery sheet. Chef's tip: let the custard and the butter reach the same room temperature before beating them together, or the cream splits.

90 minPolishDesserts
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KasarPuffed rice and jaggery balls

Kasar is a sweet of good fortune: Bahun and Chhetri families in the hills make it by the basketful to send with a bride to her new home, to hand out at bratabandha thread ceremonies and to fill the Tihar plates. It is the simplest of sweets, puffed rice stirred into bubbling jaggery syrup flavoured with cardamom and pressed into balls while warm, sometimes with sesame, coconut or peanuts added, and it is crunchy, light and caramel-sweet. Children love making it because it is all about quick hands and a bowl of cold water. The pitfall is syrup that is not cooked far enough, which gives soft, sticky balls that collapse in a day. Chef's tip: test the syrup by dropping a little into cold water; when it sets into a firm ball that cracks if you squeeze it, it is ready.

30 minNepaliIndian SweetsVeganGluten free
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