Featured recipe

Kelewele

Spiced fried plantain

Kelewele is what Accra smells like after dark: ripe plantain cubes tossed in a paste of ginger, onion, chilli and spice, then fried at roadside stalls lit by lamps and sold in paper cones. It is eaten as an evening snack, often with a handful of roasted peanuts, or as a side with red red. The outside caramelises while the spices turn toasty, so every piece is sweet, hot and spicy at once. Chef's tip: use plantains that are yellow with lots of black spots; fully black ones collapse in the oil and green ones never turn sweet.

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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 min

Polish Desserts

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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 minBalkan Vegetarian

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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 min

Polish Vegetarian

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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 min

Polish Sides

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DoubaraSpicy chickpea stew

In Biskra, the oasis town at the gateway to the Algerian Sahara, doubara is street food, ladled from big pots into bowls from late afternoon and through Ramadan nights. Soft chickpeas or broad beans are simmered with cumin and garlic, then dressed with a fiery garlic-harissa sauce, olive oil, lemon and a heap of chopped tomato, onion, parsley and fresh chilli on top. It is hot, sour and very garlicky, filling yet fresh, and eaten with bread. Chef's tip: mash a ladle of the chickpeas into the broth at the end; it thickens the stew so the sauce clings.

45 min

Algerian Curries

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Da'ah garlic vinegarGarlic vinegar dressing

No plate of koshari is finished until it gets a splash of da'ah, the thin garlic vinegar every Cairo koshari counter keeps in jugs beside the shatta. Sharp, garlicky and warm with cumin, it cuts straight through the lentils, rice and fried onions, and it does the same for falafel, fried aubergine and cauliflower. It takes ten minutes and keeps for a week in the fridge. Chef's tip: fry the garlic only until it smells sweet and is barely coloured; brown garlic turns the whole sauce bitter.

10 min

Egyptian Chutneys & Dips

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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 min

Ukrainian Meat

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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 min

Bangladeshi Vegetarian

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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 minScandinavian Soups

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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 Arabian Baking

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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 minCaribbean Soups

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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 minScandinavian Baking

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Gebna areeshSoft fresh cheese

Farm families in the Delta have long made areesh from the skimmed, soured milk left after churning butter, draining the curds in reed mats until they are soft and crumbly. The cheese is pale, light and mildly tangy, with almost no fat, and is eaten at breakfast and supper with tomatoes, cucumbers, spring onions, herbs and a thread of olive oil, or crumbled into salads and pies. This home version starts with pasteurised skimmed milk and cultured buttermilk; the milk then needs 18 to 24 hours to sour at room temperature before the short cooking and draining. No rennet is used: the curd is set by souring alone, so it suits vegetarians. Don't boil the soured milk hard: rapid heat makes tough, rubbery curds instead of soft, delicate ones. Chef's tip: heat the soured milk very gently; boiling it makes the curd tough and squeaky.

60 min

Egyptian Basics

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ChlebíčkyOpen sandwiches

Prague's lahůdky delicatessens have sold chlebíčky since the early twentieth century, and these little open sandwiches are still the first thing laid out for office celebrations, birthdays and New Year's Eve. Diagonal slices of soft white veka bread are spread with potato salad, then decorated with a rolled slice of cooked pork ham, half a hard-boiled egg, cheese, gherkin and a dot of mayonnaise, so each one looks like a small, neat picture. They are creamy, salty and fresh at once. A common mistake is assembling hours ahead on soft bread, which goes soggy; build them no more than an hour before serving and keep them in the fridge, never out for more than 2 hours. Boil the eggs until the yolks are firm. For a meat-free tray, skip the ham and double the egg and cheese. Chef's tip: a firm, day-old baguette slices more cleanly than fresh bread.

30 min

Czech Snacks & Starters

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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 min

Afghan Snacks & Starters

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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 min

Bulgarian Baking

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KurnikChicken and rice pancake pie

Cossack weddings along the Don and Kuban were not complete without kurnik, the tall "king of pies": a domed short pastry crust packed with layers of chicken, rice and egg and mushrooms, each separated by a thin pancake so the juices stay put. Bride and groom each had a kurnik baked by their families, and it is still made for big birthdays and holidays. The crust is crumbly and rich from sour cream; the inside moist and savoury. A common mistake is skimping on the broth: spooning some of the chicken poaching liquid over each layer keeps the rice from drying out. Poach the chicken until it reaches 74 °C. Chef's tip: make the pancakes and fillings the day before and chill them; the pie then goes together in half an hour.

180 min

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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 min

Sri Lankan Curries

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Chiu chow fun guoPork and peanut dumplings

Chiu Chow families who settled around Sheung Wan and Kowloon City brought these chubby half-moon dumplings with them, and Hong Kong teahouses still steam them in bamboo baskets for the morning crowd. The wrapper is a mix of wheat and tapioca starch that turns translucent and slightly elastic, so you can see the filling inside: minced pork, crunchy roasted peanuts, garlic chives, salty preserved radish and a little dried shrimp. Each bite is chewy, savoury and crunchy at once. Dab them with chilli oil or a little Chiu Chow chilli sauce. People often roll the dough too thin, then it tears as it steams; aim for 2 mm and keep it under a damp cloth while you work. Chef's tip: toast the peanuts yourself and add them at the very end so they stay crunchy.

90 min

Hong Kong Snacks & Starters

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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 min

Nigerian Meat

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Banatage (tuna potato croquettes)

Golden, crunchy outside and soft inside, banatage are mashed-potato croquettes hiding a spoon of tuna, parsley and harissa, rolled in breadcrumbs and fried. They come out during Ramadan beside the brik and chorba, are tucked into lunchboxes and are a favourite with children all over Tunisia. Leftover mash works well, as long as it is firm. Serve them hot with lemon wedges, a salad or a dab of harissa. Chef's tip: dry the boiled potatoes in the hot pan for a minute before mashing; wet, watery mash is the usual mistake and makes croquettes that split open in the oil.

65 min

Tunisian Snacks & Starters

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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 min

Sri Lankan Baking

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Salade liégeoiseWarm green bean and potato salad

Salade liégeoise is the warm salad of Liège, eaten as a main course in the city's brasseries in summer when green beans are in season: just-cooked green beans and waxy potatoes tossed while warm with onion softened in butter and a sharp vinegar dressing, scattered with parsley. In Liège it is made with crisp bacon lardons; this version leaves them out and adds a fried egg on top for a fuller meal if you like. A common mistake is dressing cold vegetables, which don't absorb the vinegar. Chef's tip: deglaze the onion pan with the vinegar, then pour it straight over the hot beans and potatoes.

30 min

Belgian Salads

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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 min

Egyptian Curries

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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 min

Israeli Baking

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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 minBaltic Snacks & Starters

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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 min

Afghan Rice & Grains

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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 min

Dutch Fish

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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 min

Russian Meat

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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 Arabian Breads & Parathas

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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 min

Kazakh Desserts

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ChebabSaffron yeast pancakes

Chebab are the thick, spongy pancakes that Emirati families make for breakfast in Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah and Al Ain, especially on Fridays and through Ramadan for suhoor. The batter is yeasted, so the pancakes rise in the pan and come out holey and soft like a crumpet, tinted yellow with saffron and scented with cardamom. They are served stacked with date syrup poured over and a spoonful of fresh chami or cream cheese on the side. Flipping too early is the classic error: wait until the top is covered in bubbles and looks dry at the edges, or the pancake tears. Chef's tip: leave the batter to rise until it is properly bubbly; a lazy batter gives flat, heavy chebab.

65 minGulf Arabian Breakfast & Brunch

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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 min

Russian Meat

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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 min

Israeli Meat

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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 min

Armenian Meat

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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 min

Nepali Curries

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ChirbuliEggs in tomato walnut sauce

Families in Batumi and the coastal villages of Adjara make chirbuli for slow weekend breakfasts: onions and ripe tomatoes stewed with a spoon of crushed walnuts and plenty of herbs, with eggs cracked into the sauce and cooked until just set, so the yolks run into it. It is a cousin of shakshuka with a Georgian walnut richness, eaten with bread to wipe up the plate. A common mistake is putting the lid on and walking away; the yolks overcook and go chalky in a minute. Chef's tip: grind the walnuts with garlic and coriander seed first, so they melt into the sauce instead of staying gritty.

25 min

Georgian Breakfast & Brunch

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Maqaw chicken soupMountain pepper chicken soup

High in the mountains of northern Taiwan, in Atayal villages around Wulai and Fuxing, maqaw berries are picked from the mountain litsea tree in summer and dried to flavour soups, grilled meat and tea. In this clear chicken soup, served at home suppers and in Indigenous restaurants with millet or rice and wild greens, the crushed berries give a fresh lemongrass-and-ginger perfume with a gentle peppery tingle. Bone-in chicken simmered slowly makes a light, golden broth. People spoil it by adding the maqaw at the start and boiling it for an hour, which turns it bitter; add it for the last 15 minutes instead. If you can't find maqaw, use black peppercorns, a stalk of lemongrass and a strip of lemon zest. Chef's tip: lightly crush the berries just before they go in; whole ones barely flavour the broth, while powder makes it cloudy.

60 min

Taiwanese Soups

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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 min

Georgian Soups

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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 min

Pakistani Breads & Parathas

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AthirasaFried rice flour jaggery cakes

Athirasa, a dark, flat disc with a shiny, slightly crinkled surface, is one of the keeping sweets of the Avurudu season: families fry stacks of them in early April, store them in tins and offer them to every visitor for weeks. The dough is simply rice flour stirred into jaggery syrup cooked to the soft-ball stage, flavoured with cardamom and left to rest, then patted into rounds and fried until deep brown. The cook presses each one firmly between two flat spoons or saucers to squeeze out excess oil, which gives athirasa its chewy, toffee-like centre and lacy, crisp edges. The typical slip is undercooking the syrup, which makes the dough too soft to shape and causes the rounds to fall apart in the oil. Chef's tip: shape the discs on a piece of oiled banana leaf or baking paper and slide them straight into the oil from it, so they keep a neat round shape.

60 min

Sri Lankan Desserts

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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 min

Tunisian Breads & Parathas

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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 min

Pakistani Breakfast & Brunch

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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 min

Lao Snacks & Starters

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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 min

Pakistani Indian Sweets

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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 min

Pakistani Meat

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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 min

Pakistani Drinks

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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 min

Sri Lankan Curries

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Atjar tjampoerSweet-sour mixed vegetable pickle

Atjar tjampoer is the bright yellow pickle in every Dutch-Indonesian toko and on every rijsttafel: crisp cucumber, carrot, cabbage, cauliflower and shallot pickled in a sweet-sour vinegar brine coloured with turmeric, with a little chilli and ginger. It cuts through rich satay and rendang. A common mistake is cooking the vegetables, which makes them soft; they should only be blanched or simply covered with hot brine. Chef's tip: salt the cucumber first and squeeze it, so it stays crunchy for days.

30 min

Dutch Chutneys & Dips

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Atama soupPalm nut and atama leaf soup

From Abak and the Ibibio heartland of Akwa Ibom comes this palm-nut soup with a perfume all its own: atama leaves, which smell somewhere between mint, anise and fresh hay. The palm cream is cooked with assorted meat, stockfish, dried fish and periwinkles until the oil glistens on top, then the atama goes in near the end. It is weekend and visitors' food, eaten with pounded yam, fufu or eba. Dried atama is sold in African shops; dried tarragon is the closest substitute. Periwinkles should be bought cleaned, and any with cracked shells thrown away. Avoid adding the atama leaves too early: long boiling dulls their perfume. Chef's tip: go easy on the atama, as too much turns the soup bitter, so start with the amount below and taste before adding more.

90 min

Nigerian Meat

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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 minCaribbean Chicken

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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 min

Bangladeshi Indian Sweets

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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 min

Bangladeshi Fish

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Antiguan ducanaSweet potato coconut dumplings

In Antigua, ducana turns up beside saltfish and chop up on Saturday plates and at Independence celebrations in November, little leaf-wrapped parcels of grated sweet potato and coconut with sugar, raisins and spice, boiled until set. It cuts through the salty fish with a soft, sticky sweetness. Many cooks add a little flour; this version keeps to sweet potato and coconut and is gluten free. The common mistake is wrapping the parcels loosely, so water seeps in and they turn mushy. Chef's tip: grate the sweet potato finely on the small holes and the ducana will hold together without any flour.

75 minCaribbean Desserts

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Kebab-e-murghYogurt-marinated chicken skewers

Along Kabul's kebab streets, cooks fan long rows of skewers over charcoal troughs, and chicken kebab-e-murgh has become as popular as lamb, especially with families. The meat is soaked in yogurt with a lot of garlic, lemon and chilli, which keeps it juicy and gives it a tangy, slightly charred crust; it is served on a sheet of naan that catches the drips, with sliced raw onion, tomato and green chutney. At home a hot grill pan or barbecue does the job well. Breast meat cut too small dries out before it chars, so use boneless thighs in generous chunks. Chef's tip: thread the pieces close together but not squashed, which keeps the centres moist while the edges blacken.

30 min

Afghan Chicken

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KchuchClay-pot aubergine and potato bake

A kchuch is the round clay pot of Gyumri's kitchens, and the dish cooked in it takes its name: layers of vegetables and herbs, sealed and slow-baked until everything collapses into a rich, juicy stew. Shirak families often add lamb, but the vegetable version is a summer and Lenten favourite, heavy with aubergine, potatoes, peppers, tomatoes and garlic. A common mistake is slicing the potatoes thick, which leaves them hard when the aubergine is already soft. Chef's tip: lay the tomatoes and herbs on top and seal the lid with a strip of dough or foil, so the steam stays in and the vegetables cook in their own juices.

120 min

Armenian Vegetarian

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KazyBeef and lamb rib sausage

Kazy is the most prized food on a Kazakh feast table: a thick sausage of whole rib meat and rib fat, seasoned with salt, garlic and black pepper, stuffed into a casing, then dried or smoked and boiled for weddings and Nauryz, and sliced into glossy rounds that show the meat and the white fat. It is traditionally made with horse meat; this recipe uses beef short rib meat with a little lamb fat instead, as the site does not use horse, and it is cooked fresh rather than air-dried. A common mistake is mincing the meat; kazy is made from long strips of rib meat, which is what gives its look when sliced. Chef's tip: simmer it very gently; boiling hard bursts the casing and the fat melts away. The centre must reach 71 °C.

210 min

Kazakh Meat

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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 min

Kyrgyz Breads & Parathas

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Fish buglamaSteamed fish with onion and tomato

In Baku and the fishing villages of the Absheron peninsula, buglama is the gentlest way to cook Caspian fish such as sturgeon, kutum or mullet: thick steaks laid on a bed of onions, tomatoes and herbs in a covered pan and left to steam in their own juices, with no water added. The result is soft, moist fish in a light, fragrant broth, served with bread and a spoon of narsharab. Any firm white fish works. A common mistake is lifting the lid too often, which lets the steam out and leaves the fish half-cooked. Chef's tip: lay the onion thickly enough that the fish never touches the pan; it should cook in steam, not fry. It is done when the flesh is opaque and flakes when pressed.

45 min

Azerbaijani Fish

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KhameerDate and fennel bread

In homes across the United Arab Emirates, from Abu Dhabi to the old quarters of Sharjah, khameer is the bread that comes out on a weekend morning, still warm, next to a pot of karak or cardamom coffee. Mashed dates sweeten the dough just a little, while fennel and saffron give it a gentle, perfumed warmth, and the rounds are cooked on a dry pan so they stay pillow-soft with freckled brown faces. Split them and fill with soft white cheese, a drizzle of date syrup or honey, or a fried egg. The usual mistake is cooking them over a fierce heat: the outside darkens long before the thick middle is done, so keep the flame moderate and be patient. Chef's tip: press the risen rounds flat with your fingertips just before they go in the pan; the dimples stop them doming and help them cook evenly.

50 minGulf Arabian Breads & 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 min

Burmese Breakfast & Brunch

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Chitoi pithaSpongy rice flour cakes

As soon as the cold arrives in December, women set up clay stoves on the pavements of Dhaka, Mymensingh and every district town, and chitoi pitha is what they sell: round, white rice cakes steamed and baked in small covered clay moulds, smooth and slightly crisp underneath and full of tiny holes on top. Winter evenings are spent queuing for them, and they are eaten hot with a row of bhortas, mustard, coriander, garlic or dried fish, or with duck curry. At home, leftover chitoi is soaked overnight in milk sweetened with date-palm jaggery to make dudh chitoi for breakfast. A batter that is too thin gives flat, dense cakes; it should be like a thick pancake batter. Chef's tip: blend a spoonful of cooked rice into the batter, which keeps the pitha soft and spongy even after it cools.

50 min

Bangladeshi Breakfast & Brunch

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KhabeesaSaffron toasted flour sweet

Khabeesa is made in Emirati and Qatari kitchens for Eid mornings, new babies and Ramadan nights: flour toasted until golden, then cooked with saffron syrup and ghee until it turns into fragrant, crumbly clusters, a bit like a soft, buttery halwa that breaks apart. It is served in a small bowl on the coffee tray, eaten with a spoon or the fingers, and its aroma of saffron, cardamom and rosewater fills the house. The mistake to avoid is pouring in the syrup all at once, which makes lumps that never break up. Chef's tip: keep pressing and turning the mixture against the pan once the ghee goes in; that is what forms the little golden crumbs.

30 minGulf Arabian Desserts

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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 min

Sri Lankan Desserts

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KurzeLamb dumplings in broth

Every mountain people of Dagestan, Avars, Laks and Dargins among them, has its own kurze, but all share the beautiful plaited seam that runs along each teardrop dumpling like a braid. The lamb filling is chopped with plenty of onion and a little fat, then the dumplings are boiled and served in their broth with a sharp garlic and tomato dressing. In mountain villages they are made in big batches for guests, and in summer the same dough is filled with pumpkin or young nettles. The usual slip is overfilling, which makes the pleats burst in the pot. Chef's tip: practise the plait on a few pieces without filling first; once your fingers know the rhythm it goes quickly.

105 min

Russian Meat

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Morog polaoWedding chicken pulao

If kacchi rules the big Old Dhaka weddings, morog polao is the dish that shows up at holud evenings, aqiqah lunches and family dawats across the rest of the city, a pale, fragrant rice with whole joints of chicken tucked inside. The chicken is first braised in a mild sauce of yoghurt, ghee and fried onion, and then the rice is cooked in that sauce loosened with milk, so the grains turn creamy-white, soft and perfumed with cardamom and kewra. It is not meant to be fiery; the heat comes from a few whole green chillies and the sweetness from crisp onions scattered over the top. A frequent slip is boiling the rice too hard after the milk goes in, which makes it catch and stick to the base. Chef's tip: fry a whole bowl of onions to a deep gold first and keep half for the garnish, because the onions are as important as the chicken.

90 min

Bangladeshi Chicken

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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 min

Polish Desserts

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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 min

Russian Baking

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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 min

Nepali Indian Sweets

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KarjalanpaistiBeef and pork hotpot

Karjalanpaisti, the Karelian hotpot, is one of Finland's national dishes, cooked for Independence Day, family celebrations and Christmas: chunks of beef and pork, sometimes lamb, layered with onion, whole allspice and bay, covered with water and baked slowly for hours in a clay pot until the meats are falling apart in a rich, peppery broth. This dish contains pork. It is served with mashed potato and lingonberries. A common mistake is a hot oven, which toughens the meat. Chef's tip: do not stir or brown the meat; Karelian cooks let it bake low and slow, and the long cooking alone gives the deep flavour.

260 minScandinavian Curries

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Dominican chimi burgerBurger with cabbage and mayo-ketchup

After dark in Santo Domingo, chimichurri carts (the "chimi" trucks) fire up griddles on street corners and sell these big, messy burgers into the small hours. A garlicky, oregano-seasoned beef patty, sometimes mixed with pork, is griddled and piled into a soft roll with lots of shredded cabbage, onion, tomato and the pink mayo-ketchup sauce. The common mistake is pressing the patty while it cooks, squeezing out the juices; flip it once and leave it. Cook the mince to 71 °C in the centre. Chef's tip: dress the shredded cabbage with a little of the sauce and lime first, so it softens slightly and stays in the bun.

30 min

Puerto Rican Fast Food

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Kasha varnishkesBuckwheat with bow-tie pasta

Kasha varnishkes came to Israel with Jews from Ukraine, Belarus and Poland, and it still turns up beside Friday-night dinners in older Ashkenazi neighbourhoods of Tel Aviv and Petah Tikva. Whole buckwheat groats are coated in egg and toasted so each grain stays separate and nutty, then tossed with farfalle and a heap of onions fried slowly until sweet and mahogany. It is earthy and filling, good as a side for roast vegetables or as a simple supper with pickles and a green salad. The usual mistake is skipping the egg-toasting step, which leaves the buckwheat clumped and porridgy. Chef's tip: give the onions a full 25 minutes, they are the sauce, and pale onions make a dull dish.

45 min

Israeli Pasta & Noodles

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