Featured recipe

Maryland crab cakes

Around Chesapeake Bay, from Baltimore's crab houses to the docks of the Eastern Shore, a proper crab cake is judged by how little holds it together: sweet lump blue crab, a spoon of mayonnaise and mustard, a little seasoning and just enough crumbs to bind. They are eaten as a platter with coleslaw or in a soft roll with tartare sauce through the summer crab season. Chef's tip: chill the shaped cakes for an hour; it firms them so they don't fall apart in the pan.

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ĆimburEggs cooked on sweet onion

Bosnian home cooks make ćimbur when there are eggs, onions and not much else, and it is a favourite weekend breakfast, or a quick sehur before dawn during Ramadan. Lots of sliced onion is cooked gently in butter until meltingly soft and sweet, then eggs are cracked into little hollows and covered until the whites set, so you scoop up runny yolk, silky onion and a dusting of paprika with warm bread or somun. A bowl of plain yogurt on the side is common. A common mistake is rushing the onions over a high heat, so they scorch on the edges while staying crunchy inside; patience over a medium-low flame is what makes the dish. Chef's tip: if the onions start to catch before they are soft, add a splash of water and keep going.

20 minBalkan Breakfast & Brunch

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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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KreplachBeef dumplings

Kreplach are small triangles of egg pasta folded around seasoned beef, dropped into the golden chicken soup served on the eve of Yom Kippur, at Purim and on Hoshana Rabbah in Ashkenazi homes, and in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighbourhood they are sold frozen by the bagful before the holidays. The dough is soft and thin, the filling peppery with fried onion, and they float like little hats in each bowl. Some families also fry boiled kreplach in oil until crisp. The mistake to avoid is a thick dough, which turns stodgy; roll it until you can nearly see the board through it. Chef's tip: make a big batch and freeze them raw on a tray before bagging, then cook straight from frozen.

90 min

Israeli Meat

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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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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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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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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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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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CicvaraKajmak and cornmeal porridge

Shepherds' huts on the Durmitor and Sinjajevina plateaus in northern Montenegro gave the Balkans cicvara, a dish of kajmak and young cheese melted slowly with cornmeal until it turns rich, golden and stretchy and butter seeps out at the edges. It is stirred and eaten hot, often at breakfast after early milking, with a cup of cold sour milk or plain yogurt to cut the richness. Young cheese for this is fresh and mild; most is made with rennet, so look for one with vegetarian rennet if you need to, and use clotted cream if you can't get kajmak. A common mistake is turning up the heat to hurry it, which burns the bottom and makes the cheese seize into rubbery lumps. Chef's tip: stir with a wooden spoon in figure-of-eight strokes and keep going until a thread of cheese stretches as you lift it.

30 minBalkan Rice & Grains

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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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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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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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Ago glainCrab in tomato pepper sauce

Cotonou sits between the sea and the Nokoué lagoon, and its crabs, ago in Fon, are cooked whole in a thick tomato, onion and pepper sauce for weekend lunches and family gatherings. Ago glain is gloriously messy: you crack the shells with your fingers and teeth, suck out the sweet meat and mop up the sauce with amiwo, akassa or white rice. The sauce is bright, gingery and hot, and the shells give it a deep seafood flavour. Live crabs need careful handling, so buy them from a fishmonger you trust, cook them the same day and keep them chilled until then; ready-cleaned or ready-cooked crab is fine too. The usual mistake is overcooking the crab once it is in the sauce, which makes the meat dry and stringy. Chef's tip: crack the claws before they go into the pot so the sauce seeps in and they cook evenly.

65 minAfrican 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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Ciorbă de urziciNettle soup

Around Iași and in the Moldavian hills, the first young nettles of March and April arrive just as the long Easter fast begins, and a green, sour ciorbă de urzici is often the first fresh vegetable dish of the year. It is a vegan post dish: nettle tops, spring onions and a little rice simmered together, then soured with borș until the broth is bright and tangy, with a grassy, spinach-like depth. Wear gloves to pick and wash the nettles and use only the young tops, the first four to six leaves; older, flowering plants turn tough and gritty. The classic error is boiling the nettles for too long, which makes them grey and stringy. Chef's tip: add a handful of chopped lovage with the borș, as it gives the soup its unmistakably Moldavian flavour.

40 min

Romanian Soups

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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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Bistec de palomillaThin steak with lime onion

Palomilla is the everyday steak of Havana lunch counters and Miami's Cuban cafés alike: top sirloin pounded very thin, marinated briefly in lime and garlic, seared in seconds and buried under a pile of raw chopped onion and parsley. It comes with white rice, black beans and fried plantain. The most common mistake is leaving the steak in the lime for hours, which turns the surface grey and mushy; 20 minutes to an hour in the fridge is enough. Beef steak can be cooked to your liking, but it is so thin it is usually cooked through. Chef's tip: get the pan smoking hot and cook one or two steaks at a time, or they stew instead of browning.

25 min

Cuban Meat

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Lankaran kulchaNut and saffron pastry

Lankaran, on the subtropical Caspian coast in the far south, near the Iranian border, has its own Novruz bake: kulcha, a round of soft, rich dough filled with walnuts and sugar perfumed with saffron and cardamom, pinched closed, flattened and patterned on top with tweezers before baking. Southern families make dozens for the spring festival and for visiting relatives. A common mistake is rolling the filled pastry too thin, which splits the dough. Chef's tip: crimp a pattern around the edge with a fork or pastry tweezers; it seals the kulcha and is the traditional decoration.

80 min

Azerbaijani Baking

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Mutabbaq samakSpiced fried fish on rice

Mutabbaq samak is a Kuwaiti Friday lunch, usually made with zubaidi pomfret or hamour bought that morning at the Sharq fish market in Kuwait City. The fish is rubbed with spice and fried crisp, the head and trimmings make a quick stock, and the rice is cooked in that stock with dried lime until every grain tastes of the sea. Fried fish goes on top of the golden rice with a scattering of fried onion. The mistake people make is cooking the rice in plain water and losing the point of the dish. Chef's tip: fry the fish just before the rice is ready so the crust is still crisp when the platter reaches the table.

75 minGulf Arabian Fish

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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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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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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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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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BacánPlantain and pork parcels

Bacán belongs to Baracoa, the coconut-growing corner of eastern Cuba, where it is made for family gatherings and sold wrapped at weekend markets. Grated green plantain is mixed with fresh coconut milk into a soft dough, wrapped around a filling of seasoned pork in a banana leaf and steamed until set, a little like a tamal but sweeter and silkier. The pork is shoulder, cooked in a sofrito before wrapping. The common mistake is using ripe plantain, which won't set; it must be hard and green. Chef's tip: pass the banana leaves briefly over a flame or hot pan until they turn glossy and supple, and they will fold without splitting.

120 min

Cuban Meat

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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 min

Ethiopian Snacks & Starters

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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 min

Bulgarian Meat

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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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Bandakka curryOkra coconut milk curry

Ladies' fingers, as okra is still called in Colombo markets, are cheap, plentiful and quick, which is why bandakka curry is one of the most common weekday vegetables on a Sri Lankan lunch plate. The pods are cut on the diagonal, fried briefly in coconut oil, then simmered in a mild, yellow gravy of coconut milk with fenugreek, onion and green chilli, so they stay bright green and just tender. It goes with red or white rice, a spoon of dhal and something crisp, such as fried papadam or a sambol. Slime puts many people off okra, and it is almost always caused by moisture: washing the pods and cutting them while they are still wet. Dry them completely first and fry them before any liquid goes in. Chef's tip: a few drops of lime stirred in at the very end lifts the flavour and also helps the gravy stay clean and silky.

30 min

Sri Lankan Curries

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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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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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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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AzuBeef stew with pickles

Kazan's working canteens gave azu its fame: strips of beef braised in a peppery tomato gravy, sharpened with diced salty pickled cucumbers and finished with golden fried potatoes, all served steaming in a clay pot. It is hearty, sour-savoury and thick enough to mop up with rye bread, and Tatar families serve it on cold weekday evenings. Where most people go wrong is adding the potatoes raw to the stew; they turn floury and the gravy goes muddy, so fry them separately and fold them in at the end. Chef's tip: use proper brine-fermented cucumbers rather than sweet vinegar pickles; their sourness is what makes azu taste like azu.

75 min

Russian Meat

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Karela piazBitter gourd with onions

Bitter gourd divides every family in Punjab, but karela piaz is the version that wins over the doubters: the gourd is salted, squeezed and fried until its edges crisp, then tossed with almost as much browned onion as karela, so the sweetness of the onions softens the bitterness. In Lahore it is a summer dish, a staple of tiffin carriers and home lunches with chapati and a cooling bowl of raita, and some households pack it for long train journeys because it keeps well. The thing most people get wrong is skimping on the onions or rushing them; pale, half-cooked onions leave the dish harsh rather than mellow. Chef's tip: rub the slices with salt and a little turmeric, leave them for 30 minutes, then squeeze hard by the handful, which draws out much of the bitterness before cooking.

70 min

Pakistani Vegetarian

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Karawala thel dalaStir-fried dried fish

Every Sri Lankan market from Negombo to Trincomalee has a stall stacked with karawala, sun-dried salted fish, and when the larder is low or the rain keeps the boats in, a quick thel dala turns a small piece of it into something to wake up a plate of rice. Strips or small whole fish are fried until crisp, then tossed with plenty of onion, tomato, green chilli and chilli flakes until they are glossy, salty, smoky and hot. It is eaten in small amounts beside dhal, rice and a mild vegetable curry, or with kiribath and pol roti for breakfast, and it keeps for a day or two. Watch out for the classic fault of skipping the soak, which leaves the dish far too salty to eat. Chef's tip: fry the soaked fish until really crunchy before the onions go in; that crisp edge is what makes it addictive.

25 min

Sri Lankan Fish

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Babath curryBeef tripe curry

Babath curry belongs to the Muslim and Malay kitchens of Colombo and Slave Island, a frugal, rich dish of beef tripe that turns up at family lunches and in small rice-and-curry cafés where regulars ask for it by name. The tripe is cleaned, boiled with turmeric and vinegar until soft, then sliced into ribbons and simmered in a dark roasted curry with black pepper, cinnamon and a little coconut milk until it soaks up all the spice. The texture is pleasantly chewy and the gravy deep, hot and slightly sour, and it is eaten with rice, roti or bread to mop up the sauce. Many first attempts fail because the tripe is not boiled long enough first, so it stays rubbery however long it spends in the curry. Chef's tip: buy cleaned, bleached honeycomb tripe from a halal butcher, and boil it until a knife slides through with no resistance before you start the curry.

150 min

Sri Lankan Meat

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Babi pangangCrispy pork in sweet-sour sauce

Babi pangang is one of the most ordered dishes in the 'Chinees-Indisch' restaurants found in every Dutch town: crisp-skinned roast pork belly, sliced and smothered in a bright red, sweet-sour sauce with tomato, ginger and pickled vegetables, served with rice or nasi goreng. This is a pork dish. A common mistake is pouring the sauce over too early, which turns the crackling soft. Chef's tip: dry the skin overnight in the fridge and roast it hot at the end, then pour the sauce around, not over, the pork at the table. Whole pork joints are safe at 63 °C plus a rest; belly is best cooked longer, until tender.

105 min

Dutch Meat

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Karawila sambolaFried bitter gourd salad

Even people who claim to hate bitter gourd tend to come round to karawila sambola, the crunchy, tangy salad that turns up on rice and curry plates from the coast to the eastern towns. Paper-thin slices of the knobbly green gourd are salted to draw out some of the bitterness, fried until they are crisp like crisps, and then tossed at the last minute with raw red onion, green chilli, tomato and plenty of lime. The result is salty, sour and gently bitter, a bright contrast to rich coconut curries. Many cooks also scatter in Maldive fish flakes; this vegan version leaves them out. The mistake to avoid is mixing the salad too early, since the lime and tomato juice soften the fried slices within minutes. Chef's tip: squeeze the salted slices really hard in a clean cloth before frying; the drier they are, the crisper and less oily they come out.

30 min

Sri Lankan Salads

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AranygaluskaGolden walnut yeast dumplings

Aranygaluska means golden dumplings, and the pull-apart cake really does come out of the oven bronze and gleaming. Walnut-sized balls of sweet yeast dough are dipped in melted butter, rolled in ground walnuts and sugar, stacked loosely in a ring tin and baked, so the nuts caramelise into a sticky crust. It is a family Sunday pudding all over Hungary and a favourite at school canteens, and Hungarian emigrants took it to America, where it became monkey bread. Pour warm vanilla custard over each helping. Some cooks serve it with a wine custard; this version keeps to vanilla, so it is alcohol-free. Where it goes wrong is packing the balls tightly; leave gaps so they can rise and the walnut coating reaches every side. Chef's tip: spoon a little apricot jam between the layers for a tart note.

120 min

Hungarian Desserts

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KapamaPork, chicken and sauerkraut feast pot

In the stone houses of Bansko, beneath the Pirin mountains, kapama is the dish of the winter holidays, carried to the table in its clay pot at Christmas, New Year and the masked Kukeri carnival. Pork shoulder, chicken on the bone and fresh pork sausage are layered with sauerkraut, rice and paprika, then sealed and baked for hours until the meat falls apart and the rice has soaked up the tangy, smoky juices. Old cooks seal the lid with a rope of dough; this version uses foil under a tight lid, which keeps it gluten free. Serve with extra sauerkraut and pickled peppers. The usual slip is lifting the lid too often, which lets out the steam and dries the top layer. Chef's tip: taste a strand of the sauerkraut first and rinse it only if it is very salty; its sourness is the backbone of the dish.

295 min

Bulgarian Meat

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Karachi halwaCornflour halwa

Glassy, jewel-bright and chewy like a Turkish delight with more bite, Karachi halwa is the sweet that the city's mithai shops on Saddar and Tariq Road stack in orange, green and red slabs studded with cashews and melon seeds, and it travels well as a gift to family abroad. It is made from cornflour cooked with sugar syrup and lemon until it turns clear, then fed with ghee spoon by spoon until it shines and pulls away from the pan in one elastic mass. Across the border it is called Bombay halwa, and in Pakistan it is a staple for weddings, Eid and Diwali sweet boxes from the Hindu shops of Sindh. Lots of cooks lose their nerve and stop before the halwa has absorbed all the ghee and turned translucent, and it sets cloudy and sticky. Chef's tip: work the halwa with a flat wooden spatula and add the ghee only when the previous spoonful has disappeared; when the ghee starts to leak back out, it is done.

60 min

Pakistani Indian Sweets

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Babka wielkanocnaEaster yeast cake

A golden babka standing tall in the Easter basket used to be a matter of family pride, and old cooks whispered while it baked, convinced a slammed door would make it sink. The dough is soft and rich with egg yolks and butter, beaten until it is elastic, then baked in a fluted ring tin into a cake with a fine, feathery, saffron-yellow crumb. Raisins are often soaked in rum; this version uses orange juice, but a couple of spoons of rum work if you prefer. The usual slip is adding too much flour to a sticky dough, which makes the babka dry; it should stay soft and almost batter-like. Chef's tip: cool the babka on its side, turning it now and then, so the delicate crumb doesn't collapse.

185 min

Polish Baking

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Karađorđeva šniclaBreaded stuffed pork roll

Belgrade restaurants have served this since a local chef created it in the mid-20th century, naming it after Karađorđe, leader of the First Serbian Uprising; diners fondly call it the maiden's dream. A thin pork escalope (veal is the other classic) is spread with kajmak, Serbia's rich, slightly tangy clotted cream, rolled tight, double-breaded and fried into a golden log that oozes when cut. It comes with chips or roast potatoes, a lemon wedge and tartar sauce. If you can't find kajmak, beat cream cheese with a little soft butter and a pinch of salt. Rolling it loosely is the mistake that ruins it, because the cream escapes into the oil; roll tightly and chill before breading. Chef's tip: fry only until golden, then finish in the oven, so the crumb stays crisp while the pork cooks through to the centre.

60 minBalkan Meat

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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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Kancha gollaFresh cheese balls with cardamom

Natore, a quiet district town north of the Padma, is known throughout Bangladesh for one sweet, and a visit there is incomplete without a clay pot of kanchagolla to carry home. Kancha means raw, and the name is a joke at the sweet's expense: unlike rasgulla or chomchom, it is never boiled in syrup but simply kneaded fresh chhana with sugar, warmed in a pan for a few minutes and rolled into soft balls scented with cardamom. The texture is moist and faintly grainy, the taste milky and gently sweet, best eaten within a day or two. Cooking the mixture too long is what most home cooks get wrong; it turns dry and crumbly, more like sandesh. Chef's tip: make the chhana from full-fat milk and squeeze it only lightly, so plenty of moisture stays in for that melting Natore texture.

60 min

Bangladeshi Indian Sweets

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Kancha kola bhortaGreen banana mash

Green cooking bananas are cheap all year in Bangladeshi markets, and in homes from Comilla to Kushtia they are boiled whole and turned into a pale, gently starchy bhorta that is more filling than it looks. The flesh is mashed while warm with raw onion, green chilli, coriander and a generous splash of mustard oil, so it tastes mild and earthy with a sharp, nose-tingling finish. It is a weekday lunch with rice and dal, food for someone recovering from illness, and a regular on the bhorta platter during the Pohela Boishakh meal. Peeling the bananas before boiling makes them waterlogged and gluey, so they go into the pot in their skins. Chef's tip: mash while still warm; cold green banana goes hard and lumpy and won't absorb the oil.

25 min

Bangladeshi Chutneys & Dips

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Kancha aam makhaSpiced green mango

Outside every school gate in Bangladesh during the hot months, a vendor with a glass box on his cart sells green mango makha: unripe mango sliced paper-thin and squeezed by hand with salt, sugar, chilli and a splash of mustard oil, handed over in a cone of newspaper with a toothpick. Makha means mixed by hand, and the hand matters, as the squeezing bruises the mango so it softens and drinks in the seasoning. It tastes sour, sweet, salty and hot all at once, with the sharp nose-burn of raw mustard oil, and it is eaten as an afternoon snack in April and May, especially around Pohela Boishakh. Slicing the mango too thick is the error that leaves it hard and bland in the middle. Chef's tip: stir in a spoon of kasundi, Bengali mustard relish, for the version the street sellers call kasundi makha.

10 min

Bangladeshi Snacks & Starters

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Kancha aamer tok dalGreen mango lentil dal

When the first hard, green mangoes fall from the trees around Rajshahi in April and May, cooks slice them into the dal pot, and the result is the most refreshing bowl of the hot season. Tok dal is deliberately thin, almost like a soup, with soft red lentils and slices of green mango that turn tender and tangy, finished with mustard seed and dried chilli crackling in mustard oil. It is eaten poured over plain rice, often as the last thing before a light fish or vegetable curry, because the sourness is meant to cool the body in the heat. Adding the mango at the start leaves it mushy and the dal overly sour, so it goes in once the lentils are soft. Chef's tip: taste the mango first; very sour fruit may need a pinch more sugar to balance it.

35 min

Bangladeshi Curries

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KanchembaFried buckwheat fingers

In the Thakali villages of Thak Khola, kanchemba is what is fried when visitors arrive in the afternoon or when the family gathers on a winter evening, and it has since become a favourite snack in Thakali restaurants in Pokhara and Kathmandu. The buckwheat dough is seasoned with turmeric, chilli and a little onion, rolled into thick fingers, then deep-fried until crunchy outside and soft and nutty in the centre. A punchy dipping achar of tomato, chilli, garlic and roasted timur comes alongside, and the pair is eaten with a bowl of salty butter tea or a glass of hot water. The trouble usually starts when the fingers are too thick, so the middle stays pasty while the outside darkens. Chef's tip: keep the fingers no thicker than your own, and fry at a moderate heat so they cook through before they brown.

40 min

Nepali Snacks & Starters

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KamaRoasted grain flour with kefir

Kama is a uniquely Estonian food: a fine flour of roasted barley, rye, oats and peas, sold in every Tallinn supermarket, stirred into kefir, buttermilk or yogurt with a little sugar or honey and berries. It was once farmers' food for the fields; today it is a fast, filling breakfast and the flavour of Estonian ice creams and sweets. If you can't find kama, roast equal parts barley, rye and oat flour with a little pea flour in a dry pan until nutty. A common mistake is eating it at once; give it a few minutes to thicken. Chef's tip: stir in the kama, leave for 5 minutes, then add the berries, so it thickens like a mousse.

5 minBaltic Breakfast & Brunch

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Aloo goshtMutton and potato curry

If one curry stands for a weekday dinner in a Pakistani house, from Rawalpindi flats to Karachi's Nazimabad, it is aloo gosht: mutton on the bone and halved potatoes in a loose, peppery shorba meant to be soaked up with chapati or poured over plain rice. Nothing about it is fancy; its comfort comes from a long bhuna of onion, tomato and spice before any water goes in, so the thin gravy still tastes deep. The potatoes go in once the meat is half done and come out soft at the edges, having drunk the gravy. Adding them at the start leaves them falling apart while the meat is still chewy, so wait. Chef's tip: when the masala is fully fried, add the water boiling hot, not cold, so the meat keeps cooking and the shorba stays clear rather than greasy.

90 min

Pakistani Meat

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Kandahari tikkaGrilled lamb chunks

Kandahar's tikka houses pride themselves on doing very little to the meat: chunks of lamb, threaded on wide iron skewers with small pieces of tail fat between them, are rubbed with grated onion, salt and black pepper and grilled over fierce charcoal until the fat drips and flares. The result is smoky, juicy and peppery, with crisp edges and a clean lamb flavour, and it is served on hot naan with raw onion, tomato and a sharp green chutney. Over-marinating in onion is a common misstep, as the juice softens the surface into mush after a day; two to four hours is plenty. Chef's tip: let the skewers rest for 2 minutes on the naan before eating, so the bread soaks up the juices.

27 min

Afghan Meat

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KalkanFried turbot steaks

Turbot season on the Bulgarian Black Sea is short and strictly controlled, so in spring locals in Burgas and Balchik queue at the fish market for kalkan, the flat, diamond-shaped fish with firm, sweet white flesh. Seaside restaurants cut it across the bone into thick steaks, dust them with flour and fry them in sunflower oil until the skin is crisp and the flesh pearly, then serve them simply with lemon and a crunchy salad of shredded cabbage and carrot dressed with vinegar. Brill or halibut steaks work the same way if turbot is out of reach. A common mistake is turning the fish too soon, which tears the crust; leave it until it releases from the pan by itself. Chef's tip: score the dark skin twice so the steaks stay flat and cook evenly.

30 min

Bulgarian Fish

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Kalo jeera bhortaNigella seed mash

A bhorta lunch spread in a Bangladeshi home always has one tiny, dark mound that people eat a pinch at a time, and that is kalo jeera bhorta. Nigella seeds are toasted until fragrant, then ground on the shil-pata, the stone slab and roller, with garlic, roasted dried chilli, onion and mustard oil into a coarse, almost black paste that is nutty, bitter and fiery all at once. Grandmothers serve it in winter, believing it wards off colds, and a little is mixed into the first handful of hot rice before moving on to fish or dal. Burnt seeds make it acrid, so the trap is toasting over too high a heat; stop as soon as they smell toasty and start to pop. Chef's tip: grind the seeds alone first, then add the garlic and oil, for a smoother paste in a small grinder.

15 min

Bangladeshi Chutneys & Dips

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ArikanchanTaro leaf rolls in mustard gravy

Arikanchan is a monsoon speciality of Maithil kitchens in Janakpur and the eastern Terai, cooked when the taro plants in the courtyard put out huge, tender leaves. A spiced chickpea-flour paste is spread over the leaves, which are rolled up tight like a Swiss roll and steamed, then the rolls are sliced into spirals, fried and simmered in a punchy gravy of ground mustard seed, garlic, chilli and tomato cooked in mustard oil. The result is soft and layered, with a gentle sourness and the nose-tingling heat of fresh mustard, eaten with rice and a dal. The biggest risk is undercooking the taro leaves, which can leave an itchy, scratchy feeling in the throat. Chef's tip: use only young leaves, strip the thick ribs, and always include the tamarind in the paste, because the sourness neutralises the irritant in the leaves.

70 min

Nepali Vegetarian

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KålrabistappeMashed swede

Kålrabistappe is the bright orange mash of swede that sits beside almost every Norwegian winter dinner: with pinnekjøtt lamb ribs at Christmas in western Norway, with raspeballer on Thursdays, with salted meat and sausages. It is simple: swede and a little potato boiled soft and mashed with butter, a splash of the cooking water and nutmeg. A common mistake is mashing it in a blender, which makes it gluey. Chef's tip: let the swede steam dry in the pan for a couple of minutes after draining; the mash stays fluffy, not watery.

40 minScandinavian Sides

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KalakukkoFish and pork rye loaf

Kalakukko is the travelling food of Savonia in eastern Finland, a speciality of Kuopio's market square: a thick rye crust packed with small whole fish, usually vendace (muikku) or perch, and slices of fatty pork belly, sealed and baked for five or six hours, until the fish bones soften completely and the juices soak the inside of the crust. This dish contains pork. It is cut open like a lid and eaten in slices, crust and all, hot or cold. A common mistake is a crack in the crust, which lets the juices escape and dries out the fish. Chef's tip: patch any cracks with a little rye dough during baking, and wrap the loaf in foil and a towel after baking to rest.

420 minScandinavian Fish

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ChvishtariCornmeal and cheese cakes

Chvishtari belongs to the high villages of Svaneti, around Mestia and Ushguli, where cornmeal and cheese are the winter larder: a stiff cornmeal dough is worked with lots of grated sulguni, shaped into flat cakes and fried or baked so the cheese bubbles out and crisps at the edges. Svan families eat them hot with tea or with a bowl of lobio. A common mistake is using too little cheese; it is the cheese that binds the cornmeal, and a lean dough falls apart in the pan. Chef's tip: wet your hands when shaping, so the dough doesn't stick and the cakes stay smooth. Sulguni is usually made with animal rennet; use a vegetarian cheese.

35 min

Georgian Breads & Parathas

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Chunga pithaBamboo-roasted sticky rice

On cold winter nights in Sylhet and Moulvibazar, especially among the Manipuri and Khasi villages near the hills, sticky binni rice is packed into green sections of dolu bamboo with milk, sugar and coconut, plugged with straw and pushed into the embers of a fire. As the bamboo blackens the rice steams inside, and when the tube is split open it slides out as a smooth, glossy log, sweet, milky and faintly smoky. Families eat it hot, sliced into rounds, sometimes with a curl of date-palm jaggery or with fish curry for a savoury contrast. Fresh bamboo is hard to find outside Bangladesh, so this recipe also gives a banana-leaf and foil method that works under a hot grill. Underfilled tubes are the classic misstep: the rice needs room to swell but should be packed to about three-quarters full. Chef's tip: soak the rice for at least 4 hours so it cooks evenly before the outside scorches.

60 min

Bangladeshi Rice & Grains

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Kalu dodolRice flour and jaggery sweet

Hambantota and Kalutara both claim the best kalu dodol, and roadside shops in each town sell long, black, glistening slabs wrapped in paper, bought by travellers as gifts for the family back home. The sweet is a test of stamina: coconut milk is cooked down until its oil separates, then rice flour and kithul jaggery are stirred in and the mixture is worked over the heat for two to three hours until it turns dark, glossy and stiff, with cashews and cardamom added at the end. It sets into a chewy, fudgy sweet with a deep caramel and coconut flavour, and is served in thin slices during Avurudu and at weddings. Giving up too early is the one mistake everyone makes once; undercooked dodol stays sticky and grey instead of firm and almost black. Chef's tip: use the widest heavy pan you have and a long wooden spoon, and keep stirring the same direction, scraping the base, so nothing catches.

195 min

Sri Lankan 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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KesäkeittoSummer vegetable and milk soup

In July, when Finland's first new potatoes, baby carrots, peas and cauliflower arrive at market stalls in Helsinki and Turku, families make kesäkeitto: the vegetables simmered in water until just tender, then finished with milk and a knob of butter and lots of dill. It is light, sweet and pale green, eaten with rye bread and butter. A common mistake is boiling it once the milk is in, which can curdle the soup. Chef's tip: add the vegetables in order of cooking time, so each is just tender and keeps its colour.

40 minScandinavian Soups

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Kakaós csigaCocoa yeast snails

Walk into any Hungarian bakery at seven in the morning and the window will hold trays of kakaós csiga, cocoa snails, glossy on top and dark-striped inside. Children eat them on the way to school with a carton of chocolate milk, and office workers grab one with a coffee. The dough is soft and milky, rolled up with butter, cocoa and sugar so the swirl turns fudgy and slightly sticky; a brush of syrup after baking keeps them shiny and moist for a day. Where most people go wrong is spreading the filling on too-warm dough, which tears; let the risen dough rest for a few minutes after rolling. Chef's tip: roll the dough up from the long side quite tightly and cut with dental floss or a very sharp knife, so the snails keep their round shape.

120 min

Hungarian Baking

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