Featured recipe

Zunda mochi

Rice dumplings with edamame paste

Zunda is Sendai's signature sweet: young green soybeans mashed with sugar into a coarse, pale-green paste. Farmers in Miyagi made it at the end of summer, when edamame were at their best, and it is still sold everywhere from Sendai station's souvenir halls to small tea shops, now also as zunda shakes and rolls. The flavour is gentle, beany and fresh, closer to sweet peas than to red bean paste. Spoon it over warm, chewy rice dumplings and serve with green tea. Chef's tip: rub the skins off the cooked beans. It takes ten minutes but turns the paste from dull khaki to a vivid jade colour.

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25 min

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40 min

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Bakeries across Hong Kong pull trays of cocktail buns from the oven before the morning rush, and schoolchildren and commuters buy them warm in paper bags to eat on the bus or with milk tea at a cha chaan teng. The story goes that 1950s bakers invented them to use up day-old bread mixed with sugar and coconut, so the name is a playful nod to a cocktail of leftovers. Today the soft, milky roll holds a sweet, buttery coconut filling that's slightly sandy and chewy, under two piped stripes and a scatter of sesame seeds. A soft, warm filling tends to ooze out during proving and baking, so chill it until firm before you roll the buns. Chef's tip: roll each bun up tightly from the long side and pinch the seam well, then place it seam-down; loose rolls split open in the oven.

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Soviet cafés and school canteens sold these knobbly brown 'potatoes' for a few kopecks, and they began as a thrifty way to use up sponge and biscuit trimmings at the bakery. Crumbs are bound with butter and sweetened condensed milk, flavoured with cocoa and vanilla, shaped into little potatoes, rolled in cocoa and finished with two dabs of pale butter cream for the sprouts. They are fudgy and dense like a brownie truffle, need no oven, and children love making them. Traditional bakers added a spoonful of rum, an optional extra for adult batches only; this version is alcohol-free with vanilla. The usual slip is coarse crumbs, which make the potatoes crack, so blitz them as fine as sand. Chef's tip: chill the shaped potatoes for at least 20 minutes so they hold their shape and slice cleanly.

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Winter in Punjab has a sound, and it is the snap of gajak: thin, glossy sheets of toasted sesame bound in jaggery, sold from piled trays outside the sweet shops of Multan, Gujranwala and Lahore from the first cold week of December. It is nutty, crunchy and toffee-sweet, with the earthy depth of gur, and families keep a tin of it beside the heater to nibble after dinner with green tea or to share with visitors. The commercial kind is hammered and pulled into flaky layers, but the home version poured thin and rolled flat is what most households make. The pitfall is pulling the jaggery off the heat too early, which gives a brittle that turns chewy and sticky after a day. Chef's tip: test the syrup by dropping a little into cold water; it must snap cleanly at once, and that hard-crack stage is reached quickly, so have the sesame warm and ready. Take care: the syrup is far hotter than boiling water.

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FyddzhynBeef and onion pie

In North Ossetia, pies come in threes, for the sun, earth and sky, and the meat pie in that stack is fyddzhyn: a thin, soft yeast crust wrapped around juicy minced beef, onion, garlic and a little chilli, with a small hole in the middle to let out steam. The Ossetian people serve it at every family gathering and feast, hot and dripping with butter brushed on as it leaves the oven, cut into wedges and eaten with the hands. A common mistake is rolling the crust thick; good fyddzhyn is all filling and the dough should be barely 4 mm. Chef's tip: add a few spoons of cold stock to the mince; it turns to steam in the oven and keeps the filling juicy.

105 min

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Banatage (tuna potato croquettes)

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65 min

Tunisian Snacks & Starters

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GaboutStuffed dumplings in tomato stew

Gabout is old Kuwaiti home cooking, the kind grandmothers in Kuwait City still make for family lunches in winter, and a close relative of the Iraqi dumplings brought along the trading routes of the Gulf. Soft flour dough is wrapped around spiced lamb or beef mince with chickpeas, and the dumplings are simmered in a sour tomato and dried-lime stew until they are tender and plump. It is filling and comforting, eaten with bread or on its own. The mistake people make is rolling the dough too thick, which makes the dumplings heavy and doughy. Chef's tip: wet your fingers when sealing, the dough must close tightly or the filling leaks into the stew.

120 minGulf Arabian Meat

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Fuži s tartufimaHand-rolled pasta with truffle

Autumn in the Mirna valley of inland Istria, around Motovun and Buzet, means truffle hunters and dogs in the oak woods and plates of fuži in every village konoba. Fuži are small squares of egg pasta wrapped round a stick into quills, and here they are tossed with butter, a splash of their cooking water and grated truffle, so each one carries a glossy, earthy coat. Fresh black or white truffle is best; a little truffle paste works too, but read the label and avoid products that rely on artificial truffle aroma. The aged hard cheese is often made with animal rennet, so choose a vegetarian hard cheese if you need to. Where most people go wrong is cooking the truffle: heat kills its scent, so add it off the heat. Chef's tip: store the fresh truffle overnight in a closed jar in the fridge with the eggs for the dough; they soak up its perfume through the shell.

60 minBalkan Pasta & Noodles

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SulguniStretched cheese

Sulguni is the famous cheese of Samegrelo, made in Zugdidi homes by taking fresh, slightly soured curd, cutting it up and working it in hot water until it can be pulled into a glossy, layered, salty ball. It is eaten in thick slices, melted into elarji and khachapuri, and smoked over embers for a darker version. The curd has to be acidic enough to stretch, so you make the cheese one day and stretch it the next, or buy fresh Imeretian cheese and start from there. Traditionally animal rennet is used; vegetarian rennet works too. A common mistake is trying to stretch fresh, sweet curd; it melts into a puddle instead of pulling. Chef's tip: test a small piece in hot water first; if it stretches 30 cm without breaking, the curd is ready.

70 min

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

60 min

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FrüchtewäheFruit custard tart

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60 min

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Bajre di rotiPearl millet flatbread

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35 min

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Baigan chokaRoasted aubergine mash

In south Trinidad, from Penal to Siparia, baigan choka is the breakfast or dinner you make when there is an aubergine, a fire and some sada roti on the tawa. The skin is charred right over the flame until the flesh inside collapses, smoky and silky, then it is mashed with raw garlic and hot pepper and "chunkayed" with a spoonful of sizzling oil. The usual mistake is pulling the aubergine off the flame too early; any firm part in the middle tastes raw and spongy. Eat it with roti or rice and dhal. Chef's tip: push slivers of garlic into slits in the aubergine before roasting, then mash them in; you get mellow roasted garlic and a sharp raw note together.

30 min

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Bajan fish cutterFried flying fish sandwich

Around Barbados a "cutter" is any sandwich in a salt bread roll, and the fish cutter is the lunch people queue for at beach bars from Oistins to Bathsheba: a piece of flying fish (or mahi-mahi, called dolphin locally) seasoned with Bajan seasoning, crumbed, fried crisp and stuffed into a split roll with lettuce, tomato and a dab of fiery yellow pepper sauce. The fish should be juicy and the crust shattering. The usual mistake is frying too cool, which makes the coating greasy; keep the oil hot and fry in small batches. Use flying fish fillets if you can find them frozen, or any thin white fish. Chef's tip: rub a little of the frying oil over the cut sides of the rolls and toast them in a dry pan, so the bread doesn't go soggy under the fish.

25 min

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Frikandel speciaalSausage with mayo and onion

The frikandel is the snack-bar sausage of the Netherlands, fried from frozen in every cafetaria and eaten at football matches and after a night out: a long, skinless sausage of finely minced meat, and 'speciaal' means split open and topped with mayonnaise, curry ketchup and raw chopped onion. Factory frikandellen use a mix of meats; this homemade version uses beef and pork mince, so it contains pork. A common mistake is skipping the poaching step, so the sausages break up in the fryer. Chef's tip: roll them in cling film and poach first, then chill; they hold their shape and fry crisp in minutes. Minced meat must reach 71 °C.

60 min

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FrikkadelsFried spiced meatballs

Frikkadels came to Sri Lanka with the Dutch in the 1600s and were reinvented by the Burgher community into small, crumbed, deep-fried meatballs scented with onion, garlic, cinnamon, cloves and dill. They are party food first, piled on platters at Burgher Christmas gatherings, christenings and Colombo club teas, and they are also tucked into lamprais parcels or eaten with a sharp seeni sambol and bread. Good ones are crunchy outside and very juicy within, never dense or dry. The trap to avoid is overworking the mince and skipping the soaked bread, which together make the balls tough. Chef's tip: shape them the size of a walnut and chill them for 30 minutes before crumbing, so the coating sticks and they hold their round shape in the hot oil.

60 min

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AluwaRice flour diamond sweets

Pale, smooth and cut into precise little diamonds, aluwa brings a touch of order to the crowded Avurudu sweet tray, and it is often the first sweet children learn to help make because there is no deep-frying involved. Rice flour is roasted until it smells like biscuits, then kneaded with hot sugar syrup, chopped cashews and cardamom into a firm dough, rolled out and cut. The finished sweet is dense, slightly crumbly and not too sweet, with a gentle nuttiness, and it keeps for weeks in a tin to be offered to visitors with tea. The point where it goes wrong is the syrup: too thin and the aluwa never sets, too thick and the dough cracks before you can roll it, so aim for the one-thread stage. Chef's tip: roll the dough between two sheets of baking paper and cut it while it is still warm and pliable; once cold it breaks instead of slicing.

45 min

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Alu kesel curryPlantain turmeric curry

Alu kesel, the grey-skinned cooking plantain whose name means ash banana, is picked green and treated like a vegetable, and this creamy curry is a regular on Kandyan lunch tables and at temple almsgivings, where it fills out the spread cheaply and well. The slices are rubbed with turmeric and salt, fried until golden at the edges, then simmered in coconut milk with unroasted curry powder, fenugreek, cinnamon and pandan, so they turn soft and starchy like potato with a hint of banana sweetness. It sits happily beside parippu, a green mallung and a sharp pickle. Peeling the plantains with dry hands is a messy mistake, because the sap stains skin and knives black; oil your hands and the blade first. Chef's tip: frying the slices before they go into the gravy keeps them in neat pieces; unfried plantain tends to fall apart and thicken the curry into paste.

40 min

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Fries suikerbroodCinnamon sugar bread

Fries suikerbrood, sûkerbôle in Frisian, is the bread Frisian families bring when a baby is born: a soft white loaf filled with large sugar nibs and cinnamon, so that as it bakes the sugar melts into sticky, crunchy pockets. Leeuwarden bakeries sell it every day, sliced and buttered with coffee. A common mistake is using fine sugar, which dissolves completely; it must be the big pearl sugar nibs. Chef's tip: knead in the sugar only at the end and gently, and bake the loaf in a tin so the melting sugar caramelises against the sides.

80 min

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Jug jug belongs to Christmas in Barbados, served alongside baked ham and roast pork on the big lunch table: green pigeon peas and salted beef and salted pork, cooked tender and minced, then stirred with guinea corn (sorghum) flour, herbs and onion into a thick, savoury, mouldable mash. Its roots are often traced to Scottish settlers' haggis and West African grain cookery, and it tastes rich, salty and herby. The common mistake is not soaking the salt meats long enough, which makes the whole pot too salty to eat; soak them overnight in plenty of water. Cook until the minced meat mixture is piping hot (71 °C) throughout. Chef's tip: stir in the sorghum flour a spoonful at a time while the pot bubbles, like making polenta, so it never turns lumpy.

180 min

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Fritaja sa šparogamaWild asparagus scrambled eggs

Come April, families across Istria and the Kvarner coast of Croatia walk the hedgerows picking thin, dark wild asparagus, and the first bunch nearly always becomes fritaja. Despite the name it is softer than an omelette: the spears are fried in olive oil, then beaten eggs are stirred through until they set in loose, creamy curds. Wild asparagus tastes greener and slightly bitter, which is lovely against the rich egg; thin garden asparagus works if you can't forage. Eat it for breakfast or a light supper with crusty bread and a glass of cold water or fresh juice. The usual slip is cooking the eggs hard and dry; stir gently over a low heat and stop while they still look moist. Chef's tip: snap each spear and keep only the part that breaks cleanly; the woody ends never soften.

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Gefilte fishPoached fish dumplings

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

120 min

Israeli Fish

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GowurmaSlow-fried preserved lamb

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

140 min

Turkmen Meat

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Reform tortaWalnut meringue chocolate cake

Belgrade pastry shops have sold reform torta since the early twentieth century, and it is still the cake Serbian families bring out for birthdays, weddings and the slava. Three thin layers of walnut meringue, crisp at the edge and chewy inside, are stacked with a dense chocolate butter cream made with egg yolks cooked over steam until thick. It is very rich, so cut thin slices and serve with strong coffee. The usual slip is beating the butter into a chocolate mixture that is still warm, which melts it and splits the cream; let it cool to room temperature first. Chef's tip: assemble the cake the day before; overnight in the fridge the meringue softens a little and the cake slices cleanly with a hot knife.

150 minBalkan Baking

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Bahamian cracked conchBattered fried conch

Cracked conch is the Bahamas' answer to fish and chips, served at Potter's Cay dock stalls in Nassau and family restaurants across the Out Islands: conch steaks pounded ("cracked") thin, soaked in lime, dipped in a peppery batter and fried crisp, with chips, peas 'n' rice or coleslaw. Done properly the inside is tender and sweet like calamari. The common mistake is not pounding enough, which leaves the conch chewy; it should be thin and almost lacy. Buy cleaned conch from a trusted fishmonger and discard any that smells strongly. Chef's tip: let the battered pieces rest on a rack for 5 minutes before frying so the coating sticks and stays crisp.

40 minCaribbean Fish

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FlódniFour-layer poppy seed and fruit pastry

Four stripes of filling, black poppy seed, golden apple, nutty walnut and dark plum jam, stacked between thin sheets of shortcrust: that is flódni, the Hungarian-Jewish pastry of Budapest's old Jewish quarter around Kazinczy and Dob streets. Jewish families bake it for Purim and Hanukkah, and the bakeries of the seventh district sell it by the slab all year. Each cut slice should be moist, dense and not too sweet, best with a glass of tea or black coffee. Many families make the dough with a little sweet white wine and use margarine so it can follow a meat meal; this version keeps it alcohol-free with grape juice, and you can swap the butter for a firm baking margarine to make it dairy-free. The usual slip is rolling the sheets too thick, so the pastry swamps the fillings; each one should be barely 3 mm. Chef's tip: bake it a day ahead and slice it cold with a hot, wet knife, because the layers settle overnight and cut cleanly.

150 min

Hungarian Baking

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Flygande JacobChicken, banana and bacon bake

Flygande Jacob, 'flying Jacob', was invented in 1976 by Ove Jacobsson, an air-freight worker, and the recipe appeared in a Swedish magazine; within years it was one of the most-made party dishes in Sweden. Cooked chicken is mixed with whipped cream and chilli sauce, layered with sliced banana, baked, then topped with crisp bacon and salted peanuts and served with rice. This dish contains pork, in the bacon. It is sweet, salty and creamy, and gloriously retro. A common mistake is using raw chicken, which leaks juice and makes the sauce thin. Chef's tip: use roast chicken from the day before; it must already be cooked to 74 °C.

45 minScandinavian Chicken

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FogueteFried pastry tubes with pumpkin preserve

Foguete means rocket in Portuguese, and these slim, golden pastry tubes, fried crisp and stuffed with sticky ash-pumpkin preserve, really do look like little fireworks lined up on the Christmas tray of a Portuguese Burgher household. A rich dough of flour, egg, butter and coconut milk is rolled thin, wrapped around metal tubes and fried until blistered, then filled with chopped preserve mixed with cashews, cardamom and rosewater. They shatter when you bite, then give way to a soft, fragrant, honeyed centre, and are eaten with tea through the Christmas week. The trap is frying in oil that is too hot, so the pastry browns before it crisps and goes soft once cool; keep it steady at about 170 °C. Use cannoli tubes, or short lengths of thick, clean wooden dowel. Chef's tip: grease the tubes well and seal each pastry with egg white only along the overlap, never on the tube, or the tubes will be impossible to slide out.

75 min

Sri Lankan Baking

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FlijaLayered batter pie

Flija is the dish of long summer afternoons in Kosovo, from the Rugova valley to the villages around Prizren, when friends gather and take turns tending the saç, a domed iron lid heaped with embers. Thin batter is painted onto a round tray in spokes, cooked under the heat, brushed with a mix of sour cream and yogurt, then painted again, until 15 or more layers have built up over a couple of hours. Cut into wedges, it is chewy, buttery and lightly scorched, served with honey, white cheese, pickled peppers or a bowl of yogurt. At home, a very hot oven grill stands in for the saç. The most frequent mistake is crowding the batter: each spoke must leave a finger-wide gap for the next layer to fill, or the pie becomes a thick, gummy pancake. Chef's tip: keep the batter as thin as single cream, and whisk in a spoonful of water whenever it thickens as it stands.

240 minBalkan Baking

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Bahamian guava duffSteamed guava roll

Guava duff is the Bahamas' best-loved dessert, served at Junkanoo season, Sunday dinners and Nassau restaurants alike: a soft dough spread with sweet stewed guava, rolled up, wrapped in cloth or foil and steamed until tender, then sliced and drowned in a warm butter sauce. Traditionally the sauce has rum in it, which is only lightly cooked, so the rum version is for adults only; the vanilla sauce below makes it alcohol-free for everyone. The most common mistake is rolling the duff too tight, which stops it rising; leave room in the wrapping for it to swell. Chef's tip: sieve the guava pulp to remove the hard seeds, and keep the thick paste for the filling.

135 minCaribbean Desserts

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KletskoppenLacy almond biscuits

Kletskoppen are the lacy, crackly biscuits of Bruges, sold in the old city's bakeries and served with coffee in the cafés around the Markt: brown sugar, butter and chopped almonds with very little flour (this version uses none), baked until they spread into thin, see-through, toffee-flavoured lace. A common mistake is putting them too close on the tray; they spread enormously and join up. Chef's tip: let them cool for a minute on the tray before lifting, and drape them over a rolling pin while still warm if you want curved tuiles.

30 min

Belgian Baking

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FlatkökurRye flatbread

Flatkökur are round, flat rye breads that Icelanders char straight on the hot plate of the stove, or over a gas flame, until they are speckled black and smoky; they are eaten buttered, with smoked lamb (hangikjöt) or cheese, at every Christmas and confirmation and in lunchboxes all year. The dough is made with boiling water so it is soft and easy to roll. A common mistake is letting the dough cool before rolling; scalded rye dough stiffens and cracks. Chef's tip: roll it while warm and prick all over with a fork so it stays flat as it chars.

30 minScandinavian Breads & Parathas

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FlødebollerChocolate marshmallow wafer treats

Flødeboller, 'cream buns', are Denmark's favourite party sweet: a soft, fluffy meringue foam piped onto a thin wafer or marzipan base and dipped in dark chocolate, so it bites like a cloud in a crisp shell. Children take them to school on birthdays, and Copenhagen chocolatiers make fancy versions with liquorice or raspberry. This version uses a cooked sugar-syrup meringue, so the egg whites are heated safely. A common mistake is dipping warm foam into chocolate; it melts and slides. Chef's tip: chill the piped foam well, then pour the chocolate over rather than dipping, which is easier and gives a smooth shell. For gluten free, use marzipan bases.

80 minScandinavian Desserts

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ForshmakChopped herring pâté

Forshmak came to Odesa with its Jewish community and became a citywide favourite, spread on toast at family celebrations, in Moldavanka courtyards and on restaurant zakuska boards. Salted herring is chopped with tart apple, hard-boiled egg, onion and bread soaked in milk, then whipped with soft butter into a pale, creamy pâté that is salty, sweet and gently sharp all at once. Serve it on toasted rye or white bread with spring onion. Herring for forshmak is cured but not cooked, so buy ready-salted fillets from a good fishmonger, commercially prepared or previously frozen, keep everything cold and eat within 2 days; it is not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system. Blitzing it to a smooth paste is the usual error; Odesa cooks like a little texture. Chef's tip: grate the apple at the last moment and add a squeeze of lemon, so it stays white and fresh.

30 min

Ukrainian Snacks & Starters

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FiskekakerWhite fish cakes

In Bergen, the fishmongers at the harbour fish market sell fresh fiskekaker made that morning: white fish such as haddock or pollock blended with milk, potato starch and nutmeg into a soft, pale paste, shaped into flat cakes and fried in butter. They are served with boiled potatoes, grated raw carrot and a white sauce or melted butter, or cold in a sandwich. A common mistake is adding the milk too fast, which makes the mix loose. Chef's tip: blend the fish with salt first until sticky, then add the cold milk a little at a time, so the cakes come out springy and smooth. They are cooked when firm and opaque in the middle.

40 minScandinavian Fish

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FlæskestegRoast pork with crackling

Flæskesteg is the Danish Christmas Eve roast: a pork loin or belly with its rind scored deep, rubbed with salt and bay, and roasted until the crackling puffs into crisp, golden ridges. This is a pork dish. It is served with brunede kartofler, red cabbage, plain boiled potatoes and gravy, and the crackling is the prize everyone fights over. A common mistake is scoring the rind too shallow or not all the way across, so it cracks unevenly. Chef's tip: start the joint rind-down in a little boiling water for 20 minutes, which softens the rind, then turn it up and roast; it crackles evenly. Whole pork joints are safe at 63 °C followed by a 15-minute rest.

140 minScandinavian Meat

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Filets de percheFried perch fillets

Filets de perche are the signature dish of the lakeside restaurants around Lake Geneva, from Geneva to Lausanne and Montreux: small, delicate perch fillets dusted with flour, fried quickly in butter until golden, and served with lemon, tartare sauce, a pile of fries and a green salad on a summer terrace. Lake perch is scarce today; ask for responsibly sourced perch or use small fillets of pike-perch or another delicate white fish. A common mistake is crowding the pan, which steams the thin fillets. Chef's tip: fry in batches in foaming butter for just a minute or so a side; the fish is done when opaque and it flakes.

25 min

Swiss Fish

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Steamed scallops with garlic and glass noodles

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

25 min

Hong Kong Fish

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Fini rotiLayered fried sugar bread

During Tihar, the five-day festival of lights in late autumn, sisters in Kathmandu and Pokhara prepare a basket of treats for Bhai Tika, and fini roti, a crisp round of fried bread made of dozens of paper-thin layers, sits in it beside sel roti, nuts and sweets. A simple dough of flour and ghee is rolled very thin, spread with a paste of ghee and rice flour, rolled into a log and cut, so that each piece fans out in the hot oil into a flaky spiral that shatters at the first bite. It is lightly dusted with sugar, lasts for days in a tin, and is eaten with tea or given to visiting relatives. The layers vanish if you make the paste with melted ghee, which seeps out instead of staying put. Chef's tip: beat the ghee and rice flour together until fluffy and pale like soft butter, and keep the dough cool so the layers stay distinct.

60 min

Nepali Baking

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Flaki po warszawskuBeef tripe soup

Warsaw's old milk bars and wedding receptions share one great soup: flaki, a peppery tripe broth scented with marjoram, nutmeg and ginger, served piping hot, traditionally late at night to revive tired guests. The Warsaw version adds tender beef meatballs (pulpety) and plenty of julienned root vegetables, so it is heartier than the plain flaki of other regions. Tripe has a soft, slightly chewy bite and soaks up the warm spices. Buy cleaned, blanched beef tripe from a butcher. A mistake that ruins many pots is skipping the first blanching: without it the soup smells strongly and never tastes clean. Make it a day ahead if you can; it improves overnight. Chef's tip: add the marjoram twice, a spoon during cooking and a generous pinch rubbed between your palms just before serving, which is what gives Warsaw flaki its signature smell.

240 min

Polish Soups

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Figgy duffSteamed raisin pudding

Figgy duff is the pudding that boils in its cloth bag alongside a Newfoundland Jiggs dinner on Sundays; in Newfoundland, raisins are called figs. Breadcrumbs, molasses, raisins and spices make a dark, soft, steamed pudding that is cut into thick slices and eaten hot with molasses coady (a butter-molasses sauce) or custard. This home version steams in a pudding basin rather than a cloth. A common mistake is letting the pan boil dry; keep a kettle hot for topping up. Chef's tip: soak the breadcrumbs and raisins first so the pudding is moist all through.

170 min

Canadian Desserts

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Bahamian stew fishGrouper in roux gravy

Bahamian stew fish is old-fashioned Sunday breakfast in Nassau and the Family Islands: firm fish such as grouper or snapper simmered in a dark brown gravy built on a flour-and-oil roux, with onion, celery, tomato and thyme, served over grits or with johnnycake. The flavour is deep, savoury and a little smoky from the browned flour. The usual mistake is a pale roux; cook the flour slowly until it is the colour of milk chocolate, but don't let it burn. Ask for thick fish steaks or fillets. Chef's tip: stir the roux with a flat wooden spatula so you can scrape every corner and keep it browning evenly.

60 minCaribbean Fish

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FijuelasHoney-soaked fried dough spirals

Fijuelas are the Hanukkah sweet of Moroccan Jews, also made for weddings and bar mitzvahs, and grandmothers in Netanya and Ashkelon still roll them by the hundred on a fork. Paper-thin strips of egg dough are wound into spirals as they hit the hot oil, puffing into crisp, lacy roses, then dipped in warm honey syrup with orange blossom. They should shatter when bitten and taste of honey rather than grease. The mistake that ruins them is rolling the dough too thick, which makes them chewy and oily; you should almost see the counter through it. Chef's tip: keep the syrup warm and the fried spirals cool, so they absorb a thin glaze and stay crisp for days.

60 min

Israeli Desserts

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Flamiche dinantaiseStrong cheese tart

The flamiche of Dinant is eaten only one way: straight from the oven, so hot it burns the fingers, as the townspeople say. It is a rich, wobbly tart of strong fresh boulette or Herve-style cheese beaten with eggs and plenty of butter on a thin yeasted base, and Dinant's 'Confrérie de la Flamiche' still holds an annual tasting. Boulette and Herve cheeses are usually made with animal rennet; a strong vegetarian soft cheese mixed with fromage frais works. A common mistake is letting it cool; it sets and loses its creaminess. Chef's tip: serve it the moment the top puffs and turns golden.

60 min

Belgian Vegetarian

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FrenaShabbat flatbread

In Moroccan-Jewish homes from Ashdod to Kiryat Shmona, frena comes out of the oven on Friday afternoon and sits on the Shabbat table beside a dozen little salads: carrots with cumin, matbucha, beetroot, roasted peppers. The dough is wet and soft, pressed into a pan pooled with olive oil, so the base fries as it bakes and turns crackly while the inside stays airy and chewy. It is torn, never sliced, and dragged through the salads. The usual mistake is adding flour until the dough feels easy to handle; a stiff dough gives a dense, bready frena. Chef's tip: dimple the risen dough hard with oiled fingers right down to the pan, so the oil rises into the pockets and every bite has a crisp edge.

45 min

Israeli Breads & Parathas

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FarfelEgg pasta pilaf with onions

Farfel, little barley-sized pellets of egg pasta, are what many Ashkenazi grandmothers in Israel cook instead of rice, especially on Friday nights alongside soup and roast vegetables. Toasted in oil until golden, then simmered in stock with soft onion, they turn out fluffy and separate with a gentle nutty taste, a bit like a tiny pasta pilaf. This version uses vegetable stock, so it is vegetarian and dairy free. Serve it as a side or stir through mushrooms for a light supper. A common mistake is adding too much stock, which makes the pellets swell into a sticky mass. Chef's tip: toast the farfel until it smells like toast and is evenly amber before any liquid goes in.

30 min

Israeli Pasta & Noodles

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Fasolka po bretońskuWhite beans in tomato with sausage

Despite its name, nothing about fasolka po bretońsku is French; this is pure Polish canteen and milk-bar food, the thick, brick-red bean stew that has fed Warsaw students, soldiers and hungry families for generations. White beans simmer in tomato with smoked pork sausage, smoked bacon, onion and plenty of marjoram until creamy, smoky and slightly sweet. It is filling enough on its own with a hunk of bread and even better reheated the next day. Under-cooked beans are the most common disappointment; they must be soft right through before the tomato goes in, because acid stops them softening. Soak the dried beans overnight beforehand. Chef's tip: mash a ladle of the cooked beans against the side of the pot before serving to give the sauce its typical velvety body.

90 min

Polish Meat

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FatirLayered butter flatbread

Fatir is the rich, flaky flatbread of Tajik homes and Dushanbe bakeries, made for qurutob, for guests and for festivals: dough rolled thin, spread with butter or ghee, folded and coiled into many layers, then baked against the wall of a tandir until crisp outside and soft and layered inside. It tears into flakes and soaks up sauces beautifully. A common mistake is baking it too slowly, which dries it out; it needs a very hot oven. Chef's tip: brush with ghee as soon as it comes out, then wrap it in a cloth for 5 minutes to soften the crust slightly.

75 min

Tajik Breads & Parathas

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Falsa sherbetFalsa berry drink

For a few short weeks in May and June, Punjabi fruit sellers from Multan to Lahore pile their carts with falsa, tiny purple-black berries with a big seed and a sweet-sour, grape-like flavour, and roadside stalls crush them in big jugs of iced water with sugar and a pinch of black salt. The sherbet is a striking magenta, tart and salty-sweet, and people swear by it as a cooler against the loo, the scorching summer wind; it is also a favourite at iftar when Ramadan falls in summer. Outside Pakistan look for frozen falsa in South Asian grocers, or use blackcurrants, which give a similar colour and sharpness. A common slip is blending the berries hard, which cracks the seeds and turns the drink bitter. Chef's tip: just rub the berries with the sugar and a little water by hand or pulse very briefly, then strain, so you get all the juice and colour and none of the bitterness.

15 min

Pakistani Drinks

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FaworkiCrisp fried dough ribbons

On Fat Thursday, the last Thursday before Lent, Polish queues for pączki are matched only by the piles of faworki, also called chruściki, sold by the bag. They are paper-thin strips of rich egg-yolk and sour-cream dough, each pulled through a slit to make a twist, fried for seconds until they blister and puff into shattering, bubbly shards. Many families add a spoon of spirit to the dough to make them extra crisp; vinegar does the same job alcohol-free and is used here. Where most people go wrong is rolling the dough too thick, which gives chewy biscuits rather than glass-thin crisps. Chef's tip: beat the dough with a rolling pin for 5 minutes before rolling; the air you trap makes the bubbles.

60 min

Polish Desserts

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EtoMashed yam with palm oil

Eto is a dish for marking occasions among the Akan, made on birthdays and celebration mornings, when boiled yam (or plantain) is mashed in an earthenware asanka bowl with red palm oil, raw onion and a little pepper until it turns golden and fragrant. It is served in a mound with halved boiled eggs, slices of ripe avocado and a handful of roasted groundnuts, so every mouthful is soft, buttery and crunchy at once. It is filling, simple and very good. Avoid mashing the yam to a smooth purée; eto should keep a rough, crushed texture. Chef's tip: mash the yam while it is steaming hot and add the oil at the same time, because cold yam goes gluey and will not absorb the oil evenly.

40 min

Ghanaian Vegetarian

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FafernuchyHoney and carrot Christmas cookies

Old Masurian and Warmian households baked fafernuchy weeks before Christmas and kept them in tins, where they slowly mellowed; children found them in their stockings and on the Christmas plate. They are small, hard, pebble-like biscuits, sweetened with honey and given a gentle colour and moisture from finely grated carrot, with a little spice in some homes. Expect a proper crunch, made for dunking in tea. A common mistake is expecting them to be soft straight from the oven; they are meant to be firm and soften only a little in the tin. Chef's tip: grate the carrot on the finest side of the grater so the dough stays smooth and holds its shape.

60 min

Polish Baking

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BagiyaSesame jaggery rice dumplings

When the new rice is harvested in late autumn, Maithil households in Janakpur, Siraha and Saptari steam bagiya, plump spindle-shaped dumplings of rice-flour dough that are offered to the gods, given to married daughters visiting home and eaten warm on cold winter mornings. The smooth, chewy shell hides a sweet centre, here toasted sesame bound with melted jaggery and a pinch of cardamom, though some families use molasses toffee (chaku), grated coconut or sweetened milk solids instead. Plain bagiya are also made and eaten with chutney. A common slip is using cold water for the dough, which makes it crumble and split; it must be made with boiling water. Chef's tip: knead the dough while it is still as hot as your hands can bear, with a little oil on your palms, until it is as smooth as play dough.

60 min

Nepali Indian Sweets

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EscavècheCold fried fish in vinegar jelly

Escavèche is a speciality of the Chimay and Couvin area in southern Wallonia, a legacy of Spanish rule in the 16th century: fish fillets, traditionally eel or pike, fried and then covered with a hot marinade of vinegar, onion, thyme and bay that sets into a clear, tangy jelly as it cools. It is eaten cold, sliced, with crisp fries, in the brasseries of the Botte du Hainaut. A common mistake is not cooking the fish through before it goes into the marinade; cold marinade does not cook it. Chef's tip: let it set for at least 12 hours in the fridge; the vinegar mellows and the jelly firms. The fish should be opaque and flaking before marinating.

55 min

Belgian Fish

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FahsaShredded lamb stew with fenugreek

Fahsa is the lunch of Sana'a, Yemen: in the old city's restaurants it arrives volcanically hot in a black stone pot called a madara, still bubbling, with a cap of whipped fenugreek on top and a stack of flatbread for scooping. Lamb is slow-cooked until it shreds, then fried hard with its thick broth, tomato and hawaij, so it is meatier and drier than saltah, the broth-based cousin already on this site. The fenugreek froth adds a bitter, savoury edge against the rich meat. The usual mistake is serving it lukewarm: fahsa should still be spitting when it reaches the table. Chef's tip: heat a small cast-iron pan in the oven while you cook, then finish the fahsa in it for that sizzling stone-pot effect.

180 minGulf Arabian Meat

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FendishaSweet or salted popcorn

Popcorn might seem an odd companion to coffee, but at an Ethiopian buna ceremony a heaped tray of fendisha is as expected as the incense and the little cups. The hostess pops it while the coffee boils, and it is eaten in small handfuls between the three rounds of coffee. Some families like it plain with a pinch of salt, others scatter sugar over it while it is still hot so it catches in the crevices; both are made here. It is crisp, light and best within an hour or two. Whole popcorn is a choking risk for children under five, so serve them something else. Chef's tip: leave the lid slightly ajar while it pops so the steam escapes; trapped steam is what makes popcorn chewy.

8 min

Ethiopian Snacks & Starters

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Erdélyi fatányérosMixed grill platter

The name means 'wooden plate', and that is how this Transylvanian-Hungarian feast is brought to the table in Cluj and Târgu Mureș restaurants: a big board heaped with fried potatoes and topped with grilled pork chops, veal escalopes and crisp smoked bacon, surrounded by pickled cucumbers, peppers and red cabbage. It is meant for sharing, two or four people picking from one board, and it smells of garlic, marjoram and smoke. The pork and bacon make this very much a pork dish, balanced by the sharp pickles. Where people most often go wrong is grilling everything at once; cook the bacon first and use its fat for the meat, so nothing dries out while waiting. Chef's tip: score the edge of each pork chop through the fat every 2 cm; it stops the chops curling up in the pan and cooking unevenly.

60 min

Romanian Meat

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HangikjötSmoked lamb with white sauce

Hangikjöt, 'hung meat', is the Icelandic Christmas Day dinner: lamb or mutton smoked over birch or dried sheep dung, then simmered slowly and served hot or cold with potatoes in white sauce (uppstúfur), green peas, red cabbage and laufabrauð or flatkökur. Icelanders buy it ready-smoked in December; it is cooked at home. A common mistake is boiling it hard, which toughens the meat and makes it too salty. Chef's tip: let it cool in its cooking water; the meat stays juicy and absorbs back some of the flavour.

130 minScandinavian Meat

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ErgoSoured milk

Cattle-keeping families across rural Ethiopia leave fresh milk to thicken in smoked clay pots or gourds, and the result, ergo, is tangier and looser than yoghurt, somewhere between set buttermilk and a soft curd. It is spooned beside a spicy kitfo or wat to calm the heat, eaten for breakfast with bread, or drunk as it is on hot afternoons. The traditional way relies on raw milk souring by itself, which is not safe to copy at home; this version uses pasteurised whole milk with a spoon of live buttermilk or yoghurt as the starter, so the right bacteria do the work. Allow about 24 hours at room temperature for it to set. Chef's tip: keep it somewhere steady at 22–26 °C; too cool and it barely thickens, too warm and it separates into whey and lumps.

15 min

Ethiopian Basics

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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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Espageti ayisyenSpaghetti with hot dogs

In Haiti, spaghetti is a breakfast food, and Saturday mornings in many homes start with a big pan of espageti: thin pasta tossed with sliced hot dogs fried in epis, tomato paste and a little hot pepper, often eaten with a boiled egg or a slice of avocado. It is quick, salty, savoury and loved by children. The mistake to avoid is boiling the pasta fully, then frying; it turns mushy, so cook it just short of done. Fry the hot dogs until piping hot all through (71 °C), as with any sausage. Chef's tip: save a cup of the pasta water; a splash of it turns the tomato and epis into a glossy coating.

30 min

Haitian Breakfast & Brunch

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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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Pandan chiffon cake

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

80 min

Singaporean Baking

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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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Enchilado de camaronesShrimp in Creole tomato sauce

Despite the name, Cuban enchilado isn't fiery: it is shrimp cooked in a red Creole sauce of tomato, sweet pepper, onion, garlic and a splash of dry white wine, the way it is served in seaside restaurants from Havana's Malecón to Varadero. It goes over white rice with a side of tostones. The wine is simmered for several minutes, but for an alcohol-free sauce use fish stock with a squeeze of lime instead. The common mistake is adding the shrimp too early so they turn rubbery; they need only 3 or 4 minutes at the end. Chef's tip: simmer the shrimp shells in the wine for 10 minutes and strain it into the sauce; it doubles the seafood flavour.

40 min

Cuban Fish

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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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Bahamian switchaKey lime drink

On Bahamian porches and at Fish Fry stalls in Nassau, switcha is the everyday cooler: fresh key limes squeezed with sugar and cold water, stirred up in a big jug with plenty of ice. It's sharper and more fragrant than lemonade, and you'll see the lime halves floating in the jug. The usual mistake is putting sugar straight into cold water, where it sinks undissolved: make a quick syrup first. Chef's tip: drop a few squeezed lime halves into the jug for 10 minutes for extra aroma, then take them out before the pith turns it bitter.

10 minCaribbean Drinks

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Fever grass teaLemongrass and ginger tea

In Jamaican country yards a clump of fever grass, the local name for lemongrass, grows by the kitchen door, and a handful steeped in boiling water is the old remedy for colds, aches and restless nights. Brewed with fresh ginger, it is lemony, gently peppery and soothing, and is drunk hot, sweetened with a little brown sugar. The mistake people make is using the stalks whole, which gives a weak tea; bruise and cut them to release the oils. Chef's tip: tie long leaves in a knot before you add them, as country cooks do, so they are easy to lift out.

15 min

Jamaican Drinks

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FrgályYeast tarts with pear or cheese

At weddings and church fairs in Moravian Wallachia, in the hills around Rožnov and Vsetín, tables are stacked with frgály: yeast tarts as wide as a dinner plate, rolled so thin the filling seems to sit on a crisp, chewy disc. The classic toppings are dried pear mixed with plum butter, sweet tvaroh (Czech quark), or poppy seed, all scattered with a buttery crumble. This recipe makes four, two with each of the first two fillings. Tvaroh is usually set without rennet, but some brands use it, so check the label. The usual slip is leaving the dough thick in the middle, which makes a bready tart; roll right to the edge, about 3 mm thick. Chef's tip: bake on the lowest oven shelf on a hot tray, so the base browns before the filling dries.

150 min

Czech Baking

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EkalaSpring greens in walnut paste

For a few weeks each April, Imeretian market women in Kutaisi sell tight bundles of ekala, the young shoots of wild smilax that climb through hedges and forest edges. They are blanched, chopped and pounded with walnuts, garlic and spices into a pkhali-style salad for the Lenten and Easter table, with a nutty, slightly bitter, asparagus-like taste. Outside Georgia, the tender tips of asparagus or green beans make a good stand-in. A common mistake is over-boiling the shoots; they lose their snap and turn khaki. Chef's tip: let the walnut paste sit on the greens for an hour before serving, so the garlic mellows and the flavours knit together.

40 min

Georgian Salads

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Ekpang nkukwoGrated cocoyam and plantain parcels

Patience is the main ingredient of ekpang nkukwo, a festive dish of the Efik and Ibibio of Calabar and Akwa Ibom. Grated cocoyam and unripe plantain are rolled into little leaf parcels, stacked in a pot and cooked slowly in a broth of palm oil, periwinkles, prawns, smoked fish and pepper until the parcels set into soft, sliceable rolls in a thick, orange sauce. It is a meal in itself, often made for Christmas and family gatherings. Cocoyam leaves are traditional; large spinach or chard leaves work if you blanch them first. Raw cocoyam can itch the skin, so wear gloves to grate it, and cook the dish fully. Chef's tip: do not stir until the parcels have cooked for at least 25 minutes, or they will unroll and dissolve into the broth.

120 min

Nigerian Fish

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TermesBrined lupin beans

Termes sellers push their carts along the Nile corniche and outside schools and mosques, scooping the plump yellow beans into paper cones, especially around Sham el-Nessim in spring. You nip the skin with your teeth and pop out the firm, salty, nutty bean, with lemon, cumin and chilli on top. Dried lupins are naturally very bitter and must be soaked, cooked and then soaked again for about a week before they are safe to eat, so the hands-on time is short but the process is long. Never skip the debittering: badly prepared lupins can cause poisoning, so taste one before serving and keep soaking if any bitterness remains. Lupin is also a common allergen, especially for people allergic to peanuts. Chef's tip: once debittered, store them in salted water in the fridge, where they keep for two weeks.

105 min

Egyptian Snacks & Starters

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ElarjiCornmeal and cheese porridge

Elarji is the pride of Zugdidi and the rest of Samegrelo, where cornmeal is the everyday staple; the porridge is cooked until thick, then beaten with so much grated sulguni that it pulls up in long, glossy strings as you serve it. It goes to the table hot, with a bowl of bazhe walnut sauce or spicy ajika, and Mingrelians judge a cook by how long the cheese stretches. A common mistake is adding the cheese while the porridge is still loose; it sinks and goes rubbery instead of weaving through. Chef's tip: use a strong wooden spoon and beat hard in one direction as the cheese melts, which is what builds the stretch. Most sulguni is made with animal rennet, so look for a vegetarian one or use low-moisture mozzarella.

45 min

Georgian Vegetarian

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EleshChicken and potato pies

At Tatar weddings in the villages east of Kazan, elesh come to the table early, little pleated pies about the size of a fist, each filled with chopped chicken and potato and baked until the tops glow. The meat goes in raw with onion and butter, so it cooks in its own juices inside the sealed pastry and stays moist; a spoon of broth is added through a tiny vent halfway through. The pastry is rich with butter and sour cream and goes soft under a cloth after baking. A common mistake is leaving the chicken in big chunks; cut it small or the potato is done long before the meat. Chef's tip: use thigh rather than breast, it stays juicy through the long bake.

115 min

Russian Chicken

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