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Tortas de aceite sevillanas

Crisp olive-oil flatbreads with anise

Castilleja de la Cuesta, just west of Seville, has made these hand-pressed tortas for well over a century, and across Andalusia they are dunked into morning coffee or eaten as an afternoon snack. The dough is little more than flour, olive oil infused with anise and sesame, and a pinch of yeast, rolled until you can almost see through it and baked with a crust of sugar. Chef's tip: roll each torta directly on the baking paper you will bake it on; the dough is too thin to lift without tearing.

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DanbaukChicken biryani

Weddings, birthday donations and the Friday lunch crowd after mosque prayers in downtown Yangon all call for danbauk, the Burmese take on biryani brought by the city's Indian-Muslim families. It is gentler than most South Asian versions: long grains scented with cardamom, cloves and butter, tender yoghurt-marinated chicken hidden underneath, and a crown of fried onions, plump raisins and golden cashews. Every plate comes with a bowl of sour onion, cucumber and green-chilli salad that cuts through the richness, and often a thin sour soup on the side. The usual slip is boiling the rice fully before layering; it then turns to mush during the slow steam, so pull it while each grain still has a chalky white core. Chef's tip: once the pot is sealed, leave the lid alone and dig in from the side at the table so every scoop brings up chicken and rice together.

120 min

Burmese Rice & Grains

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Atjar tjampoerSweet-sour mixed vegetable pickle

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

30 min

Dutch Chutneys & Dips

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Arepa dominicanaSweet cornmeal coconut cake

Not the stuffed corn patty of Venezuela: in the Dominican Republic arepa means a dense, sweet cornmeal cake that grandmothers once baked in a covered pot with hot coals on the lid. The cornmeal is first cooked with coconut milk, milk, butter, sugar and cinnamon into a thick porridge, then baked until it sets with a dark, caramelised crust and a soft, pudding-like centre. It is eaten at merienda with coffee or a glass of cold milk. The common mistake is not cooking the cornmeal long enough on the hob, which leaves the cake gritty. Chef's tip: let the arepa cool completely before slicing; warm, it is too soft to cut cleanly.

75 min

Puerto Rican Baking

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MeshabekLacy syrup-soaked fritters

Damietta, the port city where the Nile meets the Mediterranean, is famous across Egypt for its sweet shops, and meshabek is one of their signatures: lattice wheels of fermented batter piped into hot oil and dunked in syrup. Fresh from the fryer they shatter like glass and drip with sugar; by the next day they soften into something chewy and just as good. Families buy them by the box for Ramadan evenings, visits and holidays. The batter needs an hour to ferment before frying. The common mistake is frying in oil that is not hot enough, which leaves them pale, soft and greasy, so test it first. Chef's tip: a squeeze bottle with a 4 to 5 mm opening gives the neatest, thinnest lines.

60 min

Egyptian Desserts

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DemikátSheep's cheese soup over bread

Shepherds in the hills of central Slovakia needed only a kettle of water, a lump of bryndza and a loaf of bread to make demikát, a soup that comes together in a quarter of an hour at the salaš, the summer sheep hut. The soft, salty sheep's cheese is mashed with fried onion, paprika and caraway, loosened with boiling water and poured over chunks of bread, then finished with heaps of chives. It is tangy, creamy and very warming. Bryndza is traditionally made with animal rennet and sometimes from raw milk, so for a vegetarian, safer bowl choose a pasteurised sheep's cheese made with vegetarian rennet (a soft feta-style cheese mashed with a little cream cheese works well). The usual slip is boiling the soup after the cheese goes in, which makes it grainy; just bring it to steaming. Chef's tip: use day-old rye bread, toasted, so it soaks up the broth without falling apart.

20 min

Czech Soups

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Arepa di pampunaCinnamon pumpkin pancakes

Curaçao and Aruba use the word arepa differently from their South American neighbours: arepa di pampuna are not corn arepas but small, sweet pumpkin pancakes, fried in a little oil and eaten warm for breakfast, or alongside a bowl of soup or stoba at lunch. The mashed pumpkin makes them tender and bright orange, with cinnamon and a little sugar. The mistake is too much flour, which makes them dense; the batter should be thick but soft. Chef's tip: cook the pumpkin the day before and drain it overnight in the fridge for the lightest pancakes.

30 minCaribbean Breakfast & Brunch

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Bibikhana pithaBaked rice flour and coconut cake

The name means something like a lady's dish, and bibikhana pitha has long been the grand, special-occasion pitha of well-off households in Dhaka, Comilla and Noakhali, made in winter when a son-in-law or important guest is expected. It is closer to a cake than most pithas: rice flour, eggs, milk, grated coconut and date-palm jaggery are beaten together and baked slowly, traditionally in a heavy pan over charcoal with more coals heaped on the lid, until it sets into a dense, moist, caramel-brown cake. It is cut into wedges and served with tea in the afternoon. Baking too hot is the typical slip, so the jaggery burns before the middle sets; a moderate oven and patience give an even colour. Chef's tip: let it cool completely before cutting, as it firms up and slices cleanly only once cold.

60 min

Bangladeshi Baking

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Mbongo tchobiFish in black spice sauce

The Bassa people of the Littoral, between Douala and Édéa, are famous for mbongo tchobi, fish cooked in a startling jet-black sauce. The colour comes from mbongo, the pods of a wild plant in the ginger family, charred over a flame until black and ground with onion, garlic, ginger and njansang; the taste is smoky, peppery and deeply aromatic rather than burnt. Freshwater fish such as carp or tilapia is traditional, simmered gently in the sauce for family gatherings and in Douala restaurants, with boiled plantain, miondo or rice on the side. If mbongo is hard to find, charred black cardamom with grains of paradise gives a similar smoky warmth. Chef's tip: shake the pan instead of stirring once the fish goes in, so the pieces stay whole.

65 min

Cameroonian Fish

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Doon chetinWalnut yogurt chutney

Walnut trees shade the villages of Azad Kashmir, and every autumn sacks of the new crop are cracked by hand on doorsteps from Bagh to Rawalakot; doon chetin is what a lot of that harvest becomes. The kernels are pounded coarse with green chilli, mint and salt, then loosened with thick yogurt into a nubbly, creamy chutney that is mildly bitter, hot and fresh all at once. It is spooned beside rice and haak greens at lunch, served with the meat dishes of a wazwan-style feast, or simply scooped onto bread. Grinding the walnuts to a smooth paste is a mistake; the chutney should keep some crunch. Chef's tip: toast the walnuts in a dry pan for two minutes and rub off any loose papery skin, which removes most of the bitterness.

10 min

Pakistani Chutneys & Dips

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Kachumar saladTomato, onion and cucumber salad

No Pakistani dastarkhwan feels complete without a little bowl of kachumar, whether it sits beside a biryani at a Karachi wedding, a karahi at a highway truck stop or plain dal at home on a Tuesday. It is nothing more than tomato, onion and cucumber cut into very small, even dice, dressed at the last moment with lemon, salt, green chilli and coriander, yet the crunch and sharpness are what make rich food feel lighter. Some families add a pinch of roasted cumin or a few mint leaves; in Punjab it is often spooned straight onto the side of the plate rather than served apart. Dressing it too early is the main trap, because the salt pulls water from the tomatoes and leaves a soggy puddle. Chef's tip: seed the tomatoes and cucumber before dicing so the salad stays crisp for the whole meal.

10 min

Pakistani Salads

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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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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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AreekaWholemeal bread with ghee and honey

In the green mountains of Asir in south-west Saudi Arabia, areeka is the breakfast for guests, weddings and cold mornings in Abha: thick wholemeal breads are torn while still hot and kneaded with ghee into a smooth, soft dome, then hollowed out and filled with a pool of warm ghee, mountain honey and date syrup. Everyone eats from the same plate, pinching off pieces and dragging them through the sweet centre. It is rich, warm and comforting, with a nutty wheat flavour. The usual mistake is letting the bread cool before kneading; it must be worked hot or it will not bind. Serve with cardamom coffee or milky tea, and a spoonful of cream if you like. Chef's tip: wear clean rubber gloves so you can knead the bread while it is properly hot.

45 minGulf Arabian Breakfast & Brunch

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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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Dal goshtMutton and chickpea stew

Stretching a kilo of mutton to feed a big family is an old Pakistani household skill, and dal gosht is its most loved result: chana dal cooked with the meat until the lentils melt into a thick, golden, peppery gravy that is half curry, half stew. It turns up for Friday lunch in Punjab and for everyday dinners in Karachi Urdu-speaking homes, eaten with hot chapati, rice and a sharp salad of onion and tomato. Done right, some dal stays whole while the rest thickens the gravy. A common slip is adding raw dal to the pot at the same time as the meat; dal cooks faster, so it collapses into paste before the mutton is tender. Chef's tip: finish with a tarka of ghee, cumin and fried garlic for a Sunday version, or leave it plain with oil for an everyday pot that stays dairy free.

100 min

Pakistani Meat

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ThamekfoultCouscous with broad beans and peas

Spring in the Kabyle villages means thamekfoult: when the first broad beans and peas come in, they are steamed in the same basket as the couscous, so grain and vegetables cook together in one fragrant cloud of steam. There is no sauce at all; instead, the hot couscous is dressed generously with the region's peppery olive oil, so it tastes green, sweet and grassy. It is a family lunch dish, often eaten with a glass of buttermilk or a few olives; this version keeps it vegan. Chef's tip: oil the couscous before the first steaming, rubbing every grain; that stops it clumping and helps it swell evenly.

75 min

Algerian Rice & Grains

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AwazeBerbere chilli dipping paste

Wherever tibs are fried or meat is grilled in Ethiopia, from roadside butcher-restaurants on the edge of Addis Ababa to wedding feasts, a small dish of brick-red awaze sits beside it. It is berbere turned into a thick, glossy paste: hot, garlicky, a little sharp from lemon, with a rounded warmth from the spices. Strips of meat are dabbed into it, it is stirred into a pan of tibs at the last moment, and a spoon of it livens up plain lentils too. Some cooks loosen it with tej (honey wine) or red wine, both of which contain alcohol; this version uses water and lemon juice and is entirely alcohol-free. Chef's tip: let it rest for an hour before using; the raw edge of the chilli softens and the garlic mellows into the paste.

12 min

Ethiopian Chutneys & Dips

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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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Dal chawal paliduLayered rice and dal

In the Dawoodi Bohra community of Karachi's Saddar and Kharadar, dal chawal palidu is the comfort meal of Sunday lunch and of the shared thaal at community gatherings, and nobody who grew up with it considers it complete without all three parts. Long-grain rice is layered with whole, separate grains of spiced toor dal and crisp fried onion, then steamed, while palidu, a thin, tangy curry made from the dal's own cooking water thickened with gram flour, tempered with mustard seed, curry leaves and garlic and studded with drumsticks, is poured over at the table. It is gentle, sour and deeply savoury. Overcooking the dal is the error to avoid, since it must stay in whole grains for the layers. Chef's tip: drain the toor dal as soon as it is tender and save every drop of the water, because that water is the base of the palidu.

80 min

Pakistani Rice & Grains

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AmiwoRed tomato cornmeal

Fon cooks in southern Benin make amiwo for weddings, christenings and big Sunday tables, and you will find it at celebrations across the border in Lomé too. Maize meal is cooked straight into a well-fried tomato, onion and pepper base until it becomes a thick, brick-red paste that is savoury, slightly sweet and full of tomato. Most often it arrives with fried chicken; this meat-free version uses vegetable stock and comes with fried ripe plantain and an extra spoonful of tomato sauce. Chef's tip: hold back a ladle of the tomato base before adding the cornmeal and spoon it over each portion to serve.

55 minAfrican Rice & Grains

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BibikkanCoconut jaggery cake

Bibikkan is the darkest, stickiest cake in the Sri Lankan repertoire, baked by Burgher families for Christmas and by Sinhala households for the New Year table, and nobody quite agrees whether its roots lie in Portuguese or local kitchens. Freshly grated coconut is first cooked in melted kithul jaggery, then mixed with roasted semolina, flour, eggs, cashews, raisins, chopped ginger preserve and a mix of cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and cloves, and baked until almost black on the outside. The crumb is moist, heavy and chewy with coconut, with a deep treacle sweetness and a warm, spiced finish, and slices are served with tea. Baking it too hot is where it often goes wrong, as the jaggery burns before the middle sets, so keep the oven moderate and cover it if the top darkens early. Chef's tip: cook the coconut in the jaggery until it looks thick and sticky before mixing; that is what gives bibikkan its fudgy texture.

90 min

Sri Lankan Baking

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DuckunooSweet potato and coconut parcels

Duckunoo goes by many names across Jamaica, "blue draws" and "tie-a-leaf" among them, and it is a country sweet with West African roots that is still made in St Elizabeth and Clarendon for Sunday afternoons and Emancipation Day. Grated sweet potato, cornmeal and coconut milk are spiced with nutmeg and cinnamon, folded into banana leaves and boiled until they set into dense, moist, fudgy parcels. The usual mistake is tying the leaves loosely, so water gets in and the pudding turns soggy. Chef's tip: pass the leaves quickly over a flame first; they turn bright green, soft and won't split as you fold.

90 min

Jamaican Desserts

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Dal pakwanFried bread with spiced chana dal

Sunday morning in Karachi's old Sindhi neighbourhoods, and in Hyderabad, means a queue at the dal pakwan stall, or a home kitchen hot with frying oil. Pakwan are crisp, bubbly discs of cumin and black-pepper dough, fried until they shatter like a cracker, and they are eaten broken into a bowl of soft, lightly spiced chana dal, then topped with sweet-sour tamarind chutney, raw onion and a dusting of chilli. The contrast of crunchy, soft, sweet and sharp is the whole point, so the parts are kept separate until the last moment. Thick pakwan are the most common disappointment: rolled too thick, they turn chewy instead of crisp. Chef's tip: roll each one as thin as you can and prick it all over with a fork before frying, so it puffs only a little and stays flat and crunchy.

75 min

Pakistani Breakfast & Brunch

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ThikourbabineSemolina dumplings in pepper sauce

High in the Kabylie mountains east of Algiers, thikourbabine is a winter dish made from what is in the store cupboard: small balls of semolina dough poached in a fragrant red sauce of tomato, paprika, garlic and dried red peppers, with chickpeas, potatoes and courgettes. The dumplings turn tender and slightly chewy and soak up the sauce, which is peppery and warming rather than very hot. Families eat it from a shared bowl on cold evenings. Some cooks add meat; this is the meatless way it is often made at home. Chef's tip: let the dumplings rest after shaping; the surface dries a little and they hold together in the simmering sauce.

65 min

Algerian Vegetarian

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Dabba goshtMutton and macaroni bake

Only a Dawoodi Bohra kitchen would put macaroni into a mutton curry and bake it under a lid of egg, and dabba gosht is the triumphant result, made in Karachi for weddings, Eid and the big communal meals of Muharram. Boneless mutton is simmered until tender in a pale gravy of yogurt and ground cashew, mixed with soft elbow macaroni, poured into a dabba (a tin or deep dish), covered with whisked eggs and baked until golden on top. Inside it is creamy and mild with black pepper and cardamom; the crust is soft and set. The pitfall is overcooking the pasta before it goes in, because it keeps drinking sauce in the oven; boil it two minutes short. Chef's tip: keep the sauce looser than you think it should be when you assemble, as it thickens a lot under the egg.

100 min

Pakistani Meat

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Daging smoorBeef braised in sweet soy

Daging smoor, from the Dutch 'smoren', to braise, is the Indo-Dutch version of Indonesian semur: beef braised for hours in kecap manis sweet soy sauce with onion, garlic, nutmeg, clove and a little tomato, until tender and coated in a dark, glossy, sweet-savoury sauce. It is a Sunday and rijsttafel dish in Indo-Dutch families in The Hague and is served with rice and atjar. A common mistake is a hard boil, which makes the meat tough and the sauce too salty as it reduces. Chef's tip: add the nutmeg at the start and a pinch more at the end, so its warmth runs through and the fresh aroma comes through on top.

170 min

Dutch Curries

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Daal mashWhite urad dal with ghee tarka

Walk into any dhaba on Lahore's Mall Road or in the lanes behind Anarkali after dark and daal mash is on the counter beside the tandoor, a pot of split white urad lentils cooked until each grain is soft but still separate, never a soup. It is eaten scooped up with hot tandoori roti, with a heap of raw onion rings and a squeeze of lemon, and it is rich enough to stand in for meat at a weeknight dinner. The flavour comes almost entirely from the last minute: a ladle of ghee crackling with garlic, ginger, green chilli and cumin poured over at the table. The usual mistake is adding too much water, which turns it to mush; it should cook in just enough to be absorbed. Chef's tip: soak the dal for 30 minutes and stir it as little as possible once it is in the pot, so the grains stay whole.

50 min

Pakistani Curries

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