Featured recipe

Halászlé

Spicy carp soup

Halászlé is the fiery fisherman's soup of the rivers Tisza and Danube, and on Christmas Eve it is on almost every Hungarian table; the towns of Szeged and Baja each claim the best version. A rich stock is made from fish heads and bones with onions and lots of paprika, sieved until smooth and red, and then thick slices of carp (or catfish) are poached in it at the last moment. Serve with white bread and fresh hot peppers. Chef's tip: poach the fish fillets without stirring; just swirl the pot so the pieces stay whole.

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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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DibyazaApricot and date compote

No Eid table in Jeddah or Mecca is complete without a bowl of dibyaza, a thick, glossy compote that old Hejazi families make the night before the festival and serve at breakfast alongside cheese, olives and fresh bread. Sheets of dried apricot paste melt into a tangy orange syrup that wraps around soft dates, figs, prunes and crunchy nuts, so every spoonful is sweet, sour and jammy at once. Some households stir in fried onion for a savoury edge; this version keeps it to fruit and nuts. People often boil it hard and scorch the bottom, because apricot paste catches very easily. Keep the heat low and stir from the base. It keeps for a week in the fridge. Chef's tip: soak the apricot paste in hot water until completely soft before it goes near the heat; it then dissolves smooth instead of leaving rubbery shreds.

60 minGulf Arabian Desserts

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Dominica crab backsBaked spiced crab in the shell

In Dominica, crab backs are a celebration starter, especially around Independence Day in November: the island's land-crab meat is picked, seasoned with lime, chives, garlic, thyme and hot pepper, piled back into the cleaned shells, topped with breadcrumbs and baked until crisp. Land crabs are hard to come by and their season is protected, so this home version uses cooked crab meat. Buy it fresh or pasteurised from a trusted fishmonger, or cook your own live crabs, discarding any that are already dead or smell bad before cooking. The common mistake is drowning the crab in breadcrumbs; it should be mostly crab, held together lightly. Bake in cleaned crab shells or small ramekins. Chef's tip: mix in a little of the brown meat with the white for a richer, sweeter flavour.

50 minCaribbean Fish

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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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Aish finoSoft white finger rolls

Ask any Egyptian about school lunches and aish fino comes up: the long, soft white rolls that bakeries sell by the bagful each morning and parents split and fill for lunch boxes. The crumb is pillowy and slightly sweet, the crust thin and pale gold, perfect for white cheese, halawa, egg, falafel or a smear of molasses and tahini. Its name comes from the French pain fin. Allow about 1½ hours for rising. Overbaking is the classic mistake; take them out while still pale gold, otherwise the crust turns hard instead of soft. Chef's tip: cover the rolls with a clean tea towel as soon as they leave the oven so the steam keeps the crust tender.

45 min

Egyptian Breads & Parathas

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Aish baladiWholemeal pocket bread

Aish means 'life', and in Egypt this bread really is: neighbourhood bakeries turn out thousands of loaves an hour, cooling on palm-rib trays carried through the streets on cyclists' heads. Made with wholemeal flour and rolled in bran, the rounds puff dramatically in a fierce oven into a soft, slightly chewy pocket with a nutty, wheaty taste. It is the scoop, spoon and wrapper for ful, falafel, salads and stews at every meal. Allow about 1 hour 45 minutes for rising and resting. The most common mistake is a stone or tray that isn't hot enough, so the rounds bake flat with no pocket. Chef's tip: preheat the oven at its highest setting for a full 45 minutes, and bake only two rounds at a time.

55 min

Egyptian Breads & Parathas

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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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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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Asopao de polloSoupy chicken and rice

Somewhere between a soup and a risotto, asopao is the pot Puerto Rican mothers put on for a rainy Sunday, a cold, or a hangover after a long party night, and it is spooned straight from deep bowls with tostones on the side. Bone-in chicken is seasoned with garlic, oregano and lime, simmered in a sofrito broth, then rice goes in until the whole pot turns thick and brothy, finished with olives, capers, peas and strips of roasted pepper. The common mistake is making it ahead: the rice keeps drinking the broth and turns stodgy, so cook it just before eating, or keep extra stock to loosen leftovers. Chef's tip: take the pot off the heat while the rice is still a touch firm; it carries on cooking in the bowl.

75 min

Puerto Rican Soups

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Egyptian dukkahHazelnut and sesame spice dip

Bread, a saucer of olive oil and a bowl of dukkah make one of the oldest snacks on an Egyptian table, set out at breakfast, with evening tea or for guests who drop by unannounced. Crunchy, nutty and fragrant with coriander and cumin, it is a dry, coarse mixture rather than a paste: you dip the bread in oil first, then into the dukkah so it clings. Families keep a jar of it in the cupboard and sprinkle it over boiled eggs, salads and roast vegetables too. Grinding it too long is the usual mistake; the nuts release their oil and it turns into a sticky butter, so pulse in short bursts and stop while it is still sandy. Chef's tip: toast each ingredient separately, because sesame browns in half the time hazelnuts need.

20 min

Egyptian Chutneys & Dips

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Roz me'ammarCreamy clay-pot baked rice

Village kitchens across the Nile Delta, from Menoufia to Sharqia, slide a clay pot of roz me'ammar into the bread oven for feasts, Fridays and Eid lunch. Short-grain rice bakes slowly in milk, cream and butter until it sets into a soft, rich block with a crisp, golden-brown crust on top that everyone fights over. In the Delta it usually comes with roast pigeon or duck; for a meat-free table it is just as good with a sharp salad, pickles and a dish of mish. Stirring it once it is in the oven is the mistake to avoid: it breaks the crust and makes the rice gluey. Chef's tip: use Egyptian or other round, short-grain rice; long-grain rice will not drink up the milk the same way.

115 min

Egyptian Rice & Grains

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Asun peppered goatPeppered grilled goat

Asun started in Ekiti, where goat was roasted whole over an open fire, and it has become the star of Lagos owambe parties and Friday evenings at the bar. Skin-on goat is boiled with seasoning until just tender, grilled until smoky and charred at the edges, chopped into bite-size pieces, then tossed in a hot sauce of scotch bonnet, onion and a little oil. It is chewy in a good way, smoky and very spicy, eaten on its own, with jollof rice or with cold drinks. Cook the goat until tender and no pink remains. Chef's tip: dry the boiled goat well before grilling; wet meat steams and never takes on the charred, smoky flavour that makes asun.

95 min

Nigerian Meat

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Antiguan ducanaSweet potato coconut dumplings

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

75 minCaribbean Desserts

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Atama soupPalm nut and atama leaf soup

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

90 min

Nigerian Meat

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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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KalachPadlock-shaped wheat bread

Street sellers in nineteenth-century Moscow shouted for kalachi hot from the oven, and the town of Murom near Vladimir had its own famous version. The loaf is shaped like a padlock with a thin arched handle; carters and labourers held it by the handle with grimy hands, ate the plump body and, so the story goes, left the handle for the poor, which gave Russian the phrase 'to come to the handle' for hitting rock bottom. The dough is lean and vegan, just flour, water, yeast and salt, kneaded firm and chilled, so the crumb comes out white, chewy and close under a thin crisp shell. Eat it warm with soup, or tear it with tea and jam. A common mistake is a slack dough; it must feel firm, or the handle loses its shape. Chef's tip: pour hot water into a tin on the oven floor as the bread goes in; the steam gives the glossy, pale crust.

175 min

Russian Breads & Parathas

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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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Bannu pulaoBeef pulao in bone marrow stock

Bannu, a town in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has given its name to one of Pakistan's richest rice dishes, now sold by pulao houses across Peshawar, Islamabad and Karachi with the town's name painted proudly over the door. Its secret is the stock: beef and marrow bones simmered for hours until the liquid turns cloudy and gelatinous, then used to cook long-grain rice so every grain is glossy with beef fat. The rice is served piled up with fist-sized pieces of boiled beef on top, alongside raita and a fresh chilli-tomato salad, at weddings and Friday lunches. Watery rice is the common failure, because the stock is not reduced enough; it must be concentrated, almost like gravy. Chef's tip: let the stock cool and lift off some of the fat, then fry the onions in that fat, so nothing is wasted and the rice tastes of beef throughout.

190 min

Pakistani Rice & Grains

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Antiguan chop upMashed aubergine, okra and spinach

Antigua's national plate pairs fungee, a cornmeal and okra loaf, with pepperpot, and on the side there is often chop up: aubergine, okra and spinach cooked down with onion, garlic and thyme, then mashed to a soft, green-flecked purée. It is gentle, savoury and silky, and some cooks add butter or salted meat; this version is vegan and uses coconut oil. The mistake to avoid is stirring the okra too much early on, which makes it slimy; let it soften undisturbed, then mash. Chef's tip: a squeeze of lime at the end lifts the flavour and calms any okra stickiness.

45 minCaribbean Vegetarian

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Barbadine punchGranadilla milk drink

Barbadine, the giant granadilla, grows on vines over backyard fences across Trinidad and turns up at Sunday lunch blended into a pale, creamy punch. The fruit's soft white flesh and the perfumed seed pulp inside are both used, giving a gentle passion-fruit flavour that milk, nutmeg and a little sugar round out. It is alcohol-free and made for the whole family. A frequent mistake is blending the seeds hard, which cracks them and turns the drink gritty and bitter: pulse the pulp briefly and strain it. Chef's tip: if you can't find barbadine, use the pulp of 6 passion fruit plus 200 g peeled honeydew melon for a similar taste.

15 min

Trinidadian Drinks

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DaudoHand-cut noodle soup with mutton

Once snow closes the passes into Hunza and the apricot trees are bare, families gather around a pot of daudo: a mutton broth thick with short, hand-rolled wheat noodles, potatoes, carrots, spinach and plenty of fresh coriander and mint. It is everyday mountain food, eaten for supper from deep bowls and passed to anyone who comes in from the cold, sometimes with a spoonful of local apricot-kernel oil on top. The noodles are rough and chewy, the broth peppery and green with herbs. Adding the noodles too early leaves them swollen and the soup gluey, so keep them for the last few minutes. Chef's tip: for a vegetarian version, simmer the vegetables in a good vegetable stock and add a handful of chickpeas instead of the mutton.

105 min

Pakistani Soups

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Kalai rutiUrad dal and rice flour bread

In Chapai Nawabganj and Rajshahi, kalai ruti stalls fire up as the weather turns cold, and the bread has become such a regional symbol that people from Dhaka make the trip just to eat it. Flour ground from mashkalai, or urad dal, is mixed with rice flour and hot water, then patted by hand between wet palms into thick rounds and baked on a clay tawa until speckled and toasty. The texture is dense, soft and slightly chewy, with an earthy, nutty taste. It is always eaten with something sharp: a raw bhorta of onion, green chilli and mustard oil, a smoky begun bhorta, or duck or beef curry in winter. Over-wet dough is what defeats most first attempts; it should be soft but hold its shape when patted. Chef's tip: keep a bowl of water beside you and wet your palms before shaping each ruti, which stops sticking and gives the characteristic smooth surface.

45 min

Bangladeshi Breads & Parathas

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AnoushabourChristmas wheat pudding

Anoushabour, 'sweet soup', is cooked by Armenian families for New Year and for Christmas, which the Armenian church keeps on 6 January; in Yerevan and diaspora kitchens a big pot is made and bowls are carried to friends. Whole hulled wheat is simmered until creamy, sweetened and filled with apricots, raisins and prunes, then topped with walnuts, almonds, pomegranate and cinnamon. A common mistake is adding the fruit early, which turns it to pulp. Chef's tip: stir in a spoon of rose water at the end and serve the pudding cool; it sets slightly and the flavours come together.

120 min

Armenian Desserts

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DaqqusTomato garlic chilli sauce

Spoon by spoon, daqqus goes over almost every plate of kabsa, mandi and machboos from Riyadh to Kuwait City: a thin, bright sauce of ripe tomato, lots of garlic and hot chilli that cuts through rich rice. Restaurants in Najd serve it in little bowls beside the rice tray, and some families make it raw, others cook it briefly as here, which mellows the garlic and deepens the colour. It should be pourable and tangy, not thick like ketchup. People often overcook it into a paste; keep it loose with a splash of water. It also works with grilled fish and eggs. Chef's tip: grate the tomatoes on a box grater and discard the skins for a silky sauce without blending.

20 minGulf Arabian Chutneys & Dips

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Kakra bhunaMud crab masala

The muddy channels of the Sundarbans and the shrimp farms around Shyamnagar and Paikgachha are crab country, and in Khulna homes the big-clawed mud crabs are chopped in half, fried and then cooked down in a thick, fiery masala until it coats every crack and crevice. It is a dish for eating with your hands, sucking the masala from the shells and cracking the claws, with plain rice and a bowl of water for your fingers. Crabs must be bought alive and lively, or freshly cooked from a fishmonger you trust: throw away any that are dead before cooking, have a cracked shell or smell unpleasant. Ask the fishmonger to dispatch and clean them for you if you are not confident doing it yourself. Undercooking is the risk to avoid; the shells should be bright orange-red and the meat white and opaque right through. Chef's tip: crack the claws lightly before they go in, so the masala seeps inside.

60 min

Bangladeshi Fish

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DammsugareMarzipan cake-crumb rolls

The dammsugare, 'vacuum cleaner', got its name because Swedish bakeries invented it to use up crumbs and offcuts of cake swept up at the end of the day: the crumbs are mixed with butter, cocoa and flavouring, rolled into logs, wrapped in bright green marzipan and dipped in dark chocolate at both ends. Bakeries usually flavour the filling with punsch, a sweet arrack liqueur; this version uses vanilla and a little orange, and is alcohol-free. A common mistake is rolling the marzipan too thick, which makes it cloying. Chef's tip: roll the marzipan thin between sheets of baking paper and chill the filled logs before cutting.

40 minScandinavian Desserts

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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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Kala bhunaDark mustard oil beef curry

Kala means black, and that is the colour you are aiming for: Chittagong's kala bhuna is beef that is first cooked with spices until tender and then fried and stirred, patiently, for the best part of an hour until the pieces turn dark brown to nearly black and the masala clings to them like a crust. It is a dish from the port city's wedding and Eid kitchens, now a fixture of Chittagong restaurants in Dhaka, eaten with plain rice, khichuri or rice-flour chitoi ruti. The taste is deep and roasted, sharp with mustard oil, black pepper and a little nutmeg and mace, with no gravy at all. The most common slip is turning up the heat to speed up the blackening, which burns the spices bitter rather than caramelising the meat. Chef's tip: it improves overnight, so make it a day ahead and re-fry it briefly before serving.

150 min

Bangladeshi Meat

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AvelookDried braided sorrel with walnuts

In Syunik, the mountainous south of Armenia around Goris, women pick wild mountain sorrel in May and braid the long leaves into ropes that hang drying in every kitchen. In winter and during Lent the braids are soaked, simmered until soft and fried with onion and walnuts, giving a dark, earthy, sour salad with a taste somewhere between spinach and olives. Braids are sold in Armenian shops. A common mistake is skipping the second boil, which leaves the leaves bitter and tough. Chef's tip: squeeze the cooked sorrel well and fry it long enough to dry and slightly crisp at the edges; that is when the flavour deepens.

60 min

Armenian Salads

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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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Macarona bechamelBaked penne with beef and béchamel

Every Egyptian family has an opinion on how thick the béchamel should be, and a tray of macarona bechamel turns up at Friday lunches, Ramadan tables and family gatherings from Alexandria to Aswan. Penne is layered with minced beef cooked down with onion, tomato and a breath of warm spice, then sealed under a deep blanket of white sauce that bakes to a freckled golden crust. Cut into squares, it should stand up on the plate: soft, creamy pasta below, savoury meat in the middle, set custardy sauce on top. Serve it with a green salad or a bowl of molokhia and plenty of pickles. Don't make the béchamel too thin: it should coat the back of a spoon thickly, or the bake slumps when you cut it. Chef's tip: stir a ladle of the béchamel into the plain pasta before layering; it binds the bottom layer so the slices hold their shape.

80 min

Egyptian Pasta & Noodles

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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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MishAged chilli cheese

Traditionally made in clay jars that are kept going for years, mish is the strong, salty aged cheese that farmers in Upper Egypt and the Delta eat with bread, onions and tomatoes in the fields. It is sharp, creamy and very pungent, with chilli heat and a bitter-sweet note from fenugreek, and a little goes a long way beside bettaw, roz me'ammar or ful. This safer home version starts from pasteurised white cheese and ages in the fridge for 4 to 8 weeks instead of months on a shelf. White cheeses are often set with animal rennet, so choose one labelled vegetarian. As a home-fermented food it is best skipped by pregnant women, young children and anyone with a weakened immune system. Chef's tip: always use a clean, dry spoon; one wet spoon is the mistake that lets mould in.

25 min

Egyptian Basics

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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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Ang ku kuehRed glutinous rice cakes

Red for luck and shaped like a tortoise for long life, ang ku kueh are carried to Hokkien and Teochew family altars and handed out in boxes at a baby's first-month celebration, at elders' birthdays and at temple festivals across Singapore, from Chinatown shophouses to neighbourhood confectioners in Bukit Merah. The skin is soft, chewy and slightly elastic, made from glutinous rice flour kneaded with mashed sweet potato, and it wraps a smooth, mildly sweet filling of split mung bean (or crushed peanut and sugar). Each cake is pressed in a carved wooden mould and steamed on a square of banana leaf. The usual mistake is steaming over a fierce boil, which makes the skin puff up, crack and lose the printed pattern; steam gently with the lid slightly open. Chef's tip: brush the cakes with a little oil the moment they come out of the steamer, so the pattern shines and the skin doesn't dry out or stick together.

130 min

Singaporean Desserts

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Ayam buah keluakChicken with black keluak nuts

Ask any Peranakan family in Singapore which dish defines the Nyonya table and most will name this one, cooked for Chinese New Year, ancestral offerings and big birthday lunches. Chicken is braised in a sour tamarind gravy built on a long-fried rempah of chillies, shallots, galangal, lemongrass and shrimp paste, together with buah keluak, the hard black nut of the kepayang tree, whose inky flesh tastes of dark chocolate, mushroom and olive. Diners dig the paste out with a teaspoon and stir it into rice. Raw keluak nuts contain hydrogen cyanide and are poisonous: use only cleaned, pre-soaked nuts sold ready to cook, and still soak them for several days, changing the water every day, as the seller's instructions say. The mistake people regret is skimping on that soak, which leaves the nuts bitter as well as unsafe. Chef's tip: cook it a day ahead; the gravy darkens and the flavours deepen overnight.

180 min

Singaporean Chicken

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Brabants worstenbroodSausage roll

Worstenbrood is a Brabant institution, bought from bakeries in Eindhoven, Tilburg and Den Bosch for birthday mornings, Sunday breakfast and above all for carnival in February: a soft, slightly sweet bread dough wrapped around a log of minced pork seasoned with nutmeg, pepper and clove, baked golden. This is a pork dish. A common mistake is wrapping the dough too thick, which leaves a doughy roll and an undercooked middle. Chef's tip: roll the dough thin and bake until the filling reaches 71 °C; eat it warm from the oven.

70 min

Dutch Snacks & Starters

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Egyptian shattaFresh red chilli sauce

Squeeze bottles of shatta stand on the tables of every koshari shop in downtown Cairo, and diners shake in as much as they dare along with the garlic vinegar. The Egyptian version is a fresh, bright, loose sauce of red chillies blended with garlic, vinegar, cumin and a little oil, quite unlike the dried-chilli shata of Sudan. It goes with ful, falafel, lentil soup, roast potatoes and almost any sandwich. Wear gloves when handling the chillies and keep your hands away from your eyes; capsaicin on the fingers is the classic mistake, and it lasts for hours. Chef's tip: a brief simmer after blending takes the raw edge off the garlic and lets the sauce keep for two weeks in the fridge.

15 min

Egyptian Chutneys & Dips

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AndijviestamppotEndive and Gouda mash

Stamppot, mashed potato stirred with vegetables, is the Dutch winter dinner, and the endive version is a little lighter: raw, finely shredded curly endive is stirred into piping-hot mash, so it wilts slightly but keeps a fresh, bitter crunch, then cubes of aged Gouda are folded in and start to melt. Dutch families eat it with gravy and a smoked sausage; this vegetarian version uses a pool of brown butter. Aged Gouda is usually made with animal rennet, so choose a vegetarian aged Gouda-style cheese. A common mistake is cooking the endive, which turns it soggy and grey. Chef's tip: stir the endive in off the heat at the very last moment.

30 min

Dutch Vegetarian

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Anday ka halwaEgg halwa

Sweet, golden and grainy like a rich crumble, egg halwa is the quick showpiece of Hyderabadi and Karachi home kitchens, made when unexpected guests arrive or for a winter Sunday, and it fills the house with the smell of ghee and cardamom. Eggs are beaten with milk, sugar and milk powder, then stirred in ghee until the custard sets, breaks and finally fries into soft, sandy granules that cling together like khoya; there is no eggy taste once it is properly cooked. It is served warm in small bowls, topped with almonds and pistachios, sometimes with a few saffron threads. The commonest failure is stopping too soon, when the halwa is still wet and scrambled-egg-like, rather than cooking on until it turns granular and golden and the ghee separates. Chef's tip: strain the beaten egg mixture through a sieve before cooking, which removes the stringy whites and gives a smooth, even grain.

50 min

Pakistani Indian Sweets

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Dambun namaSpiced shredded beef floss

During Ramadan and Eid in Kano, Kaduna and Maiduguri, tins of dambun nama appear on every table: beef boiled tender with onion and ginger, pounded in a mortar until it falls into fine threads, then fried slowly with onion and spices until it is dry, fluffy and golden. It keeps well, which is why it was made before long journeys, and it is eaten as a snack, with rice or tucked into bread. The texture should be like soft wool, not crunchy crumbs. Because the meat is fully cooked before drying, it is safe; store it in the fridge. Chef's tip: let the boiled beef steam dry for ten minutes before pounding, as wet meat clumps in the pan instead of separating into threads, which is the usual mistake.

130 min

Nigerian Meat

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Anda parathaEgg-stuffed paratha

At the dhabas along the GT Road and the breakfast stalls of Rawalpindi's Saddar, the paratha-wala cracks an egg straight into a bowl with onion and chilli, half-cooks a paratha, pours the egg over and flips the whole thing onto the tawa so the egg fries into the bread. The result is one golden, layered disc that is crisp at the edges, soft where the egg meets the dough, and peppery with green chilli. Truck drivers, students and office workers eat it folded in half with chai, ketchup or green chutney, and it is a common packed lunch for school because it needs no curry. The problem most people run into is pouring the egg onto a raw paratha, which tears, or onto a fully cooked one, which will not let the egg stick. Chef's tip: cook the first side only until brown spots appear, then add the egg to the cooked side and flip so the egg sets against the hot iron.

30 min

Pakistani Breakfast & Brunch

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Kaju maluwaCashew and pea coconut curry

In the cashew-growing country north of Colombo, around Kurunegala and Puttalam, fresh green cashews are cooked into this creamy curry for weddings, almsgivings and the Avurudu table, and no one would dream of calling it everyday food. The nuts turn soft and buttery in a mild, pale gravy of coconut milk scented with cinnamon, pandan and unroasted curry powder, with green peas for colour, and it sits on the festive spread beside yellow rice and a sharp pickle. Fresh cashews are hard to find outside Sri Lanka, so this recipe uses raw dried ones soaked until they are almost like the fresh kind. Not soaking them long enough is the usual mistake; they stay chalky in the middle however long they simmer, so give them at least six hours, or overnight. Chef's tip: a pinch of bicarbonate of soda in the soaking water softens the nuts faster and gives them that tender, just-picked texture.

50 min

Sri Lankan Curries

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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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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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KahiFlaky pastry with date syrup

Kahi is what Baghdadi families in Ramat Gan and Or Yehuda make on Shavuot and festival mornings: squares of dough folded with butter into many layers, baked until flaky, then doused with silan (date syrup) or sugar and eaten with tea or a little yogurt. Outside it shatters; inside the layers stay soft and buttery. The common mistake is letting the butter melt into the dough while folding, which leaves you with a flat, bready square. Chef's tip: chill the folded dough for 20 minutes between rolls if your kitchen is warm, and bake in a really hot oven so the layers puff.

60 min

Israeli Breakfast & Brunch

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AnababeroLayered injera with spiced butter

Ask for anababero at a breakfast café in Addis Ababa and two injeras arrive stacked as one, glued together with melted niter kibbeh and a dusting of berbere, then warmed on the griddle until the butter soaks through. The result is soft and tangy inside, a little crisp at the edges, and much richer than plain injera; the name roughly means 'layered' or 'piled on top'. It is torn and eaten as it is with sweet spiced tea or coffee, or served beside a bowl of ayib or a spoon of awaze for anyone who wants it hotter. Because it uses yesterday's injera, it is a favourite way to turn leftovers into a proper breakfast. Chef's tip: brush the butter on warm, not hot, so it melts into the injera's holes instead of pooling on the surface.

13 min

Ethiopian Breads & Parathas

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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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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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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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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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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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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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Kishk sa'idiFermented yoghurt and wheat porridge

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

50 min

Egyptian Curries

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KajmakClotted milk cream

At the Zlatibor and Čačak markets, women sell kajmak from wide tubs, cut in soft ivory folds that taste of cooked milk, butter and a little salt. It is made by slowly heating rich milk, letting it settle in shallow pans and lifting off the thick skin that forms as it cools, then layering those skins with salt. This home version uses pasteurised milk and cream and stays in the fridge throughout; the long-aged, raw-milk kajmak of the villages is not something to copy at home. Spread it on warm lepinja or proja, or stir it into hot potatoes. A common mistake is letting the milk boil: the bubbles tear the skin and you end up with flecks instead of a thick sheet. Chef's tip: keep the skimmed milk left underneath for porridge, proja or pancakes; nothing goes to waste.

1440 minBalkan Basics

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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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Amra chutneyHog plum chutney

Barisal is famous for its amra, the green, tart hog plums that pile up on market stalls from August to October, and every household there turns some of the harvest into a glossy, jammy chutney. The fruit is scored so the jaggery syrup can soak in, then simmered with panch phoron, dried chilli and a little turmeric until the flesh is soft around the hard, spiny stone. Sweet, sour and gently hot, it is served at the end of a wedding feast or a festive lunch, a spoonful eaten with the last of the rice, and children suck the stones clean. Cooking it too hard reduces the syrup to toffee once it cools, so stop while it still runs off the spoon. Chef's tip: if you can't find hog plums, sour green plums or a firm green mango cut into chunks make a good stand-in.

40 min

Bangladeshi Chutneys & Dips

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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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CzerninaSweet-sour duck blood soup

Few soups divide a Polish table like czernina, the dark, glossy duck broth of Greater Poland and Kashubia, tinted chocolate-brown with duck blood and sharpened with vinegar, then sweetened with dried plums, pears and apples. Farm families made it when a duck was killed in autumn, and in old Polish custom a suitor served czernina knew his proposal had been turned down. The taste is rich, sweet-sour and deeply savoury, with fine egg noodles to soak it up. Safety matters here: buy fresh duck blood from a butcher, already mixed with vinegar so it does not clot, keep it at fridge temperature and use it within a day. Undercooked blood is not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system. People often let the soup boil hard after the blood goes in, and it turns grainy. Chef's tip: temper the blood with hot broth before stirring it into the pot, then heat gently to a steady simmer.

150 min

Polish Soups

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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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KleinurCardamom twisted doughnuts

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

70 minScandinavian Baking

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BozartmaLamb stew with tomato and saffron

Bozartma comes from Ganja, Azerbaijan's second city at the foot of the Lesser Caucasus, where lamb on the bone is browned and then stewed with a mountain of onions and tomatoes until the sauce turns thick and red-gold with saffron. The name hints at the browning (boz, 'grey-brown'), and Ganja cooks say the onions must melt completely. It is eaten with bread and greens, and a chicken version is common too. A common mistake is adding water; the onions and tomatoes give all the liquid needed. Chef's tip: cook it uncovered for the last 15 minutes, until the fat rises to the top; that is how Ganja cooks know bozartma is ready.

105 min

Azerbaijani Meat

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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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BidosReindeer stew

Bidos is the festive stew of the Sámi, the reindeer-herding people of the far north of Norway, Sweden and Finland: reindeer meat simmered slowly in a clear broth with potatoes and carrots, seasoned only with salt and pepper so the gamey meat shines. It is served at Sámi weddings and confirmations, and at Easter festivals in Kautokeino and Karasjok. Reindeer is sold frozen in Nordic shops; beef chuck or venison works too. A common mistake is adding the potatoes at the start, so they fall apart before the meat is tender. Chef's tip: thicken the broth only lightly with a spoon of flour if you like; traditionally it is clear and thin.

150 minScandinavian Curries

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Kluski śląskieSilesian potato dumplings

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

50 min

Polish Sides

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Kluski z makiemNoodles with sweet poppy seed

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

45 min

Polish Desserts

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Kadala thel dalaStir-fried chickpeas

As the sun goes down over the sea at Galle Face Green in Colombo, vendors with glass-sided carts scoop warm kadala into cones twisted from old newspaper, and the same snack appears at temple festivals, perahera nights and every Avurudu gathering. Boiled chickpeas are tossed in coconut oil with mustard seeds, red onion, curry leaves, dried chilli and a handful of freshly grated coconut, so they are nutty, salty and gently hot, with a soft bite. Some vendors stir in Maldive fish; this version is vegan. Tinned chickpeas make it a ten-minute job, though home-boiled dried ones have a firmer, nuttier texture. Wet chickpeas are the problem to avoid, as they spit in the oil and the spices slide off; drain and pat them dry. Chef's tip: let the onion and curry leaves fry until the edges just begin to brown before the chickpeas go in; that toasty flavour is what makes street kadala so addictive.

20 min

Sri Lankan Snacks & Starters

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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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Bajan jug jugPigeon peas and salt meat mash

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

Bajan Meat

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Ćwikła z chrzanemBeetroot and horseradish relish

Easter baskets blessed in Polish churches on Holy Saturday always hold a little horseradish, and on Sunday morning it reappears mixed with beetroot as ćwikła, the bright purple relish passed around with eggs, white sausage, ham and rye bread. Here it is meat-free; spoon it beside eggs, cheese or roast vegetables. It is sweet, sour and sharp enough to clear your nose, and the heat fades over a few days in the fridge. A common mistake is using jarred horseradish cream, which makes it milky and mild; use freshly grated root or plain grated horseradish in vinegar. Chef's tip: grate the horseradish near an open window, or in a food processor, and add it last so its heat stays lively.

20 min

Polish 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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Ambarella curryJune plum curry

Ambarella trees, heavy with green, plum-sized fruit, shade countless gardens around Galle, and when the crop comes in, cooks turn the sour, crunchy fruit into this sweet-sour curry for Sunday lunch and family gatherings. The fruits are scored and cooked whole with roasted curry powder, garlic, cinnamon and cloves, then sweetened with sugar and finished in coconut milk, until the flesh softens and drinks in the dark, glossy gravy. Its tangy, fruity flavour cuts through richer dishes, and it is served in small portions with rice alongside a dhal and a meat or fish curry. Each fruit hides a spiky, fibrous stone, so warn guests to nibble around it. Leaving the skins whole and unscored is where many go wrong, because the spices never get in; make several deep cuts in each fruit. Frozen ambarella is sold in Sri Lankan shops; firm green mango is the nearest stand-in. Chef's tip: let the curry rest for an hour before serving, as the fruit keeps soaking up flavour.

50 min

Sri Lankan Curries

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KadaFlaky pastry with butter crumbs

Kada is a tea-time pastry found in bakeries from Tbilisi to the Mtskheta monastery stalls, where it is sold warm beside churchkhela: a round of rich yeasted dough, folded around a sweet filling of flour, butter and sugar rubbed into crumbs, then rolled flat so the filling bakes into soft, melting layers. A common mistake is rolling the filled dough too hard, which pushes the crumbs through the surface. Chef's tip: chill the filling so the butter stays cold; it melts in the oven and makes flaky, buttery pockets.

80 min

Georgian Baking

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Curry chataigneBreadnut coconut curry

Chataigne, the spiky breadnut cousin of breadfruit, ripens around Divali and Christmas in Trinidad, and its boiled, peeled seeds are curried with coconut milk and roasted geera into a dish many people say tastes almost like meat. It is a fixture at Divali dinners and Hindu functions, eaten with rice or roti. The common mistake is skipping the pre-boil: the seeds stay hard and their thin inner skin stays bitter. Look for chataigne in Caribbean and Asian grocers; tinned jackfruit seeds or chestnuts are the nearest swap. Chef's tip: after boiling, peel off both the shell and the papery brown skin, then split the seeds in half so the curry gets right inside.

80 min

Trinidadian Curries

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Kachi lassiMilk and water lassi

Harvest time in the Punjab is thirsty work: when the wheat is being cut in the April heat, a steel jug of kachi lassi is carried out to the workers: fresh milk thinned with cold water, stirred with sugar and poured over chunks of ice. Unlike yogurt lassi there is no tang, just a light, clean, milky sweetness that quenches thirst better than plain water, and in many villages it is the drink offered to any guest who arrives on a hot afternoon. Some people add a pinch of salt instead of sugar, or a few drops of rose water. The traditional kind uses raw milk straight from the buffalo; use pasteurised milk instead to be safe. The usual mistake is making it with too little water, which turns it heavy instead of refreshing. Chef's tip: whisk it hard or shake it in a jar so it turns frothy, which makes it feel even cooler.

5 min

Pakistani Drinks

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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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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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KoktalSmoked carp with vegetables

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

80 min

Kazakh Fish

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Kachila (cooked)Spiced buffalo mince

In the Newar homes and bhoj feasts of the Kathmandu Valley, kachila is a prized delicacy: finely minced buffalo meat mixed with mustard oil, garlic, ginger, chilli and numbing timur, eaten in small spoonfuls with beaten rice, traditionally raw. Raw minced meat can carry harmful bacteria and parasites right through, so the traditional raw form is not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system, and we do not recommend it for anyone at home. This version keeps every bit of the seasoning but sears the mince quickly in a very hot pan to 71 °C, so it stays soft and loose rather than turning into a dry fry, then dresses it with the classic smoking mustard-oil tempering. It is eaten as part of samay baji or as a snack with chiura. The usual slip is overcooking it into crumbly pellets; take it off the heat the moment it is cooked through. Chef's tip: use buffalo or beef mince, or ask the butcher to mince lean beef twice, very fine.

30 min

Nepali Meat

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AmandineChocolate sponge cakes

Every Bucharest cofetărie keeps a tray of amandine in the glass case, neat dark oblongs that generations of schoolchildren have bought with their pocket money. Despite the almond-sounding name there are no almonds in them: a cocoa sponge is split, soaked with a cocoa syrup, sandwiched with a rich chocolate custard buttercream and coated in a shiny ganache. Bakeries traditionally add rum to the syrup; this version is alcohol-free and uses vanilla and orange zest instead, though you can add 2 tablespoons of rum if you like. A common mistake is soaking the sponge while the syrup is still hot, which turns it to mush; both should be cool. Chef's tip: chill the filled cake until really firm before glazing and cutting, and wipe the knife hot between each cut for clean edges.

155 min

Romanian Baking

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Curaçao pastechiCheese turnovers

In Curaçao and Aruba, a paper bag of hot pastechi from a snack truck is breakfast on the way to work or a mid-morning bite with coffee: crisp, blistered half-moons of pastry filled with melted aged Gouda, a legacy of the Dutch on the islands. Other versions hold spiced beef, chicken or tuna; this one is vegetarian. Traditional Gouda is made with animal rennet, so choose a Gouda or other firm cheese labelled vegetarian if that matters to you. The usual mistake is frying too cool, so the pastry soaks up oil instead of blistering. Chef's tip: chill the filled pastechi for 15 minutes before frying so the seams hold.

75 minCaribbean Snacks & Starters

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