Featured recipe

Almond cookies

Oat, coconut and almond cookies

A big batch of crunchy cookies with rolled oats, coconut, chopped almonds and chunks of cooking chocolate. For a change, use cashew nuts instead of almonds.

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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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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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DibsDate syrup

Across the Gulf, from the date gardens of Al-Ahsa to the oases of Oman and the UAE, dibs is the dark, glossy syrup pressed and boiled from ripe dates, and it was the region's sweetener long before sugar was common. It tastes of toffee and dried fruit with a faint bitterness, and families pour it over chebab and khameer, mix it with tahini for dipping bread, and use it in sweets like luqaimat. Making it at home takes time but little effort, and a kilo of dates gives a jar that lasts for months in the fridge. The mistake is boiling the strained juice too hard at the end: it scorches and turns bitter. Chef's tip: squeeze the date pulp in the cloth when it is still warm; you get far more juice than from cold pulp.

180 minGulf Arabian Basics

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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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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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Diram fittiSprouted wheat bread with butter

High in the Hunza valley, diram is flour ground from wheat that has been soaked, sprouted and sun-dried, and it gives this thick, round bread a gentle natural sweetness and a faintly malty smell. Diram fitti is cooked slowly in a covered pan, then broken into rough pieces while still hot and drowned in melted butter and a little apricot-kernel oil, so it turns rich, soft and fragrant; in Karimabad and Altit it is made for guests, for festivals such as Ginani at harvest time and to feed someone through a hard winter. It is eaten with the hands, often with salty Hunza tea. Pale, raw centres are the common fault, so cook it slowly with the lid on. Chef's tip: sprouted wheat flour is sold in health-food shops; use only food-grade culinary apricot-kernel oil, or swap in walnut oil or more butter.

60 min

Pakistani Breads & Parathas

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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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KishkeStuffed baked derma

Kishke, also called derma, was once stuffed into cleaned beef intestine and buried in the Shabbat cholent to cook overnight, and Haredi neighbourhoods such as Jerusalem's Geula still sell it at the butcher, orange with paprika, for Friday. The filling is humble: flour or matzo meal, onion, carrot and celery bound with rendered chicken fat, which cooks into a dense, savoury sausage with a crackling crust. This home version fills a sausage casing or rolls the mixture into a paper-and-foil log, then bakes it on its own or lays it on top of the cholent. Too dry a filling is the usual problem; it should feel like a soft, oily dough. Chef's tip: slice leftover kishke and fry the rounds in a dry pan until crisp on both sides.

145 min

Israeli Meat

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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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DhidoBuckwheat flour porridge

Before rice reached every corner of Nepal, dhido was what filled bellies in the high villages of Jumla, Dolpa, Mustang and the middle hills, and it is now enjoying a comeback in Kathmandu restaurants as a wholesome, gluten-free choice. Buckwheat or millet flour is rained into boiling water and stirred with a flat wooden paddle until it becomes a smooth, heavy, elastic mass, which is eaten with the fingers, pinched off and dipped into a sour vegetable soup, a bowl of lentils or a fiery tomato pickle. It has an earthy, slightly bitter flavour and a satisfying, sticky texture that is meant to be swallowed rather than chewed. Lumps are what ruin it most often, and they come from adding the flour too quickly. Chef's tip: add the flour in a thin stream with one hand while stirring hard with the other, and keep beating for a full 10 minutes once it is all in.

30 min

Nepali Rice & Grains

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Kittitian goat waterPeppery goat stew

Goat water is what St Kitts, Nevis and Montserrat serve at weddings, village fêtes and every Saturday cookshop: a thick, dark, peppery goat stew-soup flavoured with cloves, thyme, tomato and a heap of hot pepper, thickened with flour and studded with breadfruit, green papaya or dumplings. On Montserrat it is the national dish and comes with crusty bread rolls. The common mistake is thinning it out; despite the name, true goat water should coat a spoon. Ask your butcher to chop bone-in goat into small pieces. Chef's tip: brown a spoonful of flour in the pot before adding the liquid; it gives the gravy its deep colour and nutty taste.

180 minCaribbean Soups

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DhikriSteamed rice flour dough shapes

For Maghi, the Tharu new year in mid-January, and for Dashain and Atwari, families in Dang, Bardiya and Kailali sit together on the floor shaping dhikri, long pieces of rice-flour dough rolled and twisted into ropes, spirals, fish, birds and finger-marked ridges before they are steamed. The finished pieces are soft, smooth and chewy, with a clean, sweetish rice flavour that makes them a canvas for whatever is served alongside: a spicy tomato and sesame chutney, a lentil soup, a vegetable curry or, in many homes, a festive meat curry. Leftovers are sliced and fried the next day. The usual mistake is mixing the dough too dry, which cracks as you shape it and steams up hard. Chef's tip: keep the dough covered with a damp cloth while you shape, and dip your fingers in water if it starts to crack.

45 min

Nepali Rice & Grains

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KleijaDate-filled cardamom cookies

Kleija is the pride of Qassim, the farming heartland north of Riyadh, where an entire festival in Buraidah is devoted to these round, stamped cookies filled with date paste and fragrant with cardamom, saffron and a little fennel. They are packed for journeys, offered to guests with Arabic coffee and baked in big batches before Eid. The pastry is short and crumbly with a soft, chewy date centre. A common mistake is overworking the dough after adding ghee, which makes it tough; mix just until it holds. Store them in a tin for a week. Chef's tip: roll the date paste into small balls with damp hands first, so each cookie gets the same amount and seals neatly.

75 minGulf Arabian Baking

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KljukušaBaked grated potato batter

Ask anyone from Bihać or Cazin in north-western Bosnia about kljukuša and they will describe a big tray of it coming out of the oven on a weekday, golden and blistered, then soaked in garlic yogurt at the table. Grated raw potato is stirred into a loose flour batter and baked in a thin layer, giving a crisp, browned top and a soft, slightly chewy middle, a bit like a potato pancake from the oven. The cold, garlicky yogurt against the hot potato is the whole point, with a green salad or pickles on the side. The usual slip is spreading it too thick, which leaves a gummy, undercooked centre; keep the layer to about 1.5 cm. Chef's tip: get the oiled tray smoking hot in the oven first, so the bottom crisps as soon as the batter hits it.

60 minBalkan Vegetarian

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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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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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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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DhodhaMilk, wheat and ghee fudge

Every bus that stops in Khushab, on the road between Sargodha and the Salt Range, is met by boys carrying boxes of dhodha, the town's famous sweet and a standard gift for anyone visiting family in Punjab. It is lighter in colour and softer than habshi halwa, a moist, crumbly fudge of slowly reduced milk, a little wheat flour, ghee and sugar, packed with almonds, pistachios and walnuts and pressed into slabs about two fingers thick. The flavour is milky and nutty with a gentle caramel note, and it is sliced and eaten with tea, especially in the cold months. Where people slip up is under-reducing the milk, so the dhodha never firms and stays soft like a halwa. Chef's tip: keep stirring after you add the sugar until the mass leaves the sides of the pan cleanly and holds a ridge when you draw the spoon through it, then press it into the tin while still warm.

180 min

Pakistani Indian Sweets

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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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BlitvaSwiss chard and potatoes

Order grilled fish in any konoba along the Dalmatian coast of Croatia, from Zadar down to Dubrovnik, and a heap of blitva usually comes with it. Swiss chard and potatoes are boiled together until soft, then crushed roughly with lots of good olive oil and a little garlic, so the potatoes turn creamy and the chard stays silky and green. It is humble, quick and very good, also with grilled vegetables, eggs or a simple bean dish. The usual slip is not draining well enough, which leaves a watery, grey mush; let everything steam dry in the colander for a minute. Chef's tip: use the best olive oil you have and add a final drizzle at the table, as Dalmatians do, so its peppery taste stays bright.

30 minBalkan Sides

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KobeteLamb and potato pie

Kobete is the grand pie of Crimean Tatar celebrations, a tall golden dome cut at the table like a cake, its name thought to come from an old word for a pastry dome. Inside, small cubes of raw lamb, potato and onion are seasoned with black pepper and baked slowly in a soft, buttery yoghurt pastry, so the meat cooks in its own juices into a peppery broth that soaks the potato. Chicken versions are common too. Serve warm with a sharp salad or ayran. People tend to cut the meat too big; in a sealed pie, large chunks stay chewy while the crust burns. Allow time for the long bake and a short rest before slicing. Chef's tip: pour a ladle of hot stock through the steam hole halfway through baking, which keeps the filling juicy and tells you, by the bubbling, that it is cooking well inside.

150 min

Ukrainian Meat

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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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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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BakarkhaniLayered ghee bread

Before dawn in Lalbagh and Nazira Bazar, bakers slap rounds of dough onto the inside walls of clay tandoors, and by sunrise stacks of bakarkhani are wrapped in newspaper for the first cup of milky tea. The Old Dhaka kind is small, about the size of a palm, with dozens of paper-thin layers that shatter at the edges and stay a little tender in the middle; the faintly sweet, buttery taste is what makes it so good dipped in cha or crumbled over a bowl of firni. Local legend ties the name to a Mughal-era romance, but the technique is pure bakery craft: the dough is spread with a ghee paste, rolled up, coiled and rolled again. Most failed batches come from soft, warm ghee paste, which soaks into the dough instead of sitting between the layers. Chef's tip: chill the rolled coils for 15 minutes before the final rolling so the fat sets and the layers stay separate in the oven.

105 min

Bangladeshi Breads & Parathas

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Kofi brokemanRoasted plantain with peanuts

The name jokes that this is food for 'Kofi who is broke': a ripe plantain roasted over a charcoal grill on a street corner in Accra or Kumasi, handed over with a twist of roasted groundnuts for very little money. The skin chars black while the inside turns soft, sweet and smoky, and the nuts give it salt and crunch, so it is surprisingly filling. At home a hot grill pan, oven or barbecue does the job. Chef's tip: choose plantains that are yellow with a few black spots, firm but not green; fully black ones collapse on the grill, and green ones, the usual mistake, stay starchy and dry.

30 min

Ghanaian Snacks & Starters

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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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KokonteDried cassava swallow

Dried in the sun and ground to a coarse brown powder, cassava keeps for months as kokonte, and in Ashanti villages it is the swallow of the dry season and of lean times. Cooked, it turns into a smooth, firm, earthy-tasting dough, darker than fufu and with a faint smokiness, that is classically eaten with groundnut soup or palm nut soup; its colour earned it the joking nickname 'face the wall'. It takes only minutes to make. Those soups usually carry meat or fish, so serve a vegetable soup for a meat-free meal. Chef's tip: mix a third of the powder with cold water to a paste before it goes into the boiling water; dumping dry powder into hot water is the common mistake and makes stubborn lumps.

20 min

Ghanaian Basics

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Curaçao kabritu stobaGoat stew with peppers

Stoba di kabritu is the home cooking of Curaçao and Aruba, a goat stew made in nearly every kunuku (country) kitchen and at birthday parties: bone-in goat browned and slowly braised with sweet peppers, tomato, onion, cumin, a hint of nutmeg and hot madame jeanette pepper, often with cucumber or papaya stirred in at the end. It is served with funchi (cornmeal), rice or fried plantain. The usual mistake is browning the goat too briefly; deep colour at the start gives the stew its rich brown sauce. Ask your butcher for goat cut into small pieces. Chef's tip: a teaspoon of brown sugar caramelised in the oil before the meat goes in gives the authentic dark, slightly sweet base.

150 minCaribbean Meat

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Bahamian guava duffSteamed guava roll

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

135 minCaribbean Desserts

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KabuniFestive rice with raisins and cinnamon

Kabuni is one of the oldest dishes of Albania, served in Tirana and the central lowlands at Bajram, weddings and wakes: rice fried in butter, cooked in a savoury lamb broth, then sweetened with sugar and studded with raisins and cinnamon. The result is buttery, gently sweet and fragrant, a sweet course with a savoury soul, eaten warm in small bowls. Because it is cooked in lamb stock it is not vegetarian. Where most people go wrong is skipping the frying of the rice; it is the toasting in butter that gives kabuni its nutty taste. Chef's tip: soak the raisins in hot water while the rice cooks so they swell and stay juicy.

60 minBalkan Desserts

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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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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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Kabab-e-daygiPot-cooked lamb kebab

Daygi means from the pot, and this is the kebab Kabul families make when there is no grill or the weather is too cold for one: chunks of lamb browned hard, then left to cook slowly with onions, tomato, garlic and green chilli in a covered deg, with barely any water, until the meat is soft and coated in a thick, concentrated sauce. It is a Friday lunch and party dish, set out with stacks of naan, raw onion and radishes and a bowl of yogurt. The flavour is deep and meaty with black pepper and coriander seed. Adding water early to stop it sticking just boils the lamb; trust the onions and tomatoes to give up their juice and keep the heat low. Chef's tip: uncover for the final 10 minutes and let the sauce fry in the rendered fat, which gives the glossy finish that makes it a kebab rather than a stew.

120 min

Afghan Meat

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Kabachkovaya ikraCourgette spread

Late summer at the dacha means a glut of courgettes, and the answer across Russia is this soft orange spread, once sold in glass jars in every Soviet grocery and still made by the potful at home. Courgette, carrot and onion are fried in sunflower oil, stewed with tomato until they collapse, blended and then cooked down again until thick enough to stand on bread. It tastes sweet, mellow and lightly tangy, and is eaten cold on black rye bread, with boiled potatoes or as part of a zakuski spread. A common mistake is stopping too early: if the purée still looks watery it will taste flat, so keep stirring until a spoon leaves a trail across the pan. This is a fridge recipe, not a canning one. Chef's tip: make it a day ahead; the flavour rounds out overnight.

75 min

Russian Chutneys & Dips

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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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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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