Featured recipe

Jicai doufu geng

Shepherd's purse and tofu soup

In Shanghai and Jiangsu, shepherd's purse (jicai) is picked from field edges in early spring, and this gentle, lightly thickened soup is one of the first dishes of the season at home and in Shanghainese restaurants. Finely chopped greens and small cubes of soft tofu are simmered in vegetable stock with a few shiitake, then thickened just enough to coat a spoon, giving a soothing, savoury soup with a fresh, grassy taste. Serve it as a starter or with a small bowl of rice. It is suitable as part of a balanced diet. About 110 kcal and 7 g carbohydrate per portion. The usual mistake is adding too much starch, which makes it gluey; it should flow off the spoon. Spinach works if you can't find jicai. Chef's tip: blanch and squeeze the greens before chopping, which keeps the soup bright green instead of murky.

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Baigan chokaRoasted aubergine mash

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

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

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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.

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

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DibsDate syrup

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195 min

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

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Amra chutneyHog plum chutney

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40 min

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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

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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.

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105 min

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KumochEmber-baked bread

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70 min

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KalkanFried turbot steaks

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

30 min

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BakhshGreen rice with beef and liver

Bakhsh is the Shabbat and holiday rice of the Bukharan Jews, who lived in Bukhara and Samarkand for centuries before most emigrated to Israel and New York: rice mixed with small cubes of beef and liver and so much chopped coriander that it turns deep green, then cooked slowly in a cloth bag inside a pot of broth (bakhsh khalta) or in a pot sealed on the stove. It is fragrant, rich and moist. This version uses beef and calves' liver and the pot method. A common mistake is chopping the coriander roughly; it should be very fine so the rice turns evenly green. Chef's tip: cut the meat into rice-grain-sized pieces so it cooks in the same time as the rice. The liver and meat should be cooked through, 71 °C.

150 min

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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

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Bakonyi sertésszeletPork in mushroom paprika sauce

The Bakony hills north of Lake Balaton are known for their beech forests and mushrooms, and any Hungarian dish called bakonyi comes with a creamy paprika and mushroom sauce. Here it covers seared pork loin steaks, a favourite of roadside inns and Sunday lunches across Transdanubia. The sauce starts like a pörkölt with onion, paprika, pepper and tomato, then takes on sliced mushrooms and is finished with sour cream, so it is earthy, tangy and rich. Serve it with nokedli or rice to soak it up. Where most people go wrong is boiling the sauce after the sour cream goes in, which makes it split; keep it just below a simmer. Chef's tip: use a mix of wild and chestnut mushrooms if you can, and fry them hard first so they brown instead of stewing.

60 min

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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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Bakra Eid kalejiStir-fried goat liver

The first thing cooked in countless Pakistani homes on the morning of Eid-ul-Adha, just after the sacrifice, is kaleji: the goat's liver, still very fresh, sliced and stir-fried in a karahi with onion, tomato, ginger and green chilli, then eaten at once with hot paratha or naan while the rest of the meat is being divided. The dish is quick and fierce, tender in the middle, sharp with chilli and lemon. Outside Eid, butchers in every city sell goat or lamb liver for the same breakfast. Overcooking makes liver rubbery, but undercooking is not safe, so cut it into even pieces and cook until it reaches 71 °C with no pink left; it will still be tender. Chef's tip: add the salt only at the very end, as salting liver early draws out moisture and toughens it.

25 min

Pakistani Meat

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Kurakkan thalapaFinger millet dumplings

In the dry zone villages behind Hambantota and Tissamaharama, kurakkan thalapa is the old-fashioned lunch of farmers: finger millet flour stirred into boiling salted water until it becomes a smooth, heavy, purplish-brown dough, shaped into balls and eaten by hand. Traditionally it is torn and dipped into a sour, black-peppery fish ambulthiyal, but it is just as good with a vegetable curry, kiri hodi or a fiery lunu miris for a vegan meal. The taste is mild and earthy, and it keeps you full for hours. The most common mistake is tipping all the flour in at once, which leaves dry lumps that never smooth out; add it in stages, beating hard with a wooden spoon. Chef's tip: once the dough comes together, cover the pan and let it steam over a very low heat for five minutes; that is what removes the raw, floury taste.

20 min

Sri Lankan Rice & Grains

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BalachaungDried shrimp relish

Every Burmese pantry keeps a jar of balachaung, and along the Rakhine coast, where the dried shrimp come from, families fry it in big batches after the dry-season catch. Pounded dried shrimp are fried slowly with crisp shallots, garlic, chilli and a dab of shrimp paste until the whole lot turns into a dry, golden, crackling floss that is salty, smoky, a little sweet and quite hot. A spoonful lifts plain rice, a fried egg, rice porridge or a bowl of noodles, and it travels well, so students and travellers pack a jar to take away from home. Rushing it over a high heat is where most batches go wrong: the shrimp scorch and turn bitter before they are crisp, so keep the heat at medium-low and stir patiently. Chef's tip: fry the shallots and garlic separately and stir them back in only when the shrimp are done, so they stay crunchy for weeks.

45 min

Burmese Chutneys & Dips

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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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Kalo jeera bhortaNigella seed mash

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

15 min

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Bhatmas sadekoRoasted soybean salad

Sadeko means marinated, and in Kathmandu it is the word for the punchy little salads served in khaja ghar snack houses and at family gatherings during Dashain and Tihar card games. The soybean version is the cheapest and one of the best: dried soybeans roasted in a dry pan until they crack and turn nutty, then tossed while warm with red onion, green chilli, ginger, garlic, coriander, lemon and a spoonful of pungent raw mustard oil. It is crunchy, sharp and hot, eaten by the handful with beaten rice (chiura) or as a side to a dal bhat plate. The pitfall here is under-roasting the beans, which leaves them hard and grassy rather than crisp. Chef's tip: roast the beans until they split their skins and smell like popcorn, then rub off and blow away the loose skins before dressing them.

20 min

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BalanguGrilled spiced mutton

At balangu spots around Kano and the northern cities, the meat is cooked on flat stones heated by fire underneath, so it sears in its own fat rather than over flames. Mutton is the classic, with bone and a little fat left on; beef works too. It comes off crusty and smoky, then is tossed with yaji, the northern peanut-chilli spice, and served on paper with raw onion, tomato and cabbage, eaten with the fingers in the evening. A heavy cast-iron pan or griddle gives the same effect at home. Marinate in the fridge, not on the counter, and cook the pieces until no pink remains and they reach 71 °C. Chef's tip: get the iron smoking hot before the meat goes on and do not crowd it; overcrowding is the classic mistake that leaves the meat grey and stewed.

50 min

Nigerian Meat

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Balatoni fogasButter-fried pikeperch

Fogas, the pikeperch of Lake Balaton, has been the pride of the lakeside restaurants of Tihany, Keszthely and Balatonfüred for over a century, and a fillet on a plate with parsley potatoes is the classic order on a summer evening with a view of the water. The flesh is white, lean and delicate, with a clean, slightly sweet flavour, and the simplest treatment is best: skin side down in foaming butter until the skin turns crisp, with lemon at the end. Zander from any good fishmonger works the same way. Where most people go wrong is moving the fillets too soon, which tears the skin; leave them until they release by themselves. Chef's tip: score the skin lightly twice so the fillets stay flat in the pan.

30 min

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Balatoni hekkFried hake

Hake never swam in Lake Balaton, yet fried hekk is the taste of a Hungarian summer at the lake: a paper tray of hot, crisp fish bought from a beach kiosk in Siófok or Balatonboglár, eaten in a swimsuit with lemon squeezed over and a slice of white bread. Cleaned, headless hake pieces are rolled in seasoned flour with a little paprika and fried until the outside crackles and the white flesh inside is soft and juicy. Serve with lemon, bread and a sharp cucumber salad. The usual slip is not drying the fish, so the flour turns pasty; pat it well with paper first. If the fish is frozen, thaw it in the fridge overnight, never on the counter. Chef's tip: flour the fish only at the last moment, just before it goes into the oil, so the coating stays dry and crisp.

25 min

Hungarian Fish

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BalayHand-pulled noodles in mutton broth

Skardu sits at almost 2,500 metres, and through its long, dry winters Balti households lean on balay, a sturdy soup of thick wheat noodles pinched and pulled by hand into a mutton broth with turnip, potato, carrot and greens. It is the Balti cousin of Tibetan thukpa, eaten for supper in deep bowls, often with a hot green chilli on the side and salty butter tea to follow. The noodles are fat, chewy and irregular, and they thicken the broth slightly as they cook, which is exactly right. Rolling the dough too thin is a common slip; balay noodles should be the thickness of a pencil so they stay springy. Chef's tip: let the dough rest a full 20 minutes before pulling it, because a rested dough stretches without tearing and gives silkier noodles.

100 min

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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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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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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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Amala ko acharGooseberry pickle

Amala trees grow wild across the Chure hills and the lower valleys of Nepal, and in winter the hard, translucent green gooseberries are piled high in vegetable markets in Kathmandu, Hetauda and Butwal, prized as a source of vitamin C during the cold months. Steamed until they split into neat segments, then mixed with chilli, turmeric, fenugreek and hot mustard oil, they make a pickle that is crunchy, astringent, sour and spicy all at once, with a lingering sweetness that comes up after each bite. A spoonful goes alongside dal bhat or with a plain bowl of rice porridge when someone is unwell. The trap to avoid is steaming the berries too long, which turns them mushy and dull. Chef's tip: stop as soon as the first cracks appear on the skins; the segments should pull off the stone easily but still have a firm bite.

30 min

Nepali Chutneys & Dips

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Balish mishtiGiant pillow-shaped chhana sweet

Balish means pillow, and in Netrokona, in the north of Mymensingh division, this sweet is sold in sizes up to the length of a hand: a huge, soft, oblong chhana sweet cooked in syrup until golden and spongy, then smothered with a layer of thick, creamy reduced milk. A sweet-maker in the town created it in the early twentieth century and it is now the gift people bring to weddings and family visits in the region, sliced at the table and shared. The inside is soft and syrupy, the topping rich like clotted cream. Large chhana shapes crack open in the boiling syrup if the dough isn't kneaded long enough, which is the main thing that goes wrong, so take the full 10 minutes. Chef's tip: a spoon of plain flour in the chhana helps the big pillows hold their shape as they swell.

120 min

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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

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BallokumeCornmeal butter cookies

Every 14 March, Elbasan in central Albania celebrates Dita e Verës, Summer Day, an old spring festival that is now a national holiday, and the whole town smells of ballokume. These pale golden cookies are made from cornmeal, lots of butter, sugar and eggs, beaten until almost fluffy, then baked into little domes that crack on top and melt into sandy, buttery crumbs. Families give plates of them to neighbours and children nibble them alongside the red-and-white spring bracelets called verore; they are lovely with tea or Turkish-style coffee. This version is gluten free, made with fine cornmeal and cornflour, so check both packets carry a gluten-free label. Under-beating is the classic error: the butter and sugar need a full ten minutes until almost white, or the cookies bake dense and greasy. Chef's tip: chill the shaped cookies for 15 minutes before baking so they keep their dome.

45 minBalkan Baking

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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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