Featured recipe

Salteñas

Juicy baked beef pastries

Salteñas are the pastries all of La Paz queues for between 10 and noon, when they come out of the oven: a slightly sweet, golden crust wrapped round a soupy filling of beef, potato, peas, olive and egg in a gelatine-set broth seasoned with cumin and ají. The trick, and the fun, is to bite off the top and sip the juice without spilling. The mistake is filling the pastry with warm stew: the filling must be chilled overnight until it sets firm, or it leaks. Chef's tip: hold a salteña upright, nibble off one corner and drink the juice before eating the rest.

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KategnaCrisp spiced injera

Kategna is what Ethiopian restaurants put on the table while the main order is still cooking: injera painted with niter kibbeh and a bold layer of berbere, toasted until the edges shatter, then rolled tight and cut into pieces. Every bite is crunchy at the rim, chewy in the middle, buttery and properly hot. In Addis Ababa homes it is a snack with coffee or a late breakfast, and it goes well with a cooling spoon of ayib or ergo. Unlike anababero, it is a single injera and is meant to be crisp, so the pan stays on the heat a little longer. Chef's tip: mix the berbere into the melted butter rather than sprinkling it dry; dry spice on a hot pan scorches in seconds and turns bitter.

13 min

Ethiopian Snacks & Starters

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DogramaTorn bread with lamb in broth

Dograma, from the Turkmen word for 'to chop', is the dish of Turkmen weddings and religious holidays, when families gather to tear fresh tamdyr bread into small pieces together. The bread is mixed with finely chopped boiled lamb or mutton, raw onion and tomato, then a rich, fatty broth is poured over and the bowl is eaten while hot. It is filling, simple and communal. A common mistake is using soft sliced bread, which turns to paste; dograma needs firm, chewy flatbread. Chef's tip: chop the meat and onion by hand very finely, and rub the onion with salt so it softens and mellows before mixing.

150 min

Turkmen Meat

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BalmoșCornmeal in sheep's milk and butter

Up at the summer sheepfolds of Maramureș and the Rodna mountains, the shepherds make balmoș in a cauldron over the fire: cornmeal cooked slowly in sheep's milk and sour cream with plenty of butter and fresh sheep's cheese, until it is rich, golden and glistening. It is far creamier than ordinary mămăligă, eaten hot from the pot with a wooden spoon, perhaps with a glass of buttermilk. Use pasteurised milk; if you cannot find sheep's milk, whole cow's milk works. Caș and brânză de burduf are usually made with animal rennet, so use a fresh cheese labelled vegetarian, such as a mild ricotta-style or vegetarian feta. A common mistake is stopping too soon: keep stirring until the butter starts to separate and shine on the surface, which is the shepherds' sign that it is done. Chef's tip: serve it with a few spring onions and a glass of buttermilk.

40 min

Romanian Rice & Grains

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Balochi kaakSmoky wholewheat bread

Out in the hills of Balochistan, from Kalat to the passes above Quetta, kaak is shepherds' and travellers' bread: dough wrapped around a smooth river stone that has been heated in the fire, then propped among the embers until a thick, smoky crust forms and the stone cooks it from inside too. It is served torn into chunks alongside sajji, the slow-roasted lamb of Balochi feasts, or with yogurt and tea on the road. This version is for a home oven: the dough is shaped into a thick round and baked on a very hot tray or stone, then finished over a flame for that charred, campfire taste. Under-heating is the main pitfall, giving a pale, heavy loaf. Chef's tip: preheat the tray in the oven for a full 30 minutes. If you try the stone method outdoors, use only dense, dry stones never taken from water, as wet or porous stones can crack violently when heated.

90 min

Pakistani Breads & Parathas

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Doi chiraFlattened rice with curd

Nothing is cooked for doi chira, which is why it has been the breakfast of farmers and fishermen in Barisal for generations: flattened rice is rinsed, softened in thick, slightly sour curd and sweetened with jaggery or sugar, then mashed together with a ripe banana. The texture is soft and creamy with a little chew from the rice flakes, and the taste is cool, sweet and tangy. It is eaten on hot summer mornings, at village fairs and as part of the Pohela Boishakh spread, and it is a favourite of children and of anyone fasting who wants something gentle. The usual misstep is soaking the chira for too long, which turns it to paste; a quick rinse is all it needs before the curd does the rest. Chef's tip: use thick-cut chira, not the thin kind for frying, so the flakes hold their shape.

10 min

Bangladeshi Breakfast & Brunch

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BalushahiFried pastry in cardamom syrup

Look in any mithai box carried to a Pakistani engagement or handed round when exam results come out, and balushahi will be there: a squat, doughnut-like round with a dimple in the centre, layered and flaky inside, glazed with a thin, crackly coat of syrup. It is made from a short dough of flour, ghee and yogurt that is barely kneaded, fried very slowly so it cooks through and turns crisp in tiny layers, then dipped in a thick cardamom syrup. Shops in Lahore's Walled City and in Rawalpindi's Raja Bazaar sell it by the kilo, and at home it is a sweet for Eid and winter tea. A common mistake is kneading the dough smooth like a chapati, which develops gluten and makes the balushahi hard instead of flaky. Chef's tip: fry them in ghee that is only just warm, so they float up slowly over several minutes; that slow start is what opens the layers.

65 min

Pakistani Indian Sweets

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FijuelasHoney-soaked fried dough spirals

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

60 min

Israeli Desserts

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BotvinyaChilled beet leaf and salmon soup

Summer dachas around St Petersburg once waited all year for the young beet tops and sorrel that go into this sharp, ice-cold soup, a grand dish of the old aristocratic table that is also cheap peasant food. Blanched greens are puréed, loosened with bread kvass and studded with cucumber and spring onion; a piece of gently poached salmon is set alongside, with horseradish and lemon. Kvass is lightly fermented and can carry a trace of alcohol: choose one labelled alcohol-free, or use the substitute of sparkling water, a little lemon and rye-bread soaking liquid given in the ingredients. The usual slip is serving it merely cool: it should be properly cold, even with an ice cube in each bowl. Chef's tip: poach the fish the day before so it is thoroughly chilled, and keep the whole soup in the fridge until the minute it goes to the table.

60 min

Russian Soups

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Domashnia kovbasaGarlic pork sausage

Across Galicia and the Carpathian villages, the smell of homemade pork sausage baking with garlic means Christmas or Easter is near; the coils go into the Easter basket to be blessed and come out sliced for the festive breakfast. Hand-cut pork shoulder and belly are mixed with lots of garlic, black pepper and allspice, stuffed loosely into natural casings, coiled and baked until the skin crackles and the juices run. It is juicy, coarse and garlicky, served hot with horseradish and beetroot or cold the next day. This is a fresh, cooked sausage, not a dried or cured one, so it must be cooked through and kept in the fridge. The usual mistake is stuffing the casing too tightly, so it bursts in the oven. Chef's tip: keep the meat and fat very cold while you cut and mix, ideally half-frozen; the fat stays in distinct pieces and the sausage stays juicy.

180 min

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Bossche bolChocolate-dipped cream puff

The Bossche bol is the famous pastry of 's-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch) in North Brabant: a choux bun the size of a tennis ball, filled to bursting with lightly sweetened whipped cream and dipped in glossy dark chocolate. Bakeries like Jan de Groot sell them by the thousand, and you eat it with your hands, leaning over the plate. A common mistake is taking the choux out too early, which makes it collapse. Chef's tip: bake until deep golden, then pierce the base and return to the switched-off oven for 10 minutes to dry out.

60 min

Dutch Baking

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Brassói aprópecsenyeFried pork with potato cubes

Despite the name, which points to Brassó (Brașov) in Transylvania, this is a Budapest invention, and it is still one of the most ordered plates in the city's small family restaurants. Small cubes of pork neck or shoulder are fried hard with onion, lots of garlic, marjoram and a little paprika until they are browned and juicy, then tossed with golden, crunchy fried potato cubes. It is a quick, salty, garlicky dish, best with a bowl of pickles or a crisp cucumber salad and a glass of cold mineral water. The usual slip is crowding the pan, so the pork steams grey instead of browning; fry it in two batches. Chef's tip: add half the garlic at the start and the rest in the last minute, so you get both the mellow and the sharp flavour.

45 min

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Bandakka curryOkra coconut milk curry

Ladies' fingers, as okra is still called in Colombo markets, are cheap, plentiful and quick, which is why bandakka curry is one of the most common weekday vegetables on a Sri Lankan lunch plate. The pods are cut on the diagonal, fried briefly in coconut oil, then simmered in a mild, yellow gravy of coconut milk with fenugreek, onion and green chilli, so they stay bright green and just tender. It goes with red or white rice, a spoon of dhal and something crisp, such as fried papadam or a sambol. Slime puts many people off okra, and it is almost always caused by moisture: washing the pods and cutting them while they are still wet. Dry them completely first and fry them before any liquid goes in. Chef's tip: a few drops of lime stirred in at the very end lifts the flavour and also helps the gravy stay clean and silky.

30 min

Sri Lankan Curries

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KartofdzhynPotato and cheese pie

Ossetian pies come in threes at every celebration in Vladikavkaz, stacked on one plate for the sun, earth and water, and kartofdzhyn, with potato and cheese, is the everyday family favourite of North Ossetia. Soft kefir-yeast dough is wrapped around a ball of filling and patted flat by hand into a wide, thin round, so dough and filling are each barely a centimetre thick, then baked hot and soaked with butter. Ossetian cheese is a fresh brined cheese made with animal rennet; for a vegetarian pie use a feta-style or young brined cheese labelled vegetarian. The usual slip is overfilling, which makes the pie burst as you flatten it; aim for about the same weight of dough and filling. Chef's tip: stack the hot pies and butter each one, so the butter soaks through and they stay supple.

90 min

Russian Baking

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Aloo goshtMutton and potato curry

If one curry stands for a weekday dinner in a Pakistani house, from Rawalpindi flats to Karachi's Nazimabad, it is aloo gosht: mutton on the bone and halved potatoes in a loose, peppery shorba meant to be soaked up with chapati or poured over plain rice. Nothing about it is fancy; its comfort comes from a long bhuna of onion, tomato and spice before any water goes in, so the thin gravy still tastes deep. The potatoes go in once the meat is half done and come out soft at the edges, having drunk the gravy. Adding them at the start leaves them falling apart while the meat is still chewy, so wait. Chef's tip: when the masala is fully fried, add the water boiling hot, not cold, so the meat keeps cooking and the shorba stays clear rather than greasy.

90 min

Pakistani Meat

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Aloo andayPotato and egg curry

Ask almost anyone who grew up in a Punjabi household in Pakistan what was cooked at the end of the month, when the meat money had run out, and aloo anday will come up with real affection. Halved hard-boiled eggs and chunks of potato sit in a loose, brick-red shorba of browned onion and tomato, thin enough to soak into a chapati and rice alike, with a cut green chilli on top. It is a weeknight and Sunday-brunch dish rather than a guest dish, and children tend to love it. Where it goes wrong is in the masala: if the onions and tomatoes are not fried until the oil separates, the gravy tastes raw and watery however long it simmers. Chef's tip: score the peeled eggs lightly with a knife and fry them in the masala for a minute before the water goes in, so they take on colour and flavour.

40 min

Pakistani Curries

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Bangladeshi aloo chopSpiced potato patties

Every chop-shop on a Dhaka street corner, and every iftar spread in the evening during Ramadan, has a tray of aloo chop: flattened ovals of mashed potato fried with onion, ginger and green chilli, dipped in a gram-flour batter and fried until puffed and golden. The inside is soft and fragrant with roasted cumin and coriander leaves, the coat thin and crunchy, and they are eaten hot, with a sprinkle of bit lobon (black salt), a squeeze of lime, kasundi mustard sauce or a dab of tamarind chutney, often tucked into a paper cone with muri. Watery potatoes are the commonest problem, as they make the patties split in the oil, so steam-dry them well after boiling. Chef's tip: add a pinch of rice flour to the gram-flour batter for a crisper coat that stays crunchy as it cools.

45 min

Bangladeshi Snacks & Starters

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Karela piazBitter gourd with onions

Bitter gourd divides every family in Punjab, but karela piaz is the version that wins over the doubters: the gourd is salted, squeezed and fried until its edges crisp, then tossed with almost as much browned onion as karela, so the sweetness of the onions softens the bitterness. In Lahore it is a summer dish, a staple of tiffin carriers and home lunches with chapati and a cooling bowl of raita, and some households pack it for long train journeys because it keeps well. The thing most people get wrong is skimping on the onions or rushing them; pale, half-cooked onions leave the dish harsh rather than mellow. Chef's tip: rub the slices with salt and a little turmeric, leave them for 30 minutes, then squeeze hard by the handful, which draws out much of the bitterness before cooking.

70 min

Pakistani Vegetarian

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Karawila sambolaFried bitter gourd salad

Even people who claim to hate bitter gourd tend to come round to karawila sambola, the crunchy, tangy salad that turns up on rice and curry plates from the coast to the eastern towns. Paper-thin slices of the knobbly green gourd are salted to draw out some of the bitterness, fried until they are crisp like crisps, and then tossed at the last minute with raw red onion, green chilli, tomato and plenty of lime. The result is salty, sour and gently bitter, a bright contrast to rich coconut curries. Many cooks also scatter in Maldive fish flakes; this vegan version leaves them out. The mistake to avoid is mixing the salad too early, since the lime and tomato juice soften the fried slices within minutes. Chef's tip: squeeze the salted slices really hard in a clean cloth before frying; the drier they are, the crisper and less oily they come out.

30 min

Sri Lankan Salads

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Bangladeshi mutton rezalaYoghurt mutton curry

Rezala is the elegant one on a Dhaka dawat table, a creamy, ivory-coloured mutton curry that looks mild and then surprises you with the slow heat of whole dried chillies swimming on top. Its roots are in the Mughal kitchens that reached Bengal through Murshidabad and Old Dhaka, and today it turns up at Eid lunches and wedding receptions beside polao or soft naan. There is no turmeric and no red chilli powder in the gravy; the body comes from yoghurt, a paste of white poppy seeds and cashews, and onions cooked gently so they never brown. The classic mistake is frying the onion paste too hot, which turns the gravy beige and bitter instead of pale. Chef's tip: grind the poppy seeds and cashews after soaking them in warm milk or water for 20 minutes, so the paste is completely smooth.

125 min

Bangladeshi Curries

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DumpukhtSealed pot lamb on the bone

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, especially around Eid-ul-Adha when there is fresh lamb in every house, dumpukht is the slow, quiet dish: big pieces of lamb on the bone, a little tail fat, onions, salt and pepper, sealed in a heavy deg and left to steam in their own juices for hours. Nothing is browned, nothing is spiced loudly; the meat simply turns soft and sweet, with a clear, fatty broth at the bottom of the pot that is spooned over Peshawari naan or eaten with plain rice. It is the Pashtun idea of luxury: good meat, patience and fire. The trap is a loose lid, since escaping steam means the pot dries out and the meat stews dry; seal it with foil under the lid or a strip of dough. Chef's tip: lay a few whole potatoes in with the meat; they cook in the juices and are fought over at the table.

180 min

Pakistani Meat

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KarjalanpaistiBeef and pork hotpot

Karjalanpaisti, the Karelian hotpot, is one of Finland's national dishes, cooked for Independence Day, family celebrations and Christmas: chunks of beef and pork, sometimes lamb, layered with onion, whole allspice and bay, covered with water and baked slowly for hours in a clay pot until the meats are falling apart in a rich, peppery broth. This dish contains pork. It is served with mashed potato and lingonberries. A common mistake is a hot oven, which toughens the meat. Chef's tip: do not stir or brown the meat; Karelian cooks let it bake low and slow, and the long cooking alone gives the deep flavour.

260 minScandinavian Curries

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KarpatkaCustard cream choux cake

Named after the Carpathians, karpatka is the cake whose crinkled, craggy top looks like a range of snowy peaks once it is dusted with icing sugar. Two thin layers of choux pastry, baked flat until they puff into hills and valleys, sandwich a deep layer of rich vanilla custard whipped with butter. It is a fixture of Polish name-day parties and café counters, and children love the cloud-like filling. The usual slip is opening the oven early, which makes the choux collapse into a flat, rubbery sheet. Chef's tip: let the custard and the butter reach the same room temperature before beating them together, or the cream splits.

90 min

Polish Desserts

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Katino mezePork and mushrooms in cream

Every Bulgarian mehana, the wood-panelled tavern, has Katino meze on the menu, sizzling in a small clay dish next to a shopska salad, and it is quick enough for a weeknight at home. Thin strips of pork loin are seared, then tossed with mushrooms, onion and pickled gherkin, deglazed with dry white wine and finished with cream, black pepper and a pinch of hot chilli. For an alcohol-free sauce, swap the wine for the same amount of vegetable stock with a teaspoon of white wine vinegar or a splash of white grape juice. Serve with crusty bread or chips. A common mistake is crowding the pan: the pork stews grey instead of browning, so sear it in two batches. Chef's tip: cut the pork across the grain into finger-thin strips while it is half-frozen; it slices neatly and stays tender.

35 min

Bulgarian Meat

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Khamiri rotiLeavened wholewheat flatbread

Long before packets of yeast reached Pakistani kitchens, households kept back a lump of yesterday's dough and worked it into the new batch, and khamiri roti is the bread that method makes: thicker and softer than a chapati, with an airy crumb and a gentle sourness. It is the standard bread of many neighbourhood tandoors from Multan to Peshawar, bought by the stack for lunch with chana, sabzi, dal or saag, and some families make it on a tawa during Ramadan because it stays soft until sehri. This version uses a little yeast and a long rise to get the same flavour without the starter. People often get it wrong by rolling it as thin as a chapati, which pushes out the gas and leaves a flat, leathery roti. Chef's tip: let the dough ferment for at least two and a half hours, or overnight in the fridge, and shape each roti by patting it out with your palms rather than with a rolling pin.

180 min

Pakistani Breads & Parathas

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KapamaPork, chicken and sauerkraut feast pot

In the stone houses of Bansko, beneath the Pirin mountains, kapama is the dish of the winter holidays, carried to the table in its clay pot at Christmas, New Year and the masked Kukeri carnival. Pork shoulder, chicken on the bone and fresh pork sausage are layered with sauerkraut, rice and paprika, then sealed and baked for hours until the meat falls apart and the rice has soaked up the tangy, smoky juices. Old cooks seal the lid with a rope of dough; this version uses foil under a tight lid, which keeps it gluten free. Serve with extra sauerkraut and pickled peppers. The usual slip is lifting the lid too often, which lets out the steam and dries the top layer. Chef's tip: taste a strand of the sauerkraut first and rinse it only if it is very salty; its sourness is the backbone of the dish.

295 min

Bulgarian Meat

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DirkoshDried crisp injera

No Ethiopian kitchen throws injera away. Pieces that are past their best are torn up and dried in the sun, on the roof or on a tray by the fire until they snap like crackers, then kept in a sack or tin for weeks. This dirkosh is the backbone of quick meals on Wednesdays, Fridays and during the long Lent fast: a handful softened in a red onion and berbere sauce becomes fasting firfir in ten minutes, and travellers once carried it as food for the road. A low oven does the job at home in a few hours. Chef's tip: tear the injera into pieces no larger than a playing card; big sheets curl and stay leathery in the middle.

190 min

Ethiopian Basics

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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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Bouquettes liégeoisesBuckwheat raisin pancakes

Boûkètes are the buckwheat pancakes of Liège, sold at the Christmas market and eaten at home on New Year's Day: a yeasted batter of buckwheat and wheat flour studded with raisins, fried in butter into thick, nutty little pancakes and served with brown sugar or sirop de Liège. A common mistake is a hot pan; the outside burns before the thick middle cooks. Chef's tip: let the batter rise for an hour until bubbly, then fry over a medium-low heat with plenty of butter.

45 min

Belgian Breakfast & Brunch

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Bela biscuitTwice-baked tea biscuit

Old Chittagong bakeries, some of them in the Chandanpura area for well over a century, still fire their wood ovens for bela biscuit, a pale oval rusk so hard it cracks rather than snaps. It starts as a lightly sweet, enriched yeast dough that is baked once like a bun and then dried for a long time in a cooling oven until crisp right through. In Chittagong homes it comes out at teatime and when guests arrive, and the whole point is the dunk: a few seconds in hot milky tea and it softens into something like buttery bread. The classic slip is pulling the biscuits from the second bake too soon; they feel firm while warm but go chewy overnight if the centre is still damp. Chef's tip: break one open after drying; if the middle is pale and soft, give the tray another 20 minutes.

220 min

Bangladeshi Baking

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AlivenciCornmeal and cheese cake

Across the Prut, in villages from Vaslui to the Republic of Moldova, alivenci is what happens when a farmhouse has fresh cheese, sour cream and a sack of cornmeal: a soft, custardy cake baked in a tray and cut into squares while warm. It is lighter than mămăligă and richer than bread, with a tender, slightly crumbly crumb studded with curd, and is eaten for Sunday breakfast or as a side with stews and a dollop of sour cream. Traditional brânză de vaci (cottage-style cheese) is usually made without rennet, but some brands use it, so check the label. Where most people go wrong is using coarse polenta, which stays gritty; fine cornmeal gives the silky texture. Chef's tip: let the batter sit for 15 minutes before baking so the cornmeal hydrates and the cake sets evenly.

65 min

Romanian Baking

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Karachi halwaCornflour halwa

Glassy, jewel-bright and chewy like a Turkish delight with more bite, Karachi halwa is the sweet that the city's mithai shops on Saddar and Tariq Road stack in orange, green and red slabs studded with cashews and melon seeds, and it travels well as a gift to family abroad. It is made from cornflour cooked with sugar syrup and lemon until it turns clear, then fed with ghee spoon by spoon until it shines and pulls away from the pan in one elastic mass. Across the border it is called Bombay halwa, and in Pakistan it is a staple for weddings, Eid and Diwali sweet boxes from the Hindu shops of Sindh. Lots of cooks lose their nerve and stop before the halwa has absorbed all the ghee and turned translucent, and it sets cloudy and sticky. Chef's tip: work the halwa with a flat wooden spatula and add the ghee only when the previous spoonful has disappeared; when the ghee starts to leak back out, it is done.

60 min

Pakistani Indian Sweets

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Kancha gollaFresh cheese balls with cardamom

Natore, a quiet district town north of the Padma, is known throughout Bangladesh for one sweet, and a visit there is incomplete without a clay pot of kanchagolla to carry home. Kancha means raw, and the name is a joke at the sweet's expense: unlike rasgulla or chomchom, it is never boiled in syrup but simply kneaded fresh chhana with sugar, warmed in a pan for a few minutes and rolled into soft balls scented with cardamom. The texture is moist and faintly grainy, the taste milky and gently sweet, best eaten within a day or two. Cooking the mixture too long is what most home cooks get wrong; it turns dry and crumbly, more like sandesh. Chef's tip: make the chhana from full-fat milk and squeeze it only lightly, so plenty of moisture stays in for that melting Natore texture.

60 min

Bangladeshi Indian Sweets

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Dimer chopEgg-in-potato croquettes

Glass cabinets at Dhaka's sweet shops and snack counters, from New Market to Mirpur, always hold a row of dimer chop, oval golden-crumbed parcels that, when cut, reveal half a boiled egg nested inside a layer of spiced potato. They are bought for afternoon tea, birthday parties and school tiffin and eaten with kasundi mustard sauce, tomato ketchup and a little sliced onion and cucumber. Some versions mix minced meat into the potato; this one keeps it vegetarian, with garam masala, ginger and fried onion for depth. Soft-boiled eggs are a mistake here: they must be fully hard-boiled so the yolk is firm and the chop is safe and easy to wrap. Chef's tip: chill the crumbed chops for 15 minutes before frying so the coating stays put.

50 min

Bangladeshi Snacks & Starters

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Kancha kola bhortaGreen banana mash

Green cooking bananas are cheap all year in Bangladeshi markets, and in homes from Comilla to Kushtia they are boiled whole and turned into a pale, gently starchy bhorta that is more filling than it looks. The flesh is mashed while warm with raw onion, green chilli, coriander and a generous splash of mustard oil, so it tastes mild and earthy with a sharp, nose-tingling finish. It is a weekday lunch with rice and dal, food for someone recovering from illness, and a regular on the bhorta platter during the Pohela Boishakh meal. Peeling the bananas before boiling makes them waterlogged and gluey, so they go into the pot in their skins. Chef's tip: mash while still warm; cold green banana goes hard and lumpy and won't absorb the oil.

25 min

Bangladeshi Chutneys & Dips

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MounaOrange-flower brioche

Oran's mouna came over with Spanish settlers as the Easter mona, and it is still baked for spring outings, recalling the Easter Monday picnics once held at the Santa Cruz chapel above the city. It is a tall, light, golden brioche with a crackly sugar crust, softly flavoured with orange-flower water and lemon zest rather than butter-heavy, and it tears into long, feathery strands. Eat it with coffee or hot chocolate, plain or with jam. The dough is slow and sticky, so give it time. Chef's tip: let the dough rise slowly overnight in the fridge after the first knead; it becomes easier to shape and the flavour deepens.

75 min

Algerian Baking

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Lucskos káposztaPork, cabbage and rice stew

Lucskos means sloppy or juicy, and this stew from the north-east, from Szabolcs to Borsod and the Zemplén hills, is exactly that: a pot of pork, shredded fresh cabbage and a little rice, cooked loose and soupy, soured with sauerkraut juice and enriched with sour cream and dill. Think of it as the everyday, unrolled cousin of stuffed cabbage, cooked on weekday evenings and at village pig-killing feasts. It is a pork dish, tangy, warming and filling, eaten from deep bowls with bread. A common mistake is putting the rice in too early, so it swells and thickens the pot into porridge; add it for the last 20 minutes only. Chef's tip: if you can't get sauerkraut juice, a spoon of vinegar and a pinch of sugar gives a similar sour edge.

90 min

Hungarian Meat

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KanchembaFried buckwheat fingers

In the Thakali villages of Thak Khola, kanchemba is what is fried when visitors arrive in the afternoon or when the family gathers on a winter evening, and it has since become a favourite snack in Thakali restaurants in Pokhara and Kathmandu. The buckwheat dough is seasoned with turmeric, chilli and a little onion, rolled into thick fingers, then deep-fried until crunchy outside and soft and nutty in the centre. A punchy dipping achar of tomato, chilli, garlic and roasted timur comes alongside, and the pair is eaten with a bowl of salty butter tea or a glass of hot water. The trouble usually starts when the fingers are too thick, so the middle stays pasty while the outside darkens. Chef's tip: keep the fingers no thicker than your own, and fry at a moderate heat so they cook through before they brown.

40 min

Nepali Snacks & Starters

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Kandahari tikkaGrilled lamb chunks

Kandahar's tikka houses pride themselves on doing very little to the meat: chunks of lamb, threaded on wide iron skewers with small pieces of tail fat between them, are rubbed with grated onion, salt and black pepper and grilled over fierce charcoal until the fat drips and flares. The result is smoky, juicy and peppery, with crisp edges and a clean lamb flavour, and it is served on hot naan with raw onion, tomato and a sharp green chutney. Over-marinating in onion is a common misstep, as the juice softens the surface into mush after a day; two to four hours is plenty. Chef's tip: let the skewers rest for 2 minutes on the naan before eating, so the bread soaks up the juices.

27 min

Afghan Meat

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Lukang ox tongue cakesSesame maltose flat pastries

Their name comes from the shape, long and flat like a tongue, not from any meat: in the old port town of Lukang, Changhua, these pastries are pressed on hot griddles along the lanes near Tianhou Temple and handed out warm in paper bags. Lukang's style is thicker and chewier than the cracker-crisp Yilan version, with a crisp, blistered shell and a sticky brown-sugar centre that pulls like soft toffee. Bakeries there use lard, so this vegetarian recipe uses vegetable shortening in the pastry and a little butter in the filling. A frequent mishap is rolling the filled dough with heavy hands, which bursts the skin and lets the syrup scorch in the pan. Chef's tip: cook them over a low heat and be patient; slow griddling lets the centre turn molten before the outside darkens.

80 min

Taiwanese Baking

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LukankaCumin pork and beef sausage

Flat, dark-red lukanka from Panagyurishte and Smilyan hangs in every Bulgarian delicatessen, sliced paper-thin for a meze plate with white cheese, tomato and cucumber. The traditional sausage is pork and beef with cumin, black pepper and salt, pressed flat and dry-cured for weeks in cold mountain air, which needs curing salts and controlled humidity and temperature to be safe, so it is not for a home kitchen. This home version keeps the flavour and flat shape but is fully cooked: the mix rests overnight in the fridge, is poached in pork casings to 71 °C, then pressed and chilled so it slices cold. Bought dry-cured lukanka is raw cured meat: not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system. The usual slip is letting the meat warm up, which smears the fat, so keep everything fridge-cold. Chef's tip: fry a teaspoon of the mix and taste it for salt and cumin before you stuff.

800 min

Bulgarian Meat

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MatlouhSemolina flatbread

In Algiers and all over Algeria, homemade matlouh is the bread of choice for Ramadan iftar and for dipping into chorba or chakchouka. The dough is made with fine semolina and yeast, almost as wet as a batter, left to rise until airy, then shaped into thick rounds and cooked on a clay tajine or a heavy frying pan rather than in an oven. The result is soft and springy inside, with a thin, freckled, golden crust and the sweet, nutty taste of semolina. Eat it warm, torn by hand. Chef's tip: keep your hands wet with water, not floured, when shaping the sticky dough; flour makes the crust dry and floury.

55 min

Algerian Breads & Parathas

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KarantikaBaked chickpea flour flan

Schoolchildren in Oran spend their pocket money on karantika, a savoury chickpea-flour flan baked in huge trays and cut into squares by street vendors, who sprinkle it with cumin and harissa and often stuff it into a piece of baguette. Its roots go back to the Spanish calentica of Oran's past, and it has spread across western Algeria. Made with only chickpea flour, water, oil and egg, it bakes into a soft, custardy, slightly wobbly middle under a crisp, burnished top. Serve it warm, cut into squares, with harissa; to keep the dish gluten free, skip the bread. Chef's tip: rest the batter for at least 30 minutes before baking; the flour hydrates and the flan sets smooth instead of grainy.

45 min

Algerian Snacks & Starters

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DoubaraSpicy chickpea stew

In Biskra, the oasis town at the gateway to the Algerian Sahara, doubara is street food, ladled from big pots into bowls from late afternoon and through Ramadan nights. Soft chickpeas or broad beans are simmered with cumin and garlic, then dressed with a fiery garlic-harissa sauce, olive oil, lemon and a heap of chopped tomato, onion, parsley and fresh chilli on top. It is hot, sour and very garlicky, filling yet fresh, and eaten with bread. Chef's tip: mash a ladle of the chickpeas into the broth at the end; it thickens the stew so the sauce clings.

45 min

Algerian Curries

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BerkoukesLarge couscous pearls in vegetable broth

Berkoukes, the big chewy couscous pearls rolled by hand in Tlemcen and the west of Algeria, is cold-weather food and a classic dish for the end of winter or a family supper. Cooked directly in a thick, tomato-red broth with courgette, carrot, potato, turnip, peas and chickpeas, it becomes a spoonable, comforting stew, fragrant with garlic, paprika, dried mint and fresh coriander. Many families make it with meat or khlii; this is the vegetable version cooked at home on ordinary days. Bought berkoukes, maftoul or giant couscous are fine. Chef's tip: steam or toast the berkoukes before simmering it; the pearls hold their shape and don't turn to porridge.

60 min

Algerian Pasta & Noodles

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Karađorđeva šniclaBreaded stuffed pork roll

Belgrade restaurants have served this since a local chef created it in the mid-20th century, naming it after Karađorđe, leader of the First Serbian Uprising; diners fondly call it the maiden's dream. A thin pork escalope (veal is the other classic) is spread with kajmak, Serbia's rich, slightly tangy clotted cream, rolled tight, double-breaded and fried into a golden log that oozes when cut. It comes with chips or roast potatoes, a lemon wedge and tartar sauce. If you can't find kajmak, beat cream cheese with a little soft butter and a pinch of salt. Rolling it loosely is the mistake that ruins it, because the cream escapes into the oil; roll tightly and chill before breading. Chef's tip: fry only until golden, then finish in the oven, so the crumb stays crisp while the pork cooks through to the centre.

60 minBalkan Meat

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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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Maczanka po krakowskuPork roll in caraway juices

Long before burgers reached the Rynek, Kraków's taverns sold maczanka, a soft bread roll split, dunked in the cooking juices of slowly braised pork shoulder and stuffed with sliced meat. The name comes from maczać, to dip, and the dipping is the whole point: the roll should drip, so eat it over a plate with a knife and fork or a stack of napkins. The pork is braised with plenty of onion, caraway and marjoram until it slices like butter, and the juices go glossy and savoury. Serve it with a pickled cucumber and a sharp beetroot and horseradish relish (ćwikła). Where most people go wrong is rushing the braise at a boil, which tightens the meat instead of softening it. Chef's tip: braise the shoulder the day before, chill it in its juices and slice it cold; it cuts neatly and reheats beautifully in the liquid.

150 min

Polish Meat

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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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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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Kalu dodolRice flour and jaggery sweet

Hambantota and Kalutara both claim the best kalu dodol, and roadside shops in each town sell long, black, glistening slabs wrapped in paper, bought by travellers as gifts for the family back home. The sweet is a test of stamina: coconut milk is cooked down until its oil separates, then rice flour and kithul jaggery are stirred in and the mixture is worked over the heat for two to three hours until it turns dark, glossy and stiff, with cashews and cardamom added at the end. It sets into a chewy, fudgy sweet with a deep caramel and coconut flavour, and is served in thin slices during Avurudu and at weddings. Giving up too early is the one mistake everyone makes once; undercooked dodol stays sticky and grey instead of firm and almost black. Chef's tip: use the widest heavy pan you have and a long wooden spoon, and keep stirring the same direction, scraping the base, so nothing catches.

195 min

Sri Lankan 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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KamaRoasted grain flour with kefir

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.

5 minBaltic Breakfast & Brunch

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Kancha aam makhaSpiced green mango

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.

10 min

Bangladeshi Snacks & Starters

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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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