Featured recipe

Patatas al cabrales

Fried potatoes with blue cheese sauce

Cabrales is ripened in limestone caves in the Picos de Europa, and the bars of Arenas de Cabrales and Cangas de Onís pour it, melted into cream, over hot chips as a ración to share with a bottle of cider. The sauce is sharp, salty and very rich, so a little goes a long way. Most cabrales is made with animal rennet; for a strictly vegetarian dish, choose a blue cheese labelled vegetarian. Chef's tip: keep the sauce below a boil once the cheese goes in, or it splits and turns grainy.

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Jamaican jerk pork

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Mbesses (Kabyle semolina cake)

Somewhere between shortbread and cornbread, mbesses is the plain cake of Kabyle kitchens, a shallow tray of semolina rich with melted butter, lightly sweetened and baked until golden on top. The texture is sandy and tender, breaking into crumbs that taste of toasted grain and butter, with a hint of orange blossom. It is cut into diamonds and served with milky coffee in the afternoon, or offered to guests who drop by during Ramadan evenings. Some households scatter sesame or nigella seeds over the top before baking. Chef's tip: spread the mixture into the tray with a light hand; pressing it down hard is the most common mistake and gives a dense, heavy cake.

50 min

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When the first warm days arrive, families in Constantine and across eastern Algeria mark the spring festival with picnics, boiled eggs and plates of bradj: diamonds of buttery semolina sandwiching a layer of spiced date paste, cooked slowly on a griddle rather than baked. The outside turns golden and crumbly, the date layer stays soft and sticky, and orange-blossom water perfumes the whole thing. Bradj is served warm with a drizzle of honey or a cold glass of buttermilk, and is just as good the next day with coffee. Chef's tip: press the dough together rather than kneading it; worked like bread dough, semolina turns tough, and bradj should break with a crumble.

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100 min

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Tagella (Tuareg sand-baked bread)

Out in the Hoggar mountains around Tamanrasset, Tuareg cooks bury a thick disc of dough in sand heated by a wood fire, cover it with embers and dig it up half an hour later with a dense, chewy crumb and a thick crust that is beaten clean of sand. The bread is then broken into pieces and soaked in a spicy tomato and onion sauce, a hearty meal for a camp or a desert evening; meat goes in when there is some, and this is the plain version cooked on ordinary days. At home, a very hot oven with a cast-iron pan gives a similar crust. Expect a filling, rustic dish with a smoky, peppery sauce. A frequent slip is making the dough too dry; it should be soft, or the thick round cracks and stays raw in the middle. Chef's tip: bake the bread until it sounds hollow when knocked, because an underbaked, doughy centre turns to paste in the sauce.

90 min

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Rougag (Saharan paper-thin flatbread)

Across the oases of the Algerian Sahara, from Biskra to Ouargla, women spread a soft semolina dough over a domed griddle so thin that light shows through it, then lift the sheet off within a couple of minutes. Rougag is the base of chakhchoukha and rfis, torn into pieces and soaked in sauce, but fresh sheets are also eaten folded around dates or a spoon of stew. Freshly made it is soft and flexible with toasty brown blisters; left to dry, it keeps for weeks in a tin. An upturned wok or a large non-stick pan stands in for the griddle. Chef's tip: oil your hands, not the pan; dough that is not wet enough to stretch is the common mistake, so it should feel almost too sticky to handle.

45 min

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Zviti (pounded pepper and flatbread mash)

Fire-blistered green chillies, a few tomatoes and a fist of garlic go into a wooden mortar, and the cook in Bou Saâda or M'Sila pounds them with torn flatbread until everything turns into a coarse, hot, smoky mash. Zviti is served straight from that wooden bowl, sometimes in a carved mortar the size of a salad bowl, and eaten by hand with more bread, often on cold evenings in the steppe towns. The flavour is sharp and grassy from the chillies, sweet from the charred tomato and soothed by plenty of olive oil. Choose a mix of hot and milder long chillies to set the heat you like. Don't leave the charred skins on the peppers and tomatoes: they turn the mash bitter and stringy. Chef's tip: pound rather than blend; a food processor whips it into a watery soup, so if you must use one, pulse briefly and add the bread last.

30 min

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Aghroum (Kabyle semolina flatbread)

Up in the villages of Kabylie, aghroum is simply the word for bread, and the everyday loaf is a flat, unleavened round of semolina, water, salt and a thread of olive oil, baked on a clay griddle over a low fire. It comes out firm and close-textured, with a crust speckled brown and a faintly sweet, nutty crumb that tastes of the grain. Kabyle families tear it to scoop up olive oil, dried figs and buttermilk at breakfast, or to mop the sauce of a bean or vegetable stew at midday. A heavy cast-iron pan or flat griddle does the job of the clay one at home. Chef's tip: keep the heat at medium-low and turn the bread often; a griddle that is too hot is the usual mistake, leaving a burnt crust around a raw, gummy middle.

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Sevan trout

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40 min

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Nigerian pancakes

Somewhere between a crêpe and a Western pancake, the Nigerian version is thin, slightly chewy and folded into quarters, often cooked for children before school or on a slow Saturday. Savoury ones get chopped onion and a bit of fresh chilli in the batter; sweet ones simply have more sugar and a pinch of nutmeg. They need nothing alongside except tea or a cup of hot chocolate. A pan that isn't hot enough is the classic mistake and gives pale, greasy pancakes, so heat it until a drop of batter sets at once. Chef's tip: rest the batter for 10 minutes while the pan heats; it gives a smoother, chewier pancake.

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Ka'ak nakache (date-filled semolina rings)

Constantine bakers own a special brass tweezer, the nakache, just for decorating these rings: a rope of buttery semolina dough is wrapped round spiced date paste, joined into a circle and pinched along the top into chevrons and leaves. Baked pale, ka'ak nakache is crisp and short outside with a soft, cinnamon and clove scented filling, a classic of Eid trays and of the coffee served to guests in the old city. Without the tweezer, a fork or the back of a small knife makes a good pattern. Chef's tip: let the buttered semolina rest for at least 30 minutes before adding water; skipping the rest is the usual mistake, and the rings crack as you shape them.

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Dziriettes (almond flower pastries)

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120 min

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Armenian string cheese

Chechil, called tel panir in Armenian, is the plaited string cheese of Armenian families from Yerevan to Beirut and Boston: fresh curd is melted in hot water, stretched again and again into long, fine strands with nigella seeds worked through, then twisted into a braid. To eat, you pull the braid apart into thread-fine strings, good with herbs, lavash and a glass of tan. Traditionally made with animal rennet; vegetarian rennet works too. A common mistake is stretching a curd that is not acidic enough; it melts into a blob instead of pulling. Chef's tip: test a small piece in hot water first, as for sulguni; if it stretches 30 cm without breaking, it is ready.

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Jamaican pumpkin soup

Ital kitchens in the Blue Mountains cook pumpkin soup on cool evenings, when the mist comes down over the coffee farms and something golden and peppery is needed. This one is meat-free and dairy-free: calabaza, carrot and chocho simmer with thyme, scallion and pimento until the pumpkin breaks down into a thick, naturally sweet broth, with a few spinners for chew. People often add the scotch bonnet already cut, which can make the whole pot ferociously hot; drop it in whole and take it out when the soup tastes right. Chocho (chayote) is optional, and courgette is a fair swap. Chef's tip: leave the soup chunky rather than blending; Jamaicans like to see the pieces of pumpkin collapsing into it.

60 min

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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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Tuwo shinkafa (soft rice swallow)

Across Kano, Kaduna and the wider Hausa north, the evening meal very often means a dome of tuwon shinkafa beside a bowl of soup. Short-grain rice is cooked well past the point most cooks would stop, then beaten with a wooden spoon until the grains collapse into a smooth, faintly sticky mass that still shows a few soft grains. It tastes mild and clean, which is exactly its job: you pinch off a piece, dip it into miyan kuka, miyan taushe or an okra soup and swallow. It also turns up at naming ceremonies and weddings, wrapped in plastic or leaves and carried home by guests. Chef's tip: wet the bowl or cup you mould it in, and the balls slide out glossy and round instead of tearing.

40 min

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Pomor-style cod

Along the White Sea coast near Arkhangelsk, the Pomors lived on cod, and this is how a fisherman's household turned a fillet into a whole supper: fish laid over sliced potatoes and buttery onions, then covered with beaten egg and milk and baked until set and golden, like a savoury fish custard. It is soft, mild and filling, and is eaten with pickled mushrooms, sauerkraut or a green salad. Where most people go wrong is using raw potato slices, which take far longer than the fish; par-boil them first. Chef's tip: salt the cod lightly 15 minutes ahead in the fridge, it firms up and does not leak water into the egg.

50 min

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Smoked omul

On the shingle beaches of Listvyanka, at the edge of Lake Baikal, women sell omul still warm from the smoke, the fish split open, threaded onto alder sticks and set around a fire until the skin turns bronze and the flesh pulls away in moist, salty flakes. Omul lives only in Baikal, so at home use small whitefish, trout or mackerel, gutted and split. A short brine in the fridge seasons the fish, then it is hot-smoked in a kettle barbecue or a lidded smoker until cooked right through. Serve it warm or cold with boiled potatoes, black bread and spring onions. The usual slip is smoking over flames rather than smouldering chips, which chars the skin before the inside is done. Chef's tip: let the brined fish dry in the fridge, uncovered, for an hour: the tacky surface takes the smoke far better.

120 min

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Vitamin salad

"Vitamin" salad was the bright spot on every Soviet stolovaya tray, scooped from a steel tray beside the cutlets and buckwheat, and it is still how many Russians start a light lunch. Fresh white cabbage, carrot and green apple are rubbed with salt and sugar, then dressed simply with sunflower oil and vinegar, so it tastes crisp, juicy and sweet-sour. It goes with almost anything hot and is a good way to use half a cabbage. A common mistake is skipping the squeeze: crushing the cabbage with salt for a minute or two softens it and draws out juice that becomes part of the dressing. Grate the apple last so it does not brown. Chef's tip: unrefined, toasted-seed sunflower oil gives the true canteen flavour; a splash goes a long way.

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Grated beetroot with garlic is about as everyday as Russian cooking gets: something from the school canteen, the work buffet and the Sunday table alike, served in a small bowl beside cutlets, boiled potatoes or black bread. This dressed-up version adds chopped prunes for sticky sweetness and toasted walnuts for crunch, all bound with a spoon of mayonnaise. It tastes earthy, sweet and bright with garlic. Buy ready-cooked beetroot (not pickled) to keep it a fifteen-minute job, or boil your own the day before. The usual slip is grating the beetroot fine and leaving it in its juice, which makes the salad watery and purple-grey; grate coarsely and squeeze lightly first. For a lighter dish use thick yoghurt or sour cream in place of mayonnaise. Chef's tip: toast the walnuts; raw ones taste bitter against the beet.

15 min

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Eggplant rolls

Every birthday buffet in Russian flats seems to have a plate of these little rolls, brought out with the herring and the salads: thin strips of fried aubergine wrapped around a sharp garlic and cheese filling with a slice of tomato peeking out. The aubergine is silky, the filling creamy and punchy, and the tomato keeps it fresh. They are a cold starter, so make them an hour before guests arrive and keep them chilled. Where most people go wrong is frying thick slices in lots of oil, which leaves them greasy and stiff; slice thin, salt them, pat dry and fry in a shallow film of oil. Many hard cheeses use animal rennet, so pick a vegetarian one. Chef's tip: press the fried slices between paper towels while still warm; they shed surprising amounts of oil.

40 min

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Mushroom julienne

Restaurants in Moscow took the French word for thin strips and gave it to a hot starter: mushrooms and onion in sour cream, baked bubbling under melted cheese in little metal cocottes with a handle. It became a fixture of New Year and birthday tables, served after the cold zakuski and before the main course, with a teaspoon and a slice of bread. The sauce is creamy and savoury, the top blistered and golden. Use mushrooms you can cut into neat strips; button or chestnut mushrooms work, and a handful of wild ones adds depth. The usual slip is crowding the pan so the mushrooms stew; fry them in a hot pan until their liquid has gone. Many hard cheeses are made with animal rennet, so choose a vegetarian hard cheese. Chef's tip: no cocottes? Bake it in ramekins or hollowed-out bread rolls.

35 min

Russian 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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Salted saffron milk caps

Northern Russians rank ryzhiki, the orange saffron milk caps of the pine woods, above almost every other mushroom, and salted ones from around Arkhangelsk once travelled to the tsar's table. Salted, they keep their bright colour, turn firm and juicy with a clean, resinous taste, and are served with thin onion rings, sunflower oil and hot boiled potatoes; for non-vegans a spoon of sour cream is classic. Old cellars dry-salted them raw for months; this safer fridge version blanches the caps briefly and keeps them in a measured brine in the fridge, ready in about a week. Only use mushrooms identified by an experienced forager or bought from a trusted seller. Where most people go wrong is guessing the salt; too little lets spoilage start, so weigh it. Chef's tip: the caps bruise green where handled, which is normal, so don't worry when the edges darken.

30 min

Russian Basics

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HangikjötSmoked lamb with white sauce

Hangikjöt, 'hung meat', is the Icelandic Christmas Day dinner: lamb or mutton smoked over birch or dried sheep dung, then simmered slowly and served hot or cold with potatoes in white sauce (uppstúfur), green peas, red cabbage and laufabrauð or flatkökur. Icelanders buy it ready-smoked in December; it is cooked at home. A common mistake is boiling it hard, which toughens the meat and makes it too salty. Chef's tip: let it cool in its cooking water; the meat stays juicy and absorbs back some of the flavour.

130 minScandinavian Meat

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BataSoft sticky rice

Long-grain palaw gets the glory at weddings, but on ordinary days in Herat and Kabul it is often bata that comes to the table: short-grain rice cooked until the grains burst and cling together in a glossy, gently salted mass. Its job is to sit beside something saucy, typically a qorma or sabzi, the dark, garlicky spinach, and to soak up every bit of it; children often eat it with just a spoonful of yogurt. It needs no spices at all. Rice that is drained or rinsed until the water runs clear will never go properly sticky, so rinse it once and cook it in a measured amount of water. Chef's tip: finish it under a lid wrapped in a tea towel on the lowest heat, which catches the drips of steam and keeps the top soft instead of wet.

40 min

Afghan Rice & Grains

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Mors

Northern Russia picks cranberries and lingonberries from the bogs in autumn, and many of them end up as mors, a tart, crimson drink served from a jug at family dinners and offered in cafes and canteens from Arkhangelsk to Siberia. Unlike kissel it is thin and refreshing, made by pressing out the raw berry juice, cooking the skins in water and then combining the two so the fresh vitamin-rich juice is never boiled. Honey goes in last, once the liquid has cooled a little, to keep its flavour. Where most people go wrong is boiling the pressed juice along with the pulp; keep it aside until the end. Honey is not for babies under one year old. Chef's tip: serve it cold with ice in summer or warmed gently in winter; it is good both ways.

20 min

Russian Drinks

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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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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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Kissel

Kissel is the drink of Russian childhoods: a glass of silky, ruby-red berry juice, just thick enough to coat the tongue, poured warm at kindergarten lunch or cold in summer from a jug on the dacha veranda. It is also the old Maslenitsa and wake-table drink, and frozen berries make it possible all year. The flavour is sweet-sharp and fresh, the texture smooth and slightly jelly-like. A common mistake is adding the starch mixture to boiling liquid and letting it bubble for minutes; bring it just back to a simmer, then take it off, or it thins out again and can turn gluey. More starch makes a spoonable dessert kissel. Chef's tip: lay cling film or sprinkle a little sugar on the surface as it cools to stop a skin forming.

20 min

Russian Drinks

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Kartoshka cakeCocoa and cake crumb truffles

Soviet cafés and school canteens sold these knobbly brown 'potatoes' for a few kopecks, and they began as a thrifty way to use up sponge and biscuit trimmings at the bakery. Crumbs are bound with butter and sweetened condensed milk, flavoured with cocoa and vanilla, shaped into little potatoes, rolled in cocoa and finished with two dabs of pale butter cream for the sprouts. They are fudgy and dense like a brownie truffle, need no oven, and children love making them. Traditional bakers added a spoonful of rum, an optional extra for adult batches only; this version is alcohol-free with vanilla. The usual slip is coarse crumbs, which make the potatoes crack, so blitz them as fine as sand. Chef's tip: chill the shaped potatoes for at least 20 minutes so they hold their shape and slice cleanly.

30 min

Russian 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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Aloo tukTwice-fried pressed potatoes

Aloo tuk is the crunch on a Sindhi plate, the thing children steal first: small potatoes boiled, fried, squashed flat and fried again until they are craggy and crisp at the edges and fluffy within, then showered with red chilli, tangy amchur and salt. In Sindhi homes from Karachi to Shikarpur they sit beside Sindhi kadhi and rice or dal and bhuga chawal, and they are also served on their own as a teatime snack with green chutney. The most common error is pressing the potatoes while they are still raw-centred or too hot and wet, which makes them tear instead of flatten neatly. Chef's tip: after the first fry let them cool for five minutes, then press each one under a flat-bottomed bowl so it cracks at the edges, since those cracks become the crispest bits. For children, go easy on the chilli and use more amchur.

40 min

Pakistani Snacks & Starters

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Pakistani chicken corn soup

Come the first cold evening of winter, carts with steaming steel pots appear on Karachi's Tariq Road and Lahore's Liberty Market, and queues form for chicken corn soup in disposable cups. It is Pakistani-Chinese food at its most loved: a thick, glossy soup of shredded chicken, creamed sweetcorn and silky egg ribbons, which each person seasons at the cart with chilli vinegar, soy sauce and chilli sauce from squeezy bottles. Children love it plain; adults douse it. Pouring the egg into a rapidly boiling soup turns it into scrambled lumps, so keep it at a gentle simmer and stir slowly in one direction. Chef's tip: for a vegetarian version, use a good vegetable stock, leave out the chicken and add a handful of finely chopped carrot and cabbage.

40 min

Pakistani Soups

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Amra chutneyHog plum chutney

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

40 min

Bangladeshi Chutneys & Dips

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Roasted corn and ube (African pear)

When the rains come between June and September, roadside roasters all over southern Nigeria fan charcoal under rows of maize cobs, and next to them sits a basin of ube, the purple African pear, softened in hot water. A bite of chewy, smoky corn and a scrape of the pear's rich, salty, almost avocado-like flesh is the whole point, and at home a grill or a gas flame does the job. Dropping ube into boiling water is a common mistake: the skins split and the flesh turns watery and bitter, so use water that is hot but not bubbling. Chef's tip: no ube? Fresh coconut chunks are the other classic partner for roasted corn.

25 min

Nigerian Snacks & Starters

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