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Goan bhaji pao
Featured recipe

Goan bhaji pao

Potato curry with bread rolls

Long before the cafés open their doors, Goan tea shops in Panaji, Mapusa and Margao are ladling out bhaji pao for workers and school children. This is not Mumbai's mashed pav bhaji: the Goan bhaji is a loose curry of potato and dried green peas in a roasted coconut masala, eaten by tearing fresh, soft pao and scooping it up, often with a cup of sweet milky tea. The mistake people make is grinding the coconut raw; it must be roasted until reddish-brown with the onion and spices, or the curry tastes flat. Chef's tip: soak the dried peas overnight and cook them separately until creamy, then they drink up the masala without going mushy.

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KystybyyPotato-filled flatbreads

Ask anyone in Kazan what they ate after school and many will say kystybyy, the folded Tatar flatbread sold warm in canteens and kiosks all over Tatarstan. Paper-thin rounds of unleavened dough are dry-cooked in a hot pan, filled while soft with mashed potato whipped with milk, butter and fried onion, folded into a half-moon and brushed with more butter. In older Tatar village kitchens the filling was millet porridge, which works just as well. Serve with tea, a bowl of soup or a glass of katyk, the Tatar soured milk. A common mistake is leaving the cooked flatbreads uncovered; they dry out and crack when folded, so stack them under a towel. Chef's tip: keep the pan dry and hot; 30–40 seconds a side gives brown freckles without stiffening the bread.

60 minRussianBreads & Parathas
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Lab-e-shireenFruit custard with vermicelli

The name means "sweet lips", and on Eid-ul-Fitr afternoons in Karachi and Lahore a glass bowl of it sits in nearly every fridge, waiting for guests who move from house to house. It is a cold, pourable vanilla custard folded through with toasted vermicelli, cubes of red and green jelly, banana, apple, grapes and tinned fruit, finished with cream and sometimes a scatter of nuts. Shop jelly is made with gelatine, so this version sets fruit juice with agar, which also holds up better at room temperature on a crowded table. A lot of cooks get the custard too thick, so once it chills it turns stiff and cannot coat the fruit. Chef's tip: make the jelly and the custard the night before, and stir in the fruit and cream only an hour or two before serving so the bananas stay pale and the vermicelli keeps a little bite.

40 minPakistaniDesserts
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Lachha parathaLayered flaky paratha

The word lachha means a coil or a hank of thread, and the best way to understand the bread is to watch a paratha-maker at a Peshawar or Lahore breakfast stall pleat a thin sheet of ghee-smeared dough like a paper fan, wind it into a snail and roll it out again. On the tawa the layers separate into rings of crisp, flaky dough that you can pull apart with your fingers, and a quick scrunch between the palms when it comes off the heat opens them up even more. It is the paratha for Sunday breakfasts with omelette or chana, for Eid lunches with qorma and for weddings beside tandoori dishes. What lets most home cooks down is a stingy hand with the ghee between the pleats, which welds the layers back together. Chef's tip: dust each greased sheet with a little dry flour before pleating; the flour and ghee together keep the layers apart as they cook.

45 minPakistaniBreads & Parathas
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LaffaLarge chewy flatbread

Laffa is the big, floppy flatbread that falafel and shawarma stands from Tel Aviv's Levinsky market to Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda use when a pita is not enough. It came with Iraqi Jews, who baked it on the inside wall of a taboon; at home a very hot pan or upturned wok does the job. It should be thin but chewy, with charred blisters, and soft enough to roll around falafel, salads and tahini without cracking. The mistake is cooking it too long: once it stiffens it splits when you wrap it. Chef's tip: stack the hot breads straight into a towel-lined bowl and cover, so they steam each other soft.

50 minIsraeliBreads & ParathasVegan
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Lagan ni seekhBaked spiced mince with egg

At a Dawoodi Bohra thaal in Karachi's Saddar or Burhani Park, the meal opens with a pinch of salt and a sweet, and lagan ni seekh is often among the first savoury dishes passed round the big shared tray: a "seekh kebab baked in a lagan", the shallow pan that names it. Spiced mince with fried onion, green chilli and mint is pressed into a dish, covered with beaten egg and baked until the top puffs and turns golden, then cut into squares. It is eaten warm with paratha or just as it is, and it is a favourite at Eid and wedding feasts. Skipping the step of cooking the mince dry first is the mistake to avoid; raw mince releases water under the egg and the squares go soggy. Chef's tip: lay a few rings of tomato and green chilli on the egg before baking, the way Bohra aunties do, so every square has a bright top.

65 minPakistaniMeatGluten free
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LakhamariLattice-shaped sweet bread

No Newar wedding in the Kathmandu Valley is complete without lakhamari, the large, crunchy, sugar-coated rounds that the groom's family carries to the bride's house in baskets as part of the ritual gifts, and which are then shared out among relatives for days. The dough is a mix of rice flour and wheat flour shortened with plenty of ghee, rolled into ropes and coiled into a lattice like a flat wheel, fried slowly until hard and pale gold, and glazed with a white sugar crust. It keeps for weeks in a tin and is broken into pieces to eat with tea. Where most cooks go wrong is frying too hot, which browns the outside while the thick lattice stays raw and soft inside. Chef's tip: keep the oil at a gentle 150 °C and fry each wheel for a good 8–10 minutes so it dries out and becomes crunchy right through.

120 minNepaliDesserts
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Lal shak bhajiStir-fried red amaranth

Bunches of lal shak, red amaranth with leaves streaked in crimson, are one of the cheapest and most common greens in any Bangladeshi bazar, and almost every lunch table has a bowl of it, cooked quickly with garlic and a dried chilli. The leaves wilt into a soft, slightly earthy tangle and bleed a beautiful magenta juice that turns the rice pink, which children love. It is served with plain rice and dal as the first course of a meal, before any fish or meat, the way Bengali meals traditionally start with something bitter or green. Adding water is unnecessary and the common slip; the leaves release plenty of their own and simply need to cook down uncovered. Chef's tip: wash the leaves well in several changes of water, as amaranth holds a lot of grit near the roots.

20 minBangladeshiSidesVeganGluten free
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Haitian lambi in creole sauceConch in creole sauce

Along Haiti's coast, from Jacmel to Les Cayes, lambi is the treat of beach shacks and holiday tables: conch meat pounded tender, simmered until soft, then stewed in a hot, tomato-rich creole sauce with peppers and lime. Its flavour is sweet and clean, somewhere between squid and clam. The great mistake is rushing it; conch is tough as rubber unless it is beaten thin and then simmered long enough to relax. Buy frozen cleaned conch meat from a trusted fishmonger, discard any that smells strongly of ammonia or fish, and cook it through fully. Chef's tip: simmer the pounded conch with lime and a little vinegar first; the acid helps tenderise it.

90 minHaitianFishGluten freeSpicy
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Landi palawRice with cured lamb

Each autumn around Kandahar and in the high villages of the Pashtun belt, whole sheep are salted and hung in the cold, dry wind for weeks to make landi, a dark, dense cured lamb that sees families through winter, and landi palaw, rice cooked in its salty, gamey broth, is one of the great cold-weather dishes. Air-drying meat outdoors is not safe to copy in a home kitchen, so this version cures lamb in salt in the fridge for four days, which gives much of the firm texture and concentrated, savoury flavour; it is then cooked until completely tender. The rice comes out rich and meaty, eaten with a raw onion salad and pickled vegetables. Salting the rice before tasting the broth is the mistake to avoid, as the cured meat brings plenty of its own. Chef's tip: soak the cured lamb for 2 hours before cooking and change the water once, so the broth is savoury rather than briny.

140 minAfghanRice & GrainsGluten free
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LanttulaatikkoBaked swede casserole

Lanttulaatikko is one of the 'laatikot', the oven casseroles that crowd the Finnish Christmas table beside the ham: swede boiled and mashed with cream, breadcrumbs, dark syrup, egg and nutmeg, then baked slowly until the top is deep brown and the inside is sweet and soft. Families make it days ahead because it tastes better reheated. A common mistake is baking it too hot, which burns the top before the casserole sets. Chef's tip: bake at a low heat for a long time, and make a crisscross pattern on top with a spoon so the syrup caramelises in the ridges.

120 minScandinavianSides
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Lapsi ko acharHog plum pickle

Lapsi, the Nepali hog plum, is a small, olive-green fruit with a huge stone, very little flesh and a sourness that makes your jaw ache, and in Kathmandu and the middle hills its arrival in the markets in late autumn means pickle-making season. Boiled, scraped from the stones and cooked down with jaggery, chilli, fenugreek and timur, it becomes a thick, glossy, dark brown achar that is tart, sweet and gently hot, eaten with dal bhat, spread on roti or served with sel roti during Tihar. It is also dried into candy called titaura. Look for fresh or frozen lapsi in Nepali grocers; tart, unripe green plums are the nearest substitute. The trouble usually starts when the jaggery goes in before the pulp has reduced, which leaves a runny pickle that can ferment. Chef's tip: cook the pulp until a spoon drawn through it leaves a clear trail before adding the sweetener.

60 minNepaliChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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LaskonkyCoconut meringue sandwiches

Laskonky are the chewy little meringue sandwiches in every Czech cake counter, from station cafes in Brno to the bakeries of small Bohemian towns. Two pale-gold discs of coconut and ground walnut meringue, crisp outside and chewy within, hold a thick layer of coffee butter cream. They are sweet and nutty, with the coffee keeping things grown-up, and they are naturally made without flour. A common mistake is baking them too hot, which browns the outside before the centre dries; low heat and patience give the right chew. Make the custard for the cream first so it can cool. The egg yolks in the cream are cooked until the custard bubbles. Chef's tip: spread a thin layer of the meringue on the paper rather than piping tall mounds; flat, even discs sandwich neatly.

90 minCzechDessertsGluten free
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Lassy mogsMolasses cookies

Lassy mogs are the soft, cakey cookies of Newfoundland Christmas tins, from the days when molasses (lassy) was the sweetener every outport kitchen kept. They are dark, spicy and chewy with raisins, dates and sometimes coconut, and are eaten with a cup of tea after a cold walk. A common mistake is baking them until firm; they should still look slightly soft in the middle when they come out. Chef's tip: chill the dough for half an hour so it scoops easily and the cookies keep their dome.

30 minCanadianBaking
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Lau khosha bhajiFried bottle gourd peel

Thrifty Bangladeshi cooks never throw away the green skin of a bottle gourd: once the flesh has gone into a curry or a milky lau ghonto, the peel is cut into fine strips and fried with nigella seeds and green chilli into a small, crunchy, slightly bitter bhaji. It is a classic of home kitchens rather than restaurants, made in winter when lau is cheap and young, and eaten with rice and dal as a little extra on the side. The strips stay pleasantly crisp at the edges and soft inside, with the earthy taste of the gourd. Skin from an old, hard gourd is tough and woody, which is the usual reason this fails, so use only young, pale-green gourds with a tender peel. Chef's tip: a few matchsticks of potato fried in with the peel help it brown evenly.

20 minBangladeshiSidesVeganGluten free
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LaufabrauðCarved fried leaf bread

Laufabrauð, 'leaf bread', is made by Icelandic families together in early December: paper-thin rounds of dough are carved into lacy geometric patterns with a small knife or a brass cutting wheel, then fried in seconds until crisp and golden. Each family has its own patterns, and the breads are eaten at Christmas with butter and smoked lamb. It is a tradition from northern Iceland around Akureyri, where flour was scarce. A common mistake is rolling the dough too thick; it should be so thin you can read through it. Chef's tip: make a fold, cut little V-shapes along it with a knife, and fold every other point back, which gives the classic leaf pattern.

90 minScandinavianBreads & Parathas
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Lauki ka halwaBottle gourd halwa

Pale jade-green and soft, with tiny strands of gourd suspended in a creamy, cardamom-scented reduction, lauki ka halwa is what many Pakistani households make in summer, when the vines are heavy and bottle gourd is the cheapest thing in the sabzi mandi. It is lighter than carrot or dal halwa, gently sweet, and tastes of milk and ghee more than vegetable; families in Hyderabad, Karachi and Faisalabad serve it chilled on hot evenings or warm after a meal, and it is a favourite sweet for Ramadan iftar tables. The usual let-down is not squeezing out the gourd's water before cooking, which dilutes the milk and leaves the halwa thin and bland. Chef's tip: use a young, tender lauki with soft seeds, cook the grated gourd in ghee first until it softens, then add the milk, and stop when the halwa is moist and creamy, not dry, as it firms up as it cools.

60 minPakistaniIndian SweetsGluten free
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LebbencslevesPotato and pasta sheet soup

Shepherds on the Hungarian Great Plain carried dry sheets of pasta in their packs, broke them into a cauldron over the fire with potatoes and paprika, and called it lebbencsleves. In villages and family kitchens it is still the soup for a cold weekday. Usually the onion is fried in smoked bacon; this meat-free version fries the onion and paprika in oil, so it is vegan, and toasts the pasta in the same pot first for a nutty depth. The broth turns brick red and is thickened a little by the potatoes, with chewy shards of pasta in every spoonful. Buy egg-free dried pasta sheets (or broken lasagne sheets) to keep it vegan. Where it goes wrong is adding the pasta too early: it swells, goes slimy and drinks up the soup. Chef's tip: a little green pepper and a fresh tomato added with the potatoes give the soup a summery sweetness.

45 minHungarianSoupsVegan
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Leeks thel dalaStir-fried leeks

Up in the cool air of Nuwara Eliya, where carrots, cabbages and leeks grow on terraced slopes and are piled high on lorries heading down to the lowland markets, leeks are cooked the Sri Lankan way: fast and hot, with chilli. This thel dala, meaning tossed in oil, is a dry stir-fry of sliced leeks, red onion and garlic with crackling mustard seeds, curry leaves, turmeric and chilli flakes, ready in minutes and served on the rice and curry plate as a crunchy, sweet-hot side. Plenty of home cooks add a handful of Maldive fish or tiny dried sprats; this vegan version is just as moreish without them. Gritty leeks spoil the dish, so wash them after slicing, not before, when the soil hiding between the layers can float out. Chef's tip: stop cooking while the leeks still have a little bite and bright green colour; they keep softening in the hot pan.

20 minSri LankanSidesVeganGluten free
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LekachHoney cake

Every Ashkenazi family in Israel seems to have its own lekach, and in the days before Rosh Hashanah the smell of honey and spice drifts out of kitchens all over Kfar Saba and Jerusalem. It is a dark loaf of honey, brown sugar, strong coffee, cinnamon and cloves, made with oil so it stays dairy free for the festive meat meal. It tastes even better after two days wrapped, when the crumb turns sticky and deep. Slice it thinly and eat it with tea, wishing for a sweet new year. The common mistake is an oven that is too hot: honey burns quickly, so the outside darkens before the middle sets. Chef's tip: bake low and slow, and tent with foil once the top is mahogany.

75 minIsraeliBaking
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Leipäjuusto with cloudberriesBread cheese with cloudberries

Leipäjuusto, 'bread cheese', comes from Lapland, Ostrobothnia and Kainuu in northern Finland: a flat round of fresh cheese baked or flame-grilled until it is spotted brown, squeaky and mild. In Lapland it is cut into cubes and dropped into hot coffee, or warmed and served with cloudberry jam and cream as a dessert at Christmas and celebrations. Sold as 'Finnish squeaky cheese' outside Finland; it is usually made with animal rennet, so look for a vegetarian version. A common mistake is warming it too long, which turns it rubbery and leaks whey. Chef's tip: warm it in a hot oven for just a few minutes, until soft and steaming, and pour over a little cream for the last minute.

15 minScandinavianDessertsGluten free
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Lekváros buktaPlum jam yeast buns

Grandmothers across Hungary bake a tray of bukta on a Sunday afternoon, and school bakeries sell them for the walk home: soft, milky yeast buns, each folded around a spoon of thick plum butter and baked so close together that they rise into one another. Pulled apart, the sides stay tender and pale while the tops shine golden, and the dark, tart plum filling balances the sweet dough. Serve them warm with a glass of cold milk or cocoa. The usual slip is using runny jam, which bubbles out and burns on the tray; it must be a thick lekvár that holds its shape on a spoon. Chef's tip: brush each bun with melted butter before it goes into the tin, so the buns rise together but still pull apart neatly.

120 minHungarianBaking
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Lankaran kulchaNut and saffron pastry

Lankaran, on the subtropical Caspian coast in the far south, near the Iranian border, has its own Novruz bake: kulcha, a round of soft, rich dough filled with walnuts and sugar perfumed with saffron and cardamom, pinched closed, flattened and patterned on top with tweezers before baking. Southern families make dozens for the spring festival and for visiting relatives. A common mistake is rolling the filled pastry too thin, which splits the dough. Chef's tip: crimp a pattern around the edge with a fork or pastry tweezers; it seals the kulcha and is the traditional decoration.

80 minAzerbaijaniBaking
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Leskovačka mućkalicaCharred pork stew with peppers

Leskovac, in southern Serbia, is the country's grill capital, and its late-summer barbecue festival fills the main street with smoke; mućkalica is what the grill cooks make with meat that has spent time over the coals. Chunks of pork neck or shoulder are charred, then stewed with roasted peppers, onion, tomato and hot paprika until the sauce turns thick, glossy and fiery. This home version marinates the pork in the fridge and sears it on a griddle pan for that charred note. Serve straight from the pot with flatbread and a cucumber salad. The name comes from shaking the pan, and constant stirring is the usual mistake; swirl the pot instead so the pepper strips keep their shape. Chef's tip: char the peppers until black and blistered, then steam them in a covered bowl for 10 minutes and the skins slip off in seconds.

80 minBalkanMeatGluten freeSpicy
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Check riceJute leaf and okra rice

Liberians call it check rice because the grains come out flecked green with chopped jute leaves and okra, a checked pattern on a white field. It is a Monrovia home favourite, cooked in one pot so the rice absorbs the palm oil, onion and pepper while the greens soften into the grains and give them a gentle silkiness. Dried fish or meat often goes in; this version stays meat-free and is good alongside a pepper sauce, fried plantain or a simple bean stew. Chef's tip: lay the jute leaves on top of the rice instead of stirring them in; they steam gently, and you fold them through only at the end, which keeps the grains separate.

45 minAfricanRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
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Palm butterPalm nut stew

Sunday and holiday tables in Liberia often centre on palm butter, a thick, velvety, orange-red stew made from the pulp of boiled palm nuts and cooked down with beef, smoked fish and whole hot peppers. In Monrovia it is spooned over rice, while families upcountry often pair it with fufu or dumboy. The taste is rich, nutty and gently sweet, with smoke from the fish and slowly building heat. Canned palm nut concentrate from African grocers makes it practical at home; pounding fresh nuts is the village way. A frequent slip is boiling hard once the palm cream goes in, which splits the oil out and makes it greasy. Chef's tip: drop the peppers in whole and pierce them once; you get flavour and warmth without the stew turning fiercely hot, and you can lift them out before serving.

125 minAfricanMeatGluten free
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LihapiirakkaFried meat and rice pastry

Lihapiirakka is the late-night kiosk snack of Finland, sold from grills in Helsinki and Tampere and at summer markets: a soft yeasted dough wrapped around minced beef and rice, deep-fried until golden, then split and filled with sausages, egg or pickles if you ask for the 'atomic' version. This recipe uses beef mince and keeps it plain. A common mistake is a wet filling, which makes the dough soggy and burst. Chef's tip: cook the filling until all the liquid has gone, cool it completely and fry the pies at 175 °C so they puff and stay light. Mince must be cooked to 71 °C.

80 minScandinavianFast Food
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Limburgs zuurvleesSweet-sour beef stew

Zoervleisj, sour meat, is the signature dish of Limburg in the south of the Netherlands, eaten with fries and apple sauce in every café in Maastricht and Heerlen: beef marinated overnight in vinegar with bay and cloves, then braised slowly with onions and thickened with Limburg apple-pear syrup (stroop) and slices of spiced gingerbread until dark, glossy and sweet-sour. Traditionally horse meat was used; beef is the usual choice today. A common mistake is skipping the marinade, which leaves the meat bland. Chef's tip: marinate in the fridge for at least 12 hours and use the marinade in the braise.

200 minDutchCurries
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Limburgse vlaaiCherry lattice tart

Vlaai is the pride of Limburg, the southern province around Maastricht: a thin yeasted pastry base filled with fruit, often sour cherries, apricots or plums, or with a creamy rice custard (rijstevlaai), topped with a lattice and baked. Every birthday, funeral and Sunday visit in Limburg has vlaai on the table, and bakeries sell them whole in boxes. A common mistake is a runny filling, which soaks the base. Chef's tip: thicken the cherry juice with cornflour and cook it until glossy before it goes in, so the base stays crisp.

75 minDutchBaking
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LimonanaFrozen mint lemonade

The name joins limon and nana, lemon and mint, and this slushy green lemonade is what beach cafés from Herzliya to Eilat hand over the counter on blazing summer days. Lemon juice, sugar syrup, a big handful of mint and ice are blended until smooth and frosty, so the drink is sour, sweet and cooling at once. It is alcohol-free and children love it. The mistake is blending the mint so long that it turns bitter and brownish; a short, hard blitz keeps it bright. Chef's tip: make the syrup ahead and chill it, then use plenty of ice so the drink stays thick rather than watery.

13 minIsraeliDrinksVeganGluten free
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LingonsyltLingonberry preserve

Lingonsylt is the bright red preserve on every Swedish table: with meatballs, Wallenbergare, potato pancakes and kroppkakor, and in Finland and Norway with reindeer and porridge. Swedish families pick the berries in September in the forests and either stir them raw with sugar (rårörda lingon) or cook them very briefly so they stay whole and sharp. A common mistake is boiling them long, which makes a dull, jelly-like jam. Chef's tip: cook for only 3–5 minutes, then cool fast; lingonberries are rich in natural preservatives and keep well.

20 minScandinavianChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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Dominican locrio de polloChicken and rice

Locrio is the Dominican answer to paella, cooked in a heavy caldero on weekdays in Santo Domingo homes and in huge pots for family gatherings in the campo. Chicken seasoned with lime, garlic and oregano is browned, simmered with peppers, tomato paste and olives, and then the rice cooks right in the sauce, turning orange-red; the crisp crust left at the bottom, the concón, is fought over. The common mistake is lifting the lid and stirring while the rice steams, which breaks the grains and stops the concón forming. Chef's tip: once the water has nearly gone, give the rice one gentle turn from the bottom up, then cover and leave it alone.

70 minPuerto RicanRice & GrainsGluten free
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Loitta fryFried Bombay duck fish

Down on the beach road at Cox's Bazar, the fry stalls lay out trays of loitta, the soft, almost jelly-like Bombay duck fish, ready to be coated in chilli and rice flour and dropped into hot oil while you wait. The contrast is the whole point: a shatteringly crisp, spicy shell around flesh so tender it barely holds together. In Chittagong homes it is a weekday treat with rice and dal, and it often appears at iftar. Fresh loitta holds a lot of water, and the usual mistake is to coat it straight away, which makes the crust go soggy and spit in the pan. Pressing it under weight first fixes that. Chef's tip: if you can only get frozen Bombay duck from an Asian grocer, thaw it in the fridge overnight and press it twice as long.

30 minBangladeshiFishGluten freeSpicy
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Fish singari (Alexandrian baked fish)

Alexandrian fish restaurants list singari next to grilled and fried fish, and families along the coast bake it at home for Friday lunch, usually with sea bream, sea bass or a large bolti. The fishmonger splits the fish down the back and opens it flat, then it is smothered in a garlicky cumin and lemon paste and laid over sliced tomatoes, green peppers, onion and chilli. In the oven the vegetables soften into a juicy sauce underneath while the fish roasts on top, so you get tender flesh, a slightly charred skin and plenty of sauce for spooning over rice. Serve with white rice, tahini and bread. Chef's tip: give the vegetables 10 minutes in the oven on their own first; it drives off water so the fish roasts instead of steaming.

65 minEgyptianFishGluten free
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Ekuru (white bean pudding with pepper sauce)

Pale and plain on purpose, ekuru is moin moin's quiet cousin: the same peeled black-eyed bean paste, but steamed with nothing in it except a little salt, so it comes out white, light and airy. In Ijebu and around Ogun State it is a breakfast and market snack, and all the flavour comes from the sauce served with it, a fried mix of red peppers, scotch bonnet, onion and locust beans in palm oil. The contrast of mild, fluffy pudding and hot, oily sauce is the whole point. This version is entirely plant-based. Chef's tip: beat the bean paste hard for several minutes before steaming; the trapped air is what makes ekuru light rather than dense.

90 minNigerianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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AvelookDried braided sorrel with walnuts

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

60 minArmenianSaladsVeganGluten free
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Boiled yam with egg sauce

Saturday breakfast in many Nigerian homes means thick slices of boiled white yam and a pan of egg sauce, eggs gently scrambled into a quick fried sauce of tomato, onion and fresh chilli. The yam is fluffy and starchy, the sauce juicy, peppery and soft, and the two are made in the same half hour. It is just as popular for supper. Overcooking the eggs is the usual mistake: take the pan off the heat while they still look slightly wet and they finish in their own warmth. Chef's tip: wear gloves or oil your hands while peeling yam, since the raw skin and flesh can make your hands itch.

30 minNigerianBreakfast & BrunchGluten free
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Agidi (set fermented maize in leaves)

Wrapped in green leaves and stacked in pyramids, ẹ̀kọ (Yoruba) or agidi (Igbo) is the solid form of ogi: the same fermented maize paste cooked much thicker, then left to set into a cool, wobbly block. It tastes gently sour and very clean, which is why it suits a hot pepper stew, moi moi, akara or a bowl of efo. Buka in Lagos and Ibadan sell it at breakfast and lunch. Undercooking is the most common mistake, and the agidi then stays soft and runny, so cook until a spoon leaves a clear trail across the pot. Chef's tip: pass banana leaves quickly over a flame until they turn shiny and supple, and they will fold without tearing.

45 minNigerianBreakfast & BrunchVeganGluten free
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Al yakhniBottle gourd in yogurt gravy

Yakhni in Kashmir means a gravy built on yogurt rather than tomato, and al yakhni, made with bottle gourd, is the version cooked in Muzaffarabad and the Neelum valley when the vines are heavy in late summer. The pale, delicately sour sauce is flavoured with ground fennel, dry ginger, cloves and cardamom, never chilli powder, and finished with a crumble of dried mint, so it tastes cool and aromatic rather than hot. It is eaten with a mound of plain rice, often alongside a red, chilli-hot dish so the two balance each other. Yogurt that splits into grainy curds is the trap: it happens when cold yogurt meets hot oil or when the pot is left alone before it boils. Chef's tip: whisk the yogurt with the spices and keep stirring in one direction over a medium heat until it comes to a full boil; after that it will not curdle.

40 minPakistaniVegetarianGluten free
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Eba (gari swallow)

Students in hostels, office workers at lunchtime buka and families from Warri to Lagos all lean on eba, because it is ready in about five minutes from a bag of gari, the toasted granules of fermented cassava. Stirred into hot water, gari swells into a smooth, firm, slightly tangy dough that you pinch, roll and dip into egusi, okra, ogbono or efo riro. Yellow gari has been fried with a little palm oil and gives a richer, golden eba; white gari is sharper and paler. Chef's tip: pour the gari onto the water, never the water onto the gari, and wait a minute before stirring so every grain soaks evenly.

7 minNigerianBasicsVeganGluten free
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AkutaqWhipped berry dessert

Akutaq, sometimes called Eskimo ice cream, is a festive Inuvialuit and Yup'ik dish of the Western Arctic, served at feasts, potlatches and Christmas gatherings. Traditionally animal fat was whipped by hand with snow and wild berries; today many families in the Mackenzie Delta and Alaska use white vegetable shortening, which is the version here, so it is vegan. Fat and sugar are beaten until white and fluffy, then fresh or frozen berries are folded through. It is eaten cold, by the spoonful, in small portions. A common mistake is using warm shortening, which won't whip. Chef's tip: beat in the cold water a spoonful at a time; that is what makes it light.

30 minCanadianDessertsVeganGluten free
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AkpleCorn and cassava swallow

Ewe homes in Ho, Keta and across the Volta Region eat akple at the main meal of the day, almost always with fetri detsi, the slippery okra soup that slides it down. It is firmer and less sour than banku, made by stirring fine maize meal into a hot base of fermented corn and cassava dough, and the finished balls are smooth, dense and mild. A vegetable okra soup makes it a meat-free meal. Chef's tip: add the dry maize meal in small handfuls and press every addition into the dough before the next; pouring it in all at once is the common mistake that leaves dry, floury pockets.

30 minGhanaianBasicsVeganGluten free
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Kunun aya (tiger nut drink)

Street sellers in Jos, Kaduna and Kano keep kunun aya cold in coolers, and on a hot afternoon a glass of the creamy, nutty milk is hard to beat. Tiger nuts, which are small tubers rather than nuts, are soaked until plump, blended with dates, fresh coconut and a little ginger, then strained. Dates do the sweetening, so most people add no sugar at all. Skimping on the soak is the most common mistake; dry tiger nuts give a thin, gritty drink, so soak them for at least 8 hours. Chef's tip: soak them in the fridge and keep everything cold, because the fresh milk sours quickly in the heat.

20 minNigerianDrinksVeganGluten free
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Pumpkin millet porridge

Autumn in central Ukraine means piles of grey-skinned pumpkins in every yard, and the first thing many grandmothers make with them is this golden breakfast porridge. Diced pumpkin is simmered until it collapses, then millet and milk are added and the pot is left to cook down into something thick, creamy and faintly sweet, finished with butter and a spoon of honey. In villages around Cherkasy and Vinnytsia it was once baked for hours in the clay stove; a heavy pan on a low heat gives a very similar result. Serve it hot in deep bowls, with extra honey and a few raisins for children. The usual slip is skipping the rinse: millet carries a bitter dust, and only washing it in several changes of hot water takes it away. Chef's tip: choose a dense, deep-orange pumpkin such as butternut or a Ukrainian 'muscat' type; watery Halloween pumpkins make a thin, pale kasha.

50 minUkrainianBreakfast & BrunchGluten free
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Garden egg sauce

Igbo families in Enugu, Anambra and Imo cook the little white-and-green garden eggs into a soft, chunky sauce to scoop up with boiled yam, plantain or rice. The aubergines are boiled, peeled and mashed, then simmered in palm oil with onion and fresh chilli, giving a smoky-sweet, slightly bitter, very savoury spread. Crayfish or dried fish is often stirred in; leave them out, as here, for a vegan sauce. Chef's tip: soften the garden eggs fully before mashing, or the sauce will be squeaky and raw-tasting instead of creamy.

30 minNigerianChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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Beer (Somali fried liver)

Beer means liver in Somali, and a plate of it, cut into small cubes and fried hard with onion, green pepper and xawaash, is a breakfast institution in Mogadishu cafés, especially on weekends and through Eid when there is fresh lamb or goat liver at hand. It arrives sizzling, with canjeero or sabaayad to scoop it up, a wedge of lime and a cup of sweet spiced tea. Good beer is tender and browned on the outside, cooked through with no pink left in the centre. The classic mistake is salting the liver at the start, which draws out moisture and makes it tough; add the salt at the very end. Lamb, goat, calf or beef liver all work. Chef's tip: cut the liver into even 2 cm cubes so every piece cooks through in the same few minutes.

22 minSomaliMeatGluten free
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Easter pâté

A thick slice of homemade pasztet belongs on the Easter breakfast table after the blessing of the food basket, next to ham, eggs, ćwikła and white sausage. This baked loaf combines pork shoulder, chicken thighs and pork liver, simmered with root vegetables and allspice, minced twice and baked until firm, so it slices cleanly yet stays moist and spreadable. Marjoram and nutmeg give it the classic Polish flavour; serve it cold with horseradish, beetroot relish and pickles. Overbaking dries it out, but underbaking is the bigger risk with poultry and liver, so always check the centre with a thermometer. Bake it two days ahead: it needs to chill overnight to set, and it keeps for five days in the fridge. Chef's tip: save the cooking stock and add it a ladle at a time as you mix; the mixture should be as soft as thick porridge, which keeps the finished loaf juicy.

180 minPolishMeat
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Fried Christmas carp

For many Polish families, Wigilia, the meatless Christmas Eve supper, is not complete without fried carp, bought live from market tanks in mid-December or, more often today, cleaned and cut into steaks at the fishmonger. The steaks are salted, floured and fried until the skin crisps and the white flesh turns sweet and juicy. Serve with boiled potatoes, sauerkraut with peas, or simply bread and a lemon wedge, after the beetroot barszcz. Keeping a scale from the Christmas carp in your wallet is said to bring money all year. Carp has a reputation for tasting muddy, and the usual culprit is skipping the salting and resting time. Ask the fishmonger to score the steaks finely so the small Y-shaped bones soften as they fry. Chef's tip: salt the steaks and leave them in the fridge for 20 minutes, then pat completely dry; the flesh firms up and the flour clings in a thin, even crust.

40 minPolishFish
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Smoked eel

Fish smokehouses dot the shores of the Great Masurian Lakes, and an eel hot-smoked over alder, golden-skinned and glistening, is the prize of any summer trip to Węgorzewo or Ruciane-Nida. The flesh is rich, soft and smoky-sweet, and it is eaten cold on rye bread with grated horseradish and a squeeze of lemon. European wild eel is endangered, so buy farmed eel from a responsible fishmonger, ready gutted. This is a fully hot-smoked version: the fish is brined in the fridge and cooked through in the smoker. Smoked fish can carry listeria if it is not cooked through or kept cold, so it is not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system unless reheated until steaming. Many home smokers run the heat too low throughout, which leaves the eel smoky but undercooked. Chef's tip: ready hot-smoked eel from a lakeside smokehouse is the easy route; just serve it well chilled with the same garnishes.

240 minPolishFishGluten free
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Fried vendace

Sielawa, the small silvery whitefish of the deep Masurian lakes, is a holiday treat in Mikołajki, Giżycko and the lakeside fish huts, sold freshly fried on paper plates with a lemon wedge and a slice of bread. The fish are so slender that, once floured and fried in butter, the fine bones become soft enough to eat and the skin turns golden and crunchy around sweet, delicate flesh. A cold cucumber salad or chips are the usual companions. Overcrowding the pan is the chief error: the fish steam instead of frying and the coating goes pale and soggy. If vendace is hard to find, smelt, small whiting or sprats work the same way. Chef's tip: dry the fish properly before flouring and fry in two batches, adding a little fresh butter and oil each time so it never burns.

25 minPolishFish
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Roast goose with apples

On 11 November, St Martin's Day and Poland's Independence Day, roast goose comes back to tables from Poznań to Gdańsk, and Pomeranian and Kujawy farms still raise their own white geese for it. The bird is rubbed with marjoram, garlic and salt, left overnight in the fridge, then stuffed with sharp apples and roasted slowly so the fat renders out and the skin turns crisp and mahogany. The meat is dark and rich, the apples collapse into a tart sauce. Serve with braised red cabbage, potato dumplings and the pan juices. Most people forget to drain the fat as it roasts, and the bird ends up frying in its own puddle; pour it off every half hour and save it for roast potatoes. Allow an extra night for the marinade. Chef's tip: prick the skin all over, especially under the wings and thighs, without piercing the meat, so the fat has somewhere to escape.

240 minPolishMeatGluten free
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Rose petal jam

Ask a Polish baker what goes inside a proper pączek and the answer is rose jam, not strawberry. In June, families gather the scented pink petals of wild beach roses (Rosa rugosa) from hedges along the Baltic coast and in gardens, then pound them with sugar into a sticky, intensely perfumed paste that keeps for a year. The flavour is floral and sweet with a little sharpness from lemon, lovely in doughnuts, swirled into yoghurt or spread on cheesecake. Pick only from plants that have not been sprayed and away from roads. Where most people go wrong is leaving the bitter white base of the petals on; snip it off. Chef's tip: lemon juice turns dull petals bright magenta, so add it right at the start.

40 minPolishChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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Stuffed eggs

The clever bit of the Polish Easter version is that the eggs are halved lengthways shell and all with a sharp knife, then the filling goes back into the shells and the cut sides are fried until crusty. It is a dish of the Easter breakfast and of name-day parties, served hot from the pan or cold from the fridge. The filling of mashed yolk, chives, mayonnaise and a little mustard turns golden and slightly crisp on top while staying soft beneath. Where most people go wrong is cutting with a blunt knife, which shatters the shell; use a large, very sharp knife and one firm stroke. Chef's tip: chill the boiled eggs fully before cutting so the white holds together.

30 minPolishSnacks & StartersGluten free
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Cabbage with peas

Of the twelve dishes on a Polish Christmas Eve table, this is the humblest and often the one people go back to for seconds. Sour, tangy sauerkraut is braised slowly with yellow split peas until the peas collapse into a soft, savoury mash that binds the cabbage, with dried mushrooms and golden onion for depth. Serve it warm next to pierogi or potatoes, and know that it tastes even better reheated the next day. The usual slip is adding salt before the peas are cooked, which keeps them hard; season only at the end, as the sauerkraut is salty anyway. Chef's tip: if your sauerkraut is very sour, rinse it once and squeeze it, keeping a little juice to adjust the sharpness later.

90 minPolishVegetarianVeganGluten free
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