Featured recipe

Leshta chorba

Lentil soup

Leshta chorba is cooked in Bulgarian homes all winter, and it is the soup of choice on fasting days before Christmas and Easter, when families eat no meat or dairy. Brown lentils simmer with onion, carrot and tomato, coloured with sweet paprika and scented with chubritsa (summer savory), the herb that makes Bulgarian cooking taste like itself. It is eaten with a slice of wholemeal bread and a few pickles. Suitable as part of a balanced diet. About 280 kcal and 34 g carbohydrate per portion. The usual mistake is frying the paprika in very hot oil: it burns and turns bitter in a few seconds, so take the pan off the heat first. Chef's tip: a splash of vinegar stirred into each bowl at the table brightens the earthy lentils.

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60 min

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Bibikkan is the darkest, stickiest cake in the Sri Lankan repertoire, baked by Burgher families for Christmas and by Sinhala households for the New Year table, and nobody quite agrees whether its roots lie in Portuguese or local kitchens. Freshly grated coconut is first cooked in melted kithul jaggery, then mixed with roasted semolina, flour, eggs, cashews, raisins, chopped ginger preserve and a mix of cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and cloves, and baked until almost black on the outside. The crumb is moist, heavy and chewy with coconut, with a deep treacle sweetness and a warm, spiced finish, and slices are served with tea. Baking it too hot is where it often goes wrong, as the jaggery burns before the middle sets, so keep the oven moderate and cover it if the top darkens early. Chef's tip: cook the coconut in the jaggery until it looks thick and sticky before mixing; that is what gives bibikkan its fudgy texture.

90 min

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Kala bhunaDark mustard oil beef curry

Kala means black, and that is the colour you are aiming for: Chittagong's kala bhuna is beef that is first cooked with spices until tender and then fried and stirred, patiently, for the best part of an hour until the pieces turn dark brown to nearly black and the masala clings to them like a crust. It is a dish from the port city's wedding and Eid kitchens, now a fixture of Chittagong restaurants in Dhaka, eaten with plain rice, khichuri or rice-flour chitoi ruti. The taste is deep and roasted, sharp with mustard oil, black pepper and a little nutmeg and mace, with no gravy at all. The most common slip is turning up the heat to speed up the blackening, which burns the spices bitter rather than caramelising the meat. Chef's tip: it improves overnight, so make it a day ahead and re-fry it briefly before serving.

150 min

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BichakPumpkin-filled half-moon pastries

Across northern Afghanistan, around Mazar, Kunduz and Shibirghan, the autumn pumpkin harvest is turned into bichak, plump half-moon pastries that show the region's Uzbek and Turkmen neighbours in their name and shape. A soft, thin wheat dough wraps a filling of grated pumpkin and onion seasoned only with salt, black pepper and a little chilli, which bakes into something sweet, savoury and juicy, best eaten warm with a glass of tea or alongside a bowl of yogurt. Some families bake them, others fry them in a wok of oil; this version bakes them. The filling must not be wet, or the bottoms go soggy and the seams burst, so squeeze the grated pumpkin hard before mixing. Chef's tip: grate the onion finely too, so it melts into the pumpkin instead of staying in crunchy pieces.

55 min

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Kochu shakTaro greens with coconut

In the wet villages of Khulna and Bagerhat, near the edge of the Sundarbans, taro grows wild along every pond, and its dark leaves and tender stems are cut, chopped fine and simmered into a soft, creamy green dish with grated coconut. At home it is often cooked with small shrimp or the head of a hilsa for richness; this version keeps it vegetarian and leans on coconut and mustard oil instead. Cooked well, it is soft and silky, coconut-sweet and earthy, and is eaten with rice and a squeeze of lime. Taro leaves contain calcium oxalate crystals that make the mouth itch if they are undercooked, so the classic error is pulling it off the heat too soon; it needs a full 25 minutes and a sour element at the end. Chef's tip: use young leaves from edible taro and wear gloves or oil your hands while cutting the stems.

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Kakra bhunaMud crab masala

The muddy channels of the Sundarbans and the shrimp farms around Shyamnagar and Paikgachha are crab country, and in Khulna homes the big-clawed mud crabs are chopped in half, fried and then cooked down in a thick, fiery masala until it coats every crack and crevice. It is a dish for eating with your hands, sucking the masala from the shells and cracking the claws, with plain rice and a bowl of water for your fingers. Crabs must be bought alive and lively, or freshly cooked from a fishmonger you trust: throw away any that are dead before cooking, have a cracked shell or smell unpleasant. Ask the fishmonger to dispatch and clean them for you if you are not confident doing it yourself. Undercooking is the risk to avoid; the shells should be bright orange-red and the meat white and opaque right through. Chef's tip: crack the claws lightly before they go in, so the masala seeps inside.

60 min

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BidosReindeer stew

Bidos is the festive stew of the Sámi, the reindeer-herding people of the far north of Norway, Sweden and Finland: reindeer meat simmered slowly in a clear broth with potatoes and carrots, seasoned only with salt and pepper so the gamey meat shines. It is served at Sámi weddings and confirmations, and at Easter festivals in Kautokeino and Karasjok. Reindeer is sold frozen in Nordic shops; beef chuck or venison works too. A common mistake is adding the potatoes at the start, so they fall apart before the meat is tender. Chef's tip: thicken the broth only lightly with a spoon of flour if you like; traditionally it is clear and thin.

150 minScandinavian Curries

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KesäkeittoSummer vegetable and milk soup

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150 min

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120 min

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Kaju maluwaCashew and pea coconut curry

In the cashew-growing country north of Colombo, around Kurunegala and Puttalam, fresh green cashews are cooked into this creamy curry for weddings, almsgivings and the Avurudu table, and no one would dream of calling it everyday food. The nuts turn soft and buttery in a mild, pale gravy of coconut milk scented with cinnamon, pandan and unroasted curry powder, with green peas for colour, and it sits on the festive spread beside yellow rice and a sharp pickle. Fresh cashews are hard to find outside Sri Lanka, so this recipe uses raw dried ones soaked until they are almost like the fresh kind. Not soaking them long enough is the usual mistake; they stay chalky in the middle however long they simmer, so give them at least six hours, or overnight. Chef's tip: a pinch of bicarbonate of soda in the soaking water softens the nuts faster and gives them that tender, just-picked texture.

50 min

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Bihari kebabPapaya-marinated beef strips

Migrants from Bihar who settled in Karachi after 1947 brought this kebab with them, and it has become one of the city's signature grills, served from the smoky stalls of Burns Road, Hussainabad and Boat Basin. Thin ribbons of beef are beaten flat, marinated with raw papaya paste to tenderise them, mustard oil, browned onion and a heady spice mix, then threaded onto skewers and grilled fast over coals, finished with a puff of charcoal smoke. They are soft enough to pull apart with your fingers and are eaten with paratha, sliced onion and mint chutney. Leaving the papaya on too long is the risk, because it keeps working and turns the meat mushy; four to six hours in the fridge is plenty. Chef's tip: slice the beef while it is half-frozen, across the grain, and you will get even, paper-thin strips with ease.

40 min

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KajmakClotted milk cream

At the Zlatibor and Čačak markets, women sell kajmak from wide tubs, cut in soft ivory folds that taste of cooked milk, butter and a little salt. It is made by slowly heating rich milk, letting it settle in shallow pans and lifting off the thick skin that forms as it cools, then layering those skins with salt. This home version uses pasteurised milk and cream and stays in the fridge throughout; the long-aged, raw-milk kajmak of the villages is not something to copy at home. Spread it on warm lepinja or proja, or stir it into hot potatoes. A common mistake is letting the milk boil: the bubbles tear the skin and you end up with flecks instead of a thick sheet. Chef's tip: keep the skimmed milk left underneath for porridge, proja or pancakes; nothing goes to waste.

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KahiFlaky pastry with date syrup

Kahi is what Baghdadi families in Ramat Gan and Or Yehuda make on Shavuot and festival mornings: squares of dough folded with butter into many layers, baked until flaky, then doused with silan (date syrup) or sugar and eaten with tea or a little yogurt. Outside it shatters; inside the layers stay soft and buttery. The common mistake is letting the butter melt into the dough while folding, which leaves you with a flat, bready square. Chef's tip: chill the folded dough for 20 minutes between rolls if your kitchen is warm, and bake in a really hot oven so the layers puff.

60 min

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Bingka ubiBaked cassava cake

Golden-brown slabs of bingka ubi are cut from big trays at Malay and Peranakan kueh stalls in Singapore and taken home for tea, or baked at home for Hari Raya when there is a crowd to feed. Freshly grated cassava, coconut milk, eggs and sugar bake into a dense, chewy, slightly sticky cake with a custardy centre and a caramelised, almost leathery top, scented with pandan. It needs nothing with it but a cup of strong tea or kopi. Cassava must always be fully cooked and never eaten raw; buy it fresh from a trusted greengrocer, peel off every bit of the thick skin and pink layer, or use frozen grated cassava, which is already prepared. The usual mistake is pressing out all the cassava's liquid and adding too little coconut milk, which bakes it dry and rubbery. Chef's tip: finish under the grill for the last few minutes for the dark, blistered top, then cool fully before cutting so the slices hold.

80 min

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Burgher Sunday lunches, Christmas tables and Colombo wedding buffets share one thing: a heap of fragrant, saffron-coloured kaha bath, the yellow rice that also forms the base of lamprais. Long-grain or samba rice is fried with onion, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and curry leaves, then cooked in coconut milk with turmeric, lemongrass and pandan until every grain is separate, glossy and perfumed. It is served with chicken or beef curry, brinjal moju and a sharp achcharu, and is often scattered with fried cashews and raisins. Burgher cooks usually use ghee or butter and chicken stock; this version is vegan, with coconut oil and coconut milk carrying the richness. Lifting the lid to stir while it cooks is the slip that turns it mushy, so seal the pot and leave it alone. Chef's tip: rinse the rice until the water runs clear and drain it well; dry grains toast better in the oil and stay fluffy.

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Bint al sahn, 'daughter of the plate', is the grand bread of Sana'a, set in the centre of the table for guests, weddings and Eid and pulled apart with the fingers while it is still warm. Many paper-thin sheets of egg-rich dough are stacked with melted ghee, baked until the top is deep gold and the inside is flaky and soft, then soaked with warm honey and sprinkled with nigella seeds. It is eaten with Yemeni coffee or tea, often as the sweet that opens a big meal. The mistake that ruins it is skimping on the ghee between the layers; without it the sheets fuse into a dense loaf. Chef's tip: roll the first sheets slightly bigger than the rest, so the bottom layers wrap up around the sides and hold the stack together.

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ArikanchanTaro leaf rolls in mustard gravy

Arikanchan is a monsoon speciality of Maithil kitchens in Janakpur and the eastern Terai, cooked when the taro plants in the courtyard put out huge, tender leaves. A spiced chickpea-flour paste is spread over the leaves, which are rolled up tight like a Swiss roll and steamed, then the rolls are sliced into spirals, fried and simmered in a punchy gravy of ground mustard seed, garlic, chilli and tomato cooked in mustard oil. The result is soft and layered, with a gentle sourness and the nose-tingling heat of fresh mustard, eaten with rice and a dal. The biggest risk is undercooking the taro leaves, which can leave an itchy, scratchy feeling in the throat. Chef's tip: use only young leaves, strip the thick ribs, and always include the tamarind in the paste, because the sourness neutralises the irritant in the leaves.

70 min

Nepali Vegetarian

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BirzFresh honey water

In Gojjam and Gondar, where honey is plentiful, birz is poured for children, for guests who do not drink, and at church feasts and weddings beside the tej. It starts the same way as honey wine, with honey stirred into water, but it is drunk fresh within hours, so it stays sweet, mild and completely alcohol-free. Good, flowery honey is everything here; it should taste like a cool, floral lemonade without the lemon. Because birz is honey and water, it will start to ferment by itself if left warm, so drink it the same day and keep it in the fridge until you pour it. Honey is not suitable for babies under 12 months. Chef's tip: dissolve the honey in a little warm water first; stirred straight into cold water, it sinks to the bottom in a sticky lump.

10 min

Ethiopian Drinks

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KnyshiPotato-filled yeast buns

On Poltava farms knyshi came out of the stove alongside the bread on baking day: rounds of soft milk dough with their edges pinched up like a little open basket, so the filling shows in the middle. Potato mashed with plenty of onion fried in sunflower oil and a handful of dill is the everyday version, and the buns are eaten warm with a bowl of soup or cold on the way to the fields. Some cooks fill them with curd cheese or poppy seed instead, especially for Christmas Eve. The dough should be pillowy and the potato soft and peppery. Most people go wrong by spooning in warm, wet mash, which steams the dough from inside and makes it soggy; let the filling cool fully. Chef's tip: brush the baked buns with melted butter the moment they come out of the oven, then cover with a towel for 10 minutes so the crust turns soft and silky.

120 min

Ukrainian Baking

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Bistec de palomillaThin steak with lime onion

Palomilla is the everyday steak of Havana lunch counters and Miami's Cuban cafés alike: top sirloin pounded very thin, marinated briefly in lime and garlic, seared in seconds and buried under a pile of raw chopped onion and parsley. It comes with white rice, black beans and fried plantain. The most common mistake is leaving the steak in the lime for hours, which turns the surface grey and mushy; 20 minutes to an hour in the fridge is enough. Beef steak can be cooked to your liking, but it is so thin it is usually cooked through. Chef's tip: get the pan smoking hot and cook one or two steaks at a time, or they stew instead of browning.

25 min

Cuban Meat

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Bistec encebolladoSteak with vinegar onions

Order bistec encebollado at a lunch counter in Santurce or a comedor in Santiago de los Caballeros and it comes the same way: thin steaks swimming in a heap of soft, sharp onions and a garlicky, vinegar-bright gravy, with white rice, beans and tostones alongside. Thin cuts are marinated in vinegar, garlic and oregano, seared, then braised gently with the onions until tender. The common mistake is boiling the meat hard, which makes thin steak tough; a gentle simmer under a lid keeps it soft. Chef's tip: give the steaks a few gentle pounds with a mallet before marinating so the vinegar can work into them.

45 min

Puerto Rican Meat

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Kadala thel dalaStir-fried chickpeas

As the sun goes down over the sea at Galle Face Green in Colombo, vendors with glass-sided carts scoop warm kadala into cones twisted from old newspaper, and the same snack appears at temple festivals, perahera nights and every Avurudu gathering. Boiled chickpeas are tossed in coconut oil with mustard seeds, red onion, curry leaves, dried chilli and a handful of freshly grated coconut, so they are nutty, salty and gently hot, with a soft bite. Some vendors stir in Maldive fish; this version is vegan. Tinned chickpeas make it a ten-minute job, though home-boiled dried ones have a firmer, nuttier texture. Wet chickpeas are the problem to avoid, as they spit in the oil and the spices slide off; drain and pat them dry. Chef's tip: let the onion and curry leaves fry until the edges just begin to brown before the chickpeas go in; that toasty flavour is what makes street kadala so addictive.

20 min

Sri Lankan Snacks & Starters

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ArishtaButtered egg noodles

In Gyumri and the villages of Shirak, grandmothers still roll arishta by hand, cut it into thin strips and dry it in the sun to store for winter. To serve, the noodles are first toasted in butter until they turn golden and nutty, then boiled until tender and topped with garlicky matsun yogurt. It is simple, filling food for cold days on the Shirak plateau. A common mistake is skipping the toasting step, which gives soft, plain noodles without the characteristic roasted flavour. Chef's tip: dry the cut noodles for at least an hour before toasting, so they brown evenly instead of clumping.

60 min

Armenian Pasta & Noodles

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KadaFlaky pastry with butter crumbs

Kada is a tea-time pastry found in bakeries from Tbilisi to the Mtskheta monastery stalls, where it is sold warm beside churchkhela: a round of rich yeasted dough, folded around a sweet filling of flour, butter and sugar rubbed into crumbs, then rolled flat so the filling bakes into soft, melting layers. A common mistake is rolling the filled dough too hard, which pushes the crumbs through the surface. Chef's tip: chill the filling so the butter stays cold; it melts in the oven and makes flaky, buttery pockets.

80 min

Georgian Baking

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Biye barir roastSweet wedding-style chicken roast

Ask anyone who grew up in Bangladesh what they look forward to at a biye bari, a wedding house, and the chicken roast is near the top, a single fried leg or breast lounging in a thick, sweet-spiced, ghee-glossed gravy beside a mound of polao. The word roast is a bit of a misnomer: the chicken is fried until golden and then simmered in a gravy of onion paste, yoghurt, milk and a little sugar, perfumed with cardamom, mace and kewra, so it tastes rich rather than charred. Children love it because it is mild and gently sweet, with only whole green chillies for warmth. A common error is skipping the frying, which leaves the chicken pale and lets it fall apart in the sauce. Chef's tip: use bone-in thighs and drumsticks with deep slashes, so the gravy gets into the meat during the short simmer.

75 min

Bangladeshi Chicken

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KnäckebrödRye crispbread

Knäckebröd is the crispbread that Swedes have baked since the Vikings: rye flour and seeds rolled thin, pricked all over and baked until bone-dry, so it keeps for weeks; once it was baked with a hole in the middle and hung on poles under the kitchen ceiling. Today it is eaten at breakfast with butter, cheese and cucumber in every Swedish home. A common mistake is rolling unevenly, which leaves soft patches that go stale. Chef's tip: roll the dough directly on baking paper with a knobbled rolling pin or prick it heavily with a fork, then bake twice, the second time low, until completely dry.

60 minScandinavian Breads & Parathas

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Bizcocho dominicanoOrange sponge with pineapple filling

Every Dominican birthday in Santo Domingo or Santiago has one: a tall, buttery, orange-scented sponge split and filled with sticky pineapple, then swirled all over with glossy white meringue frosting called suspiro. Traditional suspiro whips hot syrup into raw whites; this version uses a Swiss meringue, heating the whites with sugar to 70 °C so it is safe for everyone, including pregnant women and small children. The common mistake is overbeating the batter after the flour goes in, which makes the famously moist crumb tough. Chef's tip: beat the butter and sugar for a full 8 minutes until almost white; that air is what gives bizcocho its tender, springy texture.

100 min

Puerto Rican Baking

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Kmínová polévkaCaraway soup

Few soups are as cheap or as old as this one. Kmínová polévka was the Bohemian peasant's breakfast long before coffee arrived, and Czech mothers still make it for an upset stomach or a hangover. The roux is cooked until it smells of toasted hazelnuts, the caraway is fried in butter until it pops, and the hot soup is poured straight onto crunchy toasted bread so it softens at the edges. Where most people go wrong is taking the roux off the heat while it is still pale: you get a floury, raw-tasting soup instead of a nutty one. A beaten egg trickled in at the end makes it more filling. Chef's tip: crush half the caraway in a mortar first, so the flavour spreads through the broth while the whole seeds give little bursts.

25 min

Czech Soups

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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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Kachumar saladTomato, onion and cucumber salad

No Pakistani dastarkhwan feels complete without a little bowl of kachumar, whether it sits beside a biryani at a Karachi wedding, a karahi at a highway truck stop or plain dal at home on a Tuesday. It is nothing more than tomato, onion and cucumber cut into very small, even dice, dressed at the last moment with lemon, salt, green chilli and coriander, yet the crunch and sharpness are what make rich food feel lighter. Some families add a pinch of roasted cumin or a few mint leaves; in Punjab it is often spooned straight onto the side of the plate rather than served apart. Dressing it too early is the main trap, because the salt pulls water from the tomatoes and leaves a soggy puddle. Chef's tip: seed the tomatoes and cucumber before dicing so the salad stays crisp for the whole meal.

10 min

Pakistani Salads

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BlitvaSwiss chard and potatoes

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

30 minBalkan Sides

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KorbáčikyBraided fresh cheese strings

Korbáčiky (little whips) come from Orava in northern Slovakia, where cheesemakers pull hot, stretchy curd into long thin strings and plait them into braids. Sold at roadside stalls in the Tatra foothills, they are chewy, squeaky and salty, usually lightly smoked, and are pulled apart and eaten with fingers like a snack, often with a cold drink on a hike. At home you can make the curd yourself from pasteurised milk in under an hour. Traditional korbáčiky are set with animal rennet, so this recipe uses vegetarian (microbial) rennet; any shop-bought curd should say the same. Use pasteurised whole milk that is not UHT-treated, or the curd will not set. Where most people go wrong is stretching the curd when it is not hot enough: it tears instead of pulling into glossy ropes. Chef's tip: wear clean rubber gloves for stretching, so you can work with water hot enough to make the curd silky.

60 min

Czech Snacks & Starters

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Kachila (cooked)Spiced buffalo mince

In the Newar homes and bhoj feasts of the Kathmandu Valley, kachila is a prized delicacy: finely minced buffalo meat mixed with mustard oil, garlic, ginger, chilli and numbing timur, eaten in small spoonfuls with beaten rice, traditionally raw. Raw minced meat can carry harmful bacteria and parasites right through, so the traditional raw form is not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system, and we do not recommend it for anyone at home. This version keeps every bit of the seasoning but sears the mince quickly in a very hot pan to 71 °C, so it stays soft and loose rather than turning into a dry fry, then dresses it with the classic smoking mustard-oil tempering. It is eaten as part of samay baji or as a snack with chiura. The usual slip is overcooking it into crumbly pellets; take it off the heat the moment it is cooked through. Chef's tip: use buffalo or beef mince, or ask the butcher to mince lean beef twice, very fine.

30 min

Nepali Meat

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Kachi lassiMilk and water lassi

Harvest time in the Punjab is thirsty work: when the wheat is being cut in the April heat, a steel jug of kachi lassi is carried out to the workers: fresh milk thinned with cold water, stirred with sugar and poured over chunks of ice. Unlike yogurt lassi there is no tang, just a light, clean, milky sweetness that quenches thirst better than plain water, and in many villages it is the drink offered to any guest who arrives on a hot afternoon. Some people add a pinch of salt instead of sugar, or a few drops of rose water. The traditional kind uses raw milk straight from the buffalo; use pasteurised milk instead to be safe. The usual mistake is making it with too little water, which turns it heavy instead of refreshing. Chef's tip: whisk it hard or shake it in a jar so it turns frothy, which makes it feel even cooler.

5 min

Pakistani Drinks

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ThikourbabineSemolina dumplings in pepper sauce

High in the Kabylie mountains east of Algiers, thikourbabine is a winter dish made from what is in the store cupboard: small balls of semolina dough poached in a fragrant red sauce of tomato, paprika, garlic and dried red peppers, with chickpeas, potatoes and courgettes. The dumplings turn tender and slightly chewy and soak up the sauce, which is peppery and warming rather than very hot. Families eat it from a shared bowl on cold evenings. Some cooks add meat; this is the meatless way it is often made at home. Chef's tip: let the dumplings rest after shaping; the surface dries a little and they hold together in the simmering sauce.

65 min

Algerian Vegetarian

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KoprovkaDill sauce with potatoes and eggs

Summer in a Czech garden means dill gone wild between the cucumbers, and koprovka is where most of it ends up. This pale green, gently sour cream sauce is a staple of Bohemian home cooking and of workplace canteens, where it is served over boiled potatoes with halved hard-boiled eggs (or with bread dumplings). It should be smooth, silky and only lightly thick, balanced between cream, a little vinegar and a pinch of sugar. Where it usually goes wrong is boiling the dill: it turns grey and loses its fresh smell, so stir it in at the end, off the heat. Chef's tip: keep the dill stalks, chop them very finely and simmer them in the sauce, then add the soft fronds at the end for a double hit of flavour.

30 min

Czech Vegetarian

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BolicheChorizo-stuffed beef pot roast

Boliche is a Sunday and holiday centrepiece in Havana: an eye-of-round beef joint with a tunnel cut through the middle, stuffed with pork chorizo, then browned and braised slowly in tomato, onion, pepper, sour orange and dry white or red wine until it slices like butter. Potatoes go into the pot for the last hour to soak up the sauce. The wine is simmered for hours, though a little alcohol may remain; use extra stock with a spoon of vinegar for an alcohol-free version. The common mistake is rushing the braise, which leaves this lean cut tough, so keep the pot at a bare simmer. Chef's tip: chill the cooked roast in its sauce, then slice it cold and reheat the slices in the sauce; you get neat rounds with the chorizo in the centre.

210 min

Cuban Meat

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Arroz a la cubanaRice with tomato and egg

Havana cafeterías put this plate on the lunch board when cooks want something cheap, fast and filling: a mound of plain white rice, a ladle of garlicky tomato sauce, a fried egg with a runny yolk and slices of caramelised ripe plantain. Breaking the yolk into the rice and sauce is the whole point, so the eggs should be fried at the last minute. The usual mistake is using plantains that are still yellow-green; they need black-spotted skins to turn soft and sweet in the pan. Serve with a simple avocado salad. Chef's tip: baste the egg whites with hot oil from the pan so they set with lacy edges while the yolks stay liquid.

30 min

Cuban Rice & Grains

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ThamekfoultCouscous with broad beans and peas

Spring in the Kabyle villages means thamekfoult: when the first broad beans and peas come in, they are steamed in the same basket as the couscous, so grain and vegetables cook together in one fragrant cloud of steam. There is no sauce at all; instead, the hot couscous is dressed generously with the region's peppery olive oil, so it tastes green, sweet and grassy. It is a family lunch dish, often eaten with a glass of buttermilk or a few olives; this version keeps it vegan. Chef's tip: oil the couscous before the first steaming, rubbing every grain; that stops it clumping and helps it swell evenly.

75 min

Algerian Rice & Grains

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Konijn met pruimenRabbit with beer and prunes

Rabbit with prunes is the Sunday dinner of Flemish grandmothers, from the Westhoek to the Kempen: rabbit joints browned in butter or oil, then braised slowly with onions, thyme, bay and a bottle of brown or abbey-style beer, with prunes added for sweetness and a spoon of mustard for bite. It is served with fries or boiled potatoes and apple sauce. This recipe is cooked with beer, as it traditionally is; for an alcohol-free dish, use the swap in the ingredient note. A common mistake is boiling the rabbit, which makes the lean meat dry and stringy. Chef's tip: keep it at a gentle simmer under a lid, and add the prunes in the last 30 minutes so they stay whole.

150 min

Belgian Meat

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Kluski z makiemNoodles with sweet poppy seed

Poppy seed is the taste of a Polish Christmas Eve, and in central and eastern Poland it often reaches the table as a bowl of wide noodles in a sweet, dark poppy mixture with honey, walnuts and raisins. It sounds strange to anyone who expects pasta to be savoury, but it is closer to a pudding: nutty, slightly bitter, sticky with honey, eaten at room temperature as the last dish of the night. Where most people go wrong is using whole poppy seeds straight from the packet; they must be scalded and ground, or the dish is gritty and bland. Chef's tip: buy ready-ground poppy seed or grind scalded seeds twice in a spice grinder until they turn grey and buttery.

45 min

Polish Desserts

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Kluski śląskieSilesian potato dumplings

No Sunday dinner in Katowice, Gliwice or Opole feels complete without a heap of these pale, bouncy dumplings, traditionally next to roulade and red cabbage. Here they are served the meatless way, with browned butter and fried onion, or with a mushroom sauce poured into the little dent each one gets from your thumb. They are made from boiled, riced potato and potato starch, so the texture is springy and smooth, almost elastic, with a clean potato taste. The classic error is guessing the starch: Silesian cooks press the cooled potatoes flat, cut out a quarter and fill the gap with starch, which gives the right ratio every time. Chef's tip: rice the potatoes while hot but let them cool completely before mixing, or the dough turns gluey.

50 min

Polish Sides

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Kluski leniweLazy cheese dumplings

Lazy dumplings earn their name honestly: instead of filling and pinching like pierogi, you knead the cheese straight into the dough and cut it into diamonds. Across Lesser Poland they are a school-day lunch, a canteen favourite and the first thing many Polish children learn to cook. Good ones are pillow-soft and faintly tangy from the twaróg, rolled in breadcrumbs toasted in butter and finished with a spoon of sugar, sometimes sour cream or cinnamon too. The usual slip is adding too much flour to stop the dough sticking, which makes the dumplings heavy and doughy. Twaróg is usually made without rennet, but check the label if you need it strictly vegetarian. Chef's tip: press the twaróg through a sieve or mash it with a fork until completely smooth, so the dough needs less flour.

35 min

Polish Vegetarian

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Bolo fiadoLayered pastry and cashew cake

The name comes from Portuguese and means something like spun cake, and among the Burgher families of Colombo and Batticaloa it is the showpiece of the Christmas sweet table, harder work than love cake and saved for special years. Paper-thin sheets of egg-rich dough are stacked in a tin, each brushed with melted butter and scattered with a sweet mixture of cashews, pumpkin preserve, sugar, cardamom and rosewater, then baked until the layers puff and turn crisp and golden. Cut into squares, it flakes at the top and stays tender and sticky inside. Where it usually goes wrong is the dough: sheets rolled too thick bake up bready instead of flaky, so roll until you can almost see the board through them. Pumpkin preserve (puhul dosi) is sold in Sri Lankan grocers; candied winter melon works too. Chef's tip: rest the dough properly, a full 30 minutes, because relaxed gluten lets you roll it far thinner without tearing.

135 min

Sri Lankan Baking

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KabuniFestive rice with raisins and cinnamon

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

60 minBalkan Desserts

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KljukušaBaked grated potato batter

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

60 minBalkan Vegetarian

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KlinRice and cheese filo pie

Klin is the festive pie of the Rhodopes, baked for Gergyovden in May, for weddings and for the end of the haymaking, in large round tins that come out to be shared across the village. Thin pastry sheets are layered with a loose, custardy mix of cooked rice, crumbled white cheese, eggs, milk and butter, so it bakes tender and soft inside with a crisp, golden lid. The rice makes it heartier than banitsa and gives every slice a gentle, creamy chew. It is eaten warm or cold with yogurt or ayran. Sirene is often made with animal rennet, so use a vegetarian white cheese. Where most people go wrong is cooking the rice fully; it must stay slightly firm, because it carries on soaking up milk in the oven. Chef's tip: pour any leftover egg and milk over the top just before baking, and the surface puffs into a glossy, golden crust.

90 min

Bulgarian Baking

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Curaçao kabritu stobaGoat stew with peppers

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

150 minCaribbean Meat

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Komplet lepinjaFlatbread with kajmak and egg

Roadside inns in the hills around Užice and Zlatibor in western Serbia serve this as a breakfast for people with a long day ahead: a round flatbread hollowed out and filled with kajmak and an egg, baked, then soaked with pretop, the hot fat and juices left from roasting pork or lamb. It is rich, salty and messy, eaten with your hands with a yogurt drink and pickled peppers. At home, save the drippings from a Sunday pork roast, keep them in the fridge and reheat until bubbling. The usual slip is cutting the lid too thin, which leaves no room for the egg and it spills over the side. Bake until the white is fully set; for anyone pregnant, very young, elderly or unwell, bake on until the yolk is firm too. Chef's tip: put the lid back on for the last two minutes so it toasts, then dunk it straight into the hot drippings.

25 minBalkan Breakfast & Brunch

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BombolinoSugared doughnuts

A legacy of the Italian years, bombolino is still part of the morning ritual in Asmara: a warm doughnut rolled in sugar, eaten at a café counter on Harnet Avenue with a small, strong macchiato. Eritrean bombolini are unfilled, either round or ring-shaped, with a pale band around the middle, a feather-light crumb and a hint of lemon in the dough. Bakeries fry them in the early morning and they sell out quickly. At home they make a lovely weekend treat; allow about 1½ hours for the dough to rise and prove. The most common mistake is frying in oil that is too hot, so the outside goes dark while the centre stays doughy; keep it at 170 °C and test the first one. Chef's tip: roll them in sugar while they are still warm, not hot, so the sugar clings without melting.

125 min

Eritrean Desserts

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Bonbon siwoMolasses gingerbread cake

Bonbon siwo, "syrup cake", is the moist, dark gingerbread that Haitian families bake for birthdays, church sales and an ordinary Sunday, sliced into squares and eaten with a cup of sweet coffee. The siwo is molasses or cane syrup, which gives it a slightly bitter, smoky sweetness alongside ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. The common mistake is overbaking: take it out as soon as a skewer comes out clean, or the edges dry and turn crusty. It contains egg, wheat and dairy. Chef's tip: mix the bicarbonate of soda into the hot water before adding it to the batter so it fizzes and lifts the cake evenly.

60 min

Haitian Baking

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BoniatilloSweet potato pudding

Boniatillo comes from the sweet tooth of old Havana, where white-fleshed boniato is boiled, puréed and cooked in a cinnamon and lime-peel syrup until it turns into a thick, glossy pudding. It is served at room temperature in small bowls, often dusted with cinnamon, at birthdays or simply after Sunday lunch. The mistake to avoid is using orange sweet potato alone, which makes it wet and very sweet; Cuban boniato or a white sweet potato gives the right dry, chestnutty texture. Chef's tip: beat in the egg yolks off the heat with a little of the hot purée first, so they thicken the pudding without scrambling.

55 min

Cuban Desserts

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Kabachkovaya ikraCourgette spread

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

75 min

Russian Chutneys & Dips

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BoranoMelted cheese in hot butter

In the hill villages behind Batumi, where cows graze the Adjarian mountains in summer, borano is what a shepherd's family makes when someone drops in: a pan of golden butter, a heap of young cheese melted into it until it turns stretchy and oily, and squares of hot mchadi cornbread to drag through it. It is rich, salty and meant to be shared straight from the pan at the table. A common mistake is using a very hard, dry cheese, which turns grainy and oily instead of stretching. Chef's tip: use clarified butter or ghee so the butter can get really hot without burning, and add the cheese in one layer so it melts evenly. Sulguni and imeruli are often made with animal rennet, so choose a vegetarian cheese.

15 min

Georgian Snacks & Starters

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Kabab-e-daygiPot-cooked lamb kebab

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

120 min

Afghan Meat

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Arroz con dulceCoconut rice pudding

From the start of December to the Three Kings in January, trays of arroz con dulce cool on Puerto Rican kitchen counters, sliced into squares and handed round at parrandas when carollers arrive at the door late at night. Unlike a milky rice pudding, it is cooked in a water steeped with fresh ginger, cinnamon, cloves and star anise, then finished with coconut milk and raisins, so it is fragrant, firm enough to cut and dairy free. The common mistake is adding the sugar too early, which keeps the rice grains hard; sweeten only once they are soft. Chef's tip: soak the rice for an hour first, and it cooks evenly and absorbs the spiced coconut far better.

120 min

Puerto Rican Desserts

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BorșFermented wheat bran sour liquid

Before lemons were common in Moldavian and Wallachian villages, every household kept a crock of borș, the cloudy, tangy liquid that turns a plain soup into a ciorbă. Wheat bran and a little cornmeal are steeped in hot water, seeded with a starter and left to ferment for 3–4 days in total, so although the hands-on work is short, plan a long weekend: the timings shown cover only the first two days of waiting. It is naturally vegan and a staple of the fasting (post) kitchen, where it sours nettle, bean and vegetable ciorbe. Where people go wrong is using a jar that is not properly clean, which lets the wrong microbes win and turns the borș slimy or mouldy. Chef's tip: keep a few spoonfuls of the drained bran, dried, as the starter (huște) for your next batch.

2880 min

Romanian Basics

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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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KleinurCardamom twisted doughnuts

Kleinur are the twisted doughnuts of Iceland, fried in big batches and kept in tins for coffee time; Icelandic grandmothers cut the dough into diamonds with a special wheel, slit the centre and pull one end through, so each one twists into a knot. The same pastry is known as klejner in Denmark and klenäter in Sweden, made especially at Christmas. The dough is flavoured with cardamom and enriched with buttermilk. A common mistake is frying at too low a heat, which makes them greasy. Chef's tip: roll the dough thin, about 5 mm, and fry at 175 °C; they puff, brown in a minute and stay light.

70 minScandinavian Baking

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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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BotwinkaYoung beetroot soup

June markets in Kraków and Tarnów are piled with bunches of baby beetroot still wearing their leaves, and those bunches go straight into botwinka. The whole plant is used: the small roots, the rosy stalks and the greens, simmered quickly so the soup stays bright pink and fresh-tasting rather than earthy. It is finished with sour cream, lots of dill and a squeeze of lemon, and often eaten with new potatoes and a halved boiled egg. A common mistake is boiling it for too long, which turns the leaves khaki and dulls the colour. Chef's tip: add the lemon juice before the cream; the acid locks in the ruby colour.

40 min

Polish Soups

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JulskinkaChristmas glazed ham

Julskinka, the Christmas ham, is the centrepiece of the Swedish julbord: a lightly cured pork leg poached slowly, then brushed with a glaze of mustard and egg, scattered with breadcrumbs and browned in the oven. This is a pork dish. Swedish families cook it a few days before Christmas Eve and eat it cold in thin slices with mustard, and the cooking broth is used for 'dopp i grytan', dipping bread into the broth on Christmas Eve. Use a mild cured gammon. A common mistake is boiling it hard, which makes the meat stringy. Chef's tip: keep the water at a bare tremble, about 85 °C, and take it out when the centre reaches 71 °C; it stays juicy.

230 minScandinavian Meat

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BoulouAnise and raisin loaf

After the long Yom Kippur fast, Moroccan families in Beersheba and Dimona break it gently with tea and slices of boulou, a sweet, cake-like bread scented with anise and studded with raisins and walnuts. It keeps well for days, so many cooks bake it before the holiday and it lasts through Sukkot with coffee. The crumb is tight and tender, closer to a sweet brioche than to challah, with a shiny sesame top. People often under-bake it because the crust browns fast; check with a skewer, not by colour. Chef's tip: toast the anise seeds in a dry pan for a minute before adding them, which deepens the liquorice note without making it sharp.

70 min

Israeli Baking

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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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KleijaDate-filled cardamom cookies

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

75 minGulf Arabian Baking

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Arroz con maízRice with sweetcorn

In central Cuba, when the fields are full of young corn, families cut the kernels straight off the cob into the rice pot with a sofrito of onion, pepper, garlic and annatto, cooking everything together until golden and sticky at the base. Many farm cooks add salt pork; this vegan version leans on cumin and a little smoked paprika. A common mistake is using too much water, as fresh corn releases its own milk, so keep to the amounts given. Serve with black beans or a tomato and avocado salad. Chef's tip: scrape the cobs with the back of the knife after cutting off the kernels and add that milky pulp; it gives the rice a creamy sweetness.

45 min

Cuban Rice & Grains

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BramboračkaPotato and mushroom soup

Ask anyone from Bohemia what their grandmother cooked on a cold Saturday and bramboračka comes up first: a thick, earthy potato soup that smells of dried porcini, caraway and marjoram. It is a fixture of pub lunch menus and mountain chalets, ladled out with a slice of dark rye bread. Floury potatoes break down at the edges and thicken the broth, while carrot, parsley root and celeriac add sweetness under the woodland flavour of the mushrooms. This version is fully plant-based, with the roux made in oil. A common mistake is adding the marjoram and garlic at the start, where long boiling dulls them; they go in at the very end, off the heat. Chef's tip: rub the dried marjoram between your palms over the pot to wake up its oils before it drops in.

50 min

Czech Soups

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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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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

Hungarian Meat

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Bratislavské rožkyWalnut or poppy seed crescents

Bakers in old Pressburg, today's Bratislava, have shaped these little horns for nearly three centuries, and the city still treats them as its own Christmas and wedding pastry. The walnut ones are bent into a horseshoe and the poppy seed ones into a crescent, so you can tell them apart on the plate. The dough is rich and short, almost like a pastry, and the shiny brown top is crazed with fine cracks from a double egg glaze. A common mistake is glazing the second time before the first coat is dry, which leaves a dull, smooth top instead of the famous marbling. Patience is the whole trick: a cool rest after the yolk, then a warm rest after the white. Old recipes add a splash of rum to the walnut filling; this version uses lemon and cinnamon instead. Chef's tip: keep the dough cold and work quickly, so the butter stays in tiny flakes.

150 min

Czech Baking

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