Featured recipe

Chraime

Fish in spicy garlic paprika sauce

Friday night in Moroccan and Libyan Jewish homes, from Casablanca to Tripoli and now Paris and Tel Aviv, often begins with a plate of chraime before the main course. Thick fish steaks simmer in a brick-red sauce built from a frightening amount of garlic, sweet and hot paprika, chilli, caraway and cumin, loosened with oil and a squeeze of lemon. It is spicy, garlicky and very savoury, and the oily sauce begs to be mopped up with challah or other good bread. It is also eaten cold the next day. Chef's tip: cook the spices in the oil over a low heat until they smell toasty but not dark; burnt paprika tastes acrid and you cannot rescue it.

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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 min

Canadian Desserts

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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 min

Ghanaian Basics

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Gomen kitfo (Gurage minced collards with spiced butter)

Meskel in the Gurage highlands is the year's great feast, and next to the beef kitfo on the table there is always gomen kitfo, the meat-free 'kitfo' of greens. Collards are boiled until tender, squeezed hard and chopped so finely they become almost a paste, then worked with warm niter kibbeh, mitmita and a little korerima. The result is dark green, silky and rich, with a sharp chilli kick and a deep, slightly bitter leafy flavour. It is eaten with kocho and a heap of fresh ayib, and is also made on its own on non-fasting days. The usual mistake is leaving water in the greens, which makes it soggy and dilutes the butter; wring them out in a clean cloth. Chef's tip: chop with a heavy knife, rocking it again and again, rather than blending; a blender turns it into a purée and loses the fine, almost-minced texture.

40 min

Ethiopian Sides

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Chuko (Tigrayan roasted barley and spiced butter snack)

Tigrayan mothers pack chuko for sons and daughters leaving home, for pilgrims walking to Aksum and for long bus journeys, because it keeps for weeks and a small piece goes a long way. Roasted barley flour is rubbed with warm niter kibbeh, berbere and a little sugar and salt, then pressed into a dense cake or shaped into fingers. The texture is crumbly and rich, like a savoury shortbread that melts in the mouth, with a slow chilli warmth and the toasty taste of the grain. It is eaten with coffee or black tea. The usual mistake is skimping on the butter, which leaves a dry mix that will not hold; squeeze a handful, and it should keep its shape. Chef's tip: warm the butter until just liquid, not hot, and work it in with your fingertips so every grain of flour is coated.

30 min

Ethiopian Snacks & Starters

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Defo dabo (Ethiopian festive pot bread)

For Genna (Christmas), Fasika (Easter), weddings and christenings, cooks in Gondar and Gojjam bake defo dabo: a huge, tall round loaf whose dough is wrapped in enset or banana leaves and baked slowly in a heavy covered pot, traditionally with coals above and below. The leaves leave a faint green aroma and a pale, soft crust, and the crumb is fine and close, scented with black cumin, korerima and a little niter kibbeh. On feast days the loaf is blessed and cut before it is shared out. At home a cast-iron casserole in the oven does the job; allow about 2 hours of rising on top of the times given. Do not cut it hot: the crumb is still setting and turns gummy. Chef's tip: bake until the inside reads 94 °C on a probe thermometer; this dense loaf can look brown long before the centre is cooked.

110 min

Ethiopian Breads & Parathas

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Telba (roasted flaxseed drink)

Flax grows across the highlands of Gojjam, and on Wednesdays, Fridays and through Lent its toasted seeds become telba, a creamy, nutty drink that fills you up when animal food is off the menu. The seeds are dry-roasted until they pop, ground fine, then whisked with water and strained, giving a pale brown drink with a faint toasted-sesame flavour and a slightly silky body. It is also taken as a gentle remedy for an upset stomach. Families often sweeten it with honey; sugar keeps it fully vegan. Don't roast the flaxseed too far: over-roasted seeds turn the drink bitter. Chef's tip: grind only what you need that day, because ground flax goes stale and bitter within days; whole roasted seeds keep for weeks in a jar.

18 min

Ethiopian Drinks

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Ajiaco cubanoRoot vegetable and meat stew

Ajiaco is often called Cuba's national stew, and in Camagüey it is still cooked in huge pots for festivals and family gatherings: dried or fresh beef, pork and chicken simmered with malanga, yuca, boniato, green and ripe plantain, corn and calabaza until the roots break down and thicken the broth. It is a whole meal in a bowl, finished with lime and a fried sofrito. This version uses beef shin, pork shoulder and chicken thighs. The mistake most people make is adding every vegetable at once; firm roots go in first and soft pumpkin and ripe plantain last. Chef's tip: mash a few chunks of pumpkin and malanga against the side of the pot at the end, which gives the broth its body.

190 min

Cuban Soups

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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 min

Polish Chutneys & Dips

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