Featured recipe

Kangri khatta

Tangy chickpeas

At a Kangra dham, the leaf-plate feast cooked by botis (Brahmin cooks) for weddings and village festivals, khatta comes towards the end, a dark, sweet-sour dish of chickpeas or pumpkin in a gravy soured with tamarind or dried mango and balanced with jaggery. It is served with rice and has no onion or garlic. The gravy is thin, glossy and almost black from the long-cooked tamarind. The common mistake is adding the tamarind to undercooked chickpeas; the acid stops them softening, so cook them fully first. Chef's tip: a teaspoon of rice flour or gram flour stirred into the gravy gives the dham-style gloss without making it heavy.

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AboloSteamed corn and rice bread

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90 min

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40 min

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Ye-kosta wat (Swiss chard and potato)

Kosta, Swiss chard, is grown in backyard plots from Bahir Dar to Hawassa, and during the long fasts it is stewed with potatoes into this simple green dish found on almost every vegan beyaynetu. Onion, garlic and ginger soften in oil, potatoes go in first, then the chopped chard stems and leaves, all cooking down together into a soft, juicy stew that is mild, fresh and a little sweet, with a gentle heat from green chilli. Spoon it onto injera beside spicier wats, or eat it with rice. The common mistake is adding the stems and leaves at the same time; the stems need a few minutes longer. Chef's tip: a pinch of turmeric is not traditional in every home but gives the potatoes a warm golden colour against the green.

35 min

Ethiopian Sides

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Key sir alicha (mild beetroot and potato)

A magenta heap of key sir is the splash of colour on a beyaynetu fasting platter, served in restaurants all over Addis Ababa and at home through Lent. Being an alicha, it is mild rather than fiery: beetroot and potato cook slowly with onion, garlic, ginger and oil until tender and shiny, sweet and earthy with only a little heat from green chilli. It balances the hotter wats and cools the palate between bites of injera. A common mistake is cutting the beetroot too large, so the potato turns to mush before the beet is tender; cut the beet smaller, or give it a ten-minute head start. Chef's tip: cook it a day ahead if you can, because the flavours mellow and the potatoes take on even more colour overnight.

50 min

Ethiopian Sides

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Wagasi in tomato sauce

In the Borgou and Alibori country of northern Benin, Fulani women carry wagasi to market in basins: small, springy rounds of fresh cheese, often with a red rind coloured by sorghum leaves. Sliced, fried golden and simmered in tomato and pepper sauce, it is sold across Benin and eaten with rice, akassa or bread. Herders traditionally set the milk with sap from the Calotropis shrub; that sap is toxic, so never use it at home. This version sets pasteurised whole milk with vegetarian rennet, giving the same mild, squeaky, slightly chewy cheese; bought wagasi, or paneer as a vegetarian stand-in, lets you skip straight to the frying. Chef's tip: let the slices sit undisturbed in the hot oil until a crust forms; moved too soon, fresh cheese sticks and tears.

120 minAfrican Vegetarian

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Corn chaff

Big pots of corn chaff are everyday food in the North West, from Bamenda's Food Market to boarding-school dining halls, where maize and beans stretch a long way. Dried corn and beans are simmered until soft, then folded into a red palm oil sauce with onion, tomato and hot pepper, with a handful of greens stirred through at the end. The result is hearty and chewy with a deep, slightly smoky sweetness from the oil, and it tastes even better the next day. Serve it in bowls, with ripe avocado on the side when it is in season. Soak the maize and beans overnight. Chef's tip: give the dried maize a head start of about 45 minutes before adding the beans, because it takes far longer to soften.

120 min

Cameroonian Vegetarian

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Chanterelles in cream

From July, roadside sellers along the lake roads of Masuria hold up baskets of golden chanterelles, and holidaymakers in Mrągowo and Giżycko cook them the same evening. The mushrooms are fried with onion until their juices cook away, then bathed in sour cream and dill, giving a sauce that is peppery, faintly apricot-scented and very rich. Spoon it over new potatoes, buckwheat or a thick slice of toast. Where most people go wrong is washing chanterelles under the tap, so they boil in their own water and turn rubbery. Only eat wild mushrooms you have bought from a trusted seller or that an expert has identified. Chef's tip: brush the mushrooms clean, tear large ones and cook them in a hot, wide pan so they sear rather than stew.

25 min

Polish Vegetarian

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Lafidi (Guinean rice with lamb and peanut sauce)

High in the green hills of the Fouta Djallon in Guinea, Fula (Peul) families prepare lafidi for feast days and for guests: a mound of white rice topped with tender lamb and a generous peanut sauce, served on a shared platter. Some households make it with a leaf sauce of cassava or sweet potato leaves instead; this version uses the peanut sauce, which is smooth, nutty and lightly tangy from tomato, with a steady warmth of chilli. The lamb is simmered slowly in the sauce, so it is soft enough to pull apart with your fingers. Chef's tip: simmer the peanut sauce uncovered and stir it from the bottom often; peanut sauces catch and burn easily, and a scorched taste runs through the whole pot.

100 minAfrican Meat

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Yokhos (Casamance oysters with onion and lemon)

In the mangrove creeks of Casamance, women gather oysters from the roots at low tide, and in villages around Ziguinchor and Oussouye yokhos are grilled over wood until they pop open, then tossed in a sauce of soft onion, lemon and chilli. The oysters turn plump and firm, briny against the sharp, sweet onions. Eat them with rice or bread as a light meal. Mangrove oysters are rarely sold abroad, so use any fresh rock or Pacific oysters. This dish is always cooked: buy live oysters from a reputable fishmonger, discard any with broken shells or that are open and do not close when tapped, and throw away any that stay shut after grilling. Chef's tip: simmer the oyster meat in the sauce only until the edges curl and the flesh is firm right through; that takes about 3 minutes, and going much longer makes them rubbery.

30 min

Senegalese Fish

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Caldou (Casamance fish in lemon broth)

Light, tangy and clean-tasting, caldou is the fish dish of Ziguinchor and the river towns of Casamance, where fresh catches from the estuary are poached in a broth sharp with lemon, sweet with soft onion and tomato, and warmed by a whole chilli. It is ladled over plain white rice so the grains soak up the broth, with an extra squeeze of lemon at the table. Some cooks add a few okra or a spoon of palm oil; this version keeps it simple and light. Firm white fish such as grouper, sea bream or hake is ideal. Chef's tip: keep the broth at a bare simmer once the fish goes in; boiling it hard is the common mistake and turns delicate fish dry and broken.

40 min

Senegalese Fish

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Bassi salté (festive millet couscous)

When a Senegalese family celebrates, a wedding, a baptism or a religious feast, bassi salté may well be the dish that comes out in huge enamel bowls. Fine millet couscous is steamed twice until feather-light, then crowned with lamb and chicken in a tomato-onion sauce with carrots, cabbage, turnips and sweet potato, and a sweet note from raisins. It is a long cook but most of it is simmering, and the reward is a dish that feeds a crowd: fluffy grains, rich sauce, tender meat and soft vegetables in every spoonful. Don't drown the millet when moistening it between steamings; it should be damp, not wet, or it turns into porridge. Chef's tip: cook the chicken only for the last 35 minutes and check that the thickest piece reaches 74 °C; added at the start with the lamb, it overcooks to dry shreds while the lamb is still tough.

180 min

Senegalese Meat

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Dakhine (rice with peanut sauce and lamb)

Somewhere between mafé and a risotto, dakhine is everyday Dakar comfort food: lamb or beef simmered in a peanut and tomato sauce, with the rice cooked right in the same pot until it soaks up all that nutty, savoury flavour. The result is thick, rich and very filling, the meat falling apart into the rice and a gentle heat from a whole Scotch bonnet. It is eaten from a shared bowl at lunchtime, with a squeeze of lime or a little chilli sauce on the side. Chef's tip: make sure the lamb is completely tender before the rice goes in, because the rice sets the timetable after that; adding it too early is the common mistake that leaves tough meat in mushy rice.

95 min

Senegalese Meat

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Mbakhal (Saloum rice with peanuts and dried fish)

Mbakhal belongs to the Saloum, the peanut country around Kaolack and the Sine-Saloum delta, where it is cooked for gatherings and the Muslim feast days. Rice is simmered until soft and almost porridge-like in a sauce of ground peanuts, tomato and onion, together with black-eyed beans and guedj, the sun-dried, salted fish of the Senegalese coast. The flavour is deep and savoury, the texture creamy with bursts of bean and chewy flakes of fish. Salt cod or smoked fish are fair substitutes for guedj. Chef's tip: soak and taste the dried fish before you season, and add salt only at the end; over-salting is the most common mistake with mbakhal, since guedj and stock both carry plenty.

90 min

Senegalese Fish

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Fante fante (Fante fresh fish stew)

Fishing towns such as Elmina and Winneba cook fante fante when the canoes come in: fresh fish laid into a fragrant red sauce of palm oil, onion, tomato and pepper and gently simmered until just cooked. It is quick, bright and spicy, with the palm oil giving the sauce its colour and a slightly floral, earthy note, and the fish staying sweet and juicy. Serve it with kenkey, banku or boiled plantain, and plenty of sauce. Any firm white fish or oily fish steaks work, from red snapper to mackerel. Chef's tip: once the fish is in, shake the pan rather than stirring; stirring is the usual mistake and breaks the fish into shreds.

45 min

Ghanaian Fish

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Fetri detsi (Ewe okra soup with crab)

Along the Volta lagoons and in towns like Ho and Keta, the Ewe cook fetri detsi when there are fresh crabs to be had: a light tomato and pepper broth made rich with beef or goat, smoked fish and crab, then thickened at the last minute with chopped okra until it turns silky and slippery. It is eaten with akple, a smooth dough of corn and cassava, which is dipped and pulled through the soup. The flavours are of the sea, smoke and fresh pepper. Buy live crabs from a reputable fishmonger and discard any that are dead, cracked or smell off before cooking. Avoid overcooking the okra; added too early it loses its bright green and its draw. Chef's tip: add the okra only at the end and cook it for no more than 8 minutes; overcooked okra loses its green colour and its slipperiness, the very thing this soup is about.

75 min

Ghanaian Fish

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Ebbeh (Gambian cassava and fish soup)

Bowls of ebbeh are a favourite late-afternoon snack and supper at Gambian markets and beach stalls, sold steaming from big pots. Cassava is boiled until it breaks down and thickens the broth, then fish, red palm oil, onion and plenty of chilli go in, and the soup is finished with a sharp squeeze of lime. It is thick and starchy, hot, sour and savoury all at once, with soft chunks of cassava and flaky fish. Some cooks add crab or a little smoked fish; this version uses fresh fish with smoked fish for depth. Avoid stirring hard once the fish goes in, or it breaks into shreds. Chef's tip: cook the cassava until some of it collapses before adding the fish, because the cassava itself is the thickener; undercooked cassava gives a thin soup and is unsafe to eat.

65 minAfrican Fish

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Banku and grilled tilapia

Night falls in Accra and the smoke rises from Osu to Labadi: whole tilapia, slashed and rubbed with ginger, garlic and chilli, crackles over charcoal at roadside grills and beach spots, served with a ball of banku, a heap of raw pepper sauce and sliced onions. Banku is a smooth, stretchy dough of fermented corn and cassava, slightly sour, cooked and beaten in a pot until it pulls away from the sides. Together they make a messy, joyful meal eaten with the fingers: smoky fish, tangy banku and a sauce hot enough to make your eyes water. Corn and cassava dough are sold in African shops, often as banku mix. The commonest mistake is turning the fish too soon; leave it until it releases cleanly from the grill. Chef's tip: marinate the fish in the fridge, not on the counter, and oil the grill and the fish well, because skin sticking to the bars is the most common way to lose a whole tilapia.

65 min

Ghanaian Fish

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Guinean tamarind juice

Tomi is the name for tamarind in Guinea, and in Conakry its juice is poured from plastic bottles kept on ice at markets, bus stops and family celebrations alongside bissap and ginger juice. The sticky brown pulp is soaked in hot water, kneaded and strained into a drink that is brown-gold, fruity and pleasantly sour, sweetened with sugar and lifted with a little ginger and vanilla. It is especially welcome at sunset during Ramadan. Chef's tip: soak the pulp in hot, not boiling, water and knead it well; boiling the tamarind is a common mistake that pulls out bitterness from the seeds and skins.

30 minAfrican Drinks

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Baigan chokaRoasted aubergine mash

In south Trinidad, from Penal to Siparia, baigan choka is the breakfast or dinner you make when there is an aubergine, a fire and some sada roti on the tawa. The skin is charred right over the flame until the flesh inside collapses, smoky and silky, then it is mashed with raw garlic and hot pepper and "chunkayed" with a spoonful of sizzling oil. The usual mistake is pulling the aubergine off the flame too early; any firm part in the middle tastes raw and spongy. Eat it with roti or rice and dhal. Chef's tip: push slivers of garlic into slits in the aubergine before roasting, then mash them in; you get mellow roasted garlic and a sharp raw note together.

30 min

Trinidadian Vegetarian

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