Featured recipe

Leberkäse

Baked pork and beef loaf

Despite its name, Bavarian Leberkäse contains neither liver nor cheese: it is a smooth, finely ground loaf of pork and beef baked until it has a dark, crunchy crust. In Munich it is the mid-morning snack, a thick warm slice folded into a crusty roll with sweet mustard and eaten standing at the butcher's counter. Made at home without curing salt, the inside bakes pale grey rather than pink, which is normal. Chef's tip: everything, including the bowl of the food processor, must be ice-cold; if the mix warms above about 12 °C the fat separates and the loaf turns crumbly.

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Digir (Somali spiced black-eyed peas)

Mornings at Mogadishu tea shops often start with a bowl of digir, black-eyed peas cooked down with onion, tomato, garlic and a warm hit of xawaash until the sauce clings to every pea. It is scooped up with canjeero, muufo or a piece of soft bread and washed down with spiced shaah, and it keeps people full well past noon. The finished dish is thick rather than soupy, earthy and gently spiced, with a little green chilli for anyone who wants it. Tomatoes added before the onions have softened are the usual misstep: the sauce stays sharp and watery, so cook the onions properly first. Avoid boiling the peas at a gallop; they burst and go mushy. Simmer them gently. Chef's tip: save a cup of the bean cooking water; a splash of it at the end loosens the stew and makes it glossy without diluting the flavour.

60 min

Somali Curries

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ÄggakakaOven egg cake with lingonberries

Äggakaka is the farmhouse egg cake of Skåne, Sweden's southernmost province: a thick, puffy batter of eggs, milk and flour baked in a hot pan until golden on top and custardy inside, cut into squares and eaten with lingonberries. In Skåne it usually comes with crisp fried pork belly; this vegetarian version leaves the pork out and adds a little butter-fried apple on the side. A common mistake is opening the oven early, which makes it sink. Chef's tip: heat the pan with the butter until it sizzles before pouring in the batter, so the base and edges crisp.

45 minScandinavian Breakfast & Brunch

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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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Agbeli kakloCassava fritters

Roadside fryers in the Volta Region sell agbeli kaklo by the bagful, golden fingers of grated cassava seasoned with onion and chilli and fried until crunchy outside and chewy within. The classic way to eat them is with chunks of fresh coconut, whose cool sweetness balances the salty, peppery fritters, and they are an afternoon snack or a travel snack on the road from Ho to Accra. Cassava must be cooked through, so fry until deep golden. Chef's tip: squeeze the grated cassava very dry and fry at 170 °C; wet dough spits dangerously, and oil that is too cool, the common mistake, gives greasy, soggy fritters.

45 min

Ghanaian Snacks & Starters

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Mahi (Kabul fried fish)Fried battered fish

When the snow comes, Kabul's fish sellers set up their huge woks of oil, and the smell of mahi frying drifts across the city's bridges and bazaars, with stalls next door piling up bright orange jalebi to eat alongside it; mahi wa jalebi, fish and sweets, is a winter outing for the whole family. Chunks of firm fish are coated in a thin, spiced batter of flour, garlic, coriander seed, cumin and chilli and fried until crisp and reddish-gold, then eaten hot with naan, green chutney and a squeeze of lemon. Carp or other river fish is traditional, but any firm white fish works. Crowding the pan drops the oil temperature and gives soggy, greasy pieces, so fry only a few at a time. Chef's tip: salt the fish and leave it for 10 minutes, then pat it completely dry so the batter grips.

40 min

Afghan Fish

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KhajurFried dough cookies

Khajur take their name from dates, which their plump oval shape resembles, but there is no fruit in them: they are little cardamom-scented dough cookies, pressed onto a sieve or the back of a grater for a ridged pattern and fried until deep gold. Afghan families fry great batches before Eid and Nowruz and pack them into tins to offer guests with tea, and Kabul bakeries sell them by the kilo. They are crunchy on the outside with a soft, cakey middle and only gently sweet. Oil that is too hot is the classic error, browning them in a minute while the centres stay raw and doughy; keep it moderate and patient. Chef's tip: fry one test khajur first and break it open, then adjust the heat before frying the rest.

55 min

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Afghan dopiazaLamb with onions and split peas

Afghan dopiaza has little in common with the Indian curry of the same name: in Kabul and Mazar it is a dish of chaikhanas and lunch restaurants, where a slab of naan is laid on the plate, covered with chunks of lamb braised with onion until soft, then topped with boiled yellow split peas and a tangle of red onions that have been sitting in vinegar until they turn pink. The juices soak into the bread, the onions are sharp and crunchy, the split peas earthy, and the whole thing is eaten with the fingers. Split peas cooked to mush ruin the contrast, so boil them only until just tender and drain at once. Chef's tip: soak the sliced onions in vinegar at least 30 minutes ahead; they lose their harshness and turn a beautiful bright pink.

120 min

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AfararWild herb and cottage cheese pie

In the mountain villages around Quba and Qusar, where many Lezgin families live, spring brings armfuls of nettles, sorrel, wild garlic and orache, and the first thing made with them is afarar: two very thin sheets of dough enclosing a filling of chopped herbs mixed with cottage cheese, cooked on a hot griddle or saj and brushed with butter. A common mistake is using wet herbs, which steam the dough and make it tear. Chef's tip: wilt the herbs in a dry pan for a minute and squeeze them, then mix with the cheese only just before filling. Check that your cottage cheese uses no animal rennet.

65 min

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Afang soupWaterleaf and afang leaf soup

Ask anyone from Calabar or Uyo what to serve a guest and afang will come up first. Finely shredded afang leaves, chewy and a little nutty, are cooked down with a mountain of waterleaf, palm oil, beef, cow skin, stockfish and periwinkles, and the waterleaf gives off all the liquid the soup needs. It is thick, dark green and deeply savoury, and it goes with pounded yam, fufu or eba. Outside Nigeria, frozen ground afang (also sold as okazi) and spinach stand in well. Periwinkles must be bought cleaned from a reputable seller; discard any with cracked shells or an off smell. Chef's tip: never add water to afang; if it looks dry, cover the pot for a minute and the waterleaf will release more.

90 min

Nigerian Meat

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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 min

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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

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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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AchmaLayered cheese pie

Ask in Batumi and someone will call achma the Georgian lasagne: thin sheets of egg dough are boiled one by one, layered in a deep tray with salty cheese and a lot of butter, and baked until the top crackles and the inside is soft and molten. It is made for name days and holidays across Adjara, and slices are carried to neighbours on a plate. A common mistake is boiling the sheets too long; they should be barely cooked and still firm, or the layers merge into a heavy paste. Chef's tip: plunge every boiled sheet into iced water and lay it out on a towel, so the layers stay distinct and silky. Most sulguni and imeruli cheeses use animal rennet, so choose vegetarian versions.

105 min

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Achar goshtPickle-spiced mutton curry

Sour, hot and pungent, achar gosht borrows its whole flavour from a jar of pickle: fennel, nigella, fenugreek, mustard seed and cumin fried in mustard oil, with lemon and long green chillies stuffed with the same spices. It belongs to the Urdu-speaking kitchens of Karachi and Hyderabad, where it is made for dinner guests and shared at office lunches, and it is eaten with naan or tandoori roti, never with a delicate pulao. The gravy is thick and clings to the meat, glistening with oil. The step people rush is roasting the pickling spices; they must be toasted and coarsely crushed, not used whole, or the curry tastes raw and seedy. Chef's tip: mustard oil gives the true pickle tang; heat it until it smokes, then let it cool for a minute before adding anything, so it loses its harsh edge.

95 min

Pakistani Meat

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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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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

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PloyesBuckwheat griddle cakes

Ployes come from the Acadian villages of the Madawaska in north-west New Brunswick, on the border with Maine, where they are eaten at almost every meal in place of bread. The batter of light buckwheat flour, plain flour and baking powder is poured onto a very hot dry griddle and cooked on one side only, until the top is covered in tiny holes. Roll them with butter and molasses, or use them to mop up a stew. Chef's tip: let the batter rest 5 minutes so the bubbles start; without them you get flat pancakes instead of the lacy holes.

20 min

Canadian Breads & Parathas

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Chicken fricotChicken stew with dumplings

Fricot is the everyday stew of Acadian kitchens in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, and on Chéticamp it is still what grandmothers serve when the family comes home. Chicken simmers with potatoes, onion and plenty of summer savory, and fluffy dumplings called pâte steam on top at the end. It is simple, comforting food for cold evenings. A common mistake is a stew that is boiling hard when the dumplings go in, which breaks them up; keep it at a lively simmer. Chef's tip: summer savory is the defining herb; use thyme only if you really can't find it.

90 min

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Abrisham kebabEgg thread rolls in syrup

Despite the name there is no meat in abrisham kebab, the silk kebab: it is a show-off Kabul sweet made from nothing more than beaten egg drizzled in fine threads over hot oil until it sets into a lacy golden net, which is rolled up like a kebab on a skewer, dipped in syrup and dusted with ground pistachios. It is made for weddings, engagements and Eid, and the skill is in the wrist, so many families leave it to one aunt who has the knack. The texture is unusual and delightful, soft and springy, slightly chewy and soaked with cardamom-scented syrup. Pouring the egg too thickly gives you an omelette rather than silk; let it fall from your fingers in thin streams and keep moving. Chef's tip: strain the eggs first, as removing the stringy white makes the threads much finer and more even.

45 min

Afghan Desserts

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AboloSteamed corn and rice bread

Along the lagoon towns of Keta and Anloga, women carry trays of abolo to the lorry parks: pale, spongy little cakes of fermented corn and rice dough, sweetened a little and steamed until springy. They taste gently sour and sweet, a bit like a steamed bun, and are traditionally eaten with fried fish and shito or a raw pepper sauce; with fresh pepper sauce and avocado they make a meat-free meal. The batter needs about an hour to rise, which is counted in the timings below. Chef's tip: cook a small part of the corn dough into a thick porridge first and mix it back in; this is what gives abolo its soft, bouncy crumb, and skipping it, the common mistake, gives dense, heavy cakes.

120 min

Ghanaian Breads & Parathas

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AboboiBambara beans in palm oil

Bambara beans, round and speckled, are one of West Africa's oldest crops, and in Accra they become aboboi: simmered for a long time until creamy, then finished in red palm oil fried with onion and pepper. Street sellers dish it out in the evening, often with gari sprinkled on top for crunch and sometimes with fried fish; this version keeps it meat-free and lets the earthy, chestnut-like beans shine. It is filling, protein-rich and costs little. Dried Bambara beans are sold in African and Asian shops; black-eyed beans cook faster if you cannot find them. Don't add salt before the beans are soft, or the skins stay hard however long they cook. Chef's tip: soak the beans overnight and use a pressure cooker if you have one, as unsoaked Bambara beans can take three hours and still stay hard, which is the most common disappointment.

125 min

Ghanaian 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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AasmiFried rice flour nests with syrup

Aasmi is the most delicate sweet on the Sinhala New Year table, a crisp, cream-coloured nest of tangled rice threads drizzled with pink syrup, and making it is a skill that village women in the Kandy and Kurunegala districts are rightly proud of. The batter gets its unique, almost glassy crispness from the slippery sap of davul kurundu leaves, a wild relative of laurel sometimes sold dried or frozen in Sri Lankan shops, which binds the rice flour and coconut milk. It is poured in a fine stream into hot oil to form a lace, folded while still soft and fried until crisp but still pale, then decorated with lines of thick sugar syrup. If you cannot find the leaves, a little tapioca starch helps the batter hold, but the lace will be softer. The usual error is frying until golden: aasmi should stay pale cream, so keep the oil moderate. Chef's tip: test the batter with one thread first; it should fall in a smooth, unbroken stream.

100 min

Sri Lankan Desserts

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Aargauer RüeblitorteCarrot and almond cake

Rüeblitorte is the carrot cake of the canton of Aargau, between Zurich and Basel, where carrots grow well in the flat farmland: a moist, flourless cake of grated carrot and ground almonds lifted with whisked egg whites, glazed with a thin lemon or kirsch icing and decorated with little marzipan carrots. It is the traditional Swiss birthday cake for children and appears at Easter. A common mistake is skipping the separate whisking of the whites, which makes it heavy. Chef's tip: grate the carrots finely and squeeze out a little juice, so the cake is moist but not soggy. This version uses lemon icing.

80 min

Swiss Baking

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AamshottoSun-dried mango sheets

In June the mango orchards of Rajshahi and Chapai Nawabganj produce more fruit than anyone can eat, and on rooftops across the region the surplus is turned into aamshotto, sheets of sweet mango pulp spread thin on bamboo trays and dried in the sun. A fresh layer is spread over the last one each day, so the finished slab is built up from many thin films, chewy, deep orange and intensely fruity. It is cut into strips and kept for the rainy months, eaten as a snack, packed in children's lunchboxes or chopped into chutney. In a damp climate, sun-drying is slow and risks mould, so this version uses a low oven. Spreading the pulp too thick is the classic misjudgement; the middle never dries and stays sticky. Chef's tip: use fibre-free mangoes such as Himsagar, Langra or Alphonso and push the pulp through a sieve for a smooth sheet.

450 min

Bangladeshi Desserts

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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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Aab goshtMutton in spiced milk

Pale, gentle and fragrant with green cardamom, aab gosht is the Kashmiri kitchen's answer to anyone who thinks the cuisine is all chilli. Mutton on the bone is first boiled with whole spices, then finished in reduced milk with fennel and dry ginger until the sauce turns ivory and thick, almost like a savoury kheer. It is a wazwan dish and a family favourite for Sunday lunch among Kashmiri households in Muzaffarabad and Lahore, eaten over plain rice with a sharp green chutney on the side for contrast. Boiling the milk hard is what ruins it, since it catches on the base and leaves a scorched taste through the whole pot. Chef's tip: reduce the milk in a separate wide pan while the meat cooks, then combine them; it thickens faster and is far less likely to burn.

100 min

Pakistani Meat

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AbkhazuraSpiced mince in caul fat

Abkhazura is a feast dish from Samegrelo and the old Abkhazian borderlands, still on the menu of Zugdidi restaurants: finely chopped beef and pork, seasoned with onion, garlic, dried barberries, hot pepper and herbs, wrapped in thin, lacy caul fat and grilled over coals or fried until crisp outside and juicy inside. This contains pork. Served with tkemali and raw onion rings. A common mistake is using lean mince, which makes the patties dry; the fat is what keeps them succulent. Chef's tip: soak caul fat in warm salted water for 10 minutes so it softens and stretches without tearing. Minced meat must reach 71 °C in the middle.

55 min

Georgian Meat

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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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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 min

Polish Snacks & Starters

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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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Ful nabitSprouted fava bean soup

Sprouted beans are ladled out with their cooking liquor in Cairo homes when the weather turns cold or someone is feeling run down, and Egyptians swear by the broth as a pick-me-up. The beans are soaked and left to sprout for a few days, then simmered with onion, garlic and cumin into a light, earthy soup that is sharpened at the table with plenty of lemon. You can eat the beans with a spoon or pop them from their skins. Allow 3 to 4 days for sprouting, although the hands-on work is only about 20 minutes. People with G6PD deficiency (favism) must not eat fava beans. Chef's tip: stop the sprouting when the shoots are about 1 cm long; longer sprouts taste grassy and bitter.

70 min

Egyptian Soups

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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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Tapalapa (Gambian crusty bread)

Early each morning, small bakeries around Serekunda and Brikama pull trays of tapalapa from wood-fired ovens, and the short, rustic loaves are on every breakfast stall by sunrise. Denser and chewier than a French baguette, tapalapa has a thick, crackling crust and a slightly tight crumb that holds up to fillings: black-eyed beans in sauce, an omelette, or a smear of chocolate spread. A very hot oven, a baking stone and a tray of steam get you close at home. Allow about two and a half hours of rising. Chef's tip: let the shaped loaves rise only until puffy, not doubled; over-proving is the common mistake, and the loaves flatten and lose the chewy bite.

190 minAfrican Breads & Parathas

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Nyambeh nyebbeh (cassava and beans in palm oil)

Bright with red palm oil, nyambeh nyebbeh, cassava (nyambeh) and beans (nyebbeh), is a favourite Gambian lunch from Banjul compounds to roadside food stalls. Chunks of cassava and black-eyed beans are boiled until tender, then dressed with a hot sauce of red palm oil, onion and Scotch bonnet. Cassava gives starchy, slightly sweet bites, the beans turn creamy, and the palm oil adds its earthy, peppery depth. Dried fish is often crumbled in; this is the meat-free version. Chef's tip: always cook cassava fully and pull out the woody core string, since undercooked or raw cassava is unsafe to eat; it is ready when a knife slides through with no resistance.

70 minAfrican Vegetarian

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Meni-meniyong (Malian sesame honey sticks)

Toasted sesame seeds bound with hot honey and a knob of butter, then pulled into sticks before they harden: meni-meniyong is a little Malian sweet sold at markets and made at home for guests and festive days. The sticks are crisp at the edges, chewy in the middle, and taste deeply of toasted seeds and dark honey. They need only three ingredients but reward careful heat. Children love them, and they keep well in a tin. Chef's tip: cook the honey until a drop in cold water forms a firm ball; pulling it off too early is the usual mistake, and the sticks stay soft and sticky instead of setting.

30 minAfrican Desserts

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Bajre di rotiPearl millet flatbread

Pearl millet grows where wheat gives up, in the sandy fields on the edge of the Cholistan desert around Bahawalpur, and there bajre di roti is the bread of winter, thick, grey-green and earthy with a slightly sweet, nutty taste. Because millet has no gluten, the dough is kneaded one roti at a time and patted out between wet palms rather than rolled, which takes a little practice but no special equipment. In village homes it is eaten hot with a lump of white butter or ghee and a piece of jaggery, or with sarson ka saag and a bowl of lassi; for a vegan meal, serve it with saag cooked in oil. Making all the dough at once is the classic error: millet dough dries and cracks within minutes. Chef's tip: knead each portion fresh with warm water and the heel of your hand until it feels smooth and slightly sticky, like soft clay.

35 min

Pakistani Breads & Parathas

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Bajan jug jugPigeon peas and salt meat mash

Jug jug belongs to Christmas in Barbados, served alongside baked ham and roast pork on the big lunch table: green pigeon peas and salted beef and salted pork, cooked tender and minced, then stirred with guinea corn (sorghum) flour, herbs and onion into a thick, savoury, mouldable mash. Its roots are often traced to Scottish settlers' haggis and West African grain cookery, and it tastes rich, salty and herby. The common mistake is not soaking the salt meats long enough, which makes the whole pot too salty to eat; soak them overnight in plenty of water. Cook until the minced meat mixture is piping hot (71 °C) throughout. Chef's tip: stir in the sorghum flour a spoonful at a time while the pot bubbles, like making polenta, so it never turns lumpy.

180 min

Bajan Meat

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Bajan fish cutterFried flying fish sandwich

Around Barbados a "cutter" is any sandwich in a salt bread roll, and the fish cutter is the lunch people queue for at beach bars from Oistins to Bathsheba: a piece of flying fish (or mahi-mahi, called dolphin locally) seasoned with Bajan seasoning, crumbed, fried crisp and stuffed into a split roll with lettuce, tomato and a dab of fiery yellow pepper sauce. The fish should be juicy and the crust shattering. The usual mistake is frying too cool, which makes the coating greasy; keep the oil hot and fry in small batches. Use flying fish fillets if you can find them frozen, or any thin white fish. Chef's tip: rub a little of the frying oil over the cut sides of the rolls and toast them in a dry pan, so the bread doesn't go soggy under the fish.

25 min

Bajan Fast Food

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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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MuhammarSweet saffron rice

Muhammar is a golden, gently sweet rice from Bahrain, cooked with date syrup or sugar, saffron and rosewater, and its natural partner is fried or grilled fish, especially safi or hamour, so that the sweet rice and the salty, crisp fish balance on the same plate. It is a Friday lunch and Ramadan dish in Manama and Muharraq, and each family argues for its own ratio of sweetness. The grains should be separate and glossy with a faint caramel colour, not sticky. The most common error is boiling the rice too long before steaming, which turns it mushy once the sugar goes in. Chef's tip: let a thin crust form on the base during the steam; Bahrainis prize those crunchy sweet bits.

70 minGulf Arabian Rice & Grains

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Moni (millet dumpling porridge with tamarind)

Bamako mornings, and especially Ramadan mornings before dawn, often start with a bowl of moni: tiny balls of millet flour rolled by hand and cooked in water until they turn plump and chewy in a smooth porridge. Tamarind gives it a clear sourness, sugar balances it, and some cooks add a squeeze of lemon or a little fresh ginger. It is thinner than tô and meant to be drunk from the bowl or eaten with a spoon. This version is vegan; some families stir in milk or soured milk at the table. Don't drop the dumplings into water that isn't boiling, or they dissolve into the porridge. Chef's tip: roll the balls small, no bigger than a chickpea, and let them dry on the tray for ten minutes before cooking so they hold together instead of dissolving.

45 minAfrican Breakfast & Brunch

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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 min

Polish Vegetarian

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Christmas mushroom soup

In many Polish homes the Christmas Eve supper opens with either beetroot barszcz or this soup, and families argue about which is better. Dried porcini picked and threaded on strings in September are soaked and simmered with root vegetables into a clear, deep-brown broth with a smoky, almost meaty depth, then served with thin noodles or łazanki. It is fully meat-free, as Wigilia tradition requires, and kept dairy-free here. A common mistake is pouring the soaking water in with its grit; let it settle and leave the last spoonfuls behind. Chef's tip: soak the mushrooms overnight in cold water and cook them in that water for the most flavour.

90 min

Polish Soups

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Bahamian switchaKey lime drink

On Bahamian porches and at Fish Fry stalls in Nassau, switcha is the everyday cooler: fresh key limes squeezed with sugar and cold water, stirred up in a big jug with plenty of ice. It's sharper and more fragrant than lemonade, and you'll see the lime halves floating in the jug. The usual mistake is putting sugar straight into cold water, where it sinks undissolved: make a quick syrup first. Chef's tip: drop a few squeezed lime halves into the jug for 10 minutes for extra aroma, then take them out before the pith turns it bitter.

10 minCaribbean Drinks

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Bahamian stew fishGrouper in roux gravy

Bahamian stew fish is old-fashioned Sunday breakfast in Nassau and the Family Islands: firm fish such as grouper or snapper simmered in a dark brown gravy built on a flour-and-oil roux, with onion, celery, tomato and thyme, served over grits or with johnnycake. The flavour is deep, savoury and a little smoky from the browned flour. The usual mistake is a pale roux; cook the flour slowly until it is the colour of milk chocolate, but don't let it burn. Ask for thick fish steaks or fillets. Chef's tip: stir the roux with a flat wooden spatula so you can scrape every corner and keep it browning evenly.

60 minCaribbean Fish

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Bahamian guava duffSteamed guava roll

Guava duff is the Bahamas' best-loved dessert, served at Junkanoo season, Sunday dinners and Nassau restaurants alike: a soft dough spread with sweet stewed guava, rolled up, wrapped in cloth or foil and steamed until tender, then sliced and drowned in a warm butter sauce. Traditionally the sauce has rum in it, which is only lightly cooked, so the rum version is for adults only; the vanilla sauce below makes it alcohol-free for everyone. The most common mistake is rolling the duff too tight, which stops it rising; leave room in the wrapping for it to swell. Chef's tip: sieve the guava pulp to remove the hard seeds, and keep the thick paste for the filling.

135 minCaribbean Desserts

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PinonGari in tomato and onion sauce

On a busy weeknight in Cotonou or Porto-Novo, pinon (also spelled piron) is the answer: gari, the toasted cassava granules every Beninese kitchen keeps on hand, stirred into a hot tomato and onion sauce until it swells into a soft, fluffy, orange mound. Ready in about twenty minutes, it is savoury and tangy from the fermented cassava, with a kick of pepper. People eat it with fried fish or grilled chicken; this meat-free plate pairs it with a pot of beans in red oil or fried plantain. Chef's tip: lower the heat before adding the gari and sprinkle it in gradually, stirring all the time, so every grain absorbs the sauce evenly.

20 minAfrican Vegetarian

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