Featured recipe

Chipa

Cheese bread rings

In Paraguay you hear 'chipa, chipa!' called by vendors with big baskets on buses and street corners, and every family bakes it for Holy Week, when chipa is the food of Good Friday. Cassava starch, a little cornmeal, butter, eggs and a lot of hard cheese are kneaded into a dough scented with aniseed, shaped into rings or small rolls and baked in a hot oven, traditionally a domed clay tatakua. It's chewy, crisp outside and best warm with cocido (toasted yerba tea). Chef's tip: the dough should feel soft and slightly greasy; add milk a spoon at a time, as too much makes the chipa spread flat.

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Salted saffron milk caps

Northern Russians rank ryzhiki, the orange saffron milk caps of the pine woods, above almost every other mushroom, and salted ones from around Arkhangelsk once travelled to the tsar's table. Salted, they keep their bright colour, turn firm and juicy with a clean, resinous taste, and are served with thin onion rings, sunflower oil and hot boiled potatoes; for non-vegans a spoon of sour cream is classic. Old cellars dry-salted them raw for months; this safer fridge version blanches the caps briefly and keeps them in a measured brine in the fridge, ready in about a week. Only use mushrooms identified by an experienced forager or bought from a trusted seller. Where most people go wrong is guessing the salt; too little lets spoilage start, so weigh it. Chef's tip: the caps bruise green where handled, which is normal, so don't worry when the edges darken.

30 min

Russian Basics

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Flan de quesoCream cheese flan

Denser and tangier than a plain egg flan, flan de queso is the dessert Puerto Rican families bake for birthdays and Nochebuena, often a day ahead so it can chill overnight. Cream cheese is blended with evaporated and condensed milk and eggs, then baked slowly in a water bath on a layer of amber caramel, so it turns out glossy, sliceable and somewhere between a flan and a cheesecake. The common mistake is baking it too hot, which makes it puff, crack and weep; low heat and a water bath keep it silky. Chef's tip: take the caramel to the colour of a dark copper coin, as a pale caramel tastes only sweet and a bitter edge balances the rich cheese.

90 min

Puerto Rican Desserts

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Haitian konparètCoconut ginger spice bread

Jérémie, at the far western tip of Haiti, is the home of konparèt, dense round loaves of spiced bread made with grated coconut, fresh ginger, nutmeg and vanilla, baked until firm and golden. They are a Grand'Anse travelling food, carried home from the coast in baskets and eaten with coffee or hot cocoa in the afternoon. They are meant to be firm and close-crumbed, not fluffy, so the mistake is adding extra liquid to make the dough soft. Use freshly grated coconut if you can, as it gives the moistest crumb. Chef's tip: grate the ginger on the fine side of the grater and squeeze its juice into the dough too; that heat is the signature of a good konparèt.

55 min

Haitian Baking

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Hong Kong iced lemon tea

Ask for 'ling cha, dung' at any Hong Kong cha chaan teng and a tall glass arrives crammed with ice, a heap of thin lemon slices and a long spoon for pounding them, the default thirst-quencher with set lunches all year round. The tea is brewed almost bitter, so it holds its own against the ice, and the sharp lemon and simple syrup turn it bright, tangy and refreshing. It is drunk with everything from macaroni soup breakfasts to afternoon pineapple buns. The common slip is brewing tea at normal strength, which tastes thin and watery once the ice melts; double the tea. Chef's tip: press the lemon slices with the back of the spoon only a few times to release juice and oil from the zest; grinding them to a pulp brings out bitterness from the pith.

10 min

Hong Kong Drinks

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Stuffed three treasures with fish paste

Walk past the street stalls of Mong Kok or Sham Shui Po in the afternoon and you will smell jin yeung saam bou sizzling on wide griddles: chunks of green pepper, aubergine and tofu, each pressed full of bouncy white fish paste and fried until golden, then splashed with a little soy or a glossy oyster sauce gravy. People point at the pieces they want, take them in a paper bowl with a bamboo skewer and eat them while walking; at home they become a side dish with rice. The fish paste should be springy, the vegetables soft, the tofu creamy. The trap is wet vegetables: unless you dust the cut sides with cornflour first, the paste slides straight off in the pan. Chef's tip: slap the fish paste against the bowl for a few minutes; it gets bouncier the more you work it.

50 min

Hong Kong Snacks & Starters

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Aiyu jelly with lemonAiyu fig jelly with lemon

Squeezing a little cloth bag of seeds in a bowl of water until it turns into jelly sounds like a magic trick, yet that's how aiyu has been made for well over a century in Chiayi, at the foot of the Alishan hills where the climbing fig grows wild. The pectin in the dried seeds sets the water into a soft, glassy, pale-gold jelly with almost no taste of its own, so it's cut into cubes and served icy cold with tart lemon juice and honey syrup, the most refreshing thing on a sticky Taipei summer afternoon. The classic failure is a bowl that won't set, usually because the bowl was oily or the water was distilled or very soft; it needs ordinary tap or mineral water. Chef's tip: rub the bag steadily for 8–10 minutes and stop as soon as it feels slippery and nothing more comes out, or the jelly turns cloudy and bitter.

30 min

Taiwanese Drinks

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Mors

Northern Russia picks cranberries and lingonberries from the bogs in autumn, and many of them end up as mors, a tart, crimson drink served from a jug at family dinners and offered in cafes and canteens from Arkhangelsk to Siberia. Unlike kissel it is thin and refreshing, made by pressing out the raw berry juice, cooking the skins in water and then combining the two so the fresh vitamin-rich juice is never boiled. Honey goes in last, once the liquid has cooled a little, to keep its flavour. Where most people go wrong is boiling the pressed juice along with the pulp; keep it aside until the end. Honey is not for babies under one year old. Chef's tip: serve it cold with ice in summer or warmed gently in winter; it is good both ways.

20 min

Russian Drinks

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Nova Scotia oatcakes

Nova Scotia oatcakes are nothing like the plain Scottish kind: Cape Breton bakers, with their Highland roots, made them sweeter and richer, with butter and brown sugar, so they crunch like a cross between a biscuit and shortbread. They are sold at every coffee shop in Antigonish and Baddeck and eaten with tea, or with a slice of sharp cheddar. A common mistake is rolling them thick; 5 mm gives the proper snap. Chef's tip: chill the rolled dough before cutting so the squares stay sharp.

35 min

Canadian Baking

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Salt and pepper squid

Late at night in Temple Street, or at a seafood restaurant on Lamma Island after a ferry ride, someone at the table always orders the jiu yim squid: tender pieces under a thin, shattering coat, wok-tossed with a heap of fried garlic, chilli and spring onion and showered with a peppery spiced salt. It is crunchy, salty and a little fiery, ideal with a cold soft drink or as one of several dishes with rice. Squid cooks in seconds. The most frequent mistake is crowding the oil, which drops its temperature so the coating turns soggy and the squid goes rubbery while you wait; fry in small batches. Chef's tip: score the inside of the squid in a criss-cross pattern so it curls up and catches more of the salt.

25 min

Hong Kong Fish

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Singapore breakfast fried bee hoon

Before office hours in Toa Payoh or Ang Mo Kio, the economy-rice stalls already have a steel tray of pale-brown fried bee hoon on the counter, and people point at it, then add a side or two from the trays beside it: a fried egg, fried tofu, braised cabbage, a curry potato. The noodles themselves are kept deliberately simple, springy and lightly savoury from soy sauce, threaded with cabbage, carrot and crunchy bean sprouts, then finished with a spoon of sambal chilli. Because it is plain, every strand needs to be seasoned evenly and still separate. The usual mistake is over-soaking the vermicelli, which then clumps and breaks in the wok; soak it only until bendy. Chef's tip: toss the noodles with tongs or chopsticks in a lifting motion rather than stirring with a spatula, so the soy coats every strand without breaking it.

25 min

Singaporean Pasta & Noodles

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Barley water

Ask for 'barley' at any drinks stall in a Singapore kopitiam and you get a tall glass of cloudy, faintly sweet barley water, the drink older relatives swear by on the hottest afternoons because it is said to cool the body. Home cooks simmer pearl barley for an hour with knotted pandan leaves, and in Teochew and Cantonese households chunks of winter melon go in as well for a gentle, cucumber-like sweetness. The result is light and clean, ideal beside a plate of chicken rice, char kway teow or anything greasy and salty. The usual mistake is boiling it hard, which turns the liquid starchy and slimy instead of smooth and pale; keep it at a gentle simmer. Chef's tip: don't throw away the softened barley grains; spoon some into each glass, as the stalls do, or eat them warm with a little rock sugar as a light dessert.

65 min

Singaporean Drinks

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Bein montJaggery coconut rice pancake

When the November nights cool down for the Tazaungdaing festival, food stalls outside pagodas in Yangon and Mandalay start cooking bein mont in small, lidded iron pans with embers piled on top, so the cake bakes from above and below at once. The batter is rice flour sweetened with dark jaggery, so it cooks into a thick, springy, brown pancake with a crisp base, studded on top with shreds of coconut and sliced peanuts; some vendors still scatter poppy seeds, the bein that may have given the snack its name. It is eaten warm in wedges with hot green tea. High heat is what usually goes wrong: the base scorches while the centre stays raw, so keep the flame low and the lid on. Chef's tip: a small cast-iron pan finished under the grill copies the charcoal top heat at home.

45 min

Burmese Desserts

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Bak chor meeMinced pork noodles

Queue at almost any Teochew noodle stall in a Singapore kopitiam before work and the order you hear most is a bowl of bak chor mee, dry, with extra vinegar. Springy flat mee pok is tossed at the bottom of the bowl in black vinegar, chilli paste, soy and a spoon of pork lard, then crowned with loosely poached minced pork, slices of pork liver, fish balls and sweet braised mushrooms, with a small bowl of clear pork soup on the side. It should taste sour first, then hot, then rich, and the noodles must stay bouncy rather than soft. Where most home cooks go wrong is cooking the noodles in one long boil: they turn limp and soak up the sauce instead of carrying it. Chef's tip: blanch the noodles twice, plunging them into cold water in between, which is how the hawkers get that al dente snap.

45 min

Singaporean Pasta & Noodles

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Maple cream

Crème d'érable is sold in little jars in every Quebec market from Jean-Talon to the Beauce farm stands, and despite the name there is no cream in it: pure maple syrup is boiled to the soft-ball stage, cooled without stirring and then beaten until it turns pale and creamy. It is spread on toast, crêpes and warm bagels. Patience and a thermometer are the whole trick. The common mistake is stirring the syrup while it cools, which sets off large grainy crystals instead of a smooth cream. Chef's tip: use a light, golden syrup; dark syrups taste stronger but can stay runny.

65 min

Canadian Chutneys & Dips

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Lac-Saint-Jean blueberry pie

Around Lac-Saint-Jean in Quebec the low wild blueberries ripen in August, and the region is so proud of them that locals are nicknamed bleuets. Every church supper and roadside casse-croûte there sells a deep tarte aux bleuets with a flaky top crust and a dark, jammy filling that holds when sliced. Wild berries are smaller and more intense than cultivated ones and frozen wild berries work well. Serve slightly warm with vanilla ice cream or a jug of cream. A common mistake is skimping on the cornflour, which leaves a soupy filling. Chef's tip: let the pie cool for at least three hours so the juices set; cut it hot and the filling runs all over the plate.

100 min

Canadian Desserts

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Maple syrup pie

Tarte au sirop d'érable closes many a family meal in Quebec at Easter and through the sugaring season, a cousin of the sugar pie made with real maple syrup. The filling of syrup, cream and egg bakes into a soft, trembling, caramel-brown layer that tastes deeply of maple. Slice it thin; it is rich. A spoonful of crème fraîche or plain whipped cream cuts the sweetness. A common mistake is skipping the blind bake, which leaves a soggy base. Chef's tip: take the pie out while the centre still wobbles like jelly; it sets as it cools and over-baking makes it weep.

70 min

Canadian Desserts

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Date squares

Date squares are on the tea table in every Canadian church hall and school bake sale, called carrés aux dattes in Quebec and matrimonial cake in the West. A buttery oat crumble is pressed into a tin, spread with a soft date filling and covered with more crumble, then baked until golden. They keep for days and freeze well. A common mistake is spreading the dates while hot onto loose crumb, which makes the base soggy; press the base firmly. Chef's tip: add a strip of orange zest to the dates for a brighter flavour.

60 min

Canadian Baking

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Djouzia (walnut and honey nougat)

Shops in old Constantine wrap djouzia in twists of paper and sell it by weight, a soft, pale caramel-coloured nougat of honey, whipped egg white and plenty of walnuts. It is chewier and darker than white Provençal nougat, with a deep honey flavour and the slight bitterness of walnut skins. Djouzia is a gift sweet, carried to weddings and offered with coffee to visitors, and keeps for weeks. A sugar thermometer makes it reliable. Chef's tip: cook the honey syrup to 125 °C; syrup that is pulled off too early is the most common mistake, and the nougat stays sticky and will not set enough to cut.

55 min

Algerian Desserts

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Kissel

Kissel is the drink of Russian childhoods: a glass of silky, ruby-red berry juice, just thick enough to coat the tongue, poured warm at kindergarten lunch or cold in summer from a jug on the dacha veranda. It is also the old Maslenitsa and wake-table drink, and frozen berries make it possible all year. The flavour is sweet-sharp and fresh, the texture smooth and slightly jelly-like. A common mistake is adding the starch mixture to boiling liquid and letting it bubble for minutes; bring it just back to a simmer, then take it off, or it thins out again and can turn gluey. More starch makes a spoonable dessert kissel. Chef's tip: lay cling film or sprinkle a little sugar on the surface as it cools to stop a skin forming.

20 min

Russian Drinks

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AwazeBerbere chilli dipping paste

Wherever tibs are fried or meat is grilled in Ethiopia, from roadside butcher-restaurants on the edge of Addis Ababa to wedding feasts, a small dish of brick-red awaze sits beside it. It is berbere turned into a thick, glossy paste: hot, garlicky, a little sharp from lemon, with a rounded warmth from the spices. Strips of meat are dabbed into it, it is stirred into a pan of tibs at the last moment, and a spoon of it livens up plain lentils too. Some cooks loosen it with tej (honey wine) or red wine, both of which contain alcohol; this version uses water and lemon juice and is entirely alcohol-free. Chef's tip: let it rest for an hour before using; the raw edge of the chilli softens and the garlic mellows into the paste.

12 min

Ethiopian Chutneys & Dips

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Bkaila (Tunisian spinach and beef stew)

Tunisian Jewish families in Tunis, and those who carried the dish to Paris and Israel, cook bkaila for Rosh Hashanah and for Friday-night dinners: a heap of spinach is fried in olive oil for over an hour, until it shrinks to a dark, almost black, crumbly paste, then simmered for hours with chunks of beef, white beans, garlic and dried mint. The result looks dramatic and tastes deep and earthy, a little like a long-braised green sauce, with tender meat and creamy beans. It is eaten with couscous or bread, and is even better reheated the next day. Start the beans soaking the night before. Chef's tip: fry the spinach over a medium-low heat and stir often; turning up the heat to save time is the classic mistake, scorching the leaves so the whole pot turns bitter.

240 min

Tunisian Meat

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Kammounia (Tunisian cumin beef stew)

Cumin, kammoun in Arabic, gives kammounia its name, and the dish uses it boldly: chunks of beef, or in many Tunis homes lamb's liver, simmer in a thick, dark sauce of garlic, tomato paste and a generous amount of ground cumin until the meat is tender and the sauce clings to it. It is everyday family food in Tunis and Sfax, scooped up with crusty bread or served alongside a salad and olives. The flavour is earthy, warm and garlicky with a gentle heat from harissa. The usual mistake is adding the cumin at the start and frying it hard, which makes it bitter; it goes in once the sauce is simmering. Chef's tip: add half the cumin at the start and the rest in the last 10 minutes; all of it at once risks a flat, slightly bitter sauce, while the late addition keeps the aroma bright.

90 min

Tunisian Meat

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Osban (Tunisian stuffed lamb sausages)

Eid al-Adha in Tunisia means using every part of the sheep, and osban is how the tripe is honoured: cleaned pieces are sewn into pouches and packed with rice, chopped liver and lamb, chard, a big bunch of parsley and coriander, dried mint and harissa, then simmered in a red chickpea sauce and served over couscous. Families all over the country, from Tunis to the south, make a batch and freeze some for later. The filling cooks into a soft, herby, peppery sausage and the tripe turns tender. Buy tripe that the butcher has already cleaned and scalded, or use natural sausage casings for an easier version. Chef's tip: fill the pouches only two-thirds full and prick them with a needle; the rice swells as it cooks, and overstuffed osban burst, which is the most common mistake.

180 min

Tunisian Meat

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Chorbet hout (Sfax fish soup)

Along the coast around Sfax, a bowl of chorbet hout often opens the meal at Ramadan iftar, after dates and water: a red, peppery broth of tomato, harissa and caraway, thick with tiny bird's-tongue pasta and flakes of white fish, finished with a squeeze of lemon. Grouper, sea bream or mullet are the local choices, and any firm white fish works. The soup is warming and spicy with a fresh lift from parsley and celery, and goes well with bread and a brik. Chef's tip: poach the fish briefly, lift it out and only return the flakes at the end; leaving it to boil with the pasta is the common mistake, and it breaks into threads.

50 min

Tunisian Soups

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Rouz jerbi (Djerban steamed rice)

Djerba islanders cook rice the way the rest of Tunisia cooks couscous, in the top of a couscoussier: raw rice is mixed with small pieces of lamb, chopped spinach, a mound of herbs, chickpeas, tomato paste, harissa and spices, then steamed over boiling water until every grain is tender and stained red-gold. Rouz jerbi is a Friday and family-gathering dish on the island, served from one large platter. The rice stays separate and fluffy, the greens melt in, and the lamb picks up the scent of mint and tabil. Chef's tip: stir the rice from the bottom every 20 minutes; leaving it untouched is a common mistake, as the bottom turns soggy while the top stays hard.

100 min

Tunisian Rice & Grains

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Molasses with tahini

Upper Egypt grows the country's sugarcane, and its dark molasses, asal eswed or black honey, has found its way onto breakfast and supper tables from Aswan to Alexandria. Spooned over tahini and swirled together, it becomes a glossy, bittersweet, nutty dip that children love and grown-ups eat after a light evening meal, scooped up with warm aish baladi or fino. Many families eat it in winter, when they want something warming and filling. A frequent slip is stirring the molasses and tahini together completely; leave them swirled so each bite gets both. Chef's tip: stir the tahini jar thoroughly first; the thick paste at the bottom and the oil on top must be mixed, or the dip comes out stiff and dry.

5 min

Egyptian Breakfast & Brunch

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Blini

Maslenitsa, the week of butter before Lent, is when Russia makes blini by the stack: thin, lacy, slightly sour pancakes raised with yeast and fried one after another in a hot pan, each brushed with melted butter. Old Moscow recipes used buckwheat, and a share of it here gives a nutty, earthy flavour and a speckled grey-gold colour. Eat them folded into quarters with sour cream, jam, honey or condensed milk; red caviar is the festive classic, but this version stays vegetarian. The usual slip is a pan that is not hot enough, which makes thick, pale blini that stick; the first one is always a test. A splash of boiling water whisked in at the end gives the lacy holes. Chef's tip: stack the blini on a plate and cover with a bowl as you go; the steam keeps them soft and supple.

120 min

Russian Breakfast & Brunch

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Ayamase (ofada green pepper stew)

Ofada rice, the short, fragrant local rice from Ogun State, is almost always served in Lagos with ayamase, a stew so green and so hot it is sometimes called designer stew. Green bell peppers and green scotch bonnets are blended coarse, dried out in the pot, then fried in palm oil that has been bleached clear, with plenty of iru for a deep, funky savouriness. Assorted meat (beef, tripe and cow skin) and boiled eggs are folded in. Watery pepper is the mistake that makes it taste sour and raw, so boil the blended pepper dry before it meets the oil. Chef's tip: bleaching palm oil makes heavy smoke; open the windows, keep the lid nearby and never leave the pot.

120 min

Nigerian Meat

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Djelbana (Algerian lamb and pea stew)

Spring markets in Algiers fill with sacks of fresh peas and violet artichokes, and that is the moment for djelbana, a light, pale stew of lamb, peas, artichoke hearts and potatoes cooked with onion, garlic and a little turmeric, finished with fresh coriander. Families serve it at lunch with plenty of bread to soak up the sauce; on meat-free days it is made the same way without the lamb. It tastes fresh, sweet and gently peppery rather than heavily spiced. Frozen peas and artichoke hearts are fine out of season. Chef's tip: add the peas only for the last 10 minutes; peas put in with the meat are the usual mistake and turn grey and mushy.

90 min

Algerian Curries

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Chorba beida (Algerian white chicken soup)

Unlike the red chorba of the rest of the country, the 'white' chorba of Algiers has no tomato at all: chicken, onion and a cinnamon stick are cooked gently in butter, simmered with chickpeas and fine vermicelli, then thickened at the end with egg yolks and lemon. It is a classic of Ramadan tables in the capital, and is also cooked for guests at weddings and family gatherings. The soup is silky and pale gold, mild and comforting, with a soft lemony tang. Serve it with bread and a squeeze of extra lemon. Chef's tip: once the egg yolks are in, never let the soup boil; boiling is the common mistake that curdles it into scrambled threads.

60 min

Algerian Soups

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Sfiria (cheese croquettes in chicken sauce)

Sfiria belongs to the old bourgeois cooking of Algiers, served on Ramadan evenings and at family celebrations: little croquettes of soaked bread, grated cheese and egg, scented with cinnamon, are fried golden and then laid in a pale chicken and chickpea sauce flavoured with cinnamon and white pepper. The croquettes are light and spongy, soaking up just enough sauce to be juicy, and the dish tastes delicate and faintly sweet. Day-old white bread without crusts gives the best texture. Chef's tip: add the croquettes to the sauce only at the last minute; leaving them to simmer is the common mistake, and they swell, go soggy and fall apart.

80 min

Algerian Chicken

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Tlitli (Algerian rice-shaped pasta with chicken)

Tlitli is a tiny pasta shaped like grains of rice, once rolled by hand and now sold dried, and in Algiers and Constantine it is cooked for family feasts such as Ennayer, the Amazigh New Year, or the return of a pilgrim. The pasta soaks up a red sauce of chicken, onion, tomato, paprika, cinnamon and chickpeas, and is piled on a platter with the chicken and halved boiled eggs on top. Expect a cosy, gently spiced dish, a bit like a red risotto, with soft pasta and tender chicken. Orzo is a good stand-in if you cannot find tlitli. Chef's tip: toast the pasta in oil before adding sauce; untoasted tlitli tends to clump and turn mushy, a common mistake.

75 min

Algerian Pasta & Noodles

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Chbah essafra (almond fritters in lamb sauce)

Cooks in Algiers bring out chbah essafra for weddings and grand family dinners, where it is served as the sweet main course: diamonds of almond paste scented with lemon and cinnamon are dipped in egg, fried golden and laid around tender lamb in a pale, buttery sauce sweetened with sugar and orange-blossom water. The contrast of savoury meat and soft, sweet almond is the point, and the dish is rich, so small portions with bread are usual. Chicken can replace the lamb, with a shorter cooking time. Chef's tip: warm the fritters in the sauce only at the table; dropping them into bubbling sauce is a common mistake, and they fall apart.

130 min

Algerian Meat

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CervelatGrilled sausage

The cervelat, a short, fat, smoked sausage of beef and pork, is called Switzerland's national sausage, and it is what every Swiss child grills on a stick over a campfire on 1 August, National Day, on school trips and on mountain hikes: the ends are cut into a cross so they curl open like a flower as they cook, and it is eaten with bread and mustard. This sausage contains pork. Cervelat is bought ready-cooked and smoked; grilling heats it through and crisps it. A common mistake is grilling over flames, which burns the skin black before the inside is hot. Chef's tip: grill over glowing embers and turn often until the scored ends open out; heat until piping hot, 71 °C.

15 min

Swiss Meat

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Chakhchoukha (torn flatbread in lamb sauce)

Biskra claims chakhchoukha as its own, though Constantine and the whole east cook it for weddings, Eid and the arrival of guests: sheets of thin rougag are torn into small pieces, softened with steam and soaked in a fiery red sauce of lamb, tomato, chickpeas and whole green chillies, then served from one big wooden or clay dish. The bread turns soft and silky, almost like pasta, and soaks up the peppery, deeply savoury sauce. Use homemade rougag or the dried sheets sold in Algerian shops. Chef's tip: moisten the bread with sauce a ladle at a time and toss between additions; pouring it all over at once is the usual mistake, and the bread turns to paste.

120 min

Algerian Meat

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Trida (steamed pasta squares in chicken sauce)

Making trida is an afternoon's work shared around a Constantine kitchen table, especially before Mawlid or a family celebration: a firm semolina dough is rolled paper-thin, cut into small squares, dried, and then steamed twice over a pot of chicken and chickpea sauce flavoured with cinnamon and a touch of tomato. The squares come out tender with a slight bite, glossy with butter and sauce, and are piled on a platter under the chicken. A pasta machine saves a lot of rolling. Chef's tip: dust the cut squares well with semolina and let them dry for half an hour; damp squares are the usual mistake and stick into a single mass in the steamer.

120 min

Algerian Pasta & Noodles

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ZardaSweet saffron rice

Its name comes from the Persian word for yellow, and at a Pakistani shaadi the great degh of zarda arrives after the biryani and korma, glowing gold and fragrant with cardamom, cloves and kewra. The grains should be long, separate and glossy with ghee, sweet but not syrupy, studded with almonds, pistachios, plump raisins and often a few cubes of crumbled khoya or glacé cherries. Families also cook a smaller pot for Eid, for a new baby or to send round to neighbours on a happy day, and it is eaten warm or at room temperature on its own. The classic error is boiling the rice all the way before adding the sugar; the sugar then melts into syrup and the over-soft grains break into mush. Chef's tip: boil the rice only until it is two-thirds cooked with a firm centre, because it finishes cooking in the sugar's own moisture during the dum.

80 min

Pakistani Desserts

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VermicellesChestnut purée with cream and meringue

Every autumn, Swiss cafés and supermarkets fill with vermicelles: sweetened chestnut purée pressed through a ricer into long brown strands like spaghetti, piled over whipped cream and crisp meringue. Chestnuts grow in the valleys of Ticino and Valais, and the dessert is so loved that it appears as cakes, tartlets and even ice cream from September to December. A common mistake is a purée that is too soft, which collapses instead of holding strands. Chef's tip: chill the purée well before pressing it, and use a potato ricer or a piping bag with a multi-hole 'vermicelles' nozzle.

75 min

Swiss Desserts

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VětrníkCaramel cream choux bun

Ask anyone in Prague about the old-fashioned cukrárna and they will mention větrník, the "windmill": a big, puffed choux bun split and filled with two creams, a caramel one below and a light vanilla one above, under a shiny caramel icing. It is the cake people order with coffee on a Sunday afternoon, or buy in a paper box for a name day. Crisp shell, soft clouds of cream and a deep, buttery caramel flavour make it rich but not heavy. The usual slip is pulling the choux out too soon: it must be dark golden and feel light and dry, or it collapses as it cools. Both creams start from one custard, cooked until it bubbles so the eggs are fully set. Chef's tip: make the custard and caramel the day before; on the day you only bake and fill.

150 min

Czech Desserts

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VínartertaLayered cardamom prune cake

Vínarterta, 'Vienna cake', is the Icelandic Christmas cake: six or seven thin layers of cardamom-scented biscuit dough sandwiched with thick prune jam spiced with cinnamon and cardamom, then left to mature for a few days before slicing into narrow strips. It is still baked by Icelandic families in Reykjavík and by the descendants of Icelanders in Manitoba, where it became a symbol of home. A common mistake is slicing it the same day; the layers are crisp until the jam softens them. Chef's tip: wrap it and leave it for 3 days in a cool place, so the biscuit softens into a fine cake.

110 minScandinavian Baking

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Viška pogačaAnchovy and onion bread pie

Vis, the most far-flung inhabited island of Croatia, has a fishing town, Komiža, that gave the world this pie: two thin layers of olive-oil bread dough wrapped around onions stewed until jammy with tomato, and fillets of salted anchovy or sardine. Fishermen took wedges of it to sea, and it still turns up at island festivals and in bakeries, eaten warm or at room temperature with a tomato salad. The salted fish is bought ready-cured from a good fishmonger and is baked inside the pie until piping hot. Where most people go wrong is a wet filling: the onions and tomato must cook down until thick and jammy, or the bottom crust goes soggy. Keep leftovers in the fridge and eat within 2 days. Chef's tip: soak the salted fillets in cold water for 15 minutes to take the harsh edge off the salt, and don't add any more salt to the filling.

120 minBalkan Fish

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VispipuuroWhipped lingonberry semolina

Vispipuuro, 'whisked porridge', is a Finnish childhood favourite: semolina cooked in lingonberry juice and water with sugar, then cooled and whisked hard until it turns pale pink, light and fluffy like a mousse. It is eaten for breakfast, as a dessert at school, or as a snack, with cold milk poured around it. Cranberries or redcurrants work too. A common mistake is whisking it while still hot, which never lightens it. Chef's tip: cool the porridge in a sink of cold water, then whisk with an electric mixer for 10 minutes; it will double in volume. Serve with oat milk to keep it vegan.

30 minScandinavian Desserts

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WachipaChicken and toasted rice

Among the Rai people of Khotang, Bhojpur and the eastern hills, wachipa is a dish of honour, cooked at Sakela and other festivals and for a returning family member: rice cooked together with finely chopped chicken, bones and all, and darkened with the ash of the bird's own feathers, which have been singed and ground. The ash gives a grey-black colour and a smoky, bitter edge that Rai elders say is the soul of the dish. Feather ash is not something we can recommend at home: shop-bought birds come without feathers, and burnt feathers are hard to make clean, gritty and not food-safe. This version gets a close smoky, toasty bitterness from rice that is dry-roasted until dark brown and ground, plus charred chicken skin. A common mistake is making it too wet; wachipa should be a sticky, moist rice, not a porridge. Chef's tip: chop the chicken by hand rather than buying mince, for the authentic coarse, chewy texture.

60 min

Nepali Chicken

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WallenbergareVeal patties

Wallenbergare are named after the Wallenberg banking family of Stockholm, and they are the city's grandest patty: finely ground veal mixed with egg yolks and cold cream into a soft, almost mousse-like paste, rolled in fresh breadcrumbs and fried gently in butter. They come with buttery mashed potato, green peas, melted butter and lingonberries, and Stockholm's old restaurants still serve them every day. A common mistake is overworking or warming the mix, which makes the patties dense and greasy. Chef's tip: keep everything ice-cold and work quickly, and fry over a medium-low heat so the crumb turns golden while the inside stays tender. Minced veal must reach 71 °C.

50 minScandinavian Meat

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Wambatu mojuFried aubergine pickle

No wedding buffet or almsgiving lunch in the Colombo suburbs feels complete without a dish of wambatu moju, the dark, glossy aubergine pickle that people go back for long after the curries have run out. Strips of long purple aubergine are coloured with turmeric, fried until they shrink and turn deep gold, then tossed with whole shallots and green chillies in a hot, sweet-and-sour paste of ground mustard seed, vinegar and sugar. It is eaten in small spoonfuls with rice, and it tastes even better a day later, once the flavours have soaked in. The point that trips most cooks up is under-frying the aubergine: pale pieces soak up the vinegar like a sponge and go soggy, so fry until they are properly brown and slightly shrivelled. Chef's tip: grind the mustard seeds with some of the vinegar rather than buying ready-made mustard; the fresh paste gives the pickle its pleasant nose-tingling bite.

50 min

Sri Lankan Chutneys & Dips

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WasawasaSteamed yam flour granules

Yam is dried and milled in the Upper West Region around Wa, and wasawasa turns that dark, earthy powder into a quick staple: moistened, rubbed into small granules, steamed, then tossed with oil, ground pepper, raw onion and salt. The result is brown, chewy and savoury, rather like a rustic couscous, eaten for lunch or supper, often with a fresh tomato and pepper relish and sometimes fish. Shea butter is the traditional fat; groundnut oil is easier to find. Chef's tip: add the water slowly and stop when the powder feels like damp sand; the common mistake is making it too wet, which steams into a single solid lump.

45 min

Ghanaian Rice & Grains

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Weli thalapaRice flour and coconut sweet

Weli means sand, which perfectly describes the texture of this old-fashioned Sinhala sweet: soft, crumbly and slightly gritty on the tongue, packed with coconut and the dark, smoky sweetness of kithul jaggery. It is made in many southern and western homes for the Avurudu table and for pirith ceremonies, pressed into a tray and cut into squares or diamonds, and its simple ingredients make it a quick, frugal treat. Grated coconut is cooked in melted jaggery until it soaks up the syrup, then roasted rice flour is stirred in until the mixture clumps and leaves the pan. Overcooking at the end is a frequent slip, turning it hard and chewy instead of sandy, so take it off the heat as soon as it starts to come together. Chef's tip: roast the rice flour well in advance and let it cool; warm flour clumps and stops the sweet from getting that loose, sandy crumb.

35 min

Sri Lankan Desserts

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Wild boar curry (pork)Hill-country pork curry

This is a pork curry. In the villages around Kandy, Matale and the hill country, wal uru, wild boar, was once hunting-season meat, cooked over wood fires in clay pots with goraka, black pepper from the home garden and a dark roasted curry powder; today most cooks make it with pork shoulder, which works beautifully, and wild boar if you can find it from a licensed game supplier. The goraka gives a sour, slightly smoky edge that cuts through the richness of the fat, and the pepper builds a slow, warming heat rather than a sharp sting. Serve it with red rice, a pol sambol and a cooling cucumber salad. One error people make is cutting the pork too small, which dries it out during the long simmer. Chef's tip: cook it the day before; the gravy thickens and the pepper and goraka flavours deepen overnight in the fridge.

120 min

Sri Lankan Meat

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Schmoo tortePecan sponge with cream and caramel

Schmoo torte is Winnipeg's own celebration cake, served at bar mitzvahs, weddings and birthday parties in the city's Jewish community since the 1950s and now found in bakeries all over Manitoba. A light angel-style sponge made with ground pecans is split into layers, filled and covered with whipped cream, then drizzled with a warm butterscotch caramel and more nuts. It is a project but most of it can be done the day before. A common mistake is opening the oven too early; the egg-white sponge collapses. Chef's tip: cool the sponge upside down in its tin so it stays tall.

110 min

Canadian Desserts

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WodzionkaGarlic and rye bread soup

Miners' families in Upper Silesia made this from almost nothing: a few slices of yesterday's rye bread, a garlic clove, a knob of butter and boiling water poured straight into the bowl. Called brotzupa by some older Silesians, it still turns up in Zabrze and Ruda Śląska homes as a cheap, soothing supper, and newer versions use vegetable stock and add caraway or a fried onion. The bread softens into a rich, garlicky porridge with crisp-edged croutons on top. The usual slip is using fresh bread, which turns to slime; it has to be properly dry. Chef's tip: toast the cubes in butter first for a nuttier flavour and a little crunch.

15 min

Polish Soups

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WuzetkaChocolate sponge with plum jam cream

Warsaw's own cake took its name from the W-Z route, the east–west road rebuilt through the ruined city in 1949, and the cake shop beside it that sold the first slices. It is still the cream cake of the capital's patisseries: two dark cocoa sponges, a tart layer of plum jam, a thick band of whipped cream and a shiny chocolate glaze, topped with a swirl of cream. A common mistake is assembling while the sponge is warm, so the cream slumps and slides. Chef's tip: brush the sponge with a little cooled tea before adding the jam so the slices stay moist.

80 min

Polish Desserts

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KhingalPasta squares with lamb mince

Khingal is Baku comfort food: squares or diamonds of thin homemade pasta boiled and layered with lamb mince fried with plenty of onion, then topped with garlicky yogurt and a sprinkle of sumac or dried mint. It is the dish Absheron grandmothers make for a crowd, rolling the dough on the big kitchen table. A common mistake is draining the pasta until dry; a little cooking water keeps the layers loose and silky. Chef's tip: fry the onion until deep brown before the mince goes in; that sweet, almost caramelised onion is what makes Baku khingal. Mince must reach 71 °C.

75 min

Azerbaijani Pasta & Noodles

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YakeyakeSteamed grated cassava

Yakeyake comes from the Volta Region, where grated cassava is pressed dry, broken into crumbs and steamed until it turns into a light, slightly chewy grain that looks like coarse couscous. It is pleasantly neutral, a little sweet, and in Ewe homes it is often eaten with fried fish and a hot tomato and pepper sauce; for a meat-free plate, serve it with that same pepper sauce, sliced avocado and fried ripe plantain. Fresh cassava must be cooked thoroughly and never eaten raw. Chef's tip: squeeze the grated cassava in a cloth until no more liquid comes out; wet cassava is the common mistake and steams into a gummy paste instead of separate crumbs.

65 min

Ghanaian Basics

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Yakhni pulaoMutton stock pulao

Where biryani shouts, yakhni pulao murmurs: basmati rice cooked in a clear, aromatic mutton stock (the yakhni) with fennel, coriander seed, garlic and whole spices, so every grain is light brown, separate and scented, with tender pieces of meat folded through. Many Pakistani families, especially in Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Karachi's older neighbourhoods, prefer it to biryani for Eid lunch and wedding dinners, and it comes with raita, kachumber salad and sometimes a shami kebab on the side. Its depth comes only from the stock, so that part cannot be rushed. Getting the liquid ratio wrong is what spoils it most often; measure the strained stock exactly rather than pouring it in by eye. Chef's tip: tie the fennel and coriander seeds in a muslin bag for the stock, so you can lift them out and keep the rice clean.

120 min

Pakistani Rice & Grains

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MasoubMashed bread and banana with honey

Masoub is a rich breakfast from Aden and the Tihama coast of Yemen, now just as loved in Saudi Arabia, where it is served in cafés on Friday mornings in big bowls. Torn flatbread is mashed with ripe bananas and ghee into a warm, sweet, slightly chewy pudding, then topped with thick cream, honey and sometimes dates or cheese. It is soft, sticky and very filling, a good use for bread that is a day old. The usual mistake is using bananas that are not ripe enough: they need brown-freckled skins to mash smoothly and give sweetness without much honey. Chef's tip: toast the bread pieces in the dry pan first until they are crisp at the edges; they take up the ghee better and give the mash a nutty taste.

20 minGulf Arabian Breakfast & Brunch

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YangbenTree lichen curry

High in the forests of Taplejung, Panchthar and Ilam, Limbu families gather yangben, a pale grey-green lichen that grows on oak and rhododendron trunks, dry it in the sun and keep it for winter, when it becomes one of the most prized dishes of Limbu cooking. It is cleaned, soaked and boiled to remove its bitterness, then fried with mustard oil, onion, tomato, garlic, ginger and chilli, and finished with timur; at feasts it is very often cooked with fatty pork, which soaks up the flavour, but this meat-free version is common too. The texture is springy and chewy, the flavour earthy and smoky, and it is eaten with rice or millet dhido. Outside eastern Nepal yangben is hard to buy, so for a stand-in use dried wood-ear mushrooms, which give a similar bite. The most common fault is not washing the lichen enough, which leaves grit and bitterness. Chef's tip: boil the lichen twice in fresh water and rinse it until the water runs clear.

45 min

Nepali Vegetarian

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Dominican yaniquequesFried dough discs

Boca Chica, just east of Santo Domingo, is where vendors walk the sand with trays of yaniqueques (the name comes from "johnny cakes"): wide, thin discs of dough fried until they puff, blister and crack like a cracker, sprinkled with salt or sugar and eaten with fried fish and a cold drink. The dough is just flour, baking powder, salt and water with a spoon of oil. The common mistake is rolling them too thick, which gives a bready fritter instead of a shatter-crisp one. Chef's tip: prick each disc a few times with a fork before frying so it blisters evenly instead of ballooning.

30 min

Puerto Rican Snacks & Starters

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YantykCheese and herb griddle pastries

Crimean Tatar cafés from Bakhchysarai to the family-run places that opened in Kyiv and Kherson after 2014 make yantyk to order: a paper-thin unleavened dough folded over a filling, cooked on a dry hot griddle and brushed with butter as it comes off. Unlike chebureki, nothing is deep-fried, so the pastry is soft and blistered with charred spots and the cheese inside melts with dill and spring onion. They are eaten hot with sweet black tea or a glass of ayran. Brined white cheeses such as brynza and feta are often made with animal rennet; choose one labelled vegetarian. The common mistake is rolling the dough too thick, which gives a doughy, pale yantyk; it should be thin enough to see the board through. Chef's tip: stack the buttered yantyk on a plate and cover with a bowl for a minute, so the steam softens the pastry the way Crimean cooks like it.

60 min

Ukrainian Snacks & Starters

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YarmaCracked wheat and lamb porridge

Yarma is a filling porridge of cracked wheat cooked slowly with lamb until the grains break down and the dish turns thick and creamy, a dish of Turkmen homes and of religious gatherings, when it is cooked in huge pots and shared out. It is seasoned simply with salt, pepper and onion fried in butter or fat poured over the top. A common mistake is not stirring enough, which lets the wheat catch on the bottom. Chef's tip: beat the yarma hard with a wooden spoon in the last 15 minutes, so the lamb shreds into the grain and it turns smooth and creamy.

120 min

Turkmen Rice & Grains

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Ye-beg kikilLamb on the bone soup

On chilly highland mornings, Addis Ababa's small eateries ladle out bowls of ye-beg kikil: chunks of lamb on the bone simmered slowly with onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric and whole green chillies until the meat slips off and the broth turns golden. There is no berbere, so it is gentle and clean-tasting, a welcome change from the red wats, and people sip the broth on its own as a pick-me-up after a long night or an illness. It is eaten with injera or bread, often with a little awaze on the side for those who want more heat. The usual mistake is boiling it hard, which clouds the broth and toughens the meat; keep it at a lazy simmer. Chef's tip: skim the grey foam carefully in the first 10 minutes for a clear, bright soup.

100 min

Ethiopian Soups

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Ye-fyel watGoat in berbere stew

Goat is the everyday meat across Ethiopia's eastern lowlands, where herds do better than cattle in the dry heat, and a pot of ye-fyel wat marks holidays, Eid and the arrival of guests. The meat is cut small on the bone and cooked slowly in a dark, glossy sauce built on a mountain of onions and plenty of berbere, so it is spicy, deeply savoury and slightly sweet, with the faint gaminess of goat coming through. It is eaten from a shared platter of injera, often with a fresh salad of tomato and chilli on the side. This version is cooked in oil and is dairy free. The mistake to avoid is rushing the onions: if they are not cooked down for a good 20 minutes the sauce stays thin and sharp. Chef's tip: make it a day ahead; goat wat thickens and tastes even better after a night in the fridge.

140 min

Ethiopian Meat

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QishrSpiced coffee husk drink

In the highlands around Sana'a and in the coffee towns of Yemen, qishr is the everyday hot drink, brewed from the dried husks of the coffee cherry rather than the bean, with ginger and often cinnamon or cardamom. It is lighter and sweeter than coffee, amber in colour, with a fruity, tea-like taste and a warming bite of ginger, and it is poured all day for guests, after meals and during long afternoon visits. Serve it hot in small glasses or cups, with dates or bint al sahn. Boiling it for too long makes it bitter, so let it simmer briefly and then steep. Chef's tip: grate fresh ginger straight into the pot; it gives a brighter heat than the dried powder.

15 minGulf Arabian Drinks

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ShafootFlatbread in herby yogurt

Shafoot is the cooling dish set out first on the iftar cloth in Sana'a during Ramadan, before the soups and the hot breads: torn lahoh, Yemen's thin, holey fermented pancake, soaked in garlicky, minty laban until it is soft and sour-fresh. It tastes a little like a cross between a yogurt dip and a bread salad, sharp with green chilli and fragrant with herbs. Make it just before eating and serve it in a wide dish with fresh herbs and chopped vegetables on top. The common mistake is leaving it to soak for too long, until the bread falls into a paste; ten minutes is enough. Chef's tip: if you can't find lahoh, very thin crumpets or spongy flatbreads such as injera take the laban the same way.

20 minGulf Arabian Salads

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Yerevan kyuftaPoached pounded beef

Kyufta is a festive Armenian dish whose making is half the show: lean beef is pounded with a wooden mallet on a stone, traditionally by the men of the family, until it turns into a pale, smooth, springy paste, then mixed with fried onion, egg and a splash of milk (some families use brandy; this version does not), shaped into large balls and poached. In Yerevan homes it is sliced like a terrine and served warm or cold with butter and herbs. A food processor does the pounding at home. A common mistake is letting the meat warm up while processing, which makes the paste greasy and crumbly. Chef's tip: work with very cold beef and add crushed ice to the processor, as the cold keeps the texture silky. Poached meatballs are done at 71 °C in the centre.

120 min

Armenian Meat

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Hong Kong yuenyeungCoffee and milk tea blend

Named after mandarin ducks, which are always seen in pairs, yuenyeung marries brewed coffee and silky milk tea in a single cup, and you will find it on the drinks board of every cha chaan teng in Hong Kong. Office workers order it at lunch with a toasted bun or a plate of noodles, hot in winter and iced through the humid summer, and it tastes of both and neither: the tea's tannic grip, the coffee's roast and the creamy body of evaporated milk, with a double dose of caffeine that makes it a poor choice for children or late evenings. Watery tea is where most homemade versions go wrong, letting the coffee take over; brew the tea strong and stewed. Chef's tip: pour the brewed tea back and forth through a fine strainer four or five times; this 'pulling' smooths out the tannins and gives the drink its silky body.

10 min

Hong Kong Drinks

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Zagorska juhaPotato and mushroom soup

The green, hilly Zagorje north of Zagreb, in Croatia, is known for castles, vineyards and filling soups like this one, served in country inns before roast duck or as a meal on its own on chilly days. Potatoes and wild or chestnut mushrooms are simmered with paprika and marjoram, then finished with sour cream and a dash of vinegar, so the broth turns velvety with a gentle tang. Some versions add smoked bacon or sausage; this one is vegetarian, with dried porcini for a deep, woodsy flavour. Serve with dark bread. Where most people go wrong is boiling the soup after the sour cream goes in, which makes it curdle; warm it through and keep it below a simmer. Chef's tip: strain the porcini soaking liquid through a paper towel and add it to the pot; it is half the flavour.

45 minBalkan Soups

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Zalai dödölleFried potato dumplings

Zala county, in the green hills of south-west Hungary, is so proud of dödölle that villages hold festivals for it. Potatoes are boiled, mashed with flour into a stiff dough right in their pot, then scooped into little lumps with a spoon dipped in hot fat and fried with plenty of onion until crisp and brown on the outside and soft inside. The old way is to fry them in lard; this version uses oil, so it is vegan, though a knob of butter is lovely if you eat dairy. Eat them as a side, or as a main with sauerkraut, cucumber salad or a mushroom stew. A common mistake is drying the dough out with too much flour, which makes heavy, gluey lumps; it should be thick but still a little sticky. Chef's tip: dip the spoon in the hot oil before every scoop, and the dödölle slide off smooth.

50 min

Hungarian Sides

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Zamarod palawSpinach rice with lamb

Herati cooks call this rice zamarod, emerald, for its colour: long-grain rice steamed with a purée of spinach and herbs so that every grain is tinted a soft green, with pieces of lamb tucked inside that have been braised until they fall from the bone. It is served at family gatherings and for guests in spring when spinach is sweet, piled on a platter with yogurt, salad and pickles on the side. The rice tastes gently grassy and savoury, rounded out by the lamb broth and a little cumin. Cooking the spinach too long dulls it to khaki, so wilt it briefly and blend it straight away. Chef's tip: use a generous handful of fresh coriander and dill with the spinach; they make the green brighter and the flavour more lively.

105 min

Afghan Rice & Grains

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ZeamăSour chicken noodle soup

In the Republic of Moldova, zeamă is the soup of weddings, christenings and Sunday lunches, and a pot of it is said to cure everything from a cold to a hangover. A homegrown chicken gives a golden broth, thin homemade egg noodles go in, and it is soured with borș, the fermented wheat-bran liquid sold in bottles at every market from Chișinău to Bălți, then scented with a big bunch of lovage. The taste is clean, bright and tangy, with the green, celery-like note of lovage on top. It is eaten piping hot, often with a raw onion or a hot pepper on the side. A common mistake is cooking the noodles in the broth for too long, which clouds it; boil them only until just tender. Chef's tip: if you cannot find borș, use the juice of 1 lemon instead, adding it at the end and tasting as you go.

90 min

Romanian Soups

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Zeeuwse bolusCinnamon sugar spiral bun

Zeeuwse bolussen are the sticky spiral buns of Zeeland, the delta province in the south-west, brought there, it is said, by Portuguese Jewish bakers in the 17th century: a soft yeast dough rolled in dark brown sugar and cinnamon, twisted into a coil and baked until the sugar caramelises into a sticky, dark crust. Middelburg bakeries sell them with butter. A common mistake is rolling them in too little sugar; they need a thick coat for the caramel. Chef's tip: twist the sugared rope tightly before coiling it, so the sugar is trapped in the folds.

65 min

Dutch Baking

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ZelňákSauerkraut yeast pie

Out in the Moravian wine villages, when bread was baked in the communal oven, the last of the dough went into zelňák: a flat yeast base spread with sour cabbage and fried onion and baked until the edges blister. It is still sold in bakeries around Brno and Hodonín and eaten warm in slices with a glass of buttermilk or new wine. Old recipes fry the onion in lard or add crackling; this version uses oil and butter and is vegetarian. The topping is tangy, sweet from the onion and scented with caraway, over a soft, bready base. Where it often goes wrong is using wet sauerkraut straight from the jar, which turns the base soggy. Squeeze it well and fry it first. Chef's tip: a thin layer of sour cream under the cabbage keeps the base moist and stops the topping drying out.

120 min

Czech Baking

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ŽemlovkaApple and bread pudding

Thrifty Czech kitchens never throw away a stale roll, and žemlovka is the delicious proof. Slices of yesterday's rohlíky or žemle are soaked in sweet vanilla milk and egg, layered with cinnamon apples and raisins, and baked until the top is crunchy and the inside set like a soft custard. It is a favourite Bohemian Sunday afternoon pudding in autumn, when the orchard apples are in, and it often appears in school canteens as a sweet main course. Serve it warm, dusted with icing sugar, with a glass of cold milk. A common mistake is drowning the bread in milk, which makes a soggy, heavy pudding; dip the slices quickly so they are moist but still hold their shape. Chef's tip: use tart cooking apples and keep the top layer bread, buttered, so it bakes to a golden crust.

60 min

Czech Desserts

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ŽganciBuckwheat spoonbread

Before coffee was cheap in rural Slovenia, breakfast on farms in Gorenjska and Dolenjska was a bowl of ajdovi žganci with a mug of milk, or a scoop of them beside a ladle of sauerkraut or bean soup at lunch. Buckwheat flour is dropped into boiling salted water as a single lump, steamed through a hole poked in the middle, then broken up with a fork into small, crumbly, nutty lumps, a little like an earthy couscous. Traditionally lard and crisp pork cracklings (ocvirki) go over the top; this vegan version uses sunflower oil and deeply fried onions instead. Serve with sauerkraut, beans or a mushroom sauce. Buckwheat is naturally gluten free, but check the flour is labelled so. Stirring the flour in like polenta is where it goes wrong: leave the heap alone so it steams, or you get sticky gruel instead of crumbs. Chef's tip: keep the drained cooking water; it loosens leftovers and makes a good base for soup.

40 minBalkan Rice & Grains

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Zhal-zhayaPressed boiled brisket

Zhal and zhaya are two prized cuts from the Kazakh feast: zhal is the band of fat from the crest of a horse's neck and zhaya the meaty rump, salted, sometimes smoked, then boiled, pressed and sliced thin to serve cold beside kazy at weddings and Nauryz. They are traditionally horse meat; this recipe uses beef brisket with its fat cap, which gives the same layered slices of meat and fat, as the site does not use horse. A common mistake is slicing it warm, which crumbles the meat and smears the fat. Chef's tip: press it overnight under a weight in the fridge; it sets into a firm block that slices into neat, thin layers.

210 min

Kazakh Meat

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Zharkoye v gorshochkakhBeef and potato pot roast

Clay pots of zharkoye, each with its own lid, are pure Russian comfort food: a dish from the old wood-fired stove that city kitchens now make in the oven for Sunday lunch or a cold-weather dinner party. Browned beef, onion and carrot go into each pot with potatoes, mushrooms and a little stock, then bake slowly until the meat falls apart and the potatoes drink up the gravy. It smells of bay and black pepper and tastes deeply savoury. Serve straight in the pots with pickles and rye bread. The usual slip is skipping the browning step, which leaves the beef grey and the sauce thin; take time to sear it well. Check the beef is fork-tender before serving. Chef's tip: seal the lids with a strip of simple flour-and-water dough for the old-fashioned way; it keeps every drop of steam inside, though then the dish is no longer gluten free.

120 min

Russian Meat

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ŽinčicaSoured whey drink

Hikers walking past a salaš, a Slovak shepherds' hut, are often offered a mug of žinčica, the cool, sour whey left over from making bryndza and hrudka cheese. Shepherds heat the whey until fine flakes of cheese float up, then leave it to sour, and drink it with boiled potatoes or on its own on a hot afternoon. It is thin, refreshing and tangy, a little like a light buttermilk. At the salaš it is often made from raw sheep's milk, so at home make it only from the whey of cheese made with pasteurised milk (the korbáčiky recipe gives you plenty) and vegetarian rennet. The common slip is leaving it to sour somewhere warm for too long, where it turns cheesy and harsh; a cool room and 12 hours is enough. Chef's tip: a spoonful of cultured buttermilk gives a clean, reliable sourness every time.

15 min

Czech Drinks

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ZivaCheese and olive pastry

Ziva is a Tel Aviv café and bakery invention built on Yemenite malawach dough: flaky layers wrapped around salty white cheese and olives, baked until golden and served with grated tomato, zhug and a hard-boiled egg. You find it at weekend brunch in Jaffa and in the Yemenite Quarter, eaten with knife and fork. The pastry should shatter into buttery flakes against a soft, salty, melting centre. Feta and Bulgarian-style white cheeses are often made with animal rennet, so choose one labelled vegetarian if that matters to you. The usual mistake is overfilling, which makes the cheese leak and the base soggy. Chef's tip: use frozen ready-made malawach rounds straight from the freezer; they are much easier to fold while still firm.

50 min

Israeli Snacks & Starters

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Žloutkové věnečkyChoux rings with yolk cream

"Little wreaths" are the jewel of a Czech wedding cake table, where trays of sweet pastries are handed out to every guest, and they are a staple of old-style patisseries in Prague. Rings of choux pastry are split and piped with a yolk-rich custard cream that is golden, silky and buttery, then dipped in a white sugar glaze. They taste of vanilla, egg and butter and are best within a day. Where most people go wrong is a custard that is not cooked enough: it must bubble for a minute so it sets and the yolks are fully cooked. Beat the cream only once the custard and butter are both at room temperature, or it splits. Bake the rings until properly dry so they keep their crisp shape. Chef's tip: a large star nozzle gives the rings a ridged surface that holds the glaze beautifully.

120 min

Czech Desserts

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Zuger KirschtorteKirsch meringue sponge cake

The Zuger Kirschtorte was created in 1915 by the confectioner Heinrich Höhn in Zug, a lakeside town at the heart of Swiss cherry country, and it is still sold in the town's cake shops: two crisp almond meringue discs sandwiching a light sponge soaked in kirsch syrup, all held together with pink-tinted buttercream and coated in toasted almonds and icing sugar. This cake contains alcohol (kirsch, a cherry brandy); for an alcohol-free version, use the cherry juice swap in the ingredient note. A common mistake is soaking the sponge until soggy; it should be moist but hold its shape. Chef's tip: bake the meringue discs until dry and crisp, so they stay crunchy against the soft buttercream.

100 min

Swiss Baking

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ZserbóWalnut and apricot layered pastry

At Christmas and at every family name day, a Hungarian grandmother cuts zserbó into neat diamonds: three layers of walnut and apricot jam between four thin sheets of rich yeast pastry, crowned with dark chocolate. It was created at the Gerbeaud café on Vörösmarty tér in Budapest, and the name is simply the café's French name spelled the Hungarian way. The pastry bakes short and tender, the jam stays sharp and fruity, and the chocolate adds a firm, glossy snap. A common mistake is rolling the sheets unevenly, so the slices come out lopsided; weigh the dough into four equal parts and roll each to the size of the tin on baking paper. It tastes even better the next day, once the jam has soaked in. Chef's tip: use a tart apricot jam and stir a squeeze of lemon into it if it seems very sweet.

120 min

Hungarian Baking

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Zubaidi mashwiGrilled pomfret

Ask anyone in Kuwait for the national fish and they will say zubaidi, the silver pomfret, which is at its best from late summer and fills the grills of seaside restaurants in Salmiya. It is cooked whole, slashed and rubbed with turmeric, garlic, chilli and lemon, so the skin crisps and the fine, sweet flesh stays moist. Serve it with white rice, daqqus and lemon wedges. The common mistake is grilling it on a cooler heat for too long: pomfret is thin and dries out quickly. Chef's tip: cut slashes right down to the bone so the marinade seasons the fish all the way through and the thick part cooks as fast as the edges.

30 minGulf Arabian Fish

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Zupa brzadowaSweet-sour dried fruit soup

Kashubian farmhouses near Kartuzy and Kościerzyna dried their pears, apples and plums over the stove every autumn, and the dried fruit, called brzad, went into this soup through the winter. It surprises newcomers: warm, sweet and gently sour, smelling of cloves and cinnamon, with tender fruit and little spoon-dropped dumplings, sometimes served with boiled potatoes as a full meal. In the past a meaty version existed too; this one is meat-free. A common mistake is sweetening it like compote; it should taste fruity first, with only a little sugar and a clear sour edge. Chef's tip: soak the fruit overnight if you can, and cook it in its soaking water for the best flavour.

60 min

Polish Soups

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ZurbiyanLayered rice with chicken or lamb

Zurbiyan is Aden's wedding and Eid rice, cooked in huge pots in southern Yemen and shared by whole streets, and it shows the city's long links with India in its yogurt marinade and layering. Meat is marinated in yogurt and spice, cooked with crisp fried onion and potatoes, then layered with half-cooked rice, saffron and rose water and left to steam until each grain is separate and fragrant. It is rich, perfumed and gently spiced, served with a cooling tomato salad and green chilli sauce. The common mistake is cooking the rice fully before layering, so it turns soft and broken. Chef's tip: boil the rice only until it bends but still snaps in the middle; the steam does the rest.

120 minGulf Arabian Rice & Grains

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BouzaSorghum and hazelnut cream

On the morning of Mawlid, the Prophet's birthday, Tunis families make large bowls of creamy pudding and send small ones to neighbours, and bouza made from sorghum flour with roasted hazelnut paste is one of the best loved. The sorghum gives a fine, slightly earthy cream; the hazelnuts make it taste almost like praline. It is poured into glasses, left to set and decorated with a thick layer of chopped nuts, pistachios and sometimes sugared almonds. Make it the day before so it chills firm. Chef's tip: whisk the sorghum flour into cold liquid before it goes near the heat, or it seizes into lumps you cannot whisk out.

60 min

Tunisian Desserts

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CitronnadeWhole lemon cooler

Café terraces in Tunis serve citronnade in tall glasses on hot afternoons and through Ramadan evenings, and it is nothing like clear lemonade: whole lemons, peel and all, are blended with sugar and water, then strained, giving a cloudy, pale-yellow drink that tastes of the zest as much as the juice. A drop of orange-flower water rounds it off. It should be sharp, sweet and very cold. Use unwaxed lemons with thin skins. Chef's tip: let the cut lemons sit with the sugar for 10 minutes before blending; the sugar draws out the fragrant oils from the peel.

15 min

Tunisian Drinks

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Tunisian samsaAlmond pastry triangles

Tunisian pastry shops in the old medina stack samsa in neat pyramids at Eid and weddings, and families make trays of them at home before the feast. The triangles are folded from malsouka, a paper-thin pastry also used for brik, around a filling of ground almonds and toasted sesame scented with orange zest and orange-flower water, then baked or fried and dropped into a lemony syrup. They are shatteringly crisp at the corners, sticky and nutty in the middle, and go with a glass of mint or pine-nut tea. Spring roll pastry, brick pastry or filo can stand in for malsouka. Chef's tip: dip hot pastries into cool syrup, never hot into hot; that contrast keeps them crisp instead of soggy.

75 min

Tunisian Desserts

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BsissaRoasted barley flour with olive oil

A tin of bsissa sits in many Tunisian kitchen cupboards, from Tunis flats to farmhouses in the south: a finely ground flour of roasted barley, roasted chickpeas and spices such as coriander, fennel and aniseed. In the morning a few spoonfuls are worked with olive oil and something sweet into a nutty, crumbly paste, or stirred with water into a thick drink, and it keeps you going until lunch. Travellers and pilgrims once carried it for the road. Roasting your own flour takes 15 minutes and makes a jar that lasts weeks. Sugar and dates keep it vegan; some families use honey. Chef's tip: roast the flours separately over a low heat and stir constantly; the moment they smell like toasted biscuits and turn light tan, tip them out of the pan.

25 min

Tunisian Breakfast & Brunch

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Kaak warkaAlmond-filled pastry rings

The hill town of Zaghouan, south of Tunis, is famous for two things: its Roman water temple and kaak warka, delicate rings of very thin, crumbly pastry wrapped around almond paste perfumed with rose geranium or rose water. They are a celebration sweet, bought in boxes for weddings, circumcisions and Eid, and should stay white when baked, with a fine sugary crumb and a soft, fragrant centre. Making them takes patience: the dough is rolled thin, wrapped around ropes of almond paste and shaped into rings. Chef's tip: bake low and short; the moment the bases colour, they are done, as any browning on top ruins their famous pale look.

105 min

Tunisian Baking

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ZrirSesame, nut and honey paste

When a baby arrives in a Tunis family, visitors who come to see mother and child are offered zrir, a dense, glossy paste of toasted sesame, hazelnuts and almonds bound with butter and honey, believed to give strength to the new mother. It is served in tiny bowls or shaped into a mound and studded with nuts, and a spoonful is plenty. The taste is like a very rich halva with honey and toasted nuts. It keeps for a couple of weeks in a jar. Chef's tip: grind the sesame while it is still slightly warm; the oils release more easily and the paste turns smooth rather than sandy.

45 min

Tunisian Desserts

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Pine nut tea

Order tea in a Tunis café, especially in the cafés of Sidi Bou Said overlooking the bay, and it often arrives with a spoonful of pale pine nuts bobbing on top. The tea itself is brewed strong and very sweet, green with mint or dark black tea boiled until syrupy, and poured from a height into small glasses so it froths. The nuts soften slightly in the heat and you eat them at the bottom of the glass, buttery against the bitter-sweet tea. It is drunk after meals and through the evening. Chef's tip: toast the pine nuts lightly in a dry pan; just a hint of colour brings out their butteriness without making them sink.

12 min

Tunisian Drinks

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