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Kallaj
Featured recipe

Kallaj

Cream-filled pastry parcels in syrup

Kallaj appears in the sweet shops of Beirut and Tripoli only during Ramadan, when bakers sell paper-thin starch sheets to wrap around cream or cheese and fry for after iftar. Home cooks recreate it with filo: square parcels of thick milk cream, baked until they crackle, then soaked briefly in rose and orange-blossom syrup and finished with pistachios. Serve them warm, a few minutes after the syrup goes on, while the outside is still crisp. Common mistake: drowning them in syrup and leaving them to sit; spoon it over just before serving. Chef's tip: a cheese version — fill with half mozzarella, half unsalted ricotta — is just as traditional; choose a vegetarian-rennet mozzarella if you need it.

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Aghroum (Kabyle semolina flatbread)

Up in the villages of Kabylie, aghroum is simply the word for bread, and the everyday loaf is a flat, unleavened round of semolina, water, salt and a thread of olive oil, baked on a clay griddle over a low fire. It comes out firm and close-textured, with a crust speckled brown and a faintly sweet, nutty crumb that tastes of the grain. Kabyle families tear it to scoop up olive oil, dried figs and buttermilk at breakfast, or to mop the sauce of a bean or vegetable stew at midday. A heavy cast-iron pan or flat griddle does the job of the clay one at home. Chef's tip: keep the heat at medium-low and turn the bread often; a griddle that is too hot is the usual mistake, leaving a burnt crust around a raw, gummy middle.

45 minAlgerianBreads & ParathasVegan
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Guryev kashaBaked semolina pudding with nuts

Named after Count Guryev, a nineteenth-century Russian finance minister, this pudding was the showpiece of Moscow merchant tables and grand restaurant menus, and it still appears at name-day lunches and during Maslenitsa week. Behind the humble word kasha sits a rich dessert: soft vanilla semolina layered with crackly sugared walnuts, thin golden skins lifted from baked milk and cream, and spoonfuls of apricot jam, then baked until bubbling. Serve it warm in small portions with strong black tea. Where most people go wrong is hurrying the skins; the milk needs a hot oven and patience so each skin turns golden before you lift it off. Chef's tip: use the widest shallow ovenproof dish you own for the milk, because more surface gives you more skins in the same time.

90 minRussianDesserts
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Gur wali rotiJaggery flatbread

In the cane-growing districts of Punjab, from Jhang to Mandi Bahauddin, the season when fresh gur comes out of the village kolhu is also the season for this roti, its dough kneaded with jaggery water instead of plain water so it turns a deep caramel brown on the tawa. It is crisp-edged and chewy in the middle with a toffee-like sweetness and the anise note of fennel, and mothers wrap it in a cloth for children to take to school or to the fields with a flask of tea. Some families add sesame, others a little ghee in the dough; both are good. The usual mistake is cooking it on a high flame, which burns the sugar in the jaggery black before the inside has cooked. Chef's tip: dissolve the gur in warm water and let it cool before kneading, otherwise the dough turns sticky and impossible to roll.

30 minPakistaniBreads & Parathas
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Zviti (pounded pepper and flatbread mash)

Fire-blistered green chillies, a few tomatoes and a fist of garlic go into a wooden mortar, and the cook in Bou Saâda or M'Sila pounds them with torn flatbread until everything turns into a coarse, hot, smoky mash. Zviti is served straight from that wooden bowl, sometimes in a carved mortar the size of a salad bowl, and eaten by hand with more bread, often on cold evenings in the steppe towns. The flavour is sharp and grassy from the chillies, sweet from the charred tomato and soothed by plenty of olive oil. Choose a mix of hot and milder long chillies to set the heat you like. Don't leave the charred skins on the peppers and tomatoes: they turn the mash bitter and stringy. Chef's tip: pound rather than blend; a food processor whips it into a watery soup, so if you must use one, pulse briefly and add the bread last.

30 minAlgerianVegetarianVeganSpicy
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Rougag (Saharan paper-thin flatbread)

Across the oases of the Algerian Sahara, from Biskra to Ouargla, women spread a soft semolina dough over a domed griddle so thin that light shows through it, then lift the sheet off within a couple of minutes. Rougag is the base of chakhchoukha and rfis, torn into pieces and soaked in sauce, but fresh sheets are also eaten folded around dates or a spoon of stew. Freshly made it is soft and flexible with toasty brown blisters; left to dry, it keeps for weeks in a tin. An upturned wok or a large non-stick pan stands in for the griddle. Chef's tip: oil your hands, not the pan; dough that is not wet enough to stretch is the common mistake, so it should feel almost too sticky to handle.

45 minAlgerianBreads & ParathasVegan
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Tagella (Tuareg sand-baked bread)

Out in the Hoggar mountains around Tamanrasset, Tuareg cooks bury a thick disc of dough in sand heated by a wood fire, cover it with embers and dig it up half an hour later with a dense, chewy crumb and a thick crust that is beaten clean of sand. The bread is then broken into pieces and soaked in a spicy tomato and onion sauce, a hearty meal for a camp or a desert evening; meat goes in when there is some, and this is the plain version cooked on ordinary days. At home, a very hot oven with a cast-iron pan gives a similar crust. Expect a filling, rustic dish with a smoky, peppery sauce. A frequent slip is making the dough too dry; it should be soft, or the thick round cracks and stays raw in the middle. Chef's tip: bake the bread until it sounds hollow when knocked, because an underbaked, doughy centre turns to paste in the sauce.

90 minAlgerianBreads & ParathasVegan
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White cherry preserve

Absheron is famous for its white cherries, pale yellow fruit with a pink blush that ripen in June in the sandy orchards around Mardakan and Shuvalan. Baku families stone them one by one with a hairpin and cook them slowly into a clear golden preserve, sharpened with lemon, which is served in tiny glass bowls (mürəbbə qabı) with black tea; you sip the tea and eat a spoon of cherries between sips. A common mistake is cooking the fruit in one long boil, which shrivels it. Chef's tip: cook in short spells with long rests in between, so the cherries plump up with syrup and stay whole and glossy.

100 minAzerbaijaniBasicsVeganGluten free
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BacánPlantain and pork parcels

Bacán belongs to Baracoa, the coconut-growing corner of eastern Cuba, where it is made for family gatherings and sold wrapped at weekend markets. Grated green plantain is mixed with fresh coconut milk into a soft dough, wrapped around a filling of seasoned pork in a banana leaf and steamed until set, a little like a tamal but sweeter and silkier. The pork is shoulder, cooked in a sofrito before wrapping. The common mistake is using ripe plantain, which won't set; it must be hard and green. Chef's tip: pass the banana leaves briefly over a flame or hot pan until they turn glossy and supple, and they will fold without splitting.

120 minCubanMeatGluten free
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Bradj (date-filled semolina diamonds)

When the first warm days arrive, families in Constantine and across eastern Algeria mark the spring festival with picnics, boiled eggs and plates of bradj: diamonds of buttery semolina sandwiching a layer of spiced date paste, cooked slowly on a griddle rather than baked. The outside turns golden and crumbly, the date layer stays soft and sticky, and orange-blossom water perfumes the whole thing. Bradj is served warm with a drizzle of honey or a cold glass of buttermilk, and is just as good the next day with coffee. Chef's tip: press the dough together rather than kneading it; worked like bread dough, semolina turns tough, and bradj should break with a crumble.

75 minAlgerianDesserts
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Gur wale chawalJaggery rice

Every winter, when the sugarcane presses in the villages around Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan boil the new season's jaggery, families celebrate with a pot of gur wale chawal. Basmati grains turn a warm amber in a syrup of melted gur and ghee, with fennel seeds and cardamom for fragrance and raisins, almonds and coconut tucked through, and the result is sweet but not sticky, each grain separate. It is cooked for weddings, for distribution on religious days and simply for guests on a cold evening, and eaten warm, sometimes with a spoonful of extra ghee on top. Adding the jaggery to raw rice is the commonest error, because sugar stops the grains from softening and they stay hard. Chef's tip: boil the rice until it is three-quarters cooked first, then fold it into the jaggery syrup and let it steam.

40 minPakistaniDessertsGluten free
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Mbesses (Kabyle semolina cake)

Somewhere between shortbread and cornbread, mbesses is the plain cake of Kabyle kitchens, a shallow tray of semolina rich with melted butter, lightly sweetened and baked until golden on top. The texture is sandy and tender, breaking into crumbs that taste of toasted grain and butter, with a hint of orange blossom. It is cut into diamonds and served with milky coffee in the afternoon, or offered to guests who drop by during Ramadan evenings. Some households scatter sesame or nigella seeds over the top before baking. Chef's tip: spread the mixture into the tray with a light hand; pressing it down hard is the most common mistake and gives a dense, heavy cake.

50 minAlgerianBaking
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Tamina (roasted semolina with honey)

Word of a birth in an Algiers household brings a steady flow of visitors, and each is offered a small dish of tamina with coffee: semolina roasted in a dry pan until it smells like toasted hazelnuts, then bound with melted butter and honey and dusted with cinnamon. It is soft, crumbly and sweet, a little like a spoonable halva, and is said to give strength to the new mother. Tamina is also made for Mawlid and served with tea, with the cinnamon often sifted over in a lattice pattern. Chef's tip: toast the semolina slowly over a medium-low heat and stir without stopping; burnt dark specks make the whole batch bitter and cannot be picked out.

25 minAlgerianDesserts
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GummaFried pies with lamb liver

Gumma are the hot, puffy fried pies sold from big pans on Tashkent street corners and in bazaars like Chorsu, wrapped in paper and eaten in the morning with tea. The classic filling is cheap and hearty: lamb or beef offal, usually liver, heart and lung, minced with plenty of onion and black pepper; potato gumma is the vegetarian sister. This version uses lamb's liver and heart. A common mistake is frying in oil that is not hot enough, which makes the dough greasy and heavy. Chef's tip: cook the filling fully before shaping, then fry the pies at 175 °C until puffed and golden; the dough cooks in minutes while the filling only needs warming. Offal should be cooked until no pink remains, 71 °C.

80 minUzbekFast Food
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Jamaican hominy corn porridge

Hominy porridge is a weekend job in Jamaican homes from Spanish Town to Mandeville: the dried, hulled corn kernels need soaking overnight and a long, slow simmer before they burst open, tender and chewy, in a creamy coconut and spice base. The finished porridge is thick and comforting, sweetened with condensed milk and perfumed with cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla, and it reheats beautifully through the week. The mistake many people make is adding the coconut and milk at the start, where they catch and burn during the long cook; boil the corn in water first. Look for dried white hominy at Caribbean or Latin shops, and remember the overnight soak. Chef's tip: stir in a spoonful of cornmeal or flour mixed with water at the end if you like it thicker, as many Jamaican cooks do.

180 minJamaicanBreakfast & BrunchGluten free
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GulpiSpiced cauliflower

Gulpi is what an Afghan family cooks on an ordinary weeknight in Kabul or Jalalabad when cauliflower is cheap in the bazaar, and it is set on the dastarkhan, the cloth spread on the floor for meals, alongside rice or naan and a bowl of yogurt. The florets are fried until they catch a little colour, then simmered in a thick, turmeric-yellow sauce of onion, tomato, ginger and garlic until soft enough to break with the side of a spoon, with just a gentle heat from chilli. Many cooks stir in a few potatoes or peas, and some add a small piece of meat, but it is often fully vegetarian. Adding too much water is what spoils it: the cauliflower should steam in the tomato, not boil, so the sauce clings to every floret. Chef's tip: let the florets brown properly in the oil before anything else goes in, which gives the dish its nutty, slightly sweet depth.

40 minAfghanVegetarianVeganGluten free
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Jamaican cornmeal pudding

Jamaican cornmeal pudding is the cousin of sweet potato pudding, cheaper and quicker to make, and a fixture at Sunday dinner and church harvest suppers from Kingston to the hills of Manchester. Cornmeal is first cooked on the stove in coconut milk with sugar and nutmeg, then baked until firm, sliceable and caramel-edged, with a thin, soft layer on top. The classic mistake is pouring raw cornmeal straight into hot liquid, which makes lumps; whisk it into cold liquid first. Chef's tip: pour a little extra coconut milk over halfway through baking to get that custardy "hallelujah" top.

90 minJamaicanDessertsGluten free
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Jamaican jerk pork

Boston Bay in Portland is where jerk pork was born, and the jerk pits there still slow-smoke pork shoulder over green pimento wood under sheets of zinc until the outside is dark and crusted and the meat is smoky and juicy. This home version uses boneless pork shoulder rubbed with a wet paste of scotch bonnet, pimento, scallion, thyme and ginger, then cooked slowly in a covered barbecue or oven and finished over high heat. The biggest mistake is rushing the marinade; it needs at least 12 hours in the fridge to get into the pork. Cook until the thickest part reaches at least 63 °C, then rest; for tender, chopped jerk like the stalls, keep going to about 85 °C. Chef's tip: throw a handful of soaked allspice berries and bay leaves onto the coals for the smoky pimento flavour of the real pits.

240 minJamaicanMeatGluten freeSpicy
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BagiyaSesame jaggery rice dumplings

When the new rice is harvested in late autumn, Maithil households in Janakpur, Siraha and Saptari steam bagiya, plump spindle-shaped dumplings of rice-flour dough that are offered to the gods, given to married daughters visiting home and eaten warm on cold winter mornings. The smooth, chewy shell hides a sweet centre, here toasted sesame bound with melted jaggery and a pinch of cardamom, though some families use molasses toffee (chaku), grated coconut or sweetened milk solids instead. Plain bagiya are also made and eaten with chutney. A common slip is using cold water for the dough, which makes it crumble and split; it must be made with boiling water. Chef's tip: knead the dough while it is still as hot as your hands can bear, with a little oil on your palms, until it is as smooth as play dough.

60 minNepaliIndian SweetsVeganGluten free
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Guineítos en escabechePickled green bananas

Every Puerto Rican Christmas table and roadside lechonera on the Ruta del Lechón in Guavate seems to have a bowl of these: green bananas boiled, sliced into thick coins and left to steep in a garlicky olive-oil and vinegar marinade with soft onions, bay and green olives. They are sharp, silky and filling, and taste even better on the second day, so they are made in big batches for parties. The common mistake is boiling the bananas until mushy; they should be tender but still hold their coin shape. Peel them with oiled hands or gloves, because the sap stains. Chef's tip: pour the marinade over the bananas while both are still warm, so the starch soaks up the flavour.

40 minPuerto RicanSaladsVeganGluten free
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GuilinggaoBittersweet herbal jelly

Herbal tea shops along Hong Kong's busy streets sell black, glossy bowls of guilinggao as a cooling tonic in the humid months, and families keep a few cups in the fridge to eat as an afternoon snack. The jelly is firm yet smooth, deep and woody, and properly bitter, so it's eaten with a generous pour of syrup, or honey for those who aren't vegan, and sometimes a splash of coconut milk. The original is made by boiling turtle plastron with herbs for hours; the commercially sold herbal jelly powder used here is plant-based, so this is the vegetarian version. Lumps are the usual setback, which happen when the powder is added straight to hot water. Chef's tip: whisk the powder into cold water first, then pour it into the boiling water and keep stirring until it turns glossy.

20 minHong KongDessertsVeganGluten free
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Bahamian cracked conchBattered fried conch

Cracked conch is the Bahamas' answer to fish and chips, served at Potter's Cay dock stalls in Nassau and family restaurants across the Out Islands: conch steaks pounded ("cracked") thin, soaked in lime, dipped in a peppery batter and fried crisp, with chips, peas 'n' rice or coleslaw. Done properly the inside is tender and sweet like calamari. The common mistake is not pounding enough, which leaves the conch chewy; it should be thin and almost lacy. Buy cleaned conch from a trusted fishmonger and discard any that smells strongly. Chef's tip: let the battered pieces rest on a rack for 5 minutes before frying so the coating sticks and stays crisp.

40 minCaribbeanFish
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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 minCaribbeanDesserts
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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 minCaribbeanFish
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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 minCaribbeanDrinksVeganGluten free
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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 ArabianRice & GrainsGluten free
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GubadiaLayered rice and curd pie

Weddings, Eid and the arrival of honoured guests in Tatarstan call for gubadia, a high round pie that is cut at the table like a cake and served with tea. Inside sit neat layers of buttery rice, kort – Tatar curd cooked down until rosy and fudge-sweet – raisins and chopped hard-boiled egg, under a domed lid of soft yeast dough. Many families add a layer of minced meat with onion; this is the meat-free version, as many sweet tea-table gubadias are. Kort is hard to buy outside the region, so you make it here from tvorog (check the label if you need it rennet-free). Where most people go wrong is a dry pie: every layer needs its share of melted butter. Chef's tip: let the baked pie stand for twenty minutes before cutting so the layers settle and come away in clean wedges.

180 minRussianBaking
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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 minTrinidadianVegetarianVeganGluten free
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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 minBajanFast Food
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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 minBajanMeat
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GuarapoSugarcane juice

Guarapo stands, or guaraperas, pop up across Cuba wherever cane grows, crushing fresh stalks through a press and pouring the pale green juice straight over ice. It tastes grassy and gently sweet, never sugary, and it is drunk the moment it is pressed. You need a sugarcane press or juicer, or fresh peeled cane and a strong blender; bottled cane juice is a poor substitute. The common mistake is pressing the cane long before serving, because the juice darkens and starts to ferment within an hour. Chef's tip: chill the cane before pressing and add the lime as you press, which keeps the colour bright.

10 minCubanDrinksVeganGluten free
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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 minPakistaniBreads & ParathasVeganGluten free
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Jamaican conch soup

From Montego Bay's craft market cookshops to roadside pots around Falmouth, conch soup is sold by the cup on Fridays and Saturdays: tender pieces of conch in a thick, peppery broth with potatoes, pumpkin, carrot and chewy flour spinners. Conch is famously tough, so it is pounded and simmered slowly before the vegetables go in. Buy cleaned frozen conch meat from a fishmonger; thaw it in the fridge and throw away any that smells off. The most common mistake is not tenderising the conch, leaving rubbery chunks; pound it well and simmer until a knife slides in. Chef's tip: a little lime rubbed into the conch before pounding removes its slippery film and freshens the flavour.

120 minJamaicanSoupsSpicy
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BakarkhaniLayered ghee bread

Before dawn in Lalbagh and Nazira Bazar, bakers slap rounds of dough onto the inside walls of clay tandoors, and by sunrise stacks of bakarkhani are wrapped in newspaper for the first cup of milky tea. The Old Dhaka kind is small, about the size of a palm, with dozens of paper-thin layers that shatter at the edges and stay a little tender in the middle; the faintly sweet, buttery taste is what makes it so good dipped in cha or crumbled over a bowl of firni. Local legend ties the name to a Mughal-era romance, but the technique is pure bakery craft: the dough is spread with a ghee paste, rolled up, coiled and rolled again. Most failed batches come from soft, warm ghee paste, which soaks into the dough instead of sitting between the layers. Chef's tip: chill the rolled coils for 15 minutes before the final rolling so the fat sets and the layers stay separate in the oven.

105 minBangladeshiBreads & Parathas
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Grzybki marynowanePickled forest mushrooms

After an autumn morning of mushroom picking in the forests of Podlasie or the Bieszczady, the smallest, firmest boletes and slippery jacks are set aside for jars of grzybki marynowane. They come out at Christmas and on name days as a zakąska, sharp and sweet with allspice and mustard seed, sliced onion and firm, slightly slippery mushrooms. Only use wild mushrooms you bought from a trusted seller or had checked by an expert; cultivated chestnut or button mushrooms work well too. A common mistake is skipping the first boil in salted water, which leaves the pickle cloudy and the mushrooms soft. Chef's tip: cook the mushrooms until they sink, then pack them while hot under boiling marinade.

40 minPolishBasicsVeganGluten free
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Bakeapple jamCloudberry jam

Bakeapples, the amber cloudberries of the Labrador and Newfoundland bogs, ripen for a few weeks in late July and August, and families on the Northern Peninsula and the Labrador coast pick them by the bucket. Turned into jam, they taste of apricot, honey and wild herbs, and the soft seeds give it texture. It is spread on toast, tea biscuits and toutons, or stirred through cream. Frozen cloudberries work if you can't get fresh. A common mistake is boiling too long, which darkens the colour and dulls the flavour. Chef's tip: test the set early, on a cold saucer.

40 minCanadianChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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BakhshGreen rice with beef and liver

Bakhsh is the Shabbat and holiday rice of the Bukharan Jews, who lived in Bukhara and Samarkand for centuries before most emigrated to Israel and New York: rice mixed with small cubes of beef and liver and so much chopped coriander that it turns deep green, then cooked slowly in a cloth bag inside a pot of broth (bakhsh khalta) or in a pot sealed on the stove. It is fragrant, rich and moist. This version uses beef and calves' liver and the pot method. A common mistake is chopping the coriander roughly; it should be very fine so the rice turns evenly green. Chef's tip: cut the meat into rice-grain-sized pieces so it cooks in the same time as the rice. The liver and meat should be cooked through, 71 °C.

150 minUzbekRice & GrainsGluten free
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Baku kurabiyePiped butter cookies with jam

Every Baku bakery sells these: short, crumbly butter cookies piped into flowers with a star nozzle and finished with a bright dot of jam in the centre, sold by the kilo for name days and served with tea in Azerbaijani homes. The dough must be soft enough to pipe but rich enough to hold the ridges in the oven. A common mistake is overbeating the egg whites into the butter, which makes the cookies spread and lose their pattern. Chef's tip: chill the piped cookies on the tray for 15 minutes before baking; the ridges stay sharp.

35 minAzerbaijaniBaking
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Bakonyi sertésszeletPork in mushroom paprika sauce

The Bakony hills north of Lake Balaton are known for their beech forests and mushrooms, and any Hungarian dish called bakonyi comes with a creamy paprika and mushroom sauce. Here it covers seared pork loin steaks, a favourite of roadside inns and Sunday lunches across Transdanubia. The sauce starts like a pörkölt with onion, paprika, pepper and tomato, then takes on sliced mushrooms and is finished with sour cream, so it is earthy, tangy and rich. Serve it with nokedli or rice to soak it up. Where most people go wrong is boiling the sauce after the sour cream goes in, which makes it split; keep it just below a simmer. Chef's tip: use a mix of wild and chestnut mushrooms if you can, and fry them hard first so they brown instead of stewing.

60 minHungarianMeat
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Bakra Eid kalejiStir-fried goat liver

The first thing cooked in countless Pakistani homes on the morning of Eid-ul-Adha, just after the sacrifice, is kaleji: the goat's liver, still very fresh, sliced and stir-fried in a karahi with onion, tomato, ginger and green chilli, then eaten at once with hot paratha or naan while the rest of the meat is being divided. The dish is quick and fierce, tender in the middle, sharp with chilli and lemon. Outside Eid, butchers in every city sell goat or lamb liver for the same breakfast. Overcooking makes liver rubbery, but undercooking is not safe, so cut it into even pieces and cook until it reaches 71 °C with no pink left; it will still be tender. Chef's tip: add the salt only at the very end, as salting liver early draws out moisture and toughens it.

25 minPakistaniMeatGluten free
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Groninger mosterdsoepMustard and leek soup

Groningen in the far north of the Netherlands has been making mustard since the Middle Ages, and its creamy mustard soup is served in every café in the city: a velvety roux soup with leek, stock and cream, sharpened with a generous amount of coarse Groninger mustard. Most cafés top it with crisp bacon bits; this vegetarian version uses toasted croutons and chives. A common mistake is boiling the soup after the mustard goes in, which makes it bitter and grainy. Chef's tip: whisk the mustard in off the heat at the end, so it keeps its tang.

30 minDutchSoups
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BalachaungDried shrimp relish

Every Burmese pantry keeps a jar of balachaung, and along the Rakhine coast, where the dried shrimp come from, families fry it in big batches after the dry-season catch. Pounded dried shrimp are fried slowly with crisp shallots, garlic, chilli and a dab of shrimp paste until the whole lot turns into a dry, golden, crackling floss that is salty, smoky, a little sweet and quite hot. A spoonful lifts plain rice, a fried egg, rice porridge or a bowl of noodles, and it travels well, so students and travellers pack a jar to take away from home. Rushing it over a high heat is where most batches go wrong: the shrimp scorch and turn bitter before they are crisp, so keep the heat at medium-low and stir patiently. Chef's tip: fry the shallots and garlic separately and stir them back in only when the shrimp are done, so they stay crunchy for weeks.

45 minBurmeseChutneys & DipsGluten freeSpicy
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Lao bamboo shoot soup

When the rains arrive in June, Vientiane's morning markets fill with pale, freshly dug bamboo shoots, and pots of kaeng nor mai start simmering in kitchens across the city for the family lunch. The broth is a deep olive green, tinted by the juice squeezed from yanang leaves, and thickened with a spoonful of pounded soaked sticky rice so it coats the spoon. Earthy bamboo, sweet pumpkin and slippery mushrooms float in it with lemon basil on top, and a basket of sticky rice and a dish of jeow sit alongside. Skipping the pre-boil of the bamboo is where most cooks go wrong: raw shoots taste bitter and need cooking through to be safe, so always blanch fresh ones and drain. This version leaves out the fermented fish of village kitchens and seasons with salt and tamari. Chef's tip: squeeze the yanang leaves in cold water, never hot, or the broth turns brown and loses its grassy freshness.

60 minLaoSoupsVeganGluten free
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Grechka po-kupecheskiMerchant-style buckwheat

Russian merchants of the nineteenth century liked their buckwheat with meat in it, and "merchant-style" grechka became a hearty one-pan supper that students, soldiers and busy parents still cook today. Cubes of pork shoulder are browned with onion and carrot, enriched with tomato, then roasted buckwheat simmers in the same pan until every grain is separate and steeped in the juices. It is earthy, savoury and filling, best with a salted cucumber or a spoon of tsakhdon-style garlic sour cream. The usual slip is stirring the buckwheat while it cooks, which breaks the grains into mush; cover the pan and leave it alone. Pork pieces should be fully cooked to 71 °C. Chef's tip: toast the buckwheat in the pan for a minute before adding water to deepen its nutty taste.

45 minRussianRice & GrainsGluten free
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