Featured recipe

Creole calas

Sweet rice fritters

Calas are little fritters of cooked rice, egg and nutmeg that were once sold hot in the early mornings of the French Quarter by free and enslaved Black women calling 'Belle cala, tout chaud!'. Many saved the earnings to buy their freedom. Today they appear at Creole brunches and on Mardi Gras mornings, dusted with sugar or drizzled with cane syrup. Chef's tip: use cold, day-old rice, which holds the batter together; fresh warm rice makes the fritters fall apart.

What to eat today?

Around the world

Today's trip: Paraguayan

A new country every day, from every cuisine on the site.

Paraguayan

Buñuelos de algas

Sea lettuce fritters 35 minMore from Paraguayan (27) →

This week's collection

Kid-friendly dinners537 recipes · a new collection every Monday

New this week

See all new →

Latest recipes

Pane carasauThin crisp flatbread

Shepherds in Barbagia, the mountainous heart of Sardinia, took stacks of pane carasau with them for weeks on the high pastures, because this dry, glass-thin flatbread never goes stale. Each disc is baked until it balloons, split in two while hot, then baked again until crisp and golden; Italians call it carta da musica, music paper, for how thin and crackly it is. Sardinians eat it with olive oil and salt as a snack, break it into soups and layer it into pane frattau. Making it at home takes patience and a very hot oven. Chef's tip: split each puffed disc the moment it comes out of the oven; once it cools, the two layers fuse together.

180 min

Italian Breads & Parathas

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Pane di MateraDurum wheat sourdough bread

Matera's bread is a big golden loaf of durum-wheat semolina and sourdough, with a thick crackling crust and a crumb the colour of straw that stays moist for a week. It is shaped into a horned cornetto or a high-backed loaf, and until the 1950s families in the Sassi took their dough to the communal oven, each loaf marked with a carved wooden stamp so it came back to the right house. It is still eaten every day in the city, sliced thickly with olive oil and tomato or soaked in soups. Plan over two days, with a cold rise overnight. Chef's tip: feed your starter with semolina the day before, so its flavour matches the dough.

1440 min

Italian Baking

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Pane e panelleChickpea fritters in a bun

Pane e panelle is Palermo's breakfast on the run: wafer-thin squares of chickpea batter fried until puffed and crisp at the edges, stuffed five or six at a time into a soft sesame roll and squeezed with lemon. Friggitorie at the Vucciria and Ballarò markets sell them from early morning, often alongside potato crocchè, and the city eats them standing at the counter. The panelle are creamy inside and nutty with a little parsley. Chef's tip: whisk the chickpea flour into cold water, never hot, and you will have no lumps.

60 min

Italian Fast Food

by KrazyBadal 0 views

PanelitasMilk fudge squares

Small paper-wrapped panelitas are sold by the bagful at roadside sweet stalls through Santander, often next to obleas and bocadillo. They are milk boiled with sugar and panela until it becomes a thick caramel, then beaten off the heat until it loses its shine and sets into a soft, crumbly fudge with a warm cinnamon and molasses taste. Kids and grandparents both reach for them after lunch with a coffee. The batch here makes a tray of bite-sized squares that keep for a week. Most failures come from beating too little: the mixture stays glossy and never sets beyond soft arequipe, so keep going until it turns matte and starts to hold its shape. A pinch of bicarbonate of soda stops the milk from curdling as the panela heats. Chef's tip: lightly score the squares while the fudge is still warm, then cut through once cold, for neat edges.

45 min

Colombian Desserts

by KrazyBadal 0 views

PanelletsPine nut marzipan sweets

For the Castanyada on 31 October and All Saints' Day, Catalan families roast chestnuts, eat sweet potatoes and make panellets: little balls of almond marzipan, bound with a spoonful of cooked potato, then rolled in pine nuts, glazed with egg and baked until golden. The pine-nut ones are the classic, and children often help roll them. They are eaten with a glass of sweet wine or a cup of coffee. Chef's tip: wet the marzipan balls lightly with egg white before rolling; it is the glue that holds the pine nuts on.

57 min

Spanish Desserts

by KrazyBadal 0 views

PanhasBuckwheat and pork loaf

Panhas comes from the slaughter days of Westphalia and the Lower Rhine, when the pork broth left in the kettle was thickened with buckwheat flour and the scraps of meat and sausage so nothing went to waste. It sets into a firm loaf that keeps for days in the fridge; thick slices are fried until crisp and eaten for breakfast or supper with apple sauce, fried potatoes or rye bread. This version uses pork belly and coarse liver sausage. Chef's tip: fry the slices in a hot pan and leave them alone for the first 4 minutes, so a crust forms before you turn them.

90 min

German Meat

by KrazyBadal 0 views

PanissesFried chickpea fingers

In L'Estaque, the old fishing quarter on the western edge of Marseille, panisses are sold hot in paper cones from seafront kiosks on summer evenings. They start as a thick chickpea-flour porridge, set in a tray, then cut into fingers and fried until the outside is crisp and the middle is soft and creamy, like a chickpea chip. Along the coast in Nice the same flour becomes socca, a thin baked pancake. Serve panisses with a squeeze of lemon and lots of pepper. Chef's tip: make the base the day before; a night in the fridge firms it up, and the fingers keep their shape in the oil.

100 min

French Snacks & Starters

by KrazyBadal 0 views

PantxinetaCustard and almond puff pastry tart

Pantxineta was first baked in a pastry shop in San Sebastián's old town in the early twentieth century, and Donostiarras still buy it on Sunday mornings to take to family lunch. Two layers of buttery puff pastry enclose vanilla pastry cream, and the top is covered with flaked almonds and icing sugar. It is best eaten warm on the day it is made, while the pastry shatters. A common mistake is filling the pastry with warm custard, which melts the butter layers and stops them rising. Chef's tip: chill the assembled tart for 20 minutes before baking so the pastry keeps sharp edges.

70 min

Spanish Baking

by KrazyBadal 0 views

PanuchosBean-stuffed tortillas with chicken

Mérida's loncherías and the evening stands around its parks sell panuchos by the plateful: small corn tortillas puffed on the griddle, slit open, stuffed with black bean paste and fried until the edges crisp. They are topped with shredded chicken marinated in achiote and bitter orange, sharp pink pickled onion, tomato and avocado, with fiery habanero salsa on the side for those who want it. Bitter (Seville) orange is the traditional sour; a mix of orange and lime juice works well. Two or three make a supper with a cold drink. Chef's tip: let the tortilla balloon on the hot comal before you slit it; if it doesn't puff, there is no pocket for the beans.

150 min

Mexican Snacks & Starters

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Pão alentejanoSourdough country loaf

Almost every Alentejo meal leans on this bread: it is crumbled into açorda, laid under soups and stews, fried into migas and, fresh, eaten with olives and sheep's cheese. Village bakers make it with a sourdough starter, white wheat flour, water and salt, and give each round loaf a little knob of dough on top, called the cuco. The crumb should be dense, moist and chewy and the crust thick and crackling, so it lasts a week. You need an active starter that doubles within 6 hours of feeding. A common mistake is baking too pale; let the crust go a deep brown for flavour and keeping. Chef's tip: use a wetter dough than you think; it gives the open, moist crumb that keeps the bread soft for days.

90 min

Portuguese Breads & Parathas

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Pão de centeio transmontanoDark rye loaf

On the cold uplands of Trás-os-Montes, where wheat struggled, rye was the bread grain, and village bakeries around Montalegre and Miranda do Douro still bake big rounds with a dark, floury crust. The crumb is dense, tangy and moist, made to keep for a week and to sit beside cured meats, cheese and soups. This home loaf mixes rye with some wheat so it rises reliably. A common mistake is kneading rye dough like wheat dough; it never turns elastic, so mix it to a sticky paste and stop. Chef's tip: rye dough is sticky by nature, so shape it with wet hands rather than adding flour.

75 min

Portuguese Breads & Parathas

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Pão de DeusCoconut-topped sweet buns

Lisbon bakeries pile these 'God's bread' buns in their windows every morning, and regulars split them and spread them with butter, or tuck in a slice of cheese, for breakfast with a galão. The dough is soft and milky like brioche, and the top is a sweet blanket of grated coconut, egg and sugar that bakes crisp and golden. A common mistake is spreading the coconut too thin: pile it on thickly so it stays moist underneath and toasty on top. Chef's tip: let the shaped buns rise fully before topping them, or the heavy coconut layer squashes them flat.

60 min

Portuguese Breads & Parathas

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Pão na chapaGriddled buttered roll

Stand at the counter of any São Paulo padaria at seven in the morning and you will hear the order a hundred times: 'um pão na chapa e um pingado'. A pão francês, the city's crusty little roll, is split, spread generously with salted butter and pressed cut-side down on the griddle until the crumb turns golden, crisp at the edges and soaked with butter, while the crust stays crackly. It comes with a café com leite and nothing else. At home a heavy frying pan and a second pan to press it do the job. The trap is a pan that is too hot, so the butter burns before the bread toasts; use a medium heat. Chef's tip: butter right to the edges and press the roll down firmly with a spatula or small pan, so the whole surface touches the metal and browns evenly.

8 min

Brazilian Breakfast & Brunch

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Papa rellenaStuffed potato croquettes

Torpedo-shaped and golden, papas rellenas sit stacked in the glass cases of Lima's sangucherías and market stalls, and they are just as often made at home on a weekday to use up a pot of mash. The shell is plain yellow potato with a crisp, thin crust; inside is a picadillo of minced beef with onion, ají panca, cumin, sliced egg, black olives and a few raisins for sweetness. They are eaten warm with a heap of salsa criolla and a spoon of ají sauce. The usual mistake is working the potato while it is still hot and wet: it turns gluey and splits in the oil, so let it steam dry and cool before shaping. Chef's tip: dust your hands and the croquettes with rice flour rather than wheat flour; it gives a thinner, crisper shell and keeps them gluten free. For a meat-free version, swap the beef for chopped mushrooms fried hard until dry.

75 min

Peruvian Snacks & Starters

by KrazyBadal 0 views

PaparajotesLemon leaf fritters with cinnamon sugar

Paparajotes are the sweet of the Murcian huerta's spring festivals, above all the Bando de la Huerta, when the city fills with people in traditional dress and stalls fry them by the hundred. A lemon tree leaf is dipped in a light batter, fried and dusted with cinnamon sugar; you hold it by the stalk, pull off the crisp coating with your teeth and leave the leaf, which flavours the batter but is not food. Newcomers who try to eat the whole thing are a long-standing local joke. Chef's tip: use only leaves from an unsprayed lemon tree, washed and dried.

30 min

Spanish Desserts

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Papas a la provenzalFries with garlic and parsley

Bodegones, the old-school Buenos Aires canteens with jamón hanging from the ceiling and waiters in white jackets, serve mountains of papas fritas, and the upgrade everyone orders is "a la provenzal": crisp chips tossed while still sizzling in a mix of finely chopped raw garlic and parsley. The heat of the potatoes takes the edge off the garlic, so it turns fragrant rather than fiery, and the parsley stays bright green. They go with milanesas, grilled steak or a plate of fried eggs. Adding the garlic to the frying oil is the error many make: it burns in seconds and turns bitter; it goes on only after frying. This method fries the chips twice for a crunch that lasts; for an oven version, toss the chips with 3 tbsp oil and roast at 220 °C for 35 minutes, turning once, then dress them the same way. Chef's tip: rinse and dry the cut potatoes very well; surface starch and water are what make chips limp.

45 min

Argentinian Sides

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Papas aliñásPotato salad with sherry vinegar

Every tapas bar around the Plaza de Abastos in Cádiz keeps a tray of papas aliñás on the counter, and gaditanos eat them as a cold tapa on summer evenings with a glass of something cold. The potatoes are dressed while still warm, so they drink up the sherry vinegar and oil, then rest until they taste sharp, green and soft. Bars usually lay tuna and boiled egg on top; this version is fully plant-based and keeps all the flavour in the dressing. Chef's tip: choose waxy potatoes and cut them only after cooking, so they keep their shape when you toss them.

40 min

Spanish Salads

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Papas arrugadas con mojo picónWrinkled potatoes with red pepper sauce

No meal in the Canary Islands seems complete without a bowl of papas arrugadas, small potatoes boiled in water as salty as the Atlantic until their skins wrinkle and frost over with white salt. In every guachinche, the pop-up wine-farm eateries in the hills of northern Tenerife, they arrive with a pot of mojo picón, a thick, garlicky sauce of dried red peppers, cumin, paprika and vinegar. Eat them skin and all, dragged through the mojo. Chef's tip: once drained, put the pot back on a low heat and shake it for a minute or two, as that drying is what forms the wrinkles and the salt crust.

45 min

Spanish Sides

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Showing 18 of 7,762 recipes

Show more recipes

Page 520 of 863