Featured recipe

Isso curry

Prawn coconut curry

Fishing boats come into Mirissa, Weligama and the harbour below Galle Fort every morning, and southern cooks turn their prawns into a curry that is quick, hot and gently sour. Goraka, the dried fruit of a garcinia tree, is soaked and ground into the gravy, and it gives a fruity tang that suits seafood far better than lime. Thin coconut milk carries the spices first, then a splash of thick milk at the end makes the sauce silky and pale orange, and the prawns go in only for the last few minutes. It is served with steamed white rice, a beetroot or snake-gourd curry and a crunchy sambol. Beginners tend to add the prawns too early and let them stew, which leaves them tough and shrunken. Chef's tip: leave the tails on and cook the prawns just until they curl into a loose C; a tight O means overdone.

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125 minAfrican Rice & Grains

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140 min

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78 min

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215 minBalkan Meat

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Buñuelos colombianosCheese and cassava fritters

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35 min

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Armenian coffee

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7 min

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Bot chienFried rice flour cakes with egg

Bột chiên came to Saigon with the Teochew Chinese community of Chợ Lớn and is now an after-school snack sold from street pans across the city in the late afternoon. Cubes of steamed rice-flour cake are fried in a wide pan until crisp outside and soft inside, then an egg is poured over and stirred until it binds them in golden scraps. It is eaten with shredded pickled green papaya and a sweet, sour soy dipping sauce. Chef's tip: make the cake the day before and chill it overnight; cold, firm cake cuts into neat cubes and crisps far better.

70 min

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30 min

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Maple-glazed salmon

On Canada's Pacific coast, from Vancouver to Haida Gwaii, wild salmon is the fish of summer and autumn, and a glaze of maple syrup from the east brings two Canadian staples together on one plate. The fillets are brushed with maple syrup, mustard, soy and garlic and roasted until just cooked, with a sticky, glossy top; serve them with rice, new potatoes or a green salad. Many British Columbians cook it on a soaked cedar plank on the barbecue for a smoky flavour. The mistake is overcooking salmon until it is dry and chalky; take it out when it just flakes. Chef's tip: line the tray with baking paper, as the maple glaze burns onto a bare tin.

25 min

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Kalua pork

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375 minPacific Islander Meat

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Unlike Peru's raw-fish ceviche, the ceviche of Ecuador's coast, from Manta to Esmeraldas, is usually made with prawns that are briefly cooked first, then soaked in a juicy, soupy mix of lime, orange, tomato, red onion and coriander. It is served in a glass bowl with its juice, alongside popcorn, plantain chips and sometimes a dash of ketchup and mustard, as people do at Guayaquil's cevicherías. Because the prawns are cooked, it is a safer choice than raw-fish ceviche, but keep it cold and eat it the same day. The mistake is overcooking the prawns so they turn rubbery: one minute in the boiling water is enough. Chef's tip: save the prawn cooking water and add a few spoonfuls to the juice; it gives the ceviche its sweetness.

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BougatsaSemolina custard pie

In Thessaloniki, breakfast is often a plate of bougatsa eaten at a marble counter at seven in the morning: warm vanilla custard wrapped in crackly pastry, chopped into bite-size pieces in front of you and dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon. The city's bougatsa shops stretch the dough paper-thin by hand; at home, shop fillo does a fine job. The custard is thickened with fine semolina, so it slices cleanly but stays soft and wobbly. Eat it warm with a Greek coffee or a cold frappé. Chef's tip: whisk the semolina into the milk in a slow stream and keep whisking; dumping it in at once is the usual mistake and leaves lumps you can't beat out.

60 min

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Mauritian fish curry

Cari poisson is cooked in Mauritian homes from Port Louis to the fishing villages of Mahébourg, a curry where Indian spice meets Creole herbs: pieces of firm fish are first fried, then simmered in a sauce of tomato, onion, curry powder, curry leaves and thyme. It is eaten with rice, lentils (dholl) and a spoon of chilli pickle. The mistake is putting raw fish into the sauce, which makes it fall apart; frying it first keeps it firm. Chef's tip: toast the curry powder in oil until it smells nutty before the tomatoes go in.

50 min

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Boulets liégeoisMeatballs in sweet-sour fruit sauce

Liège is famous for its boulets: big, tennis-ball-sized meatballs served in a dark, sticky sauce made with sirop de Liège, the region's thick apple-and-pear syrup, with onions and a little vinegar. They are a brasserie staple across Wallonia, eaten with a mountain of chips and a side of salad, and families make them for Sunday lunch. The mix is half pork, half beef, so this is a pork dish. Rushing the onions is the step most people get wrong: they need a good 20 minutes to turn sweet before the sauce comes together. Chef's tip: if you cannot find sirop de Liège, use 3 tablespoons of apple butter or date syrup with 1 tablespoon of black treacle for the same dark, fruity tang.

75 min

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Kisumu fried tilapia

On the shores of Lake Victoria at Kisumu's Dunga beach and in the fish kiosks of Kampala and Mwanza, tilapia comes straight from the boats, is scored, rubbed with salt, garlic and lemon and deep-fried whole until the skin is crackling. It is served with a block of ugali, sukuma wiki (braised kale) and kachumbari, and eaten with your hands, pulling the sweet flesh off the bone. The mistake is frying a wet fish in oil that isn't hot enough, which makes it greasy and stick; dry it well and wait for 180 °C. Chef's tip: dust the fish lightly with cornflour just before frying for an extra-crisp skin.

45 minEast African Fish

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Mozambique peri-peri prawns

Maputo's waterfront restaurants and the beach shacks of Inhambane and Vilanculos are famous for their prawns: big shell-on prawns split down the back, painted with a sauce of piri-piri chilli, garlic, lime and butter and grilled over coals until the shells blister. You eat them with your fingers, sucking the sauce off the shells, with bread or chips. The mistake is overcooking, which turns them rubbery; they need only 2–3 minutes a side. Chef's tip: split the prawns through the shell and remove the dark vein, so the sauce gets right into the flesh.

25 minSouthern African Fish

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BourekasFeta and potato pastry triangles

Bourekas are what Israelis grab from the bakery on a Friday morning or bring to a family gathering: puff pastry shapes with savoury fillings, shiny with egg and dotted with sesame. The tradition came from Sephardi Jews of Turkey and the Balkans, but in Israel it settled into puff pastry, with the shape telling you the filling at a glance (triangles for cheese, rectangles for potato in many bakeries). This version fills triangles with feta and ricotta and rectangles with herby mashed potato, and goes with a hard-boiled egg, pickles and grated tomato. Chef's tip: keep the pastry cold right up to the oven; warm puff pastry won't rise into flaky layers.

45 min

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Zanzibar fish curry

Mchuzi wa samaki is cooked in homes all along the Swahili coast, from Mombasa and Lamu to Stone Town in Zanzibar, where the spice trade left cumin, cardamom and turmeric in every kitchen. Firm fish simmers briefly in a sauce of tomato, onion and coconut milk soured with tamarind, and it is eaten with plain rice or chapati. The mistake is stirring once the fish is in, which breaks it up; shake the pan gently instead. Chef's tip: rub the fish with turmeric, lime and salt for 15 minutes first, which firms it and seasons it all the way through.

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Tunisian fish couscous

On Tunisia's coast, especially in Sfax, Mahdia and the fishing towns of Cap Bon, couscous for Friday lunch is made with fish instead of meat: a red, peppery broth of tomato, harissa and caraway in which the vegetables cook first and the fish is poached at the end, while the couscous steams on top. The broth is ladled over the grains at the table until they glisten. The mistake is boiling the fish too long, so it breaks into the broth; poach it gently for the last 10 minutes only. Chef's tip: oil and rub the couscous between your palms before and after the first steaming so every grain stays separate.

105 min

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Hu tieuPork and prawn noodle soup

Hủ tiếu came to southern Vietnam with Teochew Chinese and Cambodian influences, and in Saigon it's as everyday as pho, sold from street carts at dawn and again late into the night. The broth is light and clear, sweet from pork bones, daikon and dried shrimp, and the bowl is loaded with sliced pork, minced pork, prawns and often quail eggs. Clear, chewy noodles and a spoon of crispy garlic oil set it apart. Many people order it khô, dry, with the noodles tossed in sauce and the soup on the side. Chef's tip: toast the dried squid over a flame before it goes in the pot; it gives the broth a sweet, savoury depth that's hard to place.

60 min

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Mince on toast

Mince on toast is pure Kiwi comfort: a weeknight tea in homes from Invercargill to Auckland, and lately a proud fixture on café brunch menus, where it comes with a poached egg on top. Beef mince is browned hard, simmered with onion, grated carrot and a glug of Worcestershire sauce into a thick savoury gravy, then finished with peas and piled onto buttered toast. It's quick, cheap and kids love it. The usual mistake is stirring the mince constantly in a crowded pan, so it steams grey instead of browning; let it sit and catch colour. Chef's tip: grate the carrot instead of chopping it; it melts into the gravy and sweetens it without anyone noticing the vegetables.

30 min

Australian Meat

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Barramundi with lemon myrtle butter

Barramundi is the prize fish of Australia's tropical north, caught in the rivers and estuaries of the Northern Territory and Far North Queensland and served everywhere from Darwin's waterfront to Brisbane pubs. Its firm, sweet white flesh is best cooked simply, skin side down until crisp, then topped with a butter flavoured with lemon myrtle, a native rainforest leaf that tastes like lemon and lemongrass together. Eat it with a green salad, new potatoes or chips on a warm evening. The mistake to avoid is moving the fillets too soon: the skin tears and sticks; leave them until they release by themselves. Chef's tip: dry the skin very well with kitchen paper and salt it just before cooking, never earlier, or it draws out moisture and won't crisp.

20 min

Australian Fish

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Vegetarian ghormeh sabziHerb and kidney bean stew

Ghormeh sabzi is often called Iran's national dish: a dark green stew of slowly fried herbs, kidney beans and whole dried limes that perfumes Iranian kitchens on Friday mornings and turns up at nearly every family gathering. The original is made with lamb; this vegetarian version uses mushrooms and plenty of beans for body, and keeps the deep, sour, almost smoky herb flavour that makes the dish. It is spooned over chelow with its crust on the side. Chef's tip: fry the herbs in oil until they turn very dark green and smell nutty; that long frying is the flavour of the stew.

90 min

Persian Curries

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