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Parovye kotlety for toddlers (steamed cutlets)
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Parovye kotlety for toddlers (steamed cutlets)

Parovye kotlety, steamed cutlets, are the nursery and kindergarten classic of Russian homes from St Petersburg to Novosibirsk, served with mashed potato or buckwheat at lunch. Minced chicken or turkey is mixed with bread soaked in water and grated onion, shaped into small patties and steamed until soft and juicy, so there is no crust for small gums to struggle with. This version for toddlers from 12 months has no added salt and no egg. It contains wheat (gluten, in the bread); there is no milk, egg, nuts or soya. Chef's tip: beat the mince against the side of the bowl for a minute; it makes the cutlets hold together without egg.

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Hainanese chicken rice

Brought by Hainanese cooks and now sold at kopitiam and hawker stalls in every Malaysian town, chicken rice looks plain but is all about restraint. The chicken is barely simmered and plunged into iced water, which leaves the meat silky and the skin firm and slightly jellied. The rice is fried in rendered chicken fat with garlic, ginger and pandan, then cooked in the poaching stock until each grain is glossy and fragrant. A punchy chilli-ginger-lime sauce and a bowl of the clear broth complete the plate, with cucumber slices on the side. Chef's tip: keep the poaching water at a bare shiver, never a boil; boiling tightens the meat and splits the skin.

90 minMalaysianChickenGluten free
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Irish stew

Irish stew, stobhach Gaelach, is the plain and honest pot of the Irish countryside, still made in farmhouse kitchens from Kerry to Donegal and served in Dublin pubs on St Patrick's Day. Lamb on the bone simmers slowly with onions, carrots and two kinds of potato: waxy ones that hold their shape and floury ones that melt and thicken the broth naturally, so no flour is needed. Thyme and parsley are the only seasoning. Chef's tip: use lamb neck or shoulder on the bone; the bones give body to the broth that lean leg never will.

145 minIrishMeatGluten free
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Moroccan sardine balls

Safi and Essaouira are sardine country, and cooks along that Atlantic coast have always made the most of the cheap, silvery catch by turning it into kefta. Fresh fillets are chopped with chermoula herbs and spices into tender, rich fish balls, then simmered in a peppery tomato sauce until they soak up its flavour. They taste nothing like tinned fish: soft, savoury, a little lemony. Eat them from the pan with bread, or as part of a Friday spread of salads. Chef's tip: chill the mixture for 15 minutes before rolling; oily sardines firm up in the cold and the balls hold together in the sauce.

50 minMoroccanFishGluten free
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AchichukTomato and onion salad

Achichuk, which means 'sharp' in Uzbek, is the thin-sliced tomato and onion salad that sits beside every platter of plov from Bukhara to the Ferghana Valley. In summer Tashkent markets overflow with heavy, sweet tomatoes and this salad is little more than those tomatoes, rings of mild onion, a hot green chilli, salt and black pepper, with a fistful of basil (reyhan) or dill. Some families call it shakarob. It is meant to cut through the richness of rice cooked in oil, so it has no dressing beyond the juice the tomatoes give. Chef's tip: soak the onion in salted iced water for 10 minutes; it loses its harsh bite but stays crunchy, which is how Uzbek cooks get the onion so gentle.

15 minUzbekSaladsVeganGluten free
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Chicken pastilla

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150 minMoroccanChicken
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Fish tagine with chermoula

Down at the harbour in Essaouira the fishermen's catch goes straight from the blue boats to the grills and the clay pots, and tagine hout is how home cooks there turn it into a meal. Firm white fish is coated in chermoula, the fresh green paste of coriander, garlic, cumin and lemon, then laid over slices of potato, tomato and pepper that soak up all its juices. The result is light and aromatic, with tender potatoes at the bottom and fish that flakes at a touch. A tomato and cucumber salad and some bread are all it needs. Chef's tip: lay the potatoes in a single tight layer so they lift the fish off the base and nothing catches.

50 minMoroccanFishGluten free
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Kefta tagine with eggs

Café kitchens from Tangier to Agadir keep a row of small clay tagines bubbling with this one at lunchtime, and plenty of Moroccan families make it on busy weeknights. Little cumin-and-paprika meatballs poach in a thick, garlicky tomato sauce, then eggs are cracked straight into the pan and left to set softly on top. You eat it straight from the pot, tearing bread to scoop up meat, sauce and runny yolk together. Serve with a plate of olives and a simple chopped salad. Chef's tip: roll the meatballs no bigger than a cherry tomato so they cook through in the sauce in the same time it takes to thicken.

45 minMoroccanMeatGluten free
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Lamb tagine with prunes

Served at weddings, Eid gatherings and big family dinners in Fez and Marrakech, tagine lham bel barkouk is the sweet-and-savoury centrepiece Moroccans bring out for guests. Lamb shoulder braises slowly with saffron, ginger and cinnamon until it falls apart in a buttery-soft sauce, then it is crowned with glossy honeyed prunes, fried almonds and toasted sesame. Each mouthful moves from warm spice to deep fruit sweetness. Put it in the middle of the table with bread for scooping, or with couscous. Chef's tip: cook the prunes in a little of the sauce in a separate pan; poached apart, they stay whole and shiny instead of dissolving into the meat.

150 minMoroccanMeatGluten free
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Acılı ezmeSpicy tomato and pepper salad

Sit down at a kebab house in Adana or Gaziantep and a small dish of acılı ezme arrives before you have ordered: tomato, pepper, onion and parsley chopped almost to a paste, sharpened with pomegranate molasses and hot pepper flakes. It works just as well at a vegetarian table, spooned onto bulgur pilaf, falafel or grilled vegetables, or scooped up with warm flatbread. The mistake most people make is using a food processor: it turns the vegetables into watery soup instead of a thick, rough relish. Chef's tip: chop everything by hand with a big knife, then drain the tomatoes in a sieve for 5 minutes before mixing, so the ezme stays thick enough to sit on bread.

15 minTurkishChutneys & DipsVeganGluten freeSpicy
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Açorda alentejanaGarlic and coriander bread soup

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20 minPortugueseSoups
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Ada pradhamanRice flake pudding with coconut milk

Ada pradhaman is the king of payasams on the Onam sadya across Kerala, served last on the banana leaf, sometimes with a crushed pappadam stirred in. Small flakes of rice ada are cooked soft, glazed in ghee and jaggery syrup, then simmered in thin coconut milk and finished with thick first-press milk, cardamom and a pinch of dried ginger. It is deep caramel-brown, silky and chewy at once. Serve warm in small bowls, or slightly chilled the next day. Chef's tip: rinse the cooked ada under cold water straight away; it stops the flakes sticking into a lump.

65 minIndianIndian SweetsGluten free
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AdaiRice and lentil pancakes

Adai is the hearty cousin of the dosa, made in Tamil homes for a weekend breakfast or an early dinner, and in Tamil Brahmin families traditionally served with avial and a lump of jaggery and white butter. Rice and a mix of toor, chana, urad and moong dal are soaked and ground coarsely with red chillies, ginger and hing, so the batter needs no fermenting at all. The pancakes are thicker than dosa, crunchy at the edges and soft and gritty in the middle, with a deep, spicy, lentil flavour and plenty of protein. Chef's tip: grind the batter like coarse semolina, not silky; that texture is what gives adai its crisp, lacy rim.

50 minIndianBreakfast & BrunchVeganGluten free
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Adas poloLentil rice with dates

Adas polo is a homely Tehran weekday rice, also served at the Yalda winter-solstice gathering in December, when tables fill with dried fruit. Brown lentils and long-grain rice are layered and steamed together, then topped with dates and raisins warmed in butter with cinnamon, so every spoonful is savoury, earthy and lightly sweet. Unlike Levantine lentil-and-rice dishes, the rice keeps its long separate grains and gets a saffron crust underneath. Serve it with yogurt, a herb plate and salad shirazi for a complete meal. Chef's tip: cook the lentils separately until just tender but whole; they finish softening during the steam.

75 minPersianRice & GrainsGluten free
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Adjaruli khachapuriCheese bread boat with egg

On the Black Sea promenade in Batumi, the capital of Adjara, this is the bread people queue for after a swim: a boat of soft yeasted dough, the middle filled with molten cheese, and an egg yolk and a slab of butter dropped in at the very end. You stir the yolk and butter through the cheese with a fork at the table, then tear off the crisp ends and dip them in. Locals say the shape is a boat and the yolk the sun over the sea. Georgian imeruli and sulguni cheeses are hard to find outside Georgia, so this uses mozzarella with feta for the salty tang. Choose cheeses labelled vegetarian (microbial rennet). The usual home mistake is putting the egg in too early, which sets it hard; the yolk should go in only for the last 2 minutes so it stays runny. Chef's tip: roll the long edges inwards tightly and pinch the tips hard, or they will unroll in the oven and the cheese will flood the tray.

120 minGeorgianBreads & Parathas
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Göyərti qutabıHerb-filled flatbreads

Qutab are the thin half-moon flatbreads that Baku eats at any hour, folded around a filling and cooked in seconds on a domed iron saj, then stacked and brushed with butter. Göyərti qutabı, the green version, is the spring favourite: a handful of chopped spinach, sorrel, dill, coriander and spring onion sealed inside dough rolled so thin the greens show through. They are eaten hot, three or four at a time, sprinkled with sumac and dipped in garlicky yogurt, and appear on every table at Novruz in March. In autumn the same dough wraps pumpkin; that variation is in the steps. Chef's tip: season the greens only just before filling; salt draws out water, and wet greens tear the paper-thin dough.

65 minAzerbaijaniBreads & Parathas
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Adobong kangkongBraised water spinach

In Manila and across Luzon, adobong kangkong is the cheap green that sits in a tray at the carinderia, the roadside canteen where office workers and jeepney drivers point at two or three dishes to go with their rice. It is not a stir-fry in the Chinese or Malay sense: the water spinach is cooked briefly in an adobo base of cane vinegar, soy sauce, bay and cracked pepper, so the stems stay crunchy while the leaves soak up a sharp, salty, garlicky sauce that runs into the rice. It costs very little, takes ten minutes and is often the only vegetable on a weekday plate. Chef's tip: let the vinegar boil for a full minute before you stir anything, the way Filipino cooks do; the raw, harsh edge cooks off and the sauce turns mellow.

18 minFilipinoSidesVegan
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ÆbleskiverRound pancake puffs

From the first Sunday of Advent until Christmas, Danish homes and Christmas markets in Copenhagen's Tivoli smell of æbleskiver: little round pancake puffs cooked in a cast-iron pan with seven hemispherical wells. They are crisp and golden outside, light and almost custardy within, dipped in icing sugar and raspberry or strawberry jam, and washed down with gløgg or hot cocoa. The name means 'apple slices', a reminder that cooks once tucked a piece of apple inside; many families still do. Danes turn them with knitting needles or wooden skewers, a knack that takes a few rounds to learn. Chef's tip: turn each puff a quarter at a time; the raw batter flows into the space and builds the sphere, rather than flipping it all at once.

45 minScandinavianDesserts
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Chicken tagine with preserved lemon & olives

Few dishes say Fez quite like djaj mqualli, the golden chicken that turns up at family lunches, weddings and Friday tables across the old medina. The chicken simmers slowly in its own juices with grated onion, ginger and saffron until the meat slips off the bone and the onions melt into a thick, glossy, yellow sauce. Salty-sour preserved lemon and bright green olives go in near the end, cutting through the richness. Mop it up with crusty bread, or spoon it over plain couscous for a weekday dinner. Chef's tip: grate the onion rather than chopping it; it dissolves completely and gives the sauce its body without any flour.

75 minMoroccanChickenGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Baja fish tacos

Along the waterfront of Ensenada, in Baja California, fish taco stands open mid-morning and are often sold out by early afternoon. Strips of mild white fish go into a light, crackly batter, straight from the fryer into warm corn tortillas, and every customer finishes their own with shredded cabbage, a pour of crema and a squeeze of lime from the bowls on the counter. The batter here uses cold beer, which makes it puff and stay crisp; it contains alcohol, and ice-cold sparkling water gives almost the same lift without it. Chef's tip: keep the batter fridge-cold and mix it only until just combined, so the coating stays thin and shatters instead of turning bready.

40 minMexicanFish
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Ají picanteFresh chilli and coriander sauce

Every Colombian table has a bowl of ají, the loose, fresh hot sauce spooned onto empanadas, patacones, sancocho and arepas. Unlike a thick salsa, it is thin and bright: chopped hot chilli, spring onion, tomato and lots of coriander in lime juice, vinegar and water. Each family, from Bogotá to the Pacific coast, swears by its own heat level. Chef's tip: make it at least 30 minutes before eating; the onion softens and the chilli heat spreads through the liquid.

10 minColombianChutneys & DipsVeganGluten freeSpicy
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Afghan biscuitsChocolate cornflake biscuits

Afghans are a New Zealand classic, found in the old home baking books passed down in Kiwi kitchens and in the glass cabinets of cafés and bakeries from Christchurch to Whangārei. Nobody is quite sure where the name came from. The dough is rich with butter and cocoa, and lightly crushed cornflakes give each biscuit a crunchy, slightly rugged texture. A swirl of soft chocolate icing and a walnut half finish them off. They're not too sweet underneath, which is why the icing works so well. Chef's tip: crush the cornflakes only lightly with your hand; fine crumbs disappear, but big flakes give the crunch an afghan is known for.

35 minAustralianBaking
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Naga smoked pork with bamboo shoot

Many Naga kitchens have a rack of pork hanging above the fire, slowly smoking for weeks, and this stew is what it is saved for. The smoky meat is simmered with sour fermented bamboo shoot, crushed ginger and garlic and raja mircha, the famously hot king chilli, with almost no oil and no ground spices. In Kohima it is festival food during the Hornbill Festival in December and Sunday food all year, served with rice and boiled greens. Chef's tip: smoked pork is already salty, so salt only at the very end.

85 minIndianMeatGluten freeSpicy
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Andaman tamarind fried fish

Small seaside stalls at Corbyn's Cove and the fish shacks of Havelock fry the morning's catch this way: red snapper, mackerel or pomfret rubbed with a tangy paste of tamarind, chilli and garlic, dusted with rice flour and fried in a heavy pan until the edges blister. On the islands it is lunch with rice and dal, or a beach snack with onion rings and lime. It takes very little time, so cook it just before you eat. Chef's tip: dry the fish well with kitchen paper before the marinade goes on, so the paste sticks and the crust crisps.

37 minIndianFishGluten free
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Andaman coconut prawn curry

Many families in Port Blair and the South Andaman villages trace their roots to Bengal, and their seafood cooking blends that heritage with the coconut palms growing everywhere on the islands. This prawn curry starts like a Bengali malaikari — mustard oil, bay leaf, whole garam masala and onion paste — but leans more heavily on fresh coconut milk, and the prawns come straight from the Junglighat fish market. It is everyday island food, eaten with plain rice and a squeeze of lime. Chef's tip: heat the mustard oil until it just smokes, then let it cool for a minute; that takes off the raw, sharp edge.

40 minIndianFishGluten free
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Andhra kodi kuraSpicy chicken curry

Guntur district grows more red chilli than almost anywhere on earth, and Andhra home cooking wears that proudly. Kodi kura is the Sunday chicken curry of Andhra homes, from Vijayawada to the Rayalaseema villages: thick, red and properly hot, with a little ground poppy seed and coconut to round out the sauce. It is eaten with heaps of plain rice, a spoon of ghee and a bowl of rasam on the side, or with jowar rotis. Chef's tip: fry the masala until oil pools at the sides before adding any water; that is where the colour and flavour come from.

60 minIndianChickenGluten freeSpicy
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Chettinad chicken

The Nattukottai Chettiar merchants of Karaikudi and the villages around it in southern Tamil Nadu built grand mansions on the spice trade, and their kitchens show it. Their chicken curry is built on a masala roasted and ground at home: dried red chillies, black pepper, fennel, star anise, coconut and the earthy lichen called kalpasi. It is hot, aromatic and deep brown, and in Chettinad it is eaten at Sunday lunch and festivals with rice, idiyappam or flaky parotta. Chef's tip: grind the roasted masala while it is still warm with a splash of water; the oils release and the paste comes out smooth.

70 minIndianChickenGluten freeSpicy
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Thalassery chicken biryani

On the Malabar coast of northern Kerala, the port town of Thalassery makes its biryani with kaima (jeerakasala), a tiny fragrant rice that stays separate and buttery instead of long and dry. Mappila Muslim families serve it at weddings, at Eid and at Friday lunches, the chicken cooked first in a green-chilli and tomato masala, then buried under ghee rice and sealed for dum. There is no red chilli powder in it; the heat comes from fresh green chillies, and the sweetness from cashews, raisins and deeply fried onions. Serve it with a sharp date-and-onion pickle or a simple raita. Chef's tip: toast the washed, drained rice in ghee until it smells nutty before the water goes in; it keeps every grain whole.

120 minIndianRice & GrainsGluten free
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Pork vindaloo (vindalho)

Vindalho grew out of the Portuguese vinha d'alhos, meat kept in wine and garlic, which Goan Catholic cooks remade with palm vinegar, Kashmiri chillies and spices. In Goa it is a feast dish for Christmas, weddings and the big family lunch after a church feast, made a day or two ahead because it improves as it sits. Despite its fame, the real thing is more sour and garlicky than blisteringly hot, and it has no potatoes. This recipe contains no alcohol. Chef's tip: let the pork marinate overnight in the fridge so the vinegar and chilli go right through the meat.

125 minIndianMeatGluten freeSpicy
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Goan fish curry (xitt codi)

Ask anyone from Salcete or Bardez what they eat for lunch and the answer is xitt codi: rice (xitt) and curry (codi), almost always fish curry. The gravy is ground from fresh coconut and Kashmiri chillies, soured with kokum and tamarind, and cooked with whatever the boats brought in, from kingfish and pomfret to mackerel. It is a weekday dish, ladled over red Goan rice with a fried fish or a pickle on the side. Chef's tip: grind the coconut masala for a full 2–3 minutes until it is completely smooth; a grainy paste gives a thin, separated curry.

50 minIndianFishGluten freeSpicy
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Agra pethaCandied ash gourd sweets

Every train pulling out of Agra carries boxes of petha. The city's halwais have been candying ash gourd for generations, and the plain white kind remains the classic: firm, crystal-clear cubes with a sugar crust and a juicy centre, lightly scented with rose or kewra. At home it makes a good festival sweet for Diwali gifting because it keeps for two weeks. The firmness comes from soaking the gourd in food-grade slaked lime (chuna, sold as pickling lime) or, as some cooks prefer, in alum water. Leaving out the soak, or rushing it, is the most common mistake: the cubes fall apart in the syrup. Chef's tip: prick each cube deeply all over with a fork before soaking, so the lime water and later the syrup reach the centre.

110 minIndianIndian SweetsVeganGluten free
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Bhopali gosht korma

Bhopal was ruled for over a century by the Begums, and its Muslim kitchens developed their own style: earthier and more robust than the delicate cooking of Lucknow, with a liking for red chilli, roasted coriander and a thickening paste of dried coconut and poppy seeds. This mutton korma is the centrepiece of Eid lunches and nikah dinners in the old city around Chowk Bazaar, eaten with sheermal or khamiri roti. Compared with an Old Delhi chicken korma, it is darker, hotter and nuttier, and it's made with goat on the bone. Chef's tip: crush the fried onions roughly with your hands instead of blending them smooth; the little flecks of onion are part of the Bhopali texture.

140 minIndianMeatGluten freeSpicy
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Agua de jamaicaHibiscus iced drink

Agua de jamaica is one of the aguas frescas, the cooling fruit and flower drinks ladled from huge glass barrels at markets and taquerías all over Mexico. It is made by steeping dried hibiscus calyces (flor de jamaica) in hot water, giving a deep crimson drink that tastes tart like cranberry, lightly floral and very refreshing over ice. It is naturally vegan and keeps for days in the fridge. Use the concentrate as the base and sweeten to taste. Chef's tip: don't boil the flowers for long or leave them steeping for hours; too much extraction makes the drink tannic and harsh.

15 minMexicanDrinksVeganGluten free
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Mughlai chicken korma

In the lanes around the Jama Masjid in Old Delhi, korma is cooked in huge copper degs for Eid and wedding feasts and sold from dawn with khamiri roti and sheermal. It descends from the Mughal court kitchens, where 'korma' meant meat braised slowly in yogurt and its own juices rather than in water. This one is not the mild, pale, coconut-sweet korma of British curry houses: it is golden-brown, fragrant with cardamom and mace, enriched with almond paste and fried onions, and medium-hot. Chef's tip: fry the onions slowly to an even golden-brown and grind them with the yogurt; the browned onion paste is both the colour and the backbone of the sauce.

80 minIndianChickenGluten free
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Ais kacangShaved ice with red beans

Ais kacang ('bean ice'), also called ABC for air batu campur ('mixed ice'), is the towering, rainbow-coloured treat Malaysian kids beg for at food courts and hawker centres on hot afternoons. Underneath a snowy dome of shaved ice hide red beans, sweetcorn, cubes of black grass jelly and chopped peanuts; on top go streaks of pink rose syrup, dark palm-sugar syrup and a drizzle of condensed milk. Everyone digs in from the top and mixes it into a sweet, icy slush. Chef's tip: chill the bowls in the freezer for 15 minutes first, so the ice holds its peak long enough to get it to the table.

20 minMalaysianDessertsGluten free
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AjapsandaliAubergine and pepper stew

Ajapsandali is what Georgian kitchens make in late summer, when the markets of Tbilisi and the gardens of Kakheti are heaped with aubergines, peppers and tomatoes. The vegetables are fried briefly, layered in a pot and left to stew gently until soft and sweet, then finished with a whole handful of coriander, basil and garlic. It is eaten warm with bread as a main dish during Lent, or cold the next day as a side at a feast. The common mistake is stirring it too often, which breaks everything into mush; shake the pan instead and let the layers keep their shape. Chef's tip: fry the aubergine on its own first until golden; this one step gives the whole stew its deep, rounded flavour.

65 minGeorgianVegetarianVeganGluten free
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Tandoori chicken

Tandoori chicken comes from Punjab, where clay tandoor ovens fired with wood or charcoal reach well over 400 °C and roast marinated chicken in minutes. In Punjabi dhabas and wedding buffets it arrives on a sizzling plate with raw onion rings, lemon and mint chutney, and it's the starting point for butter chicken. A home oven can't match a tandoor, but a very hot oven plus a final blast under the grill gets you charred edges and juicy meat. The two-step marinade (lemon and salt first, then spiced yogurt) is the key. Chef's tip: cut deep slashes right down to the bone; the marinade gets inside and the thick legs cook through at the same time as the thinner parts.

55 minIndianChickenGluten free
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Ají de gallinaChicken in creamy chilli sauce

Lima's old criollo kitchens turned leftover hens into this golden, velvety stew, and it still turns up at family lunches, office canteens and menú del día stalls all over the capital. Poached chicken is pulled into threads and folded into a sauce thickened with milk-soaked bread, ground walnuts and parmesan, coloured by ají amarillo, Peru's fruity yellow chilli. It is served over white rice with boiled potatoes, a halved egg and a black olive. Chef's tip: keep the poaching broth; loosening the sauce with it instead of more milk gives a deeper, more chickeny flavour.

70 minPeruvianChickenSpicy
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Butter chicken

Butter chicken was born in the Punjabi restaurants of Old Delhi after Partition, when cooks found a way to use up tandoori chicken by simmering it in tomatoes, butter and cream. It is not the same as chicken tikka masala: tikka masala builds its sauce on fried onions and is chunkier and spicier, while makhani gravy has no onion at all, is strained silky-smooth, and gets its gentle sweetness and smoky-savoury note from butter, cashews and dried fenugreek leaves. It is the dish families order for celebrations across Delhi and Punjab, mopped up with butter naan or eaten with jeera rice, and it's mild enough for children. Chef's tip: crush the kasuri methi between your palms right over the pot; that one step is what makes it taste like the restaurant version.

70 minIndianChickenGluten free
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Kullu trout

Rainbow trout were introduced to the cold, fast Beas river over a century ago, and today the farms and roadside dhabas between Kullu and Manali serve it simply: rubbed with lemon and a light masala, then fried whole in a hot pan. It is what travellers stop for on the drive up to the snow, eaten with rice, a green salad and a squeeze of lemon. The spicing is gentle so the clean, sweet flavour of the fish stays in front. Chef's tip: dry the fish very well and leave it alone in the pan for the first few minutes; moving it too early tears the skin, which should come out crisp.

25 minIndianFishGluten free
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Rogan josh

In the Kashmir Valley this deep-red lamb braise turns up at every wazwan, the multi-course wedding feast cooked by hereditary chefs, and on Sunday tables in Srinagar through the cold months. The Kashmiri Pandit version cooked here uses no onion, garlic or tomato: the colour comes from mild Kashmiri chillies, the warmth from ground fennel and dry ginger, and the body from yogurt cooked down until the fat rises red to the top (that red oil is the 'rogan'). Eat it with plain steamed rice, the Kashmiri way. Chef's tip: use bone-in shoulder or leg and give it time; the bones and slow simmer make the thick, glossy gravy, and boneless meat turns stringy before the sauce is ready.

120 minIndianMeatGluten freeSpicy
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Ajiaco santafereñoChicken and potato soup

On cold, drizzly afternoons in Bogotá, high up in the Andes, families sit down to ajiaco: a thick chicken soup made with three kinds of potato. Small yellow papas criollas melt away and thicken the broth, while waxy and floury potatoes keep some bite. Guascas, a dried herb with a grassy, artichoke-like taste, gives the soup its unmistakable flavour, and each bowl comes with corn on the cob, a spoon of cream, capers and slices of avocado to add at the table. A frequent mistake is adding all the potatoes at once; the papas criollas go in first so they can dissolve, the firmer ones later. Chef's tip: if you can't find guascas in a Latin shop, use a mix of dried oregano and a little dried thyme; the soup will still be good, just less Bogotá.

100 minColombianSoupsGluten free
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Tobago curry crab and dumpling

On Tobago, curry crab and dumpling is the dish people travel for, eaten with fingers on Sunday afternoons and sold at the Store Bay food huts near Crown Point, where a plate is half the reason to visit. Blue crabs are cleaned, rubbed with green seasoning, 'burnt' in curry and simmered in coconut milk until the shells turn red and the sauce goes rich, spicy and sweet with crab. Long, flat flour dumplings cook right in the gravy and soak it all up. It's messy, so have bowls for shells and plenty of napkins. Chef's tip: crack the claws lightly before they go in the pot, so the curry can get inside and the meat is easy to pull out at the table.

90 minTrinidadianFishSpicy
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Eomuk-tangFish cake soup

On cold evenings in Busan, the city that made Korean fish cake famous, steam rises from street stalls where folded fish-cake skewers bob in a long tray of broth. You help yourself to a skewer, dip it in soy sauce and sip a paper cup of the hot broth while you stand. Bupyeong market has rows of fish-cake shops, and many families buy a bag there to make this simple soup at home. Radish, dried anchovies and kelp give the broth its clean, sweet flavour. Chef's tip: pull the heads and black guts off the dried anchovies before using them, because the guts make the broth bitter.

25 minKoreanSoups
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AjvarRoasted pepper and aubergine relish

Every September the smell of charring peppers drifts over courtyards from Leskovac in southern Serbia to Strumica in North Macedonia, as families roast crates of long red babura peppers on wood stoves and spend a whole Sunday stirring the pulp into ajvar for the winter shelves. A little roasted aubergine softens the flavour, and long cooking with sunflower oil turns it into a glossy, sweet-smoky spread that is eaten on bread with white cheese, beside beans or potatoes, and with almost every winter meal. This is a home-sized batch for two medium jars rather than a cellar full. Chef's tip: do not rinse the roasted peppers under the tap to get the skins off; it washes away the smoky juices that make ajvar taste of autumn, so peel them with oiled fingers and a paper towel instead.

145 minBalkanChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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Oxtail with butter beans

Oxtail started out as a cheap cut in Jamaica and is now the Sunday-best dish that cookshops in Kingston sell out of first, and that people across the diaspora queue for on Saturdays. The bony pieces are seasoned overnight, browned hard, then braised slowly for hours with pimento, thyme and whole scotch bonnet until the meat slides off the bone and the gravy turns glossy with gelatine. Butter beans go in near the end to soak up the gravy. Serve with rice and peas, steamed cabbage and fried plantain. Chef's tip: cook it a day ahead, chill, and lift off the hard layer of fat before reheating; the gravy is cleaner and the flavour deeper.

235 minJamaicanMeat
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Akki rottiRice flour flatbread

Akki rotti is the breakfast of Bengaluru and the old Mysore country: rice flour mixed with grated vegetables, dill, coconut and green chilli, patted out thin by hand straight onto a cold pan, then cooked until speckled and crisp at the edges. Every home has its own mix; dill (sabbasige soppu) is the classic flavour, but cucumber, carrot or fenugreek all turn up. It is eaten hot off the pan with coconut chutney or a dab of ghee and spicy chutney powder, and it is naturally gluten-free. Chef's tip: work with two pans in turn, patting the next rotti onto a cooled pan while the first one cooks; patting onto a hot pan burns your fingers and gives an uneven rotti.

40 minIndianBreads & ParathasVeganGluten free
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Brown stew chicken

Ask a Jamaican what was on the table for weekday dinner growing up and brown stew chicken will be near the top of the list, served at home and at every cookshop from Montego Bay to Spanish Town. The deep colour comes from 'browning': sugar caramelised in hot oil until it is dark, then the seasoned chicken is turned in it so every piece takes on a mahogany coat. Peppers, onion, tomato and thyme simmer down into a sticky, savoury gravy that begs for a pile of white rice, rice and peas or boiled dumplings. Chef's tip: season the chicken the night before and dry each piece well before it goes into the caramel; wet chicken spits violently and won't take on that deep brown colour.

70 minJamaicanChickenGluten free
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Akoho sy voanioChicken in coconut milk

Akoho sy voanio, chicken with coconut, is a dish of Madagascar's east coast around Toamasina, where coconuts are everywhere, and it has become a favourite all over the island. Chicken is browned with onion, garlic, ginger and tomato, then simmered gently in coconut milk with a pinch of curry until the sauce is creamy and mild. It is eaten with plenty of white rice and a little achard (vegetable pickle). The mistake is boiling the coconut milk hard so it splits; keep it at a gentle bubble. Chef's tip: brown the chicken well first; the coconut sauce needs that savoury depth.

65 minMalagasyChickenGluten free
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AkokCaramelised egg and coconut cakes

Akok is a Kelantanese kuih traditionally baked in small brass moulds over coals, with more coals laid on the lid, and it is a classic for breaking the fast in Kota Bharu during Ramadan. The batter is mostly eggs, coconut milk and dark gula melaka, so the little cakes come out custardy in the middle with a dark, caramelised, almost sticky crust. A mini-muffin tin in a hot oven gives a very close result. Chef's tip: heat the greased tin in the oven before filling it, which is how the base caramelises.

40 minMalaysianDesserts
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Jamaican curry goat

No Jamaican wedding, nine-night or big Sunday family lunch is complete without a pot of curry goat, often cooked outdoors in a huge pot by whoever has the steadiest hand with the seasoning. It came to the island with Indian indentured workers in the 1800s and became fully Jamaican with scotch bonnet, pimento and thyme. The bone-in pieces are seasoned overnight, browned with the curry powder until it darkens, then simmered for a couple of hours into a rich, brick-yellow gravy with soft potatoes that thicken it. Serve with white rice or rice and peas and a little fried plantain. If you can't find goat, bone-in mutton or lamb shoulder works the same way. Chef's tip: 'burn' the curry first; fry the curry powder in hot oil for a minute until it darkens and smells toasty before the meat goes in, and the gravy will never taste raw or chalky.

160 minJamaicanCurriesGluten freeSpicy
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AktoriBuckwheat pancakes with greens

High in the Spiti and Lahaul valleys of Himachal Pradesh, where wheat struggles, buckwheat (kathu) grows in short summer fields and its leaves are eaten as a vegetable too. Aktori are thin buckwheat pancakes cooked with a layer of those greens inside, dotted with ghee and eaten warm with yogurt or salty butter tea. Families make them on festival mornings and through the long winter. Outside the valleys, spinach or young chard stands in well for buckwheat leaves. Chef's tip: keep the batter as thin as pouring cream; buckwheat has no gluten, so a thick batter cooks up gummy instead of tender.

30 minIndianBreakfast & BrunchGluten free
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Ackee and saltfish

On a Jamaican Sunday morning, from Kingston yards to country kitchens in St Mary, the smell of salt cod frying with onion, thyme and scotch bonnet means breakfast is nearly ready. The ackee itself is a red tree fruit whose cream-coloured flesh cooks up soft and mild, a lot like scrambled egg, and it soaks up the salty fish and peppery oil around it. It is eaten with fried dumplings, boiled green banana, roast breadfruit or hard dough bread, and is just as welcome at lunch. A note on safety: ackee is only safe when the pod has ripened on the tree and opened by itself, and the black seeds and pink membrane are removed. Outside Jamaica, tinned ackee is the safe, easy choice and is what this recipe uses. Chef's tip: soak the saltfish overnight and then boil it once; taste a flake before it goes in the pan, because you can always add salt but you can't take it out.

50 minJamaicanFishGluten free
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Paella valenciana

In the villages around Valencia, paella is a Sunday lunch dish, never a dinner one, cooked in the open air by whoever in the family has the steadiest hand and eaten straight from the pan with spoons. The Valencian original has no seafood, no chorizo and no peas: just chicken, rabbit, wide flat green beans (ferraura), big white garrofó beans, tomato, sweet pimentón, saffron and short round rice. If you can't get rabbit, use all chicken; it is still very good. This version is sized for a 38–40 cm paella pan on a large hob ring or a barbecue. Chef's tip: once the rice goes in, smooth it flat and then leave it alone; stirring releases starch and turns paella into risotto.

75 minSpanishRice & GrainsGluten free
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Ala thel dalaDevilled potatoes

Ala thel dala means 'potato tempered in oil', and it's the quick, fiery potato fry that Sri Lankan mothers make when there's no time for a full curry, served with rice, packed into a lunch box with parippu, or eaten with bread at breakfast. Boiled potato cubes are tossed in hot oil with mustard seeds, plenty of red onion, curry leaves, turmeric and roughly crushed dried chilli until the edges turn golden and the onion goes soft and sweet. Unlike an Indian aloo sabzi there are no ground cumin or coriander, just chilli heat, onion and curry leaf. The usual mistake is boiling the potatoes until they're soft right through; they then break up in the pan. Chef's tip: stop boiling when a knife still meets a little resistance in the middle; the potatoes finish cooking in the pan and keep their shape.

25 minSri LankanSidesVeganGluten freeSpicy
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Ga nuong com lam (lemongrass chicken with bamboo rice)

Up in the Central Highlands, around Kon Tum, Pleiku and Buôn Ma Thuột, roadside grills and village homestays serve this pair: chicken marinated in lemongrass and chilli, grilled slowly over charcoal, and cơm lam, sticky rice cooked inside green bamboo tubes laid in the fire. Splitting the charred bamboo reveals a cylinder of rice wrapped in a thin, fragrant skin of bamboo membrane. Both are eaten with the hands and dipped in salt, pepper and lime or a crushed peanut and sesame salt. Without fresh bamboo, rolling the rice in banana-leaf parcels gives a very similar result. Highland rice wine (rượu cần) is the usual drink, but cold jasmine tea goes just as well and is alcohol-free. Chef's tip: brush on the honey only in the last few minutes of grilling so it glazes without burning.

60 minVietnameseChickenGluten free
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EpisGreen herb seasoning base

Epis is the jar that lives in every Haitian fridge, in Port-au-Prince flats and in Haitian kitchens in Miami, Montreal and Boston alike, and it's made fresh most weeks. Flat-leaf parsley, spring onion, garlic, sweet peppers and thyme are pounded or blended with a few cloves, a little scotch bonnet, oil and lime into a loose green paste. It is the first thing into the pot for rice and beans, legim and soup joumou, and it's rubbed over vegetables and tofu before they're fried. Raw it smells bright and herby; cooked it turns sweet, savoury and gently warm with clove. Chef's tip: use whole cloves and grind them yourself; just three or four give epis its signature warmth, but more turns it medicinal.

15 minHaitianBasicsVeganGluten free
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Albóndigas en salsaMeatballs in tomato almond sauce

Albóndigas turn up all over Spain: in a cazuelita on a tapas bar counter, as the second course of a weekday menú del día, and in home kitchens on a Sunday when there is time to roll them. These are made with pork and beef, softened with milk-soaked bread, browned and then simmered in a tomato sauce thickened the old Spanish way with ground fried almonds, which gives it body and a gentle nutty sweetness. Serve them with chips, rice or plenty of bread. They taste even better the next day. Chef's tip: wet your hands with cold water before rolling each meatball; the mixture won't stick and the balls come out smooth and round.

60 minSpanishMeat
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ErisseryPumpkin and cowpea curry

Erissery is the golden, slightly sweet pumpkin dish of the Onam sadya in Kerala, and a favourite in homes all through the harvest season when the yellow mathanga pumpkins are piled up in the markets. Soft pumpkin and red cowpeas are bound with a coconut, cumin and green chilli paste, and the whole pot is crowned with grated coconut fried in coconut oil until it turns the colour of cinnamon. That crunchy, nutty topping is what makes it erissery. Serve with rice and parippu, or scoop it up with chapati. Chef's tip: keep the pumpkin pieces large so some stay whole while others melt into the sauce.

60 minIndianCurriesVeganGluten free
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Alfajores de maicenaCornflour dulce de leche sandwich cookies

Alfajores de maicena are the homemade alfajor of Argentina and Uruguay, baked for birthdays, school fairs and merienda (afternoon tea) with mate. Two pale, melt-in-the-mouth biscuits made mostly with cornflour are sandwiched with a thick layer of dulce de leche and rolled in desiccated coconut around the edge. They should crumble at the first bite. Chef's tip: take them out of the oven while still pale; if they colour they lose their tender, sandy texture.

42 minArgentinianBaking
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Ca loc nuong trui (straw-grilled whole fish)

After the rice harvest in the Mekong Delta, farmers would catch snakehead from the flooded fields, skewer each fish on a stick, stand it in the ground and pile dry rice straw over it before setting it alight. When the straw burns away the blackened skin peels off to reveal steaming, sweet white flesh, which is rolled in rice paper with herbs, cucumber and rice noodles. Countryside restaurants around Cần Thơ still serve it this way. Snakehead is hard to buy outside Asia, so use sea bass, barramundi or tilapia and a barbecue or a hot oven. Chef's tip: push a long metal skewer from mouth to tail so you can turn the fish over without it breaking.

50 minVietnameseFish
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Lau mam (Mekong fermented fish hotpot)

In Cần Thơ and Sóc Trăng, lẩu mắm is the hotpot friends gather round at weekends, and it is at its best in the flood season, when wild greens, water lily stems and yellow sesbania flowers fill the markets. The broth starts from mắm, fish fermented with salt and roasted rice, which is simmered and strained, then softened with coconut water, lemongrass and a little sugar. Everyone cooks their own slices of pork belly, fish, prawns and squid at the table and eats them with rice noodles and whatever vegetables are piled beside the pot. Buy mắm cá linh or mắm cá sặc in jars from a Vietnamese grocer. Chef's tip: add the strained mắm gradually and taste as you go, because jars vary a lot in saltiness.

60 minVietnameseSoupsSpicy
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Banh canh cua (crab noodle soup)

Saigon's bánh canh cua is a late-afternoon and evening soup, sold from street stalls and small shops where the pots of red-orange broth sit beside trays of crab claws, prawns and quail eggs. The noodles are thick, round and bouncy, made with tapioca or a mix of tapioca and rice flour, and the broth is thickened slightly so it clings to them. Crab meat sautéed with shallots and annatto colours the soup and gives it its sweet, rich taste. Fresh bánh canh noodles are sold chilled in Asian shops; thick udon is a fair stand-in. Chef's tip: stir the crab meat in the annatto oil for only a minute so it stays in big, sweet lumps.

60 minVietnameseSoups
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White rose dumplings (banh bao banh vac)

Restaurants all over Hội An serve 'white rose' dumplings as a starter, and much of the town's supply is said to come from a single family workshop that has made them for decades. The wrapper is a thin, glassy rice-flour dough, pinched up around a pounded prawn filling so that each dumpling looks like an open flower, and the plate is finished with crisp fried shallots and a light, sweet chilli-fish-sauce dip. They are delicate and fiddly, but shaping becomes quick after the first dozen. This home version adds a little pork to the prawn for juiciness. Chef's tip: keep the dough under a damp cloth the whole time; even a few minutes in the air makes it crack when you pinch it.

75 minVietnameseSnacks & Starters
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