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Roasted corn and ube (African pear)
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Roasted corn and ube (African pear)

When the rains come between June and September, roadside roasters all over southern Nigeria fan charcoal under rows of maize cobs, and next to them sits a basin of ube, the purple African pear, softened in hot water. A bite of chewy, smoky corn and a scrape of the pear's rich, salty, almost avocado-like flesh is the whole point, and at home a grill or a gas flame does the job. Dropping ube into boiling water is a common mistake: the skins split and the flesh turns watery and bitter, so use water that is hot but not bubbling. Chef's tip: no ube? Fresh coconut chunks are the other classic partner for roasted corn.

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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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Liège waffles

In Liège, in French-speaking Wallonia, the waffle is not a light batter but a rich yeasted dough studded with pearl sugar, eaten warm from a paper sleeve as you walk down the street. As it cooks in a deep-grid iron, the sugar nuggets melt and caramelise into a crackling, toffee-like crust, while the inside stays soft and chewy like brioche. Belgians eat them plain, any time of day, not loaded with cream (that is the lighter Brussels waffle). Chef's tip: knead the pearl sugar in only at the very end, after the dough has risen; if it goes in earlier, it dissolves and the waffles lose their crunch.

50 minBelgianBaking
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Stoemp with leeks and spinach

Stoemp (from the Brussels dialect word for 'to mash') is what Brussels brasseries such as those around the Marolles serve on cold days: potatoes crushed together with whatever vegetable is in season, rich with butter and nutmeg. Unlike Dutch stamppot, the vegetables are usually cooked separately and softened in butter first, which gives a sweeter, silkier mash. Leek and spinach is one of the most popular versions in Brussels, and a fried egg with a runny yolk on top turns it into supper. The meat versions come with sausages; this is meat-free. Chef's tip: cook the leeks slowly in butter until they almost melt; quick-fried leeks stay stringy and squeaky in the mash.

45 minBelgianVegetarianGluten free
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Ají picanteFresh chilli and coriander sauce

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10 minColombianChutneys & DipsVeganGluten freeSpicy
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Afghan biscuitsChocolate cornflake biscuits

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35 minAustralianBaking
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20 minAzerbaijaniDrinksVeganGluten free
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Azerbaijani black tea

In Azerbaijan tea comes before, during and after everything, served in small pear-shaped armudu glasses in teahouses (çayxana) from Baku's boulevard to the hill towns of Lankaran, where most of the country's tea is grown. It is strong, clear and red-brown, often brewed with a sprig of mountain thyme (kəklikotu) or a crushed cardamom pod, and served with lemon, sugar cubes and little dishes of jam: cherry, quince, white cherry or even walnut. People sip the tea through a sugar cube held in the mouth or with a spoonful of jam, never stirring jam into the glass. It is also the drink that settles a match: tea served sweet at a matchmaking visit means yes. Chef's tip: warm the pot and glasses with boiling water first; tea brewed in a cold pot never reaches full colour.

12 minAzerbaijaniDrinksVeganGluten free
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BadamburaLayered almond rolls

Badambura means "almond twist", and in Baku it is the cousin of shekerbura that takes more patience: the dough is rolled thin, brushed with butter and rolled up in a long spiral, so it bakes into crisp, flaky layers around a moist almond filling. It is made for Novruz and weddings and sold year-round in the old-city bakeries of Icherisheher, wrapped in paper with a dusting of icing sugar. The flavour is pure almond and cardamom with a hint of vanilla. Serve with black tea in pear-shaped glasses. Chef's tip: keep the rolled spiral cold in the fridge for 20 minutes before cutting; firm dough keeps its layers.

115 minAzerbaijaniBaking
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Lentil and apricot soup

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55 minArmenianSoupsVeganGluten free
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Miso katsu (Nagoya pork cutlet with red miso sauce)

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40 minJapaneseMeat
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Roasted cauliflower with tahini

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60 minIsraeliVegetarianVeganGluten free
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Matzo ball soup with vegetable broth

Ashkenazi Jewish families from Kraków to New York serve matzo ball soup at the Passover seder and whenever someone has a cold, and arguments about 'floaters' versus 'sinkers' go back generations. Here the broth is golden and savoury without chicken: onions browned with their skins, carrots, celery, parsnip and a few dried mushrooms simmered with dill. The kneidlach are made with oil instead of chicken fat and a splash of sparkling water so they come out light and fluffy. Chef's tip: chill the matzo mixture for at least 30 minutes; it needs time to absorb the liquid or the balls fall apart in the pot.

90 minIsraeliSoups
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Eggs with dates and onions

On a winter morning in the Emirati countryside, when the date palms have given their harvest, a pan of eggs scrambled with onion and chopped dates is a quick, filling breakfast eaten with flatbread and a glass of sweet tea. The dates melt into sticky pockets among the eggs, the onions add savoury sweetness and a pinch of cardamom ties it together. It is homely food rarely seen in restaurants, made in minutes from what every Gulf kitchen has. Chef's tip: use soft, moist dates such as khalas or medjool; dry ones stay chewy and never melt into the eggs.

15 minGulf ArabianBreakfast & BrunchGluten free
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Agra pethaCandied ash gourd sweets

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110 minIndianIndian SweetsVeganGluten free
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Goan ros omelette

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70 minIndianBreakfast & BrunchSpicy
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Agua de jamaicaHibiscus iced drink

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15 minMexicanDrinksVeganGluten free
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Nyonya chap chyeBraised cabbage with glass noodles

In Peranakan homes in Melaka and Penang, chap chye (mixed vegetables) is cooked in a big pot for Chinese New Year and family prayer days. Cabbage, dried shiitake, wood ear, lily buds and beancurd skin are braised with garlic and tau cheo, the salty fermented soybean paste, until everything is soft and the glass noodles have soaked up the savoury gravy. Many families add pork belly or prawns, but the vegetarian pot is just as traditional for the first day of the new year. It tastes better the next day. Chef's tip: fry the tau cheo with the garlic until it smells nutty before anything else goes in.

50 minMalaysianVegetarianVegan
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Hong Kong vegetable macaroni soup

Walk into any Hong Kong cha chaan teng before 11 am and you'll see bowls of macaroni in clear soup on almost every table, part of the breakfast set with toast and milk tea. The usual version carries strips of ham; at home many families make it with sweetcorn, peas, carrot and a fried egg instead, for a light, comforting bowl that children love. Chef's tip: cook the macaroni separately and add it to the broth at the end, so it stays springy and the soup stays clear.

15 minHong KongSoups
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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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Claypot rice with mushroom and tofu

In winter, the dai pai dong stalls of Temple Street and Mong Kok line up dozens of little clay pots over roaring flames, and queues form for bou zai faan: rice cooked right in the pot, topped with the day's ingredients and doused with sweet soy at the table. The prize is the golden, crackling crust (faan jiu) at the bottom. This vegetarian pot uses shiitake, fried tofu puffs and choy sum, seasoned with a mushroom-based vegetarian oyster sauce. Chef's tip: once the rice has absorbed its water, drizzle oil round the inside edge of the pot and turn it slowly over the flame; that's how the crust forms evenly instead of burning in one spot.

50 minHong KongRice & GrainsVegan
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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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Hong Kong French toast

In Hong Kong's cha chaan teng (tea restaurants), French toast means two thick slices of white bread sandwiched with peanut butter, dipped in egg, fried until puffed and golden, then crowned with a pat of butter and a pour of golden syrup or condensed milk. It is an afternoon tea-set favourite, paired with a strong cup of milk tea, and it's richer than any French version. Chef's tip: trim the crusts and press the sandwich edges firmly so the egg doesn't seep into the peanut butter.

20 minHong KongBreakfast & Brunch
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Hong Kong pineapple bun

Despite the name, there is no pineapple in a bolo bao; the crackled, golden sugar crust on top just looks like the fruit's skin. It is the best-selling bun in Hong Kong bakeries and cha chaan teng cafés, eaten warm at breakfast or tea time with milk tea, and many people order it as bo lo yau, split open with a thick, cold slice of butter melting into it. Chef's tip: roll the topping between two sheets of baking paper rather than on a floured board; the soft dough is fragile and paper lets you lift it on in one piece.

150 minHong KongBaking
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Taiwanese pineapple cakes

Feng li su are the gift-box sweet of Taiwan: little golden squares of crumbly, milky shortbread wrapped round a chewy pineapple jam. Bakeries in Taichung and Taipei pack them in tins for Lunar New Year, weddings and visiting relatives, and the name sounds like 'prosperity arriving' in Taiwanese Hokkien. Older bakeries bulk the filling with winter melon for a softer, sweeter jam; this home version uses fresh pineapple only, cooked down until thick and tangy. Chef's tip: chill the dough and the jam balls before wrapping; cold, firm pieces are far easier to seal without the jam breaking through.

90 minTaiwaneseBaking
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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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Gua bao with braised tofu and mushroom

Gua bao are the folded, clam-shaped buns sold at night markets from Tainan to Keelung, traditionally stuffed with a slab of soy-braised pork belly and eaten as a 'tiger bites pig' snack at year-end company dinners. Here the filling is thick slices of tofu and king oyster mushroom simmered in the same sweet soy braise, then layered with sour mustard greens, a spoon of ground peanut and sugar, and fresh coriander. The soft bun, salty filling and sweet peanut crumble are what make it. Chef's tip: brush the half-moons with oil before folding and lay a strip of baking paper inside, so the buns open cleanly after steaming.

120 minTaiwaneseFast FoodVegan
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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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Taipei sesame noodles

Ma jiang mian is the first thing many Taipei students order at the corner noodle shop, with a bowl of soup on the side and a plate of sliced cucumber. The noodles are tossed, never drowned, in a thick sauce of toasted sesame paste loosened with soy sauce, black vinegar and a little of the cooking water, then splashed with chilli oil. It works hot in winter and cold from the fridge in the sticky Taipei summer. Chef's tip: use Chinese toasted sesame paste rather than tahini if you can; it's made from roasted seeds and gives a much nuttier, darker sauce.

15 minTaiwanesePasta & NoodlesVegan
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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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Three-cup tofu

Three-cup dishes (san bei) are cooked in every Taiwanese home and in the rè chǎo stir-fry beer halls, where they arrive at the table still crackling in a clay pot. The name comes from the old equal measures of sesame oil, soy sauce and rice wine; today cooks use less, but the result is the same sticky, garlicky glaze lifted at the last second by a fistful of Taiwanese basil. Chicken is the most famous version; tofu soaks up the sauce even better and is just as popular in vegetarian restaurants around Taipei. Serve with plain rice. Chef's tip: fry the ginger slices in the sesame oil until they curl and frill at the edges before anything else goes in; that is where the dish's warm, toasty smell comes from.

35 minTaiwaneseVegetarianVegan
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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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Hong Kong egg waffles

Gai daan jai, 'little eggs', are the honeycomb sheets of puffed bubbles sold from street carts in Mong Kok and Sham Shui Po since the 1950s, handed over in a paper bag to be pulled apart bubble by bubble while you walk. A good one is crisp and thin on the outside and soft, almost hollow, in the middle, with the smell of egg, vanilla and evaporated milk. You need the special egg waffle pan with round cups. Chef's tip: rest the batter for at least 30 minutes; it bakes up lighter and the bubbles fill evenly.

30 minHong KongSnacks & Starters
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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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Shiitake and tofu lu rou fan

In Taipei, a bowl of lu rou fan costs little more than a bus fare, and night-market stalls ladle it from pots that have simmered since afternoon. The original is chopped pork belly stewed in soy sauce, rice wine and fried shallots; this meat-free version gets the same glossy, sticky richness from diced shiitake, browned firm tofu and plenty of shallot oil. It is a weekday lunch for office workers and a late snack after the markets, served with a heap of yellow pickled radish and a few blanched greens. Chef's tip: brown the tofu cubes hard before they go into the braise; a crust soaks up the sauce and chews almost like the meat it replaces.

90 minTaiwaneseRice & GrainsVegan
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Hong Kong milk tea

Hong Kong milk tea is the daily fuel of the city's cha chaan teng, poured hot in thick cups at breakfast and over ice in the humid afternoons. Tea masters brew a blend of strong black teas, strain it again and again through a long cotton bag (the stained 'silk stocking'), and mix it with evaporated milk for a smooth, almost velvety drink. Chef's tip: let the tea simmer for a few minutes rather than just steeping it; Hong Kong milk tea is meant to be strong and slightly astringent, or the milk drowns it.

15 minHong KongDrinksGluten 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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Vietnamese baked banana cake

Bánh chuối nướng is sold by the slab from glass-fronted carts and bakeries in Saigon, a soft, heavy cake made from overripe bananas, day-old bread and coconut milk, baked until the top turns deep amber and the bananas go sticky and jammy. It sits somewhere between a bread pudding and a custard cake, and Saigon people eat it as an afternoon snack, often with a little warm coconut sauce poured over. Home cooks make it to use up blackened bananas and stale baguette. Chef's tip: use the ripest bananas you can find, with brown-spotted skins; they give the cake its colour and sweetness.

85 minVietnameseDesserts
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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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Obi nonTandoor bread

Every Uzbek meal starts with bread torn by hand and passed round the table, and obi non is the everyday loaf: a round with a thick, soft rim and a thin, crisp centre pricked with a patterned stamp called a chekich. In Samarkand and Tashkent it comes out of clay tandoors at dawn, and across the border in Kazakhstan the same bread is sold as tandyr nan. Bread is never cut with a knife and never laid face down. A very hot oven and a baking stone or upturned tray come close to the tandoor at home. Eat it warm with green tea, achichuk salad, soups and plov. Chef's tip: press the centre really thin and prick it all over; if you don't, it puffs into a ball like pitta and you lose the flat, crackly middle.

40 minUzbekBreads & Parathas
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Obleas con arequipeWafers with dulce de leche

Obleas are the giant, paper-thin round wafers sold from street carts in Bogotá's parks and around Floridablanca in Santander, where they began. The vendor spreads two wafers with arequipe, Colombia's dulce de leche, and adds whatever you choose: blackberry jam, grated cheese, condensed milk or sprinkles, then presses them together. They are crisp, sticky and fun to make with children. Look for oblea wafers in Latin American shops. Chef's tip: assemble them right before eating; the wafers soften within an hour.

10 minColombianDesserts
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KhurmiWheat and jaggery biscuits

Khurmi are the sweet half of Chhattisgarh's Teeja-Pola festival snacks, made in big batches alongside the salty thethri. The dough is wheat flour and a little semolina bound with melted jaggery, studded with sesame and coconut, then cut into diamonds or pressed into small patterned shapes and fried until dark gold. They have a hard, crunchy bite and a deep caramel flavour, and they last for weeks in a steel dabba, ready for visitors and children back from school. Chef's tip: cool the jaggery water to lukewarm before kneading; hot jaggery makes a slack dough that spreads and soaks up oil.

55 minIndianIndian SweetsVegan
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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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Vegetarian bun rieu

In Hanoi, bún riêu is a mid-morning bowl bought from street sellers who set up on low plastic stools: a tangy red tomato broth with rice vermicelli and soft, floating curds that are normally made from pounded paddy crab. Vegetarian cooks and Buddhist temple kitchens make bún riêu chay instead, folding crumbled tofu, egg and chopped shiitake into the same loose, spongy curds, and seasoning the broth with fermented tofu rather than shrimp paste. It arrives with fried tofu, lime, chilli, shredded water spinach and perilla, so each spoonful is sour, savoury and fresh at once. Chef's tip: let the tomatoes fry in the annatto oil until they collapse into a jammy paste before any stock goes in; that is where the broth gets its colour and depth.

80 minVietnameseSoups
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Hitsumabushi (Nagoya grilled eel rice)

Order hitsumabushi in a Nagoya eel restaurant and it arrives in a round wooden tub, often with a small card explaining how to eat it. You divide the rice into quarters: eat the first plain, the second with spring onion, wasabi and nori, the third drowned in hot dashi or green tea, and the last whichever way you liked best. Nagoya cooks grill the eel until the skin is crisp, then chop it into strips. At home, ready-grilled eel fillets (unagi kabayaki, sold frozen in Japanese shops) work very well once reheated properly. Chef's tip: spoon a little of the sweet sauce through the rice before the eel goes on, so every mouthful is seasoned, not just the top layer.

40 minJapaneseFish
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Kishimen (Nagoya flat noodle soup)

Travellers changing trains at Nagoya Station often grab a bowl of kishimen standing up at one of the platform noodle counters, and the dish is eaten all year in noodle shops across the city. The noodles are wide, thin and slippery, so they pick up a lot of broth with every mouthful. A typical bowl has a light, golden dashi, sweet fried tofu, a little green vegetable, a slice of fish cake and a big pile of bonito flakes that wave in the steam. It takes about 20 minutes from start to finish. Chef's tip: add the bonito topping right at the table, not in the kitchen; it softens and sinks within a minute, and the fresh smoky smell is half the pleasure.

20 minJapanesePasta & Noodles
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Sukiyaki (Kanto style)

Beef was rarely eaten in Japan until the Meiji era, when Tokyo's new beef-pot restaurants made it fashionable, and sukiyaki grew out of those pots. Today it is a dish for New Year, birthdays and family gatherings, cooked in a shallow iron pan on a burner in the middle of the table. In the Kanto style of Tokyo, the cook pours in a ready-mixed sauce called warishita, whereas Kansai cooks sear the beef with sugar and add soy sauce afterwards. Each piece is dipped in beaten raw egg, which cools it and softens the sweet, salty sauce. Use very fresh eggs, ideally pasteurised; not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system. If you prefer, skip the egg or poach it in the pan. Chef's tip: keep the shirataki noodles away from the beef in the pan; they can make the meat firm up and toughen where they touch.

40 minJapaneseMeat
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Fresh hot soy milk

On cold Da Lat nights, the steam rising from soy milk stalls is part of the scenery around the central market: big pots of freshly made sữa đậu nành, ladled hot into glasses and sipped with grilled rice paper or a warm bánh bao. Made at home, it tastes nutty and clean, nothing like the cartons, and a knot of pandan leaf gives it the gentle vanilla-like scent that Vietnamese sellers favour. Chef's tip: rub the soaked beans between your palms and float off the skins; peeled beans give a smoother, sweeter milk.

50 minVietnameseDrinksVeganGluten free
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Roti mataba (potato-stuffed roti)

Roti mataba came to southern Thailand with Indian-Muslim traders, and today the roti stalls of Hat Yai, Satun and Pattani, and the old Muslim quarter around Bangkok's Phra Athit Road, serve it from morning till late. A thin stretched roti is wrapped around a spiced filling, folded into a square and fried until crisp and blistered. Chicken or beef is the usual filling; the potato and onion version made here is also common and is the one sold to vegetarian customers. It comes cut into squares with a sweet-sour cucumber relish (ajad) on the side. Chef's tip: oil the dough balls and leave them to rest for at least two hours; rested dough stretches paper-thin without tearing.

70 minThaiSnacks & StartersVegan
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Kaeng tai pla jay (southern vegetable curry)

Kaeng tai pla is the boldest curry of southern Thailand, eaten from Surat Thani down to Hat Yai: a dark, pungent, fiercely hot broth of turmeric-heavy southern curry paste, pumpkin, bamboo shoots, aubergine and long beans, normally flavoured with fermented fish innards. During the Vegetarian Festival (thetsakan kin jay), held every autumn in Phuket and Trang, cooks make a 'jay' version with fermented soybean paste and roasted peanut, and that is the curry here. It is thinner than a coconut curry and served with rice and plenty of raw vegetables to cool the heat. Chef's tip: this curry is meant to be very hot. If you want less heat, add fewer bird's eye chillies to the paste but keep the black pepper and turmeric, which give it its character.

45 minThaiCurriesVeganGluten freeSpicy
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Khao yam (southern Thai rice salad)

Khao yam is breakfast in the south: in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Pattani and Songkhla, morning stalls set out trays of tightly shredded lemongrass, pomelo, long beans, bean sprouts, makrut lime leaves and toasted coconut, and you build your plate around a mound of rice, often tinted blue with butterfly pea flowers. The dressing is normally budu, a sweet fermented fish sauce from the Malay borderlands. This version makes a vegetarian 'budu' by simmering soy sauce, tamarind, palm sugar, lemongrass and shallot into a dark syrup. The result is crunchy, fragrant, sweet, salty and sour in every mouthful. Chef's tip: shred everything as finely as you can; thin slivers of lemongrass and lime leaf are pleasant, thick ones are woody.

45 minThaiSaladsVeganGluten free
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Ofe onugbuBitter leaf soup

Ofe onugbu is the soup Igbo families in Anambra and Enugu make for Sunday lunch and for visitors coming home at Christmas. Washed bitter leaf gives a gentle, pleasant bitterness, cocoyam paste thickens it, and beef, shaki (tripe), stockfish and dried fish add layer after layer of savoury flavour, all coloured by palm oil. It is eaten with pounded yam, eba or fufu, pinched up with the fingers. The mistake to avoid is using bitter leaf that hasn't been washed enough; it should taste only mildly bitter before it goes in. Chef's tip: frozen pre-washed bitter leaf from African grocers saves an hour of squeezing and rinsing.

130 minNigerianSoupsGluten free
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AllocoFried plantain with chilli sauce

Alloco is the evening street food of Abidjan, fried in palm or vegetable oil in big pans by vendors around the Allocodrome in Cocody and in every neighbourhood. Very ripe plantain is cut into thick slices or cubes, fried until caramelised at the edges, and eaten with a fiery raw sauce of onion, tomato and chilli. Unlike Ghanaian kelewele it is not marinated in spices: the sweetness of the fruit against the sharp sauce is the whole point. Chef's tip: wait until the plantain skins are mostly black; yellow plantain fries up dry and starchy.

25 minIvorianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten freeSpicy
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Roasted red pepper & fennel

Big pieces of sweet red pepper and fennel tossed with lemon, black pepper and olive oil and roasted until soft and just starting to brown, then topped with black olives, toasted pine nuts and fresh herbs. It works as a side or a light starter, warm or cold. The vegetables can also be roasted on the barbecue jiko.

40 minMediterraneanSidesVeganGluten free
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Almond ghribaChewy almond cookies

Ghriba are the crinkle-topped cookies that fill Moroccan biscuit trays for Eid, weddings and guests dropping by for tea; the almond version, ghriba bel louz, is especially loved in Fez and Tétouan. The dough is just ground almonds, sugar, egg and lemon zest, rolled in icing sugar so the top cracks into white rivers as it bakes. They are naturally gluten free, crisp at the edge and soft and chewy inside. Chef's tip: take them out when the cracks have formed but the centres still feel soft; they firm up as they cool, and overbaked ghriba turn hard.

35 minMoroccanBakingGluten free
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Tom saep het (Isan hot and sour mushroom soup)

'Saep' is the Isan word for delicious, and in the northeast it means hot, sour and herby all at once. Tom saep is the soup sold from big pots at Isan restaurants and roadside grill shops from Nakhon Ratchasima to Ubon, usually with pork bones or offal; mushroom versions are just as common during the rainy season, when wild mushrooms fill the markets. It has no coconut milk: the broth is clear and sharp with lemongrass, galangal, makrut lime leaves and handfuls of dried chilli, thickened slightly with roasted rice powder. Eat it with sticky rice and grilled vegetables. Chef's tip: add the lime juice off the heat; boiled lime turns bitter and loses its fresh sourness.

35 minThaiSoupsVeganGluten freeSpicy
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Tam taeng (Isan pounded cucumber salad)

In Khon Kaen, Udon Thani and the rest of Isan, the somtam stall always offers a cucumber version alongside the papaya one, and many locals prefer it on hot afternoons: tam taeng is juicier, cooler and crunchier. Thick batons of cucumber are bruised, not smashed, with garlic, chillies, lime and palm sugar, so they soak up the dressing but keep their snap. Sellers add fermented fish or dried shrimp; this vegan bowl leans on soy and toasted peanuts for depth instead. It is eaten with sticky rice and grilled food, picked up with your fingers. Chef's tip: use firm cucumbers with small seeds and scoop out a watery core, or the salad floods within minutes.

15 minThaiSaladsVeganGluten freeSpicy
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Khanom bueang (Thai crispy crêpes)

Khanom bueang are little taco-shaped crêpes made on hot round griddles at markets and outside temples all over Bangkok, especially around the old town near the Grand Palace. A vendor spreads a whisper-thin batter with the back of a spoon, swirls on a fluffy meringue cream, then tops it with shredded coconut or sweet egg yolk threads before folding it while still hot. The sweet version, made here, crackles like a wafer and melts on the tongue. A savoury one with coconut and spring onion also exists. They are eaten as an afternoon snack, a few at a time, as soon as they are made. Chef's tip: the batter must go on very thinly. Thick shells stay chewy and never crisp up.

60 minThaiDesserts
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Aloo ke gutkePotato cubes with mountain spices

Ask anyone from Kumaon what they miss most from home and aloo ke gutke comes up quickly. Hill potatoes are boiled, cut into rough chunks and tossed in smoking mustard oil with jakhiya, a tiny wild seed that pops and crunches like mustard but tastes more like toasted cumin. It's served at tea time with a mug of chai, on festival plates next to puri, and in local dhabas with cucumber raita. Outside Uttarakhand jakhiya is hard to find, so use cumin seeds with a few black mustard seeds instead; the dish will still taste right. Chef's tip: boil the potatoes a few hours ahead, or the night before, so they firm up and fry into crisp-edged cubes instead of crumbling.

40 minIndianSidesVeganGluten free
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Aloo keemaMinced meat with potatoes

Aloo keema is the dinner that turns up in Pakistani homes from Karachi to Peshawar several times a month: quick, cheap, and loved by children and grandparents alike. Mince is browned with onion, tomato and whole spices, then simmered with potato cubes and peas until the potatoes soak up the masala. It is usually eaten with hot chapati or paratha, and leftovers become a filling for sandwiches and samosas the next day. Chef's tip: keep frying the mince until all the water it releases has gone and it starts to sizzle; that's where the browned, meaty flavour comes from.

55 minPakistaniMeatGluten free
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Aloo acharPotato and sesame salad

Aloo ko achar is the potato salad of Nepal, but tangy, nutty and hot rather than creamy. Boiled potatoes are tossed with ground toasted sesame, lemon juice, green chilli and timur, then finished with mustard oil in which fenugreek seeds have been fried dark. You find it everywhere: in tiffin boxes on the way to school, at picnics and on the long leaf plates of Newar feasts, alongside beaten rice and spicy beans, and it is a fixture at Dashain and Tihar gatherings when food has to sit out for hours. It keeps well, and the flavour improves after a rest. Dressing the potatoes while still hot is the usual mistake: they soak it up and turn mushy, so let them cool first. Chef's tip: toast the sesame until it just starts to pop and smells like popcorn, then grind it to a coarse sandy powder; it thickens the dressing and gives the salad its nuttiness.

30 minNepaliSaladsVeganGluten free
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Kluay tod (Thai fried bananas)

In the afternoons, Bangkok's street-corner woks switch from noodles to snacks, and kluay tod is the one you smell from down the soi: wedges of small, firm bananas in a coconut and sesame batter, fried until bronze and sold in paper bags. The batter is made with rice flour and a little lime water, so it shatters rather than turning bready, while the banana inside goes soft and jammy. Thais use kluay nam wa, a short, tart banana; firm, just-ripe ordinary bananas work too. Eat them warm, on their own or with a scoop of coconut ice cream. Chef's tip: overripe bananas fall apart and soak up oil; choose ones that are yellow with no brown spots.

25 minThaiDessertsVeganGluten free
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Aloo postoPotatoes in poppy seed paste

Aloo posto is one of West Bengal's best-loved everyday dishes: cubes of potato cooked gently in a thick paste of ground white poppy seeds, green chilli and mustard oil. The poppy seeds give a nutty, creamy coating without any dairy, and the nigella seeds and raw mustard oil add a sharp, fragrant edge. It's simple, mild and comforting, eaten with plain rice and dal in Kolkata homes. Chef's tip: grind the soaked poppy seeds with the green chillies and a splash of water until truly smooth; a gritty paste never turns creamy.

30 minIndianSidesVeganGluten free
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Aloo potala rasaPointed gourd and potato curry

Aloo potala rasa is Odisha's favourite party curry: you will find it on the menu of every Odia wedding and thread ceremony, ladled over rice or eaten with puri. Pointed gourds (potala, parwal) are scraped, fried until blistered, and simmered with potatoes in a thick onion, tomato and ginger-garlic gravy perfumed with whole garam masala. Unlike the light everyday dishes of the state, this one is rich and slow-cooked. Chef's tip: scrape the potala lightly rather than peeling; the green streaks look pretty and hold the shape.

55 minIndianCurriesVeganGluten free
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Khao tom (vegetable rice soup)

Khao tom is what Thais eat at the start of the day and, just as often, at two in the morning, when the 'khao tom kui' shops of Bangkok's Yaowarat and night-market stalls stay open for hungry people heading home. Unlike rice porridge (jok), the grains stay whole and separate in a light, clear broth, so it feels more like a soup than a congee. This vegan bowl uses a ginger and white pepper stock with soft tofu, Chinese cabbage and a spoon of golden garlic oil on top. It is gentle food, also what Thai families cook when someone is unwell. Chef's tip: use leftover cooked jasmine rice, rinsed under the tap; fresh rice turns the broth cloudy and starchy.

30 minThaiBreakfast & BrunchVeganGluten free
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Yam woon sen (vegetarian glass noodle salad)

Yam woon sen is the glass-noodle salad sold from the trays of 'yam' vendors in Bangkok's evening markets and served alongside beer at Central Thai gatherings. The street version is tossed with minced pork and prawns; this vegetarian one swaps them for crumbled firm tofu and crunchy wood ear mushrooms, which give the same mix of soft and bite. The noodles are dressed while still warm so they drink up the sour, salty, sweet and hot dressing, then finished with celery leaves, coriander and peanuts. Eat it at room temperature as a light lunch or as one dish in a shared spread. Chef's tip: celery leaves are not a garnish here; Thai cooks use Chinese celery as a main herb, so be generous.

25 minThaiSaladsVeganGluten free
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Aloo tamaPotato and bamboo shoot curry

Aloo tama is the curry that tells you you are in Nepal: potatoes (aloo) and black-eyed beans (bodi) simmered with tama, slivers of bamboo shoot that have been fermented until they are pleasantly sour and funky. It is a Newar dish at heart, cooked all over the Kathmandu Valley for weddings, feasts and cold winter evenings, and every Nepali restaurant abroad keeps a pot of it. The sourness comes from the bamboo, sharpened with tomato, and the warmth from fenugreek seeds burnt nearly black in mustard oil and a dusting of timur, the Nepali Sichuan pepper that numbs the lips. Eat it with rice or beaten rice (chiura). Don't skip rinsing the bamboo: straight from the jar it can be so sharp that it takes over the whole pot. Chef's tip: let the fenugreek seeds turn a deep reddish brown before anything else goes in; that bitter-sweet, almost maple smell is the backbone of the curry.

50 minNepaliCurriesVeganGluten free
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Aloo tikki chaatPotato patties with chutneys

In Delhi, aloo tikki is fried on a giant iron tawa at the edge of a busy market, flattened with a spatula until the outside is shatteringly crisp, then smothered in spiced chickpeas, cool yogurt and green and tamarind chutneys. Places like Chandni Chowk and Lajpat Nagar have queues for it on winter evenings. Delhi tikkis are often stuffed with a little spiced chana dal, which adds bite inside the soft potato. Unlike Mumbai's ragda pattice, it's served with chole and a lot of yogurt. Chef's tip: let the tikkis sit undisturbed on the hot pan for the first 5 minutes; a crust forms that stops them breaking when you turn them.

65 minIndianSnacks & StartersSpicy
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Kaeng pa (jungle curry)

Kaeng pa means 'forest curry', and around Ayutthaya, Suphan Buri and the rice-farming plains north of Bangkok it is the curry cooked when there is no coconut to hand: a thin, fiery, herb-scented broth packed with whatever vegetables grew nearby. It turns up at roadside curry-and-rice shops in the Central region, ladled over jasmine rice at lunchtime. Without coconut milk the flavour is sharp and clean, carried by wild ginger (krachai), fresh green peppercorns and holy basil. This version uses a home-pounded red paste with no shrimp paste and seasons with soy sauce instead of fish sauce. Chef's tip: fry the paste in a little oil until it smells toasty before any water goes in; raw paste makes a curry that tastes flat and grassy.

35 minThaiCurriesVeganGluten freeSpicy
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Okinawan taco rice (vegetarian)

Taco rice was invented in 1984 in the town of Kin, Okinawa, next to a large US Marine base, by a café owner who put taco fillings on rice to make a cheap, filling plate for young soldiers. It became one of Okinawa's best-loved comfort foods and now turns up in school lunches, convenience stores and beach cafés across the islands. The usual filling is spiced minced beef; Okinawan cafés also offer bean versions, and ours uses kidney beans and walnuts for the same crumbly bite. Serve it with hot sauce and eat it from one bowl, mixing as you go. Chef's tip: cook the filling until it's almost dry. A juicy filling soaks the rice and the cheese won't melt into it properly.

30 minJapaneseRice & Grains
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Hoba misoMiso grilled on magnolia leaf

In the old mountain town of Takayama, in Gifu's Hida region, inns serve breakfast with a small charcoal brazier on the table and a dried magnolia leaf, hoba, resting on its grill. On it sits a mound of miso mixed with leek and mushrooms. As the leaf warms, the miso bubbles and gives off a smoky, woodsy smell, and you scoop it up with rice. It started as farmhouse winter food, when people toasted frozen pickles on leaves to thaw them. Dried hoba leaves are sold in Japanese shops and online; a sheet of baking paper works too, without the scent. Chef's tip: soak the leaf in water first. A damp leaf scorches slowly and perfumes the miso instead of catching fire.

23 minJapaneseVegetarianVegan
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Shinshu soba with spicy daikon dip

Nagano, the old province of Shinshu, grows buckwheat on cool mountain plateaux, and its soba is famous across Japan. In the castle town of Takato, and in the Aizu villages that took the custom with them, the noodles are not dipped in sweet soy sauce at all. Instead each diner gets a cup of juice squeezed from grated, eye-wateringly hot daikon, stirred with toasted miso. The result is sharp, clean and peppery, and it wakes up the earthy buckwheat. It's a summer lunch, eaten cold with a sprinkle of spring onion. Chef's tip: grate the daikon only just before serving. Its heat fades within 20 minutes, and the dish depends on that fresh bite.

25 minJapanesePasta & NoodlesVegan
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AmbaTangy mango pickle sauce

Amba is the golden, sour mango sauce that Iraqi Jews brought from Baghdad (where it had come from Indian traders), and in Israel it is the signature of sabich and a favourite in falafel pitas. Traditionally green mangoes are salted and left in the sun for days to ferment; this quicker stovetop version cooks unripe mango with turmeric, fenugreek, mustard seed and vinegar, then blends it into a smooth, pourable sauce with the same tangy, curry-like flavour. Chef's tip: use mangoes that are hard and green right through; ripe ones make a sweet jam, not amba.

30 minIsraeliChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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Sapporo soup curry

Sapporo's soup curry was born in the city's cafés in the 1970s and became a craze in the 2000s, when hundreds of small shops opened across Hokkaido's capital, each letting you pick a heat level from 1 to 30. It is nothing like the thick roux curry most of Japan knows: the broth is as thin as soup, aromatic with cumin, cardamom and garlic, and the vegetables arrive large and separately roasted, so each keeps its own colour and bite. Locals eat it in the long Hokkaido winter with a plate of rice on the side, taking a spoonful of rice and dunking it into the broth. Chef's tip: roast or fry the vegetables apart from the broth and only meet them in the bowl. The contrast of crisp-edged vegetables and hot, loose broth is the whole point.

65 minJapaneseCurriesVeganSpicy
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Shanxi cat's ear noodles

Shanxi has more pasta shapes than almost anywhere in China, and these are among the easiest to make by hand: small pieces of dough pressed and rolled with the thumb so they curl up like a cat's ear. Families in Taiyuan and Pingyao boil them and then stir-fry them with vegetables, or serve them in broth. The cupped shape catches the sauce. Children enjoy shaping them. Chef's tip: dust the board lightly with flour; too much and the dough slides instead of curling.

50 minChinesePasta & NoodlesVegan
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Andong jjimdakSoy-braised chicken and potatoes

Andong jjimdak took shape in the 1980s in the old market of Andong, a city in North Gyeongsang province, where an alley of small restaurants still serves it on big platters for sharing. Chicken on the bone is braised in a dark, sweet soy sauce with potatoes, carrots and a few dried chillies, then slippery glass noodles are stirred in at the end to soak up the sauce. It is salty, sweet and only gently hot. Serve with rice and kimchi. Chef's tip: soak the glass noodles in warm water for 30 minutes before you start, so they only need 5 minutes in the pot.

60 minKoreanChicken
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Shanxi knife-shaved noodles with tomato and egg

In Taiyuan, noodle cooks hold a block of stiff dough on one arm and shave strips off it straight into a boiling cauldron, so fast they look like falling leaves. Each noodle comes out thick in the middle and thin at the edges, chewy and slightly uneven, which is the whole charm. The most common topping in Shanxi homes is a soft tomato and egg sauce, with a splash of aged vinegar at the table. Chef's tip: a firm dough is essential; a soft one sticks to the blade and tears.

70 minChinesePasta & Noodles
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Tianjin fried sticky rice cakes

These are one of Tianjin's three famous snacks, named after Erduoyan ('ear hole') Lane, where the original shop opened over a hundred years ago. The dough is soft, slightly fermented glutinous rice, filled with dark, sweet red bean paste and fried until the shell is crisp and blistered while the inside stays chewy. Locals buy them for festivals and as a winter treat. Chef's tip: seal the edges thoroughly and fry at a moderate heat; hot oil makes them burst and spit.

45 minChineseDessertsVegan
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Oil downBreadfruit and salt fish one-pot

Oil down is what Grenadians cook on the beach, at village fêtes and on Sunday afternoons, often in a big iron pot over a wood fire with everyone waiting around it. Breadfruit, salt fish and soft flour dumplings are layered with callaloo and turmeric (called 'saffron' on the island), then steamed in coconut milk until the milk is drunk up and only a golden oil coats the pot, which gives the dish its name. Many cooks add salted pig tail or chicken; this version keeps to salt fish. The mistake to avoid is stirring, which breaks the layers into mush; shake the pot instead. Chef's tip: put the Scotch bonnet in whole and lift it out at the end, so it scents the pot without burning everyone's mouth.

95 minCaribbeanFish
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Beijing mung bean cakes

Beijing pastry shops stack these pale yellow cakes high in early summer, when they're eaten for the Dragon Boat Festival and as a cooling sweet on hot afternoons. Peeled mung beans are steamed, mashed with sugar and oil, then pressed in wooden moulds, so each cake comes out with a pattern. Northern versions are dry and crumbly; Suzhou ones further south are oilier. You need a mooncake press or small mould. Chef's tip: cook the paste until it pulls away from the pan in one ball; if it's too wet the cakes slump.

80 minChineseDessertsVeganGluten free
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Amritsari aloo wadiyanPotato and lentil dumpling curry

Every winter, rooftops in Amritsar's old city are covered with trays of wadiyan: little cones of spiced urad-dal paste studded with black pepper and dried in the sun until rock hard. Punjabi homes break them into chunks, fry them until they smell nutty, and simmer them with potatoes in a mustard-oil gravy. The wadiyan soften into chewy, spicy, almost meaty pieces, and the potatoes soak up their pepper. It is everyday comfort food, eaten with hot phulkas or rice and a raw onion on the side. Chef's tip: wadiyan are already salted and spiced, so add salt only at the end, after tasting.

55 minIndianCurriesVegan
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Amritsari fishCrisp fried fish

On winter evenings in Amritsar, roadside stalls near the old city fry river fish in huge karahis and sell it by weight, hot and crisp, sprinkled with chaat masala and lemon. The batter is made from gram flour rather than wheat and is fragrant with ajwain (carom seeds), which Punjabis say makes fried food easier to digest. It is a snack or starter, eaten with mint chutney and sliced onions; at home it is the treat that comes out when guests arrive. Use any firm white fish: singhara is traditional, but cod, haddock, basa or tilapia all work. Chef's tip: a little rice flour in the batter is what keeps it crisp for longer after frying.

45 minIndianFishGluten freeSpicy
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Amritsari kulchaStuffed flatbreads

Amritsari kulcha is the pride of Amritsar's dhabas in Punjab: a layered, leavened flatbread stuffed with potato, onion and sour pomegranate seed, slapped onto the wall of a tandoor and smothered in butter the moment it comes out. The outside shatters into crisp, flaky layers while the inside stays soft and steamy. In Amritsar it comes with a bowl of chole, a tangy onion-tamarind chutney and a glass of lassi. At home a very hot oven and a heavy tray stand in for the tandoor. Chef's tip: keep the filling dry and cool, with the onion squeezed of its juice, or the kulcha will tear and steam instead of turning crisp.

90 minIndianBreads & Parathas
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Tibetan butter tea

On the cold Tibetan plateau, people drink many cups a day of this salty, buttery tea, and a host keeps topping up a guest's bowl as soon as a sip is taken. Traditionally, brick tea is boiled for a long time, then churned with yak butter and salt in a tall wooden cylinder called a chandong. At home, a blender gives the same creamy, frothy result. It tastes more like a light broth than a sweet tea. Chef's tip: boil the tea hard and long; it needs to be very strong to stand up to the butter.

14 minChineseDrinksGluten free
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Ojingeo bokkeumSpicy stir-fried squid

Around the harbours of the Chungcheong coast on the Yellow Sea, seafood restaurants fry freshly landed squid in a sticky red sauce, and the same dish turns up in lunch canteens and home kitchens all over Korea. Bright with chilli, it's on the table in about twenty minutes and is often piled straight onto rice as ojingeo deopbap. The sauce is gochujang and chilli flakes sweetened with a little sugar, and the vegetables stay crisp. Serve with rice and a bowl of light soup to cool things down. Chef's tip: mix the sauce before you light the hob, because the squid cooks so fast that there is no time to measure anything once it's in the pan.

20 minKoreanFishSpicy
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Shanghai stir-fried rice cakes

Every Shanghai noodle shop has this on the menu: oval slices of rice cake, made from pounded rice, tossed in a wok with Shanghai pak choi and mushrooms until chewy and glossy brown. At New Year it's eaten for luck, because niángāo sounds like 'higher every year'. The usual version adds shredded pork, but it's often made with vegetables alone. Look for packs of sliced rice cakes in the fridge or freezer of Chinese supermarkets. Chef's tip: soak the slices in cold water first, so they cook evenly and don't stick together.

22 minChinesePasta & NoodlesVegan
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AnarsaRice and jaggery sesame cakes

Anarsa is a sweet of patience. In Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, women start soaking rice three days before Teej or Diwali, changing the water every day, then pound it into a damp flour, bind it with jaggery and leave the dough to mellow overnight. Fried with the sesame side up, each disc puffs into a lacy, honeycombed top with a crisp edge and a chewy middle. They are stacked in brass plates for guests and offered at home shrines. Chef's tip: fry one test anarsa before the batch; if it spreads and dissolves, knead in a spoonful of rice flour, and if it cracks, add a few drops of milk or water.

70 minIndianIndian SweetsGluten free
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Guangxi five-colour sticky rice

The Zhuang people of Guangxi steam this rainbow rice for Sānyuèsān, the festival on the third day of the third lunar month, and for weddings and tomb-sweeping. In the villages the colours come from local leaves and flowers; at home, turmeric, beetroot, blue pea flowers and black rice give the same effect without any artificial dye. It's eaten plain, sprinkled with sugar or with savoury dishes. Soak the rice for 6 hours or overnight. Chef's tip: soak each colour in its own bowl and keep them apart in the steamer, so the colours stay clear.

70 minChineseRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
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Dai pineapple sticky rice

In Xishuangbanna, the tropical south of Yunnan, the Dai people cook sticky rice inside hollowed-out pineapples, so the fruit's juice soaks in while it steams. It turns up at festivals and on every Dai restaurant table, a sweet and tangy side next to grilled and sour dishes, and children love it. Soak the rice for at least 4 hours before you start. Chef's tip: use a ripe pineapple that smells sweet at the base; an under-ripe one makes the rice sour.

65 minChineseRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
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