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Sabudana khichdi
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Sabudana khichdi

Sago with peanuts and potato

Sabudana khichdi is the dish that sees Maharashtra through every vrat (fast), from Navratri to Ekadashi, but it's so good that people eat it any day of the week. Soaked sago pearls are tossed in a pan with crushed roasted peanuts, cubes of potato, cumin and green chilli until each pearl turns glassy and separate, then finished with lemon and coriander. It's soft, chewy, nutty and gently hot. Fasting rules vary from family to family, so check yours; this version uses rock salt and no asafoetida, onion or garlic. Traditionally it's cooked in ghee; use ghee instead of oil if you aren't keeping it vegan. Chef's tip: soak the sago in just enough water to cover by the height of the pearls themselves, no more; too much water is the reason khichdi turns into one sticky lump.

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FaraSteamed rice dough fingers

Fara is what a Chhattisgarhi kitchen does with yesterday's rice: it is kneaded with rice flour and hot water into a soft dough, rolled into little fingers, steamed and then tossed in a crackling tadka. Served at teatime or packed for long bus journeys, it is soft and chewy inside with spots of crispness from the pan. Some families spoon it into a thin, tangy curry instead, but the dry tempered version is the one sold in Raipur's snack corners. Chef's tip: knead the dough while it is still hot from the water; cold rice dough cracks and the fara split as they steam.

50 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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FårikålLamb and cabbage stew

Fårikål has been voted Norway's national dish, and on the last Thursday of September families from Bergen to Tromsø hold Fårikålens festdag, when the new season's lamb meets the autumn cabbage harvest. There are only a handful of ingredients: bone-in lamb, wedges of white cabbage and a generous pouch of whole black peppercorns, layered in a heavy pot and left to simmer until the meat slides off the bone and the cabbage turns sweet and silky. It is eaten with plain boiled potatoes and, in many homes, lingonberry jam. The thing that ruins it is drowning the pot: add only a little water, because the cabbage releases plenty of its own juice. Chef's tip: tie the peppercorns in a muslin bag so you get their warmth without crunching on them, and make it a day ahead; it tastes even better reheated.

170 minScandinavianMeatGluten free
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FarinataChickpea flour pancake

Farinata is a thin, golden chickpea-flour pancake sold by the slice from wood-fired ovens in the sciamadde (old bakeries) of Genoa's port district, where people eat it hot, on paper, with black pepper. It is just chickpea flour, water, olive oil and salt, with a crisp top and edges and a soft, custardy middle. In Nice it is called socca, in Livorno cecina. Start the batter 4 hours ahead (or the night before): resting is essential. Chef's tip: heat the oiled tin in the oven before pouring in the batter; the sizzle sets the base at once and gives crisp, lacy edges.

40 minItalianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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FasoladaWhite bean soup

Fasolada is sometimes called the national dish of Greece, and it is the soup that fed families through winters and long Lenten fasts. It is humble and filling: small white beans simmered slowly with carrot, celery, onion and tomato until the broth turns thick and creamy, then finished with a generous pour of raw olive oil. On a cold weekday it is dinner on its own, eaten with olives, pickled peppers, raw onion and bread. Soak the beans the night before. Chef's tip: let it simmer gently with the lid ajar and stir now and then so some beans break and thicken the broth; boiling it hard is the common mistake that splits the beans and leaves the soup thin.

105 minGreekSoupsVeganGluten free
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Fasole bătutăWhipped white bean dip

Fasole bătută, 'beaten beans', is the fasting-day spread of Romania: on Christmas Eve and through Lent, plates of it appear in homes from Bucharest to the monasteries of Bucovina. Soft white beans are mashed smooth with garlic and oil, then crowned with a tangle of slow-fried onions stained red with paprika. It is spread thickly on bread, or served beside pickles and mămăligă. Chef's tip: beat the beans while they are still warm; cold beans turn stiff and pasty, and a common mistake is adding too little liquid, so loosen with a splash of cooking water until the purée is light and fluffy.

45 minRomanianChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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FatayaFried beef turnovers

Fataya are the half-moon pastries sold in paper cones outside schools and at bus stops all over Dakar, and fried by the dozen at home for baptisms and Tabaski. The dough is soft and short, the filling is minced beef cooked with onion, garlic and a little chilli, and they come with a sharp onion-and-mustard sauce for dipping. The common mistake is overfilling, which makes them burst in the oil; a heaped teaspoon per small round is enough. Chef's tip: let the filling cool completely before you fill the dough, or the steam softens the pastry and it tears.

85 minSenegaleseSnacks & Starters
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Fatayer bi sabanekhSpinach pastry triangles

Every Lebanese bakery, or furn, sells fatayer bi sabanekh warm from the oven in the morning: soft three-cornered pies filled with spinach that has been salted and squeezed, then mixed with onion, sumac, lemon and olive oil until it is tart enough to make you pucker. They go into school lunch boxes, onto picnic blankets and onto every buffet at Lebanese parties, and they freeze well. The usual problem is a filling that leaks and makes the pies burst open; wring out the spinach hard and seal the seams firmly so they stay closed in the oven. Chef's tip: let the sumac, lemon and onion sit together for ten minutes before adding the spinach so the onion softens and loses its raw bite.

63 minLebaneseSnacks & StartersVegan
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Fatteh with chickpeasChickpeas and crisp bread in yogurt

Fattet hummus belongs to Damascus, where breakfast restaurants in the old city serve it in deep bowls on Friday mornings, and it has spread to Beirut's Sunday tables too. The name comes from fatt, to break up, for the toasted flatbread at the bottom, which is topped with warm chickpeas in their broth, then a thick, garlicky sauce of yogurt and tahini, and finally sizzling pine nuts in butter or oil with a dust of paprika and cumin. The contrast is the point: crunchy and soft, hot and cool. Assembling it too early is the common mistake, since the bread soaks up the sauce and goes soggy; build it just before eating. Chef's tip: let the yogurt come to room temperature first, so it doesn't cool the chickpeas down too much and the bowl stays warm.

30 minLebaneseBreakfast & Brunch
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Feteer meshaltetFlaky layered pie

Feteer meshaltet comes from the villages of the Nile Delta, in Sharqia, Menoufia and around, where it is baked for weddings, feast days and for guests, and sent home with visitors in a cloth. A soft dough is stretched paper-thin, brushed with lots of ghee or butter and folded over and over into a round that bakes into dozens of crisp, flaky layers. Eat it warm, torn with your hands, dipped in honey or 'asal eswed (sugar-cane molasses) or with white cheese and olives. Chef's tip: let the dough balls rest in butter until they feel loose and silky; dough that hasn't relaxed tears when you stretch it, and torn dough is the most common reason a feteer comes out tough.

90 minEgyptianBreads & Parathas
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FeijoadaBlack bean and pork stew

In Rio de Janeiro, feijoada has its own days: Wednesdays and Saturdays, when botecos and restaurants put the big pots on and lunch stretches into the afternoon. Black beans simmer slowly with carne seca (salt-dried beef), salted pork ribs, smoky sausages and bacon until the broth is thick, dark and glossy. The full spread, feijoada completa, comes with white rice, garlicky shredded couve, crunchy farofa and slices of orange to freshen the palate. Our vegetarian feijoada covers the meat-free version; this is the classic. Start a day ahead, because the salted meats must soak. Chef's tip: mash a ladleful of cooked beans with the fried onion and garlic and stir it back in; it thickens the broth naturally.

180 minBrazilianMeat
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FërgesëBaked peppers and tomatoes with cheese

Fërgesë is the dish people in Tirana order at lunchtime in a small clay pot, still bubbling, with a basket of bread for dipping. Soft fried peppers and tomatoes are folded through gjizë, Albania's fresh salted curd cheese, then baked until the top spots golden. The meatless version with peppers is the everyday one across central Albania; it is rich, tangy and gently spicy. Ricotta mixed with a little feta is a good stand-in for gjizë outside Albania. Chef's tip: cook the tomatoes down until thick before the cheese goes in; a watery fërgesë that splits in the oven is the usual mistake.

50 minBalkanVegetarianGluten freeSpicy
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FesenjanChicken in pomegranate walnut sauce

In the rice paddies and forests of Gilan on the Caspian coast, fesenjan is cooked with duck or chicken in autumn, when walnuts are freshly cracked and pomegranates ripen; across Iran it now marks Yalda night in December and big family dinners. Ground walnuts are toasted, then simmered slowly with pomegranate molasses until their oil rises and the sauce turns almost chocolate-brown, thick and glossy, tangy first and gently sweet after. Chicken thighs braise in it until they are spoon-tender. Serve it over saffron chelow rice with a crisp tahdig. Chef's tip: stir the walnut paste over a low heat for a full hour; the longer, slower cook is what darkens the sauce and brings the walnut oil to the surface.

130 minPersianChickenGluten free
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Fijian cassava cakeCassava and coconut cake

In Fiji, cassava (tavioka) is everyday food, and grated sweet cassava cake turns up at village feasts, church bazaars and morning tea across Viti Levu. Fresh cassava is finely grated and baked with coconut milk, sugar, butter and a little vanilla into a heavy, chewy, golden cake that's cut into squares. It's naturally gluten free and keeps well for a couple of days. Chef's tip: squeeze some of the liquid out of freshly grated cassava; too wet and the cake stays gluey in the middle.

85 minPacific IslanderBakingGluten free
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FirfirTorn injera in spicy sauce

Firfir (or fitfit) is what Ethiopian households do with yesterday's injera: torn into pieces and tossed in a hot, oniony berbere sauce until it soaks up all the flavour. It is breakfast in Addis Ababa cafés and homes alike, eaten with a spoon or, more often, scooped up with fresh injera. This version uses oil, making it suitable for fasting days; on other days a spoon of niter kibbeh adds richness. Chef's tip: use day-old injera; fresh injera is too soft and turns to mush in the sauce.

20 minEthiopianBreakfast & BrunchVeganSpicy
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Fırın sütlaçBaked rice pudding

In Turkish pudding shops (muhallebici) from Istanbul to Ankara, fırın sütlaç is served chilled in little clay bowls, its surface blistered dark brown under the grill while the rice pudding beneath stays creamy and cool. It is a dessert families make on Sunday or for guests, since it has to set in the fridge for a few hours, and it travels well to neighbours during Ramadan evenings. The flavour is clean milk and vanilla, thickened with rice flour rather than eggs, so it is light compared with Western rice puddings. Eat it cold, plain or dusted with cinnamon or ground hazelnuts. Chef's tip: stand the filled bowls in a tray of cold water before they go under the grill; the water keeps the pudding from boiling up while the top browns.

60 minTurkishDessertsGluten free
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Fish ambul thiyalSour tuna curry

Ambul thiyal means 'sour stew', and it comes from the fishing towns of the south coast, around Matara, Galle and Tangalle. Fishermen once cooked it so the tuna would keep for days without a fridge: almost no liquid, plenty of goraka and black pepper, slowly reduced in a clay pot until each chunk is dark and coated. Today it is a favourite rice-and-curry dish on Sundays and holidays, and people often pack it for long journeys. It is sharp, peppery and firm, so a little goes a long way with rice and a coconut sambol. Chef's tip: cut the tuna into big 4 cm chunks; small pieces fall apart during the long, slow reduction.

60 minSri LankanFishGluten freeSpicy
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Vegetarian FlammkuchenLeek and mushroom tarte flambée

Flammkuchen comes from the borderlands of Alsace, Baden and the Palatinate, where farmers baked it on bread day to test the heat of the wood oven. The dough has no yeast and is rolled almost as thin as paper, spread with crème fraîche or quark and baked hot and fast so the edges blister and char in spots. The classic topping is onion and bacon; around Strasbourg and Freiburg the leek and mushroom version is a popular meat-free choice, often eaten with a glass of new wine in autumn. Chef's tip: bake it as hot as your oven will go, on a preheated tray or stone; a Flammkuchen baked at a moderate heat turns out bready instead of crisp.

60 minGermanPizza
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Foutou bananePounded plantain and cassava

Foutou is the pounded staple of the Baoulé country around Bouaké and Yamoussoukro: boiled plantain, often mixed with cassava, pounded in a wooden mortar into a smooth, stretchy, slightly sweet ball. It is eaten with the fingers, pulled off in pieces and dipped into sauce graine (palm nut), sauce arachide or okra sauce. A food processor followed by a short knead does the job at home. Chef's tip: pound while everything is steaming hot; cold plantain will not come together and stays lumpy.

45 minIvorianSidesVeganGluten free
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Focaccia di ReccoThin cheese-filled flatbread

Focaccia di Recco has nothing to do with the thick, bubbly focaccia most people know: it is two sheets of unleavened dough stretched almost transparent, with blobs of soft, tangy cheese in between, baked in a blisteringly hot oven for a few minutes. It comes from the seaside town of Recco, east of Genoa, where bakeries sell it in the morning and families eat it as a first course. At home, use stracchino or crescenza, the creamy fresh cheeses closest to Ligurian prescinseua. Chef's tip: stretch the dough over the backs of your hands like a pizzaiolo; rolling alone never gets it thin enough.

37 minItalianBaking
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Fondue moitié-moitiéGruyère and Vacherin fondue

Moitié-moitié means half and half, and in Fribourg it names the canton's own fondue: equal weights of nutty Gruyère and soft, buttery Vacherin fribourgeois melted with dry white wine in a glazed earthenware caquelon. Families light the burner in the middle of the table on cold evenings from October to March, and ski huts above Gruyères serve it after a day on the slopes. The Vacherin makes it silkier and milder than a Gruyère-only fondue, so it clings to the bread in a thick, glossy coat. Serve with day-old bread, a plate of cornichons and small boiled potatoes, and drink white wine or warm black tea with it; locals say cold water sits badly with all that cheese. Traditional Gruyère and Vacherin are made with animal rennet, so for a vegetarian table look for wheels labelled with microbial or vegetarian rennet, or ask a cheesemonger for a similar Alpine cheese that uses it. Chef's tip: grate the cheese rather than cubing it and let it come to room temperature for 30 minutes; it melts evenly and the fondue stays smooth.

40 minSwissVegetarian
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FosoliaGreen beans and carrots

Fosolia takes its name from the Italian fagioli, a reminder of the Italian occupation of the 1930s, but it is now completely Ethiopian and a regular on fasting platters in Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa. Green beans and carrot batons are cooked with lots of onion, garlic and ginger until tender but still bright, then served warm with injera or rice. It is quick, mild and colourful. Chef's tip: cut the beans and carrots to the same length and thickness so they cook evenly.

25 minEthiopianSidesVeganGluten free
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FrancesinhaLayered meat sandwich with beer sauce

The francesinha ('little French girl') belongs to Porto, where it was dreamed up in the 1950s by a cook inspired by the croque monsieur, and it is now the city's famous late-night and match-day meal. This sandwich contains pork: thick bread is layered with steak, ham and fresh sausage, covered in cheese slices, then drowned in a spicy tomato sauce made with beer and port-style fortified wine. For an alcohol-free sauce, use alcohol-free beer, or beef stock with a teaspoon of honey. Serve with chips and a fried egg on top if you dare. Chef's tip: simmer the sauce for at least 20 minutes and blend it smooth; it should be thick enough to cling, not run off.

70 minPortugueseFast Food
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Frango à zambezianaCoconut-lime grilled chicken

Frango à zambeziana comes from Quelimane and the Zambezia province of central Mozambique, where coconut palms line the coast: chicken is marinated in coconut milk, lime, garlic and piri-piri chilli, then grilled over coals and basted with the marinade, boiled down into a sauce. It is served with rice or xima (maize porridge) at weekend lunches. The mistake is basting with raw marinade right up to the end; boil it first so it is safe and turns into a creamy sauce. Chef's tip: spatchcock the chicken or use pieces so it grills evenly.

70 minSouthern AfricanChickenGluten freeSpicy
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FrappéShaken iced coffee

The frappé was invented by accident at the Thessaloniki International Fair in 1957, when a coffee rep shook instant coffee with cold water because there was no hot water to hand. Within a few years it was the drink of every Greek café and beach bar, sipped slowly through a straw for an hour or more. Instant coffee, sugar and a little water are shaken or frothed into a thick, light-brown foam, then topped up with cold water, ice and, if you like, milk. Order it sketos (no sugar), metrios (medium) or glykos (sweet). Chef's tip: use only a splash of water for the first shake; adding all the water at once is the common mistake and you get thin coffee with no foam.

5 minGreekDrinksGluten free
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Tunisian fricasséFried rolls with tuna and egg

Fricassé are the small, soft fried rolls sold from glass-fronted counters in Tunis and the coastal towns, split while still warm and filled to order with tuna, boiled egg, olives, boiled potato, mechouia salad and a smear of harissa. They are an afternoon snack, a beach lunch and a Ramadan favourite. The mistake is frying the dough when the oil is too cool, which makes it greasy and heavy; keep the oil at 170 °C. Chef's tip: give the shaped rolls a full second rise so they puff and stay light inside.

70 minTunisianFast FoodSpicy
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Frijoles antioqueñosRed beans with plantain

In Medellín and across Antioquia, red cargamanto beans simmered for hours are the heart of the bandeja paisa and of everyday lunch. The beans cook with grated green plantain and carrot, which melt in and thicken the pot, and are finished with hogao, the tomato and spring onion sauce. This version leaves out the pork hock and gets its depth from a long simmer and a smoky pinch of paprika. Serve with white rice, avocado and an arepa. Chef's tip: grate the plantain on the fine side of the grater; it dissolves into the beans and makes them creamy.

120 minColombianCurriesVeganGluten free
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Frijoles charrosPinto beans with bacon and chorizo

Around Monterrey in Nuevo León, no carne asada is complete without a pot of frijoles charros keeping warm at the side of the grill. Soupy pinto beans cook down with smoky bacon, chorizo, tomato and fresh chilli until the broth is rich and brick-coloured, and they are spooned into small cups next to grilled beef, guacamole and flour tortillas. Some cooks in the north add sliced frankfurters too; we keep that optional. Chef's tip: cook the beans plain until they are fully soft before the tomato goes in, because acid stops beans softening.

165 minMexicanSidesGluten free
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Frijoles de la olla & refritosPot beans and refried beans

Frijoles de la olla, beans cooked slowly in a pot (traditionally clay) with just onion, garlic and a sprig of epazote, are the backbone of Mexican home cooking from north to south. Served brothy in a bowl with chopped onion, chilli and lime, they are a meal on their own; mashed and fried in oil they become frijoles refritos, the creamy refried beans that go into tacos, tortas, sopes and molletes. This recipe makes both: one pot, half served as it is, half refried. We fry in vegetable oil rather than lard, so it is vegan. Chef's tip: salt the beans only once they are tender; salting at the start won't stop them cooking, but adding it late seasons the broth better and saves you from oversalting as it reduces.

120 minMexicanSidesVeganGluten free
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GalãoMilky espresso

Ask for a galão in a Lisbon café and it arrives in a tall glass, not a cup: one short espresso (a bica, in the capital's slang) topped up with about three times as much hot, frothy milk, so it is pale, mild and creamy. It is the breakfast and mid-morning drink of the city, ordered at the counter with a pastel de nata or a tosta mista, and the glass is held by the rim because it gets hot. A galão escuro has less milk, a galão claro more. Chef's tip: heat the milk only until it steams and the jug is too hot to hold for more than a moment, about 65 °C; boiled milk tastes flat and loses its sweetness.

5 minPortugueseDrinksGluten free
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Frijoles negros cubanosBlack bean stew

A pot of frijoles negros simmers on the back of the stove in Cuban homes from Havana to Miami's Little Havana, ladled over white rice for lunch most days of the week. The beans cook until creamy, then a sofrito of onion, green pepper and plenty of garlic goes in with cumin, oregano, a pinch of sugar and a dash of vinegar, which gives the stew its gentle sweet-sour finish. Venezuelans make a very close cousin, caraotas negras, for pabellón, so this page covers both. Chef's tip: mash a ladle of beans against the side of the pot near the end; it thickens the broth naturally without any flour.

90 minCubanCurriesVeganGluten free
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