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Pişi

When a Turkish family has time for a long Sunday breakfast, someone stands at the stove frying pişi while the rest of the table fills with white cheese, olives, tomatoes, honey and endless tea. The yeasted dough is stretched thin with oiled fingers and fried until it balloons, golden and crisp outside and chewy inside. In villages across Anatolia it is also the treat made on bread-baking day from the last of the dough. Common mistake: oil that isn't hot enough; the pişi soaks it up and turns greasy. Chef's tip: poke a hole in the middle of each round before frying so it puffs evenly and cooks through.

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Penang lor bak

Every Penang lor bak stall shows off a tray of fried things, but the five-spice pork roll is the reason people queue. Minced pork and chopped water chestnut, seasoned with five-spice, soy and garlic, are rolled tight in sheets of dried beancurd skin, steamed, then fried until the skin shatters like thin pastry. Slices are dipped in two sauces: a thick, starchy 'lor' gravy streaked with egg and a bright chilli sauce. They are a favourite with drinks at the hawker centres along Kimberley Street or as part of a Chinese New Year spread. Chef's tip: wipe the beancurd skin with a damp cloth rather than soaking it; too wet and it tears and will not crisp.

60 min

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Banh can

Bánh căn comes from Phan Rang on the south-central coast and is now a favourite of chilly evenings in Da Lat, where sellers crouch over charcoal and rows of small clay moulds, cracking a quail egg into each little cup of rice batter. The cakes come out crisp and browned underneath and soft and steamy on top, and are eaten in pairs, dunked in a sweet-sour dipping sauce with shredded green mango and herbs. Most stalls use a fish sauce dip and sometimes add squid or shrimp; this version keeps it vegetarian with a tamari sauce and spring onion oil. Chef's tip: let a little of the cooked rice in the batter go into the blender; it gives the cakes their soft, slightly chewy middle.

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Revani

Revani is the syrup cake you meet in Turkish pastry shops and on home tea tables, especially at bayram visits, when trays of it are cut into diamonds and handed round with çay. Unlike a dense eggless semolina bake, it is a light, airy sponge of whisked eggs, semolina and a little flour, which drinks in cold lemon syrup straight from the oven until it is moist right through yet still holds a clean cut. It sweetens with sugar syrup rather than icing and is often finished with desiccated coconut or crushed pistachios. Serve it at room temperature or chilled, with tea or a spoon of kaymak or thick cream. Chef's tip: pour cool syrup over the hot cake (or hot over cool), never hot on hot; that contrast lets the sponge soak up syrup without collapsing into mush.

60 min

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Banh beo

Bánh bèo are named after the water fern that floats on Huế's ponds, which the little round cakes resemble. In the city they arrive at the table by the dozen, each still in its own small saucer, topped with pink shrimp floss and spring onion oil. You spoon sweet fish sauce over and scoop each one out in a single mouthful. They're a mid-afternoon snack or a light lunch alongside other Huế rice cakes. Small ramekins, egg poaching cups or a silicone mini-muffin tray all work as moulds. Chef's tip: heat the empty saucers in the steamer for a minute before adding the batter; the cakes then set with the little dimple in the middle that holds the toppings.

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Firni

Firni is the dessert that turns up in little clay bowls on Eid tables across Bangladesh, especially after the evening meal on Eid-ul-Fitr. It is smoother and thicker than payesh: instead of whole rice grains, coarsely ground rice is simmered in milk until it sets into a silky pudding, scented with cardamom and rose water and scattered with pistachios and almonds. It is served chilled, so it's made a day ahead. Chef's tip: grind the soaked rice to a coarse semolina-like grit, not a fine powder; that slight texture is what makes firni feel rich.

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Bhorta platter (aloo, begun and dal bhorta)

No word says home cooking in Bangladesh like bhorta: anything boiled, roasted or fried, then mashed by hand with raw mustard oil, sliced onion, green or burnt chillies and coriander. A family lunch in Dhaka or Khulna might set out three or four bhortas in little heaps around a mound of rice, and this page makes the classic trio: aloo (potato), begun (fire-roasted aubergine) and dal (dry-fried red lentil). They share one method, so they live together here. Chef's tip: mash with your fingers, not a fork, rubbing the onion and chilli into the oil first; it bruises them and releases their sharpness into every bite.

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Penang asam laksa

Forget coconut and cream: Penang's asam laksa is all sour, hot and herbal, a dark tamarind broth thickened with flaked mackerel and poured over thick, slippery rice noodles. Hawkers at Air Itam market and along Gurney Drive pile the bowl with shredded pineapple, cucumber, red onion, lettuce, torn mint and a spoon of sticky, sweet prawn paste (hae ko) that you stir in as you eat. Torch ginger flower and Vietnamese mint (daun kesum) give it a smell that is wholly its own. It is a hot-afternoon dish, eaten fast while the herbs are still crisp. Chef's tip: poach the mackerel in the broth whole, then flake it back in; the bones and skin give the soup much of its body.

75 min

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Pen patat

Pen patat, sweet potato 'bread', is the Haitian pudding sold in squares by street vendors and baked at home for Sunday afternoons and holidays, from the hills above Pétion-Ville to Haitian bakeries abroad. Grated white sweet potato (patat) and ripe banana are baked with coconut milk, evaporated milk, fresh ginger and warm spices until set and caramel-brown on top. It is dense, moist and fudgy, a little like a spiced cake and a little like a custard, and it's eaten warm or cold with coffee. Chef's tip: grate the sweet potato finely on the small holes; coarse shreds stay stringy, fine ones melt into a smooth pudding.

100 min

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Umibudo salad

Umibudo, 'sea grapes', is a seaweed farmed in the warm, clear waters around Okinawa and Miyako island. Its tiny green beads burst in the mouth with a salty, oceanic pop, which is why Okinawans also call it green caviar. It's served as a starter in island izakaya, often next to a cold Orion beer, either plain with a dish of citrus soy or piled on a simple salad. Look for it vacuum-packed in salt at Japanese grocers; it keeps for weeks unopened. Chef's tip: dress the salad, not the sea grapes. Pour the dressing on the greens and dip the sea grapes as you eat, because vinegar and soy make the beads shrivel within minutes.

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Bandeja paisa

Bandeja paisa is the farmhouse feast of Antioquia and the coffee region around Medellín, served on an oval platter so big it barely fits on the table. This is a pork dish: crisp chicharrón (fried pork belly) and chorizo sit next to red beans, white rice, seasoned minced beef, a fried egg, ripe plantain, a small arepa and avocado. Paisas eat it for a long Sunday lunch, and restaurants in Medellín serve it every day. It looks like a lot of work, but most parts can be made ahead and finished together. The mistake most people make is frying the pork belly too hot from the start; it needs to simmer in its own fat first, or the outside burns before the inside turns tender. Chef's tip: cook the beans a day ahead; they thicken and taste better, and the day itself is then only frying.

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Ribollita

Ribollita means 'reboiled': a Tuscan peasant soup of cannellini beans, cavolo nero and other vegetables, layered with stale bread and heated again the next day until thick enough to eat with a fork. Florentines eat it through the cold months, when cavolo nero is sweetest after the first frosts, finished with a green thread of new-season olive oil. Make it a day ahead, because the reboil is the point. Chef's tip: when reheating, let the bottom catch very slightly before stirring; that toasty edge is what Tuscans love about day-two ribollita.

90 min

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Pempek

Palembang in South Sumatra is pempek country: shops line the streets selling these chewy fish cakes by the dozen, and visitors fly home with boxes of them in their luggage. Fresh fish is worked with tapioca starch into a dough, shaped into logs, poached, then sliced and fried until blistered and golden outside while staying springy within. The real star is cuko, a thin, dark, sweet-sour-hot sauce of palm sugar, tamarind, garlic and chilli that is poured over everything, ideally with diced cucumber and a few yellow noodles. People eat it any time of day as a snack, often sipping the cuko straight from the bowl. Chef's tip: make the cuko first; it tastes best after resting for an hour or more.

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Pelmeni

In Siberian villages whole families sat round the table before the long winter to fold hundreds of pelmeni, then froze them in sacks outside where the frost kept them for months. Today every Russian freezer holds a bag, and a bowl with butter and sour cream is a quick supper from Novosibirsk to Moscow. The little ear-shaped dumplings have a thin, springy dough wrapped round a juicy filling of pork and beef with onion; it contains pork. Unlike Ukrainian varenyky, they are always meat-filled and boiled in seasoned water or broth. The classic mistake is rolling the dough too thick, which leaves you chewing flour instead of tasting the filling; aim for 1–2 mm. Chef's tip: work a few spoons of ice-cold water into the mince; it turns to juice inside the dumpling as it cooks.

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Pelamushi

Pelamushi is the spoonable cousin of churchkhela: the same thickened grape must, tatara, poured into bowls instead of over walnuts and left to set into a soft, wobbly pudding. In Kakheti it is made in harvest season with fresh must straight from the press, and in Imereti it is often thickened with cornmeal instead of wheat flour. It is served chilled with chopped walnuts, and it is a favourite Lenten dessert because it needs no egg or dairy. A common mistake is adding the flour straight to hot juice, which makes lumps that never cook out; always mix it with cold juice first. Chef's tip: stop cooking when the pudding plops thickly from the spoon; it firms up a lot as it cools.

30 min

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Pehak

Pehak is the Apatani chutney of the Ziro valley in Arunachal Pradesh: fermented soybean pounded with roasted chillies, ginger and salt into a thick, pungent paste. It goes with nearly every meal, a little at a time, with rice, boiled vegetables or millet. It is savoury, salty and very hot, and it keeps for weeks. Chef's tip: dry-roast the fermented soybean briefly before pounding; it mellows the sharp smell and brings out a toasty depth. Natto or Naga axone work if you can't get local soybean.

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Pecel

Madiun, in East Java, calls itself the home of nasi pecel, and its stalls serve it from early morning on banana leaf: rice under a heap of blanched spinach, bean sprouts, long beans and cabbage, drowned in a peanut sauce that's thinner, hotter and more herbal than gado-gado's. The difference is kencur, an earthy, camphor-scented root that gives pecel its signature smell, and lime leaf pounded into the paste. A crisp peanut rempeyek cracker is broken on top. Chef's tip: make a block of pecel paste ahead and dissolve just what you need in hot water each time — that's how East Javanese households do it, and it keeps for weeks in the fridge.

25 min

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Pebre

Every Chilean asado and every basket of warm bread in a picada (simple eatery) comes with pebre: a fresh relish of finely chopped coriander, onion, tomato and ají verde (green chilli) loosened with oil and a splash of vinegar. In Santiago it's spooned on marraqueta bread while waiting for the grill, and on sopaipillas in winter. It's more herb-heavy and oilier than Mexican pico de gallo. Chef's tip: rinse the chopped onion in cold water and drain it well; it takes away the harsh bite without losing crunch.

15 min

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Banarasi tamatar chaat

Walk through the lanes near Dashashwamedh Ghat in Varanasi in the evening and you will see vendors mashing tomatoes and potatoes in large iron pans, cooking them with ghee and spices until thick, then spooning the mixture into small clay cups. Tamatar chaat is unique to Banaras: served hot, spicy, tangy, and finished with a thin sugar syrup and a pinch of chaat masala, then topped with crisp sev for crunch. Locals eat it standing up after the aarti, often followed by a glass of lassi. Many people forget the sugar syrup, but that's what balances the sourness and makes it Banarasi. Chef's tip: use very ripe, soft tomatoes and mash them right in the pan with the back of the ladle, leaving some texture.

40 min

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Risalamande

On Christmas Eve, almost every Danish family ends dinner with risalamande, a cold vanilla rice pudding lightened with whipped cream and chopped almonds and served with a hot cherry sauce poured over the top. Hidden somewhere in the bowl is one whole almond, and whoever finds it wins the mandelgave, the almond prize, usually a marzipan pig. Some finders keep the almond in their cheek until everyone has eaten far too much. The rice base, risengrød, is often cooked on 23 December, eaten warm with butter and cinnamon, and the leftovers become risalamande the next night. Chef's tip: let the rice pudding cool completely before folding in the cream; warm rice melts the whipped cream and the pudding turns heavy instead of airy.

65 minScandinavian Desserts

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Risi e bisi

Risi e bisi was once served to the Doge of Venice every 25 April, the feast of Saint Mark, when the first tender peas arrived from the lagoon islands. It sits between a soup and a risotto: thicker than a minestra, looser than risotto, eaten with a spoon. Venetians make a quick broth from the empty pods, which gives a sweet, grassy flavour no stock cube can match; pancetta often goes in, but this version keeps it vegetarian with parsley and butter. Chef's tip: when podding fresh peas, keep the pods; simmered for 20 minutes they make the whole dish taste of spring.

40 min

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Pazham pori

Pazham pori is what the glass cases of Kerala's roadside tea shops are full of at four in the afternoon: long slices of ripe nendran banana dipped in a sweet batter and fried in coconut oil until puffed and golden. Bite through the crisp, slightly chewy coat and the banana inside is soft, hot and honeyed. People eat them standing at the counter with a glass of frothy, milky chaya, or carry a paper parcel home for the family. Chef's tip: wait until the nendran skins are mostly black; the banana must be fully ripe to turn creamy when fried.

25 min

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Risotto alla milanese

Risotto alla milanese is the saffron risotto of Milan, served on its own as a first course or beside ossobuco on Sunday tables, and a legend says it was first made in 1574 by a glass-painter's apprentice working on the Duomo who coloured rice with saffron. Milanese cooks use beef marrow and meat broth; here a well-flavoured vegetable stock keeps it vegetarian, with butter and hard cheese for richness. It should be all'onda: loose enough to ripple like a wave when you shake the plate. Chef's tip: keep the stock at a bare simmer beside the rice; cold stock stops the cooking and makes the grains chalky.

40 min

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Patoleo

In August, when the monsoon makes turmeric leaves grow tall in Goan backyards, families make patoleo. Catholic households steam them for the Feast of the Assumption on 15 August, and Hindu families make the same sweet, called patoli, for Nag Panchami and Ganesh Chaturthi. A thin layer of rice paste is spread on a turmeric leaf, filled with fresh coconut and dark Goan jaggery, folded and steamed. The leaf leaves a sweet, gingery perfume on the rice that nothing else can copy, so look for fresh turmeric leaves in Indian grocers; banana leaves are a fair substitute. Chef's tip: spread the rice paste as thin as you can while still covering the leaf; thick patoleo are stodgy and the filling gets lost.

60 min

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Banarasi kachori sabzi

Walk the ghats of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh at dawn and you'll smell kachori sabzi frying in huge karahis. Banarasi kachori is small and puffed like a puri, with soaked urad dal ground with ginger and fennel worked straight into the wholewheat dough rather than stuffed inside. It comes with a thin, peppery potato and tomato rasa made without onion or garlic, scented with hing and fenugreek seeds, and is usually followed by a hot jalebi. Chef's tip: roll the puris evenly to 3 mm and slide them into really hot oil, pressing gently with a slotted spoon; even thickness and fierce heat are what make them balloon.

60 min

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Patodi rassa

Patodi rassa (also called patwadi rassa) comes from the dry, hot districts of Vidarbha around Nagpur and Amravati, where gram flour often takes the place of vegetables. Gram flour is cooked thick like a polenta, spread on a plate, scattered with coconut, sesame and poppy seeds and cut into squares. Just before eating, the squares go into bowls and a spicy, thin rassa of roasted onion and dry coconut is poured over them so they soak it up. It's a dish for a Sunday lunch or a wedding feast in the region, served with jowar bhakri or chapatis and rice. Chef's tip: pour the rassa over the patodi at the table, not in the pot; simmered together, the squares fall apart.

65 min

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Patishapta

Patishapta is the star of Poush Sankranti in mid-January, when Bengali homes make pithe-puli, sweets of new rice, coconut and the season's nolen gur (date-palm jaggery). A loose batter of rice flour, semolina, plain flour and milk is swirled thin on a hot pan and rolled round a sticky filling of coconut cooked with jaggery and cardamom. The crêpe should be soft and pale, never crisp. Chef's tip: keep the heat low and grease the pan only lightly with a cut potato dipped in ghee, which spreads a film rather than a pool.

60 min

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Unniyappam

Unniyappam are small, round sweet dumplings that Kerala families make for Vishu and Karthika, and they are a well-known temple offering at Guruvayur and Sabarimala. A batter of ground rice, ripe banana and jaggery, studded with ghee-fried coconut bits and sesame, is fried in the round hollows of an unniyappa chatti until crisp and dark brown outside and soft and spongy in the middle. They keep for a couple of days in a tin and are perfect with tea. Chef's tip: let the batter rest for an hour; it softens and puffs a little, giving lighter unniyappam.

50 min

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Rocoto relleno

Rocoto relleno is the pride of Arequipa's picanterías: fiery rocoto peppers stuffed with a sweet-savoury filling, topped with cheese and baked over sliced potato in an egg and milk custard. The traditional filling is minced beef; this vegetarian version uses mushrooms and lentils fried with ají panca, cumin, peanuts, raisins, olives and boiled egg, which gives the same rich, spiced, slightly sweet bite. The peppers are first blanched several times in fresh water with sugar and vinegar to tame their heat, which is the real skill of the dish. If you can't find rocotos, use small red bell peppers and add a little habanero to the filling. Chef's tip: taste a sliver of rocoto after the second blanching; stop when it is hot but pleasant, and blanch once more if it still burns.

90 min

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Pâté chinois

Pâté chinois is the weeknight family bake of Quebec, served in school canteens and home kitchens from Montreal to the Gaspé: a layer of seasoned minced beef, a layer of creamed corn, and a thick layer of buttery mashed potato, baked until the top is golden and served with ketchup or pickled beets. Its name is said to come from cooks who fed the Chinese workers building Canada's railway. The mistake is skipping the creamed corn in favour of whole kernels only; the creamed corn holds the layers together. Chef's tip: fluff the top of the mash with a fork so the ridges turn crisp.

70 min

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Pastitsio

Pastitsio is the dish Greek mothers make for big Sunday lunches and christenings, and the one every Athens taverna keeps warm in a deep tray at lunchtime. Long tubular pasta is layered with a beef and tomato sauce scented with cinnamon and allspice, then topped with a deep, wobbly béchamel that bakes to a golden crust. Cut it into neat squares once it has rested and serve with a green salad. Chef's tip: let it rest for at least 30 minutes after baking; cut hot, it slumps, but rested it slices into clean layers.

130 min

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Pastil

Pastil is the grab-and-go breakfast of Cotabato City and the Maguindanao region of Mindanao: a mound of warm rice wrapped in a banana leaf, topped with shredded chicken that has been fried dry with garlic and onion (kagikit). Vendors sell them by the dozen from early morning, and Muslim families pack them for the pre-dawn meal during Ramadan. Each parcel is small, cheap and filling. Eat them warm with a hot chilli vinegar. Chef's tip: fry the chicken flakes until they are dry and fluffy, almost like floss; moist chicken makes the rice soggy inside the leaf.

90 min

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Pašticada

Split and the Dalmatian coast reserve pašticada for weddings, christenings and Christmas, and the preparations start days ahead. A piece of beef is studded with garlic and cured ham (so this recipe contains pork), marinated overnight in wine vinegar, then braised for hours with onions, dried prunes, tomato and a little sweet Prošek or red wine until the sauce turns dark, glossy and sweet-sour. In Split it is always served with homemade gnocchi; pasta works too. This recipe uses red wine and dried figs or prunes; for an alcohol-free version use grape juice with a spoon of red wine vinegar. The common mistake is rushing the braise: it needs a low, steady heat for at least three hours. Chef's tip: blend the cooked onions and prunes back into the sauce for that velvet texture.

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Bamieh

Late summer in the Damascus and Beirut markets means piles of tiny okra pods, and bamieh, okra stewed in tomato with coriander and garlic, follows on many family tables. This meat-free version is the one Lebanese Christians cook during Lent and serve with vermicelli rice or flatbread. Small, whole pods are the secret: kept intact and seared first, they stay tender without turning slimy, and a squeeze of lemon at the end sharpens the sauce. Chef's tip: trim only the very top of each cap without cutting into the pod; a pierced pod lets the sticky juice escape into the sauce.

40 min

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Pastelón

Pastelón turns up at Puerto Rican Sunday lunches and Christmas parties all over the island, from San Juan to Ponce, usually next to a pot of rice and beans. Instead of pasta it is layered with long slices of fried ripe plantain, so every bite is sweet and salty at once: soft caramelised plantain, a savoury beef picadillo with olives and capers, melted cheese and a light egg binding. Cut it into squares like a lasagne. The mistake to avoid is using yellow or green plantains; they stay starchy and dry, so wait until the skins are almost black. Chef's tip: leave the pastelón to rest for 15 minutes after baking; the egg and cheese set and the squares come out clean.

85 min

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Pastelitos de guayaba

Pastelitos de guayaba are the flaky puff pastry squares sold warm from the glass cases of Cuban bakeries, eaten standing up with a café cubano mid-morning. Havana bakers fill them with dense guava paste, often with a layer of cream cheese (de guayaba y queso), and brush the tops with sugar syrup so they shine. Shop-bought all-butter puff pastry makes them easy at home. Chef's tip: chill the filled tray for 15 minutes before baking; cold pastry rises higher and the filling is less likely to leak.

35 min

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Bamia bil lahma

Bamia is on every Egyptian family table from Alexandria to Aswan, usually on a weekday with a plate of vermicelli rice. Chunks of lamb on the bone are simmered until tender, then baby okra is cooked in the rich tomato broth with garlic fried in ghee and fresh coriander, a finish called the ta'leya. The sauce is loose, sweet-sour and silky. The common mistake is cutting the okra pods open before cooking, which lets out the slime; trim only the very top of each cap. Chef's tip: fry the okra briefly in a hot pan before it goes into the stew so it holds its shape and stays bright green.

120 min

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