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Chess pie

Chess pie is the plain-pantry pie of Virginia, Kentucky and the Carolinas, made with nothing but butter, sugar, eggs and a spoonful of cornmeal, so it was baked year-round when there was no fruit. It sets into a rich, translucent custard with a crackly, golden sugar crust on top. Nobody agrees on the name; one story says a cook called it 'jes' pie'. Chef's tip: the cornmeal and vinegar aren't optional; they stop the very sweet custard from being cloying and help it set.

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Mushroom tacos al pastorChilli mushroom tacos

Tacos al pastor are the night-time taco of Mexico City, born when Lebanese immigrants' spit-roasted shawarma met Mexican dried chillies: meat marinated in guajillo and achiote is stacked on a vertical spit (the trompo), shaved into small corn tortillas and finished with pineapple, onion and coriander. This vegetarian version, tacos al pastor de hongos, uses torn oyster mushrooms in the same brick-red adobo, seared hard in a hot pan until the edges crisp and char like meat cut from the trompo. Expect smoky, tangy, gently hot tacos with bursts of sweet, caramelised pineapple; serve them with salsa verde and lime wedges. Chef's tip: press the mushrooms flat with a spatula and leave them alone in a very hot pan; moving them around makes them steam and go soft instead of crisp.

35 min

Mexican Vegetarian

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SidduSteamed stuffed wheat buns

Siddu are soft, steamed wheat buns from the hills of Himachal Pradesh, especially around Kullu and Manali, made on cold days with a warming filling. The yeasted wholemeal dough is wrapped around ground walnuts, poppy seeds, garlic and green chilli, then steamed until fluffy. Torn open and drenched in melted ghee, they're eaten with green chutney or dal. Some homes fill them with spiced urad dal instead. Chef's tip: let the shaped siddu rise for 15 minutes before steaming, and don't open the lid early; a sudden draught makes them collapse and turn dense.

120 min

Indian Breads & Parathas

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Mushroom khinkaliMushroom dumplings

Khinkali come from the mountain villages of Pshavi, Khevsureti and Tusheti in Georgia's north-east, and the roadside khinkali houses of Pasanauri on the Georgian Military Road are where many Tbilisi families stop for them. The classic filling is meat, but mushroom khinkali (sokos khinkali) are made all through Orthodox Lent and are on most menus. You hold each one upside down by its twisted topknot, bite a small hole, sip the hot juices, then eat the rest and leave the doughy knot on the plate to count how many you have eaten. The common mistake is rolling the wrappers too thin or the dough too soft, so they tear in the pot and lose their juice. Chef's tip: grind black pepper over them generously at the table, as Georgians do; it wakes up the mushrooms.

120 min

Georgian Snacks & Starters

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MusakhanSumac chicken on flatbread

Musakhan is the dish Palestinian families in the villages around Jenin and Tulkarem make in late autumn, when the olives have been pressed and the first green, peppery oil comes home from the mill. Mounds of onion are cooked slowly in that oil with plenty of sumac, piled onto taboon bread with roast chicken and baked until the bread's edges crisp and its middle soaks up the purple-red juices. It is eaten with your hands, shared from one big tray, with yogurt and a chopped salad. Chef's tip: use more oil than feels right; the bread is meant to drink it, and a dry musakhan misses the point.

100 min

Lebanese Chicken

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Mushroom luwomboSteamed mushroom groundnut stew

Luwombo is a royal dish of the Buganda kingdom in central Uganda, served at weddings, introduction ceremonies and Christmas: a stew wrapped and tied in softened banana leaves and steamed for hours so the leaf perfumes everything. Chicken, beef or smoked fish are traditional, but mushroom luwombo in a groundnut (peanut) sauce is a well-loved meat-free version, especially with the large wild mushrooms sold in Kampala markets. Serve with matoke. Chef's tip: wilt the banana leaves over a flame until they turn glossy and bendy; stiff leaves split and the sauce runs out.

130 minEast African Vegetarian

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MurtabakStuffed griddled bread

Mamak shops stay open late across Malaysia, and the man at the big flat griddle swinging dough into a translucent sheet is half the show. Murtabak is that dough wrapped around a filling of curried minced meat, onion and beaten egg, folded into a fat square parcel and fried until blistered and crisp outside, soft and steamy within. Ramadan bazaars sell piles of it at dusk for breaking the fast. Cut into squares and serve with a ladle of dhal or curry gravy and pickled red onion. Chef's tip: oil your hands and the work surface generously; murtabak dough wants to be stretched, never rolled, and the oil lets it glide.

60 min

Malaysian Snacks & Starters

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Sigara böreğiFried cheese pastry rolls

These pencil-thin rolls take their name from the cigarettes they resemble, and they are the börek every Turkish child grows up on. Triangles of yufka (thin Turkish pastry) are rolled round a finger of white cheese and parsley and fried until they shatter when you bite them. They turn up at five o'clock tea parties, on the iftar table during Ramadan and in many a school lunchbox. Yufka is sold in Turkish shops; filo works too if you use two sheets brushed with oil. Chef's tip: shape them all, cover with a damp cloth and fry just before eating; they lose their crunch within an hour.

30 min

Turkish Snacks & Starters

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Vegetarian erwtensoepSplit pea soup

Erwtensoep, or snert, is the soup that Dutch skaters drink from paper cups at the koek-en-zopie stalls on frozen lakes, and that families leave to simmer on a Saturday in January. A proper snert is so thick that a spoon should stand upright in the pan, and it tastes better on the second day. The traditional pot is full of pork and smoked sausage; this version gets its depth from celeriac, leek, a little smoked paprika and a long, slow simmer. Serve it with dark rye bread (roggebrood), butter and mustard. Chef's tip: stir the bottom of the pan every 10 minutes in the last half hour; split peas settle as they thicken and catch easily, and a scorched taste spreads through the whole pot.

140 min

Dutch Soups

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Silao khajaLayered syrup pastry

Travellers on the road from Patna to Rajgir stop at Silao, a small town near the ruins of Nalanda, for one thing: khaja, a pastry built from dozens of paper-thin layers that flake apart in the mouth and are glazed with a crackly sugar coat. Silao's halwais have made it for generations, and it is carried home in boxes as a present; it is also offered in temples and at weddings across Bihar and Odisha. It takes patience but no special equipment. Chef's tip: fry at a really low heat so the layers have time to open out like pages before the outside colours; hot oil seals them shut.

90 min

Indian Indian Sweets

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HariraTomato, lentil and chickpea soup

When the call to prayer ends the fast during Ramadan, tables from Tangier to Ouarzazate are set with a bowl of harira, dates and chebakia. This tomato soup is thick with lentils, chickpeas and a great deal of coriander, parsley and celery, and gets its silky body from a flour-and-water slurry stirred in at the end. Many families cook it with a little lamb; this meat-free version uses a well-browned onion and tomato base and olive oil instead of smen, so it is fully vegan and still deeply savoury. Chef's tip: the soup should coat a spoon like thin custard; add the flour slurry slowly while stirring and stop when it reaches that point. Variation: for the meat version, brown 250 g diced lamb with the onion at the start.

60 min

Moroccan Soups

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Vegetarian mohingaRice noodle soup with lemongrass

Mohinga is Myanmar's national breakfast, ladled from steaming pots at dawn on street corners from Yangon to Mandalay: thin rice noodles in a thick, golden broth fragrant with lemongrass, ginger and toasted chickpea flour, topped with crisp fritters, lime and chilli. The real thing is built on catfish and fish sauce. This vegetarian version is honestly different: dried shiitake and kombu give savouriness instead of fish, and the body comes from toasted chickpea flour, toasted rice powder and banana stem (or palm heart), so it's lighter and earthier rather than fishy. Chef's tip: toast the chickpea flour and rice until golden and nutty before they go in; they carry most of the flavour.

75 min

Burmese Soups

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SilpanchoBreaded steak over rice and potatoes

Silpancho is the pride of Cochabamba in Bolivia and is sold in huge portions at the city's lunchtime silpancherías: a layer of rice, then sliced fried potatoes, then a beef steak pounded so thin it covers the plate, breaded and fried, topped with a fried egg and a fresh salsa of tomato, onion and locoto chilli. The mistake is not pounding the meat thin enough; it should be about 3 mm, so it fries in a minute and stays tender. Chef's tip: press the breadcrumbs into the meat with the palm of your hand, then pound lightly once more so they stick.

70 minAndean Meat

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Muriwo une doviGreens in peanut butter sauce

Muriwo une dovi, greens with peanut butter, is a daily relish in Zimbabwean homes, eaten with sadza at lunch and supper. Collard greens, rape or pumpkin leaves are cooked with onion and tomato, then stirred into a creamy peanut sauce. Zambia's ifisashi is the same idea, usually without tomato and often made with pumpkin leaves or spinach and eaten with nshima. Chef's tip: add the peanut butter at the end and cook just long enough to thicken; long boiling makes it gluey.

30 minSouthern African Sides

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Mumu-style pork roastOven-roasted pork with sweet potato

A mumu is the earth oven of the Papua New Guinea highlands, around Mount Hagen and Goroka, made for feasts, bride-price ceremonies and Christmas: pork, kaukau (sweet potato), bananas and greens are wrapped in banana leaves and steamed over hot stones for hours. This dish contains pork. This home version packs the same ingredients, with coconut milk, into a covered roasting tin and cooks them slowly until the pork is soft. The mistake is cooking the pork fast and hot; it needs long, gentle heat to become tender. Chef's tip: add the greens only for the last 30 minutes so they stay bright.

210 minPacific Islander Meat

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SimitSesame bread rings

Stacked high on wooden trays and pushed through Istanbul on red carts, simit is the city's breakfast on the move: commuters tear one apart on the ferry across the Bosphorus, throwing the odd piece to the gulls. The ring is twisted, dipped in diluted grape molasses (pekmez) and pressed into sesame, so it bakes up with a crackly, nutty, deep brown crust and a chewy, close crumb. Unlike a bagel it is never boiled. At home, serve warm with tea, white cheese, olives and tomatoes. Chef's tip: toast the sesame seeds in a dry pan before coating; raw seeds stay pale and taste of very little.

120 min

Turkish Baking

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Vegetarian popiahFresh spring rolls

Popiah are the soft, fresh spring rolls that Hokkien and Peranakan families in Singapore make together at home, especially for Qing Ming and family reunions, with everyone wrapping their own at the table. Thin wheat skins are brushed with sweet sauce and chilli, then filled with a slow-braised mix of jicama (bangkuang) and carrot, plus lettuce, beansprouts, egg, peanuts and crispy shallots. This version leaves out the prawns and Chinese sausage and braises the filling in vegetable stock. Chef's tip: drain the braised filling very well before rolling; extra liquid tears the delicate skins.

65 min

Singaporean Snacks & Starters

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Sev puriPuri topped with potato and chutneys

Sev puri is the snack Mumbaikars eat standing up at Juhu and Girgaum Chowpatty, or at the chaat stall outside the office in the evening. Flat, crisp papdi are laid out on a plate, topped with potato, onion and raw mango, splashed with green, sweet tamarind and red garlic chutneys, then buried under a snowfall of fine sev. It must be eaten within a couple of minutes, before the papdi soften. Here the papdi are made at home, but good shop-bought ones work fine on a busy day. Chef's tip: assemble each plate just before it's eaten, in the order given; chutney on bare papdi makes them soggy, so the potato always goes down first.

50 min

Indian Snacks & Starters

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Mullah bamiaOkra stew

Mullah is the Sudanese word for the thick stews that go with kisra and aseeda, and mullah bamia, with okra, is one of the most loved, cooked in homes from Khartoum to Kassala. The base is a large amount of onion cooked very slowly until it melts, then tomato and garlic; the okra is left to soften until the sauce turns silky. Many households add dried ground okra (weika) for a thicker, earthier stew. It is normally made with meat; here it is all vegetable. Chef's tip: cook the onions until they collapse into a jam before adding anything else; that slow base is what gives mullah its depth.

70 min

Sudanese Curries

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SinangagGarlic fried rice

Sinangag is what a Filipino kitchen does with last night's rice: fried in garlicky oil first thing in the morning and heaped on the breakfast plate. It is the 'si' in silog, the breakfast plates served at every silugan (all-day breakfast stall) in Manila, where garlic rice comes with a fried egg and a choice of cured meat. At home it goes with anything, from tortang talong to a fried egg and tomatoes, and a small dish of spiced vinegar for dipping. Each grain should be separate and lightly toasted, with plenty of crunchy, golden garlic on top. Chef's tip: fry the garlic slowly from cold oil; it browns evenly and the oil takes on a deep, sweet garlic flavour.

15 min

Filipino Rice & Grains

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Sindhi kadhiSour gram flour and tamarind curry

Sindhi kadhi is the Sunday lunch of families from Sindh, served in Karachi and Hyderabad homes over plain rice with crisp fried potatoes on the side. Unlike the yogurt kadhis of Gujarat and Punjab it uses no dairy at all: gram flour is roasted in oil until it smells like toasted nuts, whisked into water with tamarind and tomato, and simmered with a crowd of vegetables, typically drumsticks, okra, cluster beans, potato and carrot. The result is thin, sour and gently hot, with a deep golden colour. The common mistake is rushing the roasting of the gram flour; pale flour leaves the whole pot tasting raw and pasty. Chef's tip: cook the drumsticks and potatoes first and add the okra only in the last 10 minutes so it stays whole and does not turn slimy.

50 min

Pakistani Curries

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Mul naengmyeonCold buckwheat noodles

Mul naengmyeon comes from Pyongyang, where it was once a winter dish eaten in heated rooms; after the war, northern cooks opened naengmyeon houses in Seoul, and now it is the first thing people crave on a sticky summer afternoon. The beef broth is served almost frozen, slightly sweet and sharp with vinegar, over long, springy buckwheat noodles. Bottles of vinegar and hot mustard sit on every table so you can adjust each bowl. Plan ahead: the broth needs at least 4 hours in the fridge, or make it the day before. Chef's tip: put the strained broth in the freezer for the last hour, so it turns slushy just as you serve.

120 min

Korean Pasta & Noodles

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Singapore carrot cake (chai tow kway)Fried radish cake with egg

Singapore's carrot cake has no carrot in it: "carrot" is the local word for white radish (daikon). A steamed cake of rice flour and grated radish is cut into cubes and fried with egg and garlic until crisp and golden, either "white" (plain and eggy) or "black" (with sweet dark soy). It's a breakfast and supper favourite at hawker centres like Chinatown Complex. Most stalls add chai poh (preserved radish); this version leaves it out because many brands are made with fish sauce, and spring onions bring the savoury lift instead. Chef's tip: steam the cake a day ahead and chill it overnight; cold, firm cake cuts cleanly and crisps instead of falling apart.

75 min

Singaporean Snacks & Starters

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MujaddaraLentils and rice with crisp onions

Across the Levant, from Tripoli in northern Lebanon to the villages of the Galilee, mujaddara is the thrifty Friday or Lenten supper that nobody tires of: brown lentils and rice cooked together until soft and earthy, then heaped with a tangle of onions fried until mahogany and crisp. It costs very little, keeps well, and is eaten warm or at room temperature with a cucumber-yogurt salad, plain yogurt for non-vegans, or a sharp cabbage salad. The onions do all the seasoning, so be generous. Chef's tip: fry the onions in batches with room to spare in the pan; crowded onions steam and go soft instead of turning crisp.

60 min

Lebanese Rice & Grains

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MuhammaraRed pepper and walnut spread

Gaziantep, a city on Turkey's southern border famous for pistachios and pepper paste, claims muhammara as its own, and you will find it on breakfast spreads and meze tables throughout the southeast. Roasted red peppers, walnuts and breadcrumbs are pounded with pepper paste, cumin and pomegranate molasses into a thick, brick-red spread that is smoky, nutty and gently hot. Spread it on bread, serve it with crudités or alongside a bowl of lentil soup. A common mistake is blending until completely smooth; it should keep a little bite from the walnuts. Chef's tip: toast the walnuts in a dry pan first until they smell like brown butter, which deepens the flavour far more than raw nuts.

20 min

Turkish Chutneys & Dips

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SingjuCabbage and lotus stem salad

Singju is Imphal's favourite evening snack, sold from stalls at Khwairamband market and Thangal Bazar: a pile of finely shredded cabbage, lotus stem, banana flower, onion and fresh herbs, tossed with roasted chilli and toasted gram flour. Most stalls add a little ngari (fermented fish); vegetarian Meitei homes skip it and use extra roasted perilla or sesame and toasted gram flour, which give a nutty, savoury depth. It is crunchy, hot and herby. Chef's tip: shred everything as thinly as you can, almost like hair; the dressing clings better.

25 min

Indian Salads

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SingodiCoconut milk fudge in leaf cones

Singodi is Almora's other famous sweet, sold in the same shops as bal mithai but looking nothing like it: a soft, pale mix of khoya and coconut packed into a cone of maalu leaf and pinned shut with a twig. The leaf leaves a faint green, woody scent in the sweet, which is the whole point, and people in Kumaon unwrap them at weddings and on trips home. Maalu leaves are almost impossible to buy elsewhere, so this version uses banana leaf or fresh betel (paan) leaves; both give a gentle leafy aroma. Chef's tip: wrap the singodi while the filling is still warm and leave them in the fridge overnight, so the scent of the leaf soaks in.

45 min

Indian Indian Sweets

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Mughlai parathaEgg-stuffed paratha

Mughlai paratha is a Kolkata cabin-restaurant classic, the sort of thing eaten at Anadi Cabin or a para stall on a winter evening with a sweet-sour potato curry and sliced cucumber and onion. Paper-thin dough is stretched out on the tawa, a beaten egg with onion, chilli and coriander is poured into the middle, and the sides are folded over into a sealed square parcel that is shallow-fried until it blisters. Many shops add minced meat; this vegetarian version is egg only, the way plenty of Bengali homes make it. Chef's tip: stretch the dough with oiled hands rather than a rolling pin for the thinnest sheet.

60 min

Indian Breads & Parathas

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