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Masala ugali
Featured recipe

Masala ugali

Spiced maize meal porridge

Ugali, East Africa's staple of maize meal cooked into a stiff porridge, given a lift with toasted cumin, butter, fresh coriander and green chilli. Stir it hard and keep it soft. Serve hot with sukumawiki or any stew.

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Sattu sharbatRoasted gram flour drink

On scorching May afternoons in Patna, handcarts with steel pots and heaps of lemons sell sattu sharbat by the glass: roasted gram flour whisked into cold water with black salt, roasted cumin, lemon and a bit of raw onion and chilli. It is filling enough to stand in for lunch and is the drink rickshaw pullers and farm workers swear by to beat the loo, the hot summer wind. It tastes savoury, nutty and sharp all at once. Chef's tip: whisk the sattu into a little water first to a smooth paste, then dilute it; tipping it straight into a full glass leaves dry lumps.

5 minIndianDrinksVeganGluten free
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Kacchi biryaniRaw-marinated mutton biryani

Kacchi biryani is the wedding dish of Old Dhaka: at every Bangladeshi biye the huge copper pots come out, and the lanes around Nazira Bazar are famous for it. 'Kacchi' means raw: the mutton goes into the pot uncooked, marinated in yogurt and spices, under a layer of half-cooked aromatic rice and fried potatoes, and everything steams together for over an hour so the meat juices cook the rice. Serve it with borhani, the spiced yogurt drink, and a salad of sliced cucumber and onion. The common mistake is under-marinating or using lean meat cut too large; small pieces of shoulder with some fat, marinated overnight in the fridge, cook through in time. Chef's tip: seal the lid with a rope of dough; if no steam escapes, the meat at the bottom becomes tender without you ever opening the pot.

150 minBangladeshiRice & Grains
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Sauce graine with chicken and smoked fishPalm nut sauce with chicken

Sauce graine, palm-nut sauce, is the Sunday stew of southern Côte d'Ivoire, made in villages from freshly pounded palm fruit and in Abidjan from tins of palm-nut cream. It is deep orange-red, rich and slightly smoky from the smoked fish that goes in with the chicken, and is eaten with foutou banane, rice or attiéké. The mistake to avoid is boiling it hard at the end; palm-nut sauce should simmer gently until the oil rises to the top, which is how you know it is done. Chef's tip: use bone-in chicken; the bones give the sauce body.

100 minIvorianChickenGluten free
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Kabuli pulaoLamb pilaf with carrots and raisins

Kabuli pulao crossed the Khyber Pass from Afghanistan and is now part of everyday cooking in Peshawar and across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where it is the dish of honour for guests and the centre of Eid tables. Lamb on the bone is simmered into a rich stock, then rice is cooked in that stock and the meat is buried in the middle so it stays soft. On top go strips of carrot and raisins, glazed in a little sugar, and toasted almonds. It isn't spicy, just warm with cumin and cardamom. Chef's tip: caramelise a spoon of sugar in the oil before adding the stock; it gives the rice its traditional golden-brown colour.

135 minPakistaniRice & GrainsGluten free
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HeotjesatbapRice with seven vegetable sides

In Andong, the old Confucian town of North Gyeongsang, the scholars of the yangban class were said to want the food from jesa, the rite offered to ancestors, without waiting for a rite to come round, so they cooked the same dishes and called them heotjesatbap (헛제삿밥), 'fake rite rice'. Restaurants by Andong's dam still serve it: a bowl of rice to be mixed with brown, white and green namul and seasoned with soy sauce, never chilli, because ritual food avoids red pepper and garlic. The full table includes grilled fish and beef skewers; this vegetarian version keeps the vegetables and tofu jeon that make up most of it. Chef's tip: cook each namul separately with only salt, soy or sesame, so each keeps its own taste and colour when you mix the bowl.

60 minKoreanRice & GrainsVegan
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SauerbratenMarinated pot roast

Sauerbraten is the Rhineland's Sunday roast, from Cologne to Düsseldorf, and in the old days it was a way to keep beef for a week. A joint of topside sits for three days in a spiced vinegar marinade, then is braised slowly and served with a sweet-sour gravy thickened with crumbled gingerbread (Printen or Lebkuchen) and raisins. Red cabbage and potato dumplings are the classic plate. Many families put red wine in the marinade; this version uses red wine vinegar and stock, so it is alcohol-free, and you can swap 250 ml of the water for red wine if you like. A common mistake is serving it too soon: give the meat the full three days in the fridge so the vinegar reaches the middle. Chef's tip: dry the beef very well before browning, or it will steam and stay grey.

210 minGermanMeat
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Tikil gomenCabbage, carrot and potato stew

Tikil gomen means 'cabbage stew', and it is the mild, golden side on almost every beyaynetu fasting platter in Addis Ababa and Bahir Dar. White cabbage, carrots and potatoes are cooked slowly with onion, garlic, ginger and turmeric until soft and sweet, with no chilli heat apart from a few strips of green pepper. Children love it, and it balances the spicy red wats beautifully. Chef's tip: let the cabbage cook down until it is sweet and slightly caramelised at the edges; that is where all the flavour comes from.

35 minEthiopianSidesVeganGluten free
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SawhchiarChicken and rice porridge

Sawhchiar is Mizoram's comfort food and community food at once: rice and chicken slowly cooked together until thick and soft. In Aizawl huge pots are made for church gatherings, festivals such as Chapchar Kut and for neighbours in times of mourning, and smaller pots at home for anyone feeling unwell. It is gently seasoned with ginger, garlic and pepper and eaten with a fiery chilli on the side. Chef's tip: stir from the bottom every few minutes near the end; once the rice thickens it catches quickly.

70 minIndianRice & GrainsGluten free
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Tallarín saltadoStir-fried noodles with vegetables

Tallarín saltado is the noodle cousin of lomo saltado, a chifa favourite from Lima where Chinese wok technique meets Peruvian ingredients. Spaghetti-style wheat noodles are tossed over a fierce heat with mushrooms, pak choi, red onion, tomato, ginger and ají amarillo, then glossed with soy sauce and a splash of vinegar. The noodles soak up the smoky, tangy sauce while the vegetables stay crisp. Peruvians use plain spaghetti from the shop on the corner, and so can you. Chef's tip: cook the noodles a minute short of the packet time and rinse them in cold water; they finish cooking in the wok and won't turn soft or clump.

25 minPeruvianPasta & NoodlesVegan
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Scallion pancakes (cong you bing)Spring onion flatbreads

Cong you bing are sold from griddles on street corners across northern China, and every Shanghai breakfast stall has its own version. The dough is rolled thin, brushed with a flour-and-oil paste, scattered with spring onion, rolled up like a snail and flattened again, so it fries into dozens of crisp, chewy layers. Children love tearing them apart. Chef's tip: make the dough with hot water; it scalds some of the flour so the pancakes stay soft and roll out without springing back.

50 minChineseBreads & ParathasVegan
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