Featured recipe

Pepper, beans and fruit salad

A big, bright salad of red, green and yellow peppers, boiled peanuts, sweet corn, grapes, apple and coconut, tossed in a sweet-sour passion fruit and mint dressing. It is very popular at big parties: it looks festive, keeps its crunch and is easy to double. Serve it on a bed of crisp lettuce.

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Crème brûléeBurnt cream custard

Crème brûlée, 'burnt cream', is the dessert on almost every Paris bistro menu: a shallow dish of rich vanilla custard, cold and silky, under a thin sheet of caramelised sugar you crack with the back of a spoon. Unlike the stovetop Spanish crema catalana, it's made with cream and baked gently in a water bath. The custards are made a day ahead, which makes it ideal for dinner parties; only the sugar is burnt at the last minute. Chef's tip: take them out of the oven while the middle still wobbles like jelly; overbaking is the common mistake and the custard turns grainy and splits.

60 min

French Desserts

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Crni rižotBlack cuttlefish risotto

Along the Dalmatian coast, from Korčula to Dubrovnik, konobas serve crni rižot as the first thing fishermen order when they come ashore, its jet-black colour startling against a white plate. Cuttlefish is cooked slowly with onion and garlic until tender, then rice goes in with fish stock and the ink sac, making a creamy, sea-sweet rice that tastes of the shore. It traditionally includes a splash of dry white wine; for an alcohol-free version, use more stock with a squeeze of lemon. The usual mistake is adding the cuttlefish late and cooking it fast, which leaves it rubbery; it needs to stew first. Chef's tip: serve with a drizzle of good olive oil and grated hard sheep's cheese if you like, and warn your guests about black teeth.

75 minBalkan Fish

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Crossing-the-bridge noodles with vegetable brothRice noodles in hot broth

Guo qiao mi xian comes from Mengzi in southern Yunnan. The story goes that a scholar's wife carried soup across a bridge to his island study each day, and found that a layer of oil kept it piping hot. Today in Kunming it arrives as a big bowl of scalding broth plus small plates of raw thinly sliced vegetables, tofu skin, herbs and rice noodles, which you slide in yourself so they cook at the table. This vegetarian broth is built on mushroom, corn and soybean sprouts. Chef's tip: the broth must be at a rolling boil when it goes into a warmed bowl; that heat is what cooks the toppings.

60 min

Chinese Soups

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Sancocho de verdurasVegetable and plantain stew

Sancocho is the big Sunday soup Colombian families cook outdoors on riverbanks and fincas (country houses), with every region from Antioquia to the Valle having its own version. This vegetarian sancocho keeps the essentials: green plantain broken by hand, cassava, potatoes and corn on the cob simmered in a broth seasoned with spring onion, garlic, cumin and plenty of coriander, until the starches thicken it. Serve each bowl with white rice, avocado and lime on the side. Chef's tip: break the plantain into pieces with your hands rather than cutting it; the rough edges release starch and thicken the broth.

60 min

Colombian Soups

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CsirkepaprikásPaprika chicken in sour cream sauce

Csirkepaprikás is the Sunday chicken of Hungarian homes, cooked by grandmothers in villages and in Budapest flats alike and always served with nokedli, the little egg dumplings. Chicken thighs braise gently with onion, plenty of sweet paprika, tomato and pepper, then soured cream is stirred in to make a velvety, brick-orange sauce. Chef's tip: mix the soured cream with a spoonful of flour and some hot sauce before adding it; this stops it from splitting.

70 min

Hungarian Chicken

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CuberdonsRaspberry cone candies

Cuberdons are the purple, cone-shaped sweets sold from handcarts on the Groentenmarkt in Ghent, where locals call them neuzekes, 'little noses'. A thin, firm sugar crust encloses a syrupy raspberry centre, and they only stay that way for about three weeks before the inside crystallises, which is why they have never become an export. They are made with gum arabic, not gelatine, so they suit vegetarians and vegans. Making them at home is a fun weekend project: the syrup is poured into cone-shaped hollows pressed into a tray of dry cornflour, which slowly draws moisture out and forms the crust. Chef's tip: use a sugar thermometer and be exact; just a few degrees too low and the cones never form a crust, a few too high and they set solid all the way through.

65 min

Belgian Desserts

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Sancocho panameñoChicken and yam soup

Sancocho is Panama's national dish, a golden chicken soup thickened with ñame (white yam), seasoned with culantro (a strong, saw-edged cousin of coriander), oregano and onion; families make it on Sundays, after a long night out and whenever someone is unwell, and the soup from the town of Chitré in the Azuero peninsula is said to be the best. It is served with white rice on the side, which people spoon into the bowl. The mistake is adding the yam too early; it dissolves and the broth turns gluey, so add it after the chicken has simmered. Chef's tip: some of the yam should break down to thicken the broth, so let it cook until the edges soften.

90 minCentral American Soups

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SandeshSoft fresh cheese sweets

Sandesh is the most delicate of Bengal's sweets, made in Kolkata's sweet shops every morning from chhena, fresh milk curds. The chhena is kneaded until silky, cooked briefly with sugar and pressed into little rounds or moulds. It's soft, fine-textured and milky, sweet but light, often scented with cardamom or saffron. This is the soft 'norom pak' style. Serve at room temperature as a sweet with tea or after a meal. Chef's tip: hang the chhena only until it stops dripping; if it's too dry, the sandesh turn crumbly, and if too wet they won't hold a shape.

40 min

Indian Indian Sweets

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Curanto en ollaShellfish and meat pot

On the island of Chiloé in southern Chile, curanto is cooked in a pit lined with hot stones and covered with huge nalca leaves; in town kitchens and in Puerto Montt's market it is made in a big pot instead, curanto en olla. Mussels and clams, smoked pork, chicken and sausage steam together over potatoes and milcao (potato dumplings) until the juices make a rich broth, served in cups on the side. This dish contains pork and shellfish. Some cooks add white wine; this version uses water. The mistake is adding the shellfish too early; they go in at the end and must open, and any that stay closed are thrown away. Chef's tip: make the milcao a little ahead and keep it in the fridge so it holds its shape.

135 min

Chilean Fish

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CurrywurstSausage with curry ketchup

This is a pork dish. Currywurst was born in post-war Berlin, and today kiosks across the city sell it all day and long into the night, on a little paper tray with a wooden fork. A fried pork sausage is cut into bite-size pieces and drowned in a warm, tangy tomato sauce spiced with curry powder, then dusted with more curry powder and served with chips or a bread roll. The sauce is homemade here, so it has no brand of ketchup in it. The usual mistake is cooking the sausages too hot, so they split and burn outside while staying raw inside. Chef's tip: let the sauce simmer a full 10 minutes; the curry powder needs that time to lose its raw, dusty taste.

35 min

German Fast Food

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CurtidoPickled cabbage relish

No plate of pupusas in El Salvador arrives without a jar of curtido beside it: a tangy, crunchy slaw of cabbage, carrot and onion lightly pickled in vinegar with Mexican oregano. Pupuserías keep a big jar on every table, and the sharpness cuts through melted cheese and corn perfectly. It's also good with beans, tacos or a cheese sandwich. Chef's tip: make it a day ahead; it is crisp and raw on day one but turns mellow and properly pickled by day two.

20 minCentral American Salads

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Basanti pulaoSweet saffron rice

Basanti pulao, the 'spring-coloured' pulao, is cooked in Bengali homes for Poila Baisakh (the Bengali new year), weddings, Jamai Shashthi and pujas. It is made with gobindobhog, a short-grain, buttery-smelling rice from Bengal, cooked in ghee with whole spices, turmeric, sugar, cashews and raisins until each grain is glossy and separate. It is distinctly sweet, and is served with aloo dum, chhanar dalna or, in non-vegetarian homes, kosha mangsho. Chef's tip: wash the rice and spread it on a cloth for 30 minutes; dry grains fry in the ghee without breaking.

65 min

Indian Rice & Grains

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Cypriot sheftaliaPork and herb sausages

This is a pork recipe. Sheftalia are the little skinless sausages you find on every souvla barbecue in Cyprus, from Limassol beach grills to Sunday family gatherings in Nicosia gardens. Minced pork is mixed with onion, parsley and mint, wrapped in lacy caul fat and grilled slowly so the fat melts and bastes the meat. They come tucked into a large pitta with salad, lemon and tahini. Ask a butcher for caul fat (sometimes called lace fat); without it you can still shape the mix into thick sausages and grill them on an oiled rack. Chef's tip: soak the caul fat in warm, lightly vinegared water first; it becomes supple and stretches without tearing.

55 min

Greek Meat

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Barszcz czerwony (Christmas Eve beetroot broth)Clear beetroot soup

Barszcz czerwony wigilijny is the clear, ruby-coloured beetroot broth that opens the Christmas Eve supper in most Polish homes, from Warsaw to Wrocław. It is not the thick vegetable soup of Ukraine but a sipping broth, sweet, sour and earthy, sharpened with beetroot kvass or lemon and deepened with dried forest mushrooms; on 24 December it is served with tiny mushroom dumplings called uszka, and through winter people drink it from mugs alongside a croquette. It is fully plant-based, as the Wigilia table traditionally is. Chef's tip: once the beetroot is in, never let the soup boil hard; a bare simmer keeps the colour bright, and boiling turns it a dull brown.

90 min

Polish Soups

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Dabo koloCrunchy spiced dough bites

Dabo kolo are small crunchy nuggets of spiced dough, sold in paper cones in markets from Addis Ababa to Gondar and offered to guests with coffee. Families make big batches before holidays such as Enkutatash (Ethiopian New Year in September) and for long journeys, since they keep for weeks. The dough is seasoned with berbere and a little sugar, rolled into thin ropes, cut into tiny pieces and toasted until crisp. Children love them, and they can be made mild by reducing the berbere. Chef's tip: cut the pieces as small and even as you can, about the size of a chickpea, so they crunch all the way through.

50 min

Ethiopian Snacks & Starters

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Dabu-dabuFresh tomato and chilli salsa

Every table in Manado, North Sulawesi, has a bowl of dabu-dabu: diced tomato, shallot and red chilli with calamansi juice and lemon basil, sometimes dressed with hot oil. It is spooned over grilled food, fried tofu and the pumpkin porridge tinutuan, and its cool juiciness makes very hot chilli easier to take. Unlike Bali's sambal matah, it is built on tomato and stays chunky and wet. Chef's tip: salt the tomatoes and leave them 5 minutes before mixing, so they release juice that becomes the dressing.

10 min

Indonesian Chutneys & Dips

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SangaCorn and greens in palm cream

Sanga is a home dish of the Beti people around Yaoundé in the Centre region of Cameroon, made in the maize season: young corn is grated off the cob and cooked with finely shredded njama njama (huckleberry leaves) and the orange pulp pressed from palm nuts. It is eaten warm from a bowl, sometimes with a little sugar stirred in. Spinach and tinned palm nut concentrate make a good version abroad. Chef's tip: grate the kernels off the cob rather than slicing them; the milky pulp is what thickens sanga.

60 min

Cameroonian Vegetarian

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Dahi baiganaFried aubergine in yogurt

Dahi baigana is one of the easiest dishes of an Odia summer lunch, and it turns up at home thalis in Puri and Bhubaneswar beside dalma and rice. Thick rounds of aubergine are rubbed with turmeric and salt, fried until golden and creamy, then bathed in whisked yogurt that has been tempered with mustard seeds, cumin, curry leaves and dried chilli. It is served at room temperature: cool, tangy and smoky from the fried aubergine. Chef's tip: add the tempering to the yogurt, never the yogurt to the hot pan, so it doesn't split.

25 min

Indian Sides

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Chana jor garamSpiced flattened chickpea snack

Chana jor garam is sold from a tin box slung round a vendor's neck on the Kolkata Maidan, at Babughat and along Esplanade, with a sing-song call to match its name. Chickpeas are soaked, pressed flat, and fried or roasted until crunchy, then tossed to order with raw onion, tomato, green chilli, coriander, lime and a spice mix, and handed over in a paper cone. It is lighter than jhalmuri and much crunchier. The same snack is sold on Mumbai beaches; this is the Kolkata cart version. Chef's tip: flatten the soaked chickpeas while still damp, with a rolling pin between two cloths, so they split into thin discs.

35 min

Indian Snacks & Starters

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Dak bokkeumtangSpicy chicken and potato stew

Chicken on the bone braised with big chunks of potato in a thick red sauce is a weeknight staple in Daejeon, the central city where many Korean rail lines meet, and in homes right across the country. Some people still call it dakdoritang. Unlike Andong's soy-based jjimdak, it gets its colour and heat from chilli flakes and gochujang, and the potatoes slowly thicken the sauce as they soften. It's usually brought to the table in the pot and shared, with rice and kimchi, and the last of the sauce is spooned over rice. Chef's tip: blanch the chicken for 3 minutes and rinse it first; this takes away scum and excess fat, so the sauce stays bright and clean-tasting.

50 min

Korean Chicken

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Dak galbiSpicy stir-fried chicken

Chuncheon, a lakeside city in Gangwon province, is so proud of dak galbi that it has a whole lane of restaurants and a yearly festival for it. There, a waiter stir-fries the marinated chicken, cabbage, sweet potato and rice cakes on a huge round iron pan in the middle of your table. When the pan is nearly empty, rice is fried in the leftover sauce to finish the meal. This version is made in a large frying pan or wok at home. Chef's tip: a teaspoon of curry powder in the marinade is a Chuncheon trick; you won't taste curry, but the sauce tastes deeper.

40 min

Korean Chicken

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Chaman kaliyaPaneer in turmeric milk gravy

In Kashmir paneer is called chaman, and kaliya is the name for a gravy coloured bright yellow with turmeric rather than red with chilli. Kashmiri Pandit cooks fry thick slabs of paneer, rest them in warm water so they stay spongy, then simmer them in milk with fennel, dry ginger and cardamom. The result is mild, sweet-scented and soothing, a dish that sits beside the fiery ones on a wedding or festival spread and is just as welcome on a weekday with rice. Chef's tip: use a generous spoon of good turmeric; the gravy should glow a deep gold, and the milk mellows any rawness.

40 min

Indian Curries

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Dakor na gotaGram flour and fenugreek fritters

Pilgrims who come to the Ranchhodraiji temple at Dakor, in the Charotar belt of central Gujarat, rarely leave without a paper cone of gota from the shops around the temple square. These fritters are different from ordinary bhajia: the batter uses coarse gram flour, crushed black pepper and coriander seeds and plenty of fresh methi, and it is whipped light so the gota come out round, craggy and soft inside. Families buy the ready-mixed flour to take home and fry them on the first rainy evening of the monsoon. Serve them with green chutney, fried green chillies and a cup of masala chai. Chef's tip: beat the batter by hand in one direction for a full 3 minutes before frying; the air you whip in matters as much as the baking soda.

35 min

Indian Snacks & Starters

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DakosBarley rusk with tomato and cheese

Dakos is Crete's favourite summer meze: a round, hard barley rusk softened with a sprinkle of water, piled with grated ripe tomato and crumbled cheese, then drenched in olive oil and dusted with oregano. On the island it's made with soft, tangy mizithra and eaten in the afternoon with a glass of raki, but feta works well. The rusk drinks up the tomato juice and oil while keeping a little crunch. Look for barley rusks (paximadia) in Greek or Middle Eastern shops. Chef's tip: wet the rusk lightly, just enough to take the edge off; soaking it is the common mistake and it falls apart before you can eat it.

10 min

Greek Salads

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Dal baati churmaLentil dal with baked wheat balls

Dal baati churma is the dish every Rajasthani wedding and festival is built around. Baati are hard, round wheat breads, traditionally buried in desert embers, cracked open and drowned in ghee; they are eaten with panchmel dal made from five lentils and with churma, baati crumbs sweetened with sugar and cardamom. The joy is in the contrast: crunchy and soft, spicy and sweet, all rich with ghee. Serve with sliced onion, green chillies and lime. Chef's tip: rub the ghee into the baati flour until a handful holds its shape when squeezed; that shortening is what makes the baati crumbly inside instead of bready.

90 min

Indian Curries

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Dal bhatLentils, rice and vegetables

Across Nepal, from Terai farmhouses to trekking lodges below Everest, dal bhat is not a dish so much as the meal itself, eaten twice a day, late morning and early evening, often with the words "dal bhat power, 24 hour". The plate is always the same idea: a mound of plain rice (bhat), a thin, soupy lentil dal scented with jimbu (a dried Himalayan allium) fried in ghee, a dry vegetable tarkari, a little stir-fried greens when there are some, and a sharp spoonful of achar. You pour the dal over the rice and mix it by hand, a little at a time, with bites of curry and pickle. Most newcomers make the dal too thick; Nepali dal should run off the spoon like a light soup so it soaks the rice. Chef's tip: fry the jimbu in the hot ghee only until it darkens a shade and smells of garlicky onion, about 10 seconds, then pour it straight into the dal and cover the pan to trap the aroma.

60 min

Nepali Curries

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Sangkhya lapovCustard-filled steamed pumpkin

Sangkhya lapov is the showpiece of a Cambodian dessert stall: a squat green pumpkin, hollowed out, filled with an egg, coconut and palm sugar custard and steamed whole, then cut into wedges so every slice shows a band of orange flesh around a creamy caramel-coloured centre. In Phnom Penh it is sold by the slice at night markets and made at home for weddings and Pchum Ben. A small kabocha of about 1 kg is ideal. Chef's tip: cool it completely, ideally overnight in the fridge, before slicing; warm custard is soft and slumps out of the pumpkin.

75 min

Cambodian Desserts

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ChechebsaTorn flatbread in spiced butter

Chechebsa (also called kita firfir) is a breakfast from the Oromia and Wollo regions now loved all over Addis Ababa: a thick wheat flatbread is cooked on a griddle, torn into pieces and tossed in niter kibbeh and berbere, then eaten with honey and a dollop of ayib or yoghurt. It is rich, warming and quick. For a fasting (vegan) version, toss the bread in spiced oil instead of niter kibbeh and skip the yoghurt and honey or use date syrup. Chef's tip: tear the bread while hot with two forks; cold flatbread goes tough and won't soak up the butter.

25 min

Ethiopian Breakfast & Brunch

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SantulaMildly spiced mixed vegetables

Santula is everyday Odia comfort food, the dish cooks in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack make when someone is unwell or when the family wants something light after festival meals. Papaya, potato, aubergine, pumpkin and raw banana are boiled with turmeric, then given a quick tempering of panch phoron, garlic and dried chilli in a little oil, and finished, in many homes, with a spoon of milk. It is soft, mild and slightly soupy, and eaten with rice and dal. Chef's tip: boil the vegetables only until just tender; santula should look like separate pieces, not a mash.

35 min

Indian Sides

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ChallahBraided egg bread

On Friday afternoons the bakeries of Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda market and every Jewish neighbourhood from Brooklyn to Golders Green fill with plaited, shiny challah for the Shabbat table, where two loaves sit under an embroidered cloth until the blessing. The dough is enriched with eggs, oil and a little honey, so the crumb is soft, faintly sweet and pulls apart in feathery strands, and the crust bakes deep mahogany. Leftovers make wonderful French toast. Chef's tip: brush the egg glaze twice, once before rising and once just before baking, for the deep, lacquered shine.

180 min

Israeli Baking

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Dal pithaLentil-stuffed rice dumplings

Dal pitha is the comfort food of Bihari winters, made on cold evenings and around Makar Sankranti: soft rice-flour dough wrapped around a coarse filling of chana dal, garlic, ginger and chilli, shaped into half-moons or little pouches and cooked in steam. People in Mithila call it a Bihari momo, and it is eaten hot with tomato chutney or a dribble of mustard oil. The dough tastes gently of rice, the filling is savoury and filling, and leftovers are excellent pan-fried the next day. Chef's tip: knead the rice dough while it is still hot; if it cools before shaping, the pitha crack and the filling leaks out.

60 min

Indian Snacks & Starters

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Chakuli pithaRice and urad dal pancakes

Chakuli pitha is Odisha's breakfast pancake and the first of the pithas a child learns to love; it is offered to Lord Jagannath and made at home on Sundays and for Manabasa Gurubar in the month of Margasira. Rice and a little urad dal are soaked, ground and fermented overnight, then poured onto a hot pan into a pancake that is thinner than an uttapam but softer and thicker than a dosa, with a lacy, holey top. It is eaten with aloo bhaja, ghuguni or simply with jaggery. Chef's tip: cook only on one side under a lid; the steam sets the top and keeps the holes.

45 min

Indian Breakfast & Brunch

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Chakki ki shaakWheat gluten curry

This Malwa dish from around Indore and Ujjain is a lesson in thrift: wheat dough is washed under water until only its stretchy gluten remains, then steamed into a firm block and cut into rounds that look like little grinding stones, or chakki. Fried and simmered in a spiced yogurt gravy, the pieces turn chewy and meaty, soaking up flavour like a sponge. It is a Sunday or special-occasion sabzi in Marwari and Malwi homes, eaten with hot rotis or bafla. It takes time, but most of it is hands-off resting and washing. Chef's tip: whisk the yogurt with the coriander powder and add it off the heat, then bring it back slowly, so the gravy stays smooth instead of curdling.

110 min

Indian Curries

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Dalle chutneyRound chilli and tomato chutney

Dalle khursani is Sikkim's round, cherry-sized chilli, grown in every hill garden and among the hottest chillies in India. No meal in Gangtok goes without a little bowl of dalle achar beside the rice or momos. This fresh version pounds the chillies with blistered tomato, garlic, a pinch of timur (Sichuan-type pepper) and lemon into a coarse red chutney that is searingly hot, sharp and fruity. Eat it by the dot. Chef's tip: wear gloves when cutting dalle, and never touch your eyes; the heat stays on your hands for hours. Use a mix of habanero and bird's-eye chillies if you can't get dalle.

15 min

Indian Chutneys & Dips

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DalmaPigeon pea and vegetable dal

Dalma is the comfort food of Odisha and the dal offered at the Jagannath temple in Puri. Toor dal is cooked together with chunky vegetables, usually raw banana, pumpkin, aubergine and potato, so they soften into it and make it hearty enough to be a meal. A tempering of panch phoron and dried chilli and a sprinkle of roasted cumin-chilli powder give it its smoky warmth; a little grated coconut is often added on top. Odia homes finish it with a spoonful of ghee; this version uses oil so it stays vegan. Serve with plain rice. Chef's tip: add the vegetables halfway through cooking the dal, not at the start, so they keep their shape and the dal stays thick rather than watery.

40 min

Indian Curries

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Spinach MaultaschenSpinach pasta pockets

Maultaschen are the big square pasta parcels of Swabia, around Stuttgart and Tübingen, and a dish with its own legend: Swabians jokingly call them 'little God-cheaters', because the dough was said to hide meat from God's eyes during Lent. Meat-free spinach Maultaschen are a long-standing Lenten and Good Friday dish there, filled with spinach, soaked bread, onion, parsley and a little cheese. Eat them in clear vegetable broth, or the next day sliced and fried in butter with onions and egg ('geröstet'). Chef's tip: press every pocket of air out as you seal the dough; trapped air expands in the hot water and splits the parcels open.

100 min

German Pasta & Noodles

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PkhaliSpinach and walnut balls

Pkhali are the walnut-bound vegetable pâtés that open almost every Georgian feast, the supra, from Tbilisi to the villages of Kakheti. Spinach is the best known, though beetroot, beans, leeks and nettles are made the same way, and in Lent they become the heart of the meal. The cooked greens are chopped fine with walnuts, garlic, coriander, vinegar and spices, shaped into small balls and pressed with a criss-cross, then dotted with pomegranate seeds. Eat them cold with mchadi or bread. The common mistake is not squeezing the spinach hard enough, which makes the pkhali loose and watery. Chef's tip: they taste much better the next day, once the garlic and vinegar have soaked into the walnuts, so make them a day ahead.

40 min

Georgian Snacks & Starters

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DamperSoda bread

Damper is the bread of the Australian bush: drovers, stockmen and swagmen carried flour and salt across the Outback and baked loaves in the ashes of the campfire, and it's still made in cast-iron camp ovens on camping trips from the Flinders Ranges to the Kimberley. Long before that, Aboriginal peoples ground native seeds into flour and baked seed cakes in the coals. Modern damper uses self-raising flour, a little butter and milk, so it rises into a craggy, golden round with a crisp crust and a soft, scone-like crumb. Tear it while warm and eat it with butter and golden syrup, which bush cooks called cocky's joy, or with soup. Chef's tip: mix with a knife and work quickly; the less you handle the dough, the lighter the damper.

40 min

Australian Breads & Parathas

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ChakhwiJackfruit seed and papaya stew

Chakhwi is a Tripuri festive stew cooked at weddings and family feasts around Agartala, where the defining ingredient is 'khar' or soda, made by filtering water through banana-plant ash. It softens vegetables and gives a smooth, gently alkaline taste. Pork chakhwi is the best known; the vegetarian version is cooked with raw papaya, jackfruit seeds, bamboo shoot and long beans, with ginger and green chilli. It is soupier than Assamese khar and has no lentils. Chef's tip: use bicarbonate of soda if you have no ash water, but only a pinch; you should be able to taste it, not feel it.

50 min

Indian Soups

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Sara udonCrispy noodles with seafood sauce

Nagasaki's second famous noodle dish uses the same toppings as champon but turns them into a thick sauce poured over a plate of crunchy fried noodles. The name means plate udon, though the classic noodles are very thin and fried crisp. In Nagasaki homes it is a quick weekend lunch and a standard dish at family gatherings, and supermarkets there sell the fried noodle nests ready to use. People splash it with Worcestershire sauce at the table, and a dab of hot mustard is common too. Chef's tip: pour the sauce over at the very last moment and let the noodles soften slowly as you eat, so you get crisp and soft in every mouthful.

30 min

Japanese Pasta & Noodles

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Daulat ki chaatSaffron milk foam

Daulat ki chaat appears in the lanes of Chandni Chowk only in the coldest months, from about November to February. Vendors whisk milk and cream through the night and leave it out under the winter dew, then skim off a foam so light it disappears on your tongue, topped with saffron, khoya, sugar and pistachios. It's sold before the sun gets high, because warmth destroys it. A home kitchen can't recreate a Delhi winter night, so this version uses very cold milk and cream whipped to a loose foam and layered with saffron. It comes close: airy, cool, faintly sweet. Chef's tip: chill everything, bowl and whisk included, for at least 4 hours; the colder the milk, the more stable the foam.

40 min

Indian Indian Sweets

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Davanagere benne dosaButter dosa

Davanagere, a cotton-market town in central Karnataka, is famous for one thing above all: benne dosa, small, thick dosas cooked on a huge iron griddle with a generous lump of white butter melting over each one. The batter includes puffed rice (mandakki), which makes the inside soft and spongy while the base turns crisp and deep golden. In the town's busy dosa halls they arrive two at a time with a thin coconut chutney and a spoonful of potato palya tucked inside. It is breakfast, but many people eat it as an evening snack too. Chef's tip: use proper unsalted white butter if you can find it, and add it in two goes, half when the batter goes on and half just before folding, so the edges fry in butter rather than burn.

55 min

Indian Breakfast & Brunch

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ChakalakaSpicy vegetable and bean relish

Chakalaka is said to have started in the townships and mines around Johannesburg, where workers cooked tinned beans and vegetables with chilli and curry powder over open fires. Today no South African braai (barbecue) is complete without a pot of it, and it goes on the table at Sunday lunch, at funerals and weddings, served warm or cold alongside pap. It is spicy, a little sweet from the carrots and peppers, and tangy from the tomato and beans. Chef's tip: grate the carrots rather than chopping them; they melt into the relish and give it its characteristic soft, spoonable texture.

30 min

South African Sides

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DehroriFried rice and curd dumplings

Dehrori is the sweet Chhattisgarhi families make for Diwali, Holi and weddings, and it tastes like no other syrup sweet: soaked rice is ground coarse, left to sour gently with curd, then fried in ghee and dropped into cardamom syrup. The fermentation gives it a faint tang and a light, spongy crumb under a crisp shell, a little like a rustic cousin of rasbhari or gulab jamun. Grandmothers judge the batch by how well the dumplings hold their shape in the syrup. Chef's tip: grind the rice to the texture of fine semolina, not a smooth paste; that grain is what keeps dehrori light.

70 min

Indian Indian Sweets

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Delhi chole kulcheChickpeas with kulcha bread

Walk through any Delhi office district at lunchtime and you'll find a cart with a huge brass pot of pale white peas and a stack of soft kulchas warming on a tawa. Delhiites call it chole kulche even though it's made with dried white peas (safed matar) rather than chickpeas. The vendor scoops the peas onto a leaf plate, piles on raw onion, tomato, green chilli and ginger, squeezes lime over and dusts it with a sour, smoky masala. It's tangy, fresh and filling, and very different from the rich, stuffed Amritsari kulcha. Chef's tip: mash a ladleful of the cooked peas back into the pot; it thickens the liquid so the toppings and masala cling instead of sliding off.

90 min

Indian Fast Food

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Delhi-style fruit chaatSpiced fruit chaat

Delhi's fruit chaat wallahs set up their carts in the afternoons with towers of guava, papaya, apples and bananas, plus roasted sweet potato, and chop whatever you point at into a leaf bowl. Then comes the part that makes it chaat rather than fruit salad: a big shake of tangy chaat masala, black salt and roasted cumin, a squeeze of lime, sometimes a pinch of chilli. It's a refreshing mid-afternoon snack in summer, and a regular sight on Ramzan iftar spreads too. The salt and spice make sweet fruit taste even sweeter. Chef's tip: season it just before eating; once the salt goes on, the fruit starts weeping juice and goes soft within 15 minutes.

15 min

Indian Salads

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Chak-hao kheerBlack rice pudding

Chak-hao is Manipur's aromatic black rice, grown in the valley around Imphal; when cooked slowly in milk it turns a deep violet and makes chak-hao kheer, the pudding served at Meitei feasts, weddings and Ningol Chakouba, the festival when married daughters come home for a meal. The grains stay slightly chewy and nutty, and the milk takes on a lavender colour. Chef's tip: soak the rice for at least 3 hours, or overnight; black rice has a hard bran layer and won't soften in the milk otherwise.

70 min

Indian Desserts

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Chak-chakHoney-bound fried dough

Chak-chak arrived in Uzbekistan with Tatar families and is now a fixture of wedding tables and Navruz spreads in Tashkent and Samarkand: tiny nuggets of egg dough fried crisp, then tossed in hot honey syrup and pressed into a mound or ring that's broken apart with the fingers. Guests nibble it all evening with green tea. It keeps for a week, so it's often made a day or two ahead. Chef's tip: cook the honey syrup only to the soft-ball stage (about 115°C); boil it longer and the chak-chak sets as hard as brittle.

60 min

Uzbek Desserts

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ChajáSponge, peach and cream cake

Chajá was created in 1927 at a bakery in Paysandú, a city on the Uruguay River, and named after a local bird whose feathers look as fluffy as its crumbly meringue coat. Today it's Uruguay's birthday and celebration cake: layers of light sponge soaked in peach syrup, filled with whipped cream, peaches and dulce de leche, then covered in crushed meringue. It's sweet, soft and crunchy at once, best on the day it's assembled. Chef's tip: soak the sponge but not too much; it should feel moist, not wet, or the layers slide.

90 min

Paraguayan Baking

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ChainsooRoasted black gram dal

Chainsoo comes from the Garhwal hills, where whole black urad is roasted in a dry pan until it smells like toasted bread, ground coarsely on a hand mill and cooked into a thick, smoky dal. It is a winter dish: heavy, warming and full of protein, eaten with plain rice or jhangora and a drizzle of ghee for anyone who isn't keeping it vegan. Village cooks make it in a lohe ki kadhai, the iron pan that turns it almost black. The texture should be grainy and spoonable, somewhere between a dal and a porridge. Chef's tip: roast the urad slowly over a medium-low heat; the moment it turns from golden to dark brown it tastes bitter, so keep stirring and pull it off early.

65 min

Indian Curries

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Dharwad pedaCaramelised milk sweets

Dharwad peda has been made in this north Karnataka town for well over a century, first by families who came from Uttar Pradesh, and it now carries a geographical indication tag. Unlike pale, smooth pedas elsewhere, it is cooked slowly until the milk solids caramelise to a deep brown and a grainy, almost crumbly texture, then rolled in powdered sugar. Pilgrims and travellers carry boxes home from Dharwad and Hubballi, and families buy it for weddings and exam results. Chef's tip: let the cooked mixture cool for ten minutes before you add the sugar for rolling; added while too hot, the sugar melts and the pedas go sticky.

70 min

Indian Indian Sweets

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Sarawak laksaSpicy coconut noodle soup

Kuching wakes up to laksa Sarawak, ordered at coffee shops before work and reaching its peak on a lazy Sunday morning. It looks nothing like curry laksa: the broth is a russet, gently creamy soup built on a complex paste of chillies, shallots, galangal, toasted sesame, peanuts and warm whole spices, cooked into a chicken and prawn-shell stock with tamarind and a little coconut milk. Thin rice vermicelli is topped with shredded chicken, whole prawns, ribbons of omelette and bean sprouts, and every bowl comes with lime and a dab of sambal belacan. The work is in the paste, which keeps well and makes several batches. Chef's tip: toast the spices, sesame seeds and peanuts separately in a dry pan before grinding; it gives the broth its deep, roasted aroma.

90 min

Malaysian Soups

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Dhokar dalnaLentil cakes in gravy

Dhokar dalna comes from the Bengali niramish (vegetarian) kitchen of widows and temple cooks, and it is still cooked in Kolkata homes for festive lunches and Saraswati Puja. Soaked chana dal is ground, cooked with ginger and asafoetida into a thick paste, set in a tray and cut into diamonds, which are fried and then dropped into a thin, fragrant gravy just before serving. The dhoka soak up the sauce like a sponge. Chef's tip: cook the dal paste until it leaves the sides of the pan in one mass; if it is too soft, the diamonds break in the gravy.

65 min

Indian Curries

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DhuskaFried rice and dal bread

Dhuska is the breakfast of Ranchi and the whole of Jharkhand, fried fresh at roadside stalls from early morning. Rice and chana dal are soaked, ground to a thick, slightly coarse batter with green chilli and ginger, and ladled into hot oil, where each round puffs up crisp outside and soft and spongy inside. It is eaten with aloo-chana ghugni or a thin potato curry and a sharp coriander chutney, and it is a must at Jharkhandi weddings and Karma festival. Chef's tip: beat the batter hard for a couple of minutes before frying; the trapped air makes it puff without any soda.

45 min

Indian Breakfast & Brunch

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