Featured recipe

Chaat masala

Chaat masala is the tangy, salty, slightly sulphurous sprinkle that makes chaat taste like chaat. Dried mango (amchur) gives the sourness and black salt the distinctive savoury edge. Sprinkle it over fruit, salads, raita, chips and street-food snacks.

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KarnıyarıkStuffed aubergines with beef

Karnıyarık is a summer weekday dinner in kitchens all over Turkey, made when aubergines are glossy, cheap and piled high at the street markets. Small whole aubergines are peeled in stripes, fried until silky, then slit down the middle and packed with minced beef cooked with onion, green pepper and tomato. A short spell in the oven melts it all together. It is eaten warm with plain rice pilaf and a bowl of cacık or yogurt. Chef's tip: press the fried aubergine open with the back of a spoon to make a deep boat, so the filling sits inside rather than rolling off.

75 min

Turkish Meat

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Royyala iguruThick prawn curry

Along the coastal Andhra delta, where the Godavari meets the sea near Kakinada and Bhimavaram, prawns come in fresh every morning and often end up as iguru. The word means cooked down: the onion-chilli masala is reduced until it clings to the prawns, with only a spoonful of sauce left in the pan. It goes onto hot rice with ghee, alongside sambar or pappu, and is a favourite in Telugu homes on weekends. Chef's tip: cook the masala fully first and add the prawns only for the last few minutes, so they stay plump.

40 min

Indian Fish

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Roz bel labanRice pudding

Roz bel laban (rice with milk) is the pudding of Egyptian homes and dessert shops alike, sold in clay pots and little foil cups across Cairo and eaten all year, especially in the evenings of Ramadan. It is made with short Egyptian rice cooked slowly in milk, thickened with a little cornflour so it sets creamy and spoonable, and scented with vanilla or orange blossom water. This is the roz bel laban fel forn version, finished in a very hot oven so the top blisters with brown spots, the way the Cairo dessert shops sell it. Serve it cold, scattered with pistachios or coconut. Chef's tip: stir the cornflour into cold milk before adding it; dropped straight into the hot pot it turns into lumps you can't whisk out.

45 min

Egyptian Desserts

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Gongura pachadiSorrel leaf chutney

Gongura, the sour leaf of the roselle plant, is so central to Andhra cooking that it's called the state's own vegetable, and gongura pachadi is its best-known form. The leaves are fried in oil until they melt, then pounded with roasted red chillies, garlic, coriander seeds and fenugreek, and finished with a mustard tempering. It's intensely tangy, hot and garlicky, and in Guntur and Vijayawada homes a spoonful is mixed into hot rice with ghee or eaten with jowar rotte. It keeps in the fridge for a couple of weeks. Chef's tip: fry the leaves until all their water cooks off and they turn dark olive; any moisture left shortens how long the pachadi keeps.

35 min

Indian Chutneys & Dips

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RugbrødDark rye loaf

In Denmark rugbrød is not a speciality but the daily bread: a dark, dense, slightly sour loaf of rye flour, cracked rye kernels and seeds, baked in a tin and sliced thin for every smørrebrød lunch. Bakeries in Aarhus and Copenhagen sell it by the brick, and many households keep a jar of rye sourdough starter in the fridge just for it. The dough is more of a thick porridge than a dough; you spoon it into the tin rather than shape it. It needs patience: a long sour, a long bake and a full day of resting before it is cut. Chef's tip: wait at least 12 hours, ideally 24, before slicing; the crumb is still setting as it cools and cut early it will be gummy.

135 minScandinavian Breads & Parathas

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RugelachCream cheese cinnamon crescents

Rugelach came from the Jewish bakeries of Eastern Europe, and today they are piled high on trays in Jerusalem's Machane Yehuda market and in every New York deli bakery, eaten with coffee on Friday or packed for a Hanukkah visit. The American-style dough made with cream cheese and butter bakes up tender and flaky, and each wedge is rolled up around a filling of brown sugar, cinnamon, chopped walnuts and raisins into a small crescent. Chef's tip: chop the walnuts and raisins finely; big pieces tear the thin dough as you roll it.

90 min

Israeli Baking

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Rugra curryPuffball mushroom curry

Rugra are small, round underground mushrooms that push up under sal trees in Jharkhand's forests after the first monsoon rains. Tribal villagers dig them out and sell them by the basket in Ranchi markets for a few short weeks, and families cook them into a dark, spicy curry with onion, tomato and mustard oil. They have a firm skin and a meaty, earthy bite. Outside Jharkhand, small whole button or chestnut mushrooms make a fine version. Chef's tip: rugra come caked in soil, so soak and scrub them several times, then halve one to check the inside is white; grey or black ones are past their best.

50 min

Indian Curries

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Rujak buahFruit salad with tamarind dip

Across Java, rujak buah is the afternoon snack that office workers share from a paper cone: crisp green mango, jicama, pineapple and cucumber dragged through a dark, sticky sauce of palm sugar, tamarind and crushed chilli. Hawkers usually add shrimp paste; many make a version without, which is what this is, with a few roasted peanuts for body. The mix of sour fruit and hot, sweet sauce wakes you up on a humid day. Chef's tip: chill the fruit but keep the sauce at room temperature, so it stays loose enough to cling.

15 min

Indonesian Salads

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KarjalanpiirakkaRye pastries with rice filling

Karjalanpiirakka come from Karelia, the borderland of eastern Finland, and are now baked in every Finnish home and sold in every Helsinki market hall. The open, oval pies have a crust of rye dough rolled paper-thin and crimped by hand around a filling of creamy rice porridge. Straight from a very hot oven they are brushed with butter and milk to soften, then eaten warm with munavoi, egg butter: chopped hard-boiled egg mashed into soft butter. Finns eat them for breakfast, at coffee tables and at weddings and funerals alike. The crimping looks fiddly but goes quickly after the first few. Chef's tip: make the rice porridge a day ahead; cold porridge is stiff enough to spread neatly and won't soak the thin crust.

120 minScandinavian Snacks & Starters

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ZacuscăRoasted aubergine and pepper spread

Zacuscă is the autumn preserve of Moldavia and Transylvania: in Iași and the villages around it, families spend a September weekend charring aubergines and red peppers over a grill and slowly frying them down with onion and tomato into a thick, chunky spread. The jars go into the cellar and come out all winter, spread on bread or eaten with mămăligă during the Orthodox fasts. It is coarser and more oniony than smooth Balkan ajvar, with bay and a long, jammy cook. Chef's tip: let the onions go fully soft and sweet before adding anything else; rushing them leaves a sharp, raw edge that the long cook never removes.

130 min

Romanian Chutneys & Dips

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Habichuelas con dulceSweet red bean cream

In the Dominican Republic, Holy Week means pots of habichuelas con dulce, shared over garden walls between neighbours from Santiago to San Pedro de Macorís. Red beans are cooked soft and blended into a smooth cream, then simmered with coconut and evaporated milk, cinnamon and cloves, with soft cubes of sweet potato and plump raisins. Served cold, it tastes like a spiced coconut custard with a gentle earthy depth; nobody guesses beans the first time. It's traditionally topped with little crunchy milk biscuits. Chef's tip: push the blended beans through a sieve; it takes two minutes and gives the silky texture that marks a good batch.

55 min

Puerto Rican Desserts

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Karil (bamboo shoot curry)Bamboo shoot and potato curry

In the villages of Jharkhand's Chotanagpur plateau, the first tender bamboo shoots of the rains are called karil, and they are cooked into a simple, punchy dry curry with potato, lots of garlic and mustard oil. Some families also dry or pickle the shoots to last the year. The shoots stay crunchy and have a gentle sourness that goes beautifully with rice and dal. Tinned bamboo shoots work well and are already cooked. Chef's tip: always boil fresh shoots before using them; raw bamboo is bitter and not safe to eat.

50 min

Indian Sides

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Kari koko zouritOctopus coconut curry

Kari koko zourit, octopus in coconut curry, is the dish most Seychellois would name as their national favourite, cooked on Mahé and Praslin when the fishermen bring octopus in from the reef. The octopus is simmered until tender, then cooked in a sauce of coconut milk, curry powder, garlic, ginger, cinnamon and a little aubergine. It is served with rice and a green papaya chutney. The mistake is cooking the octopus too briefly or at a fast boil, which makes it rubbery; it needs a long, gentle simmer. Chef's tip: frozen and thawed octopus is often more tender than fresh, because freezing breaks down the fibres.

120 min

Mauritian Fish

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Kare-kareOxtail in peanut sauce

Kare-kare belongs to Pampanga, the province north of Manila that many Filipinos call the country's kitchen, and it is the stew families bring out for fiestas, birthdays and long Sunday lunches. Oxtail and beef shin are simmered until the meat falls from the bone, then finished in a thick, nutty sauce coloured orange with annatto and thickened with toasted ground rice. The sauce itself is barely salted on purpose: everyone adds a little sautéed shrimp paste (bagoong alamang) at the table, so the dish contains shellfish. Pile it over steamed rice with the aubergine, long beans and pak choi. Chef's tip: toast the rice in a dry pan until it is the colour of biscuits before grinding it; that roasted smell is what makes the sauce taste of kare-kare rather than plain peanut butter.

240 min

Filipino Meat

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Karak chaiSpiced evaporated milk tea

Every neighbourhood in Doha, Dubai and Kuwait City has a cafeteria with a hatch on the street, where karak is handed through car windows in paper cups at all hours. Brought to the Gulf by South Asian workers and now firmly local, it is black tea boiled hard with sugar and cardamom, then simmered again with evaporated milk until it is strong, sweet and the colour of toffee; a few strands of saffron mark the Gulf version. Chef's tip: pour the tea from a height between two pans a few times; the froth and slight cooling give the silky karak texture.

15 minGulf Arabian Drinks

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KapusniakSauerkraut and millet soup

Kapusniak is the sour, warming sauerkraut soup of western Ukraine, cooked through the long winters in Lviv and the Galician villages, when barrels of home-fermented cabbage stand in every cellar. Potato and a handful of millet make it filling, and a spoon of tomato paste and smoked paprika round out the tang. It is famous as the soup for the morning after a wedding or New Year party, and is often cooked with smoked pork; this vegan version gets its depth from a well-browned zazharka instead. Chef's tip: taste your sauerkraut first and rinse it only if it is very salty or sharp, because the brine is where the flavour lives. Common mistake: adding the sauerkraut together with the potatoes; the acid stops them softening, so let the potatoes cook first.

60 min

Ukrainian Soups

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Kappa puzhukkuMashed cassava with coconut

Kappa puzhukku is the cassava dish of central Kerala, eaten in homes around Kottayam and Thrissur, and also served at the start of the Thiruvathira festival. Cassava is boiled twice, roughly mashed with coconut crushed with green chilli, shallots and garlic, then finished with a coconut-oil tempering. It's soft and starchy, with crunchy coconut and a lot of chilli heat, filling enough to be a meal with a fiery chammanthi or a ladle of moru curry. Chef's tip: when you peel the cassava, pull out the woody string that runs down the middle; it never softens.

55 min

Indian Sides

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Kapenta with tomatoFried dried sardines with tomato

Kapenta are tiny freshwater sardines from Lake Kariba and Lake Tanganyika, sun-dried on racks along the shore and sold in markets from Lusaka to Harare. Cooked with onion, tomato and a little chilli, they become a savoury, crunchy relish that is eaten with nshima or sadza for a cheap, protein-rich weeknight meal. The mistake is skipping the rinse: dried kapenta carries sand and a strong smell, so soak and rinse it well. Chef's tip: fry the drained kapenta on its own first until crisp, then add the tomato, so it keeps some crunch.

30 minSouthern African Fish

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Kanpur khoya and suji ladduMilk solids and semolina laddu

Kanpur's best-known sweet is a crumbly, rich laddu sold in brown paper boxes near the city's busy crossings and taken home as a souvenir from the city. It is made by roasting semolina slowly in ghee until it smells like warm biscuits, then mixing in browned khoya, sugar and plenty of cashews, giving a soft, melt-in-the-mouth bite with tiny pieces of crunch. Families make a batch for Diwali or Raksha Bandhan and keep it for a week. The biggest mistake is adding the sugar while the mixture is still hot; it melts and the laddus collapse into flat puddles. Chef's tip: if the mixture feels too dry to bind, sprinkle in warm milk a teaspoon at a time rather than adding more ghee.

45 min

Indian Indian Sweets

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KangshoiClear vegetable stew

Kangshoi is the everyday stew of the Imphal Valley: seasonal vegetables simmered in water with ginger, onion and chilli, and finished with a fistful of fresh herbs such as maroi (a garlic chive), coriander and mint. It is light, clear and brothy, eaten with rice at almost every Meitei meal. Many households add dried fish or ngari (fermented fish) for depth; Vaishnav Meitei homes leave it out, and this vegetarian version relies on toasted chilli and plenty of herbs instead. Chef's tip: cook it without oil, as Manipuris do; the clean broth is the point.

35 min

Indian Soups

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Kangkung gorengGarlic stir-fried water spinach

Kangkung grows in wet ditches and paddy edges right across Malaysia, and every zi char stall and kopitiam kitchen has a pile waiting for the wok. Ordered beside rice and a curry at lunch, or as one of several shared plates at night, it arrives glossy, hollow stems still crunchy, leaves just collapsed. Hawkers often fry it with belacan; this version gets its savoury punch from garlic, shallots, red chilli and a spoon of fermented soybean paste (tauco) instead. It's done in under five minutes. Chef's tip: dry the washed greens thoroughly in a salad spinner, because wet leaves cool the wok and steam instead of sizzle.

10 min

Malaysian Sides

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SabichAubergine and egg pita

Sabich came to Israel with Iraqi Jews, who ate fried aubergine and hard-boiled eggs on Saturday mornings when no cooking was allowed. In Ramat Gan in the 1950s someone stuffed it all into a pita, and today it is street food all over Tel Aviv: crisp-edged aubergine, sliced egg, hummus, tahini, chopped salad and a spoonful of tangy amba mango pickle, with zhug for heat. It is messy, rich and best eaten standing up with a paper napkin. Chef's tip: salt the aubergine and dry it well before frying; it soaks up far less oil and comes out creamy instead of greasy.

40 min

Israeli Fast Food

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Zagorski štrukliBaked cheese dough rolls

In Hrvatsko Zagorje, the green hill country north of Zagreb, štrukli are Sunday food: paper-thin dough is spread with fresh cow's cheese, rolled up, pinched into pieces with the edge of a plate, then boiled and finished in the oven under a blanket of cream. Zagreb restaurants serve them as a starter or a main, blistered golden on top and soft and custardy inside. The dough is stretched by hand over a tablecloth, which is easier than it sounds once it has rested. Chef's tip: squeeze the cheese if it is wet; a runny filling soaks the thin dough and makes the rolls tear when they boil.

115 minBalkan Vegetarian

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Sabzi poloGreen herb rice

Sabzi polo is the rice of Nowruz, the Persian New Year on the spring equinox, when families across Iran sit down on the first evening to a mound of rice speckled green with dill, parsley, coriander and chives. Fresh green herbs stand for renewal, and the dish is traditionally paired with fish on the New Year table; a vegetarian house serves it with kuku sabzi, the herb omelette, fried eggs or a bowl of yogurt. The rice tastes bright and grassy, with a gentle garlic note and a golden lavash crust underneath. Chef's tip: chop the herbs the day before and spread them on a tray to dry slightly; damp herbs make the rice heavy and clumpy.

75 min

Persian Rice & Grains

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Sabzi qovurmaLamb with fresh herbs

Sabzi qovurma is a home dish across Azerbaijan, made especially in spring when the markets of Ganja and Baku are full of bundles of green herbs. Pieces of lamb are fried until golden, then cooked with masses of chopped coriander, dill, spinach, spring onion and leek, sharpened by dried black lime or sour plums. It is served with plain plov rice or bread and a bowl of yogurt. The trap is adding wet herbs straight to the pan; they stew rather than fry and the dish goes flat and grassy. Chef's tip: dry the herbs well and fry them on their own until they darken before they join the meat.

125 min

Azerbaijani Meat

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KanelbullarCinnamon buns

Every Swedish café from Malmö to Kiruna keeps a tray of kanelbullar by the till, and on 4 October, Kanelbullens dag, bakeries can barely keep up. They belong to fika, the mid-morning or afternoon pause for coffee and something sweet. Unlike the big, iced American roll, a Swedish bun is modest and buttery: the dough is perfumed with freshly crushed cardamom, the filling is a thin smear of cinnamon butter, and the top gets a scatter of crunchy pearl sugar instead of frosting. This version shapes them into knots, the way Stockholm bakers do, though plain spirals baked in paper cases are just as traditional at home. Chef's tip: crush the cardamom seeds yourself just before mixing; ready-ground cardamom loses most of its scent within weeks and the buns will taste only of cinnamon.

52 minScandinavian Baking

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Sadza with beef stewMaize porridge with beef stew

Sadza ne nyama, sadza with meat, is the meal most Zimbabweans would call home: a stiff, smooth porridge of white maize meal shaped into rounds with a wooden spoon, served with a beef stew and a side of greens such as covo or rape. Families in Harare and Bulawayo eat it at lunch or supper, rolling a little sadza into a ball in the right hand and dipping it in the gravy. The mistake is adding all the maize meal at once, which makes lumps; stir in a paste first, then add the rest gradually. Chef's tip: let the porridge "rest and cook" under a lid for a few minutes between additions so the meal tastes cooked, not raw.

130 minSouthern African Meat

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Kane rava frySemolina-crusted fried fish

In the seafood canteens of Mangalore and along the Udupi coast, kane, a slim, sweet ladyfish, is the fried fish everyone orders with a fish thali. It is slashed, packed with a red masala of Byadgi chilli, garlic and tamarind, then pressed into coarse semolina and shallow-fried in coconut oil until the crust crackles. Unlike Mumbai's soft bombil, kane is firm, so it holds its shape and is eaten off the bone. Chef's tip: leave the fish alone for the first 3 minutes in the pan; the crust sets and then releases on its own.

30 min

Indian Fish

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Kamatama udonUdon with raw egg

Kagawa, the smallest prefecture in Japan, eats more udon than anywhere else, and its Sanuki udon is known for a firm, springy bite. Locals queue at self-service udon shops at breakfast, and one of the most popular orders is kamatama: noodles lifted straight from the boiling pot, dropped onto a raw egg and tossed until the heat turns the egg into a glossy coating, a little like carbonara. A splash of soy sauce and some spring onion are all it needs. Use frozen Sanuki-style udon, which is closest to fresh. Chef's tip: warm the bowls and crack the egg in first. The noodles must go in seconds after leaving the water, or the egg won't cook into a sauce.

10 min

Japanese Pasta & Noodles

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Safed maasMutton in white gravy

Safed maas is the quiet sibling of fiery laal maas, created in the palace kitchens of Rajasthan's princely states such as Jaipur and Udaipur, where cooks prized dishes that looked as refined as they tasted. There is no turmeric, no red chilli and no browning: the mutton is cooked white with yogurt, a paste of cashews and almonds, cream and white pepper, scented with cardamom and kewra. Its heat is gentle and comes from white pepper and a few green chillies. It's served at weddings and festive dinners with soft rotis or saffron pulao. Chef's tip: keep the heat low from start to finish; the moment the meat or the spices brown, the gravy turns beige and loses that ivory look.

125 min

Indian Meat

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MantıBeef dumplings with garlic yogurt

Kayseri, in central Anatolia, is famous across Turkey for mantı so small that, by local saying, forty should fit on one spoon. Families make big batches together on winter afternoons, rolling the dough thin and pinching each square around a pea of spiced minced meat, and the dumplings were traditionally part of a bride's test in the kitchen. They are boiled and served under garlicky yogurt, then drenched in butter sizzled with red pepper. Chef's tip: make a double batch and freeze the uncooked dumplings on a floured tray; they cook from frozen in about 2 minutes extra.

90 min

Turkish Pasta & Noodles

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Kalari kulchaCheese-stuffed kulcha

Kalari, also spelt kaladi, is a fresh, stretchy cheese made in the hills around Udhampur and Ramnagar in Jammu, often from buffalo or goat milk. Street sellers in Jammu city lay slices of it on a hot iron tawa with no oil at all: the cheese releases its own fat and fries to a blistered brown crust while the inside turns soft and slightly stringy. They stuff it into a warm kulcha with onion, tomato, green chutney and a shake of chaat masala, and it is eaten standing up, especially on winter evenings. Outside Jammu, use halloumi, which behaves almost the same, or firm paneer with a teaspoon of oil. Chef's tip: dry the cheese slices on kitchen paper first; wet cheese steams instead of crisping.

25 min

Indian Snacks & Starters

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SaganakiPan-fried cheese

Saganaki takes its name from the small two-handled pan it's cooked in. A thick slice of hard sheep's-milk cheese, usually kefalograviera or kefalotyri, is dusted with flour and fried until it has a crisp, golden crust and a soft, stretchy middle, then splashed with lemon. In Greek tavernas it arrives sizzling at the start of the meal, to share with bread, salad and a cold drink. Traditional Greek hard cheeses are often made with animal rennet, so use a vegetarian alternative such as a vegetarian graviera or halloumi. We dust it with rice flour so it is gluten free. Chef's tip: chill the cheese and get the pan properly hot before it goes in; a lukewarm pan is the common mistake and the cheese melts into a puddle before it crisps.

10 min

Greek Snacks & Starters

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Sago gula MelakaSago pudding with palm sugar

This cool, wobbly pudding is named after the dark palm sugar made from coconut-flower sap around Melaka, and it's on the menu at Peranakan restaurants there and at many a Malaysian dinner party. Little domes of clear sago pearls are chilled until set, then turned out and drowned in salted coconut milk and smoky gula Melaka syrup. The pearls are soft and bouncy, the sauces rich and caramel-dark, and it can all be made the day before. Chef's tip: pour the sago into the water only once it's at a full rolling boil, and stir straight away; tepid water turns it into a gluey lump.

40 min

Malaysian Desserts

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HaakCollard greens in mustard oil

Haak is the everyday green of Kashmir: collard greens grown in every kitchen garden, cooked whole with nothing more than mustard oil, dried red chilli, asafoetida and salt. The leaves stay bright, tender and slightly silky, with a clean, peppery taste that sings next to rice. Kashmiri Pandit households keep it this simple; Muslim homes often add a few garlic cloves. Serve with plain rice and a dal or rajma. Chef's tip: leave the leaves whole or in large pieces and cook them uncovered for the first minutes; chopping and covering too early turns them dull olive-green.

20 min

Indian Sides

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SahlabWarm milk drink

Sahlab is what Cairo drinks on a cold winter evening: a thick, sweet, steaming glass of milk sold in cafés and from street carts, topped with cinnamon, coconut, chopped nuts and a few raisins, and eaten as much with a spoon as drunk. The original thickener is powdered orchid root, which is now rare and protected, so most Egyptian households and many cafés use cornflour or a ready-made sahlab mix instead, as here. Chef's tip: keep whisking from the moment the thickened milk goes in until it boils; stop for a minute and it catches on the bottom of the pan and tastes scorched.

13 min

Egyptian Drinks

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Sai krok IsanSour pork and rice sausage

Strung in little round links and grilled at night markets from Khon Kaen to Udon Thani, these garlicky sausages are tangy from fermentation, with soft rice grains in a juicy pork filling. Vendors serve them with fresh ginger slices, bird's eye chillies, raw cabbage and roasted peanuts, and every bite is a mix of sour, salty, hot and crunchy. Traditionally they are left at room temperature for two or three days to sour; that is a real food-safety risk at home without controlled cultures and curing salts, so this version cures in the fridge instead. Expect a milder tang than street-stall sai krok; a squeeze of lime at the table makes up the difference. Chef's tip: use day-old cooked rice that went into the fridge quickly; freshly cooked warm rice turns the filling mushy and keeps it in the danger zone.

65 min

Thai Meat

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Sai ouaHerby grilled pork sausage

Walk through Chiang Mai's Warorot market and you will smell sai oua before you see it: long coils of sausage smoking over charcoal, flecked green with lime leaf and orange with chilli paste. The meat is coarse and juicy, the flavour loud with lemongrass, galangal and turmeric, and Northern Thais eat it in thick slices with sticky rice, raw cabbage, nam prik noom and a few slices of fresh ginger. If you have no casings or sausage stuffer, the same mixture makes excellent flat patties. Chef's tip: fry a teaspoon of the mixture before you stuff anything and taste it; this is your only chance to fix the salt and chilli.

90 min

Thai Meat

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KalanYam and banana yogurt curry

Kalan is one of the old curries of the Onam sadya in central Kerala, made days ahead in temple kitchens and big family homes because it keeps so well. Elephant yam and green nendran banana are cooked with plenty of black pepper, then soured curd is stirred in and slowly reduced until it is thick enough to coat a spoon, before a fine coconut paste goes in. It tastes sharp, peppery and rich, with the toasted fenugreek of the tempering coming through at the end. Spoon a little over hot rice and ghee. Chef's tip: use curd that has sat out for a day and turned properly sour; mild fresh yogurt gives a flat kalan.

60 min

Indian Curries

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Kakiage sobaBuckwheat noodles with vegetable tempura

In Tokyo, hot soba with a fritter on top is the city's fast food. Standing soba counters near train stations, called tachigui soba, have served it to commuters since the Edo period, when soba and tempura stalls stood side by side. The fritter here is kakiage: a loose nest of onion, carrot and greens held together with just enough batter to fry into a lacy disc. It softens a little in the broth and flavours it with toasty oil, which is why many Tokyoites eat half of it crisp and let the rest soak. Our broth uses kombu and shiitake instead of bonito. Chef's tip: slide the kakiage into the oil off a flat spatula or ladle, and don't touch it for the first minute. It needs that time to set, or it falls apart.

40 min

Japanese Pasta & Noodles

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Kak'ikTurkey and chilli soup

Kak'ik is a red, aromatic turkey soup from the Q'eqchi' Maya of Alta Verapaz, around Cobán, and is cooked for weddings, saints' days and Christmas; it is now recognised as part of Guatemala's cultural heritage. Turkey legs simmer in a broth flavoured with toasted tomatoes, guajillo and pasa chillies, achiote, coriander and mint, and it is served with tamalitos or rice. The mistake is not toasting the chillies and tomatoes; the slight char gives the soup its smoky depth. Chef's tip: toast the dried chillies only for seconds, until they puff and smell fruity, or they turn bitter.

115 minCentral American Soups

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KajaikDried fish stew

Kajaik is a stew from the Nile towns of northern Sudan, where fish from the river is salted and sun-dried to keep through the year; it is cooked with plenty of onion, tomato and a spoonful of peanut butter and eaten with aseeda (thick porridge) or kisra. The flavour is deep and savoury, a little like a rich fish curry without the heat. The mistake is not soaking the dried fish long enough, which makes the stew far too salty and the fish tough; soak it overnight and change the water twice. Chef's tip: if you can't find dried Nile fish, salted dried cod (bacalao) works well.

65 min

Sudanese Fish

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GyuvechBaked vegetable stew

Gyuvech takes its name from the glazed clay pot it is baked in, and in late summer in the villages of the Rhodopes and the Thracian plain it is slid into the bread oven packed with peppers, aubergine, okra, green beans, potatoes and tomato, seasoned with paprika and the herb chubritsa (summer savory). In the last minutes, eggs are often cracked over the top and baked until just set. It is served straight from the pot with bread to scoop up the juices. Unlike Greek briam, the vegetables stew in a paprika broth under a lid rather than roasting in oil. Chef's tip: put a clay pot into a cold oven; heating it first is the usual mistake and can crack it.

100 min

Bulgarian Vegetarian

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Sakkarai pongalSweet rice and moong dal

On the morning of Thai Pongal in mid-January, families across Tamil Nadu cook new-harvest rice in a clay pot in the courtyard and wait for the milk to bubble over: 'pongalo pongal!'. That pot becomes sakkarai pongal, a sticky, golden-brown sweet of rice and moong dal cooked soft, then simmered with melted jaggery and finished with lots of ghee, cardamom, edible camphor and cashews and raisins fried golden. It's also the classic prasadam at Vishnu temples. It's the sweet twin of the peppery ven pongal. Chef's tip: dry-roast the moong dal until it smells nutty before cooking; it adds a toasty depth that plain boiled dal can't give.

50 min

Indian Indian Sweets

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KaiserschmarrnTorn raisin pancake

Kaiserschmarrn, the 'emperor's mess', is Austria's favourite sweet meal, said to have been made for Emperor Franz Joseph, and today it's served from huge pans in every ski hut in Tyrol and Salzburg and in Viennese restaurants. It is a thick, fluffy pancake made with whisked egg whites, torn into rough pieces in the pan with two forks, then caramelised with butter and sugar and heaped with icing sugar. Eat it with Zwetschkenröster (plum compote) or apple sauce. Chef's tip: let the pancake set and brown properly underneath before tearing it up; tear it too early and you get scrambled batter instead of soft, golden pieces.

30 min

German Desserts

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KahwaSaffron green tea

Kahwa is the warming green tea of Kashmir, traditionally brewed in a brass samovar and poured for guests on cold winter days. Green tea leaves are infused with saffron, green cardamom and cinnamon, sweetened lightly and served with slivered almonds in each cup. It's golden, fragrant and soothing, and is drunk after heavy meals to help digestion. Chef's tip: never boil the tea leaves; simmer the spices first, then let the tea steep off the heat for just 2 minutes or it turns bitter.

10 min

Indian Drinks

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Salad shiraziTomato, cucumber and onion salad

Salad shirazi is named after Shiraz, the city of gardens in Fars province, and it is the salad served with almost every Persian rice and kebab meal. Tomato, cucumber and onion are cut into tiny, even dice and dressed simply with lime juice (or sour grape verjuice, ab-ghooreh, in Shiraz itself), dried mint and a little oil. There are no peppers or herbs to muddy it: it is crunchy, sharp and cold, and is spooned onto rice as a relish. Chef's tip: dice everything as small as a pea; the tiny cubes are what make it taste like Shirazi rather than a chopped salad.

10 min

Persian Salads

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KafuliSpinach and fenugreek curry

In the villages of Garhwal, kafuli is what goes into the iron kadhai when the terraces are full of palak and methi in late winter. The greens are blanched, ground roughly on a stone and simmered with a spoonful of soaked rice paste, which turns the curry silky without any cream. Mustard oil and a few dried chillies give it a sharp, warm edge, and the iron pan darkens it to a deep forest green. Eat it with mandua ki roti or plain rice and a dab of ghee for those who want it. Chef's tip: grind the greens in short pulses so you can still see flecks of leaf; kafuli should have texture, not look like a smooth soup.

45 min

Indian Curries

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KaftejiFried vegetables with egg

Kafteji is a Tunis sandwich-shop classic: fried peppers, tomato, squash and potato chopped together on a board with a cleaver, mixed with harissa and fried eggs, and eaten from a plate or stuffed into a baguette at lunchtime. Stalls near Bab Souika and the central market make it to order, and the sound of the chopping is part of the show. Chef's tip: fry each vegetable separately; they cook at different speeds, and crowding them makes everything greasy and soft.

55 min

Tunisian Vegetarian

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KäsespätzleCheese egg noodles

Käsespätzle is the cheese-and-noodle dish of Swabia and the Allgäu in the far south of Germany, served in mountain huts after a day's walking or skiing and in every village inn from Stuttgart to Oberstdorf. Freshly made spätzle, soft, irregular egg noodles, are layered hot with grated Bergkäse or Emmental until the cheese melts into long strings, then crowned with onions fried slowly until brown and sweet. A green salad with a sharp vinegar dressing is the classic partner. Use cheese made with vegetarian rennet; many mountain cheeses use animal rennet, so check the label. Chef's tip: layer the spätzle and cheese while both are piping hot, straight from the pot, so the cheese melts in the gaps instead of sitting on top in a rubbery sheet.

45 min

German Pasta & Noodles

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Salata aswadAubergine and peanut butter salad

Salata aswad, the 'black salad', is a Khartoum favourite: aubergine fried until almost black and collapsing, then mashed with peanut butter, garlic, lime and a little chilli into a rich, smoky spread. It is served at Ramadan iftars and family lunches with kisra or bread, next to ful and fresh tomato salad. The peanut is what makes it Sudanese rather than a Levantine aubergine dip. Chef's tip: salt the aubergine and squeeze it dry before frying; it absorbs far less oil.

40 min

Sudanese Chutneys & Dips

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Kadu boraniBraised pumpkin with garlic yogurt

Kadu borani is the dish that wins over people who think they don't like pumpkin. In Afghan homes, especially in autumn around Kabul and Kandahar when the big orange squashes come in, wedges of pumpkin are browned, then braised with tomato, a little sugar and warm spices until sticky and caramelised, and served on garlic yoghurt with dried mint. The mix of sweet, savoury and sour is the point. Eat it with naan or as part of a spread with rice. Chef's tip: use a dense, deep-orange pumpkin or butternut squash; watery pumpkins fall apart and turn bland.

55 min

Afghan Vegetarian

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Salată de vineteSmoky aubergine salad

Salată de vinete is on every Romanian table from Bucharest to Brașov in late summer, when market stalls are piled with aubergines and every balcony grill is busy charring them. The smoky flesh is chopped with a wooden knife and beaten with sunflower oil into a pale, fluffy spread, almost like a mayonnaise, then finished with sharp raw onion. There is no tahini or yogurt, which sets it apart from baba ganoush. It is eaten on toasted bread with sliced tomatoes for supper or as a meze before grilled vegetables. Chef's tip: drain the cooked aubergine well; leaving in the brown juices is the usual mistake and makes the salad bitter and watery.

45 min

Romanian Chutneys & Dips

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KachumbariTomato and onion salad

Kachumbari is the raw salad that goes with nearly everything in Kenya and Tanzania: nyama choma grills in Nairobi, pilau on the Swahili coast, chips mayai at roadside stalls and ugali at home. It is simply ripe tomato and red onion cut small, with coriander, chilli and lime, and sometimes cucumber or avocado. Chef's tip: soak the sliced onion in salted water for ten minutes; it takes away the harsh bite without losing the crunch.

15 minEast African Salads

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Salatat daquaTomato salad with peanut dressing

Daqua is the Sudanese name for peanut paste, and this everyday salad of tomato, cucumber, onion and green chilli dressed in thinned peanut butter and lime sits on the table at almost every meal in Omdurman and Khartoum, especially in the hot months. It is cooling, crunchy and creamy at once, and is eaten with ful medames, kisra or grilled food. Chef's tip: thin the peanut butter with water and lime before adding it to the vegetables; dolloped straight in, it clumps and never coats them.

15 min

Sudanese Salads

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Kachri ki chutneyWild melon and chilli chutney

Kachri is a small wild melon that grows on its own in the sandy fields of southern Haryana and western Rajasthan. Sliced and sun-dried, it keeps for a year and has a sharp, sour taste that farmers' families grind with garlic and red chilli into this fiery chutney. A spoonful goes with bajra roti and white butter on a winter afternoon, or with dal and rice when there is nothing else in the house. Dried kachri and kachri powder are sold in Indian grocers. Chef's tip: taste a piece of dried kachri first; occasionally one batch is bitter, and that bitterness will ruin the whole jar.

30 min

Indian Chutneys & Dips

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GyeongdanGlutinous rice balls

Gyeongdan (경단) are small balls of boiled glutinous rice dough, filled or plain, and rolled in coloured coatings: golden roasted soybean powder, black sesame, green or toasted coconut. In Seoul they are made for a baby's 100th day and first birthday, and sold in rice-cake shops all year in mixed boxes. They are only lightly sweet, soft and stretchy, best eaten the day they are made with a cup of barley tea. Children love rolling them. Chef's tip: mix the dough with very hot water a spoonful at a time; it should feel like soft play-dough, and if it cracks when you roll a ball it needs a little more.

40 min

Korean Desserts

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Guyanese pine tartsPineapple jam tarts

Pine tarts (short for pineapple tarts) are Guyana's favourite bakery treat: a flaky triangle of pastry folded over a thick, sticky pineapple jam spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, with the filling peeking out of the middle. They're sold in every Georgetown bakery and carried abroad in suitcases by visiting family. Their triangle shape sets them apart from the open pineapple cookies of Southeast Asia. Chef's tip: cook the jam until it's thick enough that a spoon dragged across the pan leaves a clean path; runny jam leaks and burns in the oven.

120 min

Guyanese Baking

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Guyanese pepperpotBeef stew with cassareep

Pepperpot is Guyana's national dish and the centre of Christmas morning, when families in Georgetown and the countryside eat it with thick slices of plait bread. It comes from the Amerindian peoples, who used cassareep, a black syrup boiled from cassava juice, to flavour and preserve meat. Beef (often with cow foot or oxtail) simmers for hours with cassareep, cinnamon, cloves, orange peel, sugar and hot wiri wiri pepper into a glossy, dark, sweet-savoury stew. The mistake is serving it the day it is made; it is much better after a day or two. Chef's tip: bring it back to a full boil every day you keep it, as Guyanese families do, and always keep it in the fridge.

200 min

Guyanese Meat

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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 min

Bangladeshi Rice & Grains

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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 min

Pakistani Rice & Grains

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ZanMillet porridge with vegetables

Zan is the millet porridge of Arunachal Pradesh, eaten by the Monpa, Sherdukpen and other hill communities for breakfast or dinner on cold days. Finger millet (ragi) flour is stirred into boiling water with vegetables, ginger and chilli until thick and smooth, then served with a chilli chutney or butter. Some families cook it with meat; this is the vegetable version. It is warming, filling and earthy-tasting, a little like a savoury polenta. Chef's tip: sprinkle the millet flour in with one hand while whisking with the other, or it forms lumps that never cook out.

35 min

Indian Rice & Grains

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Kabab koobidehMinced lamb kebabs

Koobideh is the kebab of Tehran's bazaar lunch houses and roadside chelo-kababis, laid on a hill of buttered rice with a raw egg yolk or a slab of butter melting into the grains. The name means 'pounded': minced lamb is kneaded with grated onion until it turns sticky and pale, then pressed by hand along wide, flat skewers and grilled hard over coals. It comes out juicy and onion-sweet, with little ridges from your fingers. Eat it with charred tomatoes, raw onion, fresh herbs and lavash on the side. Chef's tip: squeeze every drop of juice out of the grated onion; wet mince slips straight off the skewer.

42 min

Persian Meat

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ZangiFried marinated chicken

Ask for fried chicken in Kushiro or Sapporo and you'll be handed zangi, which locals insist is not the same as karaage. A Kushiro restaurant says it coined the name around 1960, and today zangi shops, ski-lodge canteens and supermarket delis across Hokkaido sell it in big, bone-in pieces. The chicken soaks for hours in a punchy mix of soy, sake, garlic, ginger and oyster sauce with an egg beaten in, so the flavour runs right through the meat, and it often comes with a sharp dipping sauce of vinegar, soy and black pepper. The coating is a mix of flour and starch, so it fries darker and more savoury than karaage. Chef's tip: marinate it overnight in the fridge for the full Hokkaido flavour; 30 minutes works, but the difference is clear.

65 min

Japanese Chicken

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KaassouffléFried Gouda in breadcrumbs

Despite the French-sounding name, a Dutch kaassoufflé has nothing to do with a baked soufflé. It is a snack-bar classic, fried in the frituur of every cafetaria from Groningen to Maastricht: a rectangle of thin pastry wrapped around a slab of young Gouda, coated in breadcrumbs and deep-fried until the cheese inside goes molten. It is the vegetarian's answer to the kroket, eaten at lunch or on the way home from football, with a squeeze of mayonnaise or sweet chilli sauce. Chef's tip: chill the filled, breaded pockets for at least 30 minutes before frying; cold pastry and cheese stay sealed in the hot oil, while warm ones burst and leak.

40 min

Dutch Snacks & Starters

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Guyanese garlic porkGarlic pickled pork

Garlic pork came to Guyana with Madeiran Portuguese settlers in the 1800s and is still made for Christmas breakfast in Georgetown, alongside pepperpot and bread. This dish contains pork. Pieces of pork are packed into a jar with a pickle of vinegar, lots of garlic, thyme and wiri wiri pepper and left in the fridge for at least three days, then fried until browned and slightly crisp. The mistake is leaving the jar on the counter, as was once done: always keep it in the fridge. Chef's tip: pat the pork very dry before frying, or the vinegar makes the oil spit.

60 min

Guyanese Meat

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SaltahLamb stew with fenugreek froth

Saltah is the national dish of Yemen, eaten at lunch in Sana'a and the highlands, brought to the table still boiling in a heavy stone pot called a madara. A rich lamb broth (maraq) is cooked down with tomato, potato and hawaij spices, then crowned with hulba, fenugreek whipped to a pale green froth, and scooped up with flatbread. Chef's tip: soak the ground fenugreek for at least 4 hours and pour off its bitter water before whipping; that is what makes it foam.

140 minGulf Arabian Soups

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SalteñasJuicy baked beef pastries

Salteñas are the pastries all of La Paz queues for between 10 and noon, when they come out of the oven: a slightly sweet, golden crust wrapped round a soupy filling of beef, potato, peas, olive and egg in a gelatine-set broth seasoned with cumin and ají. The trick, and the fun, is to bite off the top and sip the juice without spilling. The mistake is filling the pastry with warm stew: the filling must be chilled overnight until it sets firm, or it leaks. Chef's tip: hold a salteña upright, nibble off one corner and drink the juice before eating the rest.

90 minAndean Snacks & Starters

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Jus de bouyeBaobab fruit drink

Bouye is the Wolof name for the powdery white pulp of the baobab fruit, and jus de bouye is the thick, creamy-tart drink sold in reused bottles from coolers all over Dakar and served at every family celebration. It tastes like sherbet with a hint of pear. Most cooks now use baobab powder, which is sold in health shops as well as African grocers. Sweetened condensed milk is optional but common. Chef's tip: whisk the powder into a little water first to make a smooth paste; poured straight into a jug it forms lumps that never dissolve.

10 min

Senegalese Drinks

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Saltimbocca alla romanaVeal with sage and prosciutto

The name means 'jumps into the mouth', which is how fast these little Roman escalopes vanish from the plate. Thin slices of veal are topped with a sage leaf and a sheet of prosciutto, seared for barely a minute a side, then glazed with white wine and butter in the same pan; it is a classic second course in Rome's family trattorie and takes about 20 minutes start to finish. The prosciutto crisps, the sage turns fragrant and the veal stays tender under a short, buttery sauce. Pork loin or turkey escalopes work just as well. Serve with roast potatoes or sautéed spinach to mop up the pan juices. Chef's tip: pound the meat to an even 5 mm between sheets of cling film and pin the ham and sage on with a cocktail stick, so everything cooks in the time it takes the ham to crisp.

20 min

Italian Meat

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Guyanese cook-up riceCoconut rice with black-eyed peas

Cook-up rice is the dish Guyanese families make to see in the New Year, and on any Saturday when the week's odds and ends go into one pot. Rice, black-eyed peas and vegetables simmer in fresh coconut milk with fresh thyme, spring onion and a whole wiri wiri pepper (small, round and fiery) until every grain is soft and glossy. It's richer and wetter than Jamaican rice and peas, with the vegetables cooked right in. Chef's tip: let the pot sit covered off the heat for 10 minutes at the end; the rice finishes in the steam and a little crust forms on the bottom that people fight over.

55 min

Guyanese Rice & Grains

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Jukut urabGreens with spiced coconut

Jukut urab turns up on almost every Balinese rice plate and at temple-day feasts: blanched long beans, greens and bean sprouts tossed with freshly grated coconut that has been fried with a little bumbu of shallot, chilli, kencur and lime leaf. It is bright, crunchy and only gently hot, the fresh side dish that balances heavier ones. Many cooks add shrimp paste to the bumbu; this one leaves it out. Chef's tip: toss the vegetables and coconut only just before serving, or the coconut draws out water and the dish turns soggy.

30 min

Indonesian Salads

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Zanzibar mixMango and gram flour soup with fritters

Zanzibar's famous street bowl (urojo): a thin, tangy, golden soup of gram flour, raw mango, coconut and chilli, filled with little lentil fritters and potato balls and topped with crushed cassava crisps and coconut, green and red chutneys. It's sour, spicy and crunchy all at once. Make the fritters, potato balls and chutney ahead, then assemble the bowls at the table.

75 minAfrican Snacks & Starters

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Joojeh kababSaffron chicken skewers

Joojeh kabab is what fills Tehran's parks on Sizdah Bedar, the thirteenth day of Nowruz, when families picnic outdoors and grills smoke under the plane trees; it is just as common on restaurant platters beside koobideh. Chunks of chicken soak overnight in yogurt, grated onion, lemon and bloomed saffron, then cook fast over high heat so the edges char while the middle stays juicy and golden-orange. Serve with buttery chelow rice, grilled tomatoes and a pinch of sumac. Chef's tip: grind the saffron threads with a pinch of sugar before steeping them in hot water; you get twice the colour from the same few threads.

40 min

Persian Chicken

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JolpanFlattened rice with curd and jaggery

Jolpan is how Assam starts the morning of Magh Bihu and Bohag Bihu, and how guests are welcomed in villages all year: a bowl of chira (flattened rice), muri, or sticky bora saul, served with thick curd, yellow jaggery or gur, and sometimes cream. It is not cooked so much as assembled, and every family has its own order: soak the chira, top with doi, crumble in gur. Variants such as komal saul (a soft rice that needs only soaking) are also jolpan. Chef's tip: rinse the chira quickly and drain it at once; a long soak turns it to paste.

10 min

Indian Breakfast & Brunch

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Sambal goreng kentangFried potatoes in sweet-hot sambal

Sambal goreng kentang turns up wherever there's a celebration in Java and Sumatra: on Lebaran tables next to ketupat and opor, in wedding buffets, and in boxes of nasi kotak handed out at gatherings. The potatoes are cut small, fried until crisp and golden, then tossed through a red chilli and shallot sambal sweetened with palm sugar and sharpened with tamarind, so each cube is coated and chewy at the edges. It keeps well and is eaten at room temperature with rice. Chef's tip: soak and dry the potato cubes thoroughly before frying; damp potatoes spit, steam and never crisp up.

35 min

Indonesian Sides

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Sambal matahRaw shallot and lemongrass relish

Matah means raw in Balinese, and this sambal is nothing more than finely sliced shallots, chillies, lemongrass and lime leaf, squeezed with lime and dressed with hot coconut oil. It is the fresh, sharp counterpart to grilled tempeh, tofu, corn fritters and plain rice in warungs across Bali. Village cooks rub in a little toasted shrimp paste; this vegetarian version gets its savoury edge from salt and a touch of sugar. Chef's tip: squeeze the salted shallots with your fingers before adding the oil; they soften and release juice that carries the flavour.

17 min

Indonesian Chutneys & Dips

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Sambal oelekFresh chilli paste

Every Indonesian kitchen has an ulekan, the flat stone mortar that gives sambal oelek its name, and this is the most basic thing ground in it: fresh red chillies and salt, pounded to a coarse, wet, fiery mash. It's the foundation many cooks start from, stirred into fried rice and soups, spooned beside every meal at warung tables nationwide, and the base for more complex cooked sambals. Making it fresh tastes brighter and fruitier than any jar. Chef's tip: wear gloves and pound rather than blitz if you can — crushing releases the oils and gives a juicier, more fragrant sambal than chopping blades.

10 min

Indonesian Chutneys & Dips

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Sambal terasiShrimp paste chilli sambal

Almost every Indonesian kitchen keeps a stone mortar, the cobek, and the sambal pounded in it most often is this one. Toasted shrimp paste gives it a deep, savoury funk, fried chillies and shallots add sweetness and heat, and a squeeze of lime at the end wakes everything up. Spoon it beside fried chicken, grilled fish, fried tempeh or a plate of raw lalapan vegetables, or stir a little into fried rice. Chef's tip: pound rather than blend if you can; a coarse, slightly juicy texture tastes fresher than a smooth purée.

15 min

Indonesian Chutneys & Dips

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Sambal tumisFried chilli paste

Ask any Malaysian cook what lives in the fridge door and the answer is usually a jar of sambal tumis. 'Tumis' means to sauté, and the paste of soaked dried chillies, shallots, garlic and spices is fried slowly in plenty of oil until it turns dark and jammy. From Johor to Kedah it goes on nasi lemak, gets stirred through fried rice and noodles, and is spooned beside eggs, tofu or roti. Most versions lean on belacan (shrimp paste); here a little toasted nori brings back that savoury, faintly sea-like depth. Chef's tip: make a double batch; covered with a film of its own oil it keeps for two weeks in the fridge and months in the freezer.

40 min

Malaysian Chutneys & Dips

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Guyanese black cakeRum fruit cake

Every Guyanese Christmas has a black cake, and many families start soaking the fruit months ahead, often the year before. Prunes, raisins, currants and cherries are minced and steeped in rum and cherry brandy, then folded into a buttery batter darkened with homemade burnt-sugar syrup, giving a moist, almost black, intensely fruity cake. This version makes the alcohol optional: grape juice soaks the fruit just as well, though the cake keeps for less time. Chef's tip: take the burnt sugar until it's very dark and smoking lightly; stop too early and the cake turns brown and sweet instead of black and bittersweet.

195 min

Guyanese Baking

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GomenBraised collard greens

Gomen is the everyday green on Ethiopian tables, cooked in homes across the highlands and always part of a fasting platter in Addis Ababa restaurants on Wednesdays and Fridays. Collard greens (or kale) are chopped fine and braised gently with onion, garlic, ginger and green chilli until they turn soft, dark and silky, without any berbere, so they cool the palate next to the red stews. On non-fasting days many cooks add a little niter kibbeh at the end; this oil version keeps it vegan. Chef's tip: cut out the thick central stalks before chopping; left in, they stay stringy long after the leaves are tender.

35 min

Ethiopian Sides

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Jolada rotti with ennegaiSorghum flatbread with stuffed aubergine

Across Hubballi, Dharwad, Vijayapura and the dry plains of north Karnataka, a meal means jolada rotti: thin, crisp sorghum flatbreads slapped out by hand, often by the hundred and stored in cloth to eat with everything. Their best-loved partner is ennegai, which means 'oil vegetable': small brinjals slit and stuffed with roasted peanuts, sesame, dry coconut and spices, then cooked slowly in plenty of oil until they collapse into a thick, nutty gravy. It is wedding food, field food and Sunday food, with raw onion, a wedge of lemon and spicy chutney powder on the side. Chef's tip: use boiling water for the jowar dough; it gelatinises the flour slightly, so the rotti holds together without any wheat.

80 min

Indian Curries

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SambuusCrisp beef pastries

Sambuus are the triangles of crisp pastry Somali families fry by the hundred during Ramadan, filling them with minced beef, onion, green chilli, coriander and xawaash; trays of them sit on every iftar table from Hargeisa to Toronto. The filling must be dry, and the pastry thin. The mistake is a wet filling, which steams the pastry from the inside and makes it soggy; cook the mince until all the liquid has gone. Chef's tip: shop-bought spring roll pastry, cut into strips, makes good thin sambuus at home.

75 min

Somali Snacks & Starters

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GombapaprikásMushroom paprika stew

Gombapaprikás is the meatless cousin of chicken paprikás, cooked in Hungarian homes on Fridays and through Lent, and a regular on the vegetarian line of Budapest's self-service étkezde lunch rooms. Mushrooms simmer in onion, paprika and a little pepper and tomato, then the sauce is finished with sour cream until it turns a soft brick-pink. It is quick, rich and comforting, and nokedli are its natural partner, though rice or boiled potatoes work too. Chef's tip: brown the mushrooms in a hot pan in two batches before they meet the onions, so they fry instead of stewing in their own water and the sauce tastes deep rather than watery.

30 min

Hungarian Vegetarian

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SamgyetangGinseng chicken soup

On the three hottest days of the Korean summer, called boknal, queues form outside samgyetang restaurants all over the country. The idea is to fight heat with heat: a small whole chicken is stuffed with glutinous rice, ginseng, jujubes and garlic, then simmered until the meat falls off the bone. Each person gets their own bird in its own bowl, with salt and pepper for dipping. Ginseng is not advised in pregnancy, so leave it out if unsure. Chef's tip: cut a small slit in the skin of one thigh and tuck the other leg through it, so the stuffing stays inside without string.

90 min

Korean Chicken

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Samkeh harraBaked fish with spicy tahini

Samkeh harra, 'hot fish', is the pride of Tripoli and the fishing towns of northern Lebanon, where it is made with a whole sea bream or sea bass on Fridays and for summer lunches by the sea. The fish is baked, then covered with a fiery sauce of tahini, lemon, garlic, chilli and lots of coriander and returned to the oven until bubbling. Walnuts on top are a Tripoli touch. It is eaten warm or at room temperature with bread and a green salad. Chef's tip: loosen the tahini with lemon juice first, then water; it will seize and turn thick before it turns smooth, so keep whisking.

55 min

Lebanese Fish

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Natilla colombianaPanela and cinnamon milk pudding

Natilla is the firm, sliceable Christmas pudding of Colombia, stirred on the night of the alumbrado (7 December) and through the novenas, and always shared with buñuelos. Milk is infused with cinnamon, sweetened with panela (unrefined cane sugar), thickened with cornflour and finished with grated coconut and raisins, then poured into a dish to set. It is dark gold, caramel-scented and soft, a bit like a firm flan. Chef's tip: stir without stopping once the cornflour goes in, scraping the corners of the pan, or lumps and a scorched bottom will form.

40 min

Colombian Desserts

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NazookSour cream pastry rolls

Nazook is the slice-shaped pastry stacked in the windows of Yerevan bakeries and sold by the box at every Armenian church fair from Glendale to Marseille. A yeasted dough enriched with sour cream is rolled thin, spread with a vanilla-scented filling of flour, butter and sugar, rolled into a log and cut on the slant before baking. The result is flaky outside, with a soft, buttery swirl inside, sweet but not sticky. It is a coffee pastry, served to guests and packed for long journeys because it keeps well. Chef's tip: keep the filling cold and spread it right to the side edges; the swirl looks finished and every slice gets its share.

70 min

Armenian Baking

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Nasi lemakCoconut rice with sambal

All over Malaysia, nasi lemak is what people grab before work: a pyramid of banana leaf or brown paper from a roadside stall, opened at a desk or on a car bonnet, with fragrant rice steamed in coconut milk, a dab of sticky red sambal, crunchy peanuts and cool cucumber. Stalls usually add fried anchovies and boiled egg; our meat-free plate keeps the morning ritual but swaps the anchovies for thin batons of tempeh fried until they shatter, and the sambal is cooked without belacan, so the depth comes from slow-fried chillies, tamarind and palm sugar. Eat it for breakfast, brunch or a lazy supper. Chef's tip: give the sambal the full time on a low flame; it is ready only when a shiny red oil floats free around the edge.

50 min

Malaysian Rice & Grains

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