Featured recipe

Pastitsada

Spiced beef with thick pasta

Pastitsada is Corfu's great Sunday and feast-day dish, a legacy of four centuries of Venetian rule: big pieces of beef (or rooster) slowly braised in tomato with a heady spice mix of cinnamon, clove, allspice, nutmeg and sweet paprika, sharpened with vinegar, then served over bucatini with grated cheese. The sauce should be thick enough to coat the pasta and taste warm rather than hot. Many Corfiots add red wine; this version uses red wine vinegar and stock, so it's alcohol-free (swap 150 ml of the stock for red wine if you like). Common mistake: rushing the braise — beef shin needs a long, gentle simmer to turn soft. Chef's tip: make it a day ahead; the spices settle and the sauce tastes rounder.

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Gin thokeYoung ginger salad

Gin thoke is lahpet thoke's livelier cousin, served on the same lacquered trays at teashops in Yangon and as a palate-wakener after a rich curry lunch. Young ginger is cut into fine threads and pickled in lime and salt so it turns pink and juicy, then tossed with cabbage, tomato, peanuts, fried beans and sesame. Burmese cooks often add fish sauce; salt, lime and a little toasted chickpea flour give the dressing body without it. Chef's tip: use young ginger with thin, pinkish skin if you can find it; mature ginger is fibrous and too fiery to eat in this quantity, so slice it extra thin.

17 min

Burmese Salads

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Masala dosaPotato-filled rice crêpes

Masala dosa is the breakfast of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka: a huge, thin, golden crêpe of fermented rice and urad dal batter, crisp at the edges and soft in the middle, folded around a turmeric-yellow potato and onion filling tempered with mustard seeds and curry leaves. In Chennai and Bengaluru it's eaten at small tiffin rooms with coconut chutney and a bowl of sambar, torn by hand. The batter takes planning, soaking in the morning and fermenting overnight, but one batch makes dosas for two or three days. Chef's tip: wipe the hot griddle with a cut onion dipped in oil, then sprinkle on water; if it sizzles away in a second the pan is ready, and the batter will spread thin without sticking.

70 min

Indian Breakfast & Brunch

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Ube halayaPurple yam jam

Ube halaya is a thick, deep purple jam made from purple yam, slowly stirred with coconut milk, condensed milk and butter until it pulls away from the pan. Bohol, where ube grows in abundance and the province holds a festival for it every January, claims it, and in Baguio jars of it are bought as pasalubong (gifts) to take home. It appears at Christmas and fiestas, spread on bread, eaten by the spoonful, packed into halo-halo or shaped in moulds and topped with latik or grated cheese. Real ube has a gentle, nutty, vanilla-like flavour; purple sweet potato is not the same. Chef's tip: frozen grated ube from Asian grocers works perfectly and saves an hour of peeling and grating.

50 min

Filipino Desserts

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Gambas al ajilloGarlic prawns

Walk into a bar near Madrid's Plaza Mayor or Puerta del Sol and you will hear gambas al ajillo before you see them: peeled prawns still spitting in a small terracotta cazuela of olive oil, sliced garlic and dried chilli. They arrive at the table bubbling, with a basket of bread for mopping up the golden oil, which many people think is the best part. At home it takes ten minutes and works as a tapa for four or a quick supper for two. Chef's tip: pat the prawns completely dry with kitchen paper before they go in, so they sizzle in the oil instead of stewing in their own water.

15 min

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MateYerba mate tea

Mate is less a drink than a ritual in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay: a gourd (also called a mate) packed with yerba mate leaves, a metal straw called a bombilla, and a thermos of hot water passed around friends, family and coworkers, from the parks of Buenos Aires to long bus rides across Patagonia. One person, the cebador, pours and drinks first, then refills and passes it on. It's grassy, bitter and gently stimulating; sweet versions add sugar. Chef's tip: never use boiling water; at about 75–80 °C the yerba stays fresh for many rounds instead of 'burning' and turning bitter.

5 min

Argentinian Drinks

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Uganda matokeMashed green bananas

Uganda's national dish: green matoke bananas steamed in banana leaves, mashed and kept warm in the leaves, then topped with a thick, gently spiced tomato and ground peanut sauce. It's soft, savoury and very filling. The book's Handy Hints add that bananas and peanuts are both good for the heart.

65 minAfrican Vegetarian

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RolexOmelette chapati roll

The rolex is Uganda's most famous street food, its name a play on 'rolled eggs': at stalls all over Kampala, and now the whole country, a vendor beats eggs with shredded cabbage, tomato and onion, fries a thin omelette, lays a fresh chapati on top and rolls the two together. It is breakfast, lunch and late-night food. Unlike the Mombasa coast egg chapati, nothing is folded inside raw pastry: the omelette and a soft, ready-cooked chapati are rolled together. Chef's tip: cook the omelette thin and wide, the size of the chapati, so every bite has egg.

20 minEast African Breakfast & Brunch

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Martabak manisThick sweet pancake

After dark, martabak manis stalls all over Indonesia fire up their heavy iron pans, and a queue forms for one thick, spongy pancake cooked until its top is pocked with holes, then slathered with butter and folded over chocolate sprinkles, crushed peanuts, sugar and condensed milk. It's often called terang bulan, "bright moon", and is said to have come from Bangka island before spreading through Java. It's sold by the box to share with family. Chef's tip: let the bubbles form and stay open before you add the sugar and cover the pan — that open honeycomb is what soaks up the butter.

55 min

Indonesian Desserts

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Maraq digaagChicken and vegetable stew

Maraq digaag is the gentle chicken stew Somali mothers make on ordinary weekdays, and the one people ask for when they are unwell: chicken simmered with potato, carrot, tomato and green pepper in a light broth fragrant with xawaash and garlic. It is served with rice, canjeero or bread for dipping. The mistake is boiling it hard, which makes the chicken stringy; keep it at a lazy simmer. Chef's tip: stir in chopped coriander and a little lemon at the end to lift the broth.

60 min

Somali Chicken

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Man'oushe za'atarZa'atar flatbread

Ask anyone from Beirut what breakfast is and the answer is often man'oushe bi za'atar: a round of soft dough pressed with fingertips, spread with a paste of za'atar and olive oil and baked in the corner bakery's hot oven, then folded in paper and eaten on the way to school or work. At home it is rolled around sliced tomato, cucumber, olives and fresh mint. The most common mistake is too little oil in the topping, which leaves the za'atar dry and dusty, or baking it too long so the herbs scorch and turn bitter; the paste should be loose and spreadable and the bread pulled out once the rim is just golden. Chef's tip: get the oven and tray properly hot, at its highest setting for 20 minutes, so the dough puffs and blisters before the topping has time to burn.

90 min

Lebanese Breads & Parathas

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Man'oushe jibnehCheese flatbread

On the street corners of Beirut and Tripoli the cheese man'oushe, bi jibneh, is the one children queue for: the same soft bakery dough as the za'atar kind but covered with salty white akkawi cheese mixed with stretchy mozzarella and a scatter of nigella seeds, baked until the cheese bubbles and freckles brown. It is a weekend breakfast and an after-school snack, eaten folded with a few slices of tomato and a sprig of mint. Akkawi is very salty, and the usual mistake is to use it straight from the packet, which makes the bread almost inedible; soak it first. Check the label for a vegetarian (microbial) rennet; many supermarket mozzarellas and some halloumis use it, and halloumi works if you can't find akkawi. Chef's tip: grate the cheese coarsely and keep a 1 cm bare rim, so the edge puffs up into a crisp border that holds the melted cheese in.

90 min

Lebanese Breads & Parathas

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Ukadiche modakSteamed coconut and jaggery dumplings

On the first day of Ganesh Chaturthi, kitchens all along the Konkan coast and in Pune and Mumbai fill with steam as families shape ukadiche modak, the pleated dumplings said to be Ganpati's favourite sweet. A soft, translucent shell of rice flour cooked in water (the ukad) wraps a filling of fresh coconut and jaggery scented with cardamom and nutmeg. Twenty-one modak are offered to the deity, and the rest are eaten warm with a spoon of ghee poured into a little hole poked in the top. The pleating takes practice, so make a few extra and don't worry if the first ones are lumpy. Chef's tip: knead the ukad while it is still hot, with your palm oiled and dipped in cold water; a dough left to cool turns crumbly and cracks when you pleat it.

80 min

Indian Indian Sweets

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Manok pansohBamboo-cooked chicken

Iban longhouses in Sarawak cook manok pansoh for Gawai, the harvest festival at the start of June: chicken pieces packed into lengths of fresh bamboo with lemongrass, ginger, shallots and tapioca leaves, plugged with leaves and leaned over an open fire. No stock or water goes in; the chicken steams in its own juices, which turn into a clear, herby broth that tastes faintly of green bamboo. At home a lidded casserole wrapped in banana leaf gets you very close. Serve it with plain rice, and with the broth spooned over. Chef's tip: bruise the lemongrass and ginger hard with a pestle before packing; with no added liquid, crushed aromatics are what flavour the juices.

90 min

Malaysian Chicken

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MangúMashed green plantain

Mangú is breakfast across the Dominican Republic, from Santo Domingo's colmados to farm kitchens in the Cibao valley: green plantains boiled until soft, then mashed smooth with butter and a splash of cold water and crowned with red onions softened in vinegar. It is creamy, mild and salty, with the sharp pink onions cutting through. At home it's usually served as los tres golpes, with fried salami, fried cheese and fried eggs; this vegetarian plate keeps the queso frito and the eggs. Chef's tip: mash with cold water rather than the cooking water; cold water makes the mash smoother and lighter, the trick every Dominican grandmother swears by.

35 min

Puerto Rican Breakfast & Brunch

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Mango pomelo sagoMango, pomelo and sago dessert

Yeung chi gam lo was created in a Hong Kong restaurant in the 1980s and quickly became the city's favourite summer dessert, served in dessert shops late into the night. It's half drink, half pudding: puréed ripe mango mixed with coconut and evaporated milk, studded with chewy sago pearls, mango cubes and juicy pomelo. Chef's tip: rinse the cooked sago under cold water until it stops feeling slimy; this keeps each pearl separate and the dessert clean-tasting.

35 min

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Umibudo saladSea grapes salad

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

15 min

Japanese Salads

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Mangalorean kori rottiCoconut chicken curry

Kori rotti belongs to the Bunt community of Mangalore and Udupi, where it is cooked for weddings, the Aati festival and Sunday lunches. Kori is chicken, simmered in a thin, red coconut-milk gravy built on roasted Byadgi chillies; rotti are paper-thin dried rice wafers, bought in stacks and crumbled into the plate just before the curry goes over. They soften at the edges and stay crunchy in the middle. Chef's tip: pour the curry over the rotti only at the table; left to sit, the wafers turn to mush.

75 min

Indian Chicken

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Mangalore bunsSweet banana puris

Despite the name, Mangalore buns are not baked at all: they are thick, soft puris made from a dough of overripe bananas, sugar, yogurt and flour, left for hours to turn slightly tangy, then deep-fried until they balloon. Every Udupi restaurant in coastal Karnataka has them on the breakfast board, served with coconut chutney and sambar, and children love them on their own. They are lightly sweet with a hint of cumin and a soft, bready inside. Chef's tip: use bananas with black-flecked skins; underripe bananas give a dense, pale bun that won't brown.

45 min

Indian Breakfast & Brunch

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Mandua ki rotiFinger millet flatbread

Mandua, or finger millet, is the grain that hill farmers in Uttarakhand have relied on for generations, and its roti is the staple of a pahadi winter kitchen. The rotis come out dark brown, slightly sweet and earthy, and they are eaten hot from the tawa with a spoon of ghee, kafuli or a bowl of chainsoo, sometimes with jaggery on the side. With no gluten to hold it together the dough is fragile, so cooks pat it out between wet palms rather than rolling it. Chef's tip: knead the dough in two small batches with hot water; millet dough dries and cracks quickly, so the second batch stays fresh while you cook the first.

35 min

Indian Breads & Parathas

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UnniyappamBanana and rice fritters

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

50 min

Indian Indian Sweets

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Mamri (mandazi)Coconut cardamom doughnuts

Mamri, better known as mandazi, are lightly sweet East African fried breads made with coconut milk and cardamom. They puff up golden and hollow and are soft inside. Serve warm with pigeon peas in coconut milk (mbaazi) for a classic Zanzibar breakfast, or with tea.

325 minAfrican Breakfast & Brunch

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Mambazha pulisseryRipe mango yogurt curry

Mambazha pulissery appears in Kerala kitchens in April and May, when small, fragrant village mangoes fall from the trees, and it is often on the Vishu sadya. Whole small ripe mangoes, or chunks of bigger ones, are simmered with jaggery and chilli until syrupy, then loosened with a coconut-cumin paste and lightly soured yogurt. Unlike kalan, it stays thin and pourable: sweet, tangy and mildly hot, with the fenugreek tempering on top. Pour it over rice, with a thoran on the side. Chef's tip: use very ripe, slightly fibrous mangoes; firm ones make it sour and the sweetness never comes through.

30 min

Indian Curries

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MămăligăCornmeal mush

Mămăligă is the golden cornmeal staple of the Romanian countryside, from the hill villages of Oltenia to the farms of Maramureș, where it was once eaten more often than bread. It is cooked in water until thick enough to hold a spoon upright, turned out onto a wooden board and cut with a thread, then eaten hot with crumbled salty brânză and a cold spoon of smântână (soured cream). Unlike Ukrainian banosh, which is cooked in sour cream, mămăligă is plain cornmeal and water; the richness goes on top. It sits beside stews such as tocăniță or under a fried egg for supper. Chef's tip: rain the cornmeal in through your fingers while whisking, and keep stirring from the bottom; dumping it in at once is the classic mistake that leaves raw, gritty lumps.

35 min

Romanian Sides

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Zupa ogórkowaSour pickled cucumber soup

Zupa ogórkowa is the soup Polish families make when the crock of brine-fermented cucumbers from summer starts to run low in late autumn: grated sour pickles and their cloudy brine simmered with potatoes, carrot and root vegetables, then softened with soured cream and a fistful of dill. It is a staple of canteen lunches and Sunday-in-the-country cooking, from Mazovia to Silesia, and it tastes tangy, garlicky and comforting all at once. Traditionally it is made on meat stock; here a good vegetable stock does the job. Use real ogórki kiszone (fermented in salt water), not sweet vinegar gherkins. Chef's tip: stir the cucumbers in only after the potatoes are soft; acid stops potatoes from softening, so if they go in together the potatoes stay hard.

45 min

Polish Soups

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Zeytinyağlı enginarArtichokes braised with peas

In spring, when globe artichokes pile up on stalls in İzmir and Urla, market sellers trim them on the spot into pale hearts kept in lemon water, and families take them home to make zeytinyağlı enginar. The hearts are braised cup-side up with small onions, carrots, potato and peas in olive oil and lemon, then served cold with a shower of dill, often as the first course of a spring dinner. The classic mistake is leaving trimmed artichokes in the air: they turn grey within minutes. Chef's tip: rub every cut surface with lemon as you go and drop the hearts straight into water with lemon juice and a spoonful of flour, which keeps them pale and cream-coloured.

50 min

Turkish Sides

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Malvani kombdi vadeChicken curry with puffed bread

Along the Malvan coast of Sindhudurg, kombdi vade is what families cook for a festive Sunday or for guests arriving by the morning bus from Mumbai. Kombdi is chicken, simmered in a gravy of roasted coconut and Malvani masala; vade are rice-flour breads fragrant with fennel that puff like balloons in hot oil. You tear the vade, dunk them in the curry and finish with a squeeze of lime and raw onion. Chef's tip: pat the vade on an oiled sheet of plastic or banana leaf rather than rolling them, and slide them into the oil straight away; thin, even discs puff best.

95 min

Indian Chicken

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Uzbek chuchvaraTiny dumplings in dill broth

In Tashkent, chuchvara is the little cousin of manti: dumplings no bigger than a thumbnail, folded around a peppery lamb-and-beef filling and dropped into clear meat broth. Families make them in big batches on a slow weekend, freeze trays of them, and eat bowls through the winter with a spoonful of suzma (strained yogurt) or sour cream and lots of dill. The dough is thin and firm, the filling juicy with grated onion, and the broth light enough to drink. Many home cooks roll the dough too thick, which turns the dumplings stodgy; aim for a sheet you can just see the board through. Chef's tip: freeze the shaped dumplings on a floured tray before bagging them, so they stay separate and cook straight from frozen.

105 min

Uzbek Soups

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UzvarDried fruit drink

Uzvar is the dark, smoky-sweet drink brewed from dried apples, pears and plums that closes the Holy Supper on Ukrainian Christmas Eve, Sviat Vechir, where it is one of the twelve meatless dishes alongside kutia. In villages across Podillia and the Carpathians the fruit is dried in the oven or over smoke in autumn, which gives uzvar its distinctive campfire note; market stalls sell ready-mixed bags in December. It is drunk warm in winter and chilled in summer, and is naturally vegan when sweetened with sugar instead of honey. Chef's tip: simmer gently, then let it steep for several hours; common mistake is boiling it hard, which turns the fruit to mush and the drink cloudy.

30 min

Ukrainian Drinks

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Zupa pomidorowaCreamy tomato soup with rice

In Poland, zupa pomidorowa is famously Monday's soup: on Sunday the family drinks rosół, and the next day the leftover broth becomes tomato soup with rice or thin noodles and a swirl of soured cream. Children across the country rank it as their favourite school-canteen dish. It is creamy, mild and a little sweet, nothing like a spicy Mediterranean tomato soup. This version starts from vegetable stock (the traditional base is chicken broth) and builds the flavour with carrot, celery root and tomato paste fried in butter. Serve it with rice cooked in the pot or with makaron (fine noodles). Chef's tip: fry the tomato paste in butter until it darkens one shade; raw paste tastes tinny and that one minute makes the soup taste like it simmered for hours.

35 min

Polish Soups

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MalawachFlaky fried flatbread

Malawach is the Yemenite Jewish flatbread that turned into an Israeli freezer staple: round, buttery layers fried in a pan until they shatter, eaten for breakfast or a late supper with sweet-sour grated tomato, zhug and a hard-boiled egg. In Israel almost everyone buys the frozen rounds from the supermarket and fries them in minutes, the way this recipe does; the dough is the same rolled, butter-layered dough as jachnun, just fried instead of baked. Some families sprinkle sugar or drizzle honey for a sweet version. Chef's tip: fry the frozen rounds straight from the freezer; thawed ones turn sticky and lose their layers.

20 min

Israeli Breads & Parathas

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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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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

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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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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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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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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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MalakoffCheese fritters

In the wine villages of La Côte above Lake Geneva, especially Vinzel, Bursins and Luins, a malakoff is a dome of Gruyère bound with egg and white wine, set on a round of bread and deep-fried until puffed and golden. The name is said to come from Swiss soldiers who fought at the siege of the Malakoff fort in the Crimean War and brought a taste for cheese fritters home. Locals eat them at village festivals and in pinte-style wine taverns with a glass of chilled Chasselas, cornichons and pickled onions. The crust shatters to a molten, gently stringy inside that tastes of wine and nutmeg. Use Gruyère made with vegetarian rennet. Chef's tip: press the cheese mixture firmly into a tall dome over the bread and chill it for 20 minutes before frying; it holds its shape in the hot oil instead of spreading.

40 min

Swiss Snacks & Starters

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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

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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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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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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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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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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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