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Salsa de chile pasilla oaxaqueño
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Salsa de chile pasilla oaxaqueño

Smoky dried chilli salsa

The pasilla mixe is a small, wrinkled, red-brown chilli smoked in the Sierra Mixe mountains east of Oaxaca City, and it tastes of campfire, tobacco and dried fruit. Ground in a molcajete with roasted tomato and garlic, it becomes the salsa that sits on every table in Oaxacan fondas, spooned over memelas, eggs, beans and grilled vegetables. It keeps a week in the fridge and improves after a day. If you cannot find pasilla mixe, use chipotle mora plus one ancho. Chef's tip: grind the garlic and salt first, then the chillies, then the tomato; working in that order gives a rough, clinging texture rather than a watery purée.

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Vegetable khorovatsGrilled aubergine, peppers and tomatoes

No Armenian summer weekend at the dacha passes without a khorovats, the charcoal grill fired up in the garden from Dilijan to Lake Sevan. Alongside the skewers, whole aubergines, peppers and tomatoes are grilled until black and collapsing, then peeled and chopped with raw onion, garlic and herbs into a smoky, juicy salad. Served on its own with lavash, salty cheese and pickles, it makes a full meal, and it is one of the dishes that Armenians say tastes of summer itself. It works on a barbecue or straight on a gas flame. Chef's tip: grill the vegetables whole, without oil and without cutting them; the skins burn and peel away, while the flesh steams inside and soaks up the smoke.

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Vegetable kottu rotiChopped roti stir-fried with vegetables

After dark in Colombo you hear kottu before you see it: the rhythmic clang of two steel blades chopping roti on a hot flat-top at every street stall from Pettah to Wellawatte. Shredded godamba roti is stir-fried with leeks, carrot, cabbage, onion, chilli and egg, then moistened with a spoonful of spicy curry gravy so it's soft, smoky and messy in the best way. Stalls usually ladle on chicken curry gravy; we make a quick vegetable curry sauce instead, and the egg keeps it vegetarian rather than vegan. Leftover parathas or frozen flaky flatbreads stand in well for godamba roti. The common mistake is overcrowding a small pan, which steams everything; cook in two batches if your pan is under 30 cm. Chef's tip: chop the roti into strips while it is still slightly warm, then let it dry for 10 minutes so it fries rather than turns mushy.

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Vegetable kushikatsuBreaded vegetable skewers

Kushikatsu belongs to Shinsekai, the neon-lit old entertainment district at the foot of Osaka's Tsutenkaku tower. Since the 1920s, labourers have stood at its counters eating skewers fried to order, dunked in a shared steel pot of thin, fruity sauce. The famous house rule, 'no double dipping', is printed on signs everywhere. Vegetables are as popular as meat there: lotus root, shiitake, onion, asparagus and, a local favourite, chewy mochi and cheese. Have a plate of raw cabbage leaves on the side; they're free at every shop and used to scoop extra sauce. Chef's tip: use fine panko, or blitz ordinary panko briefly. Fine crumbs give the thin, crunchy jacket that Osaka shops are known for.

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Vegetable lagmanHand-pulled noodles with vegetables

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Vegetable lawarBean and toasted coconut salad

Lawar is the dish of Balinese ceremonies: before a temple festival or a family rite, the men of the banjar gather at dawn to chop and mix it by hand in huge quantities. Many versions include meat, but lawar kacang, made with long beans, is common at home and at Balinese warungs, and it shows off base genep, the island's master spice paste of shallot, garlic, galangal, kencur, turmeric and chilli. Mixed with toasted grated coconut, it's crunchy, fragrant, sour and hot, and is eaten with rice the day it's made. Chef's tip: mix the lawar just before serving and with your hands, squeezing gently, so the spice paste works into the beans; made too early, it goes watery and dull.

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Vegetable machboosSpiced rice with vegetables

In Bahrain and Kuwait machboos is the rice dish of the home kitchen: deeper yellow than Saudi kabsa, with more turmeric, more dried lime and a last splash of rose water that perfumes the whole pot. Families cook it for the big midday meal, especially on Fridays and through Ramadan, and pile it high on a round metal tray. Here potatoes, cauliflower and peppers take the place of chicken, and the rice is crowned with hashu, soft caramelised onions with raisins and a pinch of black lime powder. Chef's tip: brown the potatoes and cauliflower before the rice goes in; their golden edges give the meaty depth the chicken usually brings.

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Vegetable mandu-gukVegetable dumpling soup

In Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi province, the first meal of Seollal (Lunar New Year) is often mandu-guk (만두국): plump dumplings and coin-shaped rice cakes floating in clear broth, finished with ribbons of yellow and white egg and strips of toasted laver. The northern half of the peninsula has always favoured dumplings over rice cake soup, and Seoul families tend to combine the two. These mandu are filled with tofu, glass noodles, cabbage, mushrooms and chives, and the broth is a kelp and shiitake stock instead of beef. Fold the dumplings a day ahead and the soup comes together in 15 minutes. Chef's tip: squeeze the tofu and cabbage hard in a cloth; a wet filling turns the wrappers soggy and the dumplings split in the pot.

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Vegetable maqlubaUpside-down rice and vegetables

Maqluba means 'upside down', and in Palestinian homes from Jerusalem to Nablus the moment the big pot is flipped onto a tray at a Friday family lunch is greeted with clapping. Under the pot comes a golden cake of fried aubergine, cauliflower and potato with spiced rice packed between them. It is also cooked across Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. This meat-free version uses vegetable stock and is served with a cucumber and tomato salad or a bowl of yogurt for those who eat dairy. Chef's tip: once the pot is turned over, wait five minutes before lifting it so the layers settle and the tower holds.

80 minLebaneseRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
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Vegetable mastavaVegetable and rice soup

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55 minUzbekSoupsGluten free
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Vegetable momosSteamed vegetable dumplings

Momos came to Sikkim and the Darjeeling hills with Tibetan settlers and are now the snack of the whole Himalayan Northeast, steamed in tall stacked steamers at every street corner. Thin, soft wrappers hold a juicy filling of cabbage, carrot, onion and tofu with plenty of ginger, garlic and spring onion. They are dipped in a hot, garlicky tomato and red chilli achar. Serve straight from the steamer, with a bowl of clear soup if you like. Chef's tip: salt the chopped cabbage and squeeze out its water before mixing the filling; it keeps the wrappers from turning soggy and tearing.

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Vegetable romazavaMixed greens and ginger broth

Romazava is often called the national dish of Madagascar: a light, gingery broth of several kinds of leafy greens (brèdes) and tomato, ladled over a big plate of rice. In Antananarivo it usually includes zebu beef; this vegetable version keeps the essential leaves, especially brèdes mafana (paracress), whose flowers and leaves make the mouth tingle. Spinach, watercress and mustard greens work well outside Madagascar. Chef's tip: add the greens in order of toughness and stop as soon as they are tender; romazava should taste fresh and green, not stewed.

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Vegetable saltadoWok-fried vegetables

Saltado comes from Lima's chifa tradition, the cooking of Chinese-Peruvian families who brought the wok to Peru in the nineteenth century. The famous version is lomo saltado with beef; this saltado de verduras uses meaty mushrooms in its place. Thick wedges of red onion and tomato are tossed over a fierce flame with garlic, ají amarillo, soy sauce and a splash of vinegar until just wilted, so the vegetables keep their shape and the pan juices turn smoky and savoury. It is always served with both chips and white rice, which soak up those juices. Chef's tip: cook in two batches if your pan is small; a crowded wok steams the vegetables instead of searing them, and the tomatoes collapse into soup.

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Vegetable siu maiOpen-topped vegetable dumplings

Siu mai are among the first baskets wheeled past at Cantonese dim sum in Guangzhou's tea houses, where people meet over yum cha on weekend mornings. The classic is pork and prawn; this one is packed with shiitake, tofu, crunchy water chestnut and carrot, with a dot of diced carrot on top in place of fish roe. Steam them in a bamboo basket and serve with chilli oil and soy. Chef's tip: squeeze the wrapper into a 'waist' with your thumb and finger and flatten the base on the board, so they stand up straight in the steamer.

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Vegetable Uzbek plovVegetable pilaf

Plov (osh) is the dish Uzbeks cook for weddings, for Friday lunch and for guests, traditionally by men over a fire in a wide cast-iron kazan. Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara each have their own style, but all are built the same way: a zirvak (base) of onions and long strips of carrot fried in oil, rice laid on top and steamed until every grain is separate and glossy. This vegetarian version keeps the zirvak and swaps the meat for chickpeas (nohat), whole heads of garlic and barberries, as in Samarkand's chickpea plov. For the classic meat version, lamb or beef is browned in the oil before the onions and simmered in the zirvak for 40 minutes. Serve with achichuk. Chef's tip: hunt out yellow carrots from Central Asian or Turkish grocers; they are sweeter and less watery than orange ones and give plov its honeyed colour.

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Vegetable vindayeMustard vegetable pickle curry

Vindaye is a Mauritian dish descended from the vindaloo and vinha d'alhos traditions but entirely its own: fried ingredients coated in a bright yellow paste of mustard seed, turmeric, garlic, ginger and vinegar, with lots of raw-crisp onion. Fish and octopus vindaye are the classics, served at room temperature with rice, faratas or bread; aubergine and potato vindaye is a well-loved vegetarian version for Hindu fasting days and buffets. Chef's tip: grind the mustard seeds fresh; ready-ground mustard gives a flat, dusty taste.

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Vegetarian char kway teowStir-fried flat rice noodles

Char kway teow is the dish Singaporeans queue for at hawker centres like Old Airport Road and Zion Riverside: flat rice noodles and yellow noodles tossed over a roaring wok with dark sweet soy, egg, beansprouts and chives until smoky and sticky. The classic uses lard, cockles and Chinese sausage; this vegetarian version gets its richness from fried tofu puffs and plenty of garlic, and its char from a very hot pan. Chef's tip: cook one or two portions at a time; a crowded pan can't get hot enough for the smoky wok hei that defines the dish.

25 minSingaporeanPasta & Noodles
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Vegetarian erwtensoepSplit pea soup

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

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HariraTomato, lentil and chickpea soup

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

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Vegetarian mohingaRice noodle soup with lemongrass

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

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Vegetarian popiahFresh spring rolls

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

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Vegetarian smørrebrødOpen sandwiches

Smørrebrød, 'buttered bread', is Denmark's lunch: a single slice of dense rye bread, buttered right to the edges and piled with toppings so carefully arranged they are eaten with a knife and fork. Copenhagen lunch restaurants such as the old cellar places around Nyhavn serve them in a set order, and at home they make up a Sunday or Christmas lunch table (det kolde bord). Many classics use fish or meat, but three of the best-loved toppings are vegetarian: sliced egg with tomato and cress, waxy new potatoes with crisp onion and chives (kartoffelmad), and peppery radishes on salted butter. Chef's tip: butter the bread thickly and all the way to the crust; in Denmark the butter is the glue that holds the toppings and keeps the rye from going soggy.

45 minScandinavianBreakfast & Brunch
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Ven pongalRice and moong dal porridge

Ven pongal, 'white pongal', is the gentle, savoury breakfast of Tamil Nadu, served in homes, temples and Chennai's tiffin halls. Rice and roasted yellow moong dal are cooked together until soft and creamy, then finished with a ghee tempering of whole black pepper, cumin, ginger, cashews and curry leaves. It's mild and comforting, with little bursts of heat from the peppercorns. Serve it with coconut chutney and sambar, or with medu vada on a Sunday. Chef's tip: dry-roast the moong dal for a few minutes before cooking until it smells nutty; it takes the pongal from plain to deeply savoury.

30 minIndianBreakfast & BrunchGluten free
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Vepřo knedlo zeloRoast pork with dumplings and cabbage

Ask anyone in Prague, Brno or a village pub in Moravia for the most Czech meal of all and they will name vepřo knedlo zelo: roast pork, dumplings and cabbage, eaten at Sunday lunch and washed down in pubs with a cold lager. This is a pork dish: shoulder rubbed with garlic, caraway and salt and roasted slowly in a little water until it falls into tender slices, the pan juices becoming the gravy. Alongside go slices of soft bread dumpling and red or white cabbage braised sweet and sour. The trap is roasting the pork too hot and too dry; a splash of water in the tin and a low oven keep it juicy. Chef's tip: lay the pork fat side down for the first hour, then turn it fat side up so the fat renders and crisps at the end.

210 minCzechMeat
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VetkoekFried bread puffs

Vetkoek ('fat cake' in Afrikaans) is fried at church fêtes, rugby matches and roadside stalls all over South Africa, and in townships it's known as amagwinya. The yeast dough fries into a crisp golden ball with a soft, steamy middle, split open while still warm. The best-known filling is curried mince, but just as many people eat them with grated cheese and apricot jam, golden syrup, or a spoon of chakalaka, as here. Chef's tip: keep the oil at a steady medium heat and turn the vetkoek often so they colour evenly and cook right through.

90 minSouth AfricanBreads & Parathas
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VinegretBeetroot and potato salad

Vinegret is the ruby-coloured salad that sits on almost every Ukrainian New Year and Christmas table, alongside olivier, and fills lunch boxes through the winter. Cooked beetroot, potato and carrot are diced small and tossed with sauerkraut, pickled cucumbers and beans, then dressed with fragrant unrefined sunflower oil, the kind sold by the bottle at markets in Poltava and Kherson. Despite the name there is often no vinegar at all; the sourness comes from the pickles. It is vegan, cheap and keeps for days. Chef's tip: dress the diced beetroot with oil on its own first, then mix in everything else; the oil coats it so the potatoes stay pale and the salad looks like a mosaic rather than all pink.

60 minUkrainianSaladsVeganGluten free
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Vitello tonnatoVeal with tuna sauce

On the hottest days of a Piedmontese summer, and above all for the Ferragosto holiday in mid-August, families set out a platter of cold, thinly sliced veal hidden under a pale, velvety sauce of tuna, anchovy and capers. The combination sounds odd and tastes wonderful: tender, mild meat and a savoury, lemony sauce that is rich without being heavy. This version follows the older Piedmontese style, thickening the sauce with hard-boiled egg yolks and the veal's own poaching broth instead of raw-egg mayonnaise; if you prefer a mayonnaise base, use one made with pasteurised eggs. Serve it as a starter or a summer main with a green salad and bread. A common mistake is slicing the meat while warm; it frays and tears, so chill it first and cut it as thin as you can. Chef's tip: assemble it the evening before; overnight in the fridge, the sauce seeps into the meat and the flavours settle together.

120 minItalianMeatGluten free
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VitumbuaCoconut cardamom rice pancakes

Small, round Swahili rice pancakes made from a yeasted batter of rice flour, coconut milk, grated coconut, sugar and cardamom. They're crisp and golden outside, soft and spongy inside. Serve hot with tea.

105 minAfricanSnacks & Starters
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Vol-au-ventChicken and mushroom pastry cases

In Belgium a vol-au-vent is not a party nibble but a full plate: a big puff-pastry case filled with creamy chicken ragout, button mushrooms and tiny meatballs, served with chips in Brussels brasseries and for family celebrations and Sunday lunches all over the country. The little meatballs are made with pork mince, so this dish contains pork. The sauce is built on the poaching stock from the chicken, which gives it far more flavour than milk. A mistake many cooks make is filling the pastry too early, so the base turns soggy; fill the cases just before they go to the table. Chef's tip: poach the meatballs in the same stock as the chicken; they take just 5 minutes and season the broth further.

90 minBelgianChicken
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Vegetarian vori voriCornmeal dumpling and vegetable soup

Vori vori is the soup Paraguayan grandmothers make on cold June and July evenings: a golden broth full of bori, small balls of cornmeal and cheese that swell soft as they simmer. The name is a Guaraní take on the Spanish 'bolita' (little ball). It's usually made with hen; this version gets its colour and body from pumpkin, carrot and a sofrito with saffron or turmeric. Chef's tip: shape the balls no bigger than a hazelnut; they double in size and larger ones stay raw inside.

70 minParaguayanSoupsGluten free
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WaakyeRice and black-eyed beans

Waakye (say 'waa-chay') came south from the Hausa communities of northern Ghana and is now Accra's favourite breakfast and lunch, sold from big pots wrapped in leaves at roadside stalls before most offices open. Rice and black-eyed beans are cooked together with dried sorghum leaf stalks (waakye leaves), which dye the pot a deep reddish brown and add a faint earthy note. A full plate comes loaded with shito, gari, spaghetti (talia), salad and fried plantain. Chef's tip: cook the beans almost soft before the rice goes in; beans and rice finishing together is the whole trick.

75 minGhanaianRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
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Wahan mosdengGrilled pork salad

Wahan means pork and mosdeng a fiery mashed relish in Kokborok, the language of the Tripuri people of Tripura. Pork is boiled until tender, grilled over charcoal for a smoky crust, then tossed with raw onion, green chilli, ginger and coriander. In Agartala and the villages it is party and festival food, eaten during Garia Puja in April with rice beer or rice. Chef's tip: grill the boiled pork really hot and fast; you want charred edges without drying the meat.

60 minIndianSaladsGluten freeSpicy
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Wantan meeEgg noodles with dumplings and pork

Kuala Lumpur eats wantan mee for breakfast, lunch and late supper, usually from a stall where a cook flicks springy egg noodles through boiling water and tosses them in a dark, glossy sauce. The KL style is 'dry' (kon loe): noodles coated in soy, oyster sauce and lard or shallot oil, topped with slices of sweet char siu and greens, with the dumplings served in a little bowl of clear soup. Pickled green chillies cut through the richness. Expect chewy noodles, silky wontons and a salty-sweet, slightly smoky sauce. Chef's tip: rinse the cooked noodles under cold water for a few seconds, then dunk them back in the boiling water; the shock gives them their springy bite.

60 minMalaysianPasta & Noodles
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WarabimochiBracken starch jelly with soybean flour

Warabimochi is Kyoto's summer sweet. Made from the starch of bracken fern roots, it is not really mochi at all but a clear, wobbly jelly that melts on the tongue, and on hot afternoons teahouses around Gion and Arashiyama serve it chilled on ice. It is dusted with kinako, a nutty roasted soybean flour, and finished with kuromitsu, a dark syrup of Okinawan brown sugar. Real warabi starch is costly and greyish-brown, so most home cooks buy warabimochi-ko, a blend with sweet potato or tapioca starch, which gives a clearer jelly. Chef's tip: keep stirring hard once it turns clear. Two more minutes of beating over the heat is what makes it springy rather than gluey.

25 minJapaneseDessertsVeganGluten free
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Warak enabRice-stuffed vine leaves

Warak enab bi zeit, vine leaves cooked in oil, is what Lebanese aunts make in big batches in early summer when the young grape leaves are tender, and it fills the cold mezze table at every wedding and family lunch. The meatless version, eaten on Lenten fast days, is packed with short-grain rice, tomato, parsley, mint and spring onion, seasoned with dried mint and seven spices, and simmered slowly in lemon juice until the leaves are silky and the filling sharp and fresh. It is served cold with a wedge of lemon and a spoonful of yogurt for those who are not keeping it vegan. Rolling too tightly is the mistake most people make: the rice swells and splits the leaves, so roll them snug but not stretched. Chef's tip: line the pan with sliced potato and tomato; they stop the rolls catching and are a cook's treat to eat straight from the pot.

150 minLebaneseSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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WatalappanJaggery and coconut custard

Watalappan came to Sri Lanka with the island's Malay and Muslim communities, and no Eid table in Colombo, Beruwala or Kandy is complete without it; it now turns up at weddings and birthdays across every community. Thick coconut milk and eggs are sweetened with kithul jaggery, the dark palm sugar from the fishtail palm, and spiced with cardamom, nutmeg and a little clove, then steamed until it sets into a wobbly, honeycombed custard the colour of toffee. Cashews scattered on top add crunch. Dark muscovado sugar works if you can't find kithul jaggery. The common mistake is steaming it on a fierce boil, which makes it full of large holes and watery; a steady, gentle simmer gives a smooth set with the fine honeycomb that's prized. Chef's tip: strain the mixture through a sieve before steaming to remove any stringy egg and jaggery grit.

60 minSri LankanDessertsGluten free
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Wattakka curryPumpkin curry

Wattakka (pumpkin) curry is one of the soft, sweet dishes on a Sri Lankan buth (rice) spread, and in villages around Kurunegala it often appears at Poya day almsgivings, when temple meals are always meat-free. The pumpkin is cooked in its skin with dark roasted curry powder, cinnamon, a pinch of fenugreek and pandan, then thickened with coconut milk and a spoonful of ground mustard, which gives it a gentle tang. Some cooks also add toasted coconut paste (kalu pol); we keep it simpler. The common mistake is cutting the pumpkin too small, so it dissolves into mush before the gravy is ready; keep the chunks about 4 cm. Chef's tip: leave the skin on butternut or Kent pumpkin; it holds each piece together and softens completely as it cooks.

35 minSri LankanCurriesVeganGluten free
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Wiener SchnitzelBreaded veal cutlet

In Vienna's old Beisl taverns the Schnitzel arrives so large it hangs over the plate: a veal escalope beaten thin, coated in flour, egg and fine breadcrumbs and fried in plenty of hot fat while the pan is swirled, so the crumb lifts away from the meat in golden waves. Austrian law keeps the name 'Wiener Schnitzel' for veal; the pork version, very common in German homes, is called Schnitzel Wiener Art and is cooked exactly the same way. Serve it with a lemon wedge, lingonberry jam and potato salad. The most common mistake is pressing the crumbs firmly onto the meat, which stops the coating from puffing. Chef's tip: shake off the crumbs and lay the cutlet in only when the fat is hot enough that a crumb sizzles at once.

32 minGermanMeat
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XalwoCardamom halwa

Xalwo is the sweet of Somali celebrations: weddings, Eid and the arrival of guests are all marked with a tray of this dark, glossy, chewy confection, cut into diamonds and served with coffee or spiced tea. Sugar is caramelised, then cooked slowly with cornflour and oil or ghee while the cook stirs without stopping until it pulls away from the pan. It is a cousin of Omani and Yemeni halwa. Chef's tip: stir constantly and keep going until the oil starts to separate and shine on the surface; stopped early, xalwo stays soft and does not set.

70 minSomaliDessertsGluten free
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XawaashSomali spice blend

Xawaash (pronounced 'ha-wash') is the spice mix every Somali kitchen keeps in a jar, used in rice, soups, stews, sambuusa fillings and even tea. Families toast and grind their own, often in quantity before Ramadan, and the balance of warm cumin, earthy coriander and sweet cardamom and cinnamon varies from house to house. It is different from Yemeni hawaij and Ethiopian berbere: there is no chilli in it. Chef's tip: toast each spice only until it darkens a shade and smells warm; burnt cumin turns the whole jar bitter.

11 minSomaliBasicsVeganGluten free
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Xi'an liangpiCold wheat starch noodles

In Xi'an's Muslim Quarter, cooks peel liangpi off steaming trays all day, cut it into wide ribbons and toss it with chilli oil, black vinegar, garlic water and cubes of springy gluten. It's eaten cold, often with a flatbread, as a summer lunch. Gansu's niangpi, from Lanzhou and Tianshui, is the same dish with thicker sheets and more garlic, so it's covered here too. You wash a flour dough to split the starch from the gluten, so allow 4 hours for the starch to settle. Chef's tip: stir the starch water every time before you ladle it, because the starch sinks fast.

100 minChinesePasta & NoodlesVeganSpicy
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XiaolongbaoSoup dumplings

Bite carefully: inside each pleated parcel is a pork meatball floating in hot broth, which comes from a pork-skin jelly that melts as the dumplings steam. Shanghai's teahouses and the old town around Nanxiang have served them in bamboo baskets for well over a century, usually for breakfast or a late lunch with a saucer of black vinegar and threads of ginger. The wrapper should be thin enough to see the soup move but strong enough to lift with chopsticks. Make the jelly the day before (or use the gelatine shortcut in the ingredient note), then the folding takes about an hour with a little practice. Chef's tip: keep the filling in the fridge until the moment you wrap; cold jelly stays solid and the dumplings are far easier to pleat.

180 minChineseSnacks & Starters
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Xinjiang onion nangOnion flatbread

Across Xinjiang, from Kashgar's bazaars to Urumqi's backstreets, bakers slap rounds of dough onto the walls of clay tandoors and pull them out a few minutes later, golden and stamped with patterns. The centre is pressed thin and crisp while the rim stays soft and chewy, and the onion version is scattered with cumin and sesame. Nang keeps for days and is eaten with tea, kebabs and salads. Chef's tip: get your oven and tray as hot as they'll go; nang bakes quickly in fierce heat.

50 minChineseBreads & ParathasVegan
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Xoi xeoSticky rice with mung bean

Xôi xéo is a Hanoi breakfast sold before dawn from baskets on the pavement, wrapped in a lotus or banana leaf for people to eat on the way to work. Turmeric-tinted glutinous rice is steamed until chewy, then topped with thin shavings cut from a firm ball of cooked mung bean (the 'xéo' is the slanting cut) and a spoonful of crunchy fried shallots with their fragrant oil. Street sellers often use pork fat for the shallots; frying them in vegetable oil keeps it vegan and still rich. Chef's tip: squeeze the mung bean paste into a tight ball while it is warm and let it cool before shaving; a loose ball crumbles instead of slicing into ribbons.

80 minVietnameseBreakfast & BrunchVeganGluten free
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Yangrou paomoLamb soup with flatbread

Order this soup in one of the old Hui restaurants around Xi'an's Drum Tower and you are handed a dense, barely leavened flatbread and expected to tear it yourself into pea-sized crumbs while you chat; the kitchen then cooks it in rich lamb broth until each crumb is soft yet still chewy. Slices of tender lamb, glass noodles and wood ear mushrooms go in too, and the bowl comes with sweet pickled garlic and chilli sauce on the side. It is a soothing, filling soup, especially on Xi'an's freezing winter mornings. Expect a deep, clean lamb flavour scented with warm spices. Chef's tip: tear the bread small, no bigger than a soybean; big lumps stay doughy in the middle.

180 minChineseSoups
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