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Mazorca desgranada
Featured recipe

Mazorca desgranada

Sweetcorn with chicken and cheese

Food trucks and street corners in Bogotá and Medellín sell mazorca desgranada in plastic tubs, late into the evening: sweet corn kernels cut off the cob, fried in butter and layered with shredded chicken, melted cheese, crunchy potato sticks, pineapple sauce and salsa rosada. Some stands add bacon, beef or quail eggs; this version keeps to chicken. It is sweet, salty and gooey, and a hit with teenagers. Using tinned corn without draining it well is a common error: the water dilutes the sauces and the tub gets soggy. Chef's tip: fry the corn until a few kernels brown and pop; that caramelised edge stands up to all the sweet sauces. For a vegetarian tub, skip the chicken and use a cheese made with microbial rennet.

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Picanha churrascoGrilled beef rump cap

Picanha, the rump cap with its thick white fat layer, is the cut Brazilians prize most at a churrasco. The tradition comes from the gaúchos, the cattle herders of Rio Grande do Sul, and lives on in Sunday family barbecues in the south and in churrascarias across the country, where waiters carry the meat from table to table on long skewers. It is seasoned with nothing but coarse rock salt (sal grosso) and cooked over charcoal with the fat left on, so it bastes the meat. You can fold thick steaks into a C shape on skewers, as in the churrascarias, or grill them flat. Chef's tip: before slicing, knock the excess salt off with the back of a knife; the crust keeps just enough.

40 minBrazilianMeatGluten free
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MshikakiGrilled beef skewers

Mshikaki are the beef skewers grilled at night markets in Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar's Forodhani Gardens and every Tanzanian roadside barbecue, sold hot with chips, pili pili sauce and a wedge of lime. Small chunks of beef are marinated in lime, ginger, garlic, chilli and curry powder, which tenderises them, then grilled quickly over charcoal. The mistake is marinating with raw papaya or too much lime for too long, which turns the meat mushy; 2–6 hours is plenty. Chef's tip: soak wooden skewers in water for 30 minutes so they don't burn.

35 minEast AfricanMeatGluten free
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FirfirTorn injera in spicy sauce

Firfir (or fitfit) is what Ethiopian households do with yesterday's injera: torn into pieces and tossed in a hot, oniony berbere sauce until it soaks up all the flavour. It is breakfast in Addis Ababa cafés and homes alike, eaten with a spoon or, more often, scooped up with fresh injera. This version uses oil, making it suitable for fasting days; on other days a spoon of niter kibbeh adds richness. Chef's tip: use day-old injera; fresh injera is too soft and turns to mush in the sauce.

20 minEthiopianBreakfast & BrunchVeganSpicy
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PicaronesSweet potato and squash doughnuts

Picarones are Lima's favourite street sweet, fried to order at stalls in the parks and outside churches, especially in October during the Señor de los Milagros processions. The light, chewy rings are made from a yeasted dough of sweet potato and squash, scented with anise, fried until crisp and drenched in miel de chancaca, a dark syrup of unrefined cane sugar with orange peel, cinnamon and cloves. They are eaten hot, straight from the oil, with plenty of syrup. Chancaca is sold in Latin shops; dark muscovado or piloncillo makes a very good syrup too. Chef's tip: the dough should be very soft and sticky, like a thick batter; resist adding more flour, or the picarones turn heavy and bready.

80 minPeruvianDessertsVegan
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Tagliatelle al ragùTagliatelle with meat sauce

Ask for spaghetti bolognese in Bologna and you will get a polite smile: at home the ragù goes on wide ribbons of fresh egg tagliatelle, or into lasagne, never on thin spaghetti. It is a Sunday-lunch sauce, made with beef and pork mince, a little pancetta, a soffritto of onion, carrot and celery, white wine, milk and only a spoonful or two of tomato, then left to murmur for three hours until it turns deep, savoury and almost creamy. Freshly made tagliatelle are traditional, but good bought fresh or dried egg tagliatelle are absolutely fine. Grated parmigiano goes on at the table, and the ragù keeps for three days in the fridge or three months in the freezer. Chef's tip: make the ragù a day ahead; it thickens and tastes rounder after a night in the fridge, and reheating it gently with a splash of water brings it back to life.

210 minItalianPasta & Noodles
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Pico de galloFresh tomato salsa

Pico de gallo, also called salsa fresca or salsa mexicana, is the fresh, uncooked salsa that sits on every Mexican table: diced ripe tomato, white onion, serrano chilli and coriander, brightened with lime juice and salt. It is crunchy, juicy and clean-tasting, with just enough heat, and goes with tacos, quesadillas, eggs, beans, rice and tortilla chips. It is best within an hour of making. Chef's tip: add the salt just before serving; salt draws water out of the tomatoes and leaves the salsa sitting in a puddle.

10 minMexicanChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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Asmara pasta al sugoSpaghetti in berbere tomato sauce

Pasta is part of everyday life in Asmara, a legacy of the Italian years, and in Eritrean homes and cafés 'pasta al sugo' means spaghetti in a slow tomato sauce warmed with berbere, garlic and plenty of onion. It is eaten on weekdays and after church on Sundays, often with a banana or a green chilli on the side. The usual sauce has minced beef; this one uses finely chopped mushrooms and carrot for the same body. Chef's tip: cook the onions and berbere slowly before the tomato goes in; raw berbere tastes dusty.

60 minEritreanPasta & NoodlesVeganSpicy
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Pierogi ruskiePotato and cheese dumplings

Pierogi ruskie take their name from Red Ruthenia, the old borderland around Lwów and Przemyśl, and today they are the pierogi every Polish milk bar (bar mleczny) from Kraków to Gdańsk keeps on the menu. The filling is the Polish one: floury potato mashed with crumbly twaróg curd cheese, plenty of slowly browned onion and a lot of black pepper, wrapped in a thin, soft dough. Kraków even holds a pierogi festival every August, and ruskie are always the best sellers. Serve them boiled with more golden onion and a spoon of soured cream, or fry leftovers in butter the next day. Chef's tip: let the filling cool completely and taste it before you fill a single dumpling; it should taste over-seasoned on its own, because the dough mutes it.

90 minPolishPasta & Noodles
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PiklizSpicy pickled cabbage

Pikliz is the fiery slaw-pickle that sits on every Haitian table, in a big glass jar in the middle, and no plate of fried food in Haiti is served without it: it's spooned over fried plantain (bannann peze), fritters and rice. Shredded cabbage, carrot, onion and peppers are packed with hot scotch bonnets, cloves and peppercorns, then drowned in vinegar and lime. After a few days it is crunchy, sour and properly hot, and the vinegar itself becomes a hot sauce you sprinkle over everything. Chef's tip: slice the scotch bonnets thinly rather than leaving them whole; the heat spreads evenly through the jar and every forkful has a kick.

25 minHaitianChutneys & DipsVeganGluten freeSpicy
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Fırın sütlaçBaked rice pudding

In Turkish pudding shops (muhallebici) from Istanbul to Ankara, fırın sütlaç is served chilled in little clay bowls, its surface blistered dark brown under the grill while the rice pudding beneath stays creamy and cool. It is a dessert families make on Sunday or for guests, since it has to set in the fridge for a few hours, and it travels well to neighbours during Ramadan evenings. The flavour is clean milk and vanilla, thickened with rice flour rather than eggs, so it is light compared with Western rice puddings. Eat it cold, plain or dusted with cinnamon or ground hazelnuts. Chef's tip: stand the filled bowls in a tray of cold water before they go under the grill; the water keeps the pudding from boiling up while the top browns.

60 minTurkishDessertsGluten 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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Basanti pulaoSweet saffron rice

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

65 minIndianRice & GrainsGluten free
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Barszcz czerwony (Christmas Eve beetroot broth)Clear beetroot soup

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

90 minPolishSoupsVegan
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PinakbetMixed vegetable stew

Pinakbet comes from the Ilocos region in the far north-west of Luzon, where families cook whatever grows behind the house: bitter melon, small aubergines, okra, yard-long beans and tomatoes, simmered with very little water until the vegetables shrink and wrinkle (the name comes from the Ilocano for 'shrivelled'). Ilocanos season it with fermented fish paste; here white miso gives the same savoury, salty depth without any fish, and a little squash (more common in the Tagalog version) adds sweetness. It is an everyday lunch dish, eaten with rice and often a spoonful of extra miso on the side. Chef's tip: choose small, firm bitter melon and don't scrape out every bit of the pith; a little bitterness is the point.

35 minFilipinoVegetarianVeganGluten free
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PindjurRoasted pepper and aubergine relish

Where ajvar is the patient winter preserve, pindjur is its quick summer cousin, made in Macedonian and Bosnian kitchens in July and August when tomatoes are at their ripest. Roasted peppers and aubergine are chopped rather than ground, then simmered briefly with fresh tomatoes and plenty of garlic, so it stays chunky, juicy and bright. It is eaten warm or at room temperature, scooped up with bread and a slab of white cheese, as part of a mezze spread in Ohrid or Mostar. Chef's tip: chop everything with a knife instead of a blender; a puréed pindjur loses the texture that sets it apart from ajvar.

70 minBalkanChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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Nagasaki castellaHoney sponge cake

Castella arrived in Nagasaki with Portuguese traders in the 16th century, when the port was Japan's only window to Europe, and the name probably comes from 'pão de Castela', bread from Castile. Over 400 years Nagasaki's bakers turned it into something their own: a tall, fine-crumbed sponge made only of eggs, sugar, flour and honey, with a dark, sticky top and a layer of crunchy zarame sugar crystals at the bottom. It's still sold in long wooden boxes at old shops near the harbour and given as a formal gift. Cut it into neat slices and serve with green tea. Chef's tip: wrap the cake in cling film while still warm and rest it overnight. Its moist, springy texture develops as it rests.

75 minJapaneseBaking
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Tahu gejrotFried tofu in sweet-sour sauce

Tahu gejrot is street food from Cirebon on the north coast of West Java, where vendors carry their kit on a shoulder pole and serve it in little clay plates called cobek. Hollow fried tofu puffs are snipped into pieces and drenched in a runny palm sugar and tamarind sauce, poured over freshly crushed garlic, shallot and bird's eye chilli. It's a mid-afternoon snack: sweet, sour, garlicky and as hot as you can take it, with the puffy tofu soaking up every drop. Chef's tip: crush the garlic, shallot and chilli raw in the serving bowl and pour the sauce over while it's still warm, so the aromatics bloom without losing their bite.

20 minIndonesianSnacks & StartersVeganSpicy
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BafauriSteamed chana dal dumplings

Bafauri comes from the same Chhattisgarhi home kitchens that make fara and chila, and it is the region's answer to a fried pakora without the frying. Soaked chana dal is ground coarse with ginger, garlic and chilli, mixed with onion and herbs, then steamed into little dumplings that are firm, nubbly and high in protein. They are eaten hot at teatime with tomato chutney, and many families also toss them in a quick mustard-seed tadka. Chef's tip: grind the dal with only 2–3 tablespoons of water; a wet paste spreads flat in the steamer and loses the rough texture that makes bafauri good.

40 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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PinniGhee wheat flour sweets

When the fog settles over Punjab in December, kitchens fill with the smell of wheat flour roasting slowly in ghee: pinni season has started. These dense, crumbly balls of roasted atta, jaggery, almonds and fried edible gum are made in big batches for Lohri, packed into tins for relatives and given to new mothers for strength. One pinni with a glass of hot milk is a classic winter breakfast. Chef's tip: let the roasted flour cool until just warm before adding the jaggery; if it is hot, the jaggery melts and the pinni set hard as stone.

50 minIndianIndian Sweets
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Tahu telurTofu and egg omelette

Tahu telur is a night-market favourite in Surabaya, East Java: cubes of tofu are stirred into beaten egg and fried in a small wok so the omelette rises into a thick, crisp-edged tower. It is topped with bean sprouts, cucumber and a dark sauce of peanuts and sweet soy. Sellers in Surabaya stir shrimp paste (petis) into the sauce; this vegetarian version uses a little extra garlic and kecap manis instead. Eat with rice or lontong for a filling supper. Chef's tip: use a small, deep pan so the egg piles up around the tofu instead of spreading thin.

25 minIndonesianVegetarian
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AvialMixed vegetables in coconut yogurt

Avial is a mainstay of the Kerala sadya, the vegetarian feast served on a banana leaf at Onam and weddings. Batons of vegetables (raw banana, drumstick, yam, carrot, beans, ash gourd) are cooked just tender, then coated in a coarse paste of fresh coconut, cumin and green chilli, soured with curd and finished with raw coconut oil and curry leaves. It's thick rather than saucy, mild, tangy and fragrant. Serve with rice and sambar, or with adai. Chef's tip: cut every vegetable into the same 5 cm batons and add them in order of hardness, so they're all tender together and nothing turns to mush.

40 minIndianCurriesGluten free
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CalabacitasCourgette and corn sauté

Calabacitas a la mexicana is the everyday summer side dish of kitchens all over Mexico: young squash (calabacitas) cooked quickly with sweetcorn, tomato, onion and strips of roasted poblano until tender and juicy, finished with crumbled fresh cheese. Mexican grey squash is milder and more tender than courgette, but young courgettes work beautifully. Eat it with rice and beans, roll it into tacos, or fill quesadillas with it. Use queso fresco made with vegetarian rennet. Chef's tip: cook over a high heat and don't cover the pan for long; you want the courgette to fry and keep a bite, not steam into a puddle.

20 minMexicanSidesGluten free
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Zhajiangmian with mushroom and tofuNoodles in bean paste sauce

Zhajiangmian is old Beijing's comfort food, eaten in hutong noodle houses and at home on hot summer days. Thick wheat noodles are topped with a dark, salty-sweet sauce of fermented soybean paste fried slowly in oil, then piled with raw cucumber, radish and beansprouts that you mix in at the table. Pork is traditional; diced firm tofu and mushrooms give the sauce the same chunky body here. Chef's tip: fry the bean paste gently and patiently, on a low heat, until the oil separates out and it smells toasty; rushed, it tastes raw and harsh.

35 minChinesePasta & Noodles
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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 minPolishSoupsGluten free
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Fish ambul thiyalSour tuna curry

Ambul thiyal means 'sour stew', and it comes from the fishing towns of the south coast, around Matara, Galle and Tangalle. Fishermen once cooked it so the tuna would keep for days without a fridge: almost no liquid, plenty of goraka and black pepper, slowly reduced in a clay pot until each chunk is dark and coated. Today it is a favourite rice-and-curry dish on Sundays and holidays, and people often pack it for long journeys. It is sharp, peppery and firm, so a little goes a long way with rice and a coconut sambol. Chef's tip: cut the tuna into big 4 cm chunks; small pieces fall apart during the long, slow reduction.

60 minSri LankanFishGluten freeSpicy
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Cou-cou with Bajan vegetable stewCornmeal and okra with vegetable stew

Cou-cou is Friday lunch in Barbados, and paired with flying fish it makes the island's national dish, served in homes and the fish fry stalls of Oistins. Fine cornmeal is stirred into okra and its cooking water with a flat wooden cou-cou stick until it is smooth, thick and pulls away from the pot, then shaped in a buttered bowl. It's soft, mild and comforting, made for soaking up the rich tomato gravy around it. Here the gravy is a stew of peppers, tomatoes, aubergine and butter beans cooked with Bajan seasoning; flying fish steamed in the same sauce is the classic for fish eaters. Chef's tip: whisk the cornmeal into cold water before it goes into the pot; adding it dry to boiling liquid is the fastest way to lumps.

65 minBajanVegetarianGluten free
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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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Pique machoBeef and sausage platter with chips

Pique macho was invented in Cochabamba, legend says late one night when hungry customers asked for whatever was left, and it remains the sharing plate Bolivians order with friends: a pile of chips topped with beef strips and sausage cooked in a peppery sauce, with onion, tomato, locoto chillies and boiled eggs on top. The name roughly means "if it stings, you're a man", for the hot locoto. This recipe can include beer in the sauce; for an alcohol-free version use beef stock. The mistake is letting the chips sit under the sauce, so they go soggy; assemble right before serving. Chef's tip: oven chips work fine and leave the hob free for the meat.

65 minAndeanMeatGluten freeSpicy
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ChechebsaTorn flatbread in spiced butter

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

25 minEthiopianBreakfast & Brunch
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Couscous royalCouscous with lamb, chicken and sausage

Couscous royal is the big-occasion couscous that Algerian and Moroccan families brought to France and that is now served for weddings and Sunday gatherings from Oran to Marseille: a pot of lamb and chicken simmered with vegetables and chickpeas in a mildly spiced broth, grilled merguez on the side, and a mountain of steamed couscous. The mistake is putting all the vegetables in at once; the courgettes go mushy while the turnips are still hard, so add them in stages. Chef's tip: brown the lamb and chicken well before the water goes in; that colour flavours the whole broth.

160 minAlgerianMeat
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Couscous tfayaCouscous with caramelised onions

Tfaya is the sweet onion topping that turns a plain couscous into a celebration dish; in Fez and Rabat it is made for weddings, naming ceremonies and Eid, and families in Tétouan add it to Friday couscous too. Onions are cooked slowly with raisins, cinnamon, honey and a little saffron until they collapse into a sticky, mahogany jam, then piled over the couscous with chickpeas and fried almonds. Traditionally it crowns couscous with meat; here the chickpeas and almonds carry the dish, making it a sweet-savoury vegetarian main for a feast. Chef's tip: soak the raisins first, or they draw liquid from the onions and the tfaya catches before it caramelises.

60 minMoroccanRice & Grains
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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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PirozhkiBaked filled buns

Pirozhki, little oval pies of soft yeast dough, are what a Russian babushka has waiting on the kitchen table when the grandchildren arrive, and what used to be sold warm from steel carts at Moscow metro stations. They are eaten with a bowl of soup, packed for the train, or simply grabbed from the plate all afternoon. Fillings change with the season; the two most loved meatless ones are buttery cabbage with chopped egg and creamy mashed potato with fried onion and dill. Chef's tip: let the fillings cool completely before shaping; warm filling softens the dough and the buns tear and leak.

85 minRussianBaking
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Pisang epeGrilled pressed bananas

Along Losari Beach in Makassar, South Sulawesi, evening stalls grill firm bananas over coals, press them flat between two boards, grill them again and drown them in palm-sugar syrup. Epe means pressed. The bananas turn smoky and dense, almost like baked plantain, and the syrup is often flavoured with pandan, durian or chocolate; this is the pandan version. Chef's tip: use bananas that are just ripe and still firm, or plantains just turning yellow; soft bananas fall apart when you press them.

25 minIndonesianDessertsVeganGluten free
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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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Pisang raiBananas in rice-flour batter

Pisang rai is a Balinese market sweet, wrapped in banana leaf and sold alongside klepon and lak-lak in the early morning. Small ripe bananas are coated in a thick rice-flour batter and dropped into boiling water rather than oil, so they come out soft, chewy and pale, ready to be rolled in salted grated coconut and drizzled with palm-sugar syrup. Some cooks colour the batter green with pandan. Chef's tip: the bananas are done when they float and the batter turns translucent at the edges; another minute firms the coating without making it gluey.

30 minIndonesianDessertsVeganGluten free
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MtewemGarlic meatballs in chickpea sauce

Mtewem, from the word for garlic (thoum), is an old dish of the Casbah of Algiers: chunks of lamb and garlicky beef meatballs simmered together in a peppery white sauce with chickpeas, and finished with whole cloves of garlic that turn soft and sweet. It is cooked for Ramadan and for guests, and eaten with bread. Some families add a little tomato; this is the white version. The mistake is letting the sauce boil hard after the meatballs go in, which makes them tough and break; keep it at a gentle simmer. Chef's tip: wet your hands when rolling the meatballs so they come out smooth and hold together.

105 minAlgerianMeatGluten free
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Banarasi tamatar chaatMashed tomato and potato chaat

Walk through the lanes near Dashashwamedh Ghat in Varanasi in the evening and you will see vendors mashing tomatoes and potatoes in large iron pans, cooking them with ghee and spices until thick, then spooning the mixture into small clay cups. Tamatar chaat is unique to Banaras: served hot, spicy, tangy, and finished with a thin sugar syrup and a pinch of chaat masala, then topped with crisp sev for crunch. Locals eat it standing up after the aarti, often followed by a glass of lassi. Many people forget the sugar syrup, but that's what balances the sourness and makes it Banarasi. Chef's tip: use very ripe, soft tomatoes and mash them right in the pan with the back of the ladle, leaving some texture.

40 minIndianSnacks & StartersSpicy
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MtoriGreen banana and beef soup

Mtori comes from the Chagga people on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, where cooking bananas grow around every house; it is a thick, smooth soup of green bananas and beef, mashed until creamy and finished with butter. It is given to new mothers to build their strength and eaten on cool mornings in Moshi and Arusha. The mistake is using sweet ripe bananas, which make it sugary; you need hard green cooking bananas or green plantain. Chef's tip: rub a little oil on your hands before peeling green bananas, as the sap stains.

100 minEast AfricanSoupsGluten free
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CozonacSweet braided bread

Cozonac is the festive loaf every Romanian family bakes for Easter and Christmas, filling kitchens from Craiova to Suceava with the smell of butter, rum, lemon and orange zest. The rich yeast dough is rolled around a walnut and cocoa filling studded with pieces of rahat (Turkish delight), then braided and baked in a tall loaf tin so each slice shows a dark swirl. Unlike Slovenian potica, which is rolled into a thin spiral ring, cozonac is a braided loaf. It is eaten in thick slices with coffee on the feast mornings. Chef's tip: knead until the dough is silky and comes away from the bowl, then be patient with the rises; under-proving is the classic mistake and gives a dense, heavy loaf.

110 minRomanianBaking
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PissaladièreOnion and anchovy tart

In the old town of Nice, pissaladière is sold by the square from bakeries and market stalls, a lunchtime slice or something to nibble with a drink before dinner. A thin bread dough is spread thickly with onions cooked down for almost an hour until soft and sweet, then crossed with salted anchovies and dotted with small black Niçoise olives. It is just as good at room temperature as warm. Chef's tip: cook the onions low and slow without letting them brown; they should be pale gold and jammy, not caramelised.

120 minFrenchBaking
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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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MtsvadiGrilled pork skewers

Mtsvadi are the grilled skewers of the Georgian supra and every summer picnic, and in the wine region of Kakheti they are cooked over the embers of dried grapevine cuttings left from pruning. This version is pork: chunks of fatty pork neck marinated simply with onion, salt and pepper, threaded on skewers and grilled until charred at the edges and juicy inside. Serve with raw onion rings, pomegranate seeds and tkemali (sour plum sauce). Chef's tip: keep the marinade simple; Georgians say good mtsvadi needs only good meat and good fire.

40 minGeorgianMeatGluten free
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Crème brûléeBurnt cream custard

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

60 minFrenchDessertsGluten free
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Telur baladoFried eggs in chilli sambal

Telur balado is a fixture of the nasi Padang counter and of West Sumatran home cooking: hard-boiled eggs fried until their whites blister and turn golden, then smothered in balado, the coarse red sambal of chilli, shallot and tomato that the Minangkabau cook with almost everything. The fried skin of the eggs grips the sauce, and the sambal is bright and fresh rather than long-cooked. It's a cheap, quick weekday lunch with rice and greens, and it travels well in lunch boxes. Chef's tip: grind the balado coarse, not smooth — the Padang version should look rough and glossy, with visible flecks of chilli skin.

25 minIndonesianSidesGluten freeSpicy
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Vegetarian FlammkuchenLeek and mushroom tarte flambée

Flammkuchen comes from the borderlands of Alsace, Baden and the Palatinate, where farmers baked it on bread day to test the heat of the wood oven. The dough has no yeast and is rolled almost as thin as paper, spread with crème fraîche or quark and baked hot and fast so the edges blister and char in spots. The classic topping is onion and bacon; around Strasbourg and Freiburg the leek and mushroom version is a popular meat-free choice, often eaten with a glass of new wine in autumn. Chef's tip: bake it as hot as your oven will go, on a preheated tray or stone; a Flammkuchen baked at a moderate heat turns out bready instead of crisp.

60 minGermanPizza
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Pithla with jowar bhakriGram flour curry with sorghum flatbread

In villages across the Deccan plateau of Maharashtra, pithla bhakri is what a farmer's family eats when the pantry is low and the day is long: a pan of gram flour simmered with garlic, green chilli and onion until it sets to a soft, spoonable curry, with thick jowar bhakri patted out by hand and a raw onion on the side. It became a symbol of rural Maharashtra, served at roadside stalls near Sinhagad fort to trekkers and at political rallies alike. Zunka, the dry version, uses the same flavours but is stirred until crumbly. Serve with thecha or a wedge of lemon. Chef's tip: whisk the gram flour into cold water before it meets the pan; that one step is the whole secret to a lump-free pithla.

50 minIndianCurriesVeganGluten free
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Crni rižotBlack cuttlefish risotto

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

75 minBalkanFishGluten free
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Crossing-the-bridge noodles with vegetable brothRice noodles in hot broth

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

60 minChineseSoups
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