Featured recipe

Grittibänz

Sweet bread man

On 6 December, Samichlaus Day, bakeries across German-speaking Switzerland fill their windows with Grittibänz: little men of soft, sweet Zopf-style dough with raisin eyes and buttons, sometimes a pipe or a scarf, given to children with mandarins, nuts and gingerbread. Families shape them together at home, and every one comes out different. A common mistake is making the arms and legs too thin; they burn before the body bakes. Chef's tip: make the figures chunky and snip the arms and legs with scissors rather than rolling them separately, so the shape holds as it rises.

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Fërgesë is the dish people in Tirana order at lunchtime in a small clay pot, still bubbling, with a basket of bread for dipping. Soft fried peppers and tomatoes are folded through gjizë, Albania's fresh salted curd cheese, then baked until the top spots golden. The meatless version with peppers is the everyday one across central Albania; it is rich, tangy and gently spicy. Ricotta mixed with a little feta is a good stand-in for gjizë outside Albania. Chef's tip: cook the tomatoes down until thick before the cheese goes in; a watery fërgesë that splits in the oven is the usual mistake.

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In Rio de Janeiro, feijoada has its own days: Wednesdays and Saturdays, when botecos and restaurants put the big pots on and lunch stretches into the afternoon. Black beans simmer slowly with carne seca (salt-dried beef), salted pork ribs, smoky sausages and bacon until the broth is thick, dark and glossy. The full spread, feijoada completa, comes with white rice, garlicky shredded couve, crunchy farofa and slices of orange to freshen the palate. Our vegetarian feijoada covers the meat-free version; this is the classic. Start a day ahead, because the salted meats must soak. Chef's tip: mash a ladleful of cooked beans with the fried onion and garlic and stir it back in; it thickens the broth naturally.

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Hakka miners brought yong tau foo to the tin town of Ampang, on the edge of Kuala Lumpur, and families still drive there on weekends for big bowls of it. You choose your pieces from a counter, tofu, chillies, okra, aubergine and bitter gourd, each stuffed with a savoury paste, and the stall poaches or fries them and serves them in a light broth, with a sweet brown sauce and chilli sauce to dip. The traditional filling is fish and pork; this one is firm tofu, shiitake, water chestnut and carrot. It is a gentle, light meal. Chef's tip: press the stuffing in tightly and smooth it flush with a wet finger, so it stays put while it cooks.

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50 min

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Every Lebanese bakery, or furn, sells fatayer bi sabanekh warm from the oven in the morning: soft three-cornered pies filled with spinach that has been salted and squeezed, then mixed with onion, sumac, lemon and olive oil until it is tart enough to make you pucker. They go into school lunch boxes, onto picnic blankets and onto every buffet at Lebanese parties, and they freeze well. The usual problem is a filling that leaks and makes the pies burst open; wring out the spinach hard and seal the seams firmly so they stay closed in the oven. Chef's tip: let the sumac, lemon and onion sit together for ten minutes before adding the spinach so the onion softens and loses its raw bite.

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FatayaFried beef turnovers

Fataya are the half-moon pastries sold in paper cones outside schools and at bus stops all over Dakar, and fried by the dozen at home for baptisms and Tabaski. The dough is soft and short, the filling is minced beef cooked with onion, garlic and a little chilli, and they come with a sharp onion-and-mustard sauce for dipping. The common mistake is overfilling, which makes them burst in the oil; a heaped teaspoon per small round is enough. Chef's tip: let the filling cool completely before you fill the dough, or the steam softens the pastry and it tears.

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Fasole bătutăWhipped white bean dip

Fasole bătută, 'beaten beans', is the fasting-day spread of Romania: on Christmas Eve and through Lent, plates of it appear in homes from Bucharest to the monasteries of Bucovina. Soft white beans are mashed smooth with garlic and oil, then crowned with a tangle of slow-fried onions stained red with paprika. It is spread thickly on bread, or served beside pickles and mămăligă. Chef's tip: beat the beans while they are still warm; cold beans turn stiff and pasty, and a common mistake is adding too little liquid, so loosen with a splash of cooking water until the purée is light and fluffy.

45 min

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FasoladaWhite bean soup

Fasolada is sometimes called the national dish of Greece, and it is the soup that fed families through winters and long Lenten fasts. It is humble and filling: small white beans simmered slowly with carrot, celery, onion and tomato until the broth turns thick and creamy, then finished with a generous pour of raw olive oil. On a cold weekday it is dinner on its own, eaten with olives, pickled peppers, raw onion and bread. Soak the beans the night before. Chef's tip: let it simmer gently with the lid ajar and stir now and then so some beans break and thicken the broth; boiling it hard is the common mistake that splits the beans and leaves the soup thin.

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Tortellini in brodoTortellini in broth

Christmas Day in Bologna and Modena begins at the kitchen table, with whole families folding hundreds of tortellini no bigger than a fingertip around a filling of pork loin, mortadella, prosciutto and parmigiano. They are served in a clear, golden broth made from capon, or from chicken and beef, simmered so gently it barely moves. The pasta should be thin enough to see the filling through, and the little rings bob in the bowl with a spoonful of parmigiano on top. It is a full afternoon's work, so make the broth and tortellini a day ahead and freeze any extras on a floured tray; on a busy weeknight, 500 g of good bought tortellini simmered in the homemade broth is a perfectly respectable shortcut. A common mistake is letting the broth boil: it turns cloudy and greasy instead of clear. Chef's tip: make the filling the day before and keep it in the fridge; it firms up and is much easier to dot onto the tiny squares.

240 min

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HaydariStrained yogurt and feta dip

Order meze in an Istanbul meyhane and haydari is usually among the first small plates to land: very thick strained yogurt beaten with crumbled white cheese, garlic, dill and mint, then crowned with a drizzle of oil warmed with dried mint and chilli flakes. It is eaten with bread, beside roasted vegetables or with crisp börek, and it takes minutes once you have the yogurt. The mistake to avoid is using thin pouring yogurt, which gives you a runny sauce rather than a dip that holds its shape. Chef's tip: use Greek-style strained yogurt, or hang plain yogurt in a cloth for an hour, and check the beyaz peynir or feta is made with vegetarian rennet.

10 min

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YukjeonEgg-battered fried beef

In Gwangju, yukjeon is a restaurant meal in its own right: the server sits by a hot plate at your table and fries slice after slice of egg-coated beef, handing them over while they're still sizzling. Elsewhere in Korea it's more often a festive pancake, made for Chuseok and Lunar New Year along with other jeon. The beef is cut very thin, so it cooks in the time it takes the egg to set. Gwangju places serve it with a sharp salad of finely shredded spring onion and a little salt and sesame oil for dipping. Chef's tip: half-freeze the beef for 40 minutes before slicing; firm meat is easy to cut into slices 2 to 3 mm thick.

25 min

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HawawshiSpiced beef stuffed bread

Walk through downtown Cairo in the evening and you will smell hawawshi before you see it: round baladi breads split open, packed with minced beef, onion, green chilli and warm spices, then baked until the bread turns crisp and the fat from the meat soaks into the crumb. Street stalls sell it wrapped in paper with pickles and tahini; at home it is a quick Friday supper. Pitta works well if you can't find baladi bread. The mistake most people make is packing in too thick a layer of meat, so the bread burns before the middle is cooked; keep it about 1 cm thick. Chef's tip: squeeze the grated onion in a sieve before mixing it in, or the filling turns wet and the bread goes soggy.

40 min

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HaupiaCoconut pudding

Haupia is the dessert of every Hawaiian lūʻau and family party: coconut milk thickened and set into smooth, wobbly-firm squares that you can pick up with your fingers. It was once set with arrowroot from the pia plant; today cornflour does the job. It tastes clean, cool and gently sweet, and is also layered on chocolate pies and spread on cakes in Honolulu bakeries. Chef's tip: keep whisking until it's as thick as mayonnaise and big bubbles plop slowly; underdone haupia won't set firm enough to slice.

15 minPacific Islander Desserts

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Haryanvi bajra khichdiPearl millet and moong dal porridge

In village homes across Haryana, bajra khichdi is the food of cold winter nights and the days around Makar Sankranti: cracked pearl millet and yellow moong cooked slowly until soft and porridge-like, then eaten with a big spoon of ghee and either jaggery or a glass of lassi. It is plain, nutty and very filling, and grandmothers swear it keeps you warm. The millet was traditionally pounded in a stone mortar to crack it; a quick pulse in a grinder does the same. Chef's tip: soak the bajra overnight; unsoaked millet stays hard and gritty however long you cook it.

75 min

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ZaaloukAubergine and tomato salad

Zaalouk is one of the cooked salads that open almost every Moroccan meal, from Fez to Essaouira, set out in small dishes with taktouka and carrot salad and scooped up with bread. Aubergine and tomato are cooked down together with garlic, cumin and paprika until they become a soft, spoonable relish, sharpened at the end with lemon and olive oil. It tastes even better the next day, so many cooks make a big batch. Chef's tip: char the aubergine over a gas flame or under the grill first if you can; the smoky skin flavour gives the best zaalouk.

35 min

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ZacuscăRoasted aubergine and pepper spread

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

130 min

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FarinataChickpea flour pancake

Farinata is a thin, golden chickpea-flour pancake sold by the slice from wood-fired ovens in the sciamadde (old bakeries) of Genoa's port district, where people eat it hot, on paper, with black pepper. It is just chickpea flour, water, olive oil and salt, with a crisp top and edges and a soft, custardy middle. In Nice it is called socca, in Livorno cecina. Start the batter 4 hours ahead (or the night before): resting is essential. Chef's tip: heat the oiled tin in the oven before pouring in the batter; the sizzle sets the base at once and gives crisp, lacy edges.

40 min

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HareesWheat and chicken porridge

Harees is one of the oldest dishes of the Arabian Gulf, made in the UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia for Ramadan iftar, Eid and weddings, when big pots are stirred for hours and shared with neighbours. Whole wheat and chicken cook slowly together until the grain bursts and the meat falls apart, then everything is beaten to a smooth, sticky porridge and finished with ghee and a little cinnamon. It is soft, mild and very comforting. Chef's tip: beat it hard with a wooden spoon (or briefly with a stick blender) at the end; that is what gives harees its elastic texture.

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15 min

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Zagorski štrukliBaked cheese dough rolls

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

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TostonesTwice-fried green plantain

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25 min

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ToumWhipped garlic sauce

Every shawarma and grill shop in Lebanon has a tub of toum, a fluffy, snow-white emulsion of garlic, lemon and neutral oil that tastes fiercely of fresh garlic. At home it is spread on roast potatoes, stirred into grilled vegetables, dabbed on falafel wraps and served with batata harra. It contains no egg: the garlic itself holds the emulsion, so the only trick is patience while the oil goes in. Chef's tip: halve each garlic clove and pull out any green shoot; the germ makes toum bitter and harsh.

15 min

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FårikålLamb and cabbage stew

Fårikål has been voted Norway's national dish, and on the last Thursday of September families from Bergen to Tromsø hold Fårikålens festdag, when the new season's lamb meets the autumn cabbage harvest. There are only a handful of ingredients: bone-in lamb, wedges of white cabbage and a generous pouch of whole black peppercorns, layered in a heavy pot and left to simmer until the meat slides off the bone and the cabbage turns sweet and silky. It is eaten with plain boiled potatoes and, in many homes, lingonberry jam. The thing that ruins it is drowning the pot: add only a little water, because the cabbage releases plenty of its own juice. Chef's tip: tie the peppercorns in a muslin bag so you get their warmth without crunching on them, and make it a day ahead; it tastes even better reheated.

170 minScandinavian Meat

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TourtièreSpiced pork and beef pie

Tourtière is the meat pie of Quebec, served after midnight mass at the Christmas Eve réveillon and through the holidays, from Montreal to the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region (where a deep, layered version is also called tourtière). This dish contains pork. Minced pork and beef cook slowly with onion, a little potato and warm spices — cinnamon, cloves, allspice and savory — then are baked in a flaky double crust and served with ketchup or fruit chutney. The mistake is a wet filling that makes the bottom crust soggy; cook it until the liquid has almost gone and cool it before filling. Chef's tip: a grated potato in the filling soaks up the juices and holds the slices together.

120 min

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Hanhor mangxoDuck curry

When Magh Bihu brings bonfires and feasting to the villages of Assam in January, duck curry is one of the dishes families look forward to. Duck meat is simmered with ash gourd (kumura), which soaks up the rich juices, and the gravy is thickened with toasted black sesame for a deep, nutty taste. It is eaten with rice, often after the night-long community feast called uruka. Chef's tip: brown the duck skin-side down first and pour off some of the rendered fat; you need its flavour, not all of it.

120 min

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Hāngī-style roastOven-steamed roast pork and vegetables

A true hāngī is cooked by Māori communities across Aotearoa New Zealand in a pit lined with stones heated in a wood fire, with baskets of meat and vegetables covered with damp cloths and earth and left for hours; it is made for tangihanga (funerals), weddings, marae gatherings and fundraisers, and the skill is passed down through whānau. An oven can't reproduce that earthy, smoky steam, and this recipe does not claim to. It borrows the idea: pork, chicken, kūmara, pumpkin and potato packed tightly, covered and steamed for hours until everything is meltingly soft. It contains pork. The mistake to avoid is loose foil; if steam escapes, the meat dries out instead of steaming. Chef's tip: sit the meat on top of the vegetables so its juices drip down and season them.

225 min

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HandvoSavoury rice and lentil cake

Handvo is a savoury cake from Gujarat, made from a fermented batter of rice and lentils mixed with grated bottle gourd, yogurt and spices. It's baked or cooked slowly in a heavy pan until it has a deep-brown, crackly crust of mustard seeds and sesame and a soft, moist, slightly tangy inside. Gujarati families make it for Sunday tea or a light supper, with green chutney and a cup of masala chai. Slices are also good packed for a journey. Chef's tip: don't rush the crust; cook on a low heat with a lid and let the base go deep golden before you flip, because the crunchy, almost toasted sesame crust is the best part.

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Halo-halo ('mix-mix') is what the Philippines eats through the hot dry months of March to May, bought from roadside stalls and snack shops and eaten slowly with a long spoon in a tall glass. Sweetened beans and chickpeas, banana cooked in brown sugar, jackfruit, nata de coco and sugar-palm fruit go in first, then a mountain of finely shaved ice, a splash of evaporated milk and a crown of ube halaya, a slice of leche flan or a scoop of ube ice cream, with crunchy pinipig (toasted pounded rice) on top. Unlike Malaysian ais kacang, there's no syrup over the ice: the sweetness comes from the layers and the milk. You stir everything together before eating. Chef's tip: chill the glasses and the toppings first so the ice doesn't melt before you have finished building.

30 min

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HallacasStuffed corn parcels

Hallacas are Venezuelan Christmas. In December whole families gather around a kitchen table in Caracas, Maracaibo or the Andes to make dozens at once: one person cleans banana leaves, another spreads the annatto-tinted corn dough, another adds the guiso (a stew of pork, beef and chicken) and the garnishes, and someone else ties the parcels. This is a pork dish. The guiso is traditionally finished with red wine; for an alcohol-free version use the same amount of beef stock with a tablespoon of red wine vinegar. They are eaten with pan de jamón and chicken salad from Christmas Eve to New Year. The common mistake is spreading the dough too thick, which makes heavy, stodgy parcels; it should be thin enough to almost see the leaf through it. Chef's tip: make the guiso a day ahead and chill it, so it is firm and easy to portion.

300 min

Venezuelan Meat

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Hallabong adeSparkling tangerine drink

Hallabong (한라봉) is Jeju's pride: a large, sweet, easy-peel tangerine with a knob on top that is said to look like Hallasan, the island's volcano. Every café on Jeju sells hallabong ade (한라봉에이드), a tall glass of hallabong syrup topped up with sparkling water and ice, often with the fruit sliced into it. Koreans make the syrup, hallabong-cheong, by layering the sliced fruit with sugar in jars; this quick version is ready in 10 minutes. Outside Korea, use dekopon, sumo or any very sweet mandarin. Chef's tip: add a squeeze of lemon to the syrup; hallabong is so sweet that the drink tastes flat without a little extra acid.

15 min

Korean Drinks

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Halawet el jibnCheese and semolina rolls

Halawet el jibn, 'sweetness of cheese', is the pride of the pastry shops of Homs in Syria and Tripoli in Lebanon, where trays of the pale, stretchy rolls are sold for Eid, weddings and Sunday afternoons. A dough of melted cheese and semolina is stretched thin, wrapped around thick clotted cream (ashta), cut into rolls and soaked in rose syrup. The dough must be worked hot, which makes it the hardest dessert in this collection, but the result is soft, chewy and only lightly sweet. Use mozzarella or akkawi made with vegetarian (microbial) rennet; many supermarket mozzarellas are. Chef's tip: oil your hands and the worktop rather than flouring them; flour toughens the dough and dulls its shine.

60 min

Lebanese Desserts

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HalászléSpicy carp soup

Halászlé is the fiery fisherman's soup of the rivers Tisza and Danube, and on Christmas Eve it is on almost every Hungarian table; the towns of Szeged and Baja each claim the best version. A rich stock is made from fish heads and bones with onions and lots of paprika, sieved until smooth and red, and then thick slices of carp (or catfish) are poached in it at the last moment. Serve with white bread and fresh hot peppers. Chef's tip: poach the fish fillets without stirring; just swirl the pot so the pieces stay whole.

105 min

Hungarian Soups

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HarchaPan-fried semolina bread

Harcha are thick little semolina breads cooked on a griddle and eaten all over Morocco at breakfast and with mid-afternoon tea, especially during Ramadan for the evening meal. The dough is closer to a crumbly batter than a bread dough, so it needs no kneading or rising; it is pressed into rounds and cooked slowly until the outside turns golden and gritty and the inside stays tender, a bit like a savoury shortbread. Split them while warm and spread with butter and honey, apricot jam or a wedge of soft cheese. Chef's tip: let the mixed dough rest for 5 minutes; the semolina drinks up the milk and becomes much easier to shape.

25 min

Moroccan Breakfast & Brunch

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Hakka lei chaPounded herb and peanut tea

Lei cha means 'pounded tea', and in Hakka villages from Jieyang and Hepo to Taiwan and Malaysia it is still ground by hand in a ridged bowl with a guava-wood stick. Tea leaves, basil, mint and coriander are pounded with sesame and peanuts, then loosened with hot water into a grassy green soup. It's ladled over a bowl of rice topped with small heaps of stir-fried greens, beans, tofu and preserved radish. Some families eat it on the seventh day of the New Year. Chef's tip: toast the sesame and peanuts yourself; the toasting gives the soup its depth.

45 min

Chinese Soups

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QingbuliangIced coconut milk dessert soup

On hot evenings in Haikou, night-market stalls ladle this into bowls: coconut milk poured over red beans, mung beans, sago pearls, cubes of jelly and fresh tropical fruit, with a scoop of shaved ice on top. The name roughly means 'clearing, nourishing, cooling', and Hainan people eat it to cool down in their long summer. Everything except the fruit can be cooked a day ahead and chilled. Chef's tip: cook each bean separately; they soften at different speeds.

80 min

Chinese Desserts

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Hainan coconut riceSticky rice in coconut

Across Hainan island, in Wenchang and Haikou especially, cooks fill whole mature coconuts with glutinous rice and steam them for hours until the rice is sticky, sweet and full of coconut flavour. The coconut is cut open at the table and served in wedges with the white flesh still attached. Look for brown, mature coconuts that slosh when shaken. Soak the rice for 4 hours first. Chef's tip: a cleaver tapped round the shell's 'equator' near the top opens it more safely than trying to saw it.

120 min

Chinese Rice & Grains

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Hagelslag toastBread with chocolate sprinkles

Ask anyone who grew up in the Netherlands what they ate before school and the answer is usually a boterham met hagelslag: a slice of soft bread, well buttered, and covered edge to edge in chocolate sprinkles. It is not a treat for special days but an ordinary Dutch breakfast and lunchbox filler, and the country gets through millions of kilos of hagelslag every year. There are milk and dark chocolate versions, plus vruchtenhagel (fruity pastel sprinkles) and anijshagel (aniseed sprinkles). Chef's tip: the butter is the glue, so spread it right to the crusts and press the sprinkles down gently with the flat of a knife before you lift the slice.

5 min

Dutch Breakfast & Brunch

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Habichuelas guisadasStewed pink beans

Habichuelas guisadas are on the stove most weekdays in Puerto Rico, from Ponce to Fajardo, ladled over plain white rice for the everyday plate called arroz con habichuelas. Pink or red beans simmer with sofrito, tomato sauce and olives, and cubes of calabaza (West Indian pumpkin) melt into the pot to make a thick, orange-red, gently sweet sauce. It's homely, cheap and deeply savoury. Island cooks often add a piece of ham; this version doesn't need it. Chef's tip: when the pumpkin is soft, crush a few pieces against the side of the pot; they dissolve into the liquid and thicken it without any flour.

45 min

Puerto Rican Curries

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Habichuelas con dulceSweet red bean cream

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

55 min

Puerto Rican Desserts

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HaakCollard greens in mustard oil

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

20 min

Indian Sides

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GyuvechBaked vegetable stew

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

100 min

Bulgarian Vegetarian

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Trofie al pesto genoveseTwisted pasta with basil pesto

In Genoa and along the Ligurian coast, pesto is pounded from small-leaved basil, pine nuts, garlic, hard cheese and local olive oil, and served on trofie, short twisted pasta, cooked in the same pot as diced potato and green beans. The starch from the potato helps the pesto cling, and the beans add sweetness. It is the dish of a summer lunch in the Cinque Terre. Chef's tip: never heat the pesto; loosen it with a spoon of pasta water in a bowl and toss the pasta off the heat so the basil stays bright green.

25 min

Italian Pasta & Noodles

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ZanMillet porridge with vegetables

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

35 min

Indian Rice & Grains

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ZangiFried marinated chicken

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

65 min

Japanese Chicken

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GyeongdanGlutinous rice balls

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

40 min

Korean Desserts

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Guyanese pine tartsPineapple jam tarts

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

120 min

Guyanese Baking

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Guyanese pepperpotBeef stew with cassareep

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

200 min

Guyanese Meat

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Guyanese garlic porkGarlic pickled pork

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

60 min

Guyanese Meat

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Guyanese cook-up riceCoconut rice with black-eyed peas

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

55 min

Guyanese Rice & Grains

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Guyanese black cakeRum fruit cake

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

195 min

Guyanese Baking

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Zanzibar mixMango and gram flour soup with fritters

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

75 minAfrican Snacks & Starters

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Vegetable tsuivanSteamed noodles with vegetables

Tsuivan is one of the most-cooked dinners in Mongolia, from Ulaanbaatar apartments to gers on the steppe: homemade noodles laid over a stir-fry and steamed under a lid until they soak up all the juices, then tossed together. It's normally made with mutton; meaty mushrooms and firm tofu stand in here, with carrot, cabbage and onion. Simple and filling, it's often eaten with a pot of salty milk tea. Chef's tip: lay the noodles on top and don't stir until the end; they cook in the steam, not in the liquid.

65 min

Mongolian Pasta & Noodles

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TteokgalbiGrilled short rib patties

Tteokgalbi is rib meat chopped finely, pressed back into neat slabs and grilled, so it's soft enough to eat without struggling with a bone. Two places in South Jeolla claim it: Damyang, the bamboo county, where all-beef patties come with rice steamed in bamboo tubes, and Gwangju's Songjeong district, whose restaurant street near the railway station mixes beef with pork. This home version uses minced beef and pork, seasoned with soy, garlic and pear, then brushed with a soy and honey glaze as it cooks. Serve with rice, lettuce and a few banchan; leftovers are good cold in a lunchbox. Chef's tip: slap the mince against the bowl for a few minutes; it turns sticky and the patties hold together on the grill without any breadcrumbs.

60 min

Korean Meat

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Tudkiya bhathSpiced rice with lentils and potatoes

Tudkiya bhath comes from Chamba in western Himachal Pradesh, where it is the dish cooks make when a crowd turns up: rice, whole lentils and potato cooked in one big pot with fried onions, tomato and a tangy splash of yogurt. Tudka means tempering, and the name hints at the generous mustard-oil base of whole spices that flavours every grain. It is heartier and spicier than a pulao, a little wetter than a biryani, and is usually eaten with a bowl of plain yogurt or a sour pickle. Chef's tip: fry the onions properly to a deep golden brown; they give the rice its colour and its sweetness.

75 min

Indian Rice & Grains

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TufahijeWalnut-stuffed poached apples

Tufahije came to Bosnia with the Ottomans, and the name comes from the Persian and Arabic word for apple. In Sarajevo's old Baščaršija quarter they sit in the windows of slastičarne (sweet shops), whole apples poached pale in lemon syrup, filled with sweet walnuts and capped with whipped cream; at home they are a favourite after the iftar meal during Ramadan and at Bajram. They are soft, juicy and only moderately sweet. Chef's tip: choose firm, slightly tart apples and poach them gently; boiling them hard is the classic mistake and leaves you with split, mushy apples.

50 minBalkan Desserts

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Guriltai shulMutton noodle soup

Guriltai shul is the soup Mongolians eat almost daily in winter, from Ulaanbaatar canteens to herders' gers: strips of mutton simmered with onion, carrot and potato, and thick hand-cut noodles cooked in the broth. It is simple, warming and filling in temperatures that drop far below freezing. The mistake is cooking the noodles too long, so they swell and turn the soup stodgy; they need only 6–8 minutes. Chef's tip: rest the noodle dough well so it rolls thin without springing back.

100 min

Mongolian Soups

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GurasaThick wheat flatbread

Gurasa is a thick, soft, round wheat bread from Sudan, especially the north and west (Darfur and Kordofan), cooked in a covered pan rather than an oven. It is torn and eaten with mullah, ful or salata aswad, and for breakfast with sugar and a little oil or butter. The dough is a loose, yeasted batter, closer to a giant crumpet than a flatbread. Chef's tip: cook it covered over a low heat; a hot open pan burns the base before the thick centre cooks.

40 min

Sudanese Breads & Parathas

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ZapiekankaOpen baguette with mushrooms and cheese

Zapiekanka is Polish street food born in the 1970s and perfected at the hatch windows around Plac Nowy in Kraków's Kazimierz district, where students and night owls queue for one at midnight. Half a long baguette is topped with mushrooms fried with onion, covered in grated cheese and baked until crisp at the edges and bubbling, then finished with a zigzag of ketchup and chives. The classic version has no meat at all. Use a hard cheese made with vegetarian rennet (many supermarket mild Cheddars and Goudas are). Chef's tip: fry the mushrooms until completely dry before they go on the bread; wet mushrooms make the baguette soggy instead of crisp.

20 min

Polish Fast Food

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Gungjung tteokbokkiSoy rice cakes with mushrooms

Long before red gochujang tteokbokki took over Seoul's street stalls, the Joseon palace kitchens served gungjung tteokbokki (궁중떡볶이): chewy cylinders of rice cake tossed in a glossy soy and sesame glaze with mushrooms, peppers and onion. It is mild, savoury-sweet and fragrant with toasted sesame, which makes it the version Korean parents cook for children and for anyone who can't take heat. The court recipe used beef; shiitake and oyster mushrooms carry the same savoury depth here. Eat it warm as a snack or alongside rice and kimchi. Chef's tip: soften the rice cakes in hot water before they meet the pan, or the outsides scorch while the centres stay hard.

25 min

Korean Snacks & Starters

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Gundruk ko jholSour fermented greens soup

In the terraced hill villages between Pokhara and Ilam, families pack mustard, radish and cauliflower leaves into clay pots after the autumn harvest, let them ferment for a week or two and then sun-dry them into gundruk. That dark, tangy leaf is the store cupboard of the winter months, and its most common use is this thin, sour soup (jhol), served on the side of dal bhat or with dhido, the stiff buckwheat or millet porridge of the hills. It tastes a little like a smoky, vinegary green tea and is light, warming and very cheap. A handful of roasted soybeans (bhatmas) is often thrown in for crunch. The mistake is to cook gundruk without soaking it first, which leaves it gritty and too sour. Chef's tip: squeeze the soaked leaves hard and fry them in the oil until they crackle before you add water; that frying gives the soup its toasty depth.

25 min

Nepali Soups

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Tuna kinilawRaw tuna in vinegar

Kinilaw is the Visayas and Mindanao way with very fresh fish: raw cubes of tuna or Spanish mackerel (tanigue) cured briefly in coconut or palm vinegar with ginger, red onion, chilli and calamansi. In General Santos, the tuna capital, and on the beaches of Cebu and Siargao, it is made minutes after the catch and eaten as pulutan or a starter on hot afternoons. Please note: the fish is not cooked by heat; the vinegar only firms it and turns it opaque, and it does not kill all bacteria or parasites. Use only sashimi-grade fish that has been frozen to kill parasites, and pregnant women, young children, older people and anyone with a weakened immune system should not eat it. Chef's tip: pour a first splash of vinegar over the fish and drain it off, then dress it; this 'washing' firms the surface and keeps the flavour clean.

20 min

Filipino Fish

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Zunda mochiRice dumplings with edamame paste

Zunda is Sendai's signature sweet: young green soybeans mashed with sugar into a coarse, pale-green paste. Farmers in Miyagi made it at the end of summer, when edamame were at their best, and it is still sold everywhere from Sendai station's souvenir halls to small tea shops, now also as zunda shakes and rolls. The flavour is gentle, beany and fresh, closer to sweet peas than to red bean paste. Spoon it over warm, chewy rice dumplings and serve with green tea. Chef's tip: rub the skins off the cooked beans. It takes ten minutes but turns the paste from dull khaki to a vivid jade colour.

35 min

Japanese Desserts

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TungrymbaiFermented soybean with sesame and ginger

Tungrymbai is the Khasi Hills' great fermented food: soybeans boiled, wrapped in leaves and left by the hearth until sticky and pungent, then cooked with onion, ginger, garlic, turmeric and a generous paste of roasted black sesame. In Shillong's markets and local eateries (jadoh stalls), it is often cooked with pork, but many Khasi homes make it with soybeans alone, which is the version here. It is dark, nutty and savoury, eaten in small spoonfuls with rice. Chef's tip: roast the black sesame until it just begins to pop; underroasted it tastes grassy, overroasted it turns bitter. Natto works if you can't get tungrymbai.

35 min

Indian Curries

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Gundel palacsintaWalnut pancakes with chocolate sauce

Gundel palacsinta is the festive pancake of Budapest, named after the Gundel restaurant by City Park, where it became the showpiece dessert of the mid-twentieth century. Thin Hungarian pancakes are filled with a rum-scented walnut and raisin paste, folded into triangles and drowned in a dark chocolate sauce, sometimes flamed at the table. Everyday palacsinta at home are simpler, rolled with apricot jam, cocoa sugar or sweet túró; this is the version for name days, Christmas and guests. Chef's tip: rest the batter for 30 minutes; the pancakes become thinner and more elastic and stop tearing when you fold them. Common mistake: overfilling, which makes the triangles burst open.

60 min

Hungarian Desserts

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GulyáslevesBeef goulash soup

Real Hungarian goulash is a soup, gulyásleves, born in the cattle herders' kettles of the Great Plain and still cooked over open fires at summer festivals and in every csárda (country inn) between Budapest and Debrecen. Beef shin or chuck simmers with lots of onion, sweet paprika, caraway and green pepper until tender, then potatoes and carrots go in. It is brothy, rich red and gently spicy, eaten with fresh bread. Chef's tip: take the pot off the heat before adding the paprika; it burns in seconds in hot fat and turns bitter.

145 min

Hungarian Soups

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Gulai nangkaYoung jackfruit curry

In a nasi Padang restaurant, where dozens of dishes are stacked in the window and brought to the table on small plates, gulai nangka is the bright yellow one that gets spooned over rice to moisten everything else. Young jackfruit and long beans simmer in a thin, golden coconut sauce with turmeric, chilli and lemongrass until the jackfruit is tender and full of sauce. It's lighter and saucier than rendang and cooks in under an hour, so Padang households make it on ordinary weekdays. Chef's tip: stir the pot almost constantly for the first few minutes after the coconut milk goes in — Padang cooks say it keeps the gulai smooth and stops it splitting.

50 min

Indonesian Curries

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Gulai daun singkongCassava leaves in coconut gravy

No Padang restaurant in West Sumatra is complete without a dish of gulai daun singkong: dark cassava leaves simmered until silky in a yellow coconut gravy fragrant with lemongrass, turmeric leaf and galangal. It is the cooling green on a table of rich, fiery plates, ladled over rice with sambal hijau. Restaurants sometimes add dried anchovies; this version doesn't. Frozen cassava leaves from Asian shops work well; kale is the best stand-in. Chef's tip: squeeze the boiled leaves hard before adding them, or the gravy goes thin and grassy.

50 min

Indonesian Curries

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VigorónYuca, pork crackling and cabbage salad

Vigorón was born in the 1910s in the colonial city of Granada, Nicaragua, where it is still sold from stalls around the Parque Central, wrapped in banana leaf: boiled yuca topped with crisp pork crackling (chicharrón) and a tangy cabbage and tomato salad. This dish contains pork. It is street food, eaten at any hour with your fingers. The mistake is serving dry yuca; boil it until tender and slightly split, then keep it in its warm water until serving. Chef's tip: make the cabbage salad an hour ahead so the vinegar softens it.

70 minCentral American Snacks & Starters

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GujeolpanNine-section vegetable platter

Gujeolpan (구절판) takes its name from the octagonal lacquered tray it is served on: eight outer compartments of finely cut, separately seasoned fillings around a stack of paper-thin wheat crêpes in the middle. It was a dish of the Seoul royal court and noble households, and it still appears at weddings, 60th birthdays and Seollal tables, where everyone builds their own little rolls. Classic trays include beef; this one keeps all the colour with shiitake, wood ear, cucumber, carrot, peppers, radish and yellow and white egg. It takes patience rather than skill. Chef's tip: cut every filling into matchsticks the same length as the crêpes are wide, about 5 cm, so each roll closes neatly.

95 min

Korean Snacks & Starters

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Guiyang si wa waPancake rolls with shredded vegetables

Guiyang's favourite street snack is a do-it-yourself meal: stalls set out twenty or more small bowls of shredded vegetables, and each person wraps a few strands in a pancake no bigger than a palm, folds it like a swaddled baby and pours in a spoonful of sour, chilli-flecked broth. It's light, crunchy and fun to eat with friends. Use as many fillings as you like; the more colours, the better. Chef's tip: shred everything as fine as you can, so the little parcels stay neat and each mouthful has several flavours.

55 min

Chinese Snacks & Starters

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GudegYoung jackfruit stew

Gudeg is the signature of Yogyakarta: whole streets around Wijilan are lined with stalls selling it from dawn, and visitors carry it home in clay pots or woven baskets. Unripe jackfruit is cooked for hours with palm sugar, coconut milk, galangal and salam leaves until it turns reddish-brown, soft as pulled meat, and deeply sweet and savoury. The classic plate adds chicken, egg and spicy cattle-skin stew; this vegan plate pairs it with sticky-sweet tempeh and tofu and a sharp sambal to cut the sweetness. Chef's tip: let the pot cook down slowly until almost all the liquid is gone — drier gudeg keeps for days and tastes better on the second.

240 min

Indonesian Curries

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Green fig and saltfishGreen bananas with salt cod

In St Lucia green bananas are called figs, and green fig and saltfish is the national dish: a Saturday lunch in Castries homes and the plate served everywhere on Jounen Kwéyòl, the island's Creole Day in October. The bananas are boiled until tender and mild, a little like potato, and served with salt cod sautéed with onion, sweet pepper, tomato, thyme and hot pepper. Add sliced avocado or cucumber on the side. The most common mistake is not soaking the saltfish long enough, which leaves the whole plate far too salty; taste a flake before you cook it. Chef's tip: rub oil on your hands (or wear gloves) before peeling the green bananas; the sap stains skin black.

60 minCaribbean Fish

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Turkish tea (çay)Strong black tea

Nowhere in Turkey is far from a glass of çay. Tea from the slopes of Rize on the Black Sea coast is brewed in a stacked double teapot, the çaydanlık, and poured into small tulip-shaped glasses all day long: at breakfast with simit and cheese, in shops when you haggle, after every meal. The strong brew sits in the top pot and each glass is diluted to taste with hot water from the bottom, so one person drinks it dark (koyu) and another light (açık). It should be clear, the colour of a ruby or rabbit's blood (tavşan kanı), never cloudy. Serve it with sugar cubes on the side, not milk. Chef's tip: steam the dry leaves in the top pot for a few minutes before adding any water; the warm leaves open up and give a rounder, deeper colour.

17 min

Turkish Drinks

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TuronFried banana spring rolls

Turon is the afternoon snack sold by vendors on every Filipino street corner, school gate and jeepney stop around three o'clock, often next to banana cue on bamboo skewers. A slice of saba banana and a strip of ripe jackfruit are rolled in a thin spring roll wrapper with brown sugar, then fried in oil that has more brown sugar sprinkled in it, so each roll comes out wrapped in a crackly, glassy caramel shell. It is eaten hot with your fingers, when the banana inside has turned soft and sticky. Saba is a short, firm cooking banana; ripe plantain is the closest substitute. Chef's tip: roll them tightly with no air pockets, or the caramel blows holes in the wrapper.

25 min

Filipino Desserts

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Túrós csuszaPasta with curd cheese

Túrós csusza is a simple dish of wide pasta squares tossed with crumbly túró curd cheese and sour cream, loved across Hungary and especially in the Danube villages, where it is served as a filling main after a bowl of fish soup. At home it is a Friday or end-of-the-month supper made from what is in the fridge. Traditionally it is topped with crisp pork crackling; here, fried onions and a little smoked paprika give the same crunch and savouriness. The flavour is mild, tangy and comforting. Chef's tip: toss the cheese into the pasta while it is still steaming so the túró warms through, but serve the sour cream cold on top for contrast.

30 min

Hungarian Pasta & Noodles

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Green borschtSorrel soup with egg

When the first sorrel comes up in village gardens around Chernihiv and Sumy in May, Ukrainian grandmothers stop making red borshch and switch to green: a light, lemony soup of sorrel, potato and herbs, served with halved boiled eggs. It is the soup of early summer and of Trinity Sunday, eaten hot with sour cream or chilled on a warm day. Sorrel gives it a clean sourness, so no vinegar is needed. This version uses vegetable stock instead of the chicken or pork stock some families use. Chef's tip: add the sorrel only in the last two minutes; it turns olive green the moment it hits the heat, but if it boils longer it collapses into stringy khaki threads.

40 min

Ukrainian Soups

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Gratin dauphinoisPotato and cream gratin

Gratin dauphinois comes from the Dauphiné, the mountain region around Grenoble, where it has been made since at least the 1700s. Thinly sliced potatoes are simmered in milk and cream with garlic and nutmeg, then baked slowly until the top is golden and blistered and the inside is soft and creamy enough to cut with a spoon. Purists in the Dauphiné insist there is no cheese; the crust comes from the cream itself. It is a side for Sunday lunch and festive meals, especially good with a green salad or roasted mushrooms. Chef's tip: don't rinse the potato slices; washing off the starch is the common mistake that leaves the cream thin and watery.

95 min

French Sides

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