Featured recipe

Hiroshima oyster nabe (kaki nabe)

Hiroshima Bay is lined with oyster rafts, and from late autumn to early spring the city's restaurants put kaki nabe on the menu. In the version called dote nabe, a thick band of sweetened miso is smeared around the inside of the pot like a riverbank, then melts into the broth bit by bit as you eat. Cabbage, tofu, leek and mushrooms go in first; the oysters only need a few minutes at the end. It is cooked at the table on a portable burner, so everyone eats it as it is ready. Chef's tip: rinse the shucked oysters in a bowl with potato starch and a little salt, then in clean water; the grey starch pulls out grit and slime and leaves them clean-tasting.

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Rechta with vegetable sauceNoodles in turnip and chickpea broth

Rechta is the dish of Algiers and Blida for Mouloud, Ashura and the first day of the new year: thin, square-cut fresh noodles steamed in a couscoussier like couscous, then drenched in a pale, cinnamon-scented white sauce of turnips, courgette and chickpeas. It is usually made with chicken; this vegetable version keeps the gentle, peppery broth. Dried rechta is sold in North African shops; very thin dried egg-free noodles work too. Chef's tip: steam the noodles twice and rub them with oil in between, so they stay separate and silky.

70 min

Algerian Pasta & Noodles

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Red redBean stew in palm oil

Red red is Ghanaian chop-bar comfort food, eaten at lunchtime from Kumasi to Cape Coast, and it gets its name from its two reds: the bean stew glowing with palm oil and the fried ripe plantain served alongside. Black-eyed beans simmer in a tomato and onion sauce until creamy, then a sprinkle of gari on top adds crunch. It is often made with smoked fish or momoni; this meat-free version uses smoked paprika for the same savoury edge. Chef's tip: choose plantains with mostly black skins; they fry up sweet and caramelised, the perfect partner for the salty stew.

50 min

Ghanaian Curries

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Henakisoa sy voanjoboryPork with groundnuts

Henakisoa sy voanjobory is a highland dish from the countryside around Antsirabe and Fianarantsoa, cooked for family gatherings: pork simmered for a long time with Bambara groundnuts, a hard, round pulse that turns creamy and nutty, until the meat is tender and the beans have thickened the sauce. This dish contains pork. It is eaten with rice and a fresh tomato salad. The mistake is not soaking the dried pulses, which then never soften; soak them overnight. Chef's tip: if you can't find Bambara groundnuts, black-eyed beans or borlotti give a similar result in less time.

150 min

Malagasy Meat

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Rellenitos de plátanoPlantain dumplings with sweet beans

Rellenitos surprise everyone who hasn't grown up in Guatemala: soft, sweet plantain dough wrapped around a filling of black beans cooked down with chocolate, cinnamon and sugar, then fried and rolled in sugar. They're sold in panaderías and at fairs, and made at home for afternoon coffee and Christmas. The beans taste nothing like a savoury dish; think of a fudgy chocolate paste. Chef's tip: mash the plantains while hot and chill the dough for 20 minutes; cold dough wraps cleanly without sticking to your hands.

75 minCentral American Desserts

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KootuVegetable and moong dal stew

Kootu sits halfway between a dal and a vegetable dish, and in Tamil homes it is the mild, kind side on a lunch plate next to a sharp rasam or a fiery kuzhambu. Chopped vegetables such as chow-chow, snake gourd, cabbage or pumpkin are cooked with moong dal until soft, then thickened with a paste of fresh coconut, cumin and a little green chilli. It's the dish many Tamil grandmothers give children and anyone recovering from a fever. Spoon it over rice with ghee or serve it alongside sambar and poriyal. Chef's tip: grind the coconut paste with the cumin raw, not toasted; the fresh, sweet cumin flavour is what makes kootu taste like kootu.

40 min

Indian Curries

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Healthy tawaMixed vegetables on the tawa

A big sizzling griddle of boiled fresh beans and vegetables (peas, pigeon peas, black-eyed beans, soya beans, kidney beans, corn, cassava, sweet potato, baby potatoes and roasted plantain) tossed with sesame seeds, onions and a green chilli, ginger and garlic paste. It's filling, colourful and feeds a crowd at a barbecue. Serve sizzling hot straight from the tawa.

75 min

Indian Vegetarian

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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

Turkish Chutneys & Dips

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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

Egyptian Fast Food

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RevaniSemolina cake in lemon syrup

Revani is the syrup cake you meet in Turkish pastry shops and on home tea tables, especially at bayram visits, when trays of it are cut into diamonds and handed round with çay. Unlike a dense eggless semolina bake, it is a light, airy sponge of whisked eggs, semolina and a little flour, which drinks in cold lemon syrup straight from the oven until it is moist right through yet still holds a clean cut. It sweetens with sugar syrup rather than icing and is often finished with desiccated coconut or crushed pistachios. Serve it at room temperature or chilled, with tea or a spoon of kaymak or thick cream. Chef's tip: pour cool syrup over the hot cake (or hot over cool), never hot on hot; that contrast lets the sponge soak up syrup without collapsing into mush.

60 min

Turkish Baking

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Black sesame tang yuan in ginger syrupSesame rice balls in ginger syrup

Tang yuan are eaten all over China at the Lantern Festival, on the fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year, and in the south also at the winter solstice; their roundness stands for family togetherness. The dough is glutinous rice flour, the classic filling black sesame, sugar and fat, served in a light ginger syrup. Lard is traditional in the filling; coconut oil sets just as firmly and keeps them vegan. Chef's tip: chill the filling until firm and roll it into balls before you start the dough; cold filling is far easier to wrap.

45 min

Chinese Desserts

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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

Indian Rice & Grains

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Khao kluk kapiShrimp paste rice

Everything on this central Thai plate is arranged in little heaps around a mound of rice tossed with garlic and fermented shrimp paste: sticky caramelised pork (moo wan), threads of sour green mango, shallots, chillies, sliced long beans, crisp dried shrimp and ribbons of thin omelette. You mix a bit of each into every spoonful, so salty, sweet, sour and hot arrive together. It's a favourite at Bangkok's curry-and-rice shops and a clever way to use up yesterday's rice at home; lime wedges and cucumber cool it down. Chef's tip: use day-old jasmine rice straight from the fridge, because freshly cooked rice clumps and smears the shrimp paste instead of coating each grain.

45 min

Thai Rice & Grains

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RibollitaBread and bean soup

Ribollita means 'reboiled': a Tuscan peasant soup of cannellini beans, cavolo nero and other vegetables, layered with stale bread and heated again the next day until thick enough to eat with a fork. Florentines eat it through the cold months, when cavolo nero is sweetest after the first frosts, finished with a green thread of new-season olive oil. Make it a day ahead, because the reboil is the point. Chef's tip: when reheating, let the bottom catch very slightly before stirring; that toasty edge is what Tuscans love about day-two ribollita.

90 min

Italian Soups

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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.

225 minGulf Arabian Rice & Grains

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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

Indian Meat

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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

Australian Meat

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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.

75 min

Indian Snacks & Starters

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TantanmenSesame chilli noodle soup

Sichuan dan dan noodles are eaten almost dry, with just a spoonful of sauce, but Chinese chefs cooking in post-war Tokyo turned them into a full bowl of soup for Japanese diners. Today tantanmen sits on the menu of almost every Chinese-style restaurant and many ramen shops across Japan, and it sells best in the cold months. The broth is rich with sesame paste, softened with soy milk and lit up with chilli oil, then crowned with savoury fried pork. Pak choi adds a fresh, crunchy contrast. Chef's tip: fry the pork until it is properly brown and a little crisp before seasoning, so it keeps some bite in the soup instead of turning soft.

40 min

Japanese Pasta & Noodles

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RisalamandeRice pudding with cherry sauce

On Christmas Eve, almost every Danish family ends dinner with risalamande, a cold vanilla rice pudding lightened with whipped cream and chopped almonds and served with a hot cherry sauce poured over the top. Hidden somewhere in the bowl is one whole almond, and whoever finds it wins the mandelgave, the almond prize, usually a marzipan pig. Some finders keep the almond in their cheek until everyone has eaten far too much. The rice base, risengrød, is often cooked on 23 December, eaten warm with butter and cinnamon, and the leftovers become risalamande the next night. Chef's tip: let the rice pudding cool completely before folding in the cream; warm rice melts the whipped cream and the pudding turns heavy instead of airy.

65 minScandinavian Desserts

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Risi e bisiRice and peas

Risi e bisi was once served to the Doge of Venice every 25 April, the feast of Saint Mark, when the first tender peas arrived from the lagoon islands. It sits between a soup and a risotto: thicker than a minestra, looser than risotto, eaten with a spoon. Venetians make a quick broth from the empty pods, which gives a sweet, grassy flavour no stock cube can match; pancetta often goes in, but this version keeps it vegetarian with parsley and butter. Chef's tip: when podding fresh peas, keep the pods; simmered for 20 minutes they make the whole dish taste of spring.

40 min

Italian Rice & Grains

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Risotto alla milaneseSaffron risotto

Risotto alla milanese is the saffron risotto of Milan, served on its own as a first course or beside ossobuco on Sunday tables, and a legend says it was first made in 1574 by a glass-painter's apprentice working on the Duomo who coloured rice with saffron. Milanese cooks use beef marrow and meat broth; here a well-flavoured vegetable stock keeps it vegetarian, with butter and hard cheese for richness. It should be all'onda: loose enough to ripple like a wave when you shake the plate. Chef's tip: keep the stock at a bare simmer beside the rice; cold stock stops the cooking and makes the grains chalky.

40 min

Italian Rice & Grains

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Rocoto rellenoStuffed rocoto peppers

Rocoto relleno is the pride of Arequipa's picanterías: fiery rocoto peppers stuffed with a sweet-savoury filling, topped with cheese and baked over sliced potato in an egg and milk custard. The traditional filling is minced beef; this vegetarian version uses mushrooms and lentils fried with ají panca, cumin, peanuts, raisins, olives and boiled egg, which gives the same rich, spiced, slightly sweet bite. The peppers are first blanched several times in fresh water with sugar and vinegar to tame their heat, which is the real skill of the dish. If you can't find rocotos, use small red bell peppers and add a little habanero to the filling. Chef's tip: taste a sliver of rocoto after the second blanching; stop when it is hot but pleasant, and blanch once more if it still burns.

90 min

Peruvian Vegetarian

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Sopa de ajoGarlic and bread soup

Sopa de ajo, also called sopa castellana, is the warming winter soup of Castile and León, from Segovia to Burgos: stale bread fried in olive oil with lots of garlic and smoky pimentón, simmered in stock and finished with eggs poached right in the soup. It was shepherds' and farmers' food, made from what was always in the kitchen, and is still eaten after a cold night out or on Ash Wednesday. Castilian cooks often add cured ham; this vegetarian version gets its depth from smoked pimentón and a good vegetable stock. Serve it in earthenware bowls, piping hot. Chef's tip: use bread that is truly stale and dry, and toast it in the garlicky oil until golden before adding the stock; fresh bread turns to mush, while toasted stale bread swells but keeps a little texture.

30 min

Spanish Soups

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Pimientos de PadrónBlistered green peppers

Pimientos de Padrón come from Herbón, near the town of Padrón in Galicia, where they are fried whole in olive oil and showered with coarse salt. They are small, thin-skinned and mostly mild and grassy, but the Galician saying goes 'os pementos de Padrón, uns pican e outros non' (some are hot and some are not): roughly one in ten has a real kick, which is half the fun. They take five minutes and make the perfect tapa with a cold drink, tortilla or bread. Chef's tip: get the oil properly hot and leave the peppers alone for the first minute so the skins blister and puff; stewing them in lukewarm oil makes them soft and khaki instead of bright and blistered.

8 min

Spanish Snacks & Starters

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Paella de verdurasVegetable paella

Paella comes from the rice fields around the Albufera lagoon south of Valencia, where it was cooked over orange-wood fires in a wide, shallow pan. Valencians are strict about it: short round rice, saffron, sweet pimentón, flat green beans (ferraúra) and big white garrofó beans, and never any stirring once the rice is in. This all-vegetable paella keeps those rules and adds artichokes and red pepper, as the market gardeners of the Huerta do in spring. It is cooked and served in the same pan, straight onto the table. Chef's tip: listen for the socarrat at the end. Turn up the heat for the last 1–2 minutes until the rice crackles and smells toasty; that caramelised crust on the bottom is the best part of any paella.

60 min

Spanish Rice & Grains

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Horchata de chufaTiger nut milk

Horchata de chufa is the drink of Valencia's summer, sold ice-cold in the city's horchaterías with long, soft fartons pastries for dipping. It is made from chufas, or tiger nuts: small wrinkled tubers grown around the village of Alboraya just north of Valencia, which have their own protected designation of origin. Soaked, ground with water, strained and sweetened, they give a creamy, nutty, naturally dairy-free milk with a hint of cinnamon. Valencians drink it very cold, or half-frozen as 'granizada'. Chef's tip: soak the tiger nuts for a full 24 hours and change the water once; they must be plump and soft enough to blend into a fine pulp, or the horchata will be thin and taste of raw starch.

15 min

Spanish Drinks

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TorrijasCinnamon fried bread

Torrijas are the Easter sweet of Spain, eaten all over the country during Semana Santa and especially in Madrid and Andalusia, where bakeries pile them in their windows. Thick slices of day-old bread are soaked in milk infused with cinnamon and lemon peel, dipped in beaten egg, fried in olive oil and rolled in cinnamon sugar. They were born as a way to use up stale bread during Lent, and they are crisp outside and soft and custardy inside, like a richer, crunchier French toast. Eat them warm or cold, the next day they are even more set and sweet. Chef's tip: use a dense day-old loaf (a Spanish 'pan de torrijas' or a firm baguette) cut 2–3 cm thick, and soak just until saturated; fresh, airy bread falls apart and fries greasy.

30 min

Spanish Desserts

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Patatas bravasFried potatoes with paprika sauce

Patatas bravas are Madrid's favourite bar snack: chunky potatoes fried until crisp outside and fluffy inside, then splashed with a brick-red sauce of olive oil, pimentón and a little stock. In Madrid the sauce is not ketchup or tomato sauce but a smooth, smoky paprika sauce with a kick; in Barcelona and Valencia you often get it with a spoon of alioli as well. This home version is fried twice for crunch and keeps the heat moderate so children can join in; add more hot paprika for the grown-ups. Serve with cold drinks, tortilla and pimientos de Padrón for a tapas spread. Chef's tip: take the pan off the heat before adding the pimentón; paprika burns in seconds and turns bitter, and that bitterness is the most common reason homemade bravas sauce tastes wrong.

40 min

Spanish Snacks & Starters

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Pisto manchegoPepper, courgette and tomato stew

Pisto manchego is the summer vegetable stew of La Mancha, the high plains of Don Quixote country: onions, green and red peppers and courgette cooked slowly in olive oil, then simmered with fresh tomato until soft, sweet and jammy. Spain's answer to ratatouille is humbler and softer, with the vegetables cooked one after another rather than all at once. In La Mancha it is eaten with bread and very often topped with a fried egg; it is also served alongside rice or potatoes, or cold the next day as a tapa. Chef's tip: be patient with the onion and peppers; give them a full 15–20 minutes over a low heat until really soft and sweet before the tomato goes in, because that slow start is where pisto gets its deep, mellow flavour.

55 min

Spanish Vegetarian

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Pan con tomateTomato rubbed toast

Pa amb tomàquet (pan con tomate in Spanish) is the everyday bread of Catalonia: toasted country bread rubbed with garlic and a cut ripe tomato, drizzled with good olive oil and sprinkled with salt. Catalans eat it at breakfast, as a side to grilled vegetables or with a slice of tortilla, and it is so basic to the table that it is rarely even listed on menus. With so few ingredients the quality of each one matters: the ripest tomatoes, a rustic open-crumbed loaf and fruity extra virgin olive oil. Chef's tip: in Catalonia they use small, juicy 'tomàquets de penjar', hanging tomatoes; at home choose the ripest, softest vine tomatoes you can find and rub them in hard until only the skin is left in your hand.

10 min

Spanish Breakfast & Brunch

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Morning glory with garlicGarlic stir-fried water spinach

Rau muống, water spinach or morning glory, is the everyday green of Vietnam, and a plate of it stir-fried with garlic sits on family tables everywhere, from Hanoi rice-shops to Saigon street stalls. Done well, the hollow stems stay crunchy and bright green and the leaves silky, with a strong hit of garlic. Look for it in Asian grocers as water spinach or ong choy. This version is seasoned with soy sauce instead of fish sauce. Chef's tip: blanch the greens for 30 seconds and plunge them into iced water, as Hanoi cooks do, then stir-fry over the highest heat for barely a minute; they stay vivid green and never go soggy.

10 min

Vietnamese Sides

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Lentejas estofadasLentil stew

Lentejas estofadas, or lentejas a la española, is the stew that every Spanish household knows from childhood, cooked once a week from Castile to Andalusia. Small brown lentils (pardinas, ideally from Tierra de Campos in León) are simmered with a sofrito of onion, pepper, garlic and tomato, carrot, potato and bay until thick, savoury and soothing. Most families add chorizo; here smoked pimentón de la Vera brings the same smoky warmth. Serve in deep bowls with crusty bread and a few pickled guindilla peppers on the side. Chef's tip: add a splash of sherry vinegar right at the end; it lifts the earthy lentils and is what Spanish grandmothers do to make the stew taste finished.

45 min

Spanish Curries

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Salmorejo cordobésThick chilled tomato and bread soup

Salmorejo is Córdoba's answer to gazpacho: thicker, richer and simpler, made with just ripe tomatoes, bread, garlic, olive oil and salt, blended into a cream so dense a spoon almost stands up in it. In Córdoba it is served in a shallow earthenware bowl as a first course or tapa, topped with chopped hard-boiled egg and diced cured ham; this vegetarian version keeps the egg (leave it out for a vegan dish) and adds a few crunchy croutons and a thread of olive oil. Chef's tip: use bread with a dense, tight crumb, like a day-old Spanish 'pan de telera' or a firm white loaf; airy supermarket bread makes salmorejo thin and gluey.

15 min

Spanish Soups

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Vegetable phoVegetable rice noodle soup

Pho began in the north, around Hanoi and Nam Định, and is now eaten all over Vietnam, often for breakfast. Phở chay is the Buddhist vegetarian version served in temple kitchens and chay restaurants: the deep, clear broth comes from charred onion and ginger, toasted star anise, cinnamon and cloves, simmered with daikon, carrot, sweetcorn and dried shiitake instead of beef bones. Silky flat rice noodles, golden tofu and mushrooms go in the bowl, and everyone adds their own bean sprouts, Thai basil, lime and chilli at the table. Chef's tip: char the onion and ginger until properly blackened in patches and toast the spices in a dry pan until they smell like warm Christmas cake; that smoky, perfumed base is what makes the broth taste like pho and not vegetable soup.

60 min

Vietnamese Soups

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Berenjenas con miel de cañaFried aubergine with molasses

Berenjenas con miel are a classic tapa in Andalusia, especially in Córdoba, Málaga and Granada: thin batons or slices of aubergine, lightly floured and fried until crisp, then drizzled with dark, treacly miel de caña. Despite the name, miel de caña is not bee honey but sugarcane molasses, made in the last cane mill in Europe at Frigiliana on the Málaga coast, so the dish is naturally vegan. The contrast of salty, crunchy aubergine and bittersweet syrup is irresistible; serve it the moment it leaves the pan with a cold drink. Chef's tip: soak the aubergine in salted water (or milk, as many Andalusian cooks do) for 15 minutes and pat dry; it seasons the flesh, softens any bitterness and helps the flour cling so the coating stays thin and crisp.

30 min

Spanish Snacks & Starters

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Avocado smoothie

In Vietnam the avocado is a sweet fruit, and sinh tố bơ is the most popular shake at Saigon's juice stalls, especially when the buttery avocados from the Central Highlands are in season. Ripe avocado is blended with milk, condensed milk and ice into a pale green shake so thick it is almost a dessert. Drink it with a straw or a spoon on a hot afternoon. Chef's tip: use a very ripe, soft avocado with no stringy bits, and drizzle a little extra condensed milk around the inside of the glass before pouring, the way street vendors do, so you get sweet ribbons as you drink.

5 min

Vietnamese Drinks

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Gazpacho andaluzChilled tomato and cucumber soup

Gazpacho is the cold soup of Andalusia, drunk from a glass or eaten from a bowl through the scorching summers of Seville and Córdoba. It began as a farm workers' meal of bread, oil, garlic and vinegar pounded in a wooden bowl; tomatoes and peppers came later and turned it into the bright red, refreshing soup we know. Ripe tomatoes, cucumber, green pepper, garlic, sherry vinegar and plenty of olive oil are blended until silky and chilled hard. Serve it with tiny dice of cucumber, pepper and onion and a few crunchy croutons. Chef's tip: add the olive oil last, in a thin stream with the blender running; it emulsifies the soup to a creamy, pale-orange texture instead of leaving a slick of oil on top.

15 min

Spanish Soups

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Mushroom croquetas

Croquetas are the pride of Spanish home cooking and tapas bars alike: a thick, silky béchamel full of flavour, chilled, rolled in egg and breadcrumbs and fried until crisp. Every family has its own; ham and chicken are classic, but croquetas de setas, made with wild or chestnut mushrooms, are found all over the country and are especially loved in the mushroom-picking regions of Castile and Catalonia. A good croqueta is creamy, almost liquid, inside, with a thin shell. Make a big batch: they freeze beautifully raw. Chef's tip: cook the flour in the butter and oil for a full 2 minutes and then beat the milk in slowly over a low heat for 10–15 minutes; this long cooking takes away the raw taste of flour and gives the creamy centre that makes Spanish croquetas special.

120 min

Spanish Snacks & Starters

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Vegetarian sour soupTamarind and pineapple soup

Canh chua, 'sour soup', is on the table at nearly every family meal in the Mekong Delta, served with plain rice. The broth is soured with tamarind and sweetened with pineapple and tomato, then filled with okra, celery-like taro stems, bean sprouts and lots of herbs. This vegetarian version uses fried tofu in place of fish. It is light, tangy and refreshing in hot weather. Chef's tip: fry the tomato with the shallot until it collapses before adding the liquid, so the broth turns rosy, then add the herbs and bean sprouts only off the heat and finish with garlic fried in oil, which gives the soup its southern fragrance.

30 min

Vietnamese Soups

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Vegetable spring rolls

In Saigon and the south, fried spring rolls are called chả giò (in Hanoi, nem rán), and no family party or Tết table is without a platter of them. Southern cooks wrap them in rice paper, which fries up into a blistered, glassy-crisp shell quite unlike wheat pastry. This vegetarian filling of glass noodles, wood ear mushrooms, taro, carrot and tofu is the one served at chay restaurants. Roll them in lettuce with mint and perilla and dip in vegan nước chấm. Chef's tip: fry them twice, first gently until set and pale gold, then briefly in hotter oil, and let the rolled rolls dry for 15 minutes first; that is how you get the shattering, bubbly crust that stays crisp.

50 min

Vietnamese Snacks & Starters

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Tofu fresh summer rolls

Gỏi cuốn are the fresh, unfried rolls sold from glass cases at Saigon street stalls and eaten as a light lunch or snack on hot afternoons. Here golden tofu takes the place of the usual prawns and pork, rolled up with rice vermicelli, lettuce, mint, Thai basil, cucumber and garlic chives. They come with a thick, sweet-salty peanut and hoisin dip, as they do in the south. Chef's tip: dip the rice paper for barely a second and let it soften on the board, then lay the prettiest ingredients against the wrapper first, so the tofu and herbs show through the translucent skin and the roll stays tight.

30 min

Vietnamese Snacks & Starters

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Basque burnt cheesecake

This crustless cheesecake was created in the early 1990s at La Viña, a pintxos bar in the old town of San Sebastián (Donostia) in the Basque Country, and is now famous around the world. It's baked very hot so the top caramelises almost black and the sides rise and crack, while the middle stays soft and creamy, almost runny. There's no base and no water bath, and the rough, rustic look is the point: it's lined with crumpled baking paper. La Viña uses a spoonful of wheat flour; cornflour does the same job and keeps it gluten free. Chef's tip: take it out of the oven while the centre still wobbles like a soft set custard; it firms up as it cools, and if it looks set in the oven, the middle will be dry instead of creamy.

70 min

Spanish Baking

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Churros con chocolateChurros with hot chocolate

Churros con chocolate is Madrid's most famous treat, eaten at the city's historic chocolaterías for breakfast, as a late-afternoon merienda or at dawn after a night out. Churros are made from a simple dough of flour, water and salt piped straight into hot oil, fried until ridged and crisp, and dunked into a cup of hot chocolate so thick it almost holds the churro up. The dough has no egg or sugar, so the churros are light and crunchy; the sweetness comes from the chocolate and a dusting of sugar. Chef's tip: pipe through a star nozzle; the ridges let steam escape so the churros don't burst in the oil, and they create the extra crunch that makes a good churro.

40 min

Spanish Desserts

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Champiñones al ajilloGarlic mushrooms

Champiñones al ajillo are on the menu of almost every tapas bar in Spain: button mushrooms seared in olive oil with plenty of sliced garlic, a little dried chilli (guindilla), a splash of dry white wine or fino sherry and a handful of parsley. They are usually brought to the table still sizzling in a small terracotta cazuela, with bread to mop up the garlicky juices. Serve them with tortilla, patatas bravas or on toast for a quick lunch. Chef's tip: cook the mushrooms over a high heat in a single layer and do not salt them until they have browned; salt draws out water too early and the mushrooms stew grey instead of searing golden.

15 min

Spanish Snacks & Starters

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Flan de huevoBaked egg custard

Flan de huevo is the most common dessert in Spain: on the menú del día in every town, from Galicia to the Canary Islands, and made at home for Sunday lunch. It is simply eggs, milk and sugar, flavoured with a little lemon zest and vanilla, baked gently in a water bath over a layer of dark caramel. When it's turned out, the caramel becomes a glossy sauce running down the sides. Spanish flan is firmer and more eggy than French crème caramel, and it slices cleanly. Chef's tip: bake it slowly in a water bath and stop when the centre still wobbles slightly like jelly; overbaking leaves little holes and a grainy texture, the sign of a flan cooked too hot or too long.

60 min

Spanish Desserts

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Espinacas con garbanzosSpinach and chickpeas

Espinacas con garbanzos is one of the great tapas of Seville, served in little earthenware dishes in the bars around the cathedral and the Triana market. It carries the city's Moorish past in its spices: cumin, smoked paprika and a little vinegar, with a sauce thickened by a paste of garlic and bread fried in olive oil, the old Andalusian trick called a majado. Earthy chickpeas, soft spinach and a sauce rich enough to mop up with bread make it a filling vegan supper too. It is traditional in Seville during Lent. Chef's tip: pound the fried bread and garlic with the spices and vinegar into a thick paste before it goes into the pan; this majado is what gives the dish its smoky, velvety sauce, so don't skip it.

30 min

Spanish Vegetarian

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Empanada gallega de verdurasPepper and onion pie

Empanada gallega is the great pie of Galicia, baked in big trays and sold by the slice at every fiesta, market and bakery, and carried on picnics and pilgrimages to Santiago. A thin, crisp, bread-like crust (made with the olive oil from cooking the filling, so it's golden and full of flavour) encloses a moist filling based on a slow-cooked 'zaragallada' of onions and peppers with sweet pimentón. Tuna and pork are the usual fillings; this vegetarian version keeps the classic sofrito and adds hard-boiled eggs and green olives. Serve warm or cold, with a green salad. Chef's tip: drain the filling well and use some of its paprika-coloured oil in the dough; that is the Galician secret that makes the crust golden and savoury and ties the pie together.

90 min

Spanish Baking

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Vegetarian feijoadaSmoky black bean stew

Feijoada is Brazil's national dish, the slow black bean stew that Rio de Janeiro and the rest of the country eat for long Saturday lunches. The classic version is loaded with smoked pork; this feijoada vegetariana gets its depth from well-browned mushrooms, smoked paprika and bay instead, with sweet potato melting into the dark, glossy broth. Serve it the proper way: white rice, couve à mineira, farofa and slices of orange to cut the richness. Chef's tip: once the beans are tender, mash a ladleful against the side of the pot and stir it back in. That's how Brazilian cooks get the thick, velvety caldo that coats the rice, rather than a thin soup.

105 min

Brazilian Curries

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Tofu in tomato sauce

Đậu sốt cà chua is one of the most-loved home dishes in Vietnam, cooked on weeknights from Hanoi to Saigon and eaten with steamed rice and a simple vegetable soup. Golden fried tofu is simmered in a sauce of fresh tomatoes cooked down with shallot and garlic until sweet, tangy and glossy. Fish sauce is replaced here with soy sauce. Chef's tip: cook the tomatoes on their own until they collapse completely into a thick sauce before the tofu goes back in; if you rush this, you get watery pink tomatoes instead of a rich, clinging sauce.

25 min

Vietnamese Vegetarian

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Ajoblanco malagueñoChilled almond and garlic soup

Ajoblanco is one of the oldest soups in Spain, a white gazpacho from Málaga that dates back to Moorish times, before tomatoes ever reached Europe. Blanched almonds, bread, garlic, olive oil, sherry vinegar and ice-cold water are blended into a silky, nutty and surprisingly refreshing cream, traditionally served with sweet green grapes or slices of melon floating on top. In Málaga it is the star of the Fiesta del Ajoblanco in the village of Almáchar each September. Chef's tip: let the blended soup rest in the fridge overnight before serving; the garlic mellows, the almond flavour deepens and the texture becomes smoother and creamier.

15 min

Spanish Soups

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Vegetarian broken rice plateBroken rice with lemongrass tofu

Cơm tấm, 'broken rice', is the breakfast and lunch plate of Saigon. Broken grains, once sold cheaply to the poor, cook up soft and slightly sticky, and street stalls serve them with grilled meat, a crisp-edged fried egg, spring onion oil, pickles and cucumber. This vegetarian plate has caramelised lemongrass tofu in place of pork. Every part goes with the sweet-sour nước chấm spooned over the top. Chef's tip: fry the egg in hot oil and spoon the oil over the white, so the edges go lacy and crisp and the yolk stays runny, Saigon-style; break it over the rice and it becomes part of the sauce.

45 min

Vietnamese Rice & Grains

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Vegan nuoc chamSweet and sour dipping sauce

Nước chấm is the dipping sauce that goes with almost everything in Vietnam: spring rolls, bánh xèo, noodle salads and broken rice. Buddhist vegetarian cooks, all over the country, make it without fish sauce, using light soy sauce and a little coconut water for the deep, rounded taste. It should be thin, clear and pale amber, with flecks of garlic and chilli floating on top. Chef's tip: dissolve the sugar in the warm water first, then add the lime and soy, and stir in the garlic and chilli last, pounded with a pinch of sugar, so they float on the surface instead of sinking.

5 min

Vietnamese Chutneys & Dips

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Lemongrass tofu noodle salad

In Saigon, bún thịt nướng, a bowl of cold rice vermicelli piled with herbs, salad and smoky grilled pork, is the lunch everyone loves on a hot day. This vegetarian bún chay keeps everything that makes it great: lettuce, cucumber, mint and perilla underneath, caramelised lemongrass tofu on top, quick pickles, roasted peanuts, crispy shallots and spring onion oil, with a generous jug of vegan nước chấm poured over just before eating. Chef's tip: make the spring onion oil (mỡ hành) by pouring sizzling oil over sliced spring onions; it gives the bowl its rich, fragrant southern finish.

45 min

Vietnamese Salads

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