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Chaat masala
Featured recipe

Chaat masala

Chaat masala is the tangy, salty, slightly sulphurous sprinkle that makes chaat taste like chaat. Dried mango (amchur) gives the sourness and black salt the distinctive savoury edge. Sprinkle it over fruit, salads, raita, chips and street-food snacks.

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Sardinhas assadasGrilled sardines

In June the steep lanes of Alfama and Mouraria fill with smoke during the Santos Populares, Lisbon's street festivals for Saint Anthony, and almost every grill is loaded with sardines. They are salted, grilled whole over charcoal until the skin blisters, and laid on a thick slice of country bread that soaks up their juices. Add roasted green peppers and a salad of tomato and onion, and that is the whole feast. Chef's tip: salt the sardines with coarse salt 30 minutes before grilling and keep them chilled; the salt firms the skin so it doesn't stick to the grill.

20 minPortugueseFish
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SatsiviChicken in cold walnut sauce

Satsivi is a dish of the Georgian New Year table, prepared in homes across western Georgia, Imereti and Samegrelo, a day ahead so it can be served cold at the long supra feast on 1 January. Poached chicken is covered in a thick, ivory walnut sauce scented with garlic, fenugreek, coriander and marigold petals and sharpened with vinegar. It is rich and fragrant, eaten with cornbread (mchadi) or fresh bread. Chef's tip: blend the walnuts with a little warm stock until they release their oil; this gives the sauce its silky texture.

105 minGeorgianChickenGluten free
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Spaghetti alle vongoleSpaghetti with clams

Naples cooks this on Christmas Eve, when the feast is meatless, and all summer long in seaside trattorie along the bay. The clams open in a hot pan of garlicky oil and white wine and release their sea-salty juice, which the half-cooked spaghetti then drinks up as it finishes cooking, so every strand tastes of the shore. Neapolitans keep it in bianco, without tomato, with just a little chilli warmth and a heap of parsley. Most clams in shops are sold already purged of sand; if yours are not, soak them in cold salted water in the fridge for 30 minutes first. Serve with a glass of something cold and bread for the juices. Chef's tip: drain the spaghetti 2 minutes early and finish it in the clam liquor, tossing hard with a little extra oil, so the juices turn into a light, clinging sauce rather than a puddle in the bowl.

30 minItalianPasta & Noodles
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Spaghetti with sukumawikiSpaghetti with collard greens

A Kenyan twist on pasta: spaghetti tossed with sukumawiki (collard greens) cooked down with onions, garlic, fresh tomato, tomato paste, green chillies and lots of coriander. It's quick, green and full of flavour. Serve hot with garlic bread.

40 minAfricanPasta & NoodlesVeganSpicy
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SpanakopitaSpinach and feta pie

Spanakopita turns up everywhere in Greece: cut into squares at bakeries for a mid-morning snack, carried to the beach wrapped in paper, and set out on Easter and name-day tables beside the salads. A tray of it is a mass of soft, herby spinach and salty feta under layers of fillo that shatter as you cut. Spring onions and plenty of dill keep it fresh rather than heavy. Serve it warm or at room temperature with a tomato salad and olives; it tastes even better a few hours after baking. Feta is often made with animal rennet, so choose one labelled vegetarian. If you want to make your own pastry, our home-made fillo recipe works here. Chef's tip: squeeze the wilted spinach in a clean tea towel until it stops dripping; leaving the water in is the classic mistake that gives a soggy bottom.

80 minGreekBaking
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SpanakorizoSpinach and rice

Spanakorizo is a spring dish from Greek home kitchens, made when the markets fill with spinach and fresh dill. Rice is cooked right in the pot with wilted spinach, spring onions and olive oil until it is soft and a little loose, then squeezed with lemon. It isn't meant to be fluffy like a pilaf: Greek cooks like it moist, almost creamy. It is a full meal with a slab of feta and bread, or a side to fried eggs for those who eat them. Chef's tip: take it off the heat while it still looks a bit wet and let it rest covered for 5 minutes; cooking it until dry is the usual mistake and the rice turns stodgy as it cools.

35 minGreekRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
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Ven pongalRice and moong dal porridge

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

30 minIndianBreakfast & BrunchGluten free
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SpasYogurt and wheat soup

Spas is the yogurt soup of the Armenian highlands, eaten hot through the cold winters of Shirak and Gyumri and cold from the fridge in summer, when it tastes like a thick, savoury ayran. The base is tangy matsun (Armenian yogurt) thickened with egg and a little flour so it can boil without curdling, with plump grains of hulled wheat (dzavar) and a swirl of onions fried in butter with dried mint. Families make it for an ill relative, for a quick supper, and as a gentle start to a long feast. Serve with lavash and fresh herbs. Chef's tip: stir in one direction only, without stopping, until the soup comes to the boil; Armenian grandmothers swear by it, and steady stirring really is what keeps the yogurt smooth.

55 minArmenianSoups
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SpeculaasSpiced biscuits

In the weeks before 5 December, Sinterklaas evening (pakjesavond), Dutch kitchens and bakeries fill with the smell of speculaas: thin, crisp, dark-brown biscuits heavy with cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, ginger, cardamom and a little white pepper. Traditionally they are pressed into carved wooden moulds shaped like windmills or Saint Nicholas himself; at home most people roll and cut them, scatter almonds on top and bake them crisp. Make your own spice mix (speculaaskruiden) once and you'll never buy it again. Chef's tip: let the dough rest overnight in the fridge; the spices bloom into the butter and the flavour is twice as deep the next day.

35 minDutchBaking
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Speculoos spreadSpiced biscuit spread

Speculoospasta, a sweet spread made from crushed spiced caramel biscuits, is a Flemish invention of the 2000s: a home cook took the idea to a Belgian TV contest for inventors, and within a few years it sat next to chocolate spread on breakfast tables across Belgium and the Netherlands. Belgians spread it thickly on bread or toast, stir it into yoghurt, or warm it to pour over ice cream. Homemade, it tastes more of cinnamon and caramel and less of sugar than shop jars. Chef's tip: blitz the biscuits to a powder as fine as flour before adding liquid; any grit left now stays gritty in the jar.

15 minBelgianChutneys & Dips
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Vepřo knedlo zeloRoast pork with dumplings and cabbage

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

210 minCzechMeat
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Spinach MaultaschenSpinach pasta pockets

Maultaschen are the big square pasta parcels of Swabia, around Stuttgart and Tübingen, and a dish with its own legend: Swabians jokingly call them 'little God-cheaters', because the dough was said to hide meat from God's eyes during Lent. Meat-free spinach Maultaschen are a long-standing Lenten and Good Friday dish there, filled with spinach, soaked bread, onion, parsley and a little cheese. Eat them in clear vegetable broth, or the next day sliced and fried in butter with onions and egg ('geröstet'). Chef's tip: press every pocket of air out as you seal the dough; trapped air expands in the hot water and splits the parcels open.

100 minGermanPasta & Noodles
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PkhaliSpinach and walnut balls

Pkhali are the walnut-bound vegetable pâtés that open almost every Georgian feast, the supra, from Tbilisi to the villages of Kakheti. Spinach is the best known, though beetroot, beans, leeks and nettles are made the same way, and in Lent they become the heart of the meal. The cooked greens are chopped fine with walnuts, garlic, coriander, vinegar and spices, shaped into small balls and pressed with a criss-cross, then dotted with pomegranate seeds. Eat them cold with mchadi or bread. The common mistake is not squeezing the spinach hard enough, which makes the pkhali loose and watery. Chef's tip: they taste much better the next day, once the garlic and vinegar have soaked into the walnuts, so make them a day ahead.

40 minGeorgianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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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 minGhanaianCurriesVeganGluten free
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Sarawak laksaSpicy coconut noodle soup

Kuching wakes up to laksa Sarawak, ordered at coffee shops before work and reaching its peak on a lazy Sunday morning. It looks nothing like curry laksa: the broth is a russet, gently creamy soup built on a complex paste of chillies, shallots, galangal, toasted sesame, peanuts and warm whole spices, cooked into a chicken and prawn-shell stock with tamarind and a little coconut milk. Thin rice vermicelli is topped with shredded chicken, whole prawns, ribbons of omelette and bean sprouts, and every bowl comes with lime and a dab of sambal belacan. The work is in the paste, which keeps well and makes several batches. Chef's tip: toast the spices, sesame seeds and peanuts separately in a dry pan before grinding; it gives the broth its deep, roasted aroma.

90 minMalaysianSoups
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ParippuRed lentil curry

No Sri Lankan rice-and-curry plate is complete without a bowl of parippu, from a Colombo office canteen to a farmhouse kitchen in the dry zone; many families also mop it up with bread or pol roti for breakfast. Unlike a North Indian dal, the red lentils are cooked with turmeric, green chilli and a strip of rampe (pandan leaf), then softened with thin coconut milk and finished with a sizzling tempering of mustard seeds, shallots, dried chilli and curry leaves, so it tastes mellow, fragrant and only gently spicy. Keep it pourable: it thickens a lot as it stands. The usual mistake is adding the coconut milk too early and boiling it hard, which makes it split and grainy. Chef's tip: stir the thick coconut milk in off the heat at the very end; it gives a silky, almost creamy finish without curdling.

30 minSri LankanCurriesVeganGluten free
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Sara udonCrispy noodles with seafood sauce

Nagasaki's second famous noodle dish uses the same toppings as champon but turns them into a thick sauce poured over a plate of crunchy fried noodles. The name means plate udon, though the classic noodles are very thin and fried crisp. In Nagasaki homes it is a quick weekend lunch and a standard dish at family gatherings, and supermarkets there sell the fried noodle nests ready to use. People splash it with Worcestershire sauce at the table, and a dab of hot mustard is common too. Chef's tip: pour the sauce over at the very last moment and let the noodles soften slowly as you eat, so you get crisp and soft in every mouthful.

30 minJapanesePasta & Noodles
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SantulaMildly spiced mixed vegetables

Santula is everyday Odia comfort food, the dish cooks in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack make when someone is unwell or when the family wants something light after festival meals. Papaya, potato, aubergine, pumpkin and raw banana are boiled with turmeric, then given a quick tempering of panch phoron, garlic and dried chilli in a little oil, and finished, in many homes, with a spoon of milk. It is soft, mild and slightly soupy, and eaten with rice and dal. Chef's tip: boil the vegetables only until just tender; santula should look like separate pieces, not a mash.

35 minIndianSidesVeganGluten free
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Silao khajaLayered syrup pastry

Travellers on the road from Patna to Rajgir stop at Silao, a small town near the ruins of Nalanda, for one thing: khaja, a pastry built from dozens of paper-thin layers that flake apart in the mouth and are glazed with a crackly sugar coat. Silao's halwais have made it for generations, and it is carried home in boxes as a present; it is also offered in temples and at weddings across Bihar and Odisha. It takes patience but no special equipment. Chef's tip: fry at a really low heat so the layers have time to open out like pages before the outside colours; hot oil seals them shut.

90 minIndianIndian Sweets
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SilpanchoBreaded steak over rice and potatoes

Silpancho is the pride of Cochabamba in Bolivia and is sold in huge portions at the city's lunchtime silpancherías: a layer of rice, then sliced fried potatoes, then a beef steak pounded so thin it covers the plate, breaded and fried, topped with a fried egg and a fresh salsa of tomato, onion and locoto chilli. The mistake is not pounding the meat thin enough; it should be about 3 mm, so it fries in a minute and stays tender. Chef's tip: press the breadcrumbs into the meat with the palm of your hand, then pound lightly once more so they stick.

70 minAndeanMeat
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Vegetable egusi soupMelon seed soup

Egusi soup is cooked right across Nigeria, from Igbo kitchens in Enugu to Yoruba homes in Abeokuta, and it is the soup most people mean when they say 'swallow and soup'. Ground egusi (the protein-rich seeds of a wild melon) is fried and simmered in a pepper and palm-oil base until it forms soft, savoury curds, then finished with greens. It is eaten by hand with pounded yam, eba or fufu. The usual meats, stockfish and crayfish are left out here; mushrooms, iru and vegetable stock do the work. Chef's tip: let the egusi paste sit in the hot sauce without stirring for 5 minutes so it sets into fluffy curds before you break it up.

60 minNigerianSoupsVeganGluten free
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Schwarzwälder KirschtorteBlack Forest gâteau

Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte comes from the Black Forest in south-west Germany, a region famous for its sour cherries and the clear cherry brandy, Kirschwasser, distilled from them. Layers of light chocolate sponge are soaked with cherry syrup (and traditionally kirsch), filled with thickened sour cherries and lots of whipped cream, then covered in cream and chocolate shavings and topped with cherries. It's the cake of birthdays, Sunday Kaffee und Kuchen and Konditorei windows. This version leaves out gelatine: the cherries are set with cornflour and the cream with a little mascarpone. Chef's tip: chill the assembled cake for at least 4 hours; cut too early and the layers slide apart.

95 minGermanBaking
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SimitSesame bread rings

Stacked high on wooden trays and pushed through Istanbul on red carts, simit is the city's breakfast on the move: commuters tear one apart on the ferry across the Bosphorus, throwing the odd piece to the gulls. The ring is twisted, dipped in diluted grape molasses (pekmez) and pressed into sesame, so it bakes up with a crackly, nutty, deep brown crust and a chewy, close crumb. Unlike a bagel it is never boiled. At home, serve warm with tea, white cheese, olives and tomatoes. Chef's tip: toast the sesame seeds in a dry pan before coating; raw seeds stay pale and taste of very little.

120 minTurkishBakingVegan
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Vegetable Hokkien meeBraised black noodles with vegetables

In Kuala Lumpur, Hokkien mee means thick yellow noodles braised in a dark, caramel-sweet soy sauce until they turn almost black, a late-night hawker dish that Petaling Street and Jalan Alor stalls still cook over roaring flames long after midnight. The originals carry pork, prawns and crisp lard; ours uses meaty shiitake, tofu puffs that drink up the sauce, cabbage and choy sum, with fried shallots for the crunch the lard would give. It's smoky, salty-sweet and very slurpable. Chef's tip: let the noodles braise until the sauce has thickened and clings to every strand, with only a spoonful left in the wok.

25 minMalaysianPasta & NoodlesVegan
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Egg and chive jiaoziEgg and chive dumplings

In northern China, from Shandong to Dongbei, families sit round the table on Chinese New Year's Eve and fold jiaozi together to eat at midnight. Jiu cai ji dan, egg and garlic chive, is the classic meat-free filling: soft scrambled egg, bright green chives and a few glass noodles to soak up the juices. Boil them and serve with black vinegar and chilli oil, or pan-fry the leftovers the next day. Chef's tip: stir a spoonful of oil into the chopped chives before adding the salt; the oil seals in their juice so the filling doesn't go watery.

90 minChineseSnacks & Starters
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SinangagGarlic fried rice

Sinangag is what a Filipino kitchen does with last night's rice: fried in garlicky oil first thing in the morning and heaped on the breakfast plate. It is the 'si' in silog, the breakfast plates served at every silugan (all-day breakfast stall) in Manila, where garlic rice comes with a fried egg and a choice of cured meat. At home it goes with anything, from tortang talong to a fried egg and tomatoes, and a small dish of spiced vinegar for dipping. Each grain should be separate and lightly toasted, with plenty of crunchy, golden garlic on top. Chef's tip: fry the garlic slowly from cold oil; it browns evenly and the oil takes on a deep, sweet garlic flavour.

15 minFilipinoRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
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Sindhi kadhiSour gram flour and tamarind curry

Sindhi kadhi is the Sunday lunch of families from Sindh, served in Karachi and Hyderabad homes over plain rice with crisp fried potatoes on the side. Unlike the yogurt kadhis of Gujarat and Punjab it uses no dairy at all: gram flour is roasted in oil until it smells like toasted nuts, whisked into water with tamarind and tomato, and simmered with a crowd of vegetables, typically drumsticks, okra, cluster beans, potato and carrot. The result is thin, sour and gently hot, with a deep golden colour. The common mistake is rushing the roasting of the gram flour; pale flour leaves the whole pot tasting raw and pasty. Chef's tip: cook the drumsticks and potatoes first and add the okra only in the last 10 minutes so it stays whole and does not turn slimy.

50 minPakistaniCurriesVeganGluten free
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Vegetable khorovatsGrilled aubergine, peppers and tomatoes

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

40 minArmenianSaladsVeganGluten free
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Schwäbischer KartoffelsalatWarm potato salad

Swabian potato salad is nothing like the creamy kind. In Stuttgart and across Baden-Württemberg it is made with waxy potatoes sliced while still warm and soaked in hot stock, vinegar, onion and oil until it turns glossy and slightly 'schlonzig', a local word for that loose, juicy texture. It is eaten lukewarm, never fridge-cold, beside Maultaschen or vegetarian schnitzel, and at every summer garden party. This version uses vegetable stock. Chef's tip: pour the hot dressing over the potatoes while they are still warm; cold potatoes won't drink it in and the salad stays dry.

40 minGermanSaladsVeganGluten free
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Vegetable kottu rotiChopped roti stir-fried with vegetables

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

40 minSri LankanFast FoodSpicy
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Singapore carrot cake (chai tow kway)Fried radish cake with egg

Singapore's carrot cake has no carrot in it: "carrot" is the local word for white radish (daikon). A steamed cake of rice flour and grated radish is cut into cubes and fried with egg and garlic until crisp and golden, either "white" (plain and eggy) or "black" (with sweet dark soy). It's a breakfast and supper favourite at hawker centres like Chinatown Complex. Most stalls add chai poh (preserved radish); this version leaves it out because many brands are made with fish sauce, and spring onions bring the savoury lift instead. Chef's tip: steam the cake a day ahead and chill it overnight; cold, firm cake cuts cleanly and crisps instead of falling apart.

75 minSingaporeanSnacks & StartersGluten free
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Vegetable kushikatsuBreaded vegetable skewers

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

50 minJapaneseSnacks & Starters
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Vegetable lagmanHand-pulled noodles with vegetables

Lagman came to the Ferghana Valley with Uyghur and Dungan cooks, and in Andijan and Namangan it is still made the old way: a soft dough oiled, rested and pulled by hand into long, springy noodles, then topped with a stew of peppers, radish, green beans and tomato called vadja. Ferghana lagman is usually 'dry' (quwurma), the sauce thick enough to cling, rather than a soup. Locals eat it at lunchtime from noodle houses near the bazaar, with a dash of vinegar and chilli oil at the table. This version uses only vegetables. Chef's tip: oil the dough ropes generously and let them rest a full 30 minutes; well-rested dough stretches to arm's length without snapping.

90 minUzbekPasta & NoodlesVeganSpicy
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SingjuCabbage and lotus stem salad

Singju is Imphal's favourite evening snack, sold from stalls at Khwairamband market and Thangal Bazar: a pile of finely shredded cabbage, lotus stem, banana flower, onion and fresh herbs, tossed with roasted chilli and toasted gram flour. Most stalls add a little ngari (fermented fish); vegetarian Meitei homes skip it and use extra roasted perilla or sesame and toasted gram flour, which give a nutty, savoury depth. It is crunchy, hot and herby. Chef's tip: shred everything as thinly as you can, almost like hair; the dressing clings better.

25 minIndianSaladsVeganGluten freeSpicy
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SingodiCoconut milk fudge in leaf cones

Singodi is Almora's other famous sweet, sold in the same shops as bal mithai but looking nothing like it: a soft, pale mix of khoya and coconut packed into a cone of maalu leaf and pinned shut with a twig. The leaf leaves a faint green, woody scent in the sweet, which is the whole point, and people in Kumaon unwrap them at weddings and on trips home. Maalu leaves are almost impossible to buy elsewhere, so this version uses banana leaf or fresh betel (paan) leaves; both give a gentle leafy aroma. Chef's tip: wrap the singodi while the filling is still warm and leave them in the fridge overnight, so the scent of the leaf soaks in.

45 minIndianIndian SweetsGluten free
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Vegetable lawarBean and toasted coconut salad

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

40 minIndonesianSaladsVeganGluten free
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Vegetable machboosSpiced rice with vegetables

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

90 minGulf ArabianRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
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Vegetable mandu-gukVegetable dumpling soup

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

75 minKoreanSoups
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Vegetable maqlubaUpside-down rice and vegetables

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

80 minLebaneseRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
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Zeytinyağlı pırasaLeeks braised in olive oil

Winter in Istanbul brings fat leeks to every neighbourhood market, and zeytinyağlı pırasa is how many households use them: chunks of leek and carrot stewed gently in olive oil with a handful of rice to thicken the juices, finished with lemon. It is served at room temperature on the side of a winter table, or as a light lunch with bread and white cheese, and grandmothers often say it is better the second day. The usual mistake is skipping a proper wash: grit hides between the layers and ruins the whole pot. Chef's tip: cut the leeks on a slant into thick pieces and keep them whole rather than separating the rings, so they hold their shape through the slow braise.

40 minTurkishSidesVeganGluten free
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HolubtsiCabbage rolls with pork and rice

Holubtsi, 'little doves', are the cabbage rolls of Ukrainian family feasts, made by the trayful for weddings, christenings and Christmas in homes from Lviv to Poltava. This version contains pork: tender cabbage leaves wrap a mix of pork and beef mince, rice, onion and carrot, and the rolls bake slowly in a tomato and soured cream sauce. Serve with more soured cream and dill. Chef's tip: core the cabbage and simmer the whole head, peeling off leaves as they soften; they come away without tearing.

135 minUkrainianMeatGluten free
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Malvani kombdi vadeChicken curry with puffed bread

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

95 minIndianChickenSpicy
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MămăligăCornmeal mush

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

35 minRomanianSidesGluten free
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Hokkaido butter cornButtered sweetcorn

Hokkaido grows most of Japan's sweetcorn, and in late summer roadside stands around Sapporo and Furano sell cobs so sweet people eat them raw. Butter corn is how the island turns that harvest into a side dish: kernels hissing in a hot pan with Hokkaido's other pride, butter, and finished with soy sauce until the edges catch. You'll find it as a ramen topping, a beer snack in izakaya and a bento filler. Serve it hot beside grilled vegetables or rice. Chef's tip: let the kernels sit in the pan without stirring for a minute at a time. A few browned, almost toasted kernels give the dish its nutty, popcorn-like smell.

10 minJapaneseSides
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Mambazha pulisseryRipe mango yogurt curry

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

30 minIndianCurriesGluten free
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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.

40 minJapaneseFish
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Hokey pokey ice creamHoneycomb toffee ice cream

Hokey pokey is what New Zealanders call honeycomb toffee, and vanilla ice cream full of crunchy little nuggets of it has been the country's best-loved flavour since the mid-twentieth century; it's scooped into cones at dairies and beaches from Auckland to Invercargill. The honeycomb is a bubbling golden syrup toffee that foams up when bicarbonate of soda goes in and sets glassy and light. Folded through a rich no-churn vanilla base, it stays crunchy at first and slowly turns chewy and toffee-like. Chef's tip: don't stir the sugar once it starts to melt; swirl the pan instead, or it will crystallise and turn grainy.

30 minAustralianDessertsGluten free
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Mamri (mandazi)Coconut cardamom doughnuts

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

325 minAfricanBreakfast & BrunchVegan
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HogaoTomato and spring onion sauce

Hogao (or guiso) is the base and topping of Colombian home cooking, from Antioquia to Cali: ripe tomatoes and long spring onions (cebolla larga) cooked slowly in oil with garlic and cumin until soft and jammy. It is spooned over patacones, arepas, boiled potatoes and yuca, stirred into beans and rice, and served in a little bowl at the table. Chef's tip: cook it low and slow; a fast, hot hogao tastes raw and sharp, while a patient one turns sweet.

20 minColombianChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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Hodu gwajaWalnut-shaped red bean cakes

Hodu gwaja (호두과자) were first sold at Cheonan station in South Chungcheong in the 1930s, and the town's walnut orchards still supply the pieces of nut hidden in every one. Today you find them in paper bags at every motorway service station in Korea: bite-sized, walnut-shaped cakes with a soft, eggy shell around sweet red bean paste and a chunk of walnut. They are made in a hinged cast-iron mould; a madeleine or Japanese takoyaki pan works too, though the shape will differ. Eat them warm, on the day. Chef's tip: heat the mould properly before the first batch; the first cakes are always the palest, so judge doneness by the colour of the later ones.

50 minKoreanBaking
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Mandua ki rotiFinger millet flatbread

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

35 minIndianBreads & ParathasGluten free
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HinavaRaw fish salad with lime

Hinava is the dish Kadazandusun families set out at Kaamatan, Sabah's harvest festival in May, and on weekend tables in Kota Kinabalu and Penampang. Strips of raw mackerel are soaked in sour lime juice, then tossed with sliced shallots, ginger, red chilli and grated seed of bambangan, a wild mango, which adds a musky tang. The result is sharp, clean and crunchy, with firm, pearly fish. Eat it as a starter or alongside rice and grilled meat. Chef's tip: slice the fish very thinly and evenly so the lime firms each strip the same way, and season with salt only at the end.

20 minMalaysianSaladsGluten free
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Mangalore bunsSweet banana puris

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

45 minIndianBreakfast & Brunch
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Mangalorean kori rottiCoconut chicken curry

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

75 minIndianChickenSpicy
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Hideg meggylevesChilled sour cherry soup

Hideg meggyleves is a chilled sour cherry soup served as a starter in Hungary at the height of summer, from family lunches in the cherry-growing villages around Pest county to the terraces of Balaton restaurants. Sour cherries simmer briefly with sugar, cinnamon and cloves, then the soup is thickened with sour cream and served icy cold, pink and gently tangy. Some cooks add a splash of red wine for grown-ups. It is eaten before the main course, not as dessert, though no one complains if you have it after. Chef's tip: chill it for at least 3 hours; the flavour rounds out and the spices soften as it cools. A common mistake is boiling it after the cream goes in, which curdles it.

25 minHungarianSoupsGluten free
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Peynirli pideBoat-shaped cheese bread

Along the Black Sea coast, from Samsun to Trabzon, the pide salon is where families go on a Friday night, and the oven man shapes each boat of dough by hand before sliding it onto the hot stone floor of a wood-fired oven. The Black Sea way is generous: a pool of melted kaşar and white cheese held inside a rim of soft bread, an egg cracked into the middle for the last few minutes and a knob of butter dropped on as it comes out. Children love tearing off the crusty ends to drag through the cheese. Chef's tip: heat a heavy baking tray or pizza stone in the oven for a full 30 minutes; the hot base is what gives a crisp underside rather than a soft one.

120 minTurkishPizza
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Mango pomelo sagoMango, pomelo and sago dessert

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

35 minChineseDesserts
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MangúMashed green plantain

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

35 minPuerto RicanBreakfast & BrunchGluten free
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HeotjesatbapRice with seven vegetable sides

In Andong, the old Confucian town of North Gyeongsang, the scholars of the yangban class were said to want the food from jesa, the rite offered to ancestors, without waiting for a rite to come round, so they cooked the same dishes and called them heotjesatbap (헛제삿밥), 'fake rite rice'. Restaurants by Andong's dam still serve it: a bowl of rice to be mixed with brown, white and green namul and seasoned with soy sauce, never chilli, because ritual food avoids red pepper and garlic. The full table includes grilled fish and beef skewers; this vegetarian version keeps the vegetables and tofu jeon that make up most of it. Chef's tip: cook each namul separately with only salt, soy or sesame, so each keeps its own taste and colour when you mix the bowl.

60 minKoreanRice & GrainsVegan
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Chhum hanSteamed vegetables with chilli dip

Chhum han is how Mizo families eat vegetables at their simplest: whatever is in the garden (pumpkin, chayote, beans, aubergine, cabbage, potato) steamed or boiled until just tender and served on a plate with a sharp dip of crushed chilli, garlic, salt and herbs. In Aizawl it is part of almost every home meal, eaten with rice and bai. The vegetables taste of themselves, and the dip does the work. Chef's tip: steam each vegetable for its own time and take it off when a knife slides in; overcooked chhum han is watery and dull.

25 minIndianSidesVeganGluten free
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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 minMalagasyMeatGluten free
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Manok pansohBamboo-cooked chicken

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

90 minMalaysianChickenGluten free
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Man'oushe jibnehCheese flatbread

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

90 minLebaneseBreads & Parathas
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Man'oushe za'atarZa'atar flatbread

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

90 minLebaneseBreads & ParathasVegan
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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 minIndianVegetarianVeganGluten freeSpicy
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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 minTurkishChutneys & DipsGluten free
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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 minEgyptianFast Food
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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 IslanderDessertsVeganGluten free
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Maraq digaagChicken and vegetable stew

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

60 minSomaliChickenGluten free
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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 minIndianRice & GrainsGluten free
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PhagshapaPork with radish and chilli

High in the hills of Sikkim, where winters are long and cold, Bhutia and Lepcha households make phagshapa from fatty strips of pork, white radish and fiery dried red chillies. Traditionally it uses no oil at all: the pork renders its own fat, and the radish soaks it up and turns meltingly soft. It is everyday warming food in Gangtok kitchens, eaten with rice and a bowl of clear soup. Chef's tip: cut the radish thick, in batons, so it holds its shape through the long simmer.

80 minIndianMeatGluten freeSpicy
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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 ArabianRice & Grains
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Onomichi ramen

Onomichi is a hilly port town in Hiroshima prefecture on the Seto Inland Sea, and the start of the Shimanami Kaido cycle route across the islands to Shikoku. Its ramen shops serve a dark soy-seasoned broth made from chicken and small dried fish, with flat, slightly wavy noodles. The signature is a scattering of soft pork back-fat pieces that float on top and melt into each mouthful. Many visitors eat a bowl before or after the bike ride. Chef's tip: pull the heads and dark bellies off the dried sardines before using them; that is where the bitterness lives, and the cleaned fish give a sweet, clean sea flavour.

75 minJapanesePasta & Noodles
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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 minIndianMeatGluten free
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Wagyu steak, Kobe style

Kobe's steakhouses cook beef on a hot iron plate in front of the diners, cut it into bite-size pieces and serve it with little more than salt, wasabi and golden garlic chips. Genuine Kobe beef is a protected name: it can only come from certified Tajima cattle born and raised in Hyogo prefecture that meet strict grading rules, and it is rare and costly outside Japan. This recipe is cooked in the same style, with any good wagyu, or a well-marbled sirloin or ribeye if you cannot get wagyu. Because the fat is so rich, a modest portion goes a long way. Chef's tip: cut a small piece of fat from the edge of the steak and melt it in the pan instead of oil; it greases the pan and adds a lovely beefy aroma.

20 minJapaneseMeat
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Akashiyaki (Akashi egg and octopus dumplings)

Ask for tamagoyaki in Akashi, a fishing town on the coast of Hyogo, and you will be served these dumplings rather than a rolled omelette: that is what locals call them. Small shops near the Uonotana fish market sell them on tilted wooden boards, with a bowl of warm dashi for dipping. Compared with Osaka takoyaki, the batter is mostly egg and stock, so the balls are soft and trembling inside, and they come without sauce or mayonnaise. Akashi is famous for its octopus, and a piece sits in every ball. Chef's tip: oil the pan generously and fill each hollow right to the brim; the soft batter needs the extra to make a round, puffy ball.

45 minJapaneseSnacks & Starters
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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 minAustralianMeatGluten free
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Pho boBeef noodle soup

Before Hanoi's offices open, pavement pho stalls are already busy, with diners on low plastic stools bent over bowls of rice noodles in a clear, spiced beef broth. The northern style is restrained: brisket and thin slices of raw beef that cook in the bowl, spring onion and a little coriander, with lime and chilli on the side rather than a heap of herbs and sauces. The work is in the broth, simmered slowly from bones with blackened onion and ginger and a small bag of toasted spices. Make it on a weekend; it keeps for three days and the bowls then take ten minutes. Chef's tip: char the onion and ginger until they are properly black in patches, because that smoky sweetness is what makes the broth taste of pho rather than plain beef stock.

240 minVietnameseSoups
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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 minIndianSnacks & Starters
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Martabak manisThick sweet pancake

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

55 minIndonesianDesserts
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Halo-haloShaved ice dessert

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 minFilipinoDesserts
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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 minVenezuelanMeat
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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 minKoreanDrinksVeganGluten free
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MateYerba mate tea

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

5 minArgentinianDrinksVeganGluten free
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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 minLebaneseDesserts
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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 minHungarianSoupsGluten freeSpicy
by KrazyBadal 1 views

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 minMoroccanBreakfast & 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 minChineseSoupsVeganGluten free
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Masala dosaPotato-filled rice crêpes

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

70 minIndianBreakfast & BrunchVeganGluten free
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Masale bhaatSpiced rice with ivy gourd

At a traditional Maharashtrian wedding lunch in Pune, the masale bhaat arrives in a steel bucket, deep brown-gold with goda masala, studded with tondli, peas and cashews and topped with fresh coconut and coriander. Unlike a pulao it is not delicate: it's spiced, a touch sweet from jaggery, and made with short-grain ambemohor or indrayani rice that turns soft and fragrant. A squeeze of lemon, a spoon of ghee and a bowl of kadhi or mattha (spiced buttermilk) on the side make it a meal. Chef's tip: slice the ivy gourd lengthways into quarters, not rounds, so it holds its shape and stays crunchy through the steaming.

50 minIndianRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
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