Featured recipe

Keerai masiyal

Mashed greens

Keerai masiyal is the plain, green, buttery-soft mash Tamil mothers make with whatever keerai the market has that morning: arai keerai, siru keerai, amaranth or plain spinach. The leaves are cooked with shallots, garlic and green chilli and then mashed, traditionally with a wooden mathu, until smooth but still a little textured, then finished with a cumin tempering. It's eaten mixed into hot rice with a spoon of ghee or sesame oil, next to sambar or rasam, and it's a favourite first food for toddlers. Chef's tip: cook the greens uncovered; covering them traps the gases that turn the leaves dull olive instead of bright green.

What to eat today?

Around the world

Today's trip: Persian

A new country every day, from every cuisine on the site.

Persian

Shir berenj

Rose water rice pudding 70 minMore from Persian (181) →

This week's collection

Kid-friendly dinners750 recipes · a new collection every Monday

New this week

See all new →

Coming up

All occasions →

Latest recipes

Öröm with breadClotted cream on bread

In Mongolian summer, when the herds are milked several times a day, families on the steppe gently heat fresh milk in a wide pan, ladling and pouring it back to froth it, then leave it overnight. By morning a thick, wrinkled, pale-gold skin of cream has formed: öröm. Lifted off and folded, it's spread on boortsog (fried dough) or bread with a sprinkle of sugar and eaten with milk tea. It's rich, slightly nutty and very simple. Chef's tip: use the widest, heaviest pan you own and the lowest possible heat; öröm needs a large surface and patience, not boiling.

130 min

Mongolian Breakfast & Brunch

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Sugar-bean bunny chowBean curry in a bread loaf

Bunny chow was born in Durban, among the city's Indian community, where curry in a hollowed loaf became the takeaway lunch of dockworkers and caddies. Many Durbanites say the first bunnies were vegetarian, filled with sugar beans, and cafés around Grey Street still sell a bean bunny beside the mutton one. A quarter loaf of unsliced white bread is scooped out and filled with a fiery, red Durban curry, with the scooped-out bread (the 'virgin') put back on top for dunking. It is eaten with your hands, with grated carrot and chilli salad on the side. Chef's tip: the curry needs to be thick and saucy, not watery; a runny curry soaks through the loaf before you've finished the first bite.

60 min

South African Fast Food

by KrazyBadal 0 views

SukumawikiSautéed collard greens

Sukumawiki (collard greens) finely chopped and cooked quickly with cumin, onion, tomato and a little turmeric, chilli and coriander-cumin powder until just tender. Its name means 'push the week', because it's cheap enough to stretch the budget to the end of the week. Serve hot with ugali.

22 minAfrican Sides

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Orecchiette con cime di rapaOrecchiette with turnip tops

In Bari the old women of Arco Basso still shape orecchiette on wooden boards in the street, and the dish everyone cooks them with is cime di rapa: the bitter, leafy turnip tops sold in big bunches from autumn to early spring. The greens and pasta boil in the same pot, then get tossed with garlic, chilli and good olive oil. Pugliese cooks usually melt in anchovies; this vegan version uses golden fried breadcrumbs (mollica), the 'poor man's cheese' of southern Italy, for crunch and savour. Chef's tip: add the chopped stalks first and the leaves a few minutes later, so everything is tender at the same moment as the pasta.

30 min

Italian Pasta & Noodles

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Mushroom or lamHerb stew with aubergine and mushrooms

Or lam belongs to Luang Prabang, the old royal town on the Mekong, where it is cooked for long family lunches and served at almost every restaurant that makes local food. It is a thick, rustic stew of aubergine, long beans, mushrooms and greens, thickened with a little sticky rice and flavoured with sakhan, a peppery wood that numbs the lips like Sichuan pepper, plus heaps of dill and lemongrass. The usual dried buffalo skin and meat are swapped for two kinds of mushroom here. Eat it with sticky rice and a jeow. Chef's tip: if you can't find sakhan, a few lightly crushed Sichuan peppercorns give the same tingle; add them early so the tingle spreads through the broth.

75 min

Lao Vegetarian

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Sundubu jjigaeSoft tofu stew

All over Korea, small lunch restaurants bring sundubu jjigae to the table still boiling in a black stone pot, with a raw egg on the side to crack in while it bubbles. The stew is built on very soft, unpressed tofu, which breaks into creamy curds in a red, chilli-oil broth. Seafood and pork go in together here, though you can use just one. Have it with a bowl of rice and some kimchi; it's especially welcome on a cold day. Chef's tip: fry the chilli flakes gently in oil with the pork and garlic before adding liquid; this red chilli oil gives the stew its colour and a deep, rounded heat.

25 min

Korean Soups

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Omegi tteokMillet rice cakes with red bean

Omegi tteok (오메기떡) are Jeju's best-known rice cakes: small dark-green rounds of glutinous millet and rice dough flavoured with mugwort, filled with sweet red bean, and rolled in a coat of mashed red beans or toasted nuts. Jeju farmers grew millet on fields too stony for rice, and the dough was once fermented into omegi-sul, the island's rice wine. Now they are bought in boxes at Seogwipo's Olle market as the island's favourite gift, kept in the freezer and thawed for tea time. Chef's tip: knead the dough with boiling water while it is still hot; mugwort and millet need the heat to bind into a smooth, stretchy dough.

55 min

Korean Desserts

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Olluquito con charquiOlluco and dried beef stew

Olluco is a glossy yellow-and-pink tuber grown high in the Andes, crunchy when raw and silky when cooked, and in Lima's market eateries it is cut into fine matchsticks and stewed with charqui, sun-dried meat that was the travel food of Inca messengers. The dish is gently spiced with ají panca and finished with fresh parsley, and it is always served with white rice. Latin shops sell olluco in jars; if you can't find it, firm new potatoes or courgette give a similar texture, and beef brisket stands in well for charqui. Chef's tip: cut the olluco and rinse it well; the slippery sap washes off and the stew won't turn slimy.

95 min

Peruvian Curries

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Zürcher GeschnetzeltesSliced veal in mushroom cream sauce

Zürcher Geschnetzeltes is the signature dish of Zurich's old guild restaurants and a favourite Sunday meal in homes across German-speaking Switzerland. Thin strips of veal are seared quickly, then the pan is deglazed with white wine and finished with cream and mushrooms into a pale, glossy sauce, and the whole thing is served beside a golden, crisp rösti. The wine adds alcohol (most cooks it off); for an alcohol-free version use the same amount of chicken stock with 1 teaspoon of lemon juice. The usual error is cooking the veal in the sauce until it toughens; sear it fast, take it out, and only warm it through at the end. Chef's tip: boil the potatoes for the rösti a day ahead and chill them; cold, firm potatoes grate cleanly and fry up crisp.

65 min

Swiss Meat

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Olla de carneBeef and vegetable pot

Olla de carne, "pot of meat", is the Costa Rican Sunday soup, cooked slowly in the Central Valley around San José and in country homes: beef shin and short ribs simmered for hours in a clear broth with big pieces of yuca, chayote, green plantain, corn, carrot and taro. The broth is served first, then the meat and vegetables, with rice on the side. The mistake is putting all the vegetables in together; add the hard ones first and the soft chayote and corn last. Chef's tip: use a little bone with the beef; it gives the broth body without any stock cube.

180 minCentral American Soups

by KrazyBadal 0 views

SupplìFried rice croquettes

In Rome supplì are bought from pizza-by-the-slice shops and friggitorie and eaten standing up, wrapped in paper, before the pizza arrives. Unlike Sicilian arancini they are oval and the rice is cooked in tomato sauce, so the inside is orange-red; when you bite one in half, the mozzarella stretches into a long 'telephone cord', which is where the nickname al telefono comes from. Roman bars usually add meat ragù; this version keeps it vegetarian with a basil-scented tomato rice. Chef's tip: cook the rice a day ahead and chill it in a thin layer; cold, firm rice shapes neatly and does not split in the oil.

75 min

Italian Snacks & Starters

by KrazyBadal 0 views

OliebollenRaisin fritters

On the last day of December the queues outside the oliebollenkraam, the caravan-like stalls that pop up in every Dutch town, stretch round the block. Oliebollen ('oil balls') are the food of Oudejaarsavond, New Year's Eve: round, yeasted fritters full of raisins, currants and apple, deep-fried and buried in icing sugar. Families fry big batches at home in the afternoon and eat them with champagne at midnight. They are best within a few hours. Chef's tip: dip your two scooping spoons in the hot oil before each ball; the sticky dough slides off cleanly and the balls come out round instead of ragged.

60 min

Dutch Desserts

by KrazyBadal 0 views

SuqaarSpiced beef stir-fry

Suqaar is the quick beef dish found everywhere from Mogadishu tea shops to Somali cafés in Minneapolis and London: small cubes of beef or lamb browned with onion, peppers and garlic, seasoned with xawaash, the house spice mix of cumin, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon and turmeric. Somalis eat it for breakfast with canjeero (spongy flatbread) or for lunch with rice or pasta. The mistake is cutting the beef in big chunks, which go chewy; cut it into small 1–2 cm cubes so it cooks fast and stays tender. Chef's tip: add a squeeze of lime and a handful of coriander just before serving.

30 min

Somali Meat

by KrazyBadal 0 views

LahmacunThin spiced meat flatbread

Lahmacun belongs to south-east Turkey, especially Gaziantep and Şanlıurfa, where bakeries slide dozens at a time into wood-fired ovens and people eat them on the street at any hour, often with a cold ayran. The dough is rolled almost see-through and spread with a raw paste of minced lamb, onion, peppers, tomato and herbs that cooks in minutes in fierce heat. To eat, squeeze lemon over, add a handful of parsley and onion, roll it up and fold. Chef's tip: blitz the topping vegetables to a fine paste and squeeze out the excess juice, so the meat spreads in a thin, even layer that bakes crisp rather than soggy.

90 min

Turkish Pizza

by KrazyBadal 0 views

OlanAsh gourd and cowpea stew

Olan is the quietest dish on a Travancore sadya leaf, the banana-leaf feast served in southern Kerala for Onam, weddings and temple festivals. Thin, glassy slices of ash gourd and soft red cowpeas sit in coconut milk with nothing louder than green chilli and curry leaves, and its job is to cool the palate between the tangy, fiery curries around it. The flavour comes from coconut milk added in two stages and a spoonful of raw coconut oil poured over at the end. Eat it with plain rice, or ladle it beside appam on an ordinary weekday. Chef's tip: slice the ash gourd as thin as a coin so it turns translucent in the time the coconut milk takes to thicken.

60 min

Indian Curries

by KrazyBadal 0 views

OkroshkaCold vegetable and kvass soup

When Moscow swelters in July, okroshka replaces every hot soup: a bowl of finely chopped radishes, cucumber, potato, egg and a forest of green onion and dill, with ice-cold kvass poured over at the table. It is the lunch of dacha weekends and of hot afternoons on the Volga, and families argue over whether kvass or kefir is the right base (kefir works well and is less sweet). The name comes from kroshit, to crumble, since everything is chopped small. Chef's tip: rub the spring onions and dill with salt first until they give off juice; it releases a green, pungent flavour that tastes of summer.

45 min

Russian Soups

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Okayama barazushiScattered sushi with vegetables

Okayama families make a big shallow platter of barazushi for the autumn shrine festivals, Girls' Day in March and other celebrations, and it is sold in station lunch boxes all year. A local story says it began when a lord ordered people to eat only one side dish, so cooks hid everything in the rice instead. The seasoned rice is mixed with simmered vegetables and topped with seafood from the Seto Inland Sea. This version uses cooked prawns, gently simmered squid and egg threads, plus ready-made vinegared mackerel, which is cured but not cooked. Use very fresh, sushi-grade fish from a trusted fishmonger; not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system. Leave the mackerel out, or add extra prawns, to make it fully cooked. Chef's tip: fold the vinegar into the rice while it is hot and fan it as you go; the rice soaks up the seasoning and turns glossy instead of wet.

60 min

Japanese Rice & Grains

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Oka i'aRaw fish in coconut cream

Oka i'a is the raw fish salad served at every Samoan to'ona'i, the big Sunday lunch after church in Apia and the villages of Upolu and Savai'i, and in Samoan homes in Auckland. It is close to Fiji's kokoda but usually uses tuna, a shorter citrus soak and more vegetables, with a finish of spring onion. As a raw fish dish it is written here as a safer version: buy very fresh, previously frozen sashimi-grade tuna, keep it cold and eat within 2 hours. Raw or citrus-cured fish is not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system; for them, sear the tuna as described in the steps. The mistake is cutting the fish too small, so it goes mushy; keep the cubes about 1.5 cm. Chef's tip: chill the coconut cream and the bowl, so the salad is cold and refreshing.

25 minPacific Islander Fish

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Ojja with merguezSpicy tomato sauce with sausage

Ojja is the quick supper of Tunis cafés and home kitchens: a pan of tomato, peppers, garlic and harissa, cooked down until thick, with slices of spicy lamb merguez and eggs set softly on top. It is scooped up with crusty bread straight from the pan. The mistake is stirring the eggs in too early; they should go in once the sauce is thick and be left alone to just set. Chef's tip: brown the merguez first so its spiced fat flavours the sauce. If you can't get merguez, use any spicy lamb or beef sausage.

30 min

Tunisian Meat

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Ojingeo sundaeRice-stuffed squid

Abai Village in Sokcho, on Gangwon's east coast, was settled by people from Hamgyeong province in the north who could not go home after the Korean War. With squid plentiful in the East Sea, they stuffed it the way they had once stuffed pork casings for sundae, and the dish is now sold in the village's small restaurants and at Sokcho's Jungang market. The squid is filled with sticky rice, tofu and vegetables, steamed, cut into rounds and fried in beaten egg until golden. It makes a good sharing plate with a soy and vinegar dip. Chef's tip: mix a little glutinous rice into the filling; it binds the slices so they don't fall apart in the pan.

90 min

Korean Fish

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Ojingeo bokkeumSpicy stir-fried squid

Around the harbours of the Chungcheong coast on the Yellow Sea, seafood restaurants fry freshly landed squid in a sticky red sauce, and the same dish turns up in lunch canteens and home kitchens all over Korea. Bright with chilli, it's on the table in about twenty minutes and is often piled straight onto rice as ojingeo deopbap. The sauce is gochujang and chilli flakes sweetened with a little sugar, and the vegetables stay crisp. Serve with rice and a bowl of light soup to cool things down. Chef's tip: mix the sauce before you light the hob, because the squid cooks so fast that there is no time to measure anything once it's in the pan.

20 min

Korean Fish

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Oil downBreadfruit and salt fish one-pot

Oil down is what Grenadians cook on the beach, at village fêtes and on Sunday afternoons, often in a big iron pot over a wood fire with everyone waiting around it. Breadfruit, salt fish and soft flour dumplings are layered with callaloo and turmeric (called 'saffron' on the island), then steamed in coconut milk until the milk is drunk up and only a golden oil coats the pot, which gives the dish its name. Many cooks add salted pig tail or chicken; this version keeps to salt fish. The mistake to avoid is stirring, which breaks the layers into mush; shake the pot instead. Chef's tip: put the Scotch bonnet in whole and lift it out at the end, so it scents the pot without burning everyone's mouth.

95 minCaribbean Fish

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Ofe onugbuBitter leaf soup

Ofe onugbu is the soup Igbo families in Anambra and Enugu make for Sunday lunch and for visitors coming home at Christmas. Washed bitter leaf gives a gentle, pleasant bitterness, cocoyam paste thickens it, and beef, shaki (tripe), stockfish and dried fish add layer after layer of savoury flavour, all coloured by palm oil. It is eaten with pounded yam, eba or fufu, pinched up with the fingers. The mistake to avoid is using bitter leaf that hasn't been washed enough; it should taste only mildly bitter before it goes in. Chef's tip: frozen pre-washed bitter leaf from African grocers saves an hour of squeezing and rinsing.

130 min

Nigerian Soups

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Surti lochoSteamed chana dal batter snack

Locho is a breakfast street snack from Surat in Gujarat. The story goes that a batch of khaman went wrong and came out soft and mushy, and people liked it so much it became a dish of its own; 'locho' means a muddle. A fermented batter of chana dal is steamed until just set and scooped out in soft, spoonable heaps, then drizzled with oil and showered with a spicy locho masala, raw onion, coriander and sev. It's eaten hot with green chutney and a sweet-sour tamarind sauce. Chef's tip: steam it in a shallow layer and take it off as soon as a knife comes out sticky but not wet; locho should be just set and wobbly, and over-steamed it turns into a dull khaman.

50 min

Indian Snacks & Starters

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Surti ponk vadaGreen sorghum fritters

Every December and January, farms around Surat roast bundles of young green jowar heads over embers and thresh out ponk, soft, sweet, pale-green grains that last only a few weeks. Surtis turn the trip into a picnic, eating ponk by the handful with lemon-pepper sev and garlic chutney, then frying the leftovers into these crunchy vada. The grains are crushed coarsely with chilli and ginger, bound with a little gram and rice flour, and fried until the outside is lacy and crisp while the inside stays tender and grassy-sweet. Look for frozen ponk in Gujarati grocers outside the season. Chef's tip: crush the ponk only roughly; whole grains popping through the crust is what makes these vada special.

40 min

Indian Snacks & Starters

by KrazyBadal 0 views

ZigniSpicy beef stew

Zigni is the signature stew of Asmara and the Eritrean highlands, served on a wide platter of injera at weddings, Sunday lunches and the end of fasts. Red onions are cooked slowly in a dry pot until they collapse, then berbere, garlic, ginger and tomato go in, followed by beef that simmers until tender in a deep red, peppery sauce finished with spiced butter (tesmi). The mistake is rushing the onions: they must cook down for a good 20 minutes to give the sauce its sweet base. Chef's tip: the onions start in a dry pan with no oil, the traditional way; stir them often and add a splash of water if they catch.

120 min

Eritrean Meat

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Suspiro limeñaCaramel custard with port meringue

Suspiro a la limeña, 'the sigh of a Lima woman', is the city's grand dessert from colonial times, said to have been named by the poet José Gálvez for its sweetness. A thick manjar blanco, milk slowly cooked down to a silky caramel cream and enriched with egg yolks, is topped with a cloud of glossy Italian meringue flavoured with port and dusted with cinnamon. It is very sweet and very rich, so serve it in small glasses. Make it in the morning for the evening. Chef's tip: the manjar is ready when a spoon dragged across the bottom of the pan leaves a clear path for a moment; undercooked, it stays runny and the meringue sinks into it.

70 min

Peruvian Desserts

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Obleas con arequipeWafers with dulce de leche

Obleas are the giant, paper-thin round wafers sold from street carts in Bogotá's parks and around Floridablanca in Santander, where they began. The vendor spreads two wafers with arequipe, Colombia's dulce de leche, and adds whatever you choose: blackberry jam, grated cheese, condensed milk or sprinkles, then presses them together. They are crisp, sticky and fun to make with children. Look for oblea wafers in Latin American shops. Chef's tip: assemble them right before eating; the wafers soften within an hour.

10 min

Colombian Desserts

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Obi nonTandoor bread

Every Uzbek meal starts with bread torn by hand and passed round the table, and obi non is the everyday loaf: a round with a thick, soft rim and a thin, crisp centre pricked with a patterned stamp called a chekich. In Samarkand and Tashkent it comes out of clay tandoors at dawn, and across the border in Kazakhstan the same bread is sold as tandyr nan. Bread is never cut with a knife and never laid face down. A very hot oven and a baking stone or upturned tray come close to the tandoor at home. Eat it warm with green tea, achichuk salad, soups and plov. Chef's tip: press the centre really thin and prick it all over; if you don't, it puffs into a ball like pitta and you lose the flat, crackly middle.

40 min

Uzbek Breads & Parathas

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Suwon galbiGrilled beef short ribs

Suwon, south of Seoul in Gyeonggi province, once had one of the largest cattle markets in Korea, and its galbi houses grew up around that trade. The city's style is unusual: the long, butterflied short ribs are seasoned mainly with salt, garlic and sesame oil rather than the soy marinade most people know. Families and office groups grill them at the table over charcoal, snip them into pieces with scissors and wrap each bite in lettuce with ssamjang and raw garlic. At home a ridged griddle pan or a barbecue does the job well. Chef's tip: score the opened-out meat lightly in a criss-cross pattern on both sides, so the salt seasoning soaks in and the ribbon of meat stays flat on the grill.

90 min

Korean Meat

by KrazyBadal 0 views

SuyaSpiced beef skewers

Suya comes from the Hausa north, from Kano and Kaduna, but now every Nigerian city has a mai suya grilling beef over charcoal by the roadside once the sun goes down. Thin slices of beef are threaded onto skewers, rubbed with yaji, a fiery mix of roasted peanut powder, chilli, ginger and stock spices, and grilled until charred at the edges. It comes wrapped in newspaper with sliced raw onion, tomato and extra yaji for dipping. The common mistake is cutting the beef thick; it needs to be thin enough to see light through, so it cooks fast and stays tender. Chef's tip: put the beef in the freezer for 30 minutes first, and it will slice wafer thin with ease.

45 min

Nigerian Meat

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Nyonya chap chyeBraised cabbage with glass noodles

In Peranakan homes in Melaka and Penang, chap chye (mixed vegetables) is cooked in a big pot for Chinese New Year and family prayer days. Cabbage, dried shiitake, wood ear, lily buds and beancurd skin are braised with garlic and tau cheo, the salty fermented soybean paste, until everything is soft and the glass noodles have soaked up the savoury gravy. Many families add pork belly or prawns, but the vegetarian pot is just as traditional for the first day of the new year. It tastes better the next day. Chef's tip: fry the tau cheo with the garlic until it smells nutty before anything else goes in.

50 min

Malaysian Vegetarian

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Nyama chomaSlow-grilled goat or beef

Nyama choma, "roasted meat" in Swahili, is the centre of every weekend gathering in Kenya: at roadside joints on the edge of Nairobi you choose your goat ribs or beef by the kilo, it is grilled slowly over charcoal, chopped on a wooden board and brought to the table with salt, kachumbari (tomato and onion salad) and ugali. The meat is meant to be firm and chewy, smoky and simply salted. The mistake is grilling over fierce flames; the outside chars before the inside is tender, so keep it over glowing coals and turn it often. Chef's tip: leg of goat or lamb on the bone is easiest at home; rub it with salt and a little lemon only.

110 minEast African Meat

by KrazyBadal 0 views

ShchiFresh cabbage soup

Shchi is the oldest soup in Russian cooking, the one the proverb pairs with porridge: 'shchi da kasha, pishcha nasha' (shchi and kasha, that's our food). In villages from Vologda to Ryazan it was left to mellow in the warmth of the big masonry stove, and in summer and early autumn it is made with fresh young cabbage rather than the sour winter version. Unlike Ukrainian kapusniak there is no sauerkraut or millet here: just sweet cabbage, root vegetables, tomato, bay and dill, with a cold spoon of smetana stirred into each bowl. Chef's tip: shchi tastes better the next day, so make it a day ahead and reheat gently.

55 min

Russian Soups

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Svíčková na smetaněBeef in creamy vegetable sauce

Svíčková is the dish Czech families make for weddings, name days and big Sunday lunches, and in Prague pubs it appears on the menu as the proud centre of the week. Beef is marinated for a day or two with root vegetables and spices, slow-roasted, and the vegetables are then blended into a smooth, sweet-sour cream sauce. It is always served the same way: sliced beef, a pool of sauce, bread dumplings, a spoonful of cranberry sauce, a twist of whipped cream and a slice of lemon. Many cooks under-season the sauce; it should taste clearly of vinegar, sugar and allspice, not just cream. The optional smoked bacon that flavours the vegetables is pork; leave it out and the sauce is still rich. Chef's tip: blend the sauce until completely velvety, then push it through a sieve; that silky finish is what makes svíčková special.

220 min

Czech Meat

by KrazyBadal 0 views

MurtabakStuffed griddled bread

Mamak shops stay open late across Malaysia, and the man at the big flat griddle swinging dough into a translucent sheet is half the show. Murtabak is that dough wrapped around a filling of curried minced meat, onion and beaten egg, folded into a fat square parcel and fried until blistered and crisp outside, soft and steamy within. Ramadan bazaars sell piles of it at dusk for breaking the fast. Cut into squares and serve with a ladle of dhal or curry gravy and pickled red onion. Chef's tip: oil your hands and the work surface generously; murtabak dough wants to be stretched, never rolled, and the oil lets it glide.

60 min

Malaysian Snacks & Starters

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Muriwo une doviGreens in peanut butter sauce

Muriwo une dovi, greens with peanut butter, is a daily relish in Zimbabwean homes, eaten with sadza at lunch and supper. Collard greens, rape or pumpkin leaves are cooked with onion and tomato, then stirred into a creamy peanut sauce. Zambia's ifisashi is the same idea, usually without tomato and often made with pumpkin leaves or spinach and eaten with nshima. Chef's tip: add the peanut butter at the end and cook just long enough to thicken; long boiling makes it gluey.

30 minSouthern African Sides

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Mumu-style pork roastOven-roasted pork with sweet potato

A mumu is the earth oven of the Papua New Guinea highlands, around Mount Hagen and Goroka, made for feasts, bride-price ceremonies and Christmas: pork, kaukau (sweet potato), bananas and greens are wrapped in banana leaves and steamed over hot stones for hours. This dish contains pork. This home version packs the same ingredients, with coconut milk, into a covered roasting tin and cooks them slowly until the pork is soft. The mistake is cooking the pork fast and hot; it needs long, gentle heat to become tender. Chef's tip: add the greens only for the last 30 minutes so they stay bright.

210 minPacific Islander Meat

by KrazyBadal 0 views

TaralliFennel and olive oil rings

Taralli are the crunchy rings found on every table in Puglia: with a glass of wine before dinner, in bags on the beach, or dunked in coffee. They are made with olive oil and dry white wine, no yeast or butter, and boiled briefly before baking, which gives them their shiny skin and fine, crumbly bite. Fennel seed is the classic flavour; black pepper or chilli are common too. They keep for weeks in a tin. Chef's tip: lift them out of the water the moment they float; longer boiling makes them hard and glassy instead of crumbly.

75 min

Italian Snacks & Starters

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Kyoto takiawaseSimmered vegetables

Obanzai is what Kyoto calls its everyday home cooking: thrifty, seasonal side dishes that families keep in the fridge and that small restaurants line up in bowls along the counter. Takiawase, 'simmered together', is one of its finest. Each vegetable is cooked separately in a pale, delicate broth, so the kabocha stays orange, the daikon turns translucent and the carrot keeps its colour, then they are arranged side by side in one dish. Kyoto cooks season with light-coloured usukuchi soy, which is saltier than regular soy but doesn't darken the food. Serve it warm or at room temperature with rice and miso soup. Chef's tip: let everything cool in its broth. The vegetables soak up most of their flavour as they cool, not while they boil.

55 min

Japanese Sides

by KrazyBadal 0 views

TaratorCold yogurt and cucumber soup

Tarator is what Bulgarians eat on hot July days, from the Black Sea resorts of Varna and Burgas to Sofia lunch counters: a cold, thin soup of tangy yogurt and water with grated cucumber, garlic, dill and crushed walnuts, a drizzle of sunflower oil on top and sometimes an ice cube floating in the bowl. It is served as a starter or drunk from a glass beside a plate of grilled vegetables. Chef's tip: use full-fat, sour, set yogurt and thin it to the consistency of single cream; making it too thick is the usual mistake, and it should be sippable.

15 min

Bulgarian Soups

by KrazyBadal 0 views

KisraFermented sorghum flatbread

Kisra (kisra rahifa) is the daily bread of northern and central Sudan: a sorghum batter left to sour for a day, then wiped across a very hot iron plate in a single sweep so it cooks into a lacy sheet as thin as paper. In homes it is made early each morning and stacked in folded layers to eat with mullah stews, especially during Ramadan. A wide crêpe pan and a plastic scraper or spatula work at home. Chef's tip: the pan must be hot enough that the batter sets the moment it touches; if it is too cool the sheet sticks and tears.

45 min

Sudanese Breads & Parathas

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Sev puriPuri topped with potato and chutneys

Sev puri is the snack Mumbaikars eat standing up at Juhu and Girgaum Chowpatty, or at the chaat stall outside the office in the evening. Flat, crisp papdi are laid out on a plate, topped with potato, onion and raw mango, splashed with green, sweet tamarind and red garlic chutneys, then buried under a snowfall of fine sev. It must be eaten within a couple of minutes, before the papdi soften. Here the papdi are made at home, but good shop-bought ones work fine on a busy day. Chef's tip: assemble each plate just before it's eaten, in the order given; chutney on bare papdi makes them soggy, so the potato always goes down first.

50 min

Indian Snacks & Starters

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Tarri pohaFlattened rice with spicy chickpea curry

In Nagpur, winter mornings start at a poha stall: soft, turmeric-yellow flattened rice heaped onto a plate and then flooded with tarri, a spicy black-chickpea gravy with a slick of red oil on top, finished with raw onion, sev, coriander and a squeeze of lemon. It's Vidarbha's answer to the plain poha eaten elsewhere in India, louder and hotter, made for a cold morning and a cutting chai. Making it at home takes a little planning because the chana needs an overnight soak, but the tarri keeps for days. Chef's tip: don't skimp on the oil in the tarri; the red layer that floats on top is what soaks into the poha and gives the dish its name.

65 min

Indian Breakfast & Brunch

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Tarta de acelgaChard and cheese pie

Tarta de acelga is the green, savoury pie found in every Argentine bakery window and on weeknight tables, a legacy of Italian torta pasqualina. Swiss chard is wilted with onion, bound with eggs and soft cheese, seasoned with nutmeg and baked between layers of pastry, sometimes with whole eggs hidden inside. It's eaten warm or cold, for dinner with a salad or packed for a picnic. Chef's tip: squeeze the cooked chard hard in your hands; any water left in it makes the pastry soggy.

60 min

Argentinian Baking

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Kyiv cakeHazelnut meringue cake

Kyiv cake was created in 1956 at the Karl Marx confectionery factory in Kyiv, and for decades a round box tied with string, bought at the station kiosk, was the souvenir every visitor carried home from the capital. Two crisp, chewy layers of nut meringue are sandwiched with a rich vanilla and cocoa buttercream and decorated with more cream. It contains no flour, so it is naturally gluten free, and no gelatine. Our home version uses hazelnuts, as the original did before cashews became the norm. Chef's tip: dry the meringue long and slow and let it cool in the switched-off oven; common mistake is pulling it out too early, when it is still soft inside, and then it turns sticky and collapses under the cream.

210 min

Ukrainian Baking

by KrazyBadal 0 views

XalwoCardamom halwa

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

70 min

Somali Desserts

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Tarte au rizRice pudding tart

In the province of Liège, and above all in the town of Verviers, no village fair (ducasse) or family celebration happens without tarte au riz, called rijsttaart in Flanders. A thin, soft yeast-dough crust holds a thick layer of rice cooked slowly in milk with vanilla and sugar, enriched with egg yolks and baked until the top is speckled brown. People buy whole tarts from the bakery for a birthday and eat them cold with coffee. Chef's tip: cook the rice until a spoon drawn through it leaves a clear path that closes slowly; a runny filling never sets in the oven, and the crust turns soggy.

110 min

Belgian Baking

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Tarte au sucreMaple sugar pie

Tarte au sucre is the sweet that closes Québec's holiday réveillon (Christmas Eve feast) and the Sunday meal at grandmother's house. Brown sugar, cream and a little maple syrup are thickened with flour and baked in a buttery shell until set like soft fudge, glossy on top. It's very sweet, so slices are thin, often with a dollop of unsweetened whipped cream. Rural Acadian and Franco-Ontarian families make very similar pies. Chef's tip: let it cool completely, for at least 3 hours; warm sugar pie is runny and only sets as it cools.

75 min

Canadian Baking

by KrazyBadal 0 views

KısırBulgur salad with pepper paste

Kısır comes from southeastern Turkey but is now the dish women across the country bring to 'altın günü', the afternoon gatherings where friends meet at each other's homes over tea. Fine bulgur is softened with hot water and kneaded with tomato and pepper paste until rosy, then mixed with spring onion, parsley, mint, lemon and pomegranate molasses. It is served at room temperature, often wrapped in crisp lettuce leaves. The typical mistake is pouring in too much water, which turns the bulgur mushy; use just enough to cover. Chef's tip: knead the pastes into the warm bulgur with your hands for a full minute so every grain turns red and the flavour goes right through.

25 min

Turkish Salads

by KrazyBadal 0 views

XawaashSomali spice blend

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

11 min

Somali Basics

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Tarte normandeApple tart with custard

Normandy is the land of orchards and dairy cows, and its apple tart uses both: sliced apples baked in a buttery pastry case, then covered with a custard of eggs, crème fraîche and sugar that sets around the fruit, golden and slightly puffed. Some cooks add a splash of Calvados, the local apple brandy. It's served for Sunday lunch, at village fêtes in autumn, and with a glass of cider. The apples stay soft but hold their slices, and the custard tastes like baked cream. Chef's tip: pre-bake the pastry case before adding the custard; skipping it is the common mistake that leaves a pale, soggy base.

75 min

French Baking

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Tarte tatinUpside-down apple tart

Tarte tatin is said to have been created at the Hôtel Tatin in Lamotte-Beuvron, in the Sologne, south of Orléans, where the Tatin sisters cooked for hunting parties in the 1880s. The apples are cooked in butter and sugar until they turn amber, covered with pastry, baked, then turned out so the glossy caramelised fruit sits on top of a crisp base. It is the French family dessert of autumn and winter, served warm with crème fraîche. This version uses an all-butter shortcrust made without egg. Chef's tip: pack in more apples than seem possible, as they shrink; using too few is the common mistake and leaves a flat tart with gaps.

75 min

French Baking

by KrazyBadal 0 views

TartiflettePotato, bacon and Reblochon bake

Tartiflette is the dish skiers dream about on the last run of the day in the Savoie Alps, served bubbling in its dish in mountain restaurants from Annecy to Val d'Isère. It contains pork: sliced potatoes are layered with onion, smoky lardons and a splash of cream, then a whole Reblochon cheese is halved and laid rind-side up on top so it melts down through everything in the oven. Many cooks add a splash of white wine to the onions; this recipe leaves it out, so it is alcohol-free. Eat it with a sharp green salad and cornichons. Chef's tip: keep the rind on the Reblochon; it bakes to a golden, nutty crust.

75 min

French Meat

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Showing 54 of 10,268 recipes

Show more recipes

Page 913 of 1,141