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Apple & pear puree
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Apple & pear puree

A smooth, naturally sweet puree of gently stewed apple and pear, one of the first foods for babies of 4–8 months. The fruit cooks in a little unsweetened apple juice, so nothing else is needed. Serve it lukewarm; any leftover keeps covered in the fridge for a day, or freezes well in small pots.

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40 minJapaneseMeat
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55 minParaguayanSoupsGluten free
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Niislel saladPotato and egg salad

Niislel means 'capital', and this creamy salad is the one served across Ulaanbaatar at Tsagaan Sar (Lunar New Year), birthdays and in every canteen. It descends from the Russian Olivier salad of the Soviet era, made Mongolian with plenty of cucumber and sometimes apple; it usually includes ham or sausage, left out here and replaced with extra egg. It's cool and comforting next to hot buuz (dumplings) or tsuivan. Chef's tip: cut everything into small, even cubes the size of a pea; that uniform dice is what makes it niislel and not just potato salad.

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Sopa da pedraBean and pork soup

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140 minPortugueseSoupsGluten free
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NhopiPumpkin and peanut butter mash

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30 minSouthern AfricanSidesVeganGluten free
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NgohiongFive-spice spring rolls

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Nga thongbaLight fish curry with potato

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45 minIndianFishGluten free
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Vegetarian mohingaRice noodle soup with lemongrass

Mohinga is Myanmar's national breakfast, ladled from steaming pots at dawn on street corners from Yangon to Mandalay: thin rice noodles in a thick, golden broth fragrant with lemongrass, ginger and toasted chickpea flour, topped with crisp fritters, lime and chilli. The real thing is built on catfish and fish sauce. This vegetarian version is honestly different: dried shiitake and kombu give savouriness instead of fish, and the body comes from toasted chickpea flour, toasted rice powder and banana stem (or palm heart), so it's lighter and earthier rather than fishy. Chef's tip: toast the chickpea flour and rice until golden and nutty before they go in; they carry most of the flavour.

75 minBurmeseSoupsVegan
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Sopa de fideoToasted noodle soup

Sopa de fideo is the soup almost every Mexican grew up on, served at home from Monterrey to Mérida as the first course of the midday meal. Thin fideo noodles (short broken vermicelli) are fried in oil until golden before the tomato broth goes in, which gives them a toasty, nutty flavour and stops them turning to mush. This version uses a vegetable stock, so it is vegan and very kind to small children. Serve it with lime, a little dried chilli for the grown-ups and bread or tortillas. Chef's tip: fry the noodles over a medium heat and keep stirring; they go from pale to golden to burnt in seconds, and you want the colour of a digestive biscuit.

25 minMexicanSoupsVegan
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Sopa de maníPeanut soup

Sopa de maní is a pride of Cochabamba, Bolivia's food capital, where it starts the big midday meal in homes and market comedores. Raw peanuts are blended into a pale, creamy broth with vegetables and peas, and every bowl is topped with a tangle of thin, crisp fried potatoes and chopped parsley. It's usually made with beef broth; vegetable stock and a little more garlic keep it full-flavoured. Chef's tip: use raw (unroasted) peanuts and blend them very finely with water; that's what gives the soup its milky colour and silkiness.

70 minAndeanSoupsVeganGluten free
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BaraBlack lentil patties

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40 minNepaliSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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Sopa de quinuaQuinoa and vegetable soup

Sopa de quinua is everyday food in the Andes, from Puno on Lake Titicaca to Cusco and Huancayo, where quinoa has been grown for thousands of years. Quinoa, potato, carrot and corn simmer in a light broth seasoned with garlic, cumin, oregano and a little ají amarillo, and the potato breaks down slightly to give body. It is light yet filling, the soup families eat at midday to warm up in cold mountain air. In Peru it is finished with huacatay, the black mint of the Andes; a mix of mint and coriander stands in well. Chef's tip: rinse the quinoa in a sieve under running water, rubbing it, until the water stops foaming; the natural saponin coating tastes bitter and soapy.

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Sopa de tortillaTortilla soup

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35 minMexicanSoupsGluten free
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When it rains in Santiago, Chileans make sopaipillas. These round, pricked discs of dough are made with mashed pumpkin, which gives them a soft orange crumb, and are fried until puffed. Street carts sell them with pebre, mustard or ketchup; at home on wet winter afternoons they're 'pasadas', simmered briefly in a spiced chancaca (raw cane sugar) syrup with orange peel and cinnamon. Chef's tip: prick each disc several times with a fork before frying, so they puff evenly and don't balloon into one big bubble.

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Popiah are the soft, fresh spring rolls that Hokkien and Peranakan families in Singapore make together at home, especially for Qing Ming and family reunions, with everyone wrapping their own at the table. Thin wheat skins are brushed with sweet sauce and chilli, then filled with a slow-braised mix of jicama (bangkuang) and carrot, plus lettuce, beansprouts, egg, peanuts and crispy shallots. This version leaves out the prawns and Chinese sausage and braises the filling in vegetable stock. Chef's tip: drain the braised filling very well before rolling; extra liquid tears the delicate skins.

65 minSingaporeanSnacks & Starters
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SopesThick masa cakes with toppings

Sopes are a classic antojito of central Mexico: small, thick discs of corn masa cooked on a comal, pinched up at the edge while hot to make a little rim, then crisped in a film of oil and piled with refried beans, salsa, lettuce, crema and crumbled cheese. The base is crisp underneath and soft and steamy inside, with the sweet, earthy taste of nixtamalised corn. Serve two or three per person as a starter or a light supper. Use masa harina for tortillas, made from nixtamalised corn; cornmeal or polenta will not hold together. Choose queso fresco made with vegetarian rennet, or use a mild feta. Chef's tip: pinch the rims as soon as the sopes come off the comal; once they cool the masa sets and cracks.

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Vegetarian smørrebrødOpen sandwiches

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45 minScandinavianBreakfast & Brunch
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Neer dosaThin rice crepes

Neer means water in Tulu and Kannada, and that is the whole idea: a batter as thin as milk, poured onto a hot pan where it sets into a soft, lacy crêpe full of tiny holes. In Mangaluru and Udupi homes it is made fresh for breakfast or a Sunday lunch, folded into quarters and eaten warm with coconut chutney, a vegetable sagu, or simply with grated coconut and jaggery for children. Unlike most dosas, the batter is not fermented, so you can soak rice in the morning and eat by lunchtime. The crêpes are pale white, never browned, and should be tender enough to fold without cracking. Chef's tip: stir the batter from the bottom before every single dosa; the rice settles within a minute, and a batter poured from the top runs too thin and tears.

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Neenish tartsJam and cream tarts

Neenish tarts have sat in the windows of Australian country bakeries for more than a century, and they're also found across the Tasman in New Zealand. Where the name comes from is still argued over, with one story placing it in the small town of Grong Grong in New South Wales. A crisp sweet pastry case holds a thin layer of raspberry jam and a fluffy mock cream, a beaten mixture of butter, sugar and milk, and the top is iced in two halves: one white, one chocolate. Many bakery mock creams use gelatine; this one doesn't. Chef's tip: beat the mock cream for a long time, a full 8–10 minutes, until the sugar has dissolved and it is white and fluffy, not gritty.

80 minAustralianBaking
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Bistecca alla fiorentinaGrilled T-bone steak

A proper fiorentina is a T-bone cut three fingers thick, traditionally from Tuscany's white Chianina cattle, and Florentine steakhouses sell it by weight and serve it one way only: charred outside, deep red within. It is a sharing steak for three or four, sliced off the bone at the table and finished with nothing more than good olive oil and coarse salt. On one side of the bone sits the tender fillet, on the other the beefier sirloin, and the bone itself gives the meat flavour as it cooks. Cannellini beans with olive oil and sage and a simple green salad are the usual companions. Chef's tip: after searing both flat sides, stand the steak upright on its bone for several minutes; the heat travels up through the bone and cooks the middle evenly without overdoing the outside.

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Soto ayamTurmeric chicken soup

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Jakarta's original Betawi community gave the capital this rich, pale-gold soup, and on a Sunday the soto Betawi stalls along the city's side streets are packed with families. Beef brisket (and, for many, tripe) simmers until tender, then goes into a gently spiced broth made creamy with coconut milk and a splash of fresh milk, scented with lemongrass, cinnamon and cloves. Each bowl is loaded with fried potato, raw tomato and spring onion and comes with rice, lime, sambal and bitter-crisp emping crackers. It's comforting and mellow rather than fiery. Chef's tip: for a dairy-free bowl, swap the milk for more coconut milk; the soup will be a little heavier but just as good.

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Soufflé au fromageCheese soufflé

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Soupe au pistouBean and vegetable soup with basil

Soupe au pistou is Provence's summer minestrone, eaten from July to September when basil grows thick in the gardens around Marseille and Avignon. Beans, courgettes, green beans, carrots, potato and small pasta simmer in a light broth, then each bowl gets a spoonful of pistou, a pounded paste of basil, garlic, olive oil and hard cheese with no pine nuts. Stirred in at the table, it turns the broth fragrant and green. It is a whole meal with bread. The traditional cheese is Parmesan or aged Gouda, so use a vegetarian hard cheese. Chef's tip: never boil the pistou; adding it to the pot is the common mistake that turns the basil dark and kills its smell.

60 minFrenchSoups
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Ndolé with peanuts and greensBitter leaf and peanut stew

Ndolé comes from the Douala coast and is Cameroon's national dish, cooked for Sunday lunches, weddings and funerals: bitter leaves washed until only a gentle bitterness remains, simmered in a thick sauce of boiled, ground peanuts. Traditionally it is finished with beef, smoked fish and prawns; this version keeps the greens and peanuts at the centre and tops it with crisp fried onions, the way Douala cooks always do. Serve with boiled plantain, miondo or rice. As a variation, add prawns or beef the traditional way. Chef's tip: use raw peanuts, boiled and ground, not peanut butter; ndolé should be nubbly and pale, not like a smooth satay sauce.

110 minCameroonianCurriesVeganGluten 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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NdambéBlack-eyed bean stew

Ndambé is what Dakar eats for breakfast on the way to work: a thick, peppery stew of black-eyed beans with onion and tomato, sold from pots on street corners and spooned into a split baguette (tapalapa or pain de mie) with a smear of chilli sauce. At home it is just as good with rice or bread for supper. The beans are cooked until some break down and thicken the sauce, so it holds together in the bread. Chef's tip: soak the beans and cook them separately in plain water first; adding the tomato too early keeps the skins tough.

90 minSenegaleseBreakfast & BrunchVegan
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NazookSour cream pastry rolls

Nazook is the slice-shaped pastry stacked in the windows of Yerevan bakeries and sold by the box at every Armenian church fair from Glendale to Marseille. A yeasted dough enriched with sour cream is rolled thin, spread with a vanilla-scented filling of flour, butter and sugar, rolled into a log and cut on the slant before baking. The result is flaky outside, with a soft, buttery swirl inside, sweet but not sticky. It is a coffee pastry, served to guests and packed for long journeys because it keeps well. Chef's tip: keep the filling cold and spread it right to the side edges; the swirl looks finished and every slice gets its share.

70 minArmenianBaking
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Natilla colombianaPanela and cinnamon milk pudding

Natilla is the firm, sliceable Christmas pudding of Colombia, stirred on the night of the alumbrado (7 December) and through the novenas, and always shared with buñuelos. Milk is infused with cinnamon, sweetened with panela (unrefined cane sugar), thickened with cornflour and finished with grated coconut and raisins, then poured into a dish to set. It is dark gold, caramel-scented and soft, a bit like a firm flan. Chef's tip: stir without stopping once the cornflour goes in, scraping the corners of the pan, or lumps and a scorched bottom will form.

40 minColombianDessertsGluten 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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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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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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BissaraSplit fava bean soup

Bissara is the cold-morning soup of northern Morocco: in Tangier, Tétouan and Chefchaouen you see it ladled out from big pots at street stalls before work, and it is a favourite to break the fast in winter Ramadans. Dried split broad beans are simmered with garlic until they fall apart and blended into a thick, pale purée, then finished at the table with olive oil, cumin and paprika. Eat it piping hot with crusty bread; leftover bissara thickens into a dip you can spread on toast. Chef's tip: be generous with the final olive oil, it is not a garnish but part of the dish.

50 minMoroccanSoupsVeganGluten free
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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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Nasi lemakCoconut rice with sambal

All over Malaysia, nasi lemak is what people grab before work: a pyramid of banana leaf or brown paper from a roadside stall, opened at a desk or on a car bonnet, with fragrant rice steamed in coconut milk, a dab of sticky red sambal, crunchy peanuts and cool cucumber. Stalls usually add fried anchovies and boiled egg; our meat-free plate keeps the morning ritual but swaps the anchovies for thin batons of tempeh fried until they shatter, and the sambal is cooked without belacan, so the depth comes from slow-fried chillies, tamarind and palm sugar. Eat it for breakfast, brunch or a lazy supper. Chef's tip: give the sambal the full time on a low flame; it is ready only when a shiny red oil floats free around the edge.

50 minMalaysianRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
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Nasi kuningTurmeric coconut rice

Yellow rice is Indonesia's rice for good news: shaped into a tall cone called tumpeng, it's the centrepiece at birthdays, housewarmings and thanksgiving gatherings across Java, Bali and Sulawesi, and in Manado and Banjarmasin it's also a weekday breakfast wrapped in banana leaf. The grains are cooked in coconut milk with turmeric, lemongrass, salam and lime leaf, so they come out fluffy, golden and gently fragrant, rich without being heavy. Serve it with tempe orek, perkedel, sambal and cucumber for a festive platter. Chef's tip: steam the rice after its first absorption, Javanese style, or rest it covered off the heat for 10 minutes — skipping this gives sticky, uneven grains.

40 minIndonesianRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
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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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Nasi kerabuBlue rice with herbs

Nasi kerabu comes from Kelantan on the north-east coast, and in Kota Bharu it is a breakfast and lunch staple, sold in the morning markets in mounds of startlingly blue rice. The colour comes from butterfly pea flowers. Around the rice sit 'ulam', raw herbs and vegetables sliced as fine as thread: lime leaves, lemongrass, long beans, bean sprouts, cucumber, mint and basil, with nutty toasted coconut on top. Kelantanese stalls dress it with budu, a fermented fish sauce, so this version uses a sharp tamarind, lime and chilli dressing instead. It's light, crunchy and full of perfume. Chef's tip: slice the herbs as thinly as you can with a sharp knife; the finer the shreds, the more they scent every mouthful of rice.

50 minMalaysianRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
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Nasi gorengIndonesian fried rice

Every warung and night stall from Medan to Makassar has its own nasi goreng, but the starting point is always yesterday's rice, a pounded paste of shallot, garlic and chilli, and a glug of kecap manis that turns the grains glossy and caramel-brown. Indonesians eat it for breakfast as readily as for a late supper, crowned with a fried egg and served with cucumber, tomato and a heap of crackers. This vegetarian version keeps all the smoky-sweet depth without the usual shrimp paste. Chef's tip: get the wok properly hot and add the kecap manis down the side of the pan, not onto the rice, so it sizzles and caramelises before you toss it through.

20 minIndonesianRice & Grains
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