Skip to content
Patta gathia
Featured recipe

Patta gathia

Thin gram flour ribbons

Patta gathia are flat, ribbon-like strips of gram flour dough, rolled paper-thin under the palm on a wooden board and fried until crisp. Black pepper and ajwain give them their flavour. They are a classic Gujarati tea-time snack and are great with fried chillies and papaya sambharo.

Read more 1 views

What to eat today?

Around the world

Today's trip: Persian

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

Persian

Persian halva

Saffron rose flour halva 40 minMore from Persian (181) →

This week's collection

Kid-friendly dinners
756 recipes · a new collection every Monday

Coming up

All occasions →

Latest recipes

Mie gorengFried egg noodles

Mie goreng is what the gerobak noodle carts of Indonesian towns fry up after dark, each portion tossed in a blackened wok over a roaring flame, sweet and savoury from kecap manis and sharp with garlic. Unlike Malaysia's tomato-red mamak noodles, the Indonesian style is dark, glossy and dominated by sweet soy and white pepper, with plenty of greens and a scattering of fried shallots. This version swaps the usual chicken and prawns for tofu and mushrooms and is on the table in twenty minutes. Chef's tip: cook the noodles a minute short of the packet time and rinse them in cold water; they finish softening in the wok and stay springy instead of breaking.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Sheer khurmaVermicelli milk pudding

Sheer khurma means milk with dates in Persian, and in Pakistan it is the taste of Eid ul-Fitr morning: after the Eid prayer, families come home and every visitor who knocks that day is handed a small bowl. It is richer and nuttier than everyday seviyan: whole milk is boiled down until creamy, fine vermicelli fried golden in ghee goes in late, and it is loaded with soaked dried dates (chhuhare), almonds, pistachios, cashews, raisins and charoli seeds, scented with cardamom. It is served warm in the morning and thickens to a spoonable pudding when cold. The mistake most people make is adding the vermicelli too early or using too much; it keeps drinking milk as it cools and turns stodgy. Chef's tip: soak the dried dates overnight and slice them thinly; fresh soft dates melt away, but soaked chhuhare stay chewy and sweet in every spoonful.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Moksi alesiMixed rice with salted meat

Moksi alesi, "mixed rice" in Sranan Tongo, is a weekday one-pot from Paramaribo's Creole kitchens: rice cooked with salted meat or salt fish, black-eyed beans, coconut milk, onion, celery and hot pepper, until the grains are soft and full of flavour. It is cooked when there's little time but a full pot is needed. This version uses salted pork; it contains pork. The mistake is not soaking the salted meat, which makes the rice far too salty; soak it, then boil it first. Chef's tip: smoked turkey or salt beef works in place of pork.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Sheer yakhRose and cardamom ice cream

Sheer yakh, literally milk-ice, is the ice cream Kabul's street vendors once churned by hand in metal drums set in buckets of salted ice, and it's still the treat of choice on hot summer evenings and at Eid gatherings. It's dense and slightly stretchy, flavoured with cardamom and rose water and packed with chopped pistachios. Traditional sheer yakh is thickened with salep (orchid root); cornflour gives a similar body at home. Chef's tip: cook the custard until it thickly coats a spoon, then chill it overnight before freezing; a cold, aged base churns denser and smoother.

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.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

ShekerburaNut-filled half-moon pastries

Şəkərbura is one of the three sweets that must be on the khoncha tray at Novruz, the spring new year celebrated on 20–21 March, alongside pakhlava and gogal. The half-moon shape is said to stand for the moon, and the fine herringbone pattern on top is pinched by hand with small brass tweezers called maggash, a skill passed down at family baking sessions in the days before the holiday. Inside is a sweet, fragrant mix of ground almonds or walnuts with sugar and cardamom. Shaki is famous for its shekerbura, though every family has its own pattern. Serve with black tea. Chef's tip: bake them pale; shekerbura should stay creamy-white with only the edges just turning blond, never brown.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

ShekerchoreyiCrackle-top shortbread

Şəkərçörəyi, "sugar bread", is the simplest of the Novruz sweets: small domed shortbreads made from melted butter, icing sugar and flour, whose tops crack in fine lines like dry earth as they bake. They melt in the mouth and leave a powdery sweetness, and families in Ganja and Baku bake big batches in the week before the spring festival to fill trays for visiting neighbours. Some cooks press a hazelnut or a pinch of poppy seeds into the centre. Serve with tea, ideally with a spoonful of quince jam. Chef's tip: let the melted butter cool and turn pale and creamy before mixing; hot butter makes the biscuits spread flat and greasy.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

ShelpekThin fried flatbreads

Shelpek are paper-thin flatbreads fried in a shallow pan, and in Kazakh homes they carry meaning: on Thursday evenings and Fridays women fry seven shelpek 'for the smell', a prayer for the ancestors, and they're handed out at funerals and memorial meals. In everyday life they are eaten warm with tea, butter and jam, all over Kazakhstan and in the Kyrgyz villages across the Tian Shan. The dough is soft and rich with milk and butter, and takes minutes to fry. Chef's tip: roll them almost transparent; thin shelpek blister and stay soft, thick ones go stiff like crackers.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Shengjian baoPan-fried pork buns

Shanghai wakes up to the sound of shengjian bao sizzling in huge flat pans, the cooks spinning the pans over the flame and splashing in water so the buns fry and steam at the same time. What you get is a soft, slightly fluffy top scattered with sesame and spring onion, a crackling brown base and a juicy pork filling that squirts if you bite too fast. They are breakfast food, bought by the four and eaten from paper trays with black vinegar. A heavy non-stick or cast-iron frying pan with a tight lid works perfectly at home. Chef's tip: let the shaped buns rise for 15 minutes before frying, no longer; over-risen dough flattens and loses its neat shape in the pan.

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 minKoreanFish
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 minKoreanFishSpicy
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Mok paHerb fish steamed in banana leaf

Mok pa is cooked all over Laos, from Vientiane's riverside markets to village kitchens near the Mekong, where freshwater fish is the everyday protein. Chunks of white fish are mixed with a paste of lemongrass, shallot, garlic and chilli, a handful of dill and lime leaves and a spoon of sticky rice flour, then wrapped in banana leaf parcels and steamed until set and fragrant. Eat it with sticky rice and raw vegetables. Chef's tip: soften the banana leaves by passing them briefly over a flame or into hot water; they fold without cracking.

55 minLaoFishGluten free
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.

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.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Zunda mochiRice dumplings with edamame paste

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

by KrazyBadal 0 views

ShingaraPotato-filled pastry cones

Shingara is Bengal's samosa, and every Kolkata sweet shop fries a batch for the evening tea crowd. It differs from the North Indian kind in small, important ways: the pastry is flecked with nigella seeds, the potatoes are diced rather than mashed, and in winter the filling gets cauliflower florets, fried peanuts and a few raisins, all tempered with panch phoron. The shape is a tall cone with a tight pleated top, so it stands upright on the plate. Chef's tip: dice the potato small (1 cm) and cook it only until just tender; mushy potato turns the filling into mash and loses that Bengali bite.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Shirin poloSweet saffron rice

Shirin polo ('sweet rice') is the wedding rice of Iran, especially among Azerbaijani families in Tabriz, where a gleaming platter of it is carried out at the celebration feast to wish the couple a sweet life. Long grains of saffron rice are layered with candied orange peel, fine strips of carrot, slivered almonds and pistachios, all perfumed with cardamom and rosewater. It is fragrant and only gently sweet, with a citrus bitterness that keeps it from being cloying. Serve it as the centrepiece of a party with yogurt and a herb stew. Chef's tip: blanch the orange peel three times in fresh water; skip this and the whole platter tastes bitter.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Shiro watSpiced chickpea flour stew

Shiro is the most eaten dish in Ethiopia: on Wednesdays and Fridays and during Lent, when Orthodox Christians fast from all animal food, kitchens from Addis Ababa to Mekelle make it daily, and it is a favourite in Eritrea too. It is made from shiro powder, a ground mix of roasted chickpeas or field peas with garlic, ginger and berbere, whisked into a red onion base and simmered into a smooth, thick sauce. Served bubbling in a clay pot over injera, it is comforting, spicy and very cheap. On non-fasting days, a spoon of niter kibbeh stirred in at the end makes it richer. Chef's tip: whisk the shiro powder in slowly, a spoonful at a time, and keep whisking; dumped in all at once it forms lumps that never dissolve.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Shish taoukMarinated chicken skewers

Walk past any grill shop in Beirut in the evening and you'll smell shish taouk: cubes of chicken soaked in yogurt, lemon, garlic and a little tomato paste, charred over coals and stuffed into thin bread with toum, pickles and chips. At home it is a weekend barbecue favourite and an easy weeknight dinner under the grill, with fattoush or hummus on the side. The yogurt tenderises the meat and the tomato paste gives the edges their red-gold char. Chef's tip: use thighs rather than breast if you can; they stay juicy even when the edges catch.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

ShitoDried fish chilli oil

Shito is the black pepper sauce that sits on every Ghanaian table and travels in every student's suitcase. Onions, ginger and garlic are cooked down slowly in a lot of oil with ground dried shrimp, smoked dried fish and chilli until the mixture turns almost black, rich and crunchy-savoury. A spoonful lifts kenkey, waakye, jollof rice, eggs or plain bread. The mistake almost everyone makes the first time is cooking it on high heat: it scorches and turns bitter. Low and slow is the whole secret. Chef's tip: stir the bottom of the pot every few minutes in the last half hour, when it darkens fastest.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Shivit oshiDill noodles with vegetable sauce

Shivit oshi is the pride of Khorezm, the western oasis around Khiva and Urgench: bright green noodles made with a paste of fresh dill (shivit), topped with a stew of vegetables and a cooling spoon of katyk (thick yogurt). In Khiva's old town it is served at lunch in summer, when the dill is fragrant and the heat makes heavy plov unwelcome. The usual topping has meat; this one is a vadja of potato, carrot, pepper and tomato. Chef's tip: blend the dill with the water rather than chopping it; the dough turns an even jade green and the noodles taste of dill all the way through.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Sholeh zardSaffron rice pudding

Sholeh zard is the bright yellow rice pudding that Iranians cook in huge pots as nazri, food given away to neighbours and strangers, especially during the month of Muharram and on religious feast days; neighbourhoods in Tehran and Mashhad fill with its smell of saffron and rose. Rice is simmered until it almost melts, then sweetened, coloured gold with saffron and perfumed with rosewater and cardamom. It sets softly as it cools and is decorated with cinnamon lines, almonds and pistachios. This version uses a little oil instead of butter, so it is vegan. Chef's tip: add the sugar only when the rice is completely soft; sugar added early stops the grains from breaking down.

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.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Vatha kuzhambuTamarind gravy with dried berries

Vatha kuzhambu is what a Tamil kitchen cooks when the vegetable basket is empty: tamarind, sambar powder and a handful of sun-dried sundakkai or manathakkali berries fried crisp in sesame oil. It simmers down to a glossy, almost black gravy that is sour, a little bitter, hot and faintly sweet, and it keeps for days, so it travels in tiffin carriers and turns up at Brahmin home lunches all over Thanjavur and Chennai. Mix a spoonful into hot rice with a little sesame oil, and eat it with a plain poriyal or appalam to calm the heat. Chef's tip: fry the dried berries in the oil first and lift them out the moment they puff and darken; added at the end they stay crisp and bitter-nutty instead of turning leathery.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Shorshe ilishHilsa in mustard sauce

Hilsa, ilish, is the national fish of Bangladesh, and during the monsoon, when the shoals swim up the Padma and Meghna rivers, families in Dhaka and Chandpur cook it almost daily. Shorshe ilish is the most loved way: steaks of the rich, silvery fish gently simmered in a paste of ground yellow and black mustard seed, green chillies and mustard oil until the sauce turns sharp, creamy and nose-tingling. Eat it with plain white rice and nothing else. Hilsa is very bony, so warn guests and eat slowly; salmon steaks are an easier, less traditional swap. The common mistake is boiling the sauce hard after the mustard paste goes in, which turns it bitter. Chef's tip: grind the mustard seeds with a pinch of salt and a green chilli, and let the paste rest for 10 minutes before cooking; this tames the bitterness.

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.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Zeytinyağlı enginarArtichokes braised with peas

In spring, when globe artichokes pile up on stalls in İzmir and Urla, market sellers trim them on the spot into pale hearts kept in lemon water, and families take them home to make zeytinyağlı enginar. The hearts are braised cup-side up with small onions, carrots, potato and peas in olive oil and lemon, then served cold with a shower of dill, often as the first course of a spring dinner. The classic mistake is leaving trimmed artichokes in the air: they turn grey within minutes. Chef's tip: rub every cut surface with lemon as you go and drop the hearts straight into water with lemon juice and a spoonful of flour, which keeps them pale and cream-coloured.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Shui zhu fishFish in chilli broth

'Water-boiled fish' is Sichuan humour at its driest, because what arrives at the table in Chongqing and Chengdu restaurants is a great basin of silky fish slices half hidden under a red sea of chillies and Sichuan pepper, still crackling from a ladle of smoking oil poured over at the last moment. Underneath is a savoury broth of chilli bean paste with soft bean sprouts and celery. It is a dish for sharing with friends over beer or tea: you fish out the slices with chopsticks and leave the oil behind, as everyone does. Plain rice is essential, and something cooling such as smacked cucumber helps. Chef's tip: coat the fish in egg white and cornflour and give it no more than three minutes in the broth; the coating keeps each slice tender and stops it breaking up.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

ShuktoBitter mixed vegetable stew

Shukto opens a traditional Bengali meal: a mild, slightly bitter stew of bitter gourd, raw banana, sweet potato, drumsticks and aubergine, eaten with the first mouthfuls of rice to wake up the palate. The vegetables are fried, then simmered with a paste of mustard and poppy seeds and finished with milk and a spoonful of ghee, so the bitterness is balanced by a creamy, faintly sweet sauce. It is a dish of West Bengal's home kitchens, cooked especially in spring. Chef's tip: fry the bitter gourd separately until well browned and add it at the end; this keeps its bitterness pleasant and stops it spreading through the whole pot.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Vawksa repSmoked pork with mustard greens

Mizo cooking in Aizawl and the hill villages of Mizoram is simple and clean, with few spices and lots of greens, and vawksa rep shows it at its best. Smoked pork (vawksa rep) is simmered until soft, then mustard greens (antam) go in and soak up its smoky, fatty broth. It is an everyday lunch with rice, and some families add a little bai (bamboo shoot) or chilli. Chef's tip: keep the stems and leaves of the greens separate; the stems need a few minutes longer.

70 minIndianMeatGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Shwe yin ayeIced coconut dessert

Shwe yin aye, roughly 'golden heart cooler', is what Yangon drinks during the scorching weeks of Thingyan, the April water festival, when stalls set up along the streets to hand it out. It's a bowl of sweet, lightly salted coconut milk over crushed ice, filled with chewy sago pearls, cubes of green agar jelly, a scoop of sticky rice and, surprisingly, a few pieces of soft white bread that soak up the coconut. Chef's tip: make the jelly, sago and sticky rice in the morning and chill everything; assembled cold, the bowl stays refreshing to the last spoonful.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

SidduSteamed stuffed wheat buns

Siddu are soft, steamed wheat buns from the hills of Himachal Pradesh, especially around Kullu and Manali, made on cold days with a warming filling. The yeasted wholemeal dough is wrapped around ground walnuts, poppy seeds, garlic and green chilli, then steamed until fluffy. Torn open and drenched in melted ghee, they're eaten with green chutney or dal. Some homes fill them with spiced urad dal instead. Chef's tip: let the shaped siddu rise for 15 minutes before steaming, and don't open the lid early; a sudden draught makes them collapse and turn dense.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Vegetable briouatsSpiced vegetable pastry triangles

Briouats are the small, crunchy pastry triangles served at Moroccan weddings and at the iftar table during Ramadan, especially in Rabat and Fez where women make hundreds ahead and freeze them. The wrapper is warqa, a paper-thin pastry, though filo works well at home. Savoury briouats are often filled with meat or seafood; this vegetarian filling of potato, carrot, peas, spices and cheese is popular in family kitchens and loved by children. Bake or fry them and serve hot with a dipping saucer of harissa. Chef's tip: let the filling cool completely before wrapping; hot filling makes the pastry soggy and it splits in the oven.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Vegetable curry laksaCoconut curry noodle soup

Curry laksa, or curry mee, is the coconut-rich laksa of Kuala Lumpur and the west coast, a hawker breakfast as often as a lunch, ladled from huge pots into bowls of noodles. The broth is a fried spice paste of chillies, lemongrass, galangal and candlenuts loosened with coconut milk, so it's spicy, creamy and fragrant at once. Stalls top it with chicken, cockles or prawns; ours is all vegetable: tofu puffs that soak up the soup like sponges, soft aubergine, long beans, crunchy bean sprouts and mint. Chef's tip: once the coconut milk goes in, keep it at a gentle simmer; a rolling boil splits it and leaves the broth greasy and grainy.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Sigara böreğiFried cheese pastry rolls

These pencil-thin rolls take their name from the cigarettes they resemble, and they are the börek every Turkish child grows up on. Triangles of yufka (thin Turkish pastry) are rolled round a finger of white cheese and parsley and fried until they shatter when you bite them. They turn up at five o'clock tea parties, on the iftar table during Ramadan and in many a school lunchbox. Yufka is sold in Turkish shops; filo works too if you use two sheets brushed with oil. Chef's tip: shape them all, cover with a damp cloth and fry just before eating; they lose their crunch within an hour.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

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
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

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.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

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.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Vegetable mastavaVegetable and rice soup

Mastava is the soup Uzbek mothers make on a cold weeknight: rice simmered in a tomato-red broth with carrot, potato, pepper and chickpeas, finished at the table with a spoon of thick suzma or sour cream and a handful of herbs. It is eaten all over the country but is especially loved in Tashkent households in late autumn. The base is fried first, like plov, so the soup tastes rich even without meat; this version uses vegetables and chickpeas only. Chef's tip: fry the tomato paste in the oil until it turns brick-red before adding water — that is where the depth comes from.

55 minUzbekSoupsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Vegetable momosSteamed vegetable dumplings

Momos came to Sikkim and the Darjeeling hills with Tibetan settlers and are now the snack of the whole Himalayan Northeast, steamed in tall stacked steamers at every street corner. Thin, soft wrappers hold a juicy filling of cabbage, carrot, onion and tofu with plenty of ginger, garlic and spring onion. They are dipped in a hot, garlicky tomato and red chilli achar. Serve straight from the steamer, with a bowl of clear soup if you like. Chef's tip: salt the chopped cabbage and squeeze out its water before mixing the filling; it keeps the wrappers from turning soggy and tearing.

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.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Vegetable romazavaMixed greens and ginger broth

Romazava is often called the national dish of Madagascar: a light, gingery broth of several kinds of leafy greens (brèdes) and tomato, ladled over a big plate of rice. In Antananarivo it usually includes zebu beef; this vegetable version keeps the essential leaves, especially brèdes mafana (paracress), whose flowers and leaves make the mouth tingle. Spinach, watercress and mustard greens work well outside Madagascar. Chef's tip: add the greens in order of toughness and stop as soon as they are tender; romazava should taste fresh and green, not stewed.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Vegetable saloonaVegetable and tomato stew

Saloona is the stew Emirati families make on an ordinary weekday, ladled over white rice for lunch in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and every town between. Each household has its own mix, but the base is always the same: tomatoes, onions and the local bezar spice blend, sharpened with dried lime and simmered with whatever vegetables are in the fridge. This meat-free pot uses potato, courgette, aubergine, carrot and okra with chickpeas for body, and it tastes even better the next day. Chef's tip: add the okra in the last 10 minutes and leave it whole; cut okra goes slimy in a long simmer.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Vegetable saltadoWok-fried vegetables

Saltado comes from Lima's chifa tradition, the cooking of Chinese-Peruvian families who brought the wok to Peru in the nineteenth century. The famous version is lomo saltado with beef; this saltado de verduras uses meaty mushrooms in its place. Thick wedges of red onion and tomato are tossed over a fierce flame with garlic, ají amarillo, soy sauce and a splash of vinegar until just wilted, so the vegetables keep their shape and the pan juices turn smoky and savoury. It is always served with both chips and white rice, which soak up those juices. Chef's tip: cook in two batches if your pan is small; a crowded wok steams the vegetables instead of searing them, and the tomatoes collapse into soup.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Vegetable Shan noodlesRice noodles with tomato sauce

Shan khao swe comes from the hills of Shan State in eastern Myanmar, where it's eaten for breakfast at markets around Inle Lake and Taunggyi before the day's work begins. Sticky rice noodles are tossed with a garlicky tomato sauce, sesame oil and crushed peanuts, then served with pickled mustard greens and a small bowl of clear broth on the side. Markets usually make the sauce with chicken or pork; here mushrooms and tofu give it the same savoury depth. Chef's tip: cook the tomatoes down until the oil separates and the sauce turns jammy; a watery sauce slides off the noodles and tastes flat.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

SkudahkharisSpiced lamb and tomato rice

Skudahkharis is the pride of Djibouti and is also cooked in Somali homes: lamb on the bone simmered with tomato, onion, garlic and a warm mix of cumin, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves, then rice cooked in the pot until it absorbs every drop. It is served for Eid and family gatherings, with banana and a hot green chilli sauce on the side, as is the custom. The mistake is stirring the rice once it is in, which breaks the grains and makes it sticky; stir once, then leave it covered. Chef's tip: soak basmati for 20 minutes before cooking so it cooks evenly in the rich broth.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Vegetable Sindhi biryaniLayered vegetable biryani

Sindhi biryani is the biryani of Karachi, Hyderabad and the rest of Sindh, and it is the one people order by the deg (a huge pot) for weddings, Eid lunches and every big family gathering. What makes it Sindhi is the tang and the heat: plenty of tomatoes, yogurt, whole green chillies and sour dried plums (aloo bukhara) in the masala, with chunks of potato that soak up all of it. This vegetable version keeps all of that and swaps the meat for potato, carrot, cauliflower and peas, layered with half-cooked basmati, fried onions, mint and saffron milk, then steamed shut. A common mistake is boiling the rice until soft before layering; take it out when a grain still has a firm white core, because it finishes in the steam. Chef's tip: fry the onions until deep brown but not black, and keep the oil they fried in; it carries their flavour into every layer.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Slata mechouiaGrilled pepper and tomato salad

Slata mechouia means 'grilled salad', and in Tunisia it opens almost every family meal and Ramadan iftar: peppers, tomatoes, onion and garlic charred over coals until blackened, then peeled and chopped into a smoky relish with olive oil, caraway and coriander seed. It is scooped up with bread or served next to grilled food and couscous. A tuna and egg topping is common in restaurants; this version keeps it to vegetables and olives. Chef's tip: let the vegetables steam in a covered bowl after charring; the skins then slip off in seconds.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Vegetable sinigangSour tamarind vegetable soup

Sinigang is the sour soup that Tagalog families crave when the monsoon arrives between June and October, when rain hammers the tin roofs and a steaming bowl next to rice feels like the only sensible lunch. The sourness traditionally comes from young tamarind (sampalok) boiled and mashed into the broth, and the vegetables are whatever the market has: white radish, taro to thicken the soup slightly, okra, yard-long beans, aubergine and a final handful of water spinach. This vegetarian sinigang na gulay skips the pork or fish and relies on the tamarind, tomato and onion for flavour. The broth should make you pucker a little on the first sip. Chef's tip: add the tamarind in stages and taste between each, since blocks of tamarind vary a lot in sourness.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Oromo with pumpkinSteamed pumpkin roll

Oromo, or orama, is a big rolled dumpling: a thin sheet of dough spread with filling, rolled into a long coil and steamed in a multi-tiered mantovarka. It's a home dish across Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, quicker than shaping dozens of manti. In autumn, when Kyrgyz gardens in the Chüy Valley are full of squash, it's filled with grated pumpkin and onion, which turn sweet and juicy. Serve in thick slices with sour cream or a garlicky tomato sauce. Chef's tip: grate the pumpkin coarsely and salt it only just before rolling; salted too early it weeps and makes the dough soggy.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Vegetable siu maiOpen-topped vegetable dumplings

Siu mai are among the first baskets wheeled past at Cantonese dim sum in Guangzhou's tea houses, where people meet over yum cha on weekend mornings. The classic is pork and prawn; this one is packed with shiitake, tofu, crunchy water chestnut and carrot, with a dot of diced carrot on top in place of fish roe. Steam them in a bamboo basket and serve with chilli oil and soy. Chef's tip: squeeze the wrapper into a 'waist' with your thumb and finger and flatten the base on the board, so they stand up straight in the steamer.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Smashed avo on toastSmashed avocado on toast

Smashed avo became the signature breakfast of Sydney and Melbourne cafés in the 1990s and 2000s, and today it's on the menu of almost every café in Australia, from Bondi to Fitzroy, eaten on weekend mornings with a flat white. Ripe avocado is crushed roughly with lemon, salt and chilli and piled thickly onto toasted sourdough, then topped with salty crumbled feta and, often, a soft poached egg. It's creamy, sharp, crunchy and salty all at once. Chef's tip: smash the avocado with a fork, not a blender, and leave it chunky; the contrast between the rough avo and the crisp toast is the whole point.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Vegetable Uzbek plovVegetable pilaf

Plov (osh) is the dish Uzbeks cook for weddings, for Friday lunch and for guests, traditionally by men over a fire in a wide cast-iron kazan. Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara each have their own style, but all are built the same way: a zirvak (base) of onions and long strips of carrot fried in oil, rice laid on top and steamed until every grain is separate and glossy. This vegetarian version keeps the zirvak and swaps the meat for chickpeas (nohat), whole heads of garlic and barberries, as in Samarkand's chickpea plov. For the classic meat version, lamb or beef is browned in the oil before the onions and simmered in the zirvak for 40 minutes. Serve with achichuk. Chef's tip: hunt out yellow carrots from Central Asian or Turkish grocers; they are sweeter and less watery than orange ones and give plov its honeyed colour.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Smažený sýrBreaded fried cheese

Smažený sýr, a thick slab of breaded Edam fried until molten, is the dish every Czech student orders at a Prague hospoda and the one vegetarian main that turns up on nearly every menu from Brno to the Šumava mountain huts. It comes with tatarská omáčka (tartare sauce) and either boiled potatoes or chips, and a cold pivo on the side. The joy is the crunch giving way to stretchy, salty cheese. Chef's tip: chill the breaded slices for 20 minutes and double-coat them, otherwise the cheese bursts out into the oil before the crumb is golden.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Showing 72 of 10,495 recipes

Show more recipes

Page 948 of 1,167