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Amasi
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Amasi

Fermented milk with crumbly pap

Thick, tangy amasi was once soured in calabashes in Zulu and Xhosa homesteads, and it is still the drink-cum-meal that many South Africans crave on a hot afternoon, poured over crumbly pap as umvubo. At home it is easy and safe with pasteurised full-fat milk and a spoon of live cultured buttermilk as the starter; never use raw milk. Expect something like a pourable, sharper yoghurt with soft curds, cooling against the dry, crumbly maize. The common mistake is fermenting somewhere too warm, which makes the milk separate into watery whey and rubbery lumps. Chef's tip: once it has set, chill it for a few hours before eating; the cold firms the curd and rounds out the sourness.

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Crème brûléeBurnt cream custard

Crème brûlée, 'burnt cream', is the dessert on almost every Paris bistro menu: a shallow dish of rich vanilla custard, cold and silky, under a thin sheet of caramelised sugar you crack with the back of a spoon. Unlike the stovetop Spanish crema catalana, it's made with cream and baked gently in a water bath. The custards are made a day ahead, which makes it ideal for dinner parties; only the sugar is burnt at the last minute. Chef's tip: take them out of the oven while the middle still wobbles like jelly; overbaking is the common mistake and the custard turns grainy and splits.

60 minFrenchDessertsGluten free
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Crni rižotBlack cuttlefish risotto

Along the Dalmatian coast, from Korčula to Dubrovnik, konobas serve crni rižot as the first thing fishermen order when they come ashore, its jet-black colour startling against a white plate. Cuttlefish is cooked slowly with onion and garlic until tender, then rice goes in with fish stock and the ink sac, making a creamy, sea-sweet rice that tastes of the shore. It traditionally includes a splash of dry white wine; for an alcohol-free version, use more stock with a squeeze of lemon. The usual mistake is adding the cuttlefish late and cooking it fast, which leaves it rubbery; it needs to stew first. Chef's tip: serve with a drizzle of good olive oil and grated hard sheep's cheese if you like, and warn your guests about black teeth.

75 minBalkanFishGluten free
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Crossing-the-bridge noodles with vegetable brothRice noodles in hot broth

Guo qiao mi xian comes from Mengzi in southern Yunnan. The story goes that a scholar's wife carried soup across a bridge to his island study each day, and found that a layer of oil kept it piping hot. Today in Kunming it arrives as a big bowl of scalding broth plus small plates of raw thinly sliced vegetables, tofu skin, herbs and rice noodles, which you slide in yourself so they cook at the table. This vegetarian broth is built on mushroom, corn and soybean sprouts. Chef's tip: the broth must be at a rolling boil when it goes into a warmed bowl; that heat is what cooks the toppings.

60 minChineseSoups
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CsirkepaprikásPaprika chicken in sour cream sauce

Csirkepaprikás is the Sunday chicken of Hungarian homes, cooked by grandmothers in villages and in Budapest flats alike and always served with nokedli, the little egg dumplings. Chicken thighs braise gently with onion, plenty of sweet paprika, tomato and pepper, then soured cream is stirred in to make a velvety, brick-orange sauce. Chef's tip: mix the soured cream with a spoonful of flour and some hot sauce before adding it; this stops it from splitting.

70 minHungarianChicken
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Eomuk-tangFish cake soup

On cold evenings in Busan, the city that made Korean fish cake famous, steam rises from street stalls where folded fish-cake skewers bob in a long tray of broth. You help yourself to a skewer, dip it in soy sauce and sip a paper cup of the hot broth while you stand. Bupyeong market has rows of fish-cake shops, and many families buy a bag there to make this simple soup at home. Radish, dried anchovies and kelp give the broth its clean, sweet flavour. Chef's tip: pull the heads and black guts off the dried anchovies before using them, because the guts make the broth bitter.

25 minKoreanSoups
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EpisGreen herb seasoning base

Epis is the jar that lives in every Haitian fridge, in Port-au-Prince flats and in Haitian kitchens in Miami, Montreal and Boston alike, and it's made fresh most weeks. Flat-leaf parsley, spring onion, garlic, sweet peppers and thyme are pounded or blended with a few cloves, a little scotch bonnet, oil and lime into a loose green paste. It is the first thing into the pot for rice and beans, legim and soup joumou, and it's rubbed over vegetables and tofu before they're fried. Raw it smells bright and herby; cooked it turns sweet, savoury and gently warm with clove. Chef's tip: use whole cloves and grind them yourself; just three or four give epis its signature warmth, but more turns it medicinal.

15 minHaitianBasicsVeganGluten free
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Loubieh bi zeitGreen beans braised in olive oil

In Lebanese homes loubieh bi zeit belongs to the 'bi zeit' family, vegetables cooked in olive oil and served cool, which turn up on the mezze table in summer and fill lunchboxes the next day. Flat runner beans or wide Romano beans are best: they soak up the garlicky tomato sauce and turn silky. It is eaten at room temperature with Arabic bread to mop the oil, and often with a few spring onions and radishes alongside. Chef's tip: cook the garlic only until it smells sweet before adding the beans; browned garlic turns the whole dish bitter.

45 minLebaneseSidesVeganGluten free
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Lovo-style chickenEarth-oven style chicken

A lovo is Fiji's earth oven, dug in the ground for weddings, church feasts and Christmas in villages on Viti Levu and Vanua Levu: hot stones are covered with parcels of meat, fish and root vegetables in banana leaves, then buried for hours. This home version wraps chicken marinated in coconut, garlic and ginger with taro, cassava and sweet potato in foil and banana leaves and roasts them slowly, giving the same steamed, smoky-sweet result. The mistake is wrapping loosely, so the steam escapes and everything dries; seal the parcels tightly. Chef's tip: a few drops of liquid smoke or a smoked paprika rub gives a hint of the earth oven.

120 minPacific IslanderChickenGluten free
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ErisseryPumpkin and cowpea curry

Erissery is the golden, slightly sweet pumpkin dish of the Onam sadya in Kerala, and a favourite in homes all through the harvest season when the yellow mathanga pumpkins are piled up in the markets. Soft pumpkin and red cowpeas are bound with a coconut, cumin and green chilli paste, and the whole pot is crowned with grated coconut fried in coconut oil until it turns the colour of cinnamon. That crunchy, nutty topping is what makes it erissery. Serve with rice and parippu, or scoop it up with chapati. Chef's tip: keep the pumpkin pieces large so some stay whole while others melt into the sauce.

60 minIndianCurriesVeganGluten free
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Bolo polanaCashew and potato cake

Bolo polana takes its name from the old Polana district of Maputo and is a celebration cake in Mozambique, made for birthdays and Christmas, built on two of the country's great crops: cashew nuts and potatoes. Ground cashews and mashed potato make it dense, fragrant and very moist, with orange zest to lift it. It shows the Portuguese baking tradition meeting local ingredients. Chef's tip: grind the cashews in short pulses with a spoon of the sugar; ground alone, they turn to cashew butter.

90 minSouthern AfricanBakingGluten free
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Lu puluCorned beef in taro leaves

Lu pulu is a Sunday dish in Tonga, cooked in the umu (earth oven) after church in Nuku'alofa and by Tongan families in Auckland and Sydney: taro leaves are layered into a cup, filled with corned beef, onion and thick coconut cream, wrapped in foil or banana leaf and baked until the leaves melt into a rich, silky parcel. It is served with boiled taro, yam or sweet potato. The mistake is undercooking the taro leaves: they must cook for at least an hour, as raw taro leaves irritate the mouth and throat. Chef's tip: if you can't find taro leaves, use large spinach or silverbeet leaves, cooked for 45 minutes.

115 minPacific IslanderMeatGluten free
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Escovitch fishFried fish with pickled vegetables

Good Friday in Jamaica means fish, and escovitch fish is the dish families line up for, though you'll also find it any day at the seaside stalls of Hellshire Beach and Port Royal. Whole red snapper (or thick fillets) are seasoned, fried until the skin shatters, then buried under onion, carrot, chocho and peppers that have been briefly warmed in vinegar with pimento and scotch bonnet. The fish soaks up the sharp, hot pickle as it sits, so it is as good at room temperature as it is fresh from the pan. Serve with bammy or festival. Chef's tip: make the pickle while the fish fries and pour it over hot fish; it sinks in better, and a few hours later the flavour is even deeper.

45 minJamaicanFishGluten freeSpicy
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EsquitesWarm spiced corn cups

Esquites are the cup version of elote, sold by street vendors across Mexico City from big pots: corn kernels sautéed with butter, onion, green chilli and epazote, simmered in a little salty water, then spooned into cups and topped with mayonnaise, lime, crumbled cheese and chilli powder. Each spoonful is sweet, buttery, tangy and warm, with a splash of the corn broth at the bottom. They make a great snack or side for tacos. Choose cotija or feta made with vegetarian rennet. Chef's tip: let the kernels brown slightly in the butter before adding the water; those toasty bits give esquites their depth.

20 minMexicanSnacks & StartersGluten free
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Vegetarian fanescaSquash, grain and bean soup

Fanesca is cooked in Ecuador only once a year, in the days before Easter, and families spend a whole day shelling, peeling and stirring. Traditionally it gathers twelve grains and legumes (said to stand for the apostles) in a thick soup of squash, milk and peanut, with salt cod in the pot. This version leaves the fish out and keeps the festival garnishes: hard-boiled egg, fried ripe plantain, fresh cheese and parsley. It's rich and very filling; small bowls are enough. Chef's tip: cook everything the day before and reheat; like many big feast soups, fanesca tastes better on day two.

130 minAndeanSoupsGluten free
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Mughlai parathaEgg-stuffed paratha

Mughlai paratha is a Kolkata cabin-restaurant classic, the sort of thing eaten at Anadi Cabin or a para stall on a winter evening with a sweet-sour potato curry and sliced cucumber and onion. Paper-thin dough is stretched out on the tawa, a beaten egg with onion, chilli and coriander is poured into the middle, and the sides are folded over into a sealed square parcel that is shallow-fried until it blisters. Many shops add minced meat; this vegetarian version is egg only, the way plenty of Bengali homes make it. Chef's tip: stretch the dough with oiled hands rather than a rolling pin for the thinnest sheet.

60 minIndianBreads & Parathas
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Ewa agoyinMashed beans in spicy sauce

In Lagos, ewa agoyin is the breakfast you buy from a woman with a big cooler of soft, mashed beans and a second pot of almost-black pepper sauce glistening with palm oil. The name points to the Agoyin, people from neighbouring Togo and Benin who made the dish famous in Lagos markets, and it is eaten with soft, chewy agege bread or fried plantain. The beans are the small, naturally sweet brown 'honey beans' (ewa oloyin), cooked until they collapse. The sauce is the star: dried chillies and onions fried slowly in palm oil until deep brown, smoky and slightly bitter-sweet. Chef's tip: don't rush the sauce; the onions need to go from soft to very dark brown slowly over a medium-low heat, which is where the smoky depth comes from.

120 minNigerianCurriesVeganGluten free
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Ezogelin çorbasıRed lentil and bulgur soup

Gaziantep gave Turkey this hearty soup, named after Ezo, a bride from a village near the city whose sad story is still told in folk songs. Unlike the smooth mercimek soup, ezogelin keeps some texture: red lentils, bulgur and a little rice simmer together with tomato and red pepper paste until thick and soft, and plenty of dried mint goes in at the end. In southeast Turkey it is a winter staple, eaten in the morning and as a light supper with bread and a squeeze of lemon. It thickens as it stands, so add a splash of water when you reheat it. Chef's tip: rub the dried mint between your palms over the pot to release its oils just before you serve.

40 minTurkishSoupsVegan
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Fabada asturianaAsturian white bean stew

Fabada is the great midday stew of Asturias, on Spain's green, rainy north coast, eaten in winter at long lunches in village casas de comida and cider houses, usually followed by a quiet afternoon. Big, buttery fabes (Asturian white beans) cook slowly with the compango: smoked Asturian chorizo, morcilla, pork belly and lacón (cured pork shoulder). The beans should end up creamy inside and whole outside, in a thick, orange broth coloured by the chorizo. Large dried white beans such as judión or butter beans are the closest substitute if you can't find fabes. Chef's tip: make it the day before; it thickens and tastes better after a night in the fridge.

150 minSpanishMeat
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Fairy breadSprinkle-covered bread

No children's birthday party in Australia, and in New Zealand too, is complete without a plate of fairy bread, a tradition going back about a hundred years. Soft white bread is spread with butter and pressed face-down into a pile of hundreds and thousands, the tiny round coloured sprinkles, then cut into triangles. It's sweet, crunchy, buttery and gloriously bright, and children love making it as much as eating it. Many sprinkles are coloured with insect-based carmine (E120) or glazed with shellac (E904); for a vegetarian plate, choose a brand that uses neither. Chef's tip: use soft, spreadable butter right to the edges; it's the glue that holds every sprinkle.

10 minAustralianSnacks & Starters
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FakesLentil soup

Fakes (say 'fah-KES') is the weekday soup of Greek homes, often made on a Wednesday or Friday, the traditional fasting days. Small brown lentils are simmered with onion, garlic, carrot, tomato and bay until thick and soft, then brightened at the table with red wine vinegar. It is cheap, filling and ready in well under an hour. Greeks eat it with olives, a wedge of feta for those who eat dairy, raw onion and bread. Chef's tip: add the vinegar off the heat just before eating, not while it cooks; boiling it is the usual mistake and flattens the sharp lift it is meant to give.

45 minGreekSoupsVeganGluten free
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FaloodehFrozen rice noodle sorbet

Faloodeh is the summer treat of Shiraz: thin rice noodles frozen in a rosewater syrup to make an icy, crunchy, chewy sorbet, sold in ice-cream shops across the city and in Tehran on hot evenings. Each glass is finished at the counter with a squeeze of fresh lime and, for many, a spoon of sour cherry syrup. It is very different from Indian falooda, which is a creamy milk drink; this one is dairy-free, sharp, floral and refreshing. Chef's tip: scrape the mixture with a fork every 30 minutes while it freezes, so you get snowy crystals rather than a solid block.

240 minPersianDessertsVeganGluten free
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LavashThin flatbread

In Armenian villages lavash is still slapped onto the hot clay wall of a tonir by women working in pairs, one rolling and one stretching, and the craft is on UNESCO's list of intangible heritage. The sheets come out blistered and soft, then dry to a cracker that keeps for months; a sprinkle of water brings them back to life. Lavash wraps grilled vegetables and herbs, carries cheese to the mouth, lines the pot for a crusty plov and is laid on the table at every meal and wedding. This version is unleavened and cooked in a heavy frying pan, the easiest way to get close to the tonir at home. Chef's tip: roll on a lightly oiled worktop rather than a floured one; the dough clings a little, so it stretches thinner without tearing.

45 minArmenianBreads & ParathasVegan
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