Jain recipes: no onion, garlic or root vegetables

Chinese Breakfast & Brunch

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Nkatie cake (Ghanaian peanut brittle)

Nkatie cake, from nkatie, the Twi word for groundnut, is the crunchy peanut brittle sold in small squares wrapped in paper by hawkers at school gates and lorry stations all over Ghana, from Accra to Kumasi. Roasted peanuts are stirred into caramelised sugar, spread thin and cut while warm. It is a sweet treat, so cut the pieces small. It contains peanuts. Whole peanuts and hard brittle are a choking risk for under-5s, so it is not for young children. Chef's tip: have everything ready before the sugar melts; once the caramel is amber you have seconds, not minutes.

25 min

Ghanaian Desserts

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Ssal mieum (Korean first rice gruel)

In Korean homes the weaning journey, called iyusik, begins with ssal mieum, a gruel so thin it is almost a drink. The rice is soaked, blended raw with water and then stirred over a low flame, which gives a finer, silkier result than boiling whole grains. Families offer it at around six months, a spoonful in the morning, before moving on to thicker juk with vegetables a few weeks later. It contains none of the common allergens: no milk, egg, gluten, peanut, tree nuts, soya, sesame or fish. Chef's tip: grind the soaked rice with only part of the water first; a thick slurry blends smoother than a watery one.

80 min

Korean Rice & Grains

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Chocolate slices on rye (pålægschokolade)

Pålægschokolade, wafer-thin slices of chocolate made for laying on bread, is a Danish lunchbox treat, usually saved for Fridays or birthdays: buttered dark rye, a slab of chocolate on top, then cut into fingers. The sour, dense rye and the sweet chocolate are a famous match. Shop slices are thin squares; here you make your own from a bar, which lets you pick dark chocolate with less sugar. It contains gluten (rye and wheat), milk and soya (lecithin in most chocolate). Chef's tip: spread the chocolate as thin as a coin; thick pieces crack and fall off.

15 minScandinavian Breads & Parathas

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Ghee-shakkar roti roll

Ask anyone who grew up in north India about school tiffin and the ghee-shakkar roti comes up: a soft, warm chapati brushed with ghee, sprinkled with a little sugar or jaggery powder and rolled like a cigar, made by a parent in the rush before the school bus. It is sweet, buttery and wheaty, and still tastes good cold at the morning break. It contains milk (ghee) and gluten (wheat). Chef's tip: use jaggery powder and a light hand; a teaspoon per roti is plenty, and the ghee carries the flavour.

25 min

Indian Breads & Parathas

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Semolina in broth (semolino in brodo)

Semolino in brodo is the dish Italian nonne cook for anyone who needs something gentle: babies at the start of weaning and older children with a cold. Fine durum-wheat semolina is rained into hot vegetable broth and stirred into a soft, silky porridge, usually served at supper. For babies the broth is home-made without salt, and the grated parmesan that adults add stays out or is kept to the tiniest pinch, because it is salty. It contains gluten (wheat), and milk if you add parmesan; there is no egg, nuts, soya, sesame or fish. Chef's tip: rain the semolina in from a height while whisking, and you will never get lumps.

12 min

Italian Soups

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Am (Filipino rice-water first porridge)

Filipino lolas remember giving babies am, the thick, cloudy liquid that rises to the top as rice boils, ladled off and cooled before the rest of the pot is cooked for the family's lunch. Today it is offered as a thin, smooth first porridge, a few spoonfuls alongside other first foods such as mashed squash or banana, rather than on its own. It tastes mild and slightly sweet. It contains none of the common allergens (milk, egg, gluten, peanut, tree nuts, soya, sesame, fish). Chef's tip: use more water than usual and keep the lid off, so the liquid thickens into a creamy am instead of evaporating away.

25 min

Filipino Drinks

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Dal paratha

In north Indian kitchens, last night's thick dal rarely goes to waste: the next morning it is kneaded into wholewheat flour with ajwain and coriander and rolled into soft, savoury parathas for breakfast and the school tiffin. They are golden-flecked, faintly spiced and filling, and taste good cold with yoghurt or pickle. They contain gluten (wheat) and milk (ghee); use oil to make them dairy free. Chef's tip: add the dal before any water; it is often all the liquid the dough needs.

35 min

Indian Breads & Parathas

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Rice cereal paste (mǐ hú)

Long before boxed cereals, Chinese mothers made mǐ hú, rice paste, by dry-toasting rice in a wok, grinding it fine and cooking it with water. It is still a favourite first food all over China, often served as the baby's breakfast while the family eats congee. Toasting gives it a gentle, biscuity flavour and makes it cook in minutes. There is no salt or sugar, and none of the common allergens (milk, egg, gluten, peanut, tree nuts, soya, sesame, fish). Chef's tip: toast and grind a larger batch, sieve it, and keep the powder in a clean, dry jar for up to two weeks.

20 min

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Vitamina de banana (Brazilian banana smoothie)

In Brazil a smoothie is a vitamina, and vitamina de banana is what parents from São Paulo to Recife whizz up for breakfast or when children get home from school hungry. Ripe banana, cold milk and a spoonful of oats make a thick, naturally sweet drink that fills a gap until dinner, so no sugar is needed. It contains milk and gluten (oats, unless labelled gluten free). Chef's tip: use bananas with brown freckles on the skin; they are sweeter and blend creamier than green-tipped ones.

5 min

Brazilian Drinks

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Roasted makhana (crunchy fox nuts)

Across North India, a jar of roasted makhana sits on the kitchen shelf for after-school munching, Navratri fasting days and evening cricket on television. The puffed lotus seeds turn from soft to crisp and light in a few minutes of slow roasting in ghee, like a nutty, savoury popcorn. Rock salt and pepper keep it suitable for fasting; turmeric or chaat masala are everyday variations. It contains milk (ghee). Whole makhana are a choking risk for under-5s, so crush them for little ones. Chef's tip: test one before you season: it should snap with a clean crunch, not bend.

12 min

Indian Snacks & Starters

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Idiyappam with coconut milk

Idiyappam, lacy nests of rice noodles pressed and steamed, is a breakfast across Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and soaked in fresh coconut milk it is one of the first 'proper' foods many South Indian babies eat, from about nine months. The strands are soft, a little springy and taste of sweet coconut. Grown-ups add salt to the dough and children over one often have a little jaggery stirred into the coconut milk; for babies both are left out. It has none of the common allergens (milk, egg, gluten, peanut, tree nuts, soya, sesame, fish), though coconut can rarely cause a reaction. Chef's tip: the water must be at a rolling boil when it hits the flour, or the dough is crumbly and won't press.

35 min

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Pumpkin congee for babies (cháo bí đỏ)

Vietnamese grandmothers often make a baby's early bowls of cháo with bí đỏ, the dense orange pumpkin sold in every market from Hà Nội to Cần Thơ. The rice is lightly toasted before simmering, a Vietnamese habit that gives the congee a faint nutty smell, and the pumpkin melts into it, turning it bright gold and naturally sweet. It is a weekday lunch for babies from six months, made without the fish sauce the rest of the family would add. No common allergens are in it (milk, egg, gluten, peanut, tree nuts, soya, sesame, fish). Chef's tip: choose a dry, dense pumpkin such as kabocha; watery squash makes a thin, bland congee.

55 min

Vietnamese Rice & Grains

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Champorado (Filipino chocolate rice porridge)

Champorado is the Filipino comfort bowl for rainy-season mornings and afternoon merienda, when children come home soaked from school in the monsoon. Glutinous rice is simmered with tablea, the pure roasted cacao tablets from Batangas and Cebu, into a thick, glossy, chocolatey porridge, then swirled with milk at the table. It is sweet, so this version uses less sugar than most and leans on the dark chocolate. It contains milk (and may contain soya in the chocolate). Chef's tip: keep stirring once the rice thickens; glutinous rice catches on the bottom of the pan very quickly.

35 min

South African Breakfast & Brunch

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Mabele porridge for babies

Mabele, sorghum meal, has fed families across South Africa, Botswana and Lesotho for centuries, and a smooth, soft version is a traditional first porridge for babies, especially in Sotho and Tswana homes where the grown-ups eat it for breakfast. It is a warm pinkish-brown, with a faintly nutty, slightly sour taste. For under-ones it is cooked plain, without the sugar older children like. Sorghum is naturally gluten free, and the porridge contains none of the common allergens (milk, egg, gluten, peanut, tree nuts, soya, sesame, fish). Chef's tip: mix the meal into cold water first; poured straight into boiling water, it forms lumps that never cook through.

27 min

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Nendran banana powder kurukku (ethakka podi kurukku)

In Kerala, families dry slices of raw nendran banana in the sun, grind them to a cream-coloured flour and cook it into kurukku, a smooth, thick porridge that has been a baby's first food in the state for generations. It is usually given mid-morning, and grandmothers often keep a jar of home-made ethakka podi for each new grandchild. It tastes gently sweet and slightly earthy. It contains none of the common allergens (milk, egg, gluten, peanut, tree nuts, soya, sesame, fish). Chef's tip: to make the powder at home, peel raw nendran bananas, slice them thinly, dry them in a low oven or the sun until brittle, then grind and sieve.

13 min

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Krentenbollen (Dutch currant buns)

In the Netherlands a krentenbol, buttered and sometimes topped with a slice of Gouda, is packed in schoolbags for the morning break and eaten with milk after school. The buns are soft, slightly sweet and so full of currants and raisins that there is barely room for the bread. This version adds little sugar, letting the dried fruit sweeten it. It contains gluten and milk. Chef's tip: soak the dried fruit in hot water before kneading it in; dry fruit pulls moisture from the dough and burns on the surface.

50 min

Dutch Baking

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Ten-fold rice porridge (jūbai-gayu)

Across Japan, a baby's first solid food at about five or six months is jūbai-gayu: rice cooked gently in ten times its volume of water until it collapses into a soft, pale porridge, then pressed or blended smooth. It tastes mild and slightly sweet, and parents start with a single spoonful a day before adding mashed vegetables such as pumpkin or carrot. None of the common allergens (milk, egg, gluten, peanut, tree nuts, soya, sesame, fish) are in it, so it is an easy base to build on. Chef's tip: make a full pot and freeze it in ice-cube trays, so one cube can be warmed for each meal.

85 min

Japanese Rice & Grains

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Moong dal water for babies

In North Indian homes, moong dal ka pani is often the first thing other than milk a baby tastes, spooned from a steel katori at lunchtime while the family eats dal-chawal. Split yellow moong is cooked until it falls apart with a pinch of turmeric, then the thin top liquid is strained off; over the following weeks more of the soft dal is mashed in. It tastes mild and slightly sweet. It is free of the common allergens (milk, egg, gluten, peanut, tree nuts, soya, sesame, fish). Chef's tip: a drop of ghee can be added once your baby is used to dairy, but keep it plain at first.

60 min

Indian Soups

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Glazirovanny syrok (chocolate-glazed curd bars)

Glazirovanny syrok, the chocolate-coated curd cheese bar, has been sold in Russian dairy aisles since Soviet times and is still what children across Russia, Ukraine and the Baltics grab after school. Made at home, it is a firm, creamy, gently sweet vanilla tvorog filling under a thin snap of dark chocolate, like a tiny cheesecake bar. This version uses less sugar than shop bars. It contains milk (and may contain soya in the chocolate). Chef's tip: press the tvorog through a sieve first; it is the only way to get the smooth, dense texture of a real syrok.

30 min

Russian Desserts

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Buko saladYoung coconut fruit salad

Buko salad is the dessert Filipino families bring to every birthday, christening and Christmas Noche Buena: strips of soft young coconut, mixed fruit, chewy nata de coco and sweet cream, chilled until icy cold. Children fish out the cherries first. It is quick to make the day before and is gluten free; it contains milk. Grapes in tinned fruit are already halved, but quarter any whole grapes lengthwise for younger children. Chef's tip: drain the fruit and nata de coco really well in a sieve for 15 minutes, or the salad turns watery overnight.

20 min

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Masala corn cup

In Mumbai and other Indian cities, cups of hot masala corn are sold at beaches, cinema halls and outside tuition classes, and children grab them after school as an easy, savoury snack. Steamed sweetcorn kernels are tossed with butter, a squeeze of lemon and tangy chaat masala, with a little chilli for older children. It is quick and naturally sweet. It contains milk (butter). Chef's tip: add the lemon only at the very end, off the heat, so it stays bright and doesn't make the butter split.

10 min

Indian Snacks & Starters

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Mini podi idli

In Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, podi idli is the tiffin parents pack because it stays soft until lunch and needs no chutney: steamed mini idlis are tossed in hot sesame oil with mustard seeds, curry leaves and spicy-nutty idli podi, so every one is coated. Train travellers carry them for the same reason. It is vegan and contains sesame; check that your podi's asafoetida is gluten free if that matters. Chef's tip: let the idlis rest for 5 minutes after steaming so they firm up and don't break when you toss them.

25 min

Japanese Snacks & Starters

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Fruit sando

Japanese fruit sandwiches started in the fruit parlours of Tokyo and are now sold in every convenience store, but they are just as much a home treat for a sunny weekend or a special after-school snack. Pillowy crustless bread holds a thick layer of barely sweetened whipped cream and whole pieces of fruit arranged so that each cut reveals a neat pattern. It contains gluten and milk (and often egg, in milk bread). Chef's tip: plan the cut before you arrange the fruit, laying the strawberries along the diagonal line you will slice through.

20 min

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Rice atole for babies (atole de arroz)

Atole is the warm, thick drink Mexicans have sipped since before the conquest, and in many homes the first version a baby tastes is atole de arroz, ground rice cooked with a stick of true cinnamon. For grown-ups it is sweetened with piloncillo and drunk at breakfast or on cold evenings around Día de Muertos; for babies the sugar stays out and it is thickened enough to eat from a spoon. It contains milk; there is no egg, gluten, nuts, soya, sesame or fish. Chef's tip: grind the rice yourself in a spice grinder; shop-bought rice flour works, but freshly ground rice tastes sweeter.

25 min

Mexican Drinks

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Fruit and cereal mash (Obst-Getreide-Brei)

German weaning follows a well-known plan: a vegetable lunch first, then a milk and cereal evening meal, and finally an afternoon Obst-Getreide-Brei, a dairy-free mash of cooked cereal flakes and fruit, usually from around seven months. Fine oat or millet flakes are simmered in water, then stirred into stewed apple or pear with a spoon of rapeseed oil, which German paediatric advice recommends for healthy fats. It is fruity, smooth and naturally sweet. It contains gluten if made with oats (use millet flakes for gluten free); there is no milk, egg, nuts, soya, sesame or fish. Chef's tip: stew the fruit in a little water rather than using juice, which adds sugar.

20 min

German Breakfast & Brunch

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Grechka s molokom (buckwheat with milk)

Grechka s molokom, buckwheat groats cooked soft and served in a bowl of warm milk with a little butter, is the breakfast or light supper that generations of Russian children have eaten at home and in nursery school. The groats are earthy and nutty and the milk makes them gentle and sweet-tasting, without any sugar. Buckwheat is naturally gluten free (despite its name); the dish contains milk and has no egg, nuts, soya, sesame or fish. Chef's tip: use toasted buckwheat (the brown kind sold for kasha), which has the rounder, nuttier flavour.

25 min

Russian Breakfast & Brunch

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Välling (Swedish oat and milk drink)

Välling, a thin gruel of cereal and milk, has been the Swedish child's bedtime drink for generations, and many families still make their own for toddlers once they move on to cow's milk at around a year old. It is smooth, warm and lightly oaty, with no added sugar or honey. It contains milk and gluten (oats are often processed with wheat; use certified gluten-free oats if needed); there is no egg, nuts, soya, sesame or fish. Chef's tip: blend the oats to a fine flour first, so the drink is silky and flows easily from a beaker.

10 minScandinavian Drinks

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Bubur merah putih (red and white porridge)

In Java, bubur merah putih is cooked for a baby's naming day, a child's birthday or a new house: a red-brown porridge sweetened with palm sugar and a white one rich with coconut milk, spooned side by side into one bowl. The red is said to stand for courage and the white for purity, and the bowls are shared with neighbours as thanks. The family and older children eat the sweetened red half; it is not for babies under one because of the sugar. Free of milk, egg, gluten, nuts and soya. Chef's tip: tie a pandan leaf in a knot and simmer it in both pots for a gentle vanilla-like scent.

50 min

Indonesian Desserts

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Matpakke (Norwegian packed lunch)

Nearly every Norwegian child carries a matpakke to school: slices of wholemeal bread, each with one simple topping, stacked with sheets of sandwich paper in between and wrapped in a neat parcel. Yellow cheese, sweet caramel-like brown cheese (brunost) and jam are the classics, with cucumber or pepper sticks on the side; liver paste is the meaty favourite. It is plain, filling and built to survive a school bag. It contains gluten (wheat) and milk. Chef's tip: keep wet toppings like tomato out of the stack; they make the bread soggy by lunchtime.

10 minScandinavian Breads & Parathas

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Ragi laddooFinger millet jaggery balls

In Karnataka, ragi (finger millet) is everyday food, and mothers roll ragi laddoos to keep in a tin for after-school snacks and school sports days, because they are filling and keep well. The flour is roasted in ghee until it smells like toasted biscuits, then bound with melted jaggery and sesame into dark, fudgy balls. Jaggery is still sugar, so these are a treat, kept small. They contain milk (ghee) and sesame. Chef's tip: roast the flour slowly until it darkens a shade and smells nutty; under-roasted ragi tastes raw and floury.

30 min

Indian Indian Sweets

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Issho mochi (first-birthday rice cake)

In homes all over Japan, a child's first birthday is marked with issho mochi: a single large, round rice cake made from about 1.8 kg of glutinous rice, wrapped in a cloth and strapped to the baby's back. Whether the toddler stands, crawls or plops down laughing, the family cheers, and the mochi is then cut up, grilled and shared by the adults and older children as a wish for a lifetime of plenty. This home version uses glutinous rice flour, so no pounding is needed, and it is free of milk, egg, gluten, nuts and soya. Sticky mochi is a choking risk: the baby only carries it, adults and older children eat it, and small children should only have tiny, soft pieces while an adult watches. Chef's tip: write the child's name on the cloth bundle, not on the cake, so the mochi stays plain and everyone can eat it.

60 min

Japanese Desserts

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Roti bakar (Indonesian toasted bread)

Roti bakar stalls light up street corners all over Indonesia from late afternoon, and children from Jakarta to Surabaya beg for the classic filling of chocolate sprinkles with grated cheese, an unlikely pairing that works. Thick slices of soft bread are spread with butter, toasted on a hot plate until crisp and golden, filled and cut into fingers. Traditional versions add a lot of condensed milk; here it is an optional drizzle. It contains gluten and milk (and may contain soya in the chocolate). Chef's tip: press the bread flat with a spatula as it toasts so the filling melts into it.

13 min

Indonesian Snacks & Starters

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Mango floatMango icebox cake

Mango float is the no-bake party cake of the Philippines, made in a big dish for birthdays, graduations and fiestas when Philippine mangoes are at their sweetest. Layers of crackers soften overnight in sweet cream until they slice like cake, with ripe mango in every forkful. Older children can assemble it themselves. It contains milk and gluten. Chef's tip: use mangoes that are fully ripe and fragrant but still firm enough to slice neatly; stringy, sour mangoes spoil it.

30 min

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Sữa chua (Vietnamese set yogurt)

In Vietnamese homes, sữa chua is made in a row of small jars and kept in the fridge or freezer, and children in Hanoi and Saigon eat it after school straight from the cup, sometimes frozen hard like ice cream. The condensed milk gives it a mild caramel sweetness and a smooth, firm set that is less sharp than plain yogurt. It is sweetened, so this version uses less condensed milk than the street-stall kind. It contains milk. Chef's tip: keep the milk at blood heat, about 43 °C; hotter kills the yogurt culture and cooler sets slowly and sour.

25 min

Brazilian Breakfast & Brunch

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Polenta e lattePolenta in milk

In farmhouses across Lombardy and the Veneto, the polenta left over from lunch was cut into pieces at night and dropped into bowls of warm milk for the children, and polenta e latte is still remembered fondly as a cosy winter supper. Freshly made polenta works just as well: soft, golden and comforting, with the milk soaking into it. It contains milk; it has no gluten, egg, nuts, soya, sesame or fish. Chef's tip: whisk the polenta into the water in a thin stream, like rain, to keep it smooth.

45 min

Italian Rice & Grains

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Mashed nam wa banana (kluay nam wa bod)

Ask a Thai grandmother about first foods and she will talk about kluay nam wa, the short, plump banana that grows in nearly every garden in Thailand. Ripe ones are steamed, which softens the slightly astringent edge, then scraped and mashed for a baby's first taste, often in the afternoon. It is sweet, creamy and needs nothing added. There are no common allergens (milk, egg, gluten, peanut, tree nuts, soya, sesame, fish). If you can't find nam wa, use a small, very ripe ordinary banana. Chef's tip: steam the banana in its skin; it keeps the flesh moist and stops it browning.

13 min

Thai Desserts

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Sev mamraPuffed rice snack mix

In Gujarati homes from Ahmedabad to Surat, a big steel tin of sev mamra is always ready for children coming home from school, unexpected guests and train journeys. Puffed rice is tossed in a little hot oil with turmeric, curry leaves and peanuts until crisp, then mixed with fine gram-flour sev for a savoury, mildly tangy crunch. A pinch of sugar is traditional; it is optional here. It contains peanuts. Whole peanuts are a choking risk for under-5s, so leave them out or crush them for little ones. Chef's tip: warm the puffed rice in the pan for a few minutes first; even slightly stale mamra turns crisp again.

15 min

Indian Snacks & Starters

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Mingau de maisena (cornflour milk porridge)

In homes across Brazil, a little bowl of mingau de maisena is the classic supper before bed: milk stirred with cornflour over a low heat until it turns smooth and spoonable, like a thin custard. Grandmothers usually add sugar and cinnamon, but for babies from nine months the sweetness comes from mashed ripe banana instead. It contains milk (cow's milk is fine cooked into food from this age); it has no gluten, egg, nuts, soya, sesame or fish. Chef's tip: mix the cornflour into cold milk before heating, never into hot milk, or it forms lumps at once.

10 min

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Paruppu usiliGreen beans with crumbled lentils

Paruppu usili is a Tamil Brahmin speciality, the dry dish that sits beside more kuzhambu or rasam on a Thanjavur lunch leaf at weddings and at home: chana and toor dal are soaked, ground coarsely with red chilli, steamed into a cake, crumbled, then fried with finely chopped green beans until the crumbs turn golden and crisp in places. The result is nutty, spicy and full of protein. A portion is about 220 kcal. The dals soak for 1 hour first (not counted in the times). The mistake most people make is grinding the dal to a smooth paste; it should be coarse like semolina, or the usili turns into lumps instead of crumbs. Chef's tip: steam the ground dal before frying, rather than frying it raw; it crumbles perfectly and needs far less oil.

40 min

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Bajri ni raabPearl millet jaggery drink

In Gujarati homes from Ahmedabad to the villages of Saurashtra, raab is what is made on a cold January evening, for a cough, or for a new mother regaining her strength: a spoon of bajri flour roasted in ghee with ajwain and dry ginger, then cooked with water and jaggery into a thin, sippable porridge. It is drunk hot from a steel tumbler and tastes of toasted grain, caramel and warm spice. A tumbler is about 220 kcal. The most common mistake is adding jaggery to boiling raab with the flame high, which can make it split; turn the heat down first and stir it in until it melts. Chef's tip: roast the flour on a low flame until it smells like toasted biscuit and darkens just slightly; underroasted bajri tastes raw and bitter.

18 min

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RundstykkerBreakfast rolls

Weekend mornings in Denmark and Norway start with a bag of warm rundstykker from the bakery, or a tray baked at home. They are crusty white rolls topped with poppy or sesame seeds, split and eaten with cheese, jam or a slice of brunost alongside coffee. This version is vegan and uses an overnight rise in the fridge, so the rolls go straight into the oven in the morning. A common mistake is adding too much flour, which makes them dense. Chef's tip: put a tray of boiling water in the bottom of the oven for the first 10 minutes so the crust turns thin and crackly.

45 minScandinavian Breads & Parathas

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KongguksuCold soybean noodle soup

When the monsoon heat settles over Seoul in July, queues form outside old noodle houses near City Hall for kongguksu: thin wheat noodles in an ice-cold, thick, nutty broth of soybeans boiled and blended with their skins, topped with cucumber and sesame. It is plain, rich and very cooling, and people season it at the table with salt (in Seoul) or sugar (in Jeolla). A bowl is about 520 kcal, a full meal with plenty of protein. Soak the soybeans overnight first, not counted in the times. The most common mistake is overboiling the soybeans, which gives a fermented, "meju" smell; boil them for exactly 10–12 minutes and taste one: it should be cooked but not soft. Chef's tip: blend a handful of pine nuts or toasted sesame with the beans; it makes the broth even creamier.

40 min

Korean Pasta & Noodles

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ParadiesäpfelCandy apples

Paradiesäpfel shine from the sugar stalls at German fairs and Christmas markets, from the Cannstatter Wasen to the Hamburg Dom: small tart apples on wooden sticks, dipped in a glassy red sugar glaze that cracks when you bite it. Children often get them on the way home from the rides in autumn. The glaze is just sugar, water and a drop of vinegar boiled to the hard-crack stage, so a sugar thermometer helps. The most common mistake is using wet or waxed apples, which makes the glaze slide off. Chef's tip: scrub the apples in hot water and dry them completely first, then dip quickly and twist so the excess drips back into the pan.

40 min

German Desserts

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Zupa owocowaFruit soup with pasta

On a hot July afternoon in a Mazurian village or a Warsaw allotment, a pot of zupa owocowa sits cooling on the windowsill: sour cherries or strawberries simmered with sugar, lightly thickened, and served cold over little pasta shells or bow ties. Polish children often get it as the first course of a summer lunch, and it tastes like a drinkable fruit compote. A common mistake is thickening it too much, so it sets into jelly in the fridge; it should stay pourable. Chef's tip: stir a spoon of soured cream into each bowl, not the pot, so the colour stays bright.

30 min

Polish Soups

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VarenyeFruit preserve in syrup

Varenye is not quite jam: whole berries or fruit are steeped and cooked in short bursts so they stay intact in a clear, glossy syrup. All summer at dachas around Moscow and Vladimir, copper basins of strawberry, cherry or gooseberry varenye bubble outside, and in winter it is spooned into tiny glass rosettes and eaten with tea, sometimes straight from the spoon between sips. The common mistake is boiling it in one long go, which turns the fruit to mush. Chef's tip: cook it in three short boils with long rests between; the fruit soaks up syrup slowly and stays whole.

780 min

Russian Basics

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Pane ticinesePull-apart white loaf

Pane ticinese comes from Switzerland's Italian-speaking south and is now sold in bakeries across the country: a long, flat loaf made of linked rolls, each section easy to break off, with a soft, slightly chewy crumb thanks to a little olive oil in the dough. In Lugano and Bellinzona it goes on the table at lunch with salami and formaggini, or is torn into hunks for minestrone; this version is vegan. Chef's tip: when shaping, press each fold right down with the side of your hand; the deep creases are what let the loaf snap into neat pieces after baking.

160 min

Swiss Breads & Parathas

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WeggliSoft milk rolls

Weggli are the soft white rolls Swiss-German children grow up on: in Zurich, Bern and Basel they are bought warm on Saturday mornings, pulled apart along their deep central crease and eaten with butter and jam, or with a bar of chocolate pressed inside for the school break. The dough is enriched with milk and butter, so the crumb is fine and fluffy and the crust thin and golden. Chef's tip: press the crease firmly with the handle of a wooden spoon almost to the tray; if it's too shallow the rolls rise back into plain buns.

118 min

Swiss Breads & Parathas

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Doodh pattiStrong milk tea

Doodh patti is poured from a dented pan at every truck stop, university canteen and street-corner dhaba in Pakistan, from Karachi's Saddar to the Murree road, and it is drunk at all hours: before work, after cricket, at midnight with a paratha. The tea is made without any water at all, boiling loose black tea and sugar in milk until it turns a deep caramel colour and tastes rich, malty and strong. The mistake is simmering too gently and pulling it off too soon, giving a weak, milky drink; it needs a proper rolling boil, more than once. Contains milk. Chef's tip: lift the pan off the heat each time the tea froths to the top and return it, three times; each rise deepens the colour and flavour.

11 min

Pakistani Drinks

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Shimla mirch besanCapsicum with gram flour

In Marwari homes in Jodhpur and Bikaner, and across Vidarbha in Maharashtra, gram flour stretches a few vegetables into a satisfying dry sabzi, and capsicum with besan is the weekday favourite, eaten with phulka and a bowl of kadhi or dal. Diced green peppers are cooked until just soft, then dusted with roasted, spiced besan, which turns into crumbly golden bits that cling to the peppers. A portion is about 165 kcal. The common mistake is adding the besan raw to the wet peppers, which gives a pasty, raw-tasting coating; roast it dry in a separate pan first until it smells nutty. Chef's tip: keep the capsicum slightly crunchy; it carries on softening once the besan goes in.

23 min

Indian Vegetarian

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Tokma sharbatBasil seed lemon drink

When the azan sounds at sunset during Ramadan, tables from Dhaka's Mirpur flats to village courtyards in Comilla carry a jug of tokma sharbat: lemon water swirling with soaked sweet basil seeds, each one wearing a soft, jelly-like halo. It is sweet, sharp and cooling, a gentle first sip after a long hot fast before the dates and piyaju. The most common mistake is stirring the seeds straight into the jug dry, where they clump into slimy lumps; always soak them separately in plenty of water first. Chef's tip: bruise a few mint leaves or add a thumb of grated ginger to the jug, which many Dhaka families do in the hottest months.

15 min

Bangladeshi Drinks

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RuispuuroRye porridge

In Finnish homes and school canteens, ruispuuro is the plain, filling porridge of winter mornings, from Helsinki flats to farmhouses in Ostrobothnia. Rye flakes or coarse rye meal simmer in salted water until thick and slightly tangy, and the classic topping is a pool of melting butter, called a voisilmä or 'butter eye'. This version is vegan: use a plant butter, or tart lingonberries and a little oat milk. A common mistake is serving it too soon, when the flakes are still chewy. Chef's tip: let the porridge rest off the heat with the lid on for 5 minutes — the rye swells and turns creamy.

20 minScandinavian Breakfast & Brunch

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DrömmarCrisp dream cookies

Drömmar, 'dreams', are on almost every plate of the seven kinds of cookies that Swedish hosts traditionally set out for kafferep, the old coffee party, and grandmothers in Dalarna still bake them by the tin. They are pale, domed and so light they crack and melt on the tongue. That texture comes from hjorthornssalt, baker's ammonia, which smells strongly while baking but leaves nothing behind once the cookies are cooked through. Baking powder works too, but the cookies will be less airy. A common mistake is baking at a high heat; they must stay white. Chef's tip: bake in a low oven until completely dry inside, or the ammonia taste lingers.

40 minScandinavian Baking

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Kheera raitaCucumber yogurt dip

From Lucknow dinner tables to the biryani counters of Old Delhi, a bowl of cucumber raita is the cooling answer to anything spicy, and in summer it is eaten on its own with a paratha. Grated cucumber is folded into smooth, whisked yogurt with freshly roasted cumin, mint and a pinch of black salt. A portion is about 70 kcal. The common mistake is using yogurt straight from the pot without whisking, which gives a lumpy raita; whisk it smooth first and thin it with a spoon of cold water if needed. Chef's tip: roast whole cumin seeds in a dry pan and crush them yourself just before serving; the smoky smell is what makes a raita sing.

11 min

Polish Breakfast & Brunch

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Kakdi koshimbirCucumber peanut salad

Koshimbir is the cool, crunchy salad that sits on the left side of a Marathi thali in Pune and Nashik, eaten at lunch with varan-bhaat and served at every festival meal. This one is grated or finely chopped cucumber mixed with crushed roasted peanuts, green chilli and a little yogurt, then finished with a fizz of mustard seeds and asafoetida in hot oil. A portion is about 110 kcal. The common mistake is not squeezing the cucumber, which makes the salad watery within minutes; press out the juice (and drink it). Chef's tip: add the crushed peanuts at the last moment so they stay crunchy, and use a pinch of sugar only if your yogurt is very sour.

12 min

Indian Salads

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PatjukRed bean porridge

On Dongji, the winter solstice, Korean families eat a bowl of deep red patjuk: the colour was believed to drive away bad spirits on the longest night, and grandmothers still flick a little on the gate. Adzuki beans are boiled soft, pushed through a sieve and simmered with rice into a thick, earthy porridge, and little balls of glutinous rice dough called saealsim, one for each year of your age by tradition, are cooked in it. It is lightly salted; in Jeolla people add sugar. A bowl is about 380 kcal. The most common mistake is not stirring the bottom once the rice goes in; the thick porridge catches and burns quickly. Chef's tip: throw away the first boiling water of the beans; it removes bitterness and makes the porridge taste cleaner.

100 min

Korean Rice & Grains

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KochkäseCooked cheese spread

In Hesse, the Odenwald and Franconia, Kochkäse is the spreadable cooked cheese that farm kitchens made from leftover sour-milk curd. Dry quark is left to ripen for a day or two until it turns slightly yellow and smells tangy, then melted with butter, bicarbonate and caraway into a glossy, stretchy spread. It is eaten on rye bread for Abendbrot, often with onion and vinegar on top, and in Hessian pubs alongside cider. Most quark is set without animal rennet, but check the label if that matters. The common mistake is heating it too fast, which makes it grainy instead of smooth. Chef's tip: keep stirring over a low heat until no white flecks remain, then pour it into a jar while it is still runny.

40 min

German Chutneys & Dips

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Makaron z truskawkamiPasta with strawberries

When the first Kashubian and Mazovian strawberries flood the stalls in June, Polish children get makaron z truskawkami for lunch: warm pasta tossed with crushed sweetened strawberries and cream. Milk bars in Kraków and Łódź put it on the summer board too, and it surprises visitors who expect pasta to be savoury. The berries are mashed with sugar until they turn into a loose pink sauce, then folded through hot ribbon pasta or bow ties with soured cream or yoghurt. A common mistake is crushing the strawberries too far ahead, so they turn dull and syrupy; mash them while the pasta cooks. Chef's tip: let the drained pasta cool for a minute before adding the cream, so it coats the pasta instead of splitting into thin streaks.

20 min

Polish Pasta & Noodles

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Zupa mlecznaMilk soup with noodles

Ask anyone who grew up in Poland about zupa mleczna and you will hear about winter mornings before school, or about the steaming bowls ladled out at breakfast in Warsaw milk bars long before cafés served porridge. It is simply warm milk with small noodles or rice, sweetened lightly and sometimes finished with a knob of butter or cinnamon. Kids like it with lane kluski, egg drops poured straight into the milk. A common mistake is boiling the noodles in the milk over a high heat, so it catches and tastes scorched; cook them in water first. Chef's tip: warm the milk with a strip of lemon peel and a pinch of salt, which makes it taste rounder without adding more sugar.

15 min

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Isubgul sharbatPsyllium lemon drink

Many Bangladeshi grandmothers insist on a glass of isubgul sharbat at iftar or before sehri, and in Dhaka's old neighbourhoods it is sold from shops alongside tokma and lebu sharbat throughout Ramadan; the psyllium is valued for keeping digestion comfortable during the fast. Stirred into sweetened lemon water, the husk swells into a soft, slightly thick drink with a mild, neutral taste. The classic mistake is letting it stand: psyllium keeps absorbing water and sets into a jelly within minutes, so mix it just before drinking. Drink plenty of water as well, and anyone taking regular medication should space it at least two hours away from psyllium. Chef's tip: sprinkle the husk on top and whisk immediately with a fork rather than spooning it in a heap, so it disperses without lumps.

5 min

Bangladeshi Drinks

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Ryż z jabłkamiBaked rice with apples

Every Polish school canteen and milk bar from Gdańsk to Rzeszów has served ryż z jabłkami, and many grown-ups still bake it on a cold Sunday afternoon when autumn apples fill the market. Rice is cooked slowly in milk until creamy, layered in a dish with grated sharp apples, sugar and cinnamon, then baked until the top turns golden and the apple juices soak into the rice. It is eaten warm with soured cream or cold the next day from the fridge. A common mistake is using sweet dessert apples, which go mushy and bland; tart apples like Antonówka, Bramley or Granny Smith keep their bite. Chef's tip: squeeze a little of the juice out of the grated apples, or the bottom layer turns watery.

60 min

Polish Desserts

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Brunost on breadBrown cheese on bread

Brunost, the brown cheese of Norway, is not really cheese but whey boiled for hours until its milk sugars caramelise into a fudge-like block. In Gudbrandsdalen and across the country it is shaved paper-thin with a cheese slicer onto buttered bread at breakfast, packed into school lunch boxes (matpakke) and laid on hot heart-shaped waffles at weekends. The whey comes from cheesemaking that often uses animal rennet, so strict vegetarians should check the label. A common mistake is cutting it in thick chunks; it is sweet and rich and meant to be almost see-through. Chef's tip: use a proper flat cheese slicer, and add a few slices of tart apple or jam on top to balance the sweetness.

5 minScandinavian Breakfast & Brunch

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ApfelschorleApple juice spritzer

At any German beer garden, from Munich's Chinese Tower to the cider taverns of Frankfurt, the drink for children, drivers and anyone on a hot afternoon is Apfelschorle: cloudy apple juice topped up with sparkling mineral water. Germans drink it at family lunches, after sport and at school summer parties, and it is far less sweet than juice alone. The usual mix is half and half, but many people go lighter on the juice. The common mistake is pouring the water first, which knocks out the bubbles. Chef's tip: use naturally cloudy apple juice and very cold, strongly sparkling water, and pour the water in slowly down the side of the glass.

2 min

German Drinks

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Filmjölk with muesliSoured milk with muesli

Swedish breakfast tables, from Stockholm flats to Norrland cabins, almost always have a carton of filmjölk: a mild, pourable cultured milk that is less sour than yogurt and thinner than kefir. It goes into a deep plate, never a glass, with muesli, fresh berries and a dusting of cinnamon. Here you can make your own filmjölk by culturing milk with a few spoons of shop-bought filmjölk or buttermilk. A common mistake is warming the milk too much, which kills the culture. Chef's tip: let it set at warm room temperature, about 20–22 °C, for 24 hours until it wobbles like soft custard.

5 minScandinavian Breakfast & Brunch

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JapgokbapMultigrain rice

In Korean homes today, the bowl of rice beside the stew is more often japgokbap than plain white: short-grain rice cooked with a handful each of barley, brown rice, black rice, millet and beans, which turns it purple-grey, chewy and nutty. Supermarkets in Seoul sell ready-mixed bags of japgok for the rice cooker, and the habit goes back to times when rice was rationed and stretched with other grains. A portion is about 270 kcal, with far more fibre than white rice. The beans and brown grains need soaking: 4 hours or overnight (not counted). The common mistake is cooking it with the water for white rice; whole grains need about a quarter more. Chef's tip: soak the beans and brown grains separately from the white rice, which only needs 20 minutes; that way nothing ends up hard or mushy.

50 min

Korean Rice & Grains

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ØllebrødRye bread and beer porridge

Øllebrød was the everyday breakfast of Danish farmhouses long before oats took over, a thrifty way to use up stale rye bread in the long Jutland winters. The bread is soaked and simmered with dark, sweet malt beer (hvidtøl), lemon and orange peel and a little sugar into a thick brown porridge, then served with cold cream or whipped cream. Hvidtøl is a very low-alcohol beer; use an alcohol-free malt beer or malt drink so it suits everyone, and for a fully alcohol-free version use half water and half apple juice with 1 tbsp black treacle. A common mistake is using fresh, seeded bread, which turns gluey. Chef's tip: soak the bread overnight so it collapses into a smooth porridge in minutes.

30 minScandinavian Breakfast & Brunch

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ZöldborsófőzelékGreen pea stew

Ask Hungarians about their childhood lunches and zöldborsófőzelék comes up fast: a bright green, slightly sweet pea stew that grandmothers in Budapest and the villages of the Great Plain make in late spring with fresh peas and all year with frozen ones. The peas cook briefly in butter with a pinch of sugar, then a light roux and milk turn them creamy, and a fistful of parsley finishes it. It is eaten as a meal with fried eggs, potato croquettes or fasírt. Chef's tip: stop cooking as soon as the peas are tender; long simmering turns them khaki and floury.

23 min

Hungarian Vegetarian

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BarankiTea bread rings

Strings of baranki once hung on poles at every Russian fair, and you still see them threaded on twine in Moscow markets and station kiosks. The dough is boiled briefly like a bagel, then baked until hard, golden and glossy, so the rings keep for weeks and soften only when dunked in hot, sweet tea from the samovar. This version is vegan, made with oil instead of butter and eggs. The common mistake is a soft, wet dough, which makes puffy bread rolls instead of crunchy rings. Chef's tip: knead the dough stiff and leave the shaped rings uncovered for 20 minutes to form a skin before boiling; that gives the shine.

100 min

Russian Baking

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HallongrottorRaspberry thumbprint cookies

Hallongrottor, 'raspberry caves', are the cookie Swedish children learn to bake first, pressing a thumb into each ball of buttery dough and filling the hollow with raspberry jam. They turn up at birthday parties, school bake sales and every proper fika in homes from Malmö to Luleå. Baked in paper cases, they keep their shape and the jam bubbles into a glossy jewel. A common mistake is overfilling the hollows, which makes the jam boil over and burn. Chef's tip: use a thick, set jam and fill only to the rim.

30 minScandinavian Baking

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BürliCrusty bread rolls

Walk into a bakery in St. Gallen, Appenzell or Thurgau in the morning and you will find trays of Bürli, rough, flour-dusted rolls baked in clusters of two or four that you tear apart at the table. Their dough is wet and lightly handled, so the crust bakes up thin and crackling while the inside stays open and chewy. In eastern Switzerland they are the classic partner for a grilled St. Galler Bratwurst at football matches and markets, and they're just as good with butter and cheese. Chef's tip: don't add extra flour to the sticky dough; the high water content is what gives Bürli their big holes, so use wet hands and a scraper instead.

175 min

Swiss Breads & Parathas

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SpargelcremesuppeCream of asparagus soup

During Spargelzeit, from April to 24 June, kitchens around Schwetzingen, Beelitz and Schrobenhausen fill with white asparagus, and nothing is wasted. The peelings and woody ends are simmered into a light stock, which becomes this velvety cream soup with a few tender tips floating on top, served as a starter before the big asparagus platter or as lunch on its own. Its flavour is delicate, slightly sweet and nutty. Using a strong stock cube is the mistake to avoid; it drowns the asparagus. Chef's tip: a pinch of sugar and a squeeze of lemon in the stock balance the faint bitterness of the peel.

55 min

German Soups

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KetupatRice cakes in coconut leaf pouches

On the eve of Idul Fitri, kitchens and mosque courtyards across Indonesia fill with people weaving janur, pale young coconut leaves, into diamond-shaped pouches; filled loosely with rice and boiled for hours, they swell into dense, faintly grassy cakes. Sliced, ketupat is served on Lebaran morning under opor ayam, sayur labu siam and sambal goreng. If you can't get coconut leaves, ready-woven casings are sold frozen in Asian shops, or you can use the bag method in the last step. Chef's tip: fill the pouches only a third to half full; packed tight, the rice has no room to swell and the centre stays hard and raw.

260 min

Indonesian Rice & Grains

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Kuih kociSticky rice and coconut parcels

Kuih koci are the little banana-leaf pyramids stacked on Malay kuih stalls at teatime and on trays at kenduri feasts in Kedah, Perak and Melaka. You unwrap the leaf to find a soft, chewy dough of glutinous rice flour around a dark, sticky filling of fresh coconut cooked with gula Melaka. Some cooks colour half the dough blue with butterfly pea or green with pandan; this one keeps it plain white. Chef's tip: a filling that is too wet seeps through the dough and makes it collapse, so cook the coconut until it is dry enough to roll into balls.

75 min

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EspasolRice flour coconut logs

Bus passengers through Laguna buy espasol by the paper-wrapped bundle at stops in Santa Rosa and Calamba. The cylinders are made from glutinous rice flour toasted until nutty, then cooked into a thick dough with coconut milk, sugar and young coconut strips, rolled out and dusted in more toasted flour, so they are soft and chewy inside with a dry, powdery coat. They are eaten for pasalubong (homecoming gifts) and with afternoon coffee. Chef's tip: toast the flour slowly and stir all the time; it goes from cream to burnt in a minute, and burnt flour makes the whole batch bitter.

60 min

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WajikSticky rice palm sugar cake

Wajik means diamond, the shape it is cut into for Javanese weddings, Lebaran open houses and the trays carried to a family's new baby. Glutinous rice is steamed, then folded through a bubbling caramel of palm sugar, coconut milk and pandan until every grain is glossy and the mass pulls away from the wok. Pressed and cooled, it slices into chewy, toffee-brown pieces that keep for days. Chef's tip: keep stirring once the rice goes into the syrup; walking away for even a minute lets the sugar scorch on the bottom and the whole batch tastes bitter.

75 min

Indonesian Desserts

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Teh O ais limauIced black tea with lime

In kopitiam shorthand, 'teh' is tea with milk, 'O' means no milk, 'ais' is iced and 'limau' adds lime, so this is the order Malaysians shout across the counter on a sticky afternoon in Penang or Kuala Lumpur. Strong, sweetened black tea is cooled over ice and squeezed with lime until it tastes like a sharper, less perfumed iced lemon tea. It goes with fried noodles and roti. Chef's tip: pouring hot tea straight onto a glass of ice dilutes it into weak tea; brew it double strength, or chill it first.

10 min

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Lompat tikamLayered pandan and coconut sweet

Kota Bharu and Kuala Terengganu Ramadan stalls ladle lompat tikam into plastic bags or cups for the walk home before buka puasa: a pool of dark gula Melaka syrup, chewy strips of green pandan dough, soft glutinous rice and a lid of salted coconut cream. The name means roughly 'jump and stab', and nobody agrees why. It is three small jobs that come together in a glass, so make the parts ahead. Chef's tip: a thin, runny coconut layer is the common disappointment; cook it until it is thick and spoonable so it sits on top instead of sinking into the syrup.

120 min

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Es cincauGrass jelly drink

Glasses of es cincau are handed out at Ramadan iftar tables across Java and sold from roadside carts all year on hot afternoons. Cubes of black grass jelly, with its slightly bitter, herbal taste, sit in pale coconut milk and dark palm-sugar syrup over crushed ice, and the contrast is the whole joy of it. Ready-made grass jelly in tins is fine; this recipe sets your own from grass jelly powder. Chef's tip: let the jelly set fully and cold before cutting; cut warm, it tears and melts into the drink.

30 min

Indonesian Drinks

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Air jagungSweet corn drink

Night markets in Selangor and Perak sell air jagung in tall cups, a pale-yellow, lightly sweet drink made from fresh corn cooked with pandan and blended smooth; some stalls stir in evaporated milk, but the plain version is vegan and very refreshing. It tastes like the milk from the bottom of a bowl of sweetcorn, with a grassy pandan note. Chef's tip: skipping the sieve is a common short cut that leaves the drink gritty with husk; strain it well, pressing on the pulp.

25 min

Ethiopian Snacks & Starters

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Roz bel shaareya (Egyptian vermicelli rice)

Not a single Egyptian stew is served without roz bel shaareya: short-grain rice cooked with vermicelli that has been toasted in butter or samna until it's the colour of a walnut shell. It's on the table every day in homes from Aswan to Alexandria, soft and slightly sticky, with nutty brown flecks through it. Serve it under fasolia, bamia or molokhia. Most people under-toast the vermicelli out of fear of burning it; pale shaareya tastes of nothing. Chef's tip: let the cooked rice sit covered with a clean tea towel under the lid for 10 minutes; it dries the grains and keeps them separate.

30 min

Egyptian Rice & Grains

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NifroBoiled wheat and chickpeas

When a baby cuts a first tooth, Ethiopian families celebrate with tirs mastecha, and the dish at the centre is nifro: a big pot of whole wheat berries, chickpeas and fava beans boiled with salt and handed round warm in cupped hands or small bowls. It also turns up at funerals, saints' day gatherings and long coffee ceremonies in Gondar and Addis, chewy, nutty and plain in the best way. The common mistake is boiling everything together from dry, so the wheat bursts while the fava stay hard; soak them all overnight and add the wheat later. Fava beans are unsafe for anyone with G6PD deficiency (favism), so leave them out if in doubt. Not gluten free. Chef's tip: once drained, toss the warm nifro in a dry pan for two minutes; it dries the surface and makes the salt and a pinch of berbere cling.

795 min

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Baba dudu

Yoruba children of the 70s and 80s remember baba dudu, "the black one", bought for a coin from sweet sellers outside school gates in Ibadan and Abeokuta: sugar and butter cooked until almost black, then pulled and cut into small chewy pieces that taste of toffee and burnt caramel. It is easy to make at home, but hot sugar burns badly, so keep children away from the stove. The candy is a choking risk for small children and isn't suitable for under-1s. The mistake is taking it off the heat too early: pale caramel stays soft and sticky, so wait until it is the colour of strong tea and a drop sets firm in cold water. Chef's tip: oil your scissors and cut the strip while it is warm and pliable; once cold it shatters.

30 min

Nigerian Desserts

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Kuskusi bel sukkar (Egyptian sweet couscous)

Egyptians eat couscous sweet, not savoury: in Cairo and the Delta, street-side sweet shops sell kuskusi by the bowl in the evening, steamed with samna, heaped with powdered sugar, nuts and raisins, and sometimes covered with hot milk. At home it's a winter supper or a Friday breakfast treat. Pouring boiling water straight over instant couscous and leaving it gives a gluey lump; steaming it in two short rounds and rubbing in the butter keeps every grain separate. Chef's tip: warm the milk with a cinnamon stick and pour it over just before eating, so the couscous stays fluffy on top. Contains wheat, milk and tree nuts.

35 min

Egyptian Desserts

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Donkwa

Children in Kano and Sokoto buy donkwa from trays at the market gate, and in Yoruba towns it is sold as a sweet-hot snack on the walk home from school: firm little balls of toasted corn flour pounded with roasted groundnuts, sugar and a pinch of dried pepper, bound by the nuts' own oil. They are crumbly, nutty and gently spicy. Contains peanut. The common mistake is under-toasting the corn: raw corn flour tastes chalky and floury, so keep stirring until it is pale biscuit-coloured and smells like popcorn. Chef's tip: if the mixture won't hold, add the oil drop by drop and squeeze each ball hard in your fist before rolling it smooth.

30 min

Nigerian Snacks & Starters

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Cà phê muốiSalt coffee

A family café in Huế's citadel quarter began topping its coffee with salted cream, and now cà phê muối is served across central Vietnam and in trendy cafés in Saigon and Hanoi. Sip it without stirring: first the cool, faintly salty cream, then sweet condensed milk and strong phin coffee, the salt rounding off the bitterness much like a pinch in caramel. It is good hot or poured over ice. Chef's tip: use only a small pinch of salt per glass; too much and the drink tastes like seawater rather than salted caramel.

10 min

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Chanh muốiSalted lime drink

Vietnamese households keep a jar of chanh muối, limes cured in salt until they turn soft and olive-brown, on a sunny shelf for months; on a sweltering day a lime or two is muddled with sugar and topped up with ice water or soda water. The drink is salty, sour and sweet all at once, and grandmothers swear by it for sore throats and after a bout of sun. This recipe makes the jar of cured limes (allow four weeks before the first glass) and then the drink itself. Chef's tip: dry the limes completely after blanching; any water left on the skins lets mould take hold in the jar.

25 min

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Kuih talamPandan coconut layer cake

Trays of kuih talam sit on almost every kuih stall from Johor Bahru to Alor Setar, cut into neat green-and-white squares that office workers pick up with their morning kopi. The bottom layer is a springy pandan jelly of rice flour and tapioca; the top is a soft, slightly salty coconut layer that melts against it. It needs a 20 cm square tin and a wok or steamer with a lid, and it slices best the next morning. Chef's tip: wrap the steamer lid in a cloth; condensation dripping onto the white layer leaves pockmarks and a watery top.

70 min

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Air katiraBasil seed and gum drink

Air katira comes out at Kelantan's Ramadan bazaars in Kota Bharu, sold in bags of milky drink full of soft, jelly-like katira gum and speckled basil seeds, often with slivers of date. Katira is tragacanth gum, soaked overnight until it swells into translucent, wobbly crystals; it is believed to cool the body after a day of fasting. Find it at Indian or Middle Eastern grocers as 'gond katira'. Chef's tip: not soaking the katira long enough is the usual mistake; hard centres crunch unpleasantly, so give it at least 8 hours in plenty of water.

25 min

Nigerian Breakfast & Brunch

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Mahalabeya (Egyptian milk pudding)

Every corner sweet shop in Cairo has trays of mahalabeya cooling in the window, and at home it is the dessert made in ten minutes when guests ring to say they're coming. Milk is thickened with cornflour into a trembling, silky pudding, scented with rose or orange-blossom water and topped with chopped pistachios or coconut. Serve chilled in small glasses. Lumps are the usual complaint: mix the cornflour into cold milk first, never into hot. Chef's tip: stir in the rose water only after the pan comes off the heat; boiling kills its perfume. Contains milk and nuts (pistachio topping).

20 min

Egyptian Desserts

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Shlada khiar (grated cucumber salad with oregano)

In the heat of a Fes or Marrakech summer, this ice-cold grated cucumber salad is served in bowls with spoons, half salad, half drink, alongside rich tagines or a plate of fried fish. Cucumber is grated and loosened with water, vinegar and a little sugar, then perfumed with crushed dried oregano or zaatar. Grating ahead and leaving it to sit in salt is the usual slip; the cucumber goes limp and bitter. Chef's tip: rub the oregano between your palms over the bowl to wake its oils.

10 min

Moroccan Salads

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Nigerian custard

In homes across Nigeria, from Kaduna to Benin City, custard is a breakfast drink-porridge as much as a pudding: custard powder is mixed to a paste, then set in seconds with a kettle of boiling water and finished with evaporated milk and sugar. Bowls of it are eaten hot with akara or moi moi, the sweet custard against the peppery bean cakes. The mistake is using water that has gone off the boil; it must be furiously boiling or the custard stays thin and floury. Custard powder is mostly cornflour, but check the label if you need it gluten-free. Chef's tip: stir the boiling water in with one hand while you pour with the other, in a steady stream, and the custard sets glossy and lump-free.

8 min

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Moroccan quince preserve (mrabba sfarjal)

When quinces fill the market stalls of Fes and Meknes in October, households cook them down into this deep red preserve for winter breakfasts with msemen, baghrir and fresh cheese. The pale fruit turns ruby only with long, gentle cooking, the slices staying whole in a thick, cinnamon-scented syrup. Spread it on bread or serve a spoon next to soft cheese. Impatient cooks boil it hard and get a pale, sticky jam; the colour needs slow simmering. Chef's tip: tie the quince cores and peel in muslin and cook them with the fruit — they hold the pectin that sets the syrup. Store in sterilised jars.

120 min

Moroccan Chutneys & Dips

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TsokolateThick hot chocolate

Discs of pure roasted cacao called tablea, pressed by hand in Batangas and Cebu, melt into the thick, slightly gritty tsokolate that Filipinos drink on Christmas mornings with puto bumbong or bibingka. It is whisked in a tall pot with a wooden batidor rolled between the palms until it foams, and it tastes deep, bitter-sweet and earthy rather than milky. A little milk softens it; many families drink it with water only. Chef's tip: keep the heat low once the tablea melts; boiling cacao hard makes it scorch and taste burnt.

17 min

Filipino Drinks

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Podina raitaMint yogurt dip

Order a platter of tikka at a Burns Road or Gawalmandi grill and a steel bowl of pale green podina raita lands beside it without asking; it is the cooling counterweight to smoke and chilli, and at home it goes with biryani, pulao and kebab rolls too. Mint, a handful of coriander, one green chilli and freshly toasted cumin are whisked into thick yogurt until it is pourable but still clings to a piece of naan. The usual slip is blitzing the herbs in a blender with the yogurt, which thins it to a watery green drink; pound or chop the herbs separately and fold them in. Contains milk. Chef's tip: dry-roast the cumin seeds yourself and crush them at the last minute: the smoky, toasty smell is what makes a grill-house raita taste like one.

12 min

Pakistani Chutneys & Dips

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Filipino fruit salad

Ask any Filipino family what Christmas tastes like and fruit salad will be near the top of the list: tinned fruit cocktail, chewy nata de coco, sugar-palm kaong and sometimes cubes of cheese, all folded into sweetened cream and chilled until icy. It is made a day ahead for Noche Buena and New Year's Eve and served straight from the coldest corner of the fridge. Chef's tip: drain the fruit really well, even overnight in a sieve; leftover syrup thins the cream into a watery puddle.

15 min

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Ose oji

In Igbo homes from Enugu to Owerri a guest is welcomed with kola nut, and the kola is never served alone: beside it sits a saucer of ose oji, peanut butter mashed with ground dried pepper and a little salt, sometimes with uda or ginger. Elders break the kola, pray, and everyone dips. It is equally good with crunchy garden eggs (small white African aubergines) or cucumber. Contains peanut. Kola nut is a strong caffeine stimulant, so it is for adults only, not for children or pregnant women; serve the garden eggs to everyone else. The mistake is making the paste runny with water: it should be thick enough to cling to a slice without dripping, so loosen with oil instead. Chef's tip: toast the dried pepper in a dry pan for 30 seconds before grinding; the smoky heat is what makes ose oji taste right.

10 min

Nigerian Chutneys & Dips

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Buko pandanCoconut pandan jelly dessert

Big bowls of buko pandan come out of Filipino fridges for Christmas, New Year and every family reunion in between. Soft strips of young coconut and cubes of bright green pandan jelly are folded into chilled sweetened cream, so each spoonful is cool, fragrant and slightly chewy. This version sets the jelly with agar (gulaman) rather than gelatin, so it is fully vegetarian. Chef's tip: let the jelly set completely before cutting and folding; half-set agar breaks into mush and turns the cream cloudy green.

25 min

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KutsintaSteamed brown sugar cakes

Sold in neat stacks beside puto at every Filipino market and bakery, kutsinta are small, dark amber cakes with a bouncy, jelly-like chew that comes from a few drops of lye water. Steamed in little cups and topped with fresh grated coconut, they are eaten for breakfast or merienda with coffee. Lye water (lihia) is strongly alkaline: buy food-grade only, measure it carefully, keep it away from children and rinse off any splashes on skin at once. Chef's tip: let the batter rest before steaming; skipping the rest gives cakes with a gritty, uneven texture and dark spots of undissolved sugar.

60 min

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SumanCoconut sticky rice rolls

Every province has its own suman, but the everyday one sold in bundles at Antipolo's church steps and on Tagalog breakfast tables is suman sa gata: glutinous rice half-cooked in salted coconut milk, rolled tightly in banana leaf and steamed until dense and chewy. Unwrap one and dip it in sugar, or eat it with ripe mango and hot chocolate in the morning. They travel well and are handed out at fiestas by the dozen. Chef's tip: wilt the banana leaves over a flame or in hot water first; cold leaves crack as you roll and the rice leaks out while steaming.

120 min

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BikoSweet sticky rice cake

Bring biko to a Tagalog or Visayan gathering, whether a wake, a birthday or a fiesta, and the tray will be scraped clean. Glutinous rice is cooked, then stirred hard in a thick coconut milk and brown-sugar caramel until every grain is coated and the mass is dark, glossy and heavy on the spoon. Pressed into a tray and topped with crisp latik, it is cut into squares that are chewy, sweet and rich. Chef's tip: keep stirring once the rice goes into the caramel; leave it for a minute and the sugar catches and burns on the pan base.

75 min

Filipino Snacks & Starters

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Banana cueCaramelised fried bananas

Walk past any Manila school gate or jeepney stop around three in the afternoon and you will find a vendor turning saba bananas in a wok of bubbling oil and brown sugar. The sugar melts and clings to the fruit, setting into a thin, crackly amber shell over soft, slightly tart flesh, and the bananas are sold two or three to a bamboo stick. Sweet potato cooked the same way is called camote cue. Eat them warm with a glass of iced sago't gulaman. Chef's tip: add the sugar only once the bananas are already golden; sugar thrown in at the start burns black before the fruit is cooked through.

25 min

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Air mata kucingLongan and winter melon drink

Petaling Street in Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown has a stall that has sold little else for decades, and on a hot afternoon the queue for its iced air mata kucing, 'cat's eye water', stretches down the lane. The 'cat's eyes' are dried longan, simmered with monk fruit, candied winter melon and rock sugar into a sweet, smoky, caramel-like brew that Chinese Malaysians drink to cool the body. Look for the dried ingredients in Chinese grocers. Chef's tip: boiling hard for too long makes it bitter from the monk fruit shell; keep it at a gentle simmer.

45 min

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Sago't gulamanTapioca and jelly drink

Tall plastic cups of sago't gulaman are what Manila drinks on hot afternoons, ladled from a big drum at street corners and sold next to fried snacks. Chewy tapioca pearls and cubes of firm agar jelly float in cold water sweetened with a dark, almost caramelised brown-sugar syrup scented with pandan. Kids slurp it through a wide straw; adults buy it with every plate of banana cue. Chef's tip: cook the syrup until it smells of caramel but stop before it smokes; pale syrup tastes only of sugar, burnt syrup tastes bitter.

40 min

Filipino Drinks

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PalitawSticky rice discs with coconut

Palitaw comes from the Tagalog word for rising to the surface, which is exactly how you know they are cooked. Flat ovals of glutinous rice dough are dropped into boiling water, sink, then float up a minute later; they are lifted out, rolled in freshly grated coconut and finished with a sprinkle of sugar mixed with toasted sesame. Vendors in Laguna and Batangas sell them warm on banana leaves for merienda. Chef's tip: roll the dough thin, about 5 mm; thick palitaw float before the centre is cooked and stay pasty inside.

30 min

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Tibok-tibokMilk pudding with latik

In Pampanga, tibok-tibok is made with rich carabao's milk and served at fiestas in shallow trays lined with banana leaf. Its name means heartbeat, after the slow, pulsing bubbles that rise as it thickens and the gentle wobble when the tray is set down. It is creamy, delicately sweet and scented with dayap (lime) zest, then topped with crunchy latik. Whole cow's milk or buffalo milk makes a good stand-in at home. Chef's tip: grind or blend the soaked rice very fine and strain it; coarse rice leaves a grainy pudding instead of a silky one.

60 min

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Tepung pelitaPandan pudding with coconut cream

Tepung pelita, 'lamp' kuih, gets its name from the little square banana-leaf boxes it is set in, which look like old oil lamps, and every Ramadan bazaar from Melaka to Penang has trays of them chilling on ice. Each cup holds a soft green pandan layer under a thick, salty-sweet white coconut layer; you eat it with a spoon or straight from the leaf. Small ramekins or silicone cups work if you have no banana leaves. Chef's tip: pour the white layer only once the green one has set a skin, or the two colours bleed into each other.

55 min

Malaysian Snacks & Starters

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Roti tisuPaper-thin crisp flatbread

Late at night in Kuala Lumpur's 24-hour mamak restaurants, someone at the next table will order roti tisu and a towering golden cone arrives, as tall as a teh tarik glass, brushed with butter and sugar. The dough is the same as roti canai, but stretched on the oiled counter until you can read a newspaper through it, then griddled into a single crisp sheet. Kids break it from the top down; adults dip it in dhal. It takes practice, so expect the first one or two to tear. Chef's tip: the dough must rest at least 6 hours, better overnight, in plenty of oil; rushed dough snaps back and tears instead of stretching thin.

45 min

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Puto bumbongPurple sticky rice tubes

During the nine dawn masses of Simbang Gabi, from 16 to 24 December, vendors outside churches across Luzon steam puto bumbong in bamboo tubes over hissing kettles. The violet logs of ground purple and white glutinous rice are slid onto banana leaf, slathered with butter or margarine and showered with muscovado sugar and grated coconut, then eaten warm in the cold morning air. At home, small heatproof moulds or rolls of banana leaf stand in for the bamboo. Chef's tip: the ground rice must feel like damp sand, not batter; wet dough steams into a heavy paste instead of a loose, fluffy log.

60 min

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Trà atisôArtichoke tea

Artichokes arrived in the cool Đà Lạt highlands with French planters, and today the town's markets sell dried artichoke leaves, stems and flower buds for tea along with fresh heads for soup. Local cafés serve it hot on misty mornings and iced in the afternoon, slightly sweet, earthy and pleasantly bitter, and many Vietnamese drink it as a gentle tonic after rich meals. This version brews fresh globe artichokes with their stems; a 30 g bag of dried trà atisô works the same way. Chef's tip: skip the aluminium pan; artichokes react with it and the tea turns grey and metallic.

30 min

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Maja blancaCoconut corn pudding

Wobbly squares of maja blanca sit on almost every Filipino Christmas Eve table, beside the leche flan and the fruit salad. Coconut milk and milk are thickened with cornflour into a smooth white pudding studded with sweet corn, poured into a tray and set firm enough to slice, then crowned with latik or toasted coconut. It tastes cool, milky and gently sweet, and kids love it. Chef's tip: whisk the cornflour into cold liquid first and keep stirring as it heats; added to hot milk it seizes into lumps you can't whisk out.

35 min

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Es buahIced fruit cocktail

Ramadan evenings in Jakarta mean queues at the es buah carts, where melon, papaya, pineapple, jackfruit and nata de coco are scooped into glasses with swollen basil seeds, red rose syrup and a ribbon of condensed milk over crushed ice. It is drunk with a spoon at iftar, after dates, and it is just as welcome on any hot afternoon. Use whatever ripe fruit you have. Chef's tip: soak the basil seeds fully before adding them; dry seeds clump and stay gritty in the cold syrup.

15 min

Indonesian Drinks

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Kue putuPandan palm sugar cakes

After dark in Yogyakarta and Jakarta you can hear a kue putu seller before you see him: the steam cart whistles as the bamboo tubes cook. Each little cylinder is coarse pandan-green rice flour packed round a nugget of palm sugar, steamed for a few minutes until the sugar melts into a dark syrup, then pushed out and rolled in salted grated coconut. Eat them warm, straight away, as an evening snack. At home, small metal moulds, egg cups or a cut bamboo tube set over a steamer work well. Chef's tip: the rice flour must be damp and crumbly like wet sand, not a dough; pressing it too hard into the mould makes dense, rubbery cakes.

45 min

Indonesian Desserts

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Sirap limauRose syrup lime drink

Order a sirap limau at any kopitiam or warung from Johor to Kedah and a tall glass of shocking pink arrives, sweet with rose syrup and sharpened with fresh lime; it is the drink that goes with nasi lemak at lunch and fried snacks after school. The rose syrup, 'sirap', is easy to make at home and keeps for weeks. Chef's tip: squeezing the limes hours ahead makes the drink taste flat and bitter; squeeze them just before you pour.

15 min

Filipino Snacks & Starters

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Dynamite lumpiaCheese-stuffed chilli rolls

Bar chow menus in Quezon City and roadside stalls in Pampanga both claim dinamita: a whole long green chilli, seeded, stuffed with a stick of cheese and wrapped tightly in lumpia pastry with its stalk poking out like a fuse. Fried until blistered and crisp, the chilli turns sweet and only mildly hot while the cheese melts into it. A sweet chilli or banana ketchup dip is usual. Many versions add seasoned meat; this one keeps it to cheese. Chef's tip: dry the chillies well inside after seeding; trapped water bursts the wrapper in the hot oil.

30 min

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Kuih lopesSticky rice triangles with coconut

Kuih lopes turn up at Malay breakfast stalls and Ramadan bazaars, especially in Perak and Selangor: dense triangles of soft-cooked glutinous rice rolled in white grated coconut, then flooded with thick gula Melaka syrup at the moment of serving. Cooking the rice wrapped tightly in pandan leaves or foil for a long time is what fuses the grains into one chewy slab. The contrast of salty coconut, smoky syrup and plain rice is the point. Chef's tip: don't skimp on the boiling time; under-cooked lopes stay grainy and fall apart when cut.

90 min

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Nước sâmCooling herbal drink

Big glass jars of amber nước sâm sit on pavement stalls all over Hồ Chí Minh City, ladled over ice for anyone who has eaten too much fried food or spent too long in the sun. The brew is gently sweet and earthy, with honeyed dried longan, the liquorice note of monk fruit and fresh sugarcane, and Chinese-Vietnamese herbalists sell ready-mixed bags of the dried roots. Make a big pot: it keeps for four days in the fridge. Chef's tip: simmer, never boil hard; a rolling boil pulls bitterness out of the roots and turns the drink cloudy.

60 min

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Nước rau máPennywort juice

Saigon street carts blend nước rau má to order through the hottest part of the afternoon, pouring the bright green juice into plastic cups over crushed ice for office workers and students. Pennywort (rau má) tastes fresh, grassy and very slightly bitter, and southerners drink it to 'cool the body' in the dry season; some stalls blend in cooked mung beans or a splash of coconut milk to make it richer. Look for bunches of rau má in Vietnamese and South Asian grocers, where it is also sold as gotu kola. Chef's tip: strain twice through a fine cloth and drink it within the hour; left standing, it separates and darkens to a dull khaki.

15 min

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Mais con yeloSweet corn shaved ice

The simplest of the Filipino ice desserts, mais con yelo turns up at carinderias and beach stalls from Batangas to Davao in the dry months of March to May. A tall glass is layered with sweet corn kernels and sugar, buried in finely shaved ice and drowned in evaporated milk, and you stir it all into a cold, milky slush with a long spoon. Some add a scoop of vanilla ice cream or crisp rice cereal on top. Chef's tip: shave or crush the ice as finely as you can; chunky ice cubes leave the milk and corn sitting apart instead of blending into a soft slush.

10 min

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Vangi bathAubergine rice

In Bengaluru and Mysuru, vangi bath is weekend breakfast at a darshini and a favourite for office tiffins, and at Kannada weddings it often appears on the banana leaf. Small purple brinjals are cooked with tamarind, jaggery and a fresh vangi bath powder roasted from dals, coriander seed, byadgi chillies, cinnamon and dry coconut, then folded into cooled rice. The flavour is warm, smoky, tangy and slightly sweet, with peanuts for crunch. Serve it with plain curd or a cucumber raita and a papad. The common mistake is cooking the brinjal to mush; cut it into fingers and cook just until tender, so the pieces hold. Chef's tip: grind the powder fresh and roast each ingredient separately on low heat; burnt dal or coriander turns the whole dish bitter.

40 min

Indian Rice & Grains

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PanakamJaggery and ginger water

On Sri Rama Navami, temples and homes across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu set out brass pots of panakam beside neer mor (spiced buttermilk) and kosambari. The drink is offered first, then handed to everyone in small steel tumblers. It is nothing more than jaggery dissolved in water, but the dry ginger and black pepper give it a pleasant heat that cuts through the sweetness, and cardamom and a few tulsi leaves make it smell of the festival. It is never boiled; it's stirred until the jaggery melts. The common mistake is not straining: jaggery often carries sand and fibres, so always pour it through a fine cloth. Chef's tip: a squeeze of lemon is not traditional everywhere, but in hot Vijayawada summers many homes add it, and it brightens the drink wonderfully.

10 min

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Mag nu shaakDry whole green moong

Wednesday is mag day in many Gujarati homes, and in Jain families this is how it is cooked: whole green moong soaked overnight, pressure-cooked until just soft, then tossed in a vaghar of mustard seed, ajwain and hing with green chilli and dry ginger powder instead of fresh ginger, and no onion or garlic at all. A pinch of jaggery and a squeeze of lemon give it the gentle sweet-sour taste Gujaratis expect. It's a dry shaak, each bean whole and coated, eaten with rotli, or with kadhi-bhaat for a light, very satisfying meal. A common mistake is overcooking the moong until it bursts and turns to mush; two whistles is enough, and the beans should still hold their shape. Chef's tip: save the cooking water; a few spoons loosen the shaak if it looks too dry, and the rest makes a lovely mag nu osaman with a little lemon and vaghar.

40 min

Indian Curries

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Turiya nu shaakRidge gourd curry

Turiya arrives in Gujarat's markets with the monsoon, and this quick, juicy shaak is a weekday staple from Rajkot to Navsari, eaten with rotli and a dollop of ghee, or with khichdi and kadhi. It is cooked the Jain way, in a vaghar of mustard seed, ajwain and hing with green chilli and dry ginger powder instead of fresh ginger, plus tomato and a pinch of sugar. The gourd turns silky and almost melts, leaving a light, sweetish gravy. A common mistake is overcooking: ridge gourd softens in about eight minutes and turns to mush soon after. Take it off the heat as soon as the pieces are translucent but still hold their shape. Chef's tip: scrape off only the hard ridges and leave the green skin between them; it keeps the pieces together and adds flavour.

25 min

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Methia masalaPickle spice mix

In Gujarati homes, methia masala (also called achar masala or sambhar masala in Kathiawad) is mixed each April before the mango pickling begins, and a jar of it lasts the year. It is built on methi kuria and rai kuria, split fenugreek and split mustard seeds sold at every Gujarati grocer, which are bloomed in smoking-hot groundnut oil with hing so they lose their raw bitterness, then mixed with Kashmiri chilli powder, turmeric and salt. That one masala makes instant pickles of carrot, gunda, raw mango or kerda in minutes, is spooned beside khichu, thepla and dhokla and goes into methia keri, the classic Gujarati mango pickle. Common mistake: pouring the oil over the chilli powder while it is smoking hot; the chilli turns black and bitter. Chef's tip: pour the hot oil over the kuria and hing only, wait until it is just warm, and only then stir in the chilli, turmeric and salt.

15 min

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Khus sharbatVetiver root syrup drink

Before air-conditioning, North Indian houses hung wet mats of khus grass over their doors in June, and the breeze through them smelt of damp earth and wood. The same vetiver root flavours this sharbat, a summer staple in Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Shop-bought bottles are bright emerald green from colouring; a homemade syrup is pale gold and tastes far more of the root itself, cool and grassy. Families serve it diluted with water to guests arriving from the heat, or with cold milk as a dessert drink at summer parties. The common mistake is boiling the roots hard; the aroma is delicate and cooks off, so infuse them in hot water instead and add the infusion to the syrup off the heat. Chef's tip: if you want the classic green colour for children, a drop of green food colour does no harm, but taste it plain first.

30 min

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Pav bhaji masalaPav bhaji spice blend

The bhaji at a Juhu Beach or Girgaum Chowpatty stall gets its unmistakable taste from a ready-made masala, but a home-roasted blend smells far brighter and lets you choose the heat. Whole coriander, cumin, fennel, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and star anise are roasted, cooled and ground with Kashmiri chilli for colour, amchur (dry mango powder) for tang, kala namak (black salt) for that eggy, savoury depth, and dry ginger. A good pav bhaji masala is red, sour-salty and aromatic rather than very hot. It is also the quick way to give tawa pulao, masala toast and Bombay sandwiches their street flavour. Common mistake: stirring the masala into a dry, very hot pan; the amchur and chilli powder scorch in seconds. Chef's tip: add the masala once the tomatoes have broken down into the butter, and keep a spoonful back to sprinkle over the bhaji in the last minute for a fresh hit of aroma.

20 min

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GulguleJaggery and wheat fritters

Rainy afternoons in Lucknow, Varanasi and Patna smell of gulgule frying. These little sweet fritters are made from a thick batter of whole wheat flour and melted jaggery, studded with fennel seeds, and dropped by hand into medium-hot oil, where they puff up and roll themselves over into dark-golden balls. Outside they are thin and crisp; inside they stay soft and cakey with a deep caramel sweetness. They are also made as a prasad for Sheetla Ashtami and on Teej, and children love them warm with a glass of milk. Made with water and fried in oil, as here, they are vegan. Expect about 20 bite-sized fritters. Chef's tip: test the batter by dropping a spoonful into water; if it holds its shape and doesn't spread, it is thick enough to make round gulgule.

30 min

Indian Indian Sweets

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Panch phoronFive-seed spice mix

Every Bengali and Odia kitchen keeps a jar of panch phoron within reach of the stove, because so much of the cooking begins with a teaspoon of it crackling in hot mustard oil. The five seeds, in equal measure, are left whole and never roasted or ground ahead: bitter fenugreek, oniony nigella (kalonji), earthy cumin, sharp black mustard and sweet fennel. Together they give a layered, slightly bittersweet aroma that is the signature of tomato chutney, cholar dal, labra, chorchori and the sweet-sour vegetable dishes of a Bengali lunch. In some traditional homes radhuni, a wild celery seed, replaces the mustard. Common mistake: tempering over a high flame. The fenugreek blackens in seconds and the whole dish tastes bitter. Chef's tip: let the oil heat until it just shimmers, add the panch phoron, and the moment the mustard starts popping and the fenugreek is reddish brown, add the vegetables or dal.

5 min

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Kokum sharbatKokum cordial

Along the Konkan coast, from Ratnagiri down to Goa, the purple kokum fruit is split and dried in the sun every summer, and the leathery rinds go into curries, sol kadhi and this sharbat. Unlike sol kadhi, there is no coconut milk here: just a clear, deep-red syrup that is fruity, tart and faintly salty, diluted with cold water and drunk after a fish lunch or on a hot afternoon to cool the stomach. Families in Malvan and Sawantwadi still make the concentrate by layering fresh fruit with sugar in jars; this quicker version uses the dried rinds you can buy anywhere. The common mistake is boiling the kokum hard for a long time, which makes the syrup taste stewed and murky; simmer gently just until the colour floods out. Chef's tip: a pinch of roasted cumin and black salt in the glass turns a simple sweet drink into the proper coastal version.

15 min

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Bel sharbatWood apple drink

Bael trees grow beside temples across Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and in May the hard golden fruits are cracked open on the doorstep with a pestle. The orange pulp smells of tamarind, marmalade and rose, and mashed into water it makes a thick, pulpy sharbat that people in Patna, Prayagraj and Gorakhpur drink mid-morning to keep the heat at bay; it is also famously kind to the stomach. Rickshaw stalls sell it from big steel pots. Ripe fruit is essential: it should sound hollow when tapped and smell sweet. The common mistake is blending the pulp in a mixer, which crushes the seeds and sticky fibres and makes the drink bitter and gluey; soak it and mash by hand instead. Chef's tip: let the pulp soak a full 15 minutes before mashing, and it practically falls off the fibres.

20 min

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Bingtang xueli (rock sugar stewed pears)

When the dry winds of a northern winter bring on sore throats, grandmothers in Beijing and Shandong set a bowl of pear and rock sugar in the steamer, and it is now served as a soothing dessert all over China. Whole Asian pears, hollowed and filled with rock sugar, are slowly stewed until translucent and swimming in their own light syrup. The common mistake is choosing a Western pear that collapses; crisp Asian (nashi or Ya) pears hold their shape and give plenty of juice. Chef's tip: slice off the top as a lid and stew it with the pear; serving the pear with its lid back on is how it is presented at the table.

65 min

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Mango kulfiMango ice cream

Kulfiwalas in Delhi's Chandni Chowk and Mumbai's Chowpatty freeze their mango kulfi in tall aluminium cones packed in ice and salt, and come May every family wants their own. It is not ice cream: milk is boiled down slowly until it is a third of its volume, rich and faintly caramel, then cooled and mixed with thick mango pulp, so it freezes dense and chewy rather than fluffy. Serve it unmoulded on a stick, or sliced into rounds on a plate, after a summer lunch or at a birthday. The common mistake is stirring the mango into hot milk; the acid can curdle it and heat dulls the fruit, so wait until the rabri is completely cool. Chef's tip: Kesar from Gujarat or Alphonso from Ratnagiri give the colour and perfume; if you use tinned pulp, cut the sugar by half because it is already sweetened.

60 min

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Malvani masalaKonkan spice blend

Head down the coast to Malvan, Vengurla or Devgad and every family has its own masala tin, ground in summer when the chillies are crisp and dry. Malvani masala is hotter and more aromatic than goda masala and uses no coconut: it is mostly Bedgi chillies (for a deep red colour and moderate heat) with a handful of fiery Sankeshwari, roasted with coriander and about fifteen whole spices including fennel, star anise, mace, nutmeg and stone flower. Fried in oil with coconut and onion, it becomes the base of kombdi vade (chicken curry with puris), bangda and surmai curries, prawn sukka, and vegetarian dishes like kala vatana usal and Malvani batata bhaji. The blend itself is vegan. Common mistake: leaving the stalks on the chillies; they grind into hard, woody bits and dull the colour. Chef's tip: dry the chillies in the sun or in a barely warm pan first, then roast them separately on low until they crackle, so they grind to a fine, bright powder.

30 min

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Karela nu shaakBitter gourd and jaggery curry

Most children in Gujarat grow up hating karela and end up asking for this version. Bitter gourd is sliced into thin rings, rubbed with salt and turmeric, squeezed, then cooked slowly in a vaghar of mustard seed and hing until soft and browned. A spoonful of besan toasted in the same pan clings to each ring, and jaggery melts into a glossy coating, so it tastes sweet, nutty, spicy and only pleasantly bitter. With no onion or garlic it suits Jain homes, and it's a monsoon favourite with dal-bhaat-rotli. A common mistake is salting the shaak again as if from scratch; the squeezed karela still holds salt, so taste first. Chef's tip: add the besan only once the karela is dry and browned, and stir constantly for a minute; in a wet pan it forms lumps.

35 min

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Methi dana ki sabziSweet-sour fenugreek seed curry

Marwari wedding and festival thalis in Jaipur, Bikaner and the Marwari homes of Kolkata always carry a small bowl of this: fenugreek seeds soaked overnight, boiled to tame their bitterness, then cooked down with jaggery, raisins, amchur and warm spices until sticky and glossy. It is eaten in small spoonfuls with puri, bajra roti or dal-baati, more like a relish than a vegetable, and it's especially loved after childbirth and in winter as a warming food. With no onion, garlic or root vegetables, it suits Jain homes as is. The common mistake is skipping the boil-and-drain; seeds that are only soaked stay unpleasantly bitter. Chef's tip: the sabzi keeps for a week in the fridge and tastes better on day two, so make it a day before a festive meal.

35 min

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Rabodi ki sabziDried maize wafers in yogurt curry

In the Thar desert towns of Barmer, Jodhpur and Bikaner, green vegetables were scarce for much of the year, so women boiled maize flour with sour buttermilk in summer, spread it in thin rounds on cloth and dried it in the sun. Those rabodi keep for months and become this curry: fried until puffed, then simmered in a spiced yogurt gravy until soft and chewy. It is tangy, savoury and comforting, eaten with bajra roti or rice, and because it has no onion, garlic or fresh ginger, it suits a Jain or Marwari festive thali. A common mistake is letting the dahi gravy boil before it has been stirred to a boil with besan; it curdles. Whisk besan into the dahi and stir constantly until it comes to a boil. Chef's tip: fry the rabodi only until they puff and turn a shade darker; burnt rabodi taste bitter and stay hard in the gravy.

40 min

Indian Curries

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Almond tofu (xingren doufu)

Almond tofu has nothing to do with soybeans: it is a soft, white jelly of sweetened almond milk, cut into cubes like tofu and floated in cold syrup with fruit. It was once a palace dessert in Beijing and is now on dim sum menus in Guangzhou and Hong Kong in summer. The traditional flavour comes from southern apricot kernels (nan xing ren); this home version uses blanched almonds with a few drops of almond extract, and agar, so it is fully vegetarian. The common mistake is using too much agar, which makes it firm and rubbery; it should only just hold its shape and wobble on the spoon. Chef's tip: bring the agar to a full boil for 2 minutes before adding the milk, or it won't set at all.

25 min

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Osmanthus jelly (gui hua gao)

In Hangzhou and Guilin the sweet osmanthus trees flower around Mid-Autumn, and their tiny golden blossoms are dried to scent teas, wine and this crystal-clear jelly, a light dessert after a mooncake-heavy festival meal. Set with agar instead of gelatine, it is vegan, firm enough to cut into neat squares, and studded with flowers and red goji berries. The mistake is adding all the flowers to hot liquid at once: they float to the top in a crowd, so stir them in once the mix starts to thicken. Chef's tip: a mould with layers of flowers suspended all through looks far prettier than one with all the petals at the top.

25 min

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Meetha daliaSweet broken wheat porridge

On cold mornings in Punjab, Haryana and across Uttar Pradesh, a steaming bowl of milky dalia is what gets children out of the door. Fine broken wheat is first toasted in a spoonful of ghee, then cooked soft and finished in milk until it is creamy and loose, closer to a rice kheer than to a thick Gujarati lapsi. Jaggery gives it a gentle caramel sweetness, cardamom and plump raisins do the rest, and chopped almonds or a sliced banana on top make it a proper meal. It travels well in a flask for a tiffin, and toddlers who are already eating family food usually love it. Leftovers thicken in the fridge; loosen them with hot milk. Chef's tip: soak the jaggery in two tablespoons of warm water while the dalia cooks, then strain it in; this catches any grit and the syrup blends in smoothly.

30 min

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Goda masalaMaharashtrian spice blend

Goda means sweet in Marathi, and the word describes not sugar but the warm, rounded fragrance of this masala, which every Pune and Satara household roasts in small batches. It is the soul of Brahmin Maharashtrian cooking: masale bhaat at weddings, a spoonful in amti (tangy toor dal), bharli vangi (stuffed brinjal), and usal for misal. It is dark and aromatic rather than hot, built on coriander, dry coconut (kopra) and sesame, perfumed with cinnamon, cloves and cardamom, and given its earthy, slightly musky depth by dagad phool (stone flower, a lichen), with nagkesar and maratha moggu if you can find them at a Marathi grocer. Common mistake: roasting the coconut and sesame with the hard spices on a high flame; the coconut burns before the coriander is done and the whole batch tastes bitter. Chef's tip: roast each spice in a drop of oil until a shade darker, because that slow roasting is what gives goda masala its colour.

30 min

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Chikoo ice creamSapodilla ice cream

The coast from Dahanu and Gholvad in Maharashtra up to Navsari and Valsad in South Gujarat is chikoo country, and when the orchards are heavy in winter, every home freezes a tub of this. Ripe chikoo tastes of brown sugar, malt and pear, so the ice cream needs barely any sugar and comes out a soft caramel colour, a little grainy from the fruit in a pleasing way. It's a family dessert after Sunday lunch and a favourite at Uttarayan terrace parties. The common mistake is using chikoos that are not fully soft; underripe fruit is astringent and makes the mouth feel furry. Press each one: it should give like a ripe peach. Chef's tip: blend the chikoo with the milk only just before folding; the pulp browns and turns flat if it sits around.

20 min

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Thengai sadamCoconut rice

Thengai sadam is one of the 'variety rice' dishes that fill Tamil lunchboxes and temple prasadam lines, alongside lemon and tamarind rice. It is made for Aadi Perukku and Varalakshmi Vratam, packed for train journeys to Madurai, and turned out on busy weekdays from leftover rice. Fresh coconut, lightly toasted in coconut oil, clings to every grain; crunchy urad and chana dal, cashews and curry leaves give bite, and a dry red chilli a gentle heat. It tastes mild, sweet from the coconut and very fragrant. Serve it with potato roast, appalam or a spoon of mor kuzhambu. A common mistake is browning the coconut; it should only lose its raw smell and stay snowy white. Chef's tip: spread the rice on a plate to cool fully; warm, freshly cooked rice breaks and turns pasty when tossed.

25 min

Indian Rice & Grains

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Chora nu shaakBlack-eyed pea curry

Chora nu shaak is a Sunday favourite in Surat and Baroda homes and one of the pulse shaaks that rotate through a Jain kitchen in place of onion-based gravies. Black-eyed peas are cooked soft, then simmered in a thin tomato gravy built on a vaghar of mustard seed, cumin, hing, cloves and dry red chilli, sweetened with jaggery and sharpened with lemon in true Gujarati style. Dry ginger powder replaces fresh ginger, and there is no onion or garlic. The gravy should be loose enough to soak into rotli or rice, with a few beans mashed to give it body. A common mistake is adding tomato and jaggery before the beans are fully soft; acid and sugar keep them hard however long you cook them. Chef's tip: let the shaak rest for 10 minutes before serving; the chora drink up the gravy and the flavours round out.

45 min

Indian Curries

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Badam milkAlmond milk

In Hyderabad and Bengaluru, darshinis and Irani cafés sell badam milk from steaming steel urns, while in North Indian homes a hot glass of it is what you get after an exam or on a cold Delhi evening. It is creamy and nutty, tinted pale gold by saffron, and has fine, pleasant flecks of almond rather than being smooth like a shake. Chilled, it is sold in bottles all summer and served at weddings. Soaking and peeling the almonds is what makes it taste clean and sweet. A common mistake is grinding the almonds dry, which turns them oily and gritty; grind soaked almonds with a little milk to a fine paste. Chef's tip: simmer gently after adding the almond paste and keep stirring, because it settles and catches on the bottom of the pan within minutes.

25 min

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Gulkand ice creamRose petal ice cream

Gulkand, rose petals pounded with sugar and left to mature in the sun, is what gives a meetha paan its sweet floral heart, and Mumbai parlours and Delhi dessert shops have long turned it into a pink-flecked ice cream. This no-churn version needs no machine: whipped cream and condensed milk freeze smooth, and the gulkand stays in soft, jammy ribbons that taste of roses and honey. Serve it after a Mughlai dinner, at a summer party, or between slices of malpua. The common mistake is overwhipping the cream until grainy; then the ice cream feels buttery. Stop at soft, floppy peaks. Chef's tip: loosen the gulkand in the condensed milk before folding; stirred in on its own, it sinks as sticky clumps.

15 min

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Rasam powderRasam spice powder

A spoon of rasam podi, a lime-sized ball of tamarind, a tomato and a ladle of cooked toor dal: that is lunch in countless Tamil homes, from Thanjavur to Tirunelveli, and the podi is what makes one family's rasam taste unlike the neighbour's. This version is peppery and cumin-forward, as rasam should be, with roasted coriander for body and a little toor dal that thickens the broth slightly and gives it a rounded, nutty base. It is meant for clear, thin rasams: tomato rasam, pepper rasam, lemon rasam, and the one you sip as a soup when you have a cold. Make a small batch, since the aroma fades after a couple of months. Common mistake: roasting the coriander seeds until dark brown; they turn bitter and the rasam tastes burnt. Chef's tip: add rasam powder at the end, when the tamarind water is already boiling, and switch off the heat as soon as the rasam froths; boiling it hard kills the pepper aroma.

20 min

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Jianshui zong (alkaline rice dumplings)

When the Dragon Boat Festival comes round in early summer, kitchens in Guangdong and the Jiangnan region boil batches of these plain, amber zongzi in bamboo leaves; they are chilled and eaten with syrup or sugar as a cooling sweet. Alkaline water turns the glutinous rice golden, springy and almost translucent, with a faint mineral taste. Food-grade lye water is strong, so keep it away from children, wear gloves and never taste the raw soaked rice. The mistake is wrapping too tightly: the rice swells a lot, so leave a little room. Chef's tip: boil them fully submerged under a heavy plate the whole time, or the tops stay hard.

240 min

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Coconut milk jelly

Hong Kong yum cha halls finish a long Sunday lunch with plates of these cool white-and-clear diamonds, and Guangdong homes set a tray in the fridge for hot summer evenings. The bottom layer is rich coconut milk, the top a clear, gently sweet jelly, both set with agar so it is fully vegan and holds firm even on a warm table. Set the layers too far apart in time and they peel away from each other, which is the usual mistake: pour the second layer while the first is set on top but still warm. Chef's tip: shake the can of coconut milk hard before opening, or the rich cream stays in a lump at the top.

30 min

Chinese Snacks & Starters

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Mahua (crisp fried dough twists)

Tianjin in northern China is famous for mahua, and the shops on Guifaxiang street sell giant ones stuffed with candied fruit; but the everyday kind is a small, hard, golden twist sold in bags in every corner shop and eaten with tea or as a snack on the train. This home version is crisp right through with a little sweetness and toasted sesame. The common mistake is frying too hot: the outside browns while the thick twist stays doughy and raw in the middle. Keep the oil at about 160 °C and give them time. Chef's tip: let the shaped twists rest 10 minutes before frying so the dough relaxes; tight twists spring open in the oil.

90 min

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Laba congeeMixed grain and bean porridge

On Laba, the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Buddhist temples across China from Beijing's Yonghe Temple to Hangzhou's Lingyin hand out bowls of this porridge to everyone who queues, marking the day the Buddha is said to have reached enlightenment. Families cook it at home the same morning, and it signals that the New Year is on its way. It is thick, gently sweet and full of different textures: chewy black rice, soft red beans, creamy lotus seeds and sticky dates. A common mistake is putting everything in at once; the beans need a head start or they stay hard while the rice turns to glue. Chef's tip: soak the beans and black rice overnight, and cook the porridge low and slow with the lid ajar so it does not boil over.

120 min

Chinese Breakfast & Brunch

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Luo han guo teaMonk fruit tea

The hills around Guilin in Guangxi grow luo han guo, a small round gourd that is dried until its shell turns brown and brittle. Cantonese and Guangxi households simmer one in water when someone has a scratchy throat or a dry cough, or simply in the heat of summer, and the result is a dark amber tea that tastes of caramel and dried fig with no sugar added at all. Drink it hot in winter or chilled in summer. The mistake most people make is using a whole fruit for a single cup, which is cloyingly sweet; one fruit is enough for a large pot. Chef's tip: crack the shell and tear the pulp into pieces, so the flavour comes out in 15 minutes instead of an hour.

20 min

Chinese Drinks

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Eight treasures rice

On New Year's Eve in Shanghai and the towns of Jiangnan, the reunion dinner ends with a dome of sticky rice turned out onto a plate, its top patterned with red dates, raisins, goji berries, walnuts and lotus seeds, and a heart of sweet red bean paste. A glossy syrup goes over just before it reaches the table. Older recipes use lard; this one uses neutral oil, so it is vegan. The usual mistake is undercooking the rice at the first steaming: if it is still chalky before shaping, it never turns tender. Chef's tip: pack the fruit pattern into the bowl first and press the rice firmly over it, so the design comes out sharp.

105 min

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Fa gao (prosperity cakes)Steamed rice flour cakes

Fa gao is the little cake on every Cantonese New Year altar in Guangzhou and in Chinatowns from Kuala Lumpur to London: the word 'fa' means both 'rise' and 'prosper', and the deeper the cross-shaped crack on top, the luckier the year. This quick version uses rice flour, a little wheat flour and baking powder, steamed hard so the tops burst open, and it is egg- and dairy-free. The mistake that stops them smiling is a gentle steamer; the water must be at a fierce rolling boil before the cups go in. Chef's tip: fill the cups right to the brim, so the batter has to split as it rises.

35 min

Chinese Baking

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Dudhi nu shaakBottle gourd curry

When someone in a Gujarati house is unwell, or it's simply too hot to eat anything heavy, this is the shaak that appears with khichdi or thin rotli. Pale green bottle gourd cubes are cooked in a vaghar of cumin, mustard seed and hing with green chilli, a little tomato and a pinch of jaggery, and they release so much juice that almost no water is needed. With no onion, garlic or fresh ginger, it's everyday Jain food too. It ends up soft, light and gently sweet-sour, with a little thin gravy to soak into rice. The common mistake is adding water; dudhi is mostly water itself, and the shaak goes soupy and bland. Cover and let it stew in its own juice. Chef's tip: always taste a tiny raw piece first; a bottle gourd that tastes bitter can make you ill and must be thrown away.

30 min

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Ragi ganjiFinger millet milk porridge

Across Karnataka and the Tamil country, a cup of warm ragi is often the very first grain a child tastes and the same drink a grandfather has before his morning walk. Finger millet (ragi) flour cooks into a silky, cocoa-brown porridge with an earthy, slightly malty taste that jaggery and a whisper of cardamom round off beautifully. Bengaluru mothers pour it into steel tumblers for school mornings; it is filling, naturally gluten-free and gentle on small tummies. Keep it pourable for drinking or cook it a minute longer for a spoonable bowl, and serve it warm with a ripe banana alongside. For children under one, most families leave out the jaggery and use water or the milk the baby already drinks. Chef's tip: always whisk the flour into cold water first; ragi flour dropped into hot liquid seizes into lumps that no amount of stirring will fix.

13 min

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Lü dou tang (chilled mung bean soup)

When the heat settles on Guangzhou, Wuhan or Shanghai in July, families keep a jug of mung bean soup in the fridge, and school canteens and workplaces hand it out by the bowl; traditional medicine calls mung beans 'cooling', a reason to drink it on the hottest days. It is just mung beans simmered with rock sugar until some burst and the liquid turns pale green or soft red, eaten chilled. The common mistake is cooking it in an iron or aluminium pan or leaving it uncovered too long, which turns the soup dark brown-red; a stainless steel pot with the lid on keeps it greener. Chef's tip: for a clear green soup, take a few ladles of the liquid after 10 minutes of boiling, before the beans split, and drink that as a lighter tea.

60 min

Chinese Breakfast & Brunch

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Xiaomi zhou (golden millet porridge)

In Shanxi, Hebei and the rest of the north, where rice was once a luxury, a pot of golden foxtail millet porridge is breakfast with steamed buns and pickles, a light supper, and the first food given to new mothers and anyone who is unwell. It needs just millet and water, cooked until a thin, silky layer called mi you, 'rice oil', forms on top. The common mistake is to stir it constantly or add the millet to cold water; start with boiling water and let it simmer gently and it turns creamy without catching. Serve it plain, or with a few red dates or cubes of pumpkin simmered in. Chef's tip: toast the rinsed millet in a dry pan for a minute before boiling for a deeper, nutty flavour.

40 min

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Anjeer kulfiFig ice cream

Dried figs from Afghanistan have been sold in the dry-fruit markets of Delhi's Khari Baoli and Amritsar for centuries, and anjeer kulfi is how North Indian halwais show them off in winter-wedding dessert spreads and Diwali parties. The figs bring natural sweetness, a jammy colour and a gentle crunch of tiny seeds, so less sugar goes in than in plain kulfi. Puréeing half the figs flavours every bite while the chopped half gives chewy pieces. It's lovely after a rich dinner or with a cup of masala chai. A common mistake is skipping the soak: hard dried figs stay leathery and grate on the blades. Soak them in warm milk until plump. Chef's tip: let the reduced milk cool to just warm before adding the fig paste; added while boiling, figs can make the milk look grainy.

65 min

Chinese Breads & Parathas

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Peanut cookies (hua sheng bing)

Lift the lid on a Chinese New Year snack tray in Guangdong, Penang or Singapore and there will be these pale golden domes, so short they crumble the moment they touch your tongue. They are nothing but roasted peanuts ground fine, flour, icing sugar and oil, and this version skips the usual egg wash, so they are vegan. The mistake is over-grinding the peanuts into a paste, which makes the dough greasy and the cookies flat; stop while it is still a fine powder. Chef's tip: let them cool fully on the tray before moving them, because they are fragile until set.

40 min

Chinese Baking

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Mantou (plain steamed buns)

From Shandong to Shaanxi, mantou are what bread is elsewhere: plain, slightly sweet steamed wheat buns bought by the bagful each morning and eaten with porridge, pickles, braised dishes or a fried egg. A good one is snowy white, smooth-skinned and springy, with a fine, close crumb that tears in soft layers. The common mistake is lifting the lid the moment the heat goes off: the sudden cold air makes the skins wrinkle and collapse, so let them stand covered for 5 minutes first. Leftovers are sliced and pan-fried, or split and filled with anything from braised tofu to chilli sauce. Chef's tip: knead much longer than you think, then knead again after the rise; the second knead pushes out the big air bubbles and gives that silky skin.

115 min

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Paruppu sadamMashed rice and toor dal

Long before they can manage rasam or sambar, children in Tamil homes are fed paruppu sadam: rice and toor dal cooked together until very soft, mashed smooth and loosened with a spoonful of ghee. It is plainer and wetter than a khichdi, with no vegetables or spice blend, just turmeric, salt and a light thalippu (tempering) of cumin, curry leaves and a pinch of asafoetida. The same bowl is comfort food for grown-ups, eaten with a crisp potato roast, a fried appalam (urad papad) and a dollop of mango pickle. It also turns up at the start of a festive Tamil meal, where the first course is always dal rice with ghee. The texture should be creamy and spoonable, almost like a thick soup. Chef's tip: mash the rice and dal while they are piping hot; once they cool, the starch sets and the mash turns gluey rather than smooth.

30 min

Indian Rice & Grains

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Nannari sarbathSarsaparilla and lime cooler

Walk past any sarbath kadai in Madurai, Tiruchi or Chennai's Parry's Corner in summer and you'll hear the clink of a glass being stirred with a long spoon. Nannari, the sweet, woody, vanilla-like root of Indian sarsaparilla, is cooked into a dark syrup; the vendor pours a little into a glass, squeezes in a whole lime, adds a pinch of salt and ice, and tops it with water or a fizz of soda. It is sweet, sharp and earthy all at once, and nothing like the milky jigarthanda made with the same syrup. Many shops add soaked sabja seeds for texture. The common mistake is too much syrup: the root flavour gets lost in sweetness, so start with less and let the lime lead. Chef's tip: squeeze the lime straight into the glass and drop in one squeezed half; a little oil from the peel gives that roadside freshness.

10 min

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Kulukki sarbathShaken lime cooler

Kulukki means shaken, and the show is half the fun: at roadside stalls in Kozhikode, Kochi and Thrissur, the vendor drops lime, a slit green chilli, basil seeds, syrup and ice into a tall steel tumbler, caps it with another and rattles it furiously before pouring a frothy glass. The drink became a craze across Kerala in the 2010s and is now a beach and festival favourite. It tastes sharp, sweet, salty and then hot as the chilli catches the back of your throat. Some stalls add pineapple or passion fruit. The common mistake is crushing the lime and chilli too hard or leaving them to sit, which makes the drink bitter from the peel and far too fiery; shake briefly and pour at once. Chef's tip: use a jar with a tight lid half filled with ice; the ice does the crushing and makes the foam.

10 min

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JaljeeraTamarind mint cumin drink

Street vendors in Old Delhi and Varanasi sell jaljeera from big red clay matkas wrapped in wet cloth, ladling it into glasses with a handful of boondi on top. The name simply means cumin water, but the flavour is busier than that: sour tamarind and lemon, a cool rush of mint, the sulphur note of black salt and the warmth of roasted cumin and dry ginger. It is drunk before a heavy Punjabi meal to wake the appetite, at summer weddings, and on long train journeys. Make the masala fresh and the difference shows. The common mistake is using raw cumin powder; it tastes dusty. Dry-roast whole cumin until it darkens a shade and smells toasty, then grind it. Chef's tip: add the boondi only at the table so it stays crunchy for the first sip and softens by the last.

13 min

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Paan kulfiBetel leaf ice cream

For many Lucknow and Banaras families, dinner ends with a folded meetha paan, and in Mumbai's paan shops and kulfi joints that same flavour turned into kulfi became a cult favourite at weddings and parties. The base is milk reduced by two-thirds; betel leaves, rose petal gulkand, fennel and cardamom go in once it has cooled, so it freezes dense, pale green and fragrant, with little chewy bits of gulkand. It is sweet, floral and leafy-fresh, and cuts through a rich biryani or korma dinner. A common mistake is boiling the betel leaves in the milk: they turn bitter and the colour goes khaki. Grind them raw with cold milk instead. Chef's tip: use the tender, sweet Calcutta or Banarasi leaves sold for meetha paan; the thick Maghai or Kapoori kind can taste peppery.

60 min

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Sitaphal ice creamCustard apple ice cream

Every October, when custard apples pile up in the markets of Pune and Mumbai, the queues lengthen at the city's natural ice-cream parlours on Juhu and Malabar Hill for one flavour: sitaphal. The fruit tastes of pear, vanilla and cream, and when the pulp is folded into a simple milk-and-cream base, nothing else is needed. The ice cream is pale, soft and full of tiny tender pieces of fruit. It is the dessert of Navratri and Diwali visits in Maharashtra. A common mistake is blending the pulp with the seeds in; cracked seeds make the ice cream bitter, and they are toxic. Seed the segments by hand or rub the pulp through a coarse sieve. Chef's tip: never cook the pulp; heat turns custard apple bitter, so add it only to the fully cooled base.

40 min

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Gadbad ice creamLayered fruit and ice cream sundae

Gadbad means a jumble, and that is exactly what arrives at the table in Udupi and Mangalore ice-cream parlours: a tall fluted glass layered with cubes of jelly, chopped fresh fruit, scoops of vanilla, strawberry and mango ice cream, crushed nuts and a glacé cherry on top, eaten with a long spoon. The sundae is credited to a café in Udupi in the 1970s and is now the treat every coastal Karnataka family orders after a temple visit or a beach evening. It's sweet, cold, fruity and crunchy all at once. Most jelly crystals are set with gelatine, so choose a vegetarian jelly set with agar or carrageenan, and check your ice cream is egg-free and gelatine-free if that matters to you. A common mistake is layering on fruit that is wet from washing; it waters down the ice cream. Chef's tip: chill the glasses in the freezer for 15 minutes so the layers stay distinct.

25 min

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PiyushShrikhand buttermilk drink

Piyush means nectar, and Pune and Mumbai Maharashtrians drink it on summer afternoons, at Gudi Padwa lunches when there is leftover shrikhand, or from old dairy shops near Dadar and Girgaon where it is sold in glass bottles. It sits between lassi and dessert: thick but pourable, sweet and gently sour, yellow with saffron and scented with cardamom and a whisper of nutmeg. It is lovely with a spicy batata vada or after a puran poli meal. The common mistake is pouring cold buttermilk straight onto stiff shrikhand, which leaves stubborn lumps; loosen the shrikhand with a little buttermilk first, then whisk in the rest. Chef's tip: bloom the saffron in a spoonful of warm milk; cold buttermilk won't pull the colour out.

10 min

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Kacha kela nu shaakRaw banana stir-fry

Jain kitchens leave out potatoes, along with every other root, so in Ahmedabad, Palanpur and Mumbai's Gujarati homes raw green banana steps in, and this dry shaak is the one you'll find in the thali at paryushan and at Jain bhojanshalas year round. The cubes are cooked gently in a vaghar of mustard seed, ajwain and hing, dusted with turmeric, chilli and dhana-jiru, and finished with a pinch of sugar and lemon, so they turn soft and creamy inside with lightly browned edges. It tastes savoury, sweet-sour and peppery from the ajwain. Serve it with rotli, dal-bhaat or puri. The common mistake is stirring too much once the banana softens; the cubes break and turn mushy. Turn them with a flat spatula only two or three times. Chef's tip: drop the cubes into water as you cut them so they stay pale, and drain well before they hit the oil.

30 min

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Sathu maavu kanjiSprouted grain and nut porridge

Ask a Tamil grandmother about sathu maavu and she will tell you exactly which grains go into her tin: ragi, kambu (pearl millet), cholam (sorghum), wheat, a little rice, green gram and roasted gram, with almonds and cashews for richness. Each one is dry-roasted until fragrant, cooled and milled into a fine, beige 'health powder' that keeps for weeks. A couple of spoonfuls cooked with water and milk make a nutty, mildly sweet kanji that toddlers in Madurai and Coimbatore eat for breakfast or after their afternoon nap, and older children drink from a tumbler. The texture should be smooth and creamy, never gritty. Sweeten it with jaggery or karupatti (palm jaggery), or make it savoury with buttermilk and salt for grown-ups. This version contains wheat, so it is not gluten-free. Chef's tip: roast every grain separately; small seeds like ragi brown in minutes while wheat and green gram need longer, and roasting them together leaves half burnt and half raw.

40 min

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Nangua bing (pumpkin sticky rice cakes)

Every family restaurant from Zhejiang to Sichuan has a plate of these little golden pumpkin cakes on the menu, and grandmothers make them at home in autumn when pumpkins pile up at the market: steamed pumpkin is kneaded with glutinous rice flour into a soft orange dough, wrapped round a spoonful of red bean paste, pressed flat and fried until crisp outside and chewy inside. Children love them for dessert or as an afternoon snack. The common mistake is adding all the flour at once; pumpkins vary in moisture, so add it gradually until the dough is soft like earlobes and no longer sticky. Chef's tip: fry them on a medium-low heat with the lid on for the first side, so the centre steams through before the outside darkens.

45 min

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Five-spice powder

Across China, from Cantonese roast meat shops to Sichuan home kitchens, five-spice is the blend that seasons red-braised dishes, tea eggs, roast duck and spiced tofu. Shop-bought powder loses its scent quickly; grinding your own takes ten minutes and gives a sweet, warm aroma with a gentle tingle from the Sichuan pepper. It is used by the pinch, not the spoonful. The classic mistake is grinding the spices raw or toasting them until they smoke; warm them just until fragrant. Chef's tip: pick the black seeds out of the Sichuan peppercorns before toasting, since they are gritty and bitter, and sieve the ground blend so it is silky fine.

10 min

Chinese Basics

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Mango mastaniMango milkshake with ice cream

Pune's mastani was born in the city's old peths, and families still queue on summer evenings at the famous shops near Budhwar Peth and Sadashiv Peth for a tall glass so thick you need a spoon. The base is a mango milkshake, made dense with ripe Alphonso pulp and ice cream, then topped with another scoop of mango ice cream, chopped nuts, tutti frutti and a cherry. It is named, people say, after Bajirao Peshwa's beloved Mastani. Rich and fruity, it is dessert and a cool drink in one. A common mistake is adding ice to the blender: it thins the shake and dulls the mango, so chill the milk and pulp well instead. Chef's tip: Alphonso from Ratnagiri or Devgad gives the right colour and fragrance; in the off season use good tinned Alphonso pulp and skip the sugar.

10 min

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Dhana jiruCoriander and cumin powder

Open the masala dabba in any Gujarati kitchen, from Rajkot to Vadodara, and next to the haldi and marchu there will be a compartment of dhana jiru. It is the spice that goes into almost every shaak, dal and kadhi, often alongside red chilli and turmeric in the same pinch-and-throw rhythm. The ratio is roughly four parts coriander to one of cumin, giving a mild, citrusy, earthy powder that thickens and rounds out a dish rather than heating it. Many families buy it ready-ground, but a fresh home batch is so much more fragrant that it changes a plain potato shaak or tuver dal. Surti and Parsi kitchens roast it darker; most Gujarati homes keep it light. Common mistake: over-roasting, which kills the fresh lemony note of the coriander. Chef's tip: roast just until warm and fragrant, grind, then sift; the coriander husks stay in the sieve and the powder comes out soft and fine.

11 min

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Tanghulu (candied hawthorn and fruit skewers)

Tanghulu sellers carrying poles bristling with red skewers are a winter sight in Beijing's hutongs and at the Spring Festival temple fairs at Ditan and Changdian. The classic is hawthorn, tart and mealy under a shell of hard sugar; strawberries, mandarin segments and grapes are the modern favourites. Everything depends on the syrup reaching the hard-crack stage, about 150 °C; the common mistake is stopping too early, which gives a sticky coating that never sets. The syrup is far hotter than boiling water and sticks to skin, so keep children well back while you cook and dip, and let them help only with threading the fruit. Chef's tip: the fruit must be bone dry; any water on the skin makes the sugar slide off and bubble.

30 min

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Kluay buat chi (bananas in coconut milk)

Rows of pots of this simple sweet sit on home stoves all over central Thailand, and it is often the first dessert a Thai cook learns. The name compares the pale bananas in white coconut milk to women ordained as nuns in white robes. Small, sweet namwa bananas soften without collapsing, and the milk is seasoned so salt and palm sugar balance. Eat it warm or at room temperature, as an afternoon snack or after a spicy dinner. Chef's tip: boiling the coconut milk hard is the usual error; it splits and turns oily, so keep it at a bare simmer.

20 min

Thai Desserts

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Nam dok anchan (butterfly pea lemonade)

Vines of butterfly pea climb fences in gardens all over Thailand, and cafés from Bangkok to Krabi serve the flowers as an iced drink that changes colour at the table. The tea itself is mild and earthy, blue as ink; stirring in lime juice turns it violet and makes it tangy, which children love to watch. Chef's tip: the common mistake is mixing the lime in beforehand; serve the blue tea and lime separately so the colour change happens in the glass.

15 min

Thai Drinks

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Nam bai toey (pandan drink)

Every Thai garden seems to have a clump of pandan by the tap, and on hot days cooks across the country blitz a handful of leaves into this bright green drink sold at temple fairs and noodle shops. It tastes sweet, grassy and faintly of vanilla and basmati, and is said to cool the body. Fresh leaves give the best colour; frozen ones from Asian shops work well too. Chef's tip: the mistake is serving it unstrained or leaving it for hours; strain it twice through cloth and drink it the same day, as it fades and turns grey.

15 min

Thai Drinks

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Chè bắp (sweet corn pudding)

Hội An's riverside villages grow a sticky, sweet local corn, and chè bắp has been sold in its old town for generations; in Saigon it is a summer evening favourite at street stalls. Fresh kernels are cooked with a little glutinous rice until thick and spoonable, sweetened, and topped with a ribbon of salty coconut cream. The cobs simmer in the water first to give the pudding a deep corn flavour. Chef's tip: add the sugar only after the rice is soft; sugar added early stops glutinous rice from swelling and leaves hard grains.

45 min

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Chè khúc bạch (almond milk jelly with lychees)

Saigon's café-dessert shops made chè khúc bạch a craze in the 2010s, and it is still a cooling order on hot afternoons around Bến Thành. Soft, creamy cubes of almond-scented milk jelly float with lychees in a light lychee syrup, topped with crunchy toasted almonds, all over crushed ice. Gelatin is often used; this version sets with agar so it is vegetarian, and it holds firm even in tropical heat. Chef's tip: boil the agar for a full 2 minutes before adding the milk; agar that is only warmed won't set, which is the usual reason the jelly stays runny.

35 min

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Mứt dừa (candied coconut ribbons)

Bến Tre, the coconut province of the Mekong Delta, supplies most of the country's mứt dừa, but plenty of families still make a batch at home for the lacquered khay mứt, the tray of sweets put out for New Year visitors with green tea. The ribbons are chewy-soft in the middle and dry and sugary outside, white or dyed pale green with pandan, pink with dragon fruit or orange with gấc. Chef's tip: keep stirring gently over a low heat as the syrup thickens; high heat browns the coconut and the ribbons break if you stir roughly.

90 min

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Chè bưởi (pomelo pith pudding)

Cần Thơ and Vĩnh Long, deep in the Mekong Delta's pomelo country, turn the thick white pith of the fruit into this thrifty, much-loved sweet soup. After salting and rinsing away its bitterness, the pith is coated in tapioca starch and cooked into clear, crunchy-chewy nuggets, served with soft split mung beans and a swirl of coconut milk. Sold at Saigon chè stalls, it is eaten cold or warm. Chef's tip: wash and squeeze the salted pith in several changes of water until it tastes neutral; one rinse leaves the whole pot bitter.

80 min

Brazilian Breads & Parathas

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Pão francêsCrusty bread rolls

Every neighbourhood padaria in Brazil pulls trays of these small, golden rolls from the oven at dawn and again in the late afternoon, and people buy them by the half-dozen for breakfast with butter and milky coffee or for a pão na chapa on the griddle. The name means French bread, but the roll is Brazil's own: a thin, crackling crust with a raised lip along the cut, called the pestana, around a very light, fluffy crumb. Chef's tip: a tray of boiling water in the oven gives the steam that makes the crust thin and shiny.

50 min

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Khanom takoPandan coconut cream jelly cups

Little boxes of folded pandan leaf filled with jelly sit on the trays of every khanom seller in central Thailand, from Chatuchak's dessert stalls to the morning market in Nakhon Pathom. The base is firm, cool and green with diced water chestnut for crunch; the thick white top is coconut cream set with rice flour and seasoned with a clear note of salt, which is the whole point. They are eaten as a mid-afternoon snack, two or three at a time. Chef's tip: most people undersalt the coconut layer; it should taste lightly salty on its own, so the sweet base underneath sings.

60 min

Thai Desserts

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Nam takrai (lemongrass drink)

Thai spa receptions and roadside rice shops both pour this from big glass jars, and in Chiang Mai and Bangkok homes a pot is often simmering on hot afternoons. Bruised lemongrass gives a clean, lemony, slightly grassy taste and pandan a soft vanilla note; lightly sweetened, it is refreshing over ice and soothing warm on a rainy-season evening. Chef's tip: the usual mistake is chopping the lemongrass fine and boiling it hard, which makes it bitter; bash the stalks and simmer gently.

20 min

Thai Drinks

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Tamales dulcesSweet tamales

Every tamal tray in Mexico City has a few pink ones tucked in among the green and red, and these sweet tamales are what children reach for first at December posadas and on 2 February, Día de la Candelaria. The masa is beaten with butter and sugar, tinted the colour of a sugared almond and studded with raisins, then steamed in husks until soft and cakey; they are eaten warm with atole or hot chocolate. This version uses butter and vegetable shortening, not lard. Chef's tip: add a few drops of colour at a time; the pink deepens as it steams.

115 min

Mexican Snacks & Starters

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Chicharrones de harinaPuffed wheat snacks

Outside Mexican schools and parks, vendors fry little dried wheels and rectangles of wheat dough until they balloon into airy, crackly chicharrones de harina, also called duritos. They're handed over in a plastic bag drenched in lime juice and bottled hot sauce. At home you can buy the dried pellets (duros) at Latin grocers, and they puff in seconds. Chef's tip: fry just a small handful at a time; they triple in size.

12 min

Mexican Snacks & Starters

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Chè đậu đen (black bean sweet soup)

In Hanoi summers, glass after glass of chè đậu đen is poured over crushed ice at pavement stalls, and many families keep a pot in the fridge because the beans are thought to cool the body. The beans are cooked whole until creamy inside but unbroken, then steeped in syrup until they turn dark and glossy; southern versions finish with a little coconut milk. Chef's tip: add the sugar only once the beans are completely tender; sugar too early toughens the skins and the beans never soften.

90 min