Jain recipes: no onion, garlic or root vegetables

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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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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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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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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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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

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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

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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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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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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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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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

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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

Pakistani Chutneys & Dips

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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

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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

Nigerian Breakfast & Brunch

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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

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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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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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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

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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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

Malaysian Snacks & Starters

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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

Indian Breakfast & Brunch

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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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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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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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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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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

Indian Basics

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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

Indian Desserts

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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

Indian Drinks

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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

Indian Desserts

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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

Indian Basics

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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

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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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

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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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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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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

Indian Breakfast & Brunch

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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

Indian Sides

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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