Jain recipes: no onion, garlic or root vegetables

Indian Breakfast & Brunch

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Aval kanji for babiesRice flake porridge for babies

In Tamil homes from Madurai to Chennai, aval (flattened rice, the same poha sold in every kirana shop) is one of the first grains a grandmother reaches for when a baby turns six months. The flakes are dry-roasted until they smell like puffed rice, ground to a fine powder and simmered with water into a thin, pale porridge with a gentle toasted flavour, usually given as a mid-morning feed. For babies it is made with no salt, sugar, jaggery or honey. It is free of the major allergens: no milk, egg, gluten, nuts, soya, sesame or fish. Chef's tip: roast a whole cup of aval at once, grind it and keep the powder in a dry jar for up to two weeks, so each feed takes five minutes.

15 min

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Sharbat-e rivas (rhubarb sherbet)

For a few weeks in spring, after Nowruz, sellers come down from the Alborz foothills, the mountains of Khorasan and Kurdistan with bundles of rivas, the thick-stalked wild rhubarb. People peel and eat the stalks raw with salt, cook them into khoresh, and boil the rest into syrup to keep the taste of the season into summer. Sharbat-e rivas is pink, sharp and refreshing, like sour cherry and green apple together, softened by sugar and lifted by mint. The common mistake is boiling the rhubarb hard and pressing it through the sieve, which makes the syrup cloudy, brownish and stringy; simmer gently and let it drip on its own. Use only the stalks, never the leaves, which are poisonous. The syrup is ready when it is clear, rose-coloured and coats a spoon in a thin film; it keeps for two weeks in a clean bottle in the fridge, and should be thrown away if it fizzes, smells of alcohol or grows mould. Garden rhubarb is a good substitute for rivas; the reddest stalks give the prettiest colour. Chef's tip: a strip of lemon peel in the pot brightens the colour and stops the syrup tasting flat.

40 min

Brazilian Snacks & Starters

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Rolete de cana (sugarcane on a stick)

On the sand at Porto da Barra in Salvador, and in the crowds of the Festa de Iemanjá in Rio Vermelho every February, vendors walk with buckets of ice and bundles of skewers threaded with pale sugarcane discs. You chew each piece to squeeze out the cold, grassy-sweet juice, then spit out the fibre. It is the simplest snack there is and very refreshing in the heat. Not for small children, as the fibres are a choking risk. Chef's tip: cut between the knobbly joints, not through them; the nodes are hard as wood.

15 min

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Limonata a cosce aperteFizzy lemonade

On hot afternoons along the Lungomare and in Piazza Sannazaro, the old acquafrescai kiosks squeeze half a lemon into a glass of sparkling water, then add a pinch of bicarbonate of soda. The drink foams up and over the rim, so you have to lean forward with your legs apart to drink it without soaking your shoes, which is where the cheeky name comes from. It tastes sharp, salty-fresh and very fizzy, and Neapolitans swear by it after a heavy lunch. Chef's tip: have the glass at your lips before you stir in the bicarbonate; the foam rises in seconds.

5 min

Italian Snacks & Starters

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Maní tostadoRoasted peanuts

Walk along the Malecón or through Parque Central in Havana at dusk and you will hear the manisero before you see him, calling out "¡Maní!" with a basket of warm peanuts rolled into little paper cones. They are the snack for an evening stroll by the sea wall and for long nights in the stands at the Estadio Latinoamericano. Some vendors sell them simply salted, others glazed in a crunchy coat of sugar, so this recipe gives both. The nuts are toasty and crisp with papery skins that flake off as you eat. They contain peanuts, and whole nuts are a choking risk for children under five. Chef's tip: take the tray out when the nuts look a shade too pale; they keep colouring for a few minutes as they cool.

20 min

Cuban Snacks & Starters

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AppelflapApple puff pastry

An appelflap is the snack Amsterdammers pick up at the bakery counter or the Albert Cuyp market on a grey afternoon: a triangle of flaky puff pastry, packed with soft cinnamon apple and plump raisins, its top crackling with sugar. You eat it from a paper bag on a bench by the canal, or with a coffee at about four o'clock, and the filling is always hotter than you expect. Chef's tip: cook the apple filling first and let it cool completely; warm filling melts the butter in the pastry and you lose the layers.

60 min

Dutch Baking

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Durofrío de mangoFrozen mango milk pops

In the hot streets of Centro Habana, durofríos are sold straight from the front windows of family homes: a few pesos buys a frozen cup of fruit juice or fruit and milk, popped out and eaten on a stick or straight from its paper cup. Children queue for them after school in the long summer afternoons, when the sea breeze has dropped. This version blends ripe mango with milk and lime into a creamy, fruity ice that is firm, as the name says ("hard-cold"), rather than soft like ice cream. Swap the milk for water or guava juice for a dairy-free fruit ice. It contains milk. Chef's tip: make the mix taste a little too sweet before freezing; cold dulls sweetness.

240 min

Cuban Desserts

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Pasta cresciutaPuffy yeast fritters

Pasta cresciuta means "risen dough", and that is all it is: a loose, sticky yeast batter dropped by the spoonful into hot oil, where it swells into airy, irregular puffs. In Naples the friggitorie around Piazza Mercato and the Quartieri Spagnoli sell them by the paper cone, plain or with a little seaweed (alghe) folded in, and at Christmas they appear as zeppoline on every table. They are best eaten within minutes, while crisp outside and chewy-soft within. Chef's tip: wet your spoon in a glass of water between each blob, so the sticky batter slides off cleanly into the oil.

90 min

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Koova kurukku (arrowroot porridge)

Koova, the arrowroot that grows in Kerala's backyards, is dug, washed, grated and dried into a snow-white powder that many families in Thrissur and Kottayam still make themselves. Stirred with water over a low flame, it turns from chalky to clear and glossy in a few minutes, and this kurukku is a classic first spoonful at six months, often given in the hot months because it is thought to be cooling. It is very mild and smooth. No salt, sugar, jaggery or honey goes in for babies. It is free of the major allergens. Chef's tip: buy pure koova or arrowroot powder, not a cornflour blend, and stop cooking the moment the whole pan turns translucent.

10 min

Indian Breakfast & Brunch

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Sharbat-e zaferan (saffron sherbet)

Big steel urns of golden saffron sherbet are poured for guests at Iranian weddings and engagement parties, and the same drink is handed out on the street as nazri during Muharram and at memorial gatherings, when families offer something sweet and cool in the name of the departed. Saffron from Khorasan is ground with a sugar cube, bloomed in a little water and stirred into syrup with rose water and lemon. The result is honey-sweet and floral, with saffron's faint bitterness and hay-like perfume at the end, and a colour that should be a clear, sunny orange-gold. The usual mistake is dropping whole threads straight into cold water, which gives a pale, patchy drink and wastes expensive saffron; grind it first and let it bloom for at least 10 minutes. You know the bloom is ready when the water is a deep red-orange and smells strongly of saffron. Taste before serving: it should be sweet but finish clean, with the lemon just noticeable. Chef's tip: an ice cube placed on the ground saffron and left to melt slowly gives the deepest colour of all, an old Iranian trick.

20 min

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Kapeng barakoStrong Liberica coffee

In Lipa and the hill towns of Batangas, mornings start with kapeng barako boiled in a dented aluminium kaldero and poured into enamel mugs, often next to pandesal, a slab of tapang Taal or a plate of suman. Barako is Liberica, a large-beaned coffee that grows on tall trees around Mount Malarayat, and the word itself means a strong, rough-mannered man. The cup is heavy and earthy with notes of jackfruit, dark chocolate and smoke, and it is sweetened with sticky muscovado from Negros or Antique, never with white sugar. It carries plenty of caffeine, so go easy if you are sensitive and keep it away from children. The usual mistake is keeping the pot at a rolling boil once the coffee is in: the grounds stew and the drink turns sour and harsh. Bring the water to the boil, then take it off the heat before adding the coffee. The brew is ready when the crust of grounds sinks after the splash of cold water and the liquid underneath is a clear, deep mahogany. Chef's tip: grind it coarse, like raw sugar, so it settles cleanly in the pot.

11 min

Filipino Drinks

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Colada moradaPurple corn and berry drink

Every year in the days before 2 November, the Día de los Difuntos, Quito's kitchens and bakeries fill with the smell of colada morada: a warm, spoon-thick drink of purple corn flour cooked with blackberries, blueberries, pineapple and a bundle of fragrant herbs and spices. It is deep violet, sweet-tart and full of chopped fruit, and it is always served with guaguas de pan, the bread babies, often shared with family at the cemetery. The most common mistake is stirring the corn flour straight into hot liquid, which makes lumps: whisk it into cold water first. Chef's tip: lemon verbena and lemongrass give the authentic perfume; if you can find naranjilla or a few orange leaves, add them to the spice pot too.

100 minAndean Drinks

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Melon juice (cantaloupe drink)

Afternoon merienda across the Philippines means something cold from a plastic cooler at the school gate, a jeepney stop or a carinderia: sago't gulaman, buko juice or this melon drink, with ribbons of orange cantaloupe suspended in sweet water. Vendors scrape the melon with a special spiral shredder, a kayod ng melon, so you get thin strands to chew through a fat straw. It tastes fresh, sweet and gently musky, more refreshing than a smoothie because the water stays clear and light; some stalls add evaporated milk, but the plain version is the classic. The common mistake is using a melon that is not fully ripe, which gives pale, crunchy strands and a flat drink; choose one that smells sweet at the stem end and gives slightly when pressed there. Shred straight into the jug so the juice from the melon is not lost. It is ready when the strands are soft and floating, the water has turned faintly orange and it tastes of melon rather than plain syrup. Chef's tip: a box grater's coarse side or a fork scraped along the flesh both work if you don't own a melon shredder.

15 min

Filipino Drinks

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MorochoCracked white corn drink

Morocho is what Quiteños drink on a chilly evening at a market stall, often with a crisp empanada de morocho alongside: cracked white corn simmered for an hour with milk, cinnamon and cloves until it turns into a thick, creamy drink you half sip, half spoon, studded with plump raisins. It tastes like a gently spiced rice pudding made with corn. The usual mistake is adding the milk too early and not stirring, so it catches and scorches on the bottom of the pan. Chef's tip: soak the corn overnight; it cooks faster and more evenly and turns properly creamy.

80 minAndean Drinks

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TahoWarm tofu with syrup and sago

Before eight in the morning in any Philippine barangay you hear the call "Tahooo!" as the magtataho walks past with two aluminium buckets balanced on a shoulder pole: one holds warm, wobbly silken tofu, the other dark arnibal syrup and sago. He scoops paper-thin layers of tofu into a plastic cup with a flat ladle, pours syrup over and adds the pearls, and children eat it standing at the gate with a spoon or slurp it through a wide straw. The taste is caramel and soy milk; the texture is custard-soft tofu against chewy pearls. Baguio has its own pink strawberry version. The common mistake is cooking the sago in too little water or not stirring at the start, so the pearls glue into a lump; use plenty of boiling water and stir for the first two minutes. The sago is ready when the pearls are translucent with only a tiny white dot left in the centre, and the arnibal is right when it coats a spoon like thin maple syrup. Chef's tip: steam the tofu in its box or bowl rather than boiling it, so it stays in one silky piece. Small sago pearls are a choking risk for babies and toddlers, so serve them only to older children.

45 min

Filipino Drinks

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Chai nabat (saffron rock candy tea)

Pilgrims leaving Mashhad carry home boxes of saffron nabat, crystals of rock candy grown on a string and tinted gold with Khorasani saffron. Across Iran a glass of chai nabat is what you are handed when you feel unwell, after a shock, after an exam, or late at night when the evening meal sits heavy; it is traditionally drunk to settle the stomach and warm you up. The tea is brewed strong in a teapot that sits on top of the kettle, then poured clear and amber into small glasses, and the nabat stick is stirred until it softens the tea with a gentle, honeyed sweetness and a faint saffron aroma. Black tea has a moderate amount of caffeine, so give children a weaker glass. A common mistake is boiling the leaves or letting them steep on direct heat, which turns the tea bitter and murky; Persian tea is "dam" — brewed gently on steam. It is ready when the leaves have sunk, the tea is clear and reddish-amber and it smells of bergamot or cardamom. Chef's tip: hold the glass up to the light; if you can't see through it, top it up with hot water, as Iranians do.

15 min

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Bandar ladduGram flour and jaggery balls

Bandar laddu is named after Bandar, the old name of Machilipatnam on the Andhra coast, and it is the sweet families carry home after a trip there, offer at Sankranti and give at weddings. Gram-flour pearls are fried, then pounded with jaggery syrup and ghee until the mixture turns dense, smooth and fudgy, unlike the grainy besan laddu of the north. The common mistake is not cooking the jaggery syrup far enough: it needs to reach the soft-ball stage, or the laddus slump and turn sticky. Chef's tip: pound the mix while it is still warm, in batches, in a heavy mortar or food processor, until it clumps when pressed.

60 min

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Lavang latikaClove-sealed syrup pastries

Lavang latika is a festive sweet of Bengal and Bihar, shaped like a tiny sealed envelope with a single clove pinned through the flap; it fills sweet-shop trays at Bijoya Dashami, Diwali and Bhai Phonta. Inside is mawa with coconut, nuts and cardamom, and after slow frying the parcels are soaked in syrup, so the outside is crisp and sweet and the clove gives a warm, peppery bite. The common mistake is folding the pastry loosely; the flaps must overlap well and be pressed shut before the clove goes in, or the parcels unfold in the ghee. Remove the clove before eating if you prefer. Chef's tip: soak the cloves in hot water for 5 minutes so they push through the pastry without cracking it.

90 min

Italian Snacks & Starters

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CortaditoEspresso with steamed milk

Havana runs on small cups of coffee: a cafecito standing at a ventanita, a colada shared in tiny plastic cups at work, and in the afternoon or with breakfast, a cortadito, which is Cuban coffee cut (cortado) with roughly as much hot milk. The coffee is brewed in a stovetop cafetera, and the first dark drops are whipped hard with sugar into a pale, thick espumita that floats on top of the cup. The result is rich, very sweet and caramel-like, with a velvety milk body and a strong, bitter edge underneath. It is high in caffeine, so it is not one for children. The common mistake is adding sugar to the pot or stirring it in at the end; without the espumita you get a thin, flat drink. Beat the first concentrated coffee with the sugar until it turns light tan and holds soft folds, then pour in the rest. It is ready when a pale foam floats on the cup and the milk has been heated until steaming, with small bubbles around the edge but not boiling. Chef's tip: catch only the first 2–3 teaspoons of coffee for the foam; later coffee is too thin to whip.

10 min

Cuban Drinks

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Papilla de quinua for babiesQuinoa and pumpkin puree for babies

In the high Andes around Cusco, Puno and La Paz, quinoa is the grain families have fed babies for centuries, and papilla de quinua is the first porridge many Andean mothers make at six months. The seeds are washed hard to remove their bitter saponin coating, simmered until they burst and show a little white tail, then blended with sweet zapallo (pumpkin) or apple into a smooth, nutty porridge. It is rich in protein and iron for a plant food. For babies there is no salt, sugar, panela or honey. It is free of the major allergens. Chef's tip: rub the quinoa between your palms under running water until the water no longer foams; that foam is what tastes bitter.

30 minAndean Breakfast & Brunch

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ScagliuozziFried polenta triangles

Scagliuozzi are triangles of firm polenta fried until blistered and golden, and in Naples they are rarely eaten alone: the friggitorie of Via dei Tribunali and the Pignasecca market tuck them into a cuoppo, a cone of brown paper, with zeppoline and potato croquettes. People buy them mid-morning or on the evening passeggiata and eat them walking, still too hot to hold. The outside shatters, the inside stays soft and sweet with corn. Make the polenta the day before so it sets firm. Chef's tip: cook the polenta thick enough that a spoon stands up in it; soft polenta spits and falls apart in the oil.

60 min

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Sharbat-e bidmeshk (willow blossom sherbet)

Kashan and the villages of Qamsar and Niasar are famous for distilling flowers in spring: rose water in May, and before that araq-e bidmeshk, the distillate of the fuzzy catkins of the musk willow. In summer, when the desert heat settles over the old houses, the same bottles go into sharbat-e bidmeshk, a pale syrup diluted with icy water and served to guests in tall glasses, sometimes with swollen basil seeds. It is traditionally drunk to calm the nerves and cool the body. The taste is delicate, sweet and haunting, somewhere between honeysuckle, musk and fresh hay. The common mistake is adding the distillate to hot syrup; the heat drives the scent away within minutes, so cool the syrup completely first. The syrup is ready when it is clear and pours like thin honey, and the finished sherbet should smell floral the moment you lift the glass. Look for the distillate in Iranian shops; there is no true substitute, though rose water with a few drops of orange-blossom water makes a pleasant but different drink. Chef's tip: a squeeze of lemon in the syrup stops it crystallising in the fridge, where it keeps for a month.

15 min

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Citron presséFresh lemon drink

Order a citron pressé on a Paris terrace in July, or at a café in Nice after the beach, and the waiter brings a tall glass with an inch of freshly squeezed lemon juice, a carafe of iced water, a sugar bowl or a little jug of syrup and a long spoon. You build the drink yourself, as sharp or as sweet as you like, which is half the pleasure; French children learn to drink it with plenty of sugar, grown-ups often with almost none. It is bright, sour and cleansing, nothing like bottled lemonade, and best in the late afternoon heat. The common mistake is stirring granulated sugar straight into cold lemon water: it sinks and never dissolves, so the first sips are sour and the last a sludge. Dissolve the sugar in the juice first, or use a quick syrup. It is ready when the sugar has vanished, the drink tastes balanced to you and the glass is beaded with cold. Unwaxed lemons matter if you add a twist of peel. Chef's tip: pour the water over ice slowly and taste after half the carafe; most people find they need less water than they expect.

5 min

French Drinks

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KilanjiRice crepes with coconut banana sauce

On the coral islands of Lakshadweep, kilanji is the treat for weddings, Eid mornings and a welcome guest. Thin, soft crepes of soaked rice and egg, or rice alone as here, are folded and drenched in a warm sauce of coconut milk sweetened with coconut jaggery and full of mashed ripe banana and cardamom. The islanders often add egg to the batter; this version keeps it vegan with a touch of cooked rice for softness. The common mistake is a gritty batter: the rice needs a full four hours' soak and a long, fine grind, or the crepes tear. Chef's tip: keep the sauce barely warm, never boiling, so the coconut milk stays silky.

290 min

Indian Desserts

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Diabolo mentheMint syrup and lemonade

Ask anyone who grew up in France about diabolo menthe and they will remember sitting on a café terrace after school, or on holiday in Brittany or the Vendée, with a tall glass of startling green fizz and a straw. It is simply sirop de menthe, the sweet mint syrup sold in every French supermarket, topped up with limonade, which in France means a clear, lightly sweet, lemony fizzy drink. Grenadine makes a diabolo grenadine, lemon syrup a diabolo citron. It tastes cool, minty and sweet, like a liquid mint sweet, with a sharp sparkle. The common mistake is pouring the syrup on top of the lemonade: it sinks in a dense layer and you drink plain fizz followed by pure syrup. Put the syrup in the glass first and pour the lemonade down the side so it mixes as it rises. It is ready when the glass is an even mint-green from bottom to top and still fizzing hard. Café ratio is about one part syrup to seven parts lemonade. Chef's tip: for a homemade syrup, steep a big handful of fresh mint in hot sugar syrup for 30 minutes and strain; it will be pale gold-green rather than emerald, and tastes fresher.

3 min

French Drinks

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Tisane de tilleul (linden tea)

Carpentras, at the foot of Mont Ventoux, has been France's linden capital for over a century. In late June the flowering lime trees are harvested by hand, the blossoms and their pale papery bracts dried in the shade, and in July the town's linden market sells them by the sack. In French homes a tisane de tilleul is what you drink after dinner, at the end of a long day or before bed, often with a slice of lemon or a little honey; Proust's famous madeleine was dipped in one. It tastes softly floral and sweet, a little like honey and fresh hay, with a smooth, almost silky feel. The common mistake is using fully boiling water and steeping for fifteen minutes: the tea turns dull brown and slightly astringent. Let the kettle settle to about 90 °C and steep for 5–7 minutes, covered. It is ready when the infusion is pale gold and smells of a summer garden. It is traditionally drunk to unwind; if you take regular medication, have a heart condition, or want to give it to young children, check with a doctor first. Chef's tip: keep the pot covered while it steeps so the scented oils stay in the tea instead of the kitchen.

10 min

French Drinks

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Thambili (king coconut water)

All along Sri Lanka's roads, from Galle Road in Colombo to the highways into Kandy and the beaches of the south coast, vendors stack bright orange king coconuts in pyramids under umbrellas. The thambili is a variety grown on the island for drinking: smaller than a green coconut and sweeter, with a faint saltiness that makes it more refreshing than any bottled drink. It is drunk any time of day in the heat, after a long bus ride, after a cricket match, and given to people recovering from a fever because it is gentle on the stomach. The water is clear, lightly sweet and nutty, and the soft jelly inside is eaten with a spoon made from a slice of the husk. The common mistake is hacking at the side of the nut; the blade glances off and the water spills. Trim the pointed top with downward strokes until a pale circle shows, then pierce it. It is ready to drink when a small hole opens straight into the water without husk fibres. Outside Sri Lanka, young green or Thai coconuts are the nearest substitute. Chef's tip: chill the coconuts for a few hours before opening; the water tastes sweeter cold, and use a heavy knife and a towel, keeping fingers well clear.

5 min

Sri Lankan Drinks

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Caffè shakeratoShaken iced espresso

When July heat settles over Italian piazzas, bar regulars from Rome to Bologna switch their morning or after-lunch espresso for a shakerato. The barista pulls a fresh shot, tips it into a cocktail shaker with ice and sugar, shakes hard for fifteen seconds and strains it into a chilled martini or wine glass, where it settles into a dark body under a thick, beige, mousse-like crema. It tastes intense and bittersweet, colder and smoother than iced coffee, with a texture almost like a light cream. The common mistake is using too little ice or shaking half-heartedly: the coffee stays warm and the foam collapses within seconds. Fill the shaker at least half full with ice and shake until the metal is too cold to hold comfortably. It is ready when you hear the ice rattle softly and the shaker frosts over, and the pour has a thick foam on top. One shaker holds one double espresso, so it is fairly strong in caffeine. Chef's tip: dissolve the sugar in the hot espresso before adding ice; granulated sugar barely melts once the coffee is cold.

5 min

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SomóCold spiced corn drink

Somó is how Santa Cruz cools down: big tubs of chilled, sweet, cinnamon-scented corn water sold in markets and at the door of lowland homes, with soft kernels of white corn floating in every glass to be eaten with a spoon. It is a simple drink, but it needs time, because the dried corn must soak and then simmer until each kernel bursts open. People often serve it before the kernels have fully opened, and then they are hard and chalky. Chef's tip: add a strip of orange peel with the spices for a fresher note, as some cruceño grandmothers do.

100 minAndean Drinks

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Caffè lecceseEspresso with almond milk over ice

In Lecce and the towns of Salento, summer mornings start at the bar with a caffè in ghiaccio, and the local version, a fairly recent invention now poured everywhere from Otranto to Gallipoli, adds a pour of latte di mandorla: the sweet almond-milk syrup Puglian bakers have made for generations from local almonds. A short glass is filled with ice, the almond syrup goes in, and a hot espresso is poured straight over so it cracks the ice and blends into a pale, cold, nutty coffee. It is sweet without being sticky, with a marzipan aroma and a clean bitter finish. The common mistake is letting the espresso cool before pouring: it no longer melts and mixes with the dense syrup, which then sits at the bottom. Pull the shot and pour it at once, then stir. It is ready when the drink is evenly caramel-coloured and the glass feels icy. Lecce bars serve it from about May to late September, often with a pasticciotto. Espresso means a fair hit of caffeine. Chef's tip: if you can only find unsweetened almond drink, stir 1 tsp of sugar into it first, but real Puglian almond syrup gives the true taste.

4 min

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KoserevaCandied bitter orange peel

Kosereva is a Paraguayan home preserve from the days when nothing was wasted: thick strips of bitter-orange peel soaked and boiled to soften their bite, then cooked slowly in dark cane molasses until glossy and nearly black. In the countryside it is eaten after lunch with a slice of fresh cheese or simply on its own. Bitter oranges (Seville oranges) are in season in winter. The most common mistake is not changing the boiling water enough, which leaves the peel unpleasantly bitter. Chef's tip: taste a sliver of peel after the third boil; it should be gently bitter like marmalade, not harsh.

180 min

Paraguayan Desserts

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Nam lamyai (longan drink)

Longan orchards cover the valleys of Chiang Mai and Lamphun, and every August the harvest is smoked and dried in big brick ovens so the fruit lasts all year. That dried lamyai is the base of nam lamyai, sold in plastic bags with a straw at Warorot Market, at roadside stalls on the way to Doi Suthep and in school canteens across the north, especially in the hot season from March to May. It tastes like toffee and smoked honey with a light floral note, and each glass comes with a few plump, chewy longans at the bottom to fish out. The common mistake is boiling the fruit too long with all the sugar at the start: the drink turns syrupy and the longans go mushy. Simmer the fruit first, sweeten at the end and taste before adding everything. It is ready when the liquid is clear amber-brown, the longans have swollen back to roughly their fresh size and the kitchen smells of caramel. It keeps 4 days in a closed jug in the fridge. Chef's tip: a tiny pinch of salt is the street-vendor trick that makes the sweetness taste rounder and brings out the smoky edge.

30 min

Thai Drinks

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Spremuta di arance rosseFresh blood orange juice

From December to April the orchards on the plain below Etna, around Catania, Lentini and Paternò, are heavy with Tarocco, Moro and Sanguinello blood oranges. The cold Etna nights turn their flesh red, and in Catania bars the barista squeezes them to order on a lever press, serving the spremuta beside a cornetto or a granita at breakfast. It is sweet, juicy and tart, tasting of orange with hints of raspberry and cherry, and the colour runs from streaky pink to deep garnet depending on the variety. The common mistake is squeezing the oranges hours ahead or pressing the white pith too hard: the juice turns bitter and the colour goes brown. Squeeze just before drinking, press gently and stop before you grind into the skin. It is ready when the juice is bright and frothy on top and tastes balanced, with no bitter aftertaste. Moro oranges give the darkest juice; Tarocco is sweetest. Outside Sicily, any blood orange works, or mix half ordinary oranges with half blood oranges. Chef's tip: roll each orange firmly on the counter before cutting; it softens the segments so you get more juice with less pressing.

5 min

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Caffè alla nocciolaEspresso with hazelnut cream

Naples takes its espresso seriously, and its bars along Via Toledo and the Lungomare also serve this richer cousin: a small glass cup smeared with hazelnut cream, a hot ristretto poured in, and a cap of cremina, the pale foam Neapolitans make by beating the first drops of coffee with sugar. It is drunk standing at the counter at mid-morning or after lunch as a little treat, and in summer the same flavours come as a cold crema al caffè. It tastes of roasted hazelnut and dark coffee, sweet and nutty, with a soft, airy foam that melts into the cup. The common mistake is whisking the cremina with too much coffee: it stays liquid and never turns pale. Use just a teaspoon of the first, thick drops and beat hard. It is ready when the foam is light beige, thick and falls from the spoon in ribbons. Espresso means a fair amount of caffeine, so keep this one for grown-ups. Chef's tip: warm the glass under hot water first and swirl the hazelnut cream up the sides; the hot coffee melts it into stripes as it goes in.

6 min

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Hongzao guiyuan cha (red date and longan tea)

Across southern China, from Fujian to Guangdong, a pot of red dates and dried longan is what mothers and grandmothers put on the stove when the weather turns cold, and it is the classic drink brought to new mothers during zuo yuezi, the month of rest after childbirth. It is also sipped through the winter in the afternoon, or offered to visitors at Lunar New Year because the red dates promise sweetness ahead. The tea is amber-brown, naturally sweet and fruity, with a caramel, smoky depth from the longan and a gentle warmth if you add ginger. The common mistake is simmering whole dates: their skins stay tight and the tea tastes thin. Slit or tear each date so the flesh can give up its sweetness, then simmer slowly. It is ready when the dates are puffed and soft, the longan has swollen and the liquid is the colour of weak tea and tastes of toffee. It is traditionally drunk for comfort and warmth, not as a medicine; it is high in natural sugar, so go easy if you watch your blood sugar, and goji can interact with blood-thinning medicines, so check with a doctor if you take them. Chef's tip: eat the softened fruit from the bottom of the cup with a spoon; nothing is wasted.

40 min

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Agra dalmothFried lentil snack mix

Agra is famous for two sweets and one namkeen, and dalmoth is the namkeen: soaked masoor and chana dal fried until crunchy and tossed with chilli, black salt, dry mango and a little sugar, sold in big tins near the Taj and packed for every train journey. It is eaten with tea in the afternoon and handed round to guests at Diwali. The dal is fried dry, without any batter coating. The common mistake is frying the dal straight from soaking water; any moisture makes the oil spit dangerously and the dal chewy, so dry it on a cloth for at least an hour. Chef's tip: fry the masoor and chana separately, as they need different times to turn crisp.

50 min

Indian Snacks & Starters

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Ka'i ladrilloPeanut molasses bricks

Ka'i ladrillo — 'monkey brick' in Guaraní — is the sweet sold by vendors on Asunción buses and at country fiestas: roasted peanuts bound in boiled cane molasses and set in brick-shaped blocks, crunchy and dark with a slightly smoky toffee taste. It contains peanuts, so keep it away from anyone with a peanut allergy. The common mistake is taking the syrup off too soon, so the bricks stay sticky and never set. Chef's tip: test the syrup by dropping a little into cold water; it is ready when it sets into a brittle thread that snaps.

40 min

Paraguayan Desserts

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Kafae boran (old-style Thai coffee)

Before espresso bars reached Bangkok, coffee in Thailand meant kafae boran from Hainanese-Chinese shophouses and market carts: a dark robusta roast mixed with toasted grains, poured through a long cotton sock called a tung tom and stirred into thick sweetened condensed milk. Uncles still order it hot at 6 am with patongko dough sticks, and in the afternoon heat the same brew is poured over crushed ice and topped with evaporated milk as oliang or kafae yen. The taste is strong, roasty and slightly smoky, sweet and creamy, with a faint caramel-cereal edge from the grains; the iced version is silky and cold. The common mistake is brewing it like filter coffee with too little grounds: once milk and ice go in, it tastes thin. Use plenty, steep it in the sock and pour it through twice. The brew is ready when it is opaque, nearly black and leaves a brown film on a white spoon. It is high in caffeine, so not one for children or late evenings. Chef's tip: rinse the cloth sock in hot water only, never soap, and keep it in a jar of clean water in the fridge between uses so the coffee oils season it.

10 min

Thai Drinks

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Variyali sharbat (fennel cooler)

On May afternoons in Ahmedabad and Surat, when the loo wind blows and nobody wants a hot drink, Gujarati homes keep a bottle of variyali sharbat concentrate in the fridge. Fennel seeds are soaked, ground with rock sugar, strained and mixed with lemon and a little black pepper, then diluted with iced water for guests, after lunch, or to break a fast, since nothing in it is off-limits on upvas days if you use rock salt. It is pale green and cloudy, with a sweet aniseed taste, a sharp lemon finish and a faint peppery tingle. The common mistake is grinding dry fennel straight away: it stays gritty and the flavour is harsh. Soak the seeds for at least two hours so they swell and grind into a smooth paste. It is ready when the strained concentrate is silky, smells clearly of fennel and tastes very sweet, as it will be diluted three or four times. The concentrate keeps 5 days in the fridge in a clean bottle. Chef's tip: add a few mint leaves or a pinch of cardamom when grinding for a more rounded cooler.

23 min

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Gondhoraj gholLime-scented yogurt drink

In Kolkata the gondhoraj lime arrives with the monsoon heat, a knobbly green fruit whose peel smells of flowers and pine more than of sour citrus. Bengali households use it to lift dal and fish, but in the sticky months from Boishakh into Srabon it goes into ghol: dahi churned with cold water until frothy, sweetened lightly and scented with the zest, a squeeze of juice and a torn leaf. Cafés along Gariahat and old sweet shops serve it in clay bhaar cups after lunch, and it is just as good mid-afternoon with a plate of muri. It drinks thin, cool and silky, with a soft tang and a perfume that hits the nose before the first sip. The usual mistake is grating too deep or leaving the zest to sit for an hour: the white pith and the oils turn bitter. Take only the green outer layer, add it just before serving, and stop when the ghol smells floral rather than sharp. It is ready when the top is covered in fine foam and a spoon comes out lightly coated. Chef's tip: for the salted version, swap the sugar for black salt and a pinch of roasted cumin, as many Kolkata homes do on the hottest days.

10 min

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Ragi maltFinger millet malt drink

Across Karnataka, from Bengaluru flats to farmhouses round Mandya and Mysuru, a mug of ragi malt is how many mornings start, especially for schoolchildren, older relatives and anyone heading out to work in the fields. Finger millet powder is whisked into water and cooked until it thickens, then loosened with hot milk and sweetened with jaggery and cardamom; the savoury version, beaten into buttermilk with salt, is drunk cold at lunch in summer. The sweet version is smooth, malty and nutty, mauve-brown, thicker than milk but still drinkable. The commonest mistake is tipping ragi powder straight into hot liquid: it seizes into stubborn lumps. Always whisk it into cold water first. It is ready when the raw, grassy smell has gone, the mixture turns glossy and darker, and it coats the back of a spoon. Add jaggery only off the heat, or the milk can split. For babies, skip the jaggery and ask your health visitor about introducing ragi. Chef's tip: sprouted ragi powder (the true 'malt') tastes sweeter and cooks faster; look for it in Indian shops.

13 min

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TojoríPurple corn porridge

Before dawn in Potosí and Sucre, vendors ladle steaming tojorí from big pots into glasses for miners, students and market workers. It is a pourable porridge of ground corn cooked with cinnamon, cloves and sugar; the purple-corn version is mildly fruity and turns a deep violet. It is drunk with buñuelos or a bread roll. Don't stop stirring in the first ten minutes, which is when it sticks and scorches. Chef's tip: toast the corn flour in a dry pan for a couple of minutes before you start; it brings out a roasted, nutty taste.

40 minAndean Breakfast & Brunch

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Paneer soda (rose soda)

Every Tamil town once had a soda shop with crates of Codd-neck bottles sealed by a glass marble, and the pop of the marble being pushed down was the sound of a hot afternoon. Paneer here means rose water, not cheese, and paneer soda is rose syrup topped with that sharp local fizz, sold in Madurai, Tiruchi and Coimbatore by the bus stand and at temple festival stalls in Chithirai and Vaikasi, the hottest months. It is sweet and floral at first, then the bubbles and a touch of lime cut through and leave the mouth clean. The mistake most people make is boiling the rose water with the sugar: the scent cooks away and you are left with plain syrup. Make the syrup first, let it cool, and only then stir in the rose water. The syrup is ready when it is clear and slightly thickened, like thin honey, and the finished drink should be rosy pink and still foaming as you hand it over. Chef's tip: chill the syrup, the soda and the glasses well; warm soda loses its fizz the moment it meets the syrup.

15 min

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Rau sốngFresh herb and vegetable plate

Rau sống, literally 'raw vegetables', is the heaped plate of lettuce, herbs and cucumber that sits in the middle of the table at almost every Vietnamese meal, from Hanoi bún chả to a Saigon family dinner. Everyone tears leaves to wrap grilled food, drops herbs into soup or eats them alongside rice. Nothing is added: no salt, no dressing. About 0.1 g salt per portion, naturally present in the greens. Seasoning comes from whatever dipping sauce is on the table, so a light hand there keeps the whole meal low in salt. The usual mistake is leaving the herbs wet; water dilutes the flavour and makes them wilt fast. Use whatever mix you can find: Thai basil, perilla (tía tô), Vietnamese balm (kinh giới), mint and coriander are classics. Chef's tip: soak the herbs in very cold water for 10 minutes, then spin dry; they become crisp and glossy and last through the whole meal.

10 min

Vietnamese Salads

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Agua de tuna (prickly pear drink)

Late summer is tuna season across the central highlands, from Hidalgo and the Estado de México down to Puebla's Teotihuacán valley, and that is when the big vitroleros in markets and taquerías turn shocking pink. Agua de tuna is just the cactus fruit blended with water, lime and a little sugar, strained, and poured over ice with lunch. Red tunas give a vivid colour and a taste between watermelon and pear; green ones make a paler, more herbal drink. It should be light and thirst-quenching, never syrupy. The commonest mistake is blending too long: the hard seeds crack and the agua turns gritty and slightly bitter. Pulse briefly, just enough to free the pulp, then strain well. It is ready when the liquid runs smooth through the sieve and tastes clearly of fruit with only a lift of lime. Handle unpeeled tunas with tongs or gloves: even 'cleaned' ones keep tiny glochids. Chef's tip: chill the peeled fruit before blending; cold pulp keeps its colour bright and needs less ice to dilute it.

15 min

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Mate de muñaAndean mint tea

Muña is the minty shrub that grows wild on the slopes around Cusco, Puno and the Sacred Valley, and highland cooks reach for it after a heavy meal of chicharrón or when visitors are struggling with the altitude. Market herb sellers sell it in fresh bunches, and hotels and homes leave it in a flask for anyone coming in from the cold evenings. Steeped simply in hot water, it smells somewhere between spearmint, oregano and pennyroyal, with a cooling, slightly peppery taste and a pale green-gold colour. It is traditionally drunk to settle the stomach. The usual mistake is boiling the leaves hard for a long time, which turns the tea brown and bitter. Pour water just off the boil over the sprigs, cover, and let it steep. It is ready when the cup is pale gold and the aroma rises as soon as you lift the lid. Outside Peru, look for dried muña in Latin shops; failing that, use mostly spearmint with a little fresh oregano. Muña is strong: avoid large amounts in pregnancy, and check with a doctor if you take regular medication. Chef's tip: cover the cup while it steeps so the scented oils stay in the tea.

8 min

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Suanmeitang (sour plum drink)

Old Beijing sold suanmeitang from brass bowls at street corners in summer, chilled with blocks of river ice, and the Qing court drank a version as a cooler. Today it comes in big jugs at copper-pot hotpot restaurants, where its sourness cuts through mutton and sesame sauce; families brew a pot every few days all summer. Smoked wumei plums give a deep, almost bacon-like smokiness, hawthorn adds fruity acid, licorice softens the edges and rock sugar rounds everything off, with dried osmanthus on top for a honeyed scent. It should be dark ruby, clear and refreshing, tart first and sweet after. The common mistake is boiling it hard for hours: the plum stones and hawthorn seeds release bitterness and the brew turns muddy. Simmer gently, strain early and chill fast. It is ready when the plums have collapsed and the liquid tastes clearly sour-sweet with a smoky finish. Licorice root is traditionally used in small amounts; people with high blood pressure, heart or kidney problems, or who are pregnant should keep the licorice out or check with a doctor. Chef's tip: add the osmanthus only after the heat is off, or its perfume vanishes.

70 min

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Hiyashi tomatoChilled tomato

Hiyashi tomato is the simplest thing on any Japanese izakaya menu in July and August: ripe tomatoes, chilled until icy, cut into wedges and served on a small plate, sometimes on crushed ice, to cool down a hot evening in Tokyo or Osaka. Many bars sprinkle salt; this home version leaves it out and offers a few drops of rice vinegar and toasted sesame oil instead, so the tomato's own sweetness and acidity do the work. About 0.0 g added salt; roughly 0.03 g per portion occurs naturally in the tomato. The usual mistake is using hard, pale supermarket tomatoes: this dish is only as good as the fruit, so buy deep red ones that smell of tomato at the stalk. Chef's tip: chill the plate as well as the tomatoes, so the wedges stay cold to the last bite.

5 min

Japanese Salads

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Juhua cha (chrysanthemum tea)

The small white hangbaiju flowers grown around Tongxiang, near Hangzhou, are picked in November, steamed and dried, and they end up in teapots all over China. Families brew them after a rich dinner, through the dry autumn, and iced in summer; dim sum houses in the south offer them as a caffeine-free choice, often mixed with pu-erh. The tea is pale gold, lightly floral with a faint bitterness like chamomile, softened by a little rock sugar and a few goji berries that turn plump and red in the pot. The common mistake is pouring boiling water straight onto the flowers and leaving them for twenty minutes; the tea turns brownish and bitter. Water just off the boil, around 90 °C, and a short steep keep it clear and sweet. It is ready when the flowers have opened like little daisies, the colour is light amber and the smell is honey-like. You can top up the pot two or three times. If you are allergic to ragweed, daisies or marigolds, try a small cup first or skip it, as chrysanthemum belongs to the same family. Chef's tip: for iced juhua cha, brew it double strength and pour it straight over a glass full of ice so it does not taste watery.

10 min

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Limau asam boi (lime with sour plum)

Order 'limau ais asam boi' at a kopitiam in Penang or a hawker centre in Kuala Lumpur at the hottest part of the afternoon and it arrives in a tall, sweating glass: freshly squeezed calamansi or small green limes, a little syrup, ice and one wrinkled, salted dried plum. The plum slowly leaches salt and fruity sourness into the drink, so every sip changes, starting bright and sweet and ending salty and tangy; you squash the plum with your straw halfway through for a stronger hit. It goes with char kway teow, nasi lemak or anything fried. The usual mistake is using bottled lime juice, which tastes flat and bitter against the plum. Squeeze fresh limes, and add the syrup gradually because asam boi is already salty-sweet. It is ready when the glass is frosted and the plum has started to plump up. Asam boi is sold in jars in Chinese and Southeast Asian groceries; Japanese umeboshi is saltier but works if you halve the amount. Chef's tip: make the lime-syrup base ahead and keep it cold, then pour over fresh ice only when you serve.

7 min

Malaysian Drinks

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SobachaRoasted buckwheat tea

Sobacha is roasted buckwheat tea, drunk all over Japan and especially in the soba country of Nagano and Hokkaido, where it is poured free in noodle shops and kept in jugs in the fridge through summer. Toasted buckwheat groats are steeped in hot water to make a golden, caffeine-free tea with a nutty, almost popcorn aroma, and the softened groats can be eaten too, stirred into rice or salads. Nothing is added: no salt, no sugar, so about 0.0 g salt per cup. The usual mistake is burning the groats when roasting your own; keep the heat at medium and keep the pan moving. Use Tartary buckwheat (dattan soba) for a deeper yellow tea. Anyone with a buckwheat allergy should avoid it, as reactions can be serious. Chef's tip: steep a second time with slightly hotter water; the second cup is often the sweetest.

10 min

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Ipoh white coffee

Ipoh's old town kopitiams, with their marble tables and morning crowds queueing for kai si hor fun and egg tarts, gave Malaysia its 'white coffee'. The name comes not from milk but from the roast: beans are roasted with palm-oil margarine, lighter than the dark, sugar-roasted kopi of the rest of the country, then brewed and served with condensed milk. It is smoother and less bitter than ordinary kopi, nutty and buttery, pale caramel in the cup, drunk hot at breakfast or iced in the afternoon heat. At home, buy ground Ipoh-style white coffee from an Asian grocer; you cannot easily reproduce the margarine roast in a kitchen. The common mistake is brewing it like espresso: forced extraction makes it bitter and kills the soft, toasty flavour. Steep it in a cloth sock or a coffee filter with water just off the boil. It is ready when the brew is reddish-brown and clear, not inky. This is a strong coffee with real caffeine, not for children. Chef's tip: warm the cups with hot water first; white coffee cools fast and loses its aroma.

10 min

Malaysian Drinks

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KhurchanScraped milk skin sweet

Khurchan means 'scrapings', and in Mathura and the sweet lanes of Old Delhi it is made by simmering milk in a wide iron kadhai and lifting off the skin that forms, layer after layer, then stacking the sheets with a sprinkle of sugar and cardamom. It is a winter sweet, sold in small squares, and offered at Janmashtami in Krishna's town. It takes patience, not skill. The common mistake is letting the milk boil, which breaks the skin; keep it just steaming, never bubbling. Chef's tip: fan the surface of the milk gently with a paper plate between layers; the cooler air makes the skin form faster and thicker.

125 min

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Oksusu-chaRoasted corn tea

Oksusu-cha is the tea Korean households boil by the kettleful and keep in the fridge in old glass bottles, drunk instead of water with meals from Seoul apartments to Gangwon farmhouses, chilled in summer and hot in winter. Dried corn kernels are roasted until dark golden, then simmered to make a pale amber tea that tastes gently sweet and toasty, though nothing is added at all. About 0.0 g salt per glass. The usual mistake is boiling the kernels too long, which makes the tea cloudy and starchy; 15 minutes is plenty. Ready-roasted corn kernels are sold in Korean shops; if roasting your own, use dried corn, not fresh or tinned. Chef's tip: mix in a spoon of roasted barley for the classic boricha blend, rounder and more nutty, though no longer gluten free.

22 min

Korean Drinks

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UmbuzadaUmbu and milk drink

The umbu tree is the pride of the sertão, the dry interior of Bahia, Pernambuco and Piauí: its swollen roots store water through the drought, and when the rains come between January and March it covers itself in small green-gold fruit. Families gather them by the sackful, and umbuzada, the fruit cooked and blended with milk and sugar, is drunk cold in the afternoon heat or eaten thick as a light supper. It tastes sharply sour and sweet at the same time, creamy and fruity, a little like a gooseberry milkshake. The common mistake is blending hot, acidic pulp with milk, which makes it curdle into grainy flecks. Cool the pulp completely, mix the sugar into the pulp before the milk goes in, and serve soon after blending. It is ready when it is smooth, pale yellow-green and coats the glass. Outside Brazil, look for frozen umbu pulp in Brazilian shops; failing that, use cajá (yellow mombin) pulp or tart green plums cooked the same way. Keep any leftovers in the fridge and drink within a day. Chef's tip: for the thick version eaten with a spoon, halve the milk and serve it in a bowl with a sprinkle of farinha or crushed cuscuz.

30 min

Brazilian Drinks

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Suco de cajáHog plum juice

Walk along the beach barracas of Salvador or into any lanchonete in Recife and the juice board will list cajá near the top. The small yellow fruit, from tall trees that grow wild across Bahia and the Northeast, is too sour to eat out of hand but makes a juice with a scent that people there treat as a taste of home: floral, sharp and tropical, a little like passion fruit and mango crossed with lime. It is drunk ice-cold with lunch, with a plate of moqueca, or after an afternoon in the sun. Most Brazilians use frozen pulp, which keeps the fragrance well. The common mistake is drowning it in sugar or blending it with too much water so the perfume disappears; cajá should taste lively and tart, so sweeten lightly and taste as you go. It is ready when it is a bright golden-yellow, lightly frothy, and smells floral as soon as you lift the jug. Outside Brazil, look for frozen cajá pulp in Latin American shops; the same fruit is sold as jobo or yellow mombin, or ciruela in Mexico. Chef's tip: blend with half ice and half water instead of all water for a frothier, colder juice.

5 min

Brazilian Drinks

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Makhaniya lassiSaffron lassi with butter

Around the clock tower and old city of Jodhpur, lassi shops churn this rich drink all day in summer: chilled set curd whisked with sugar, saffron and cardamom, poured into tall glasses and crowned with a spoon of fresh white butter (makhan) and a layer of malai. You drink the cool lassi and eat the butter and cream with a spoon. It is a meal in itself. The common mistake is thinning it with too much water or ice, which loses the thick, almost spoonable texture that makes it Jodhpuri. Chef's tip: use curd set from full-fat milk the night before and whisk it by hand or with a few pulses only.

10 min

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TejateMaize and cacao drink

In the markets of Oaxaca city and San Andrés Huayápam, women sit behind wide painted gourds of tejate, scooping it into jícaras for anyone who needs cooling down in the hot middle of the day; it turns up at Guelaguetza in July, at village fiestas and at every Sunday tianguis. The base is maize, cooked with wood ash, ground on a metate with toasted cacao beans, the roasted kernel of the mamey seed (pixtle) and dried rosita de cacao flowers. That paste is worked by hand into cold water until a thick, beige foam rises and floats. Each sip is cool, earthy and faintly bitter, like cocoa without milk, with grainy body below and the airy flor on top; you sweeten it to taste with a thin sugar syrup. The usual mistake is mixing too fast with lots of water at once: the paste never emulsifies and no foam forms. Add water a little at a time and keep lifting and dropping the paste with your hand. It is ready when a firm, creamy foam a finger thick sits on the surface. Pixtle must be thoroughly roasted and only used in the small amount given, as raw mamey seed is not safe to eat. Chef's tip: grind everything twice; the finer the paste, the taller and longer-lasting the flor.

130 min

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Jogi guiGrilled yellow croaker

Yellow croaker from Yeonggwang on Korea's west coast is so prized that dried gulbi are given as gifts at Chuseok, and a simply grilled or pan-roasted croaker is a classic of the family table and of ancestral memorial meals. The fish is salted, dried briefly and cooked whole until the skin crackles and the flesh comes away in sweet, moist flakes; you eat it with rice, kimchi and a few vegetable banchan. Suitable as part of a balanced diet: high in protein with no batter or flour. About 210 kcal and 1 g carbohydrate per portion. The usual mistake is turning the fish too early, so the skin tears and sticks; wait until it releases on its own. Small sea bream or red mullet work if you cannot find croaker. Chef's tip: pat the fish completely dry and leave it uncovered in the fridge for 30 minutes before cooking for the crispest skin.

25 min

Korean Fish

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Vellarikka pachadiCucumber yogurt curry

Vellarikka pachadi is one of the cooling yogurt dishes on the Kerala sadya, the banana-leaf feast served at Onam and weddings, and it turns up at everyday lunches across Thrissur and Kottayam too. Diced cucumber is softened briefly, then folded into thick yogurt with a paste of coconut, green chilli and crushed mustard seed, and finished with mustard seeds and curry leaves crackled in coconut oil. Coconut and curd carry the flavour, so it needs only a pinch of salt: about 0.25 g salt per portion. The usual mistake is adding the yogurt to hot cucumber, which splits it; let the cucumber cool first. Serve with rice and a dry vegetable thoran. Chef's tip: grind the coconut paste with a few raw mustard seeds; their gentle pungency is what makes a pachadi taste of Kerala.

20 min

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Moong thalMoong dal flour fudge

Moong thal is a Diwali tray sweet of Bikaner and Marwari homes, made by roasting coarsely ground moong dal in a generous amount of ghee, then setting it with sugar syrup and mawa and topping with nuts. It is richer and grainier than besan barfi, with a deep, toasty flavour. Marwari families in Kolkata and Mumbai still make it for Diwali boxes. The common mistake is under-roasting the moong, which leaves a raw, beany taste. Chef's tip: roast until the mixture turns light and frothy and the ghee releases from it; that is your sign it is cooked through.

60 min

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Ju hua chaChrysanthemum tea

Ju hua cha is chrysanthemum tea, a summer staple in Hangzhou, where the famous small white Hang bai ju flowers grow, and across Guangdong and Hong Kong, where it is poured at dim sum and sold chilled in street-side stalls. Dried flowers open in hot water into a pale golden, honey-scented infusion with a gentle bitterness. It is drunk plain here: no salt and no sugar, so about 0.0 g salt per cup. The usual mistake is using boiling water, which turns it harsh; let the kettle rest for a minute first. A few goji berries add colour and a little natural sweetness. Chef's tip: rinse the dried flowers quickly in warm water first to wash off dust and wake up their fragrance.

7 min

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Agua de chilacayoteFig-leaf squash drink

When the big, mottled chilacayote squashes ripen at the end of the rains, cooks in Oaxaca's valleys and the Mixteca of Puebla turn them into a drink you eat with a spoon. The flesh is cooked with dark piloncillo and cinnamon until it falls into translucent threads, then cooled and loosened with water; in Oaxaca it is ladled out of clay jars at fairs, weddings and the Day of the Dead, often with a little pineapple. It tastes like cinnamon-scented panela, with soft, slightly crunchy strands that slide up the straw. The usual mistake is boiling it to mush; overcooked flesh goes cloudy and the strands disappear. Simmer gently and stop when the threads separate easily with a fork but still have a little bite. It is ready when the syrup is amber and the strands look glassy. Chilacayote is hard to find outside Mexico; spaghetti squash is the best substitute and gives the same threads. Keeps 3 days in the fridge. Chef's tip: grate a little orange zest into the pot in the last minute to brighten the piloncillo.

60 min

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TameletjiePine nut toffee

Children in old Cape Town spent their pocket money on tameletjie from the corner shop: amber slabs of hard toffee set in little folded paper cases, studded with pine nuts and sometimes almonds. It is nothing more than sugar and water boiled to the hard-crack stage, so it snaps cleanly and slowly melts on the tongue into a deep caramel with a faint bitterness, the toasted nuts adding a buttery crunch. Make it for a church bazaar, wrap it as a gift, or keep it in a tin for after-dinner coffee. Stirring once the syrup boils is what ruins most batches, because it makes the sugar crystallise into a cloudy, grainy mass. Hot sugar burns badly, so keep children well away from the pan. Chef's tip: brush the inside of the pan with a wet pastry brush as it boils to wash down any sugar crystals clinging to the sides.

30 min

South African Desserts

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Glaçon râpéShaved ice with syrups

On a hot Sunday at Flic en Flac or Mon Choisy, families queue at the glaçon râpé man, who shaves a block of ice into a cup, then pours over bright red and green syrups and, if you ask, a thick ribbon of sweetened condensed milk. The ice should be fluffy and dry like fresh snow, so the syrup sinks in and streaks the colours together, and the condensed milk turns the bottom of the cup into a sweet, milky slush. A home blender makes a fine version if the ice is very cold; the common mistake is using ice straight from a bag that has half-thawed, which turns to watery slush. Chef's tip: put the cups and the blender jug in the freezer for 20 minutes first, then pulse in short bursts rather than running the motor.

10 min

Mauritian Desserts

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TepacheFermented pineapple drink

In Guadalajara and markets across central Mexico, tepacheros sell this drink from big clay jars, ladled over ice into bags with a straw on hot afternoons. It is the thrifty drink of the house: the peel and core left after eating a pineapple are fermented for two or three days with piloncillo, cinnamon and cloves until the liquid turns golden, faintly fizzy and pleasantly sour, like a spiced pineapple cider. Wild yeasts from the peel do the work, so it makes a trace of alcohol, well under 1% when drunk young; the longer it sits, the sourer and more alcoholic it gets. The common mistake is leaving it too long in a warm kitchen, when it turns vinegary and cloudy; in hot weather check after 36 hours. It is ready when it has a layer of fine bubbles, smells sweet-sour and fruity, and tastes tart rather than syrupy. White, flat foam can be skimmed; fuzzy, coloured mould, a slimy texture or a rotten smell mean throw it away. Keep it in the fridge 3–5 days, and if you bottle it for fizz, burp the bottles daily so pressure cannot build. Chef's tip: use an organic pineapple and do not scrub the peel, as the yeasts live on its skin.

25 min

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Rajgira no sheeroAmaranth flour pudding

On Ekadashi, Navratri and other fast days, Gujarati homes make this quick sheero from rajgira (amaranth) flour, which is allowed when grains are not. It is roasted in ghee until nutty, then cooked with milk and sugar into a soft, spoonable pudding with cardamom and a few nuts. It is ready in 20 minutes and is often offered to the Mataji before the family eats. The common mistake is adding cold milk to the roasted flour, which seizes into lumps. Chef's tip: heat the milk and sugar together first and pour it in slowly while you whisk.

20 min

Indian Breakfast & Brunch

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Maesil-cha (green plum tea)

In early June the hillsides of Gwangyang are picked clean of hard green maesil, and Korean kitchens across the country fill with jars of plums buried in sugar. Over about a hundred days the sugar draws out the fruit's juice and becomes maesil-cheong, a golden syrup that is both a cooking ingredient and a drink. Iced, it is the summer cooler; hot, it is traditionally drunk after a heavy meal for digestion. It tastes bright and tart, like green apple and apricot, rounded by the sugar. The common mistake is putting damp plums or plums with stalks into the jar: water and stalk ends invite mould and unwanted fermentation. Pick out each stalk with a toothpick and dry the fruit completely. The syrup is ready when the plums have shrivelled and float in clear amber liquid. A little foaming early on is normal, but if it smells strongly of alcohol, grows fuzzy mould or turns slimy, discard it. Remove the plums at 100 days, because their stones contain natural compounds best kept out of a long-stored syrup. Chef's tip: use half white and half light brown sugar for a rounder, toffee-edged syrup.

40 min

Korean Drinks

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Puttu and banana for toddlersRice cake and banana for toddlers

In Kerala homes from Thrissur to Thiruvananthapuram, breakfast often arrives as a steaming log of puttu pushed out of its tall metal mould, and the little ones get theirs crumbled into a bowl and mashed with a sweet, ripe poovan banana. The rice flour and fresh coconut steam into soft, fluffy crumbs that soak up the banana, and a splash of warm milk makes it spoonable for toddlers from 12 months. There is no added salt or sugar: the banana does the sweetening. It contains coconut, and milk if you add it; there is no gluten, egg, nuts or soya. Chef's tip: dampen the flour until a squeezed handful just holds its shape, then crumbles when you poke it.

25 min

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Jugo surtidoMixed fruit juice

Step up to any juguería in Lima's Mercado de Surquillo or a barrio market at breakfast time and order a surtido: the juicer drops papaya, banana, pineapple and freshly squeezed orange into a tall blender, sometimes a slice of cooked beetroot for colour or a splash of milk, and pours you a big glass with the rest left in the jug for your 'yapa', the free refill. It is thick but still pourable, sweet from ripe fruit with a sharp orange edge, the kind of drink that stands in for breakfast before a long day. The common mistake is adding lots of ice and water, which makes it thin and frothy rather than velvety. Use cold fruit and freshly squeezed orange juice as the liquid. It is ready when it coats the glass and no lumps of banana are left. This version is fruit only; stalls also make it with milk if you prefer. Drink it straight away: papaya and banana go brown and bitter within half an hour. Chef's tip: use very ripe papaya with orange flesh; under-ripe papaya tastes of nothing and gives a faintly bitter aftertaste.

10 min

Chilean Breads & Parathas

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Bissy tea (kola nut tea)

Kola trees came to Jamaica with enslaved West Africans, and the nut, called bissy on the island, has stayed in country medicine ever since. Older people in St Mary, St Elizabeth and the hills of Clarendon still keep a dried bissy in the kitchen and grate some into boiling water when the stomach is upset or after eating something that disagreed with them,. Parched in a dry pan first, the grated nut gives a reddish-brown tea that smells faintly of cocoa and tastes bitter and astringent, softened by plenty of sugar. The common mistake is boiling raw, ungrated nut and expecting much flavour: whole pieces give little. Grate it finely, parch it until it darkens and smells like toasted cocoa, then boil. It is ready when the tea is a deep reddish-brown and coats the tongue with bitterness. Kola nut is very high in caffeine, as strong as a big mug of coffee or more, so drink one cup, not late in the day, and keep it away from children, pregnant people and anyone sensitive to caffeine or with heart trouble. Chef's tip: strain it through a fine cloth; the grated nut leaves a gritty sediment that a sieve lets through.

20 min

Jamaican Drinks

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HallullaFlat round bread

If marraqueta is Santiago's crusty roll, hallulla is its soft, flat partner: a pale round about the size of a saucer, enriched with a little fat and pricked all over, with a fine, tight crumb that is perfect split and toasted with butter or filled with cheese and avocado at once. Bakeries traditionally use lard; this vegetarian version uses vegetable shortening or butter. Many home bakers let the rounds over-prove and get puffy buns; give them a short rise only. Chef's tip: fold and roll the dough several times before cutting, as bakery rollers do, to get the fine, layered crumb.

138 min

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Kefir

Kefir is the sour, lightly fizzy fermented milk that families across Russia, Georgia and the North Caucasus drink plain from a glass at breakfast, as an evening snack or alongside a meal, and also use in pancakes and cold soups. It is made by leaving milk with kefir grains, a living culture of yeasts and bacteria, at room temperature for a day until it thickens. Nothing is added: no salt and no sugar. About 0.25 g salt per 250 ml glass, all from the milk itself. Always use pasteurised milk. The usual mistake is leaving it too long, until it separates into curds and whey; check after 18 hours and stop when it is just thick and pourable. Chef's tip: a second ferment of 6 hours in the fridge in a closed bottle makes it smoother and a little fizzier.

1445 min

Russian Drinks

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Mugicha (roasted barley tea)

From the rainy season in June until the cicadas fall quiet in September, almost every Japanese household keeps a tall jug of mugicha in the fridge. It is poured for children coming in from summer club practice, for grandparents after an afternoon nap, and alongside cold sōmen at lunch, because it carries no caffeine and can be drunk all day. Whole barley grains roasted until deep brown give a cup that tastes of toast, a little of coffee and a little of popcorn, with a clean, dry finish and no sweetness at all. Supermarkets sell it in tea bags, but loose roasted grains simmered in a pan make a rounder, darker brew. The usual mistake is leaving the grains in the jug or letting the hot tea sit out on the counter for hours: it turns bitter and, being a grain infusion, it sours quickly in summer heat. Strain it, cool it fast in a sink of cold water, and drink it within two days. It is ready when the liquid is a clear amber-brown and smells like freshly toasted bread. Chef's tip: dry-toast the grains for two minutes before brewing to wake up a bag that has been open a while.

20 min

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HojichaRoasted green tea

Hojicha was born in Kyoto in the 1920s, when tea merchants started roasting the coarse late-season bancha leaves and stems over charcoal to sell what would not keep. Today the smell of tea roasting in a shop doorway is part of walking down Teramachi or past the Nishiki market. Roasting drives off much of the caffeine and all the grassy bitterness, so hojicha is the pot that comes out after an evening meal, with rice crackers, or for children and older relatives who avoid stronger tea. The cup is reddish brown, smells of caramel and roasted nuts, and tastes soft and slightly sweet with almost no astringency. Unlike sencha, it likes really hot water and a very short steep. The common mistake is treating it like black tea and leaving the leaves in for several minutes, which makes it flat and woody; 30 seconds is enough for the first pour, and the leaves give a good second pot. It is ready when the liquor is clear russet and the steam smells of toasted sugar. Chef's tip: if your packet has lost its perfume, warm the leaves in a dry pan for 30 seconds until they smoke very faintly before brewing.

5 min

Chilean Breads & Parathas

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Pan amasadoHand-kneaded country rolls

Pan amasado means simply 'kneaded bread', and in the countryside of the Central Valley and the south it is still made at home, in big batches, often baked in a mud-brick wood oven and sold by the side of the road in a basket under a cloth. The rolls are round, slightly flattened and pricked, with a thin crust and a dense, tender crumb, best warm with butter and jam or with pebre. Traditionally they are made with lard; this vegetarian version uses butter or vegetable shortening. Under-kneading is the usual mistake: the crumb stays heavy. Chef's tip: knead for a full 15 minutes, the way the name says, until the dough is smooth and springs back when poked.

152 min

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PantuaFried milk balls in syrup

Pantua is the Bengali answer to gulab jamun, but made with fresh chhena and a little semolina instead of only khoya, which gives a lighter, slightly grainy inside under a deep brown skin. It is the sweet of Jamai Sasthi, Bijoya visits and Sunday afternoons in Kolkata, often with a hidden cardamom seed or nugget of sugar at the centre. The common mistake is under-kneading the chhena: if the dough is crumbly the balls crack and drink oil. Knead until it feels smooth and leaves a film of fat on your palm. Chef's tip: let the syrup and the fried pantua both be warm, not boiling, when they meet, so the balls soak up syrup without collapsing.

85 min

Ethiopian Breads & Parathas

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KitchaUnleavened flatbread

Kitcha (qita) is the everyday quick bread of the Ethiopian and Eritrean highlands, baked when there is no time to ferment injera, and eaten for breakfast with tea or coffee, or torn up as kitcha fitfit with spiced butter and berbere. The dough is just flour and water, spread thick on a hot mitad griddle and cooked on both sides until speckled and firm. Traditionally there is no salt in it at all: about 0.0 g salt per portion, so it sits well beside salty stews. The usual mistake is spreading it too thin, which gives a cracker; aim for 1 cm so the middle stays soft. Barley or teff flour can replace some of the wheat for a nuttier bread. Chef's tip: press a little hollow in the middle with your fingers before turning, and the bread cooks evenly without a raw centre.

25 min

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Akajiso juice (red shiso cordial)

Bunches of red shiso fill Japanese greengrocers for a few weeks in June and July, mostly bought to colour umeboshi. Gardeners from Kyoto's Ohara valley to Kantō boil the surplus into this cordial and keep it in the fridge for hot afternoons. Simmering pulls a murky purple-brown liquid from the leaves; the magic is the moment the vinegar goes in and the whole pan flushes a brilliant clear magenta. Diluted with ice water or soda water it tastes sweet-sour and herbal, like a cross between blackcurrant, mint and cinnamon. The most common mistake is simmering the leaves too long or with the stems: it turns grassy and bitter. Strip the leaves, boil them for five minutes only, until they have turned green and limp, then lift them out. The cordial is ready when it is jewel-bright and clear. Bottle it in a clean, sterilised bottle and keep it in the fridge for up to three weeks; discard if it fizzes, clouds or grows mould. No fresh red shiso nearby? Japanese and Korean shops sometimes sell it in summer, and it grows easily from seed. Chef's tip: freeze some as ice cubes to drop into sparkling water.

35 min

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PabaRoasted barley and pea dough

Paba is the plain, sustaining staple of Ladakhi farm kitchens, especially in Zanskar and the Nubra valley, where roasted barley, dried peas and wheat are ground together and stirred into hot water with a little butter. It is eaten at lunch with tangtur, the cool curd-and-greens side, or with a thin vegetable soup, pinched off by hand. The texture is dense and earthy, with a nutty taste from the roasting. The most common mistake is adding the flour all at once, which leaves dry lumps in the middle; sprinkle it in while stirring hard. Chef's tip: toast the flours in a dry pan until they smell like biscuits before you start, even if the bag says roasted, because fresh toasting makes all the difference.

20 min

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ShankarpaliFried sweet diamond biscuits

Every Maharashtrian Diwali faral box has a pile of shankarpali: small diamond-shaped biscuits, flaky and crisp, sweet with sugar dissolved in warm milk and ghee. Families make large batches in the week before Diwali alongside chakli and karanji, and the tin is raided until Tulsi Vivah. The common mistake is frying too hot, which browns them outside before the layers crisp, so they soften within a day; fry slowly until pale golden. Chef's tip: dissolve the sugar fully in the warm milk and ghee before adding flour, or sugar crystals burn in the oil as dark specks.

70 min

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Ranawara teaTanner's cassia flower tea

Ranawara, tanner's cassia, is a scrubby shrub with bright golden flowers that grows wild along dry-zone roadsides and in gardens from Kurunegala to Jaffna. The flowers are picked, dried in the shade and sold in packets at every Sri Lankan supermarket and ayurvedic shop, and many households drink a cup each morning instead of plantain tea, traditionally believing it helps balance blood sugar and cool the body during the hot season. It brews into a pale golden-yellow tea with a mild, grassy, slightly beany taste and a gentle bitterness, which is why it is drunk with a piece of jaggery or a spoon of kithul treacle. The common mistake is brewing the flowers with too little water or for too long: the bitterness takes over. A good pinch per cup, a short simmer and a few minutes' steep is enough. It is ready when it is clear and bright yellow and smells like dried hay. Ranawara is a senna-family plant: do not drink it if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, do not give it to young children, and check with a doctor if you take diabetes or other regular medication. Chef's tip: add a few dried flowers to the cup when serving; they float and turn the colour even more golden.

12 min

Sri Lankan Drinks

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Kesar pendaSaffron milk pendas

In Ahmedabad, any good news, from exam results to a new home or a newborn, means a box of kesar penda passed around the office and the street. These are soft, creamy pendas of fresh mawa cooked briefly with sugar and plenty of saffron, so they stay pale gold and fudgy, quite unlike the browned pedas of Mathura or Dharwad. The common mistake is overcooking the mawa once the sugar goes in, which turns the pendas dry and cracked at the edges. Chef's tip: stop cooking as soon as a small piece rolls into a smooth ball between your palms; they firm up as they cool.

30 min

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Sungnyung (scorched rice tea)

Before electric rice cookers, every Korean pot of rice left a golden crust, nurungji, stuck to the bottom. Rather than waste it, cooks poured in water and simmered it while the family ate, and the warm, cloudy sungnyung was drunk at the end of the meal in place of tea. Older Koreans still describe it as the taste of home, and many Seoul restaurants that cook rice in stone pots finish by pouring water over the crust at the table. It tastes of toasted grain and has a faint natural sweetness, with soft pieces of crust to spoon up at the bottom. Without a stone pot you can make the crust from leftover rice in a frying pan. The common mistake is rushing the crust over high heat: it blackens on the outside and turns the drink bitter while the middle stays soft. Keep the heat low and patient, and aim for even golden-brown. The crust is ready when it lifts away from the pan in one sheet and smells like popcorn; the sungnyung is ready when the water is milky and pale gold. Chef's tip: make extra crust, dry it completely and keep it in a jar, so you can make sungnyung in ten minutes any evening.

35 min

Korean Drinks

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Kozhikode halwaCoconut oil halwa with cashews

Walk down SM Street, 'Mittai Theruvu', in Kozhikode and you pass shop after shop stacked with jewel-coloured slabs of halwa, which Malabar families have bought for Eid, weddings and visits since the Arab trading days. The classic is made from wheat-flour milk (or plain flour) cooked for a long time with sugar and coconut oil or ghee until glossy, chewy and translucent, studded with cashews. The common mistake is rushing the cooking: the halwa must be stirred until it stops sticking, turns transparent and the fat seeps out at the edges, or it sets soft and cloudy. Chef's tip: add the oil a spoonful at a time only after the mixture thickens, so it is absorbed rather than floating.

90 min

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Refresco de coconaCocona cooler

In Iquitos, Pucallpa and the river towns of Loreto, heat and humidity make a cold refresco part of every lunch, and cocona is one of the favourites sold from plastic jugs at the Belén market. The fruit looks like a fuzzy orange tomato and tastes between tomato, lemon and apricot: very sour, aromatic and juicy. Blended with water and sugar it makes a tangy, golden drink with a light pulp, served with juane or tacacho con cecina. The usual mistake is skipping the fuzz: cocona skin is covered in fine hairs that make the drink scratchy, so rub them off under running water before you start. Blend only briefly, too, so the many seeds do not crack. It is ready when the refresco is opaque orange, sour first and sweet after, with no grit. Outside the Amazon, look for frozen cocona pulp in Latin American shops; naranjilla (lulo) pulp is the closest substitute. Chef's tip: a pinch of salt makes the fruit taste sweeter and fruitier without more sugar.

10 min

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Sorbete de curubaBanana passionfruit milk drink

In Colombia a sorbete is not an ice but a fruit milkshake, and around Bogotá and the cold highlands of Boyacá and Cundinamarca the classic is made with curuba, the long, soft-skinned banana passionfruit that grows on vines at 2,500 metres. Bakeries and corrientazo lunch spots serve it with almuerzo or with a slice of cake at onces, the late-afternoon snack. It is pale salmon-pink, creamy and sweet-tart, more delicate than passionfruit, with a fragrance like guava and lemon. The common mistake is blending the pulp with its black seeds on high speed: the seeds break up and the sorbete turns bitter and grey-flecked. Pulse just enough to loosen the pulp from the seeds, strain, and only then blend with milk. Serve it at once, because the acid in curuba thickens the milk the longer it stands. It is ready when it is smooth, frothy and pink with no gritty specks. Outside Colombia look for frozen curuba pulp in Latin shops; passionfruit pulp works too, but use about two thirds of the amount as it is stronger. Chef's tip: dissolve the sugar in the strained juice before the milk goes in, so you can blend for less time.

10 min

Colombian Drinks

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BusheraSoured sorghum drink

In the hills of Kigezi around Kabale, a calabash of obushera is offered to visitors and carried to the fields in the afternoon; the same drink, left for days, becomes beer, but the everyday family version is drunk young and contains no meaningful alcohol. Sorghum flour is cooked into a thin porridge, cooled, then left overnight with a spoonful of sprouted sorghum flour to sour gently, so it tastes tangy, malty and refreshing, a little like a drinking yoghurt made from grain. Drink it chilled on its own or with roasted groundnuts. The mistake people make is leaving it out too long: after a day it starts to fizz and turn alcoholic, so taste it, then chill it. Chef's tip: sweeten only just before serving, as sugar added early speeds up the ferment.

30 minEast African Drinks

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MalambeBaobab fruit drink

On the hot Lower Shire valley floor around Nsanje and Chikwawa, the hard, velvety baobab pods are cracked open in the dry season and their chalky white pulp is soaked to make malambe, a cooling drink sold by the cup at markets. It is pale and creamy-looking, tart like lemon sherbet with a hint of pear, and thicker than juice. Baobab pulp is sold abroad as dried chunks or fine powder; either works here, and the powder makes it a 15-minute drink. Not soaking the chunks long enough is the usual mistake, leaving the drink thin and gritty. Chef's tip: whisk the drink just before serving, because the pulp settles quickly to the bottom.

15 minSouthern African Drinks

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Carato de maízChilled corn drink

Out on the hot plains of the Llanos, a jug of carato is kept cold for the afternoon: white corn cooked until soft, blended with its water, strained and sweetened with panela, cinnamon and clove. It is thick, creamy and filling enough to be a snack in a glass. Keep it in the fridge, because left out it starts to ferment. The common mistake is skipping the straining, which leaves it gritty. Chef's tip: strain through a fine sieve and then once more through a clean cloth for the silkiest drink.

70 min

Venezuelan Drinks

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GenmaichaGreen tea with toasted rice

Genmaicha started as a thrifty Japanese blend: toasted rice stretched expensive tea leaves and made the pot go further. It is now loved for itself and turns up everywhere, from office kettles in Tokyo to the free tea at sushi counters and ramen shops, poured all through the meal because its gentle, roasted flavour does not fight with soy or fish. The rice gives a nutty, savoury, almost buttery taste; the green tea adds a light grassy edge. It has about half the caffeine of plain sencha, so many people drink it in the afternoon. The usual mistake is pouring boiling water straight onto it: the green leaves scald and the cup turns bitter while the rice flavour gets lost. Let the kettle sit for a minute or two so the water is around 80–85 °C, and steep for no more than a minute. It is ready when the liquor is pale yellow-green and clear, and the steam smells of popcorn and cut grass. Chef's tip: matcha-iri genmaicha, with powdered matcha dusted over the blend, gives a greener, fuller cup; use it the same way but stir the pot once before pouring.

5 min

Malagasy Snacks & Starters

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MerkénSmoked chilli seasoning

Merkén comes from the Mapuche kitchens of Araucanía: cacho de cabra chillies are dried, smoked over a wood fire, then ground with toasted coriander seed and salt into a brick-red powder that is smoky, warm and lightly hot. In Temuco and across the south it is shaken over potatoes, eggs, sopaipillas, grilled fish and soups. Outside Chile, use dried smoked red chillies, or plain dried red chillies plus smoked paprika. The mistake to avoid is scorching the chillies in the pan: if they blacken, the whole jar is bitter. Chef's tip: grind it a little coarse, as it is sold in Temuco's market, so the coriander seeds stay noticeable.

23 min

Chilean Basics

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Chicons braisésBraised endives

Belgian endive, called chicon in Wallonia and witloof in Flanders, is grown in the dark around Brussels and eaten all winter, from November to March. Braised slowly in butter with a pinch of sugar and a squeeze of lemon, the pale heads turn golden, soft and gently caramelised, with only a whisper of their raw bitterness left. Serve them beside mashed potatoes and a fried egg, or as a side for a Sunday roast. The usual mistake is crowding the pan and boiling them in their own water, which leaves them grey and bitter. Chef's tip: lay the heads in a single layer and press a round of baking paper on top, so they steam gently and then brown in the butter once the juices cook off.

45 min

Belgian Sides

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Mofo menakelyRice flour doughnuts

Ring-shaped and no wider than a teacup, mofo menakely are fried in wide pans of oil at dawn on the street corners of Antananarivo and Antsirabe, then sold by the bagful to people heading for the bus. Rice flour gives them a crisp, slightly sandy shell and a chewy, faintly sour crumb from the slow rise, and they are only lightly sweet, which is why the Highlands dunk them in sugary coffee. Wheat flour helps the dough hold its shape; a few cooks go all rice and shape with wet hands. Expect the batter-like dough to feel too soft at first: adding more flour to make it handleable is a mistake that leaves them dense. Chef's tip: shape each ring straight into the hot oil from a wet palm, poking the hole with a wet finger, rather than trying to roll the dough on a board.

120 min

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Blote billetjes in het grasWhite and green beans with butter

Dutch grandmothers named this dish 'bare bottoms in the grass' for the pale white beans peeping out between the green ones, and it is a summer weekday supper all over the Netherlands, when runner and French beans are cheap. Green beans and cooked white beans are simmered together, then stirred with butter, a little stock and plenty of pepper, often with boiled potatoes on the side. Many families add bacon or a smoked sausage; this version keeps it vegetarian, so serve it with a fried egg or a vegetarian sausage if you want more. The usual mistake is boiling the green beans until grey: they should stay bright with a slight bite. Chef's tip: a splash of the bean-cooking liquid stirred in with the butter makes a glossy little sauce that clings to everything.

30 min

Dutch Vegetarian

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Tschok wangunSour tamarind aubergine

Tschok wangun is a Kashmiri Pandit dish from the Srinagar valley, cooked on ordinary weekdays and on fasting days when onion and garlic are kept out of the kitchen. Thick wedges of aubergine are fried in smoking mustard oil, then simmered in a thin, tart tamarind broth flavoured with ground fennel, dried ginger and Kashmiri chilli, so the pieces keep their shape but turn silky inside. Serve it with plain steamed rice and a bowl of dal. The usual mistake is adding the tamarind before the aubergine is properly fried: the pieces then soak up the sour liquid, collapse and taste raw. Chef's tip: heat the mustard oil until it just smokes, then let it cool for a minute before frying, which takes away its harsh edge.

40 min

Indian Vegetarian

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Kopi tubrukBoiled coffee with sugar

From the warung kopi of Yogyakarta and Solo to the night-shift stalls of Surabaya, kopi tubruk is the everyday coffee of Java: powder-fine robusta and sugar spooned into a glass, hit with boiling water, stirred once and left alone while the grounds sink. It comes out black, thick and strong, with a toasty, slightly chocolatey bitterness and often plenty of sugar, drunk early with fried snacks and again late at night over long talk. The grounds sit as a muddy layer at the bottom and stay there. The common mistake is drinking or stirring too soon: the cup is gritty and harsh. Wait four or five minutes, until the crust on top sinks and the surface turns clear and dark, then sip gently and stop before the sludge. It is ready when the foam has collapsed and a thin oily sheen shows on top. This is a strong, high-caffeine coffee; one glass is plenty, and it is not for children. Some sellers add a slice of ginger or a pinch of cardamom. Chef's tip: grind the beans as fine as for espresso or finer; coarse grounds float and never settle.

7 min

Indonesian Drinks

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VishetiSugar-glazed fried dough

Tins of visheti appear in every Swahili home in Zanzibar and Mombasa in the days before Eid, ready for the visitors who drop by after prayers. They are small diamond or finger-shaped pieces of cardamom-and-coconut dough, fried until crisp and then tossed in boiling syrup until it dries to a crackly white shell; inside they stay crunchy with a faint softness at the heart. Kids love them, and they keep for a week in an airtight tin, so they make a good gift. The tricky bit is the glaze: if you stop stirring too early it stays sticky, and too late it turns to lumps of sugar. This version uses butter and milk powder, so it is vegetarian but not vegan. Chef's tip: keep stirring the visheti in the syrup off the heat until the pan suddenly looks cloudy and dry; that is the moment the coating sets.

60 minEast African Desserts

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ManganeChana dal and sago pudding

In Goan Hindu homes, especially around Ganesh Chaturthi, a pot of mangane is cooked for the naivedya and handed round warm after the aarti. Soft chana dal and glassy sago pearls sit in a thick, caramel-coloured sauce of coconut jaggery and fresh coconut milk, scented with cardamom and studded with cashews. The common mistake is boiling the dal hard after the thick coconut milk goes in, which splits it into oily curds; once the first milk is added the pot should only steam gently. Serve it warm in small bowls, or cool so it sets a little and spoon it up like a soft pudding. Chef's tip: soak the sago only until the pearls just give when pressed, or they melt into glue in the pot.

55 min

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IsijingiPumpkin and maize porridge

When the big grey-skinned pumpkins come in at the end of summer, Xhosa grandmothers around Butterworth and Ngcobo stew them down and stir in maize meal to make isijingi, a bright orange porridge that children love and adults secretly do too. It is soft and spoonable, gently sweet from the pumpkin and a little sugar, with the faint corn flavour of the meal underneath. Serve it as a side to beans or a vegetable stew, or eat a bowlful on its own for supper on a cold evening. Watery pumpkin is the classic mistake, so cook the pumpkin until most of its liquid has evaporated before the meal goes in. Chef's tip: use a dense, deep orange pumpkin or butternut, not a watery jack-o'-lantern type, for the sweetest flavour.

40 min

South African Sides

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EshabweWhipped ghee sauce

Cattle-keeping families of Ankole in western Uganda serve this pale, fluffy sauce at weddings and introduction ceremonies, where making it well is a point of pride. Soft ghee is beaten by hand while cool salted water is added a spoonful at a time, until it turns from yellow to snowy white and as light as whipped cream, with a rich, buttery, salty taste. It goes over hot matoke, steamed sweet potatoes, katogo or kalo millet bread, and melts into them on the plate. It is vegetarian but not vegan, as it is made from cow's ghee. Chef's tip: everything must stay cool; if the ghee is warm or the water tepid it will never turn white, so chill the bowl and use water straight from the fridge.

20 minEast African Chutneys & Dips

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Surinamese dawetCoconut milk and lemongrass drink

Javanese Surinamers brought dawet from Java, and today it is sold cold from big jars at warungs in Lelydorp and the Paramaribo district of Blauwgrond, especially on hot Sunday afternoons. In Suriname it has become its own drink, quite different from the Malaysian cendol with its green noodles: chilled coconut milk sweetened with a lemongrass and pandan syrup, often tinted pale pink and studded with soaked basil seeds or soft jelly strips. The common mistake is boiling the coconut milk, which makes it split and taste flat; it should only be warmed. Chef's tip: bruise the lemongrass hard with a rolling pin before simmering it, so the syrup tastes bright and lemony.

30 min

Guyanese Drinks

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Chhena kheeriFresh cheese in sweet milk

Chhena kheeri is one of the dishes of the Jagannath temple's chhappan bhog in Puri, and Odia households make it for festivals, birthdays and the evening Rath Yatra meal. Soft, freshly made chhena is crumbled into milk that has been simmered down until creamy and sweet, then scented with cardamom and a little camphor in temple style, or simply nutmeg at home. The common mistake is adding the chhena too early and boiling it hard, which makes it rubbery; it should go in at the end and simmer only briefly. Chef's tip: crumble the chhena by hand into pieces the size of rice grains, so every spoonful has some.

75 min

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Manda pithaSteamed rice dumplings with coconut

Manda pitha is the soft white dumpling of Odisha's Raja festival in mid-June, when girls swing on rope swings, wear new clothes and eat pitha for three days; it is also made for Prathamastami and other family feasts. A smooth dough of rice flour cooked in water is wrapped around a filling of coconut, jaggery, chhena, black pepper and cardamom, then steamed. The common mistake is mixing raw rice flour with cold water: the dough must be cooked with boiling water and kneaded hot, or it cracks when shaped. Chef's tip: grease your palms with a drop of ghee while shaping so the dough stays silky and the edges seal cleanly.

70 min

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Torta de mil hojasThousand-layer cake

Torta de mil hojas is the cake that turns up at Chilean birthdays, christenings and New Year: ten or more crisp, paper-thin pastry rounds stacked with manjar and chopped walnuts, which soften overnight into a cake that cuts cleanly yet still crunches. It is a labour of love, so families make it a day ahead and keep it cold. The common mistake is assembling and cutting it straight away: it shatters. Let it rest overnight in the fridge. Chef's tip: roll each sheet on its own piece of baking paper and bake it on that paper, so the thin rounds never have to be lifted raw. Walnuts are a tree nut: leave them out for anyone with an allergy.

170 min

Chilean Baking

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Bellam paramannamRice and moong dal jaggery pudding

Bellam paramannam is the naivedyam of Telangana and Andhra homes, cooked for Sankranti, Ugadi, Varalakshmi Vratam and almost any puja, a soft rice-and-moong pudding sweetened with jaggery and glossed with ghee. Its colour is a warm caramel and its taste deeper than a sugar kheer. The classic mistake is adding jaggery to milk that is still on a high boil, which can split it; take the pot off the heat, let it stop bubbling, then stir the jaggery in. Chef's tip: roast the moong dal in a spoon of ghee until it smells toasty before cooking; it gives the paramannam its homely flavour.

45 min

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PappchiFried wheat and rice biscuits

Pappchi are little scalloped discs that Chhattisgarhi families fry in large batches for Teeja, Diwali and weddings, made from wheat flour and rice flour, fried slowly and then turned in sticky sugar syrup until they wear a thin white glaze. They snap cleanly and keep for weeks in a steel tin. A common mistake is taking the syrup too far, so it crystallises into lumps; you want a one-string syrup that dries to a matt coat as it cools. Chef's tip: press the edge of each disc with a thimble or bottle cap to make the frilled pattern, which also helps them fry crisp.

60 min

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Goan pezRice porridge with pickle and papad

Pez is the plainest food in a Goan kitchen and one of the most loved: red parboiled rice simmered in plenty of water until the grains burst and the liquid turns milky. Fishermen and farmers ate it before a day's work, mothers serve it to anyone who feels unwell, and on heavy monsoon evenings it comes with a spoon of mango or lime pickle, a roasted papad and sometimes a dry fish or vegetable on the side. The mistake is cooking it in too little water so it becomes a sticky porridge; good pez has whole soft grains floating in thin, starchy broth. Chef's tip: stir in a little salt only at the end and let everyone add buttermilk or coconut milk to their own bowl.

45 min

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Conservas de cocoSpiced coconut bars

Along the roads of Zulia and down the Caribbean coast, sellers wrap conservas de coco in squares of paper: dense, chewy bars of grated coconut cooked in dark panela syrup with cinnamon and clove. Children buy them with their change after school. The mistake most people make is taking the pan off too early; the mixture never sets and stays sticky. Chef's tip: keep stirring until the mass pulls away in one lump and a spoon dragged across the base leaves a clean line.

50 min

Venezuelan Desserts

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Jalea de mangoGreen mango paste

When the mango trees of Oriente are heavy in Lent, families in Sucre and Anzoátegui cook the hard green fruit with sugar and spice into jalea de mango, a thick tart-sweet paste set in a dish and cut into squares. It's eaten during Holy Week, often on a piece of crisp cassava bread. The mistake to avoid is skipping the sieve, which leaves stringy fibres. Chef's tip: use a long wooden spoon and keep your arm covered: the thick paste spits as it bubbles.

75 min

Venezuelan Desserts

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KneippbrødWholemeal loaf

Open almost any Norwegian matpakke (the packed lunch wrapped in paper) and you will find slices of kneippbrød, a soft, lightly sweet loaf of sammalt hvete (wholemeal wheat) baked in a tin. Its fine crumb slices thin without crumbling, perfect for brown cheese, jam or cucumber at the school desk. The common mistake is adding too much flour while kneading because wholemeal dough feels sticky; the loaf then bakes dense and dry. Chef's tip: let the dough rest for 20 minutes after mixing, before kneading, so the bran softens and the dough turns smooth on its own.

70 minScandinavian Baking

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Bogobe jwa lerotseSorghum and melon porridge

When the lerotse melons ripen on the lands around Serowe and Mahalapye after the summer rains, households stir their pale flesh into the evening pot of sorghum, and the porridge turns soft, smooth and quietly sweet. Lerotse is a hard-skinned field melon, closer to a mild marrow than a dessert melon, so it melts into the bogobe and gives it a light, fresh taste against the sour, nutty grain. It is eaten as a side with seswaa, beans or morogo, or on its own for supper with a sprinkle of sugar. Outside Botswana, look for lerotse at African grocers; otherwise a firm cooking melon or a winter melon gives a very close result. Chef's tip: the mistake people make is dumping the sorghum in at once, which gives lumps; rain it in slowly while you whisk.

45 minSouthern African Sides

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Dudh pithaRice dumplings in milk

Dudh pitha is made in Jharkhand and Bihar for Makar Sankranti, Sohrai and winter evenings, when the new rice is milled: small rice-flour dumplings are stuffed with coconut and jaggery (some families use spiced chana dal instead) and simmered in milk until it thickens around them. It is eaten warm from a bowl with a spoon. The common mistake is adding jaggery straight to boiling milk, which can curdle it; sweeten the milk with sugar and keep the jaggery inside the dumplings. Chef's tip: shape the dumplings while the dough is warm and keep your palms greased, so the edges seal without cracking.

60 min

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Kakinada kajaSyrup-soaked layered pastries

Kakinada kaja is the famous sweet of Kakinada in Andhra's East Godavari, a long, golden pastry made of layered dough that is fried and soaked in syrup until the hollow centre fills with sweetness and bursts when bitten. Telugu families buy it for weddings, Sankranti and housewarmings. The common mistake is syrup that is too thick: Kakinada kaja is soaked in a thin, just-sticky syrup so it seeps inside, while the outside stays crisp. Fry slowly so the layers open. Chef's tip: roll the dough sheet tightly into a log after spreading the ghee paste, and seal the ends, so each piece puffs into distinct layers.

90 min

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Bathua raitaChenopodium leaf yogurt

Bathua (chenopodium or lamb's quarters) grows wild in the wheat fields of western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana in winter, and from December to February families blanch it and stir it into yogurt as a cooling raita beside paratha, dal or bajra roti. The leaves are boiled briefly, chopped and folded into whisked yogurt with roasted cumin, black salt and a little green chilli, so it tastes earthy, tangy and fresh. It is suitable as part of a balanced diet. About 90 kcal and 7 g carbohydrate per portion. The usual mistake is adding the greens while they are still hot or wet, which makes the yogurt thin and grainy; squeeze them dry and cool them first. Chef's tip: grind half the blanched leaves to a paste so the raita turns an even pale green.

15 min

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BortsAir-dried beef strips

Borts is the winter-dried meat of Mongolian herding families: in the cold, dry air of late autumn, strips of beef are hung inside the ger until they shrink to hard, dark sticks, then pounded and stored in a bag to last until spring. A handful of borts dropped into hot water makes an instant soup, and nomads carry it on long journeys. In Mongolia it is also made from horse or camel meat; this recipe uses beef. Home kitchens don't have the steppe's freezing dry air, so here the meat is heated to a safe temperature first and dried in a low oven. A common mistake is leaving fat on the strips; fat turns rancid, so trim it all. Chef's tip: slice the meat while half-frozen to get thin, even strips.

450 min

Mongolian Meat

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Parwal ki mithaiStuffed candied pointed gourd

Parwal ki mithai surprises anyone who knows pointed gourd only as a curry vegetable: in Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh sweet makers peel the gourds, candy them in syrup until translucent, then fill them with sweetened mawa and nuts. They sit in shop windows at Diwali, Chhath and weddings, often glinting with silver leaf. The common mistake is undercooking the gourds before candying, which leaves them crunchy and vegetal; blanch until a knife slides in easily. Silver leaf (vark) is optional; choose one certified vegetarian. Chef's tip: scrape out every seed carefully, because even a few hard seeds spoil the soft bite.

90 min

Mongolian Snacks & Starters

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Agretti all'agroSaltwort with lemon

Agretti, also called barba di frate or 'monk's beard', appear in Roman and Tuscan markets for a short season in March and April, tied in bunches that look like thick chives. Blanched for a minute and dressed all'agro, with lemon and good olive oil, they are a juicy, slightly salty spring side for an egg dish, grilled fish or beans. Suitable as part of a balanced diet, they are almost free of starch: about 80 kcal and 3 g carbohydrate per portion. The usual mistake is overcooking them into limp threads; they should keep a crisp, spinach-like snap. Chef's tip: agretti are naturally salty, so taste before adding any salt at all.

15 min

Italian Sides

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TsagaaSweet rice with raisins and curd

Tsagaa is a sweet, buttery rice dish served during Tsagaan Sar, the Mongolian Lunar New Year, when white foods (tsagaan idee) stand for purity and a good year ahead. Rice is cooked soft, then mixed with butter, sugar, raisins and crumbled aaruul or fresh curd, and served in small bowls to guests during the round of family visits. A common mistake is using long-grain rice, which won't turn creamy; use short-grain. Chef's tip: soak the raisins in hot water first so they're plump and juicy.

40 min

Mongolian Desserts

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Cerasee teaBitter melon vine tea

Cerasee grows wild on fences and roadsides all over Jamaica, a thin vine with lacy leaves, yellow flowers and small warty orange fruit. It is the best known of the island's bush teas: generations of Jamaican children were given a cup at the end of the summer holidays, before going back to school, as a wash-out, and adults still drink it now and then as a cleansing and cooling tonic, or for the skin. The tea is pale green-gold and seriously bitter, with a grassy, slightly vegetal taste; some add sugar or lime. The common mistake is boiling the vine hard for a long time, which makes the tea far harsher than it needs to be. Pour boiling water over it and let it steep instead, and leave out any ripe fruit and seeds. It is ready when the water is light green-gold and smells green and herbal. Do not drink it if you are pregnant, breastfeeding or trying to conceive, do not give it to young children, and check with a doctor if you have diabetes or take medication, as it may lower blood sugar. Chef's tip: dried cerasee from Caribbean shops works well; use a little less.

15 min

Jamaican Drinks

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Bunelos agaBanana fritters

Bunelos aga are the banana fritters of Guam, sold at fiesta food tables and church fundraisers in Hagåtña and made at home whenever the bananas over-ripen. Mashed sweet bananas are mixed into a soft batter, fried in spoonfuls and rolled in sugar, so they're crisp outside and custardy within. A common mistake is frying at too low a temperature, which makes them greasy. Chef's tip: use the small, sweet local bananas or the ripest regular ones you can find.

30 minPacific Islander Desserts

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AaruulDried milk curds

Aaruul are the hard, sour little curds that dry on the roofs of gers all over Mongolia in summer, when the herds give the most milk, and they are carried in pockets as a snack through the long winter. Milk is soured and boiled until the curds separate, then strained, pressed, cut into pieces and dried in the sun and wind for days. They are chewed slowly, almost like a sweet, and offered to guests. This home method dries them in a very low oven. A common mistake is under-drying; any moisture left lets mould grow. Chef's tip: stir a little sugar into the curd if you want the softer, sweeter style sold in Ulaanbaatar markets.

510 min

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Trà sen (lotus tea)

Every June and July, before sunrise, boats slip between the pink lotus on Hanoi's West Lake to gather flowers for trà sen. The finest lotus tea is made by stripping the tiny white rice-like anthers from hundreds of blooms and layering them with green tea, a labour that makes it one of Vietnam's most expensive gifts, kept for Tết. Families do a simpler version at home: a spoon of Thái Nguyên green tea is tucked into the heart of a fresh flower in the evening, the petals closed and tied, and by morning the leaves have taken on a sweet, creamy, slightly vanilla-like perfume. It is brewed in a small clay pot and drunk in tiny cups in the early morning. The common mistake is brewing with boiling water, which flattens the lotus scent and makes the green tea bitter. Rinse the leaves quickly and brew at 80–85 °C. It is ready when the cup is pale gold and the steam smells of flowers before tea. No fresh lotus? Buy ready-made lotus-scented tea from Vietnamese shops and start at the brewing step. Chef's tip: pick a bud that is just about to open; a fully open bloom has already lost its scent.

15 min

Vietnamese Drinks

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Insalata di pastaCold pasta salad

When Milan's offices empty onto park benches in July, the schiscetta (the Milanese word for a packed lunch tin) usually holds pasta fredda: short pasta dressed with olive oil, sweet cherry tomatoes, little mozzarella balls, black olives and torn basil. It is made the night before and tastes best at cool room temperature, never fridge-cold. The common mistake is rinsing the cooked pasta under the tap until it is icy and then dressing it: the starch closes up, the oil slides off and the salad tastes flat. Many mozzarellas are made with animal rennet, so look for one labelled vegetarian, or use cubes of a vegetarian cheese. Pack it with an ice pack and take it out of the bag 20 minutes before eating. Chef's tip: toss the drained, still-warm pasta with half the oil and the salted tomatoes straight away so it drinks up their juice.

27 min

Italian Pasta & Noodles

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ByaslagPressed fresh cheese

Byaslag is the mild, springy fresh cheese of Mongolian herders, made in summer from cow's or yak's milk in Arkhangai and Khövsgöl, where yak herds graze the high valleys. Warm milk is curdled with soured milk, the curds pressed under a stone, and the finished cheese is sliced and eaten fresh, dried in the sun, or dropped into milk tea where it softens. No rennet is used, so it is vegetarian. A common mistake is boiling the milk hard after adding the sour milk, which makes the curd tough and rubbery. Chef's tip: press it overnight for a firmer cheese you can slice thinly.

50 min

Mongolian Basics

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Cà phê cốt dừa (coconut coffee)

Hanoi takes its coffee seriously, and in the last fifteen years coconut coffee has become one of the city's signatures, sold from Old Quarter cafés, lakeside balconies around Hoàn Kiếm and tiny stools on the pavement. It is a hot-weather drink, at its best on a sticky afternoon between May and September, eaten half with a spoon. Strong Vietnamese robusta drips slowly through an aluminium phin, then is poured over a pale slush of thick coconut cream, sweetened condensed milk and crushed ice, so you get bitter, dark coffee against something rich and cold that tastes like coconut ice cream. The common mistake is blending the slush too long or with too much ice, which leaves it thin and watery, and pouring the coffee in boiling hot so the slush collapses. Blend just until it looks like soft snow, and let the coffee cool for a minute or two. It is ready when the slush holds a spoon upright and the coffee sits in a dark layer on top. Robusta is high in caffeine and this is a strong drink, so it is not for children and one glass is plenty. Chef's tip: chill the coconut cream overnight; cold, thick cream gives a fluffier slush.

15 min

Vietnamese Drinks

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Calia e simenzaRoasted chickpeas and pumpkin seeds

Calia (toasted chickpeas) and simenza (salted pumpkin seeds) are sold together in twisted paper bags by the old caliari of Palermo, at the Festino of Santa Rosalia in July, along the Foro Italico seafront and outside the Teatro Massimo after a show. You crack the seeds with your teeth and chase them with the crunchy, nutty chickpeas, a habit that can last a whole evening. This home version roasts soaked dried chickpeas and salted seeds in the oven. Chef's tip: dry the soaked chickpeas really well; any surface water steams them instead of making them crunchy.

60 min

Italian Snacks & Starters

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GüirilaSweet corn tortilla with curd cheese

On the winding road north from Managua to Matagalpa and Jinotega, smoke from roadside griddles means güirilas: thick, sweet tortillas of freshly ground young corn, folded around a slab of salty cuajada and a spoonful of cream. The outside is lightly charred and the middle soft and custardy, a little like a corn pancake. Cuajada is a fresh cheese usually set with animal rennet; a vegetarian halloumi or fresh vegetarian cheese is a good swap. The most common mistake is a batter so runny that it spreads thin and tears when you flip it. Chef's tip: grind the corn in a blender in short bursts so a little texture remains, then stir in masa harina a spoonful at a time until the batter just holds a soft mound.

40 minCentral American Snacks & Starters

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GambirButtered pan-fried flatbread

Gambir is a flaky, layered flatbread found in Ulaanbaatar canteens and family kitchens, rolled thin, brushed with butter, folded and pan-fried until crisp in spots and tender within. It is eaten for breakfast with milk tea, often with a sprinkle of sugar, or filled with a layer of thick cream called öröm. A common mistake is rolling the dough without resting it, so it springs back; give it 20 minutes. Chef's tip: roll the buttered dough up like a rope, coil it and roll flat again; that's where the layers come from.

45 min

Mongolian Breads & Parathas

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BelgramiChewy fresh cheese sweet

Belgrami belongs to Udwantnagar in Bihar's Bhojpur district, where sweet makers have cooked it for generations and travellers buy boxes on the way through. Fresh chhena is cooked down with sugar until it firms into a dense, slightly chewy, pale cream block with a gentle caramel note, then cut into pieces. It keeps for days, which makes it a favourite gift at weddings and Chhath. The common mistake is stopping too early: it must cook until the mass pulls into one lump and no longer sticks to the pan, or the pieces stay soft and weep. Chef's tip: use chhena from full-fat cow's milk and hang it for an hour, so it is dry enough to cook down quickly.

105 min

Mongolian Snacks & Starters

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EezgiiCaramelised milk curd

Eezgii is a summer dairy food of the Mongolian countryside, made in herding families' gers when there is milk to spare: the milk is curdled with a little sour whey or yoghurt, then cooked down slowly over the stove for hours until the curds turn golden brown and caramelised in their own fat and sugar. The pieces are dried and eaten as a toasty, sweet-salty snack with milk tea through the winter. A common mistake is turning up the heat to speed it up, which burns the bottom; low heat and frequent stirring are key. Chef's tip: a heavy, wide pan gives the most even browning.

190 min

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Neem begunNeem leaves with aubergine

Neem begun opens a traditional Bengali lunch in spring, especially around Poila Baisakh, when the neem trees of West Bengal put out soft new leaves. A few tender leaves are fried crisp in mustard oil, then tossed with small cubes of fried aubergine so the bitterness is softened by the creamy brinjal. Eat a spoonful or two with the first mouthfuls of rice, before the dal. It is suitable as part of a balanced diet and is meant to be eaten in small amounts, as Bengali cooks always have. About 110 kcal and 7 g carbohydrate per portion. The usual mistake is frying the neem too long, which turns it black and acrid; it needs only seconds. Chef's tip: dry the leaves completely on a cloth before they go into the oil, or they spit and steam instead of crisping.

20 min

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Jhinge postoRidge gourd with poppy seeds

Jhinge posto is a summer staple of West Bengal and especially the Bankura and Birbhum districts, where poppy seed (posto) goes into almost every everyday lunch. Ridge gourd is cooked in its own juices with nigella seeds and green chilli, then coated in a creamy paste of ground white poppy seeds, giving a mild, nutty, slightly sweet dish. Serve it with rice and dal, or with a millet roti for a lower-GI plate. It is suitable as part of a balanced diet. About 150 kcal and 9 g carbohydrate per portion. The usual mistake is adding water: the gourd releases plenty, and extra water makes the posto runny. Chef's tip: soak the poppy seeds in hot water for 20 minutes before grinding so the paste is smooth, not gritty.

40 min

Indian Vegetarian

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MutakuraBeans, cowpeas and maize

Mutakura is old Zimbabwean country food, cooked in rural Mashonaland after harvest from the store of dried beans, cowpeas, groundnuts and maize kernels, and eaten as a filling lunch or snack, often at gatherings and ceremonies. Everything is soaked, boiled for hours until tender, then simply seasoned with salt, so the beans are creamy, the maize chewy and the groundnuts soft and rich. Suitable as part of a balanced diet. About 340 kcal and 45 g carbohydrate per portion. The usual mistake is cooking everything together from the start: the maize needs a long head start, and the dried red beans must be boiled hard for 10 minutes to be safe. A pressure cooker cuts the maize time to about 40 minutes. Chef's tip: soak everything overnight in separate bowls; the maize and groundnuts need it most.

160 minSouthern African Vegetarian

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Dalimbi usalSprouted field bean curry

In Konkan and Pune homes, dalimbi usal is a festival dish, cooked for Ganesh Chaturthi, weddings and thread ceremonies and served on the thali beside puran poli and rice. Dalimbi are dried field beans (val) that are soaked, sprouted and peeled; the work takes two days but turns them creamy and sweet. They are simmered gently with fresh coconut, goda masala, kokum and a little jaggery, without onion or garlic. Field beans must always be cooked until fully soft; never eat them raw or half-cooked. The usual mistake is boiling them hard, which bursts the soft peeled beans into mash; keep the simmer gentle. Chef's tip: soak the sprouted beans in warm water for 30 minutes before peeling, and the skins slip off with a pinch.

60 min

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BotaMaize porridge with peanut butter

Before school buses leave Bulawayo and Gweru, pots of bota are already ticking on the stove: a thin, pourable porridge of white maize meal, much looser than the stiff sadza eaten later in the day. A good spoonful of peanut butter turns it pale gold and gives it a toasty, slightly savoury richness, and a little sugar makes it a favourite with children. Some families stir in lacto, the Zimbabwean sour milk, or squeeze in lemon for tang; this version keeps it plant-based. Lumps are the classic fault, and they come from tipping dry meal into boiling water. Chef's tip: always whisk the maize meal into cold water first, then heat it, and the porridge stays velvet-smooth.

20 minSouthern African Breakfast & Brunch

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BabakauFried dough balls

Babakau are the fluffy fried dough balls sold at Fijian market stalls and village canteens at breakfast time, eaten with a mug of milky tea or hot koko before school or work in Suva and Nadi. The dough is lightly sweet and the balls puff up as they fry, golden outside and soft as a bun inside. A common mistake is oil that's too hot, which leaves raw centres; 170 °C is right. Chef's tip: wet your fingers to drop spoonfuls of dough into the oil so it slips off cleanly.

35 minPacific Islander Breakfast & Brunch

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Koko alaisaCocoa coconut rice

Koko alaisa is a Samoan breakfast and Sunday to'ona'i (after-church lunch) favourite, rice simmered in koko Samoa, the island's own roasted cocoa paste, with coconut cream, sugar and sometimes orange leaves for perfume. It is rich, chocolatey and comforting, like a warm chocolate rice pudding, and is often eaten alongside savoury food. If you can't find koko Samoa in a Pacific shop, use unsweetened 100% cocoa chocolate. A common mistake is letting it catch on the bottom; stir often in the last 15 minutes. Chef's tip: a strip of orange peel simmered with the rice gives the true island aroma.

40 minPacific Islander Breakfast & Brunch

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TereréIced yerba mate

In Asunción the hottest part of the day stops for tereré: a horn or cup packed with yerba mate, topped up again and again with ice water infused with crushed herbs, and passed round the group through a metal straw. It was recognised by UNESCO as part of Paraguay's cultural heritage, and the herbs (yuyos) change with the season and the drinker's mood. Yerba mate contains caffeine, so it isn't one for small children. The common mistake is pouring water straight into loose yerba, which then clogs the straw; tilt the yerba to one side first. Chef's tip: for tereré ruso, swap the water for cold orange or grapefruit juice.

10 min

Paraguayan Drinks

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Lolo bunsCoconut cream baked buns

Lolo buns are the Sunday treat of Fijian kitchens, made for church lunches and family get-togethers in Lautoka and Suva: soft yeast buns packed into a tin and baked in a bath of sweetened coconut cream (lolo), which soaks into the bottoms and bakes into a sticky, caramel-edged sauce. Everyone pulls one out warm from the tin. A common mistake is pouring the coconut cream on too early; add it just before baking so the buns have risen fully. Chef's tip: use thick, full-fat coconut cream for a rich glaze.

65 minPacific Islander Baking

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KabalagalaBanana and cassava pancakes

Street sellers in Kampala pile these small, dense golden rounds into plastic tubs and sell them warm by the handful, and a whole lively neighbourhood of the city shares their name. Over-ripe sweet bananas are mashed into cassava flour, scented with cardamom and a pinch of chilli, then fried until crisp outside and soft and chewy within, a little like a doughnut that forgot to rise. Children eat them after school, adults dunk them in milky spiced tea at breakfast. The usual mistake is adding too much flour: the dough should be soft and just stop sticking to your hands, or the pancakes turn heavy and dry. Chef's tip: use bananas with black-speckled skins; the riper they are, the less sugar you need and the better they brown.

35 minEast African Snacks & Starters

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GodrogodroCoconut rice flour sweet

Along the northern coast around Antsiranana, and down to Mahajanga, godrogodro is a festival and family-celebration sweet, cut into diamonds and passed round at weddings, circumcision ceremonies and the New Year. Coconut milk, rice flour and dark sugar are stirred for the best part of an hour until the mixture thickens, darkens and pulls away from the pan, then it sets into a dense, sliceable fudge-like block, fragrant with vanilla and cardamom. It is rich, so small squares with a cup of tea are plenty. Stopping too early is the mistake to avoid: undercooked godrogodro stays sticky and pale and will not hold a clean edge. Chef's tip: use a heavy, non-stick pan and a flat wooden spatula that scrapes the whole base, and keep stirring as it thickens, as the bottom scorches easily.

70 min

Malagasy Desserts

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MosbolletjiesAniseed grape buns

Each harvest, wine farms around Paarl and the Boland once used foaming fresh grape must to raise these sweet, tear-apart buns, and some families still bake them every January and dry what is left into rusks for coffee dunking. This home method replaces the must with a starter of pure grape juice, raisins and a little yeast, bubbled overnight; the tiny trace of alcohol the fermentation makes bakes off in the oven. The buns are soft and feathery, gently sweet, scented with aniseed and glazed with a sticky sugar wash. Rushing is the mistake: this dough rises slowly overnight and needs to double properly at each stage, or the buns turn out dense. Chef's tip: use juice with no added preservatives, which stop the starter from fermenting.

105 min

South African Baking

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ChigumuBanana maize cake

Chigumu is village baking from the Shire Highlands and the lakeshore near Mangochi: a thick batter of maize flour, overripe bananas and sugar poured into a greased pot, set on embers with more coals heaped on the lid, and left to bake slowly. The result is a dense, moist, golden loaf with a slightly gritty, cornbread-like crumb and a deep banana sweetness, cut into wedges for children after school or carried on journeys. An oven and a loaf tin give the same result at home. The usual mistake is using under-ripe bananas, which leave the cake dry and bland. Chef's tip: pick bananas with skins more black than yellow, and mash them to a liquid before adding the maize flour.

75 minSouthern African Baking

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TizanaFruit in orange juice

On Sunday afternoons in Caracas, juice stands along the boulevards of Sabana Grande and the Plaza Altamira, and street carts outside beaches and parks, sell tizana in tall plastic cups with a straw and a long spoon. It is half drink, half fruit salad: papaya, pineapple, melon, watermelon, apple, mango and banana cut into tiny dice and soaked in orange juice tinted ruby with grenadine. At home it is made by the jug for birthday parties and hot holidays. It tastes juicy, sweet and bright, and every sip brings a different fruit up the straw. The common mistake is adding the banana and apple with everything else an hour early: they turn brown and mushy and cloud the juice. Cut them last and stir them in just before serving. The tizana is ready when the fruit has soaked for about 30 minutes in the fridge, the juice has turned a clear coral-pink and the pieces are cold right through. Make the dice no bigger than 1 cm so they pass up a wide straw. Grenadine here means pomegranate syrup; a red fruit syrup works too. Chef's tip: squeeze a little lime over the cut apple and banana to keep them pale and add a tang that lifts the whole jug.

25 min

Venezuelan Drinks

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Pineapple gojjuSweet and sour pineapple gravy

Pineapple gojju turns up on banana leaves at Kannada weddings, housewarmings and Ugadi feasts, where its bright sweet-sour-hot taste cuts through the rice, saaru and payasa. Ripe pineapple is simmered with tamarind and jaggery, then thickened with a roasted paste of sesame, coconut, chilli and lentils until glossy. It is eaten in small spoonfuls with rice or chapati, or as a relish on the side. The usual mistake is adding the jaggery too early and boiling it hard, which makes it sticky and dull; let the pineapple soften first. It keeps for 4 days in the fridge. Chef's tip: toast the sesame seeds separately and add them last, so they stay nutty and you can hear them crackle.

40 min

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Kadle manoliBlack chickpea and coconut curry

Kadle manoli is a Konkani dish from Mangaluru and Udupi, cooked for festive meals, Saturday temple days and family gatherings, where it sits beside rice, dalitoy and papad. Black chickpeas and quartered ivy gourd are cooked together, then tossed in a coarse, roasted masala of coconut, byadgi chillies and coriander, a little tamarind and a coconut-oil tempering. It is dry-ish, coating each piece rather than swimming in gravy. The usual mistake is cutting the ivy gourd into rounds; slice it lengthwise into quarters so it stays crunchy-tender. Slow-cooker: cook the soaked chana and gourd with 500 ml water on low for 7 hours, then stir in the masala and heat through. Chef's tip: grind the masala coarse, with very little water, so it clings to the chickpeas and stays fragrant.

70 min

Italian Breads & Parathas

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Pane toscanoUnsalted Tuscan bread

Pane toscano, called pane sciocco ('foolish' or 'bland' bread) in Florence and Siena, is the saltless loaf that Tuscans have eaten for centuries; legend blames a medieval salt tax. It has a thick, crackly crust and an open, chewy crumb, and it is made to be eaten with salty prosciutto, pecorino and ribollita, or soaked in panzanella and pappa al pomodoro. There is no salt in the dough: about 0.0 g salt per slice. The usual mistake is under-proving: without salt the dough rises fast, and with too little rest it tastes floury; a starter and a slow rise give it flavour. Chef's tip: bake with steam (a tray of boiling water in the oven) for the first 15 minutes, which is what gives the crust its proper Tuscan crunch.

70 min

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Atol shucoSour black corn drink

In San Salvador's Plaza Libertad and outside churches on cool mornings, atol shuco is ladled from steaming clay pots into gourd bowls. Shuco means 'dirty', for its dusky purple-grey colour: it is made from fermented black corn, so it tastes slightly sour and earthy, topped with ground toasted pumpkin seeds, a few whole black beans and a pinch of chilli salt. It is savoury and filling rather than sweet. The usual mistake is leaving the masa to ferment too long in a hot kitchen; check it after a day and use it as soon as it smells pleasantly tangy. Throw it away if you see mould or it smells unpleasant. Chef's tip: if you can't wait for fermentation, a squeeze of lime at the end gives a similar tang.

40 minCentral American Drinks

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KusliSemolina-filled Diwali pastries

Kusli are the crimped half-moon pastries that fill tins in Chhattisgarhi homes before Diwali and Chhath, close cousins of the gujiya and karanji but filled with semolina roasted in ghee, dry coconut and sugar rather than mawa. They keep for a fortnight and are handed to visitors with thethri and khurmi. The common mistake is frying them in very hot oil; they blister and brown outside while the pastry stays raw within. Chef's tip: seal the edges with a dab of milk and a firm pinch-and-fold twist so not a crumb of filling leaks into the oil.

75 min

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OgokbapFive-grain rice

Ogokbap is cooked across Korea for Jeongwol Daeboreum, the first full moon of the lunar year, when families share five-grain rice with nine kinds of dried namul and crack nuts to wish for good health. Sticky rice, millet, sorghum, black soybeans and adzuki beans cook together into a chewy, purple-tinged rice with a nutty, gently sweet flavour. It is good any time of year beside soup and banchan. The usual mistake is putting the adzuki beans in raw with the rice: they stay hard while the rice turns soft, so parboil them first. Chef's tip: keep a little of the adzuki cooking water for the rice, as it gives ogokbap its lovely rosy colour.

70 min

Korean Rice & Grains

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Mupunga unedoviPeanut butter rice

Ask someone who grew up in Masvingo or a Harare township about Sunday rice and many will describe mupunga unedovi: white rice cooked a little past fluffy, then beaten with dovi, the peanut butter that sits in every Zimbabwean kitchen. The grains turn creamy and almost risotto-like, savoury and nutty with a whisper of salt, and it is what a grandmother makes when there is no meat in the house. Eat it from a bowl on its own, or spoon it beside a tomato and onion relish, covo greens or a pot of sugar beans. The usual mistake is adding the peanut butter while the rice is still boiling hard, so it catches on the base of the pot and tastes scorched. Chef's tip: loosen the peanut butter with a ladle of the hot rice water first, so it melts into the grains instead of sitting in lumps.

30 minSouthern African Rice & Grains

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Verkadalai sadam (peanut rice)

Peanut rice is the filling variety rice that Tamil and Kannada parents send when the school day ends with games: roasted peanuts, dry coconut, sesame and red chillies are ground into a coarse powder and tossed through rice in a curry leaf tempering. It tastes a little like a savoury peanut brittle, and it stays good at room temperature for hours. The mistake is grinding the peanuts too long; they turn into peanut butter and the rice clumps. Pulse in short bursts and stop while it is still sandy. Chef's tip: keep a few whole roasted peanuts aside and add them at the end for crunch.

23 min

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NeureosCoconut and jaggery pastries

No Goan Catholic kuswar, the tray of Christmas sweets sent to neighbours, is complete without neureos, little crimped half-moons of crisp pastry stuffed with fresh coconut cooked down with jaggery, cardamom and a few raisins or cashews. Families gather in the week before Christmas to roll, fill and pinch them by the hundred, and they keep well in a tin until New Year. The common mistake is a wet filling: if the coconut mix is still moist when sealed the pastries burst in the oil, so cook it until it leaves the pan and cool it fully. Chef's tip: use a fluted pastry wheel to trim the edge after crimping, which gives the classic frilly finish and a tighter seal.

75 min

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Capsicum rice (capsicum bath)

Every Bengaluru darshini has its own capsicum bath, and at home it is a favourite for office lunch boxes because the peppers stay crunchy until noon. Green peppers are sautéed just until glossy, then tossed with rice and a freshly roasted powder of coriander seeds, chana dal, dry coconut and red chillies. The mistake is cooking the peppers until soft; they release water and the rice turns soggy, so keep them bright and crisp. Chef's tip: add the powder to the hot oil off the heat for a few seconds before the rice goes in; it blooms the spices without burning the coconut.

35 min

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Ayote en mielSquash in spiced syrup

Nicaraguan grandmothers set a pot of ayote en miel on the stove on Holy Wednesday, so there is something sweet to share with neighbours right through Easter week, often alongside sweet green mango and coconut. Chunks of squash simmer in dark panela syrup with cinnamon, cloves and allspice until they are glossy and tender and the syrup tastes of caramel and spice. Stirring is the common mistake: a spoon breaks the soft squash into mush, so shake the pot instead. Chef's tip: leave the skin on the squash; it holds each piece together and turns soft enough to eat.

75 minCentral American Desserts

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Ensalada salvadoreñaChopped fruit apple drink

Order an ensalada at a pupusería in El Salvador and a tall glass arrives: apple juice crowded with tiny cubes of apple, mango and marañón (cashew fruit), drunk through a straw and finished with a spoon. It is the country's favourite cooler for hot afternoons and Sunday lunches. Outside Central America cashew fruit is rare, so pineapple stands in well. Cutting the fruit too big is the mistake people make; pieces should be small enough to come up a wide straw. Chef's tip: chop the apple last and drop it straight into the juice so it stays white.

15 minCentral American Drinks

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Dousha bao (red bean buns)

All over China, from Beijing breakfast stalls to Shanghai school bags, dousha bao are the sweet buns people grab in the morning and tuck into a lunch box for later: fluffy white yeasted dough wrapped around smooth red bean paste and steamed until springy. They freeze beautifully, so families make a big batch on Sunday. The mistake is opening the steamer lid as soon as the timer goes; the sudden cold makes the buns wrinkle and collapse. Turn off the heat and wait five minutes before lifting the lid. Chef's tip: chill the bean paste and roll it into balls before wrapping; a firm filling is much easier to seal neatly.

55 min

Chinese Baking

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DashmiMilk and jaggery flatbread

Dashmi is the bread Maharashtrian mothers make for pilgrimages, school trips and the first days of a long journey: wholewheat dough kneaded with warm milk instead of water and sweetened with jaggery, cooked on a tawa until soft and spotted. Milk and ghee keep it tender for two or three days without a fridge in cool weather, and children eat it plain or with pickle. The common mistake is rolling it too thin and cooking it on a fierce tawa, which makes it crisp like a khakhra; it should stay soft and pliable. Chef's tip: stack the dashmis in a cloth as they come off the tawa, so the trapped steam softens them further.

40 min

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Ellu sadam (sesame rice)

In Tamil homes ellu sadam is cooked on Saturdays and temple days, and it is one of the variety rices that keeps best in a school lunch box, because the dry sesame powder soaks up the oil and does not spoil the way coconut rice can. The powder is roasted from black sesame, urad dal and dried red chillies, ground coarse and tossed through plain rice with a nutty gingelly oil tempering. The usual mistake is roasting the sesame too hard: it turns bitter within seconds, so take it off as soon as it starts to pop and smell toasty. Chef's tip: pound the powder rather than blitzing it to dust, so you keep a little crunch from the dal.

20 min

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GuayusaHolly leaf infusion

In Kichwa villages along the Napo river around Tena, families rise before dawn, gather around the fire and share a pot of guayusa: an infusion of the large leaves of an Amazon holly tree, passed round while people talk over dreams and plan the day. It tastes smooth, grassy and faintly sweet, with none of the bitterness of black tea, and it carries a steady lift of caffeine, so it is not one for young children or late evenings. Dried guayusa is sold loose in health-food and tea shops. A common mistake is treating it like delicate green tea and steeping it for just a minute; it needs a gentle simmer to draw out its flavour. Chef's tip: add a strip of lemongrass or a slice of ginger for a fragrant twist, and sweeten, if at all, with a little panela.

14 minAndean Drinks

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Tortilla changaThick corn griddle cake with cheese

In the Azuero Peninsula and the farming towns of Los Santos and Herrera, changa is the breakfast of corn season: young sweet corn ground with a little sugar and butter and cooked on a griddle into a thick, sweet, soft-centred cake, eaten hot with a slab of salty queso blanco on top. It is simpler and wetter than an arepa, closer to a corn pancake. The common mistake is using a hot pan, which burns the sugary outside before the middle sets. Panamanian white cheese is usually made with animal rennet; a vegetarian paneer-style or halloumi-style cheese works well. Chef's tip: grate or blend the kernels with some texture left in; perfectly smooth batter spreads too thin.

30 minCentral American Breakfast & Brunch

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Jaulo for babiesRice porridge for babies

Jaulo is the soft rice and lentil porridge Nepali families in Kathmandu and the hills turn to for anyone small, tired or getting over a cold. After a baby's pasni, the rice-feeding ceremony held at five or six months, it soon becomes a regular lunch, and from about nine months it is mashed lumpy rather than smooth. This version keeps the ghee, cumin and turmeric for gentle flavour but leaves out the usual salt, garlic and ginger. It is warm, buttery and comforting. It contains milk (ghee) and is free of gluten, egg, nuts, soya and sesame. Chef's tip: fry the cumin only until it smells toasty and is a shade darker; burnt cumin turns the whole pot bitter.

35 min

Nepali Rice & Grains

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Karuveppilai sadam (curry leaf rice)

Around Madurai and Tiruchirappalli this dark, peppery rice comes out when there is a big handful of curry leaves and very little else in the kitchen, and it keeps so well that it goes into lunch boxes and onto long bus journeys. The leaves are roasted until crisp with chana and urad dal, black pepper, cumin and red chilli, then ground into a fragrant podi. The common mistake is roasting wet leaves: they steam instead of crisp, and the powder clumps. Dry them well on a towel first. Chef's tip: grind a double batch of the podi and store it airtight; it keeps for two weeks and makes lunch in five minutes.

23 min

Nigerian Breads & Parathas

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MaputiPopped maize

Sold by the cupful from enamel basins at Mbare bus terminus and passed around at rural beer-hall gatherings and funerals alike, maputi is maize popped in a dry, lidded pot until the kernels split into white, crunchy clouds. It tastes plainer and more of corn than cinema popcorn, with just salt and sometimes a few roasted peanuts tossed through. Children carry pockets of it to school; adults eat it with a mug of sweet tea in the afternoon. Abroad, popping corn gives the most reliable result; dried field maize from African grocers pops less, with more half-open kernels, which some people prefer. The mistake to avoid is lifting the lid while the kernels are still popping, which lets the heat escape and leaves a pot of hard duds. Chef's tip: shake the pot constantly over the flame so no kernel sits on the hot base long enough to burn.

12 minSouthern African Snacks & Starters

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Mkate wa mofaMillet and wheat flatbread

Before dawn in Lamu's narrow lanes, bakers slap rounds of mofa dough onto the hot walls of a clay oven, and by breakfast the breads are stacked in baskets beside glasses of spiced tea. The dough mixes millet and wheat flour with coconut milk, a little sugar and cardamom, then ferments overnight, so each bread comes out soft and slightly chewy with a tangy, nutty taste and a blistered top. Islanders eat them with tea, with fried fish, or split and dipped in a bean or coconut sauce. Without a clay oven, a heavy pan on the hob plus a hot grill gives the same blistering; just don't roll the dough thin like chapati, a common slip, because mofa should be about 1 cm thick and pressed out by hand. Chef's tip: wet your palms before shaping, as islanders do; the dough is soft and the water stops it sticking.

60 minEast African Breads & Parathas

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Wiener MelangeCoffee with milk and foam

In Vienna you never simply order 'a coffee'; you order by name, and the Melange is the one most Viennese ask for. It arrives in a large cup on a small silver tray with a glass of water and often a tiny chocolate, and you may sit over it for an hour with the newspapers at Café Prückel or Hawelka, mid-morning or after lunch. Traditionally it is a mild, longer espresso (a Verlängerter) with roughly equal hot milk and a soft cap of milk foam; it is gentler than a cappuccino and the foam is looser and creamier. Expect a round, nutty, slightly sweet cup with little bitterness. The common mistake is overheating the milk: once it passes about 70 °C it smells cooked and loses its sweetness and the foam turns big-bubbled and dry. Stop when the jug is too hot to hold for more than a second or two. It is ready when the foam sits in a smooth, glossy dome about a finger thick and the coffee shows as a brown ring at the edge. One cup has about the caffeine of a single espresso. Chef's tip: always serve the glass of water alongside, as Vienna does; it is drunk first to clear the palate.

6 min

Austrian Drinks

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Lolly cakeNo-bake malt biscuit log

Lolly cake is the no-bake treat every New Zealand child helps make for birthday parties and bake sales, a log of crushed malt biscuits bound with butter and condensed milk, studded with chewy, brightly coloured fruit lollies (fruit puffs) and rolled in coconut. Sliced into rounds, it shows off the colours. A common mistake is crushing the biscuits to dust; leave some small chunks for texture. Many fruit lollies contain gelatine, so choose gelatine-free ones to keep it vegetarian. Chef's tip: wrap the log tightly in cling film and twist the ends so it chills into a neat cylinder.

20 min

New Zealand Desserts

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AlkubusSteamed wheat bread

In Kano, Katsina and Sokoto, alkubus is a breakfast bread you steam rather than bake: a soft yeasted wheat dough set in small cups or tins over boiling water until it puffs into fluffy, slightly sticky domes. It is eaten warm, pulled apart and dipped into groundnut oil with yaji, the peanut and chilli spice mix, or with a bowl of miyan taushe or other soup. The common mistake is lifting the lid during steaming; the rush of cold air makes the breads sink and turn dense. Yaji contains peanuts. Chef's tip: wrap the pot lid in a tea towel so condensation can't drip back and leave wet craters on the tops.

95 min

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Pan bonDark spiced fruit and cheese bread

On Costa Rica's Caribbean coast, the Afro-Caribbean families of Limón and Cahuita bake pan bon for Easter, Christmas and any big gathering, a recipe brought by Jamaican railway workers in the late 1800s. The loaf is dark and fragrant with molasses and burnt-sugar syrup, studded with raisins, candied peel and little cubes of salty cheese that melt into pockets. It is sliced thick and eaten with coffee. Dense, heavy loaves usually come from adding the fruit and cheese too early; knead them in only after the dough is smooth. Hard cheese is often made with animal rennet, so pick a vegetarian one if needed. Chef's tip: brush the warm loaf with the burnt-sugar syrup straight from the oven for its signature sticky, shining crust.

120 minCentral American Baking

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ShibazukeRed shiso aubergine pickle

Shibazuke comes from Ohara, in the hills north of Kyoto, where summer aubergines, cucumbers and myoga ginger are pressed with salt and red shiso leaves until everything turns a vivid purple and pleasantly sour. A few slivers sit beside the rice in Kyoto bento boxes. This home version is lightly fermented for a day under a weight. The common mistake is too little weight: the vegetables must sit under their own brine or they spoil instead of souring. Chef's tip: rub the shiso with salt and squeeze out its first dark, bitter juice before it ever touches the vegetables.

30 min

Japanese Sides

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MarraquetaCrusty split bread rolls

Chileans eat more bread than almost anyone, and in Santiago the bread is marraqueta (called pan batido or pan francés in other cities): a crackling, airy roll made of two twin halves, each scored deep so the whole thing breaks into four pieces. It is bought warm from the corner bakery for breakfast and for once, the evening tea, and filled with avocado, cheese or butter. The most common mistake at home is baking without steam: the crust comes out pale and leathery instead of thin and shattering. Chef's tip: press the oiled handle of a wooden spoon right down into each pair of balls, almost to the work surface; a shallow groove disappears as the roll rises.

180 min

Chilean Breads & Parathas

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Mannaya kashaSemolina porridge

Mannaya kasha is the breakfast of every Russian childhood, served in kindergartens and at home: semolina simmered in milk into a smooth, soft porridge, with a melting knob of butter and a spoon of jam or berries in the middle. The famous mistake, joked about by generations of children, is lumps; they form when semolina is tipped in all at once, so rain it in slowly while stirring. Chef's tip: for a thick porridge use 3 tablespoons of semolina per 250 ml of milk, and for the runny kindergarten style use 2; it thickens a lot as it cools, so take it off the heat a little thinner than you want.

12 min

Russian Breakfast & Brunch

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Aate ka halwaWholewheat flour halwa

Across Marwar, this simple halwa is the one cooked for temple prasad, for Satyanarayan katha and for women in the weeks after giving birth, when ghee and jaggery are thought to build strength. Wholewheat flour is roasted slowly in plenty of ghee until it turns a deep nutty brown, then cooked with hot water and sugar or jaggery until soft and glossy. The whole thing takes 30 minutes. The common mistake is rushing the roast on high heat, which leaves the flour raw-tasting inside and scorched outside. Chef's tip: roast on low heat until the colour is like milky tea and the ghee starts to separate and bubble around the flour.

30 min

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Anjeer pakFig and nut fudge

Gujarati families make anjeer pak for Diwali boxes and for fast days, when it gives quick energy without any grain or refined sugar. Soaked dried figs are cooked down in ghee into a thick jammy paste, mixed with toasted almonds, cashews and pistachios, and rolled into logs that slice into pretty pink-and-green rounds. It keeps for two weeks in the fridge. The common mistake is under-cooking the fig paste, which leaves the logs soft and sticky so they never slice cleanly. Chef's tip: keep stirring until the paste rolls into a ball that no longer sticks to the pan or your greased palm.

40 min

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MunkoyoFermented maize drink

Munkoyo is the drink of Zambian village afternoons and long bus rides, sold in reused bottles at roadside stands from Kabwe to Mansa: a thin maize porridge sweetened and loosened by the pounded roots of the munkoyo shrub, then left to ferment lightly for about a day. It tastes gently sweet and sour, a little like a thin, cool maize yoghurt drink, and is drunk by everyone, children included, because it is not meant to be alcoholic. Munkoyo root is hard to find outside Zambia, so this recipe uses ground sorghum malt (sold as sorghum malt flour), which carries the same kind of starch-thinning enzymes; barley diastatic malt powder also works but makes it no longer gluten free. The big mistake is adding the root or malt to boiling-hot porridge, which kills the enzymes so it never thins. Chef's tip: drink it within two days and keep it chilled after fermenting, because if it ferments for longer it keeps souring and can start to develop traces of alcohol.

45 minSouthern African Drinks

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Harina de maíz dulceSweet cornmeal porridge

In Cuban homes "harina" means cornmeal, and harina dulce is the soft, sweet porridge that grandmothers in Havana and Santiago cooked for children before school, scented with cinnamon and a curl of lime peel the way rice pudding is. It should be smooth and spoonable, like a loose polenta. The usual mistake is pouring the cornmeal into boiling milk, which seizes into lumps at once: start it in cold liquid and whisk as it heats. Chef's tip: take the lime peel out once the porridge thickens, or its oils turn bitter as it sits.

25 min

Cuban Breakfast & Brunch

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JholiYogurt and gram flour kadhi

Jholi is the thin, everyday kadhi of Kumaon, cooked when there is curd in the house and no time for pakoras, and spooned over rice for a quick lunch. It is tempered with jakhya, a tiny crunchy hill seed with a mustardy bite, and coloured gold with turmeric. Because there are no fritters, it is lighter and tangier than a Punjabi kadhi. The common mistake is letting it boil before the gram flour has cooked in, which splits the curd into grains. Chef's tip: keep stirring in one direction until the first bubble; after that the jholi is stable and can simmer on its own.

30 min

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LesuWheat and finger millet roti

Lesu is a clever Garhwali farmhouse roti in which a small ball of mandua (finger-millet) dough is wrapped inside wheat dough and rolled out, so each bite has a soft wheat outside and a dark, earthy layer within. Families eat it for breakfast or dinner in winter with a big dollop of ghee, jaggery or a green saag. The millet adds minerals and a pleasant nutty taste. The common mistake is making the millet dough too dry, which cracks and pokes through the wheat when you roll. Chef's tip: knead the mandua dough with hot water and keep it as soft as the wheat dough, so the two roll out together.

40 min

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ChikandaOrchid tuber and peanut loaf

In Kasama and across the Bemba country of northern Zambia, chikanda is cooked for weddings, funerals and family gatherings, then sliced and sold on Lusaka street corners as 'African polony' because it looks like a pale sausage. It is made from the dried, pounded tubers of ground orchids mixed with groundnut flour, chilli and a little bicarbonate of soda, stirred over the fire until thick and then baked until firm. The texture is dense and springy, a little like a savoury jelly, with a nutty, earthy flavour and a gentle heat. Use bought dried chikanda powder from Zambian or Southern African grocers; wild orchids are badly over-harvested, so buy only from a trusted supplier. Too little stirring is the usual mistake, and it leaves raw lumps of powder through the loaf. Chef's tip: let the slices cool completely before frying or eating, as the loaf firms up a lot as it sets.

90 minSouthern African Snacks & Starters

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Po'eBaked banana pudding

Po'e is a Tahitian and wider Polynesian fruit pudding, made at home on Sundays across Tahiti and Mo'orea and sold at the Papeete market in thick slices wrapped in banana leaf. Ripe bananas (or papaya, pumpkin or taro) are puréed with sugar and a starch such as arrowroot, then baked until set into a glossy, jelly-like slab and served drenched in fresh coconut milk. A common mistake is pulling it from the oven too early; it should be firm and caramelised on top. Chef's tip: a vanilla pod from Taha'a-style vanilla is the island touch; split it and scrape the seeds in.

75 minPacific Islander Desserts

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Dulces abrillantadosGlazed milk fudge figures

Walk through the old centre of Mérida and you'll pass windows full of tiny shiny sweets shaped like fruit, flowers and animals: dulces abrillantados, made from milk and sugar cooked down to a fudge, hand-moulded and dipped in syrup that dries to a glassy crust. Families buy boxes to take home from the Andes. They need patience: the shaping is fun, but the milk must be cooked until it truly pulls away from the pan. The common mistake is stopping too early, so the figures flatten. Chef's tip: dust your hands with icing sugar while shaping, and dry the figures overnight before glazing.

110 min

Venezuelan Desserts

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Batido de lechosaPapaya and orange shake

Lechosa is what Venezuelans call papaya, and on breakfast tables from Valencia to Puerto La Cruz it turns up as a batido beside arepas or empanadas, often blended with the oranges that are piled cheap in every market. It is thick, smooth and sunset-orange, tasting of honeyed papaya and bright citrus, and it fills you up until lunch. Some families blend it with milk instead of juice, which turns it into a creamy merengada. The common mistake with milk is letting it stand: papaya's natural enzyme starts to turn milk bitter within half an hour, so drink it straight away. Another mistake is scraping the seed cavity too hard; the black seeds and their slippery coating make the batido bitter and peppery. It is ready when there are no fibres left, it pours in a thick stream and the colour is an even orange. Choose papaya that is mostly yellow-orange and gives slightly under your thumb; a green-streaked one tastes flat and a little musky. Chef's tip: a few drops of lime juice cut through papaya's musky note and make it taste fresher.

5 min

Venezuelan Drinks

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KabokPuffed rice and sesame balls

Kabok are crunchy balls of puffed rice and sesame bound with hot jaggery syrup, made in Meitei homes for Yaoshang, Cheiraoba and temple offerings. Black puffed rice is used in some villages, giving dark, toasty kabok. The key is the syrup: cook it to the hard-ball stage, when a drop in cold water sets into a firm ball, or the balls will fall apart. The common mistake is shaping with dry hands; wet them so the hot mixture doesn't stick or burn. Chef's tip: warm the puffed rice in the oven for a few minutes first so it stays crisp.

25 min

Venezuelan Breakfast & Brunch

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MandocasCorn and plantain ring fritters

Maracaibo breakfasts often start with mandocas, chewy loops of corn dough sweetened with mashed ripe plantain and dark panela, fried until almost mahogany and eaten with butter, salty white cheese and a cup of coffee. They are sold hot from bakeries and street carts all over Zulia. Venezuelan white cheeses are usually made with animal rennet; feta-style or other vegetarian salty cheeses work. The mistake most people make is frying too hot: the panela darkens and turns bitter before the dough cooks through. Chef's tip: the riper the plantain, with black skin, the softer and sweeter the mandocas.

50 min

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Batido de trigoPuffed wheat shake

Havana cafeterías and Miami ventanitas blend this for breakfast on the run: puffed wheat, cold milk, sugar and ice whizzed into a thick, frothy shake that tastes like a malted milk with toasted cereal. It is one of the most loved Cuban batidos, and quick to make at home. The common mistake is using sweetened, honey-coated cereal, which makes it cloying; plain puffed wheat lets the toasty grain flavour come through. Chef's tip: blend the puffed wheat with half the milk first until completely smooth, then add the ice, so you don't get soggy flecks of cereal.

5 min

Cuban Drinks

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LavasaThin leavened flatbread

Every Kashmiri neighbourhood has its kandur, the baker who slaps breads onto the walls of a clay tandoor before dawn, and lavasa is the thin, soft, bubbly sheet bought for the afternoon or for wrapping hot seekh kebabs at weddings. It is lightly leavened, a little chewy and faintly smoky, and is eaten with noon chai or with harissa in winter. At home a very hot heavy pan or a pizza stone does a fine job. The common mistake is rolling it too thick; lavasa should be thin enough to see light through at the edges. Chef's tip: stack the breads under a clean cloth as they come off the heat, so the steam keeps them soft and foldable.

140 min

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Jugo de macaWarm maca drink

Before dawn at markets in Huancayo, Cusco and Lima, juice ladies ladle hot jugo de maca from big pots for workers on their way in: maca root, a turnip relative grown above 4,000 metres in the Junín highlands, simmered with milk, cinnamon and cloves and sweetened with honey or sugar. It tastes malty and toasty, a bit like butterscotch. The common mistake is stirring the powder straight into hot milk, which leaves gritty lumps; whisk it into a little cold milk first. Maca is not usually advised in pregnancy, so ask your doctor first if you are pregnant. Chef's tip: use gelatinised (cooked) maca powder if you can find it; it dissolves smoothly and is gentler on the stomach.

10 min