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No onion, no garlic recipes (Swaminarayan and sattvic)

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3470 vegetarian recipes cooked without onion or garlic, as in Swaminarayan and sattvic kitchens, with no meat, fish, eggs or alcohol. Each has photos, step-by-step instructions and cook times. The quickest, Apfelschorle, takes 2 minutes. Most take around 45 minutes.

Filter these by time, diet or cuisine · Make No onion & garlic your diet to see only these recipes everywhere on the site.

KandarappamPuffed rice, urad and jaggery cakes

Kandarappam is one of the grand sweets of the Chettiar houses of Karaikudi and Kanadukathan, fried by the dozen for weddings and for Deepavali and kept in big brass tins. A ground batter of raw rice, urad dal and chana dal is sweetened with jaggery and cardamom and ladled into hot oil, where each cake puffs up, turns dark golden and gets a crisp, lacy edge around a spongy middle. They are eaten at room temperature with coffee, often the day after frying, when the flavour has settled. A common mistake is grinding the batter too thin; it spreads into flat discs that soak up oil, so keep it like a thick pancake batter. Chef's tip: fry one test cake first, and if it doesn't puff, add another spoon of rice flour to the batter.

65 minIndianIndian SweetsVeganGluten free
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Ulundu kozhukattaiUrad dal-filled rice dumplings

On Vinayaka Chaturthi, Tamil kitchens make two kinds of kozhukattai side by side: sweet ones with coconut and jaggery, and these savoury ulundu kozhukattai, filled with a crumbly, peppery urad dal 'usili'. The thin rice-flour shell turns translucent when steamed, and the filling is soft, savoury and fragrant with curry leaves. The mistake is a wet filling: if the ground dal isn't steamed and then crumbled dry in the pan, it leaks and the shells split. Chef's tip: make the shells as thin as you can while still holding the filling; thick shells taste stodgy.

75 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Hara bhara kebabSpinach and pea patties

Hara bhara kebab is the vegetarian starter of Delhi's Punjabi restaurants and every wedding cocktail hour, a bright green patty of spinach, peas and potato with ginger and green chilli, pan-fried until crusty and topped with a single cashew. It is soft inside, crisp outside and mild enough for children, served with mint chutney before a big meal. The usual mistake is not squeezing the blanched spinach dry: the mix turns wet, the patties won't hold and they fall apart in the pan. Wring it out in your fist until no more water comes. Chef's tip: dip the spinach in iced water right after blanching; it keeps the patties a vivid green instead of khaki.

45 minIndianSnacks & Starters
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DindeSteamed chana jaggery parcels

On Nag Panchami in Maharashtra, women draw snakes in turmeric, offer milk and lahya at anthills, and by custom nothing is cut, chopped or fried on the tava that day, so the festival sweet is dinde: wheat-dough squares folded around puran (chana dal and jaggery) and steamed. They are soft, a little chewy and fragrant with nutmeg and cardamom, eaten warm with ghee. Common mistake: wet puran that leaks; cook the dal and jaggery until the mixture is thick and a spoon stands upright in it, then cool before filling. Chef's tip: steam the dinde on a greased banana leaf or plate and keep the seams down, so they keep their square shape.

80 minIndianIndian Sweets
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Vella seedaiJaggery-glazed rice flour balls

Next to the salty seedai on the Gokulashtami tray in Tamil Nadu sit vella seedai, the sweet twin: rice and urad flour kneaded with jaggery syrup, sesame and cardamom, rolled into slightly larger balls and fried to a deep brown crunch. They are offered to Krishna with butter, aval and fruit, then shared with neighbours. Common mistake: using hot syrup, which cooks the flour into a sticky mass and makes the balls burst; the syrup should be strained, cooled to warm and only cooked to a thin, sticky stage, not to a string. They are fried when the oil goes quiet and they turn deep golden-brown. Chef's tip: let the dough rest covered for 30 minutes before rolling; it firms up and the balls hold their shape.

70 minIndianIndian SweetsGluten free
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Thiruvathirai kaliRice and moong dal with jaggery

On Arudra Darshan in the Tamil month of Margazhi, temples across Tamil Nadu, Chidambaram above all, celebrate Shiva as Nataraja, and homes offer him kali with ezhu kari kootu at dawn. The rice and a little moong dal are dry-roasted until fragrant, ground to a coarse rava and then cooked in jaggery water until soft and set, a loose, grainy sweet rather than a smooth halwa. Grated coconut, cardamom and plenty of ghee finish it. Common mistake: grinding the roasted rice to a fine flour, which cooks into a sticky paste; you want grains like fine semolina, and the kali is done when it leaves the sides of the pan and the ghee glistens on top. Chef's tip: roast the rice only until it smells like popcorn and turns faintly golden; any darker and the kali tastes bitter.

50 minIndianIndian SweetsGluten free
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TambittuRoasted rice flour jaggery laddus

Nagara Panchami in Karnataka is a festival of sisters and brothers as much as of snakes: women offer milk to the stone naga images under peepal trees, and the sweets made at home are tambittu, laddus of roasted rice flour, roasted gram, coconut and sesame bound with jaggery syrup and ghee. They are crumbly-soft and earthy, and a few are also offered at Varamahalakshmi. Common mistake: binding with thin syrup, which leaves the laddus wet and collapsing; boil the jaggery only to a soft-ball stage, when a drop in cold water forms a soft ball you can pick up. Chef's tip: roast the rice flour until it just smells toasty and is barely cream-coloured; too dark and the laddus taste bitter.

35 minIndianIndian SweetsGluten free
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NippattuPeanut rice crackers

Nippattu is the Karnataka tea-time cracker, sold in Iyengar bakeries from Bengaluru to Mysuru and fried at home for Gowri-Ganesha and Deepavali. Unlike the thin, delicate Tamil thattai, nippattu is thicker and chunkier, packed with crushed peanuts and roasted gram (hurigadale) so every bite crunches with nuts. It's spiced with chilli, hing and curry leaves and keeps for weeks. A common mistake is skipping the hot oil rubbed into the flour; without it the crackers turn hard instead of short and crisp. Chef's tip: prick each disc a few times with a fork so it fries flat and crisp right through instead of puffing.

60 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Kheer kadamKhoya-coated chhena balls

Kheer kadam, named after the round kadam flower, is a sweet-shop showpiece that Bengali families buy, or proudly make, for Bhai Phonta: a small rasgulla-like chhena ball is soaked in syrup, squeezed, wrapped in a layer of sweetened khoya and rolled in more grated khoya so it looks fuzzy like the flower. You bite through dense, milky fudge into a juicy centre. Common mistake: wrapping the balls while they are still full of syrup; the khoya slides off and goes sticky. Squeeze them gently until they feel damp, not wet. The centres are cooked when they have doubled in size and sink in cool water. Chef's tip: cook the khoya only until it stops sticking to the pan and holds together; overcooked khoya cracks when you shape it.

100 minIndianIndian SweetsGluten free
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Tekeli pithaSteamed coconut jaggery rice cake

In Assamese homes the nights before Magh Bihu are spent making pitha, and tekeli pitha is the one named after the pot it is cooked on: a cloth is tied over the mouth of a tekeli (a small clay water pot), and damp rice flour, coconut and jaggery are piled on top and steamed by the water boiling underneath. It comes off as a soft, crumbly cake, sweet in the middle and plain at the edges, eaten warm with tea on Bihu morning or packed into the bhogali spread. Any narrow-necked pot or saucepan works at home. Common mistake: using dry shop rice flour straight from the packet; it needs to be just damp enough to clump when pressed, or the cake falls apart, and it is done when the top looks matt and a skewer comes out clean, about 10–12 minutes. Chef's tip: soak and grind your own rice flour if you can; flour from soaked rice, dried for an hour, gives the softest pitha.

45 minIndianIndian SweetsVeganGluten free
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Gato zinzliSesame caramel sweets

Zinzli is the Mauritian Creole word for sesame, and gato zinzli are the little amber squares or drops of toasted sesame set in caramelised sugar that crowd the edge of every Divali plate on the island, next to moutaille and cravate. They are close to the til chikki of India but made with white sugar, a squeeze of lime and a little vanilla, so they are glassy, crunchy and nutty. Common mistake: taking the caramel off too early, which gives chewy sweets that stick to your teeth; cook the sugar to a light amber, about the hard-crack stage, when a drop in cold water snaps cleanly. Chef's tip: have everything oiled and ready before you start, because once the sesame goes in you have only a minute or two to shape it.

30 minMauritianIndian SweetsVeganGluten free
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Vellai paniyaramWhite rice and urad puffs

Vellai paniyaram, 'white paniyaram', is the tiffin of Chettinad that surprises outsiders: a rice and urad batter thinned with a little milk-free water is spooned into hot oil and pulled out while it is still pale and pillowy, crisp only at the very edge. In Karaikudi homes it comes to the table at evening tiffin with spicy kara chutney, a tomato kosamalli or kathirikai gothsu. The key mistake is overheating the oil: the paniyaram browns and loses its signature white colour, so keep the heat at medium and fry quickly. Chef's tip: a teaspoon of sugar in the batter helps the puffs rise without colouring, and spooning oil over the top makes them balloon.

50 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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GhughuteFried jaggery dough shapes

In Kumaon, Makar Sankranti is Ghughutiya, and the evening before, families knead wheat flour with jaggery and shape it into little drums (damru), swords, knots and flowers, fry them and thread them into necklaces with an orange in the middle. The next morning children wear the garlands and call the crows: 'kale kale, ghughuti mala khale', offering them the first bites before eating the rest themselves. The ghughute are crisp outside and slightly chewy within, gently sweet with fennel. Common mistake: oil that is too hot; they darken in seconds but stay doughy inside, so fry on a medium heat until they are an even deep gold and sound hollow when tapped. Chef's tip: keep the dough quite stiff, like for mathri; soft dough loses its shapes in the oil.

60 minIndianIndian Sweets
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Farari dhoklaFasting dhokla with sago

On Ekadashi, Shravan Mondays and Navratri fasts, Gujarati homes swap the usual rice and dal dhokla for this farari version made from samo (barnyard millet) and sabudana. Both are ground to a coarse flour, soaked briefly in sour yogurt and steamed into soft, slightly chewy squares with a nutty flavour, finished with a cumin and green chilli tempering. Rock salt replaces table salt and there is no turmeric or hing, as many fasting households avoid them. The common mistake is steaming straight after mixing: the samo needs at least 30 minutes to drink up the yogurt, or the dhokla turns gritty. Chef's tip: grind the sago to a fine powder first, then add the samo, so no hard pearls survive.

35 minIndianSnacks & StartersGluten free
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Kashi halwaAsh gourd halwa

Kashi halwa, also called dumrot, is the sweet that ends Udupi and Karnataka wedding feasts, spooned onto the banana leaf next to payasa. Grated white ash gourd cooks down in its own juice with sugar and ghee until it turns glassy and golden, with saffron for colour and cashews for crunch; it tastes delicate and buttery, not vegetal. The mistake most people make is skipping the squeeze: grate the gourd and leave the water in, and the halwa takes an hour to thicken and goes mushy. Squeeze it well, then cook the gourd in that juice. Chef's tip: add the sugar only after the gourd is soft and translucent; sugar added early firms the shreds and they never turn tender.

60 minIndianIndian SweetsGluten free
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MurkiPuffed rice in jaggery

Nabanna, the 'new rice' festival of late autumn in Bangladesh and West Bengal, celebrates the first harvest of aman paddy, and the season's first date-palm jaggery arrives just in time. Murki is the treat every village makes for it: crisp puffed rice tossed in a pan of thick, boiling khejur gur until each grain is coated in a thin, crackly glaze, with a hint of dry ginger. It is offered to guests on Nabanna and on Bijoya and Lakshmi Puja, and children eat it by the handful. The common mistake is undercooking the syrup, which leaves the murki chewy and clumped; overcook it and it tastes burnt. The syrup is ready when large, slow bubbles cover the surface and a drop in cold water sets into a ball you can roll. Chef's tip: toss with two spatulas, lifting from the bottom, and keep going until the grains separate and stop sticking.

20 minBangladeshiDessertsVeganGluten free
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Then mittaiSyrup-soaked rice and urad balls

Then mittai, 'honey sweets', were sold from glass jars at the petti kadai outside every Tamil village school in the 1980s and 90s, glossy red balls that crunch and then squirt sweet syrup. They're nostalgic now and great fun to make at home for children's parties. The mistake is frying too hot, which browns the outside before the centre cooks; they should fry slowly to a crisp shell. Chef's tip: let the fried balls cool for a minute before dropping them into warm, not hot, syrup so they stay crisp instead of going soggy.

60 minIndianIndian SweetsVeganGluten free
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Tal ni chikkiSesame jaggery brittle

On 14 January every Gujarati rooftop fills with kite-flyers, and somewhere between the manja reels there is always a tin of tal ni chikki, broken into shards. The thinnest kind, tal sankli, is rolled out so fine you can almost see through it; it shatters with a snap and tastes of toasted sesame and dark caramel. It is a two-ingredient sweet where everything depends on the jaggery. Common mistake: pulling the jaggery off the heat too soon; it must reach the hard-crack stage, when a drop in cold water sets instantly and snaps cleanly, or the chikki stays chewy and sticks to the teeth. Chef's tip: work fast and roll on the greased back of a steel thali; if it hardens before you finish, warm it in the pan for a few seconds.

30 minIndianIndian SweetsVeganGluten free
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Shakkariya nu shaakSweet potato with peanuts

Gujarati families keeping the Mahashivratri upvas often fill the thali with shakkariya nu shaak, a quick dry curry of sweet potato cubes tempered with cumin and green chilli, finished with crushed roasted peanuts, a little sugar and a squeeze of lemon. It is sweet, tangy and gently hot, and is eaten with rajgira puri, sabudana khichdi or a bowl of farali kadhi. Only rock salt and green chilli are used here; many households avoid turmeric and red chilli powder on fasting days, and some do not eat cumin either, so adjust to your own family's custom. Common mistake: stirring too hard once the cubes soften, which turns the shaak into mash; turn gently, and stop cooking when a cube gives way when pressed but still holds its shape. Chef's tip: soak the cubes in water while you prepare the rest; it rinses off surface starch so they brown instead of sticking.

28 minIndianVegetarianVeganGluten free
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Mangodi ki sabziMoong dal nuggets in yogurt gravy

Mangodi are little sun-dried nuggets of ground moong dal that Rajasthani women make in summer and store for months; during Paryushan, when Marwari Jain homes give up green vegetables, they become the sabzi itself. Here they are fried golden, then simmered in a spiced yoghurt gravy with no onion, garlic, fresh ginger or tomato, so the dish is fully Jain. The nuggets soak up the tangy gravy and turn soft but still a little chewy; serve with phulka or bajra roti. Use freshly set curd, as many Jains avoid curd kept overnight. Common mistake: pouring yoghurt straight into a hot pan, which makes it split into grainy curds; whisk it with gram flour first and keep stirring until it comes to the boil. Chef's tip: fry the mangodi until deep golden; pale ones stay hard in the middle however long they simmer.

40 minIndianCurriesGluten free
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Makai pauva no chevdoCorn flake snack mix

Makai pauva no chevdo is the quickest chevdo in a Gujarati farsan shop, and the one that disappears first from Diwali trays. Raw, unsweetened corn flakes (makai pauva) are fried in batches until they puff and blister, then tossed with fried peanuts, roasted chana, curry leaves, raisins, a little sugar and chilli. It is light, crunchy and sweet-salty, perfect with afternoon tea. The common mistake is using breakfast cereal flakes, which are sugared and burn at once; buy the plain makai pauva sold in Indian grocers. Chef's tip: fry a small handful at a time; they puff and turn crisp in seconds and need to come out before they darken.

30 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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Nuvvula saddiRice with roasted sesame powder

Each family takes several saddulu, flavoured rice dishes, to the lake on Saddula Bathukamma, the last evening of Telangana's flower festival, and swaps them with neighbours after the songs; sesame rice, lemon rice, peanut rice and coconut rice are the usual set. Nuvvula saddi is the nuttiest of them: freshly roasted sesame ground with dried red chilli, tossed through cooked rice with a tempering of mustard seeds, dals, peanuts and curry leaves. It is eaten at room temperature, so the grains must stay separate. Common mistake: grinding the sesame for too long, which turns it to oily paste; pulse only until it looks like coarse sand. The sesame is roasted enough when it crackles, turns light gold and one seed crushes easily between your fingers. Chef's tip: cook the rice a little firm and spread it on a plate to cool before mixing, so it does not break up.

25 minIndianRice & GrainsGluten free
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Nombu adaiSweet rice flour and cowpea cakes

Karadaiyan Nombu falls on the day the Tamil month of Maasi turns into Panguni, and married women in Tamil Nadu fast for their husbands' long life in memory of Savitri, who won her husband back from Yama. The fast is broken at an auspicious minute with these adai, offered with a lump of unmelted butter and tied on with a yellow thread. The rice flour is roasted, cooked into a dough with jaggery, coconut and boiled cowpeas, shaped into small discs with a hole in the middle and steamed. A savoury batch with green chilli, ginger and curry leaves is usually made alongside. Common mistake: using raw rice flour, which makes the adai sticky; roast it until it is warm and flows like sand, and the adai are done when they turn glossy and no longer stick to a wet finger. Chef's tip: for the savoury version, swap the jaggery for 2 chopped green chillies, a little grated ginger and a mustard-seed tempering.

60 minIndianSnacks & StartersGluten free
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BhakraFried yogurt semolina cakes

Bhakra are the thick, sweet fried cakes that Parsi families of Navsari and Udvada make for the Navjote and wedding days, for Jamshedi Navroz and to pack for long journeys, because they keep for a couple of weeks. The old recipe rises with toddy; this alcohol-free version uses sour yogurt and a little baking soda, which gives the same faint tang and a close, cakey crumb. Outside they fry to a deep mahogany crust, inside they are firm, buttery and fragrant with cardamom and nutmeg. The most common mistake is frying in oil that is too hot: the outside browns in a minute while the centre stays raw and doughy. Chef's tip: fry them low and slow, and break one open before you do the rest of the batch.

65 minIndianIndian Sweets
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Thavala vadaiMixed dal and rice fritters

Thavala vadai belongs to the old Brahmin kitchens of Thanjavur and Kumbakonam, where it is fried for the afternoon 'tiffin' or for guests on festival days. Four dals and a little rice are ground coarse with pepper, then studded with tiny coconut cubes, so each vadai is rough and pebbly outside and soft and nutty within. The usual mistake is grinding it as smooth as medu vada batter; thavala vadai wants a gritty, semolina-like texture, so keep the grinder on pulse. Chef's tip: shape them small and thick with a dent in the middle using your thumb, so the centre cooks through before the outside darkens.

50 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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KulerBajra ghee jaggery balls

On Nag Pancham, Gujarati women draw a snake in kumkum on the wall or visit a nag temple and offer kuler with milk and cotton: a raw sweet of fine bajra flour rubbed with ghee and jaggery, rolled into soft balls. Since the day is a cold-food day in many homes, nothing is cooked; the bajra simply soaks up the ghee. It is soft, earthy, sweet and slightly sandy. Common mistake: using coarse or stale bajra flour, which tastes bitter and gritty; use fresh, finely ground flour, and the mix is ready when a handful holds together when squeezed. If you prefer, you can lightly roast the flour first, though that is not the traditional way. Chef's tip: grate the jaggery very finely, or melt it with the ghee and cool slightly, so it blends evenly.

15 minIndianIndian SweetsGluten free
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Ugadi pachadiSix-taste new year relish

On Ugadi morning in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka, the first thing anyone eats after the oil bath and prayers is a spoonful of this pachadi, handed round in a small steel cup. Each ingredient stands for a feeling the coming year will bring: jaggery for joy, bitter neem flowers for sorrow, sour tamarind for disgust, raw mango for surprise, pepper for anger and salt for fear, so tasting them together is a quiet promise to accept whatever comes. In Maharashtra, Gudi Padwa begins with a close cousin, tender neem leaves ground with jaggery, cumin and tamarind. The finished pachadi is thin, sweet first, then sharp and faintly bitter. The common mistake is a heavy hand with neem: half a spoon too much and bitterness drowns every other taste. Stir until the jaggery has dissolved completely and no grains crunch against the spoon. Chef's tip: make it on the morning itself, as the cut mango softens and the neem turns muddy if it sits overnight.

15 minIndianChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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Sattu ke ladduRoasted gram laddus

Kajli Teej in Bundi, Rajasthan, falls in the dark fortnight of Bhadrapad, when women fast for their husbands and break the fast in the evening by moonrise with sattu: roasted gram flour mixed with ghee, sugar and nuts and pressed into laddus or one large decorated cake called a sattu pinda. The laddus are nutty, soft, powdery and very filling. Common mistake: using plain besan instead of sattu, or under-roasting the sattu, which tastes raw; roast gently in ghee until it smells biscuity and the ghee starts to separate at the edges. Chef's tip: shape while the mix is warm but cool enough to hold, and press each laddu firmly in your palm so it does not crumble.

25 minIndianIndian Sweets
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Avalose podiRoasted rice flour and coconut powder

Avalose podi is a keeping snack from central Kerala, especially Syrian Christian homes around Kottayam and Thrissur, made in big batches before Christmas or long journeys. Coconut is rubbed into rice flour and roasted for close to an hour until the mix turns sandy, golden and smells like toasted biscuits. It is eaten by the spoonful with a little sugar and a ripe banana, or with black coffee, and can be bound with jaggery into avalose unda. The mistake is high heat; the coconut browns before the flour is cooked through and the podi tastes raw and bitter. Chef's tip: keep stirring over low heat until a pinch, cooled, falls apart like sand between your fingers.

65 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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Mangai pachadiRaw mango and jaggery relish

Every Tamil New Year plate in April has a small heap of mangai pachadi, sweet, sour, hot and bitter at once, so that the first meal of the year tastes of everything life will bring. Chunks of raw mango are cooked soft, simmered in jaggery and finished with a mustard tempering and a pinch of fried neem flowers. It is glossy and thick, eaten in small spoonfuls with rice, sambar and payasam. The common mistake is cooking it down too far: it thickens a lot as it cools, so stop when the syrup coats the spoon but still drips off slowly. Cook the mango first until a piece mashes easily; jaggery added to hard mango stops it softening. Chef's tip: choose firm, very sour mangoes; sweet, half-ripe ones go mushy and lose the sharp contrast.

30 minIndianChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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Chhanar jilipiSyrupy fried chhena coils

On Bhai Phonta, the Bengali Bhai Dooj, sisters mark their brothers' foreheads with sandalwood and kajal and then pile a plate with sweets, and chhanar jilipi is one of the favourites: fresh chhena kneaded with a little flour, rolled into ropes, coiled and fried slowly until almost mahogany, then soaked in syrup. Unlike crisp jalebi, it is soft and juicy inside with a chewy, caramelised skin, and it appears again on Bijoya Dashami. Common mistake: chhena that is too wet or under-kneaded, which cracks or falls apart in the oil; knead until the dough is completely smooth and your palm feels greasy. Fry on a low heat so the inside cooks before the outside darkens. Chef's tip: keep the syrup warm and only lightly sticky, about the thickness of single cream rather than a one-string syrup, so it can soak right into the coils.

80 minIndianIndian Sweets
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Bharuchi khari singSalt-roasted peanuts

Bharuch on the Narmada is famous across Gujarat for khari sing, salted peanuts sold in paper packets at the station and on the highway, and carried home by every traveller. Whole peanuts are soaked in strong salt water, then roasted in a big iron pan of hot salt (or sand) until the skins crackle and dry to a thin, white, salty crust over a deeply roasted, crunchy nut. They are a travel snack, a tea-time nibble and a fasting-friendly protein. The common mistake is roasting too fast over high heat: the shells char outside while the nut stays chewy inside, so roast steadily over medium-low and taste a nut before you stop. Chef's tip: the roasting salt can be sieved, cooled and kept in a jar for the next batch.

35 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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Gobhi pakoraCauliflower fritters

When the first winter cauliflowers arrive in the Punjab sabzi mandi, half of them end up as gobhi pakore, fried on a rainy afternoon or on a cold Sunday evening and eaten straight from the kadai with mint chutney and a steaming glass of tea. The batter is thick and rough with ajwain, chilli and a spoon of rice flour, so it fries into a craggy, crunchy shell around a soft, sweet floret. The usual mistake is dropping raw, thick florets into the oil: the batter is brown long before the stalk is cooked, so give the florets a two-minute dip in boiling salted water first and dry them well. Chef's tip: fry them once until pale gold, rest for five minutes, then fry again for a minute just before serving; the second fry keeps them crisp for much longer.

40 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganSpicy
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Farari handvoFasting savoury cake with sago

Farari handvo is what Gujarati families bake in a heavy pan on Janmashtami, Ekadashi and Navratri fast days, when rice, lentils and wheat are off the menu. A batter of ground samo (barnyard millet) and sabudana soured with yogurt is loaded with grated bottle gourd, crushed peanuts, ginger and green chilli, then cooked slowly over a cumin and sesame tempering until a golden crust forms on both sides. Cut into wedges, it is soft and moist inside, nutty and crunchy outside. The common mistake is cooking over high heat: the crust burns before the thick centre sets, so keep the flame low and the pan covered. Chef's tip: squeeze nothing from the dudhi; its juice is what hydrates the samo during the rest.

60 minIndianSnacks & StartersGluten free
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Kalkandu vadaiSweet urad dal rock sugar vadai

Kalkandu vadai is the sweet cousin of medu vadai, made in Chettinad homes for festivals and for the trays that go to a bride's house. Soaked urad dal and a little rice are ground fluffy and mixed with crushed kalkandu (rock sugar) and coconut, then fried into small golden rounds that are crisp outside, soft inside, with pockets of melted crystal sugar. They are eaten warm with coffee. A common mistake is grinding the rock sugar in with the batter, which turns the batter runny; crush it coarsely and fold it in just before frying. Chef's tip: fry these on slightly lower heat than savoury vadai, because sugar browns fast and burns before the centre cooks.

50 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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Malida (Telangana)Crumbled roti with jaggery and ghee

Bathukamma is Telangana's nine-day flower festival before Dasara, when women stack marigold, celosia and tangedu flowers into towering cones, sing around them in the evening and float them on a lake. On the final day, Saddula Bathukamma, everyone carries a little bundle of saddulu (flavoured rice) and sweet malida to share by the water. Malida is the simplest sweet there is: soft wheat rotis cooked fresh, torn and blitzed while still warm, then rubbed with jaggery, ghee, cardamom and nuts until it clumps like soft crumble, sometimes pressed into balls. Common mistake: letting the rotis go cold and crisp, which gives a dry, dusty powder; they should still be warm and pliable, and the malida is right when a handful squeezed together holds its shape. Chef's tip: a teaspoon of roasted poppy seeds or dry coconut gives the Telangana village touch.

30 minIndianIndian Sweets
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Congress kadlekaiSpiced roasted peanuts

Congress kadlekai is a fixture of Bengaluru's Iyengar bakeries and the Basavanagudi Kadlekai Parishe, the peanut fair held each November. Roasted peanuts are split in half, which is said to be where the name comes from, and tossed in a little hot oil with curry leaves, hing and chilli so the spices cling to the flat sides. It's salty, crunchy and very hard to stop eating with evening coffee. A common mistake is frying the peanuts in the tempering: they're already roasted and burn quickly, so add them off the heat. Chef's tip: rub the warm roasted peanuts in a cloth and blow away the skins; skinless halves take the masala much better.

20 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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Bharela marchaStuffed green chillies

In Kathiawad, bharela marcha are made with the long, fat and fairly mild bhavnagri chillies that come in every winter, and they sit beside a thali of rotla, kadhi and khichdi as a sweet-sour-hot side. The filling is besan roasted in oil until nutty, mixed with sugar, lemon, turmeric and dhana-jiru, and the chillies are cooked covered on low heat until soft and blistered in patches. A common mistake is using small, very hot chillies; choose large mild ones, or the dish is too fierce to eat. Chef's tip: slit the chillies only on one side and scrape out the seeds and ribs; the heat drops right down and the filling stays inside.

30 minIndianSidesVeganGluten freeSpicy
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Mah-karaiRoasted rice and sesame mix

On Goru Bihu, the first day of Bohag Bihu in mid-April, Assamese families bathe the cattle in the river and then sit down to a handful of mah-karai, a crunchy mix of separately roasted grains and seeds that is said to keep the body strong for the year ahead. It is nutty, dry and gently salty, with the odd sharp slice of fresh ginger, and is passed round in a small bowl alongside jolpan and pitha. Common mistake: roasting everything in one pan; each item browns at its own pace, so roast them one by one until they smell toasted and crackle when shaken. Chef's tip: roast the black gram first and longest, until it splits and turns deep brown, because undercooked gram stays hard as gravel.

25 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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ChalimidiRice flour and jaggery sweet

Chalimidi is a no-cook-flour sweet from Andhra and Telangana, offered to the goddess at Navaratri and Nagula Chavithi and handed out at naming ceremonies and baby showers. Soaked rice is dried, pounded into fresh flour and stirred into a thick jaggery syrup with coconut, so it sets into a soft, damp, slightly crumbly dough that is shaped into small balls. It tastes of molasses and cardamom and is eaten as it is, at room temperature. The most common mistake is undercooking the syrup: a thin syrup leaves the chalimidi sticky and pasty, so cook it to a firm soft-ball stage. Chef's tip: use freshly ground soaked rice, not shop rice flour; the slightly damp flour is what gives chalimidi its tender bite.

35 minIndianIndian SweetsVeganGluten free
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Poda pithaBaked rice and urad cake

Raja is Odisha's three-day festival in mid-June when the earth is said to rest before the monsoon: farming stops, girls wear new clothes, swing on rope swings under the trees and eat pitha instead of cooking rice. Poda pitha, literally 'burnt cake', is the star. A fermented batter of rice and black gram is mixed with jaggery, coconut, pepper and cardamom and baked very slowly, traditionally in a pot buried in embers, until the outside is dark and crusty and the inside sets moist and springy. This is not chhena poda: there is no cheese, only rice and dal. Common mistake: cutting it hot; it needs to cool fully to set, and it is done when a skewer comes out clean and the top is deep brown. Allow an overnight soak and an 8–10 hour ferment before you start. Chef's tip: line the tin with banana leaf if you can get it; the leaf scorches and gives the cake its smoky, village flavour.

130 minIndianIndian SweetsVeganGluten free
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Moong dal dhoklaSteamed moong dal squares

Across Gujarat, moong dal dhokla is the lighter cousin of khaman: the breakfast plate in Ahmedabad homes, the tiffin snack that travels well, and a regular on the table when someone in the house is eating light. Split yellow moong is soaked, ground with ginger and green chilli and steamed into pale, springy squares, then splashed with a hot tempering of mustard seeds, sesame and curry leaves. It is mild, savoury and slightly sweet from the dal itself, and best with green chutney. A common mistake is grinding the dal to a thin, watery paste; the dhokla then steams flat and dense, so keep the batter thick enough to drop slowly from a spoon. Chef's tip: stir in the fruit salt only when the steamer is already boiling and the tray is greased, because its fizz fades within a couple of minutes.

45 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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ThandaiAlmond, fennel and rose milk

On Mahashivratri the ghats and temples of Varanasi fill with brass pots of thandai, a cooling milk ground with almonds, melon seeds, fennel, poppy seeds, black pepper and rose, poured as an offering to Shiva and then shared with everyone queuing for darshan. In the city's lanes it is sometimes made with bhang (cannabis); this version is made entirely without it and contains no alcohol, so the whole family can drink it. It tastes nutty, floral and gently peppery, and is thick enough to coat the glass. Most people who keep the Shivratri fast take it, since it holds only milk, nuts, seeds and spices, but check your own family's rules: some leave out poppy seeds, and poppy seeds are restricted in a few countries, so skip them if you need to. Common mistake: grinding the soaked nuts and seeds with too little water, which leaves a gritty paste; keep blending until it feels smooth between your fingertips, then strain. Chef's tip: make the paste the night before and keep it in the fridge; the flavour deepens and you only need to whisk it into cold milk on the day.

30 minIndianDrinksGluten free
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Bhavnagari gathiyaCrunchy gram flour sticks

Bhavnagar is Gujarat's gathiya town, and its namkeen shops sell these thick, knobbly sticks by the kilo, warm in the morning with fried chillies and papaya sambharo, and boxed up for relatives abroad. They are thicker than any sev, with a rough, bubbly surface from being rubbed through a flat perforated gathiya jharo (or pressed through the largest disc of a sev press), and the dough is beaten with oil and soda so they stay light and crunchy rather than hard. Ajwain and coarse black pepper give them their warmth. The common mistake is a stiff dough: it will not pass through the holes and the gathiya come out dense. Chef's tip: beat the oil, water and soda together until white and frothy before adding the flour; that is what makes them airy.

40 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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BatashaPuffy sugar drops

On Pohela Boishakh, the Bengali New Year in mid-April, the fairs that spring up in Dhaka, across Bangladesh and in West Bengal sell batasha by the basket, and shopkeepers hand them out with sweets as they open their new account books for halkhata. Temples receive them as offerings, and children crunch them on the way home. They are simply sugar boiled hot, then foamed with a pinch of soda and dropped in coins that set airy, crisp and melt-in-the-mouth. The common mistake is pulling the syrup off too early: below the hard-ball stage the drops spread flat and stay sticky. The syrup is ready at about 125 °C, when a drop in cold water forms a firm ball that keeps its shape. Chef's tip: work fast once the soda goes in, because the syrup sets within a minute; ask someone to help you drop them.

25 minBangladeshiDessertsVeganGluten free
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Ambalappuzha paal payasamSlow-cooked rice milk pudding

The Krishna temple at Ambalappuzha in Alappuzha is famous for one offering: a paal payasam of rice, milk and sugar boiled in huge bronze vessels until it turns a soft pink. Kerala families make a smaller pot at home for Vishu and Onam, and it is the simplest payasam there is, with no nuts, raisins or spice in the temple style. The colour comes only from long, patient simmering, as the milk sugars slowly caramelise. The common mistake is adding the sugar too early; the rice stays firm and the milk sticks to the base, so wait until a grain crushes to nothing between your fingers. It is ready when it has reduced by about half, coats the spoon thickly and has turned from white to a light rosy beige. Chef's tip: keep it at a steady, lively simmer rather than a low murmur, and stir right across the base every few minutes; the movement is what gives the creamy texture.

150 minIndianIndian SweetsGluten free
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Vaal nu shaakDried field beans with ajwain

During the eight days of Paryushan many Gujarati Jain families stop eating green, leafy and fresh vegetables, so the kitchen turns to dried pulses, and vaal (dried field beans) cooked soft with ajwain and hing is a regular on the thali. This recipe is fully Jain: no onion, no garlic, no fresh ginger and no root vegetables, with dry ginger powder for warmth and amchur instead of tomato for sourness. The beans are creamy and a little bitter-sweet, balanced by jaggery, and are eaten with rotli, rice and kadhi, finished before sunset in strict homes. Common mistake: using beans that have not soaked long enough; they stay hard and split unevenly. Cook them until one squashes easily between your thumb and finger, but not so long that they burst. Chef's tip: ajwain and hing make vaal much easier to digest, so do not skip the tempering; for a gluten-free dish use a gluten-free hing.

60 minIndianCurriesVeganGluten free
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Chakka varattiJackfruit jaggery preserve

Vishu arrives in April when Kerala's jackfruit trees are heavy, and homes turn the glut into chakka varatti, a dark, glossy jam stirred for well over an hour in a wide uruli. It is eaten by the spoon, spread on dosa, and kept in jars for the payasam and ada made at festivals through the year. The taste is deep and caramel-like, with the floral sweetness of ripe jackfruit. The common mistake is cooking it on a high heat to save time: jaggery burns quickly and turns the whole batch bitter. It is done when the ghee starts to separate and shine at the edges, the colour is a dark mahogany brown, and the mass rolls round the pan as one lump. Chef's tip: use only very ripe, fragrant jackfruit bulbs, and if your jackfruit is the firm varikka type, steam it first so it purées smoothly.

120 minIndianIndian SweetsGluten free
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Veppampoo rasamNeem flower rasam

Puthandu, the Tamil New Year in mid-April, falls when neem trees across Tamil Nadu are in flower, and the festive lunch has a little bitterness on purpose, to remind everyone that the year will bring both sweet and bitter. Veppampoo rasam does it gently: dried neem flowers are fried in ghee until crisp and stirred into a light tamarind rasam with pepper and cumin. It is thin, warming and sour, with a toasty bitter finish, and it is poured over rice or sipped from a tumbler. The common mistake is burning the flowers; they turn from golden to black in seconds and taste acrid, so have the rasam ready before you heat the ghee. The rasam is ready when it froths up to the top of the pan; take it off before it reaches a rolling boil. Chef's tip: fry a few extra flowers and scatter them over each serving for crunch.

30 minIndianSoupsGluten free
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PaapeTwice-baked tea rusks

No Punjabi kitchen is without a tin of paape. They are dunked in the first cup of tea at dawn and again at four o'clock, carried to the fields, and offered to every guest who drops in. Bakeries across Punjab bake a sweet, light loaf, slice it and dry it slowly until it snaps, and this home version does exactly the same. The common mistake is slicing the loaf while it is still warm: it squashes, and the rusks dry out dense and gummy. Let it cool completely, ideally overnight. Chef's tip: dry the slices at a low temperature until the centre snaps cleanly; any softness in the middle and they go stale within days.

90 minIndianBaking
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Ranga alur pitheSweet potato coconut parcels

Poush Sankranti in Bengal is the day for pithe, and ranga alur pithe uses the sweet potatoes that come in with the winter harvest. Boiled sweet potato is kneaded with a little flour into a soft dough, wrapped round a coconut and jaggery filling, fried and then dipped in syrup, so you get a crisp shell, a melting orange layer and a sweet, nutty centre. They are eaten warm on the festival evening or the next day once they have soaked up more syrup. Common mistake: watery sweet potato; boil it whole in its skin and let it steam dry, or the dough gets sticky and the pithe burst in the oil. They are fried enough when they are deep golden and float. Chef's tip: the syrup should be warm and at one-string stage, a thread forming between finger and thumb; too thick and it won't soak in.

60 minIndianIndian Sweets
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Alwar milk cakeGrainy reduced-milk sweet

Sweet boxes swapped on Raksha Bandhan in Rajasthan very often hold Alwar milk cake: a dense slab of full-fat milk reduced for hours with sugar, then left to set slowly in its own heat so the middle caramelises dark brown while the edges stay pale and grainy. Unlike kalakand, it uses no chhena at all; the grain comes from souring the milk just a little as it reduces, and the colour from long, patient cooking. It is fudgy, milky and toffee-like. Common mistake: hurrying the last stage on a high flame, which scorches the base instead of browning it; the mass is ready when it leaves the sides of the pan as one sticky lump and the ghee starts to show at the edges. Chef's tip: wrap the filled tin in a thick towel and leave it overnight; that slow cooling is what browns the centre.

155 minIndianIndian SweetsGluten free
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ChhatuaRoasted gram flour with curd

Pana Sankranti, in mid-April, is Odisha's new year and its own version of Baisakhi, and the day is kept with two cooling things: a jug of pana, the sweet bel-fruit drink, and a bowl of chhatua. The chhatua is a mix of roasted flours, usually chana, barley and rice, stirred with curd, ripe banana, jaggery and fresh coconut into a soft, sustaining mash that needs no cooking on a hot day. It is mild, sweet and nutty, and many families offer it first at the household shrine. Common mistake: making it watery; add the curd a little at a time and stop when it is like thick porridge that just holds a spoon. Chef's tip: roast your own flours in a dry pan until they smell of toast; ready-made sattu works, but freshly roasted flour has a far deeper flavour.

15 minIndianBreakfast & Brunch
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Doodh pauvaChilled saffron milk with flattened rice

Sharad Poonam, the brightest full moon of the year, ends the Navratri season in Gujarat; families sing garba late into the night and leave a bowl of doodh pauva out under the moon, believing its rays make it healing, before eating it cold together. It is thin poha soaked in reduced, sweetened milk with cardamom, saffron and nuts, cooling, soft and lightly creamy, the Gujarati cousin of Maharashtra's Kojagiri masala doodh. Common mistake: adding poha to hot milk or too early, so it turns to porridge; chill the milk first and stir the poha in only 10–15 minutes before eating, when the flakes are soft but still separate. Chef's tip: simmer the milk down by a quarter before chilling; a little reduction gives body without needing cream.

25 minIndianIndian SweetsGluten free
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Vishu kanjiRice and green gram porridge

In Kerala, Vishu starts before sunrise with the kani, when each member of the family is led with closed eyes to see a tray of rice, gold-yellow konna flowers, fruit, a mirror and a lamp, so the year begins with something lucky. Breakfast afterwards, in many central Kerala homes, is this kanji: rice and lightly roasted whole green gram cooked soft and finished with coconut milk, eaten with a dry chakka or pumpkin side and pappadam. It is mild, creamy and nourishing, nothing like a plain rice gruel. The common mistake is boiling the thick coconut milk, which splits it and turns the kanji grainy; it goes in at the end, off the boil. It is ready when the gram has burst and the rice falls apart when stirred. Chef's tip: a few crushed cumin seeds and a shallot fried in coconut oil spooned over each bowl make it taste festive.

45 minIndianRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
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Kanchipuram idliSpiced temple idli

Kanchipuram idli is the temple prasadam of the Varadharaja Perumal temple, where it was traditionally steamed in tall bamboo baskets lined with mandarai leaves. It is coarser and richer than everyday idli, with cracked pepper, cumin, dry ginger and cashews fried in ghee folded through, and it's eaten for breakfast or festival tiffin with coconut chutney and sambar. The mistake is grinding the rice as fine as for plain idli; it should feel like fine semolina so the idli has a crumbly, open bite. Chef's tip: steam in tumblers or small bowls lined with banana leaf for the tall shape and a gentle leaf aroma.

60 minIndianBreakfast & BrunchGluten free
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Pappada vadaFried pappadam fritters

Pappada vada is a Kerala tea-shop snack from the stretch between Thrissur and Palakkad, where a jar of them sits on the counter beside the banana fritters for the four o'clock chai break. Plain urad pappadams are dunked in a thin, chilli-red rice-flour batter with sesame and hing, then fried until the coating turns into a glassy, bubbly crust around the crisp pappadam inside. They are salty, peppery and loud to eat, and they keep in a tin for a week. The usual mistake is a thick batter: it fries into a hard, oily shell, so it should coat the back of a spoon thinly, like single cream. Chef's tip: use the small Kerala pappadams, not the big spiced Punjabi ones, and fry two at a time so the oil stays hot.

25 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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Kuttu ki pakodiBuckwheat and potato fritters

Across North India, homes keeping the Mahashivratri vrat give up grains for the day, so the evening snack is made with kuttu (buckwheat) flour instead of gram flour, bound with mashed potato and seasoned only with green chilli and sendha namak (rock salt). The fritters come out dark, crunchy and nutty, and are eaten hot with yoghurt or a green chutney made with rock salt once the evening puja is done. Rules differ: some families also avoid coriander leaves or black pepper while fasting, so leave out anything your household does not use. Common mistake: making the batter too thin; buckwheat has no gluten, so a runny batter breaks apart in the oil. It should be thick enough to drop from a spoon in a soft lump. Chef's tip: fry at about 175 °C; the pakodi should rise to the surface within 20 seconds and turn deep brown in 3–4 minutes, so they cook through without soaking up oil.

30 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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PalkovaMilk fudge

Srivilliputhur, the temple town of Andal near Virudhunagar, is so famous for its palkova that it has a protected geographical name. Local cows' milk is reduced in wide iron pans over a wood fire with sugar until it becomes a soft, grainy, pale caramel-coloured fudge, sold on banana-leaf squares and eaten as a sweet with tea or after meals. The mistake is turning the heat up to save time; the milk scorches, tastes burnt and the texture turns tough. Chef's tip: use full-fat milk and a wide, heavy pan, and stir the bottom and sides constantly in the last twenty minutes.

90 minIndianIndian SweetsGluten free
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KachariyuBlack sesame and date sweet

In Saurashtra the oil mills (ghani) run day and night through the Uttarayan season, and the first sesame pressed is mixed with dates and jaggery and sold as kachariyu, a dark, sticky, crumbly sweet that tastes of toasted seeds and spice. Families make it at home too and eat a spoonful every winter morning, and a bowl is always out on kite-flying day. The sesame is crushed until it releases its own oil, so it is rich but not greasy. Common mistake: grinding the sesame to a smooth paste; pulse it only until it turns damp and clumps, which keeps the texture grainy. The seeds are toasted enough when they crackle and a few start to jump out of the pan. Chef's tip: add a little ganthoda (pipli root) powder if you can find it, the traditional warming spice in Kathiawadi kachariyu.

20 minIndianIndian SweetsGluten free
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Bellam gavvaluShell-shaped dough in jaggery syrup

In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Sankranti is a three-day harvest festival of muggulu (rangoli) in front of every door, haridasu singers in the lanes and tins of fried sweets, and gavvalu are among the first to be made. Small pieces of dough are rolled over a ridged gavvala board or the back of a fork so they curl into little shells (gavvalu means cowrie shells), fried crisp, then tossed in jaggery syrup until each one is glazed with a dry, sugary crust. Common mistake: syrup that is not cooked far enough; it must reach the hard-ball stage, when a drop in water rolls into a firm ball, or the shells turn sticky instead of crisp-coated. Chef's tip: keep tossing after adding the shells until the syrup turns opaque and dry; that is the moment to tip them out.

65 minIndianIndian SweetsVegan
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Rauh di kheerRice in sugarcane juice

In Punjabi villages the cane harvest is in by Lohri, and on the night of the bonfire a pot of rice is set to cook slowly in fresh sugarcane juice (rauh) with no milk and no added sugar. The custom is to leave it to cool overnight and eat it cold the next morning, on Maghi, so you will often hear 'poh rinni, magh khaadi': cooked in Poh, eaten in Magh. It sets into a soft, brown, gently caramel pudding that tastes of cane. Common mistake: cooking on a high heat; the juice catches and turns bitter, so simmer it low and stir from the bottom, and it is done when the rice is very soft and the kheer coats the back of a spoon thickly. Chef's tip: skim off all the grey scum as the juice first comes to the boil, or the kheer tastes earthy.

120 minIndianIndian SweetsVeganGluten free
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SitabhogChhena strands in syrup

Sitabhog belongs to Bardhaman in West Bengal, and families there and across Bengal like to serve it for Bhai Phonta and at Bijoya: it looks like a bowl of fine white rice, but every grain is a strand of chhena and rice flour pressed into ghee, fried pale and soaked in syrup, then tossed with tiny saffron-tinted nikuti dumplings. It is light, soft and fragrant, best eaten with a spoon at room temperature. Common mistake: frying too hot, which colours the strands; sitabhog should stay ivory, so keep the ghee gentle and lift the strands out as soon as they are firm. The syrup should be at the one-thread stage, so a drop pulled between thumb and finger forms a single short thread. Chef's tip: gobindobhog or any short-grain rice ground to a fine flour gives the most authentic, fragrant strands; sieve it twice.

90 minIndianIndian SweetsGluten free
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Thiruvathira puzhukkuTubers and plantain with coconut

On Thiruvathira, in the Malayalam month of Dhanu, Kerala women keep a vow for Shiva and Parvati: they stay off rice, dance the thiruvathirakali in a circle at night and eat a plate built from the earth's tubers instead. Puzhukku is the heart of that plate, a thick, gently spiced mash of elephant-foot yam, colocasia, sweet potato, raw plantain and red cowpeas folded through a coarse paste of coconut, green chilli and cumin, then finished with raw coconut oil and curry leaves. Each tuber goes in at its own time so the pieces end up tender but still recognisable. Common mistake: stirring hard once everything is soft, which turns it into glue; it is done when a piece of yam crushes easily against the side of the pot and the water has almost gone, then you only fold. Eat it warm with koova payasam or a glass of buttermilk. Chef's tip: undercooked yam and colocasia can make the throat itch, so taste a piece before adding the coconut and keep cooking if it is still firm in the centre.

60 minIndianVegetarianVeganGluten free
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DresilSweet rice with butter and raisins

On the first morning of Losar, Tibetan and Sherpa households in the Himalaya and in Kathmandu greet the year with a bowl of dresil: rice tossed with melted butter, sugar, raisins and droma, the small sweet roots of a wild silverweed gathered on the high pastures. It is eaten with butter tea before visits begin, and a little is offered at the family shrine first. The rice is fluffy and glossy, gently sweet and buttery, with chewy bursts of fruit. The common mistake is cooking the sugar in with the rice, which makes it sticky and likely to catch; cook the rice plain, then fold everything in. It is ready when every grain is coated and separate and the raisins have plumped. Chef's tip: droma is hard to find outside Tibetan shops; chopped dried dates and a few toasted cashews give a similar sweet, earthy chew.

40 minNepaliRice & GrainsGluten free
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Jamnagari kachoriDry sweet-spicy kachori

Jamnagari kachori are the little dry kachori that travel: Gujarati families buy them by the box in Jamnagar and carry them abroad, because the filling has no water in it and they keep for a month. The pastry is short and crisp, and the filling is a crumbly mix of roasted besan, dry coconut, sesame, fennel, coriander seed, sugar, raisins and a hit of chilli and dry mango, sweet, sour and hot at once. They are a tea-time snack and part of every Diwali tray. The common mistake is frying them fast; they need a long, slow fry on low heat so the pastry cooks crisp all the way through. Chef's tip: roast the besan for the filling until it smells nutty and just darkens, or the kachori taste raw and floury.

90 minIndianSnacks & StartersVegan
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KodubaleSpicy rice flour rings

In Karnataka homes the Krishna Janmashtami spread of chakkuli, unde and avalakki always has a tin of kodubale beside it: little rings of rice flour, semolina and coconut ground with dried red chilli and cumin, rolled by hand and fried until they snap. They are spicy, nutty and very crunchy, and also go into Diwali and Gowri festival tins. Common mistake: making the ropes too thick, so the rings stay soft inside; roll them pencil-thin and fry on a medium heat until the sizzling dies down and they feel light. Chef's tip: grind the coconut with the chillies to a dry paste with no water; extra moisture makes the rings oily.

60 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganSpicy
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Ratalu puriFried purple yam slices

Ratalu puri belongs to Surat's evening snack trail, where farsan sellers on Chowk Bazaar fry purple yam slices to order and shake a tangy masala over them while they are still sizzling. Inside the crisp, golden coat the yam turns creamy and faintly sweet, and the masala of dry mango, black salt and chilli wakes everything up. They are eaten hot with green chutney, usually on cool winter evenings when ratalu is in season. A common mistake is cutting the yam too thick: slices thicker than 3 mm stay raw in the middle by the time the batter browns. Chef's tip: oil your hands before peeling ratalu, as the raw sap can make skin itch.

30 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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KamarkattuCoconut jaggery candy balls

Kamarkattu is the toffee of Tamil village shops, dark, chewy, caramel-scented balls of coconut and jaggery that cost a few paise in the days when children bought sweets one at a time. It's quick to make at home and keeps for a couple of weeks. The mistake is taking the jaggery too far: if the syrup hardens past the soft-ball stage, kamarkattu turns rock hard and pulls fillings. Chef's tip: test a drop in cold water; when it forms a soft ball you can squash, switch off and shape immediately.

30 minIndianIndian SweetsVeganGluten free
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Bajri na vadaPearl millet and fenugreek fritters

On Randhan Chhath, the 'cooking sixth' in Gujarat, kitchens work all day frying food for the next day, Shitala Satam, when the stove is cleaned, worshipped and left cold out of respect for the goddess Shitala. Bajri na vada are always in that tin: bajra flour, fresh methi, yoghurt, jaggery, ginger and chilli patted into thick discs and fried, soft inside and crisp-edged, and even better cold with curd and pickle. Common mistake: oil that is too hot, which browns them before the thick middle cooks; fry on a medium heat until they puff, stop bubbling hard and turn deep brown. Chef's tip: wet your palms and pat the discs on a damp cloth or plastic sheet; bajra dough has no gluten and cracks if handled dry.

45 minIndianSnacks & StartersGluten free
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Chushi pithaRice flour strands in milk

When the new rice is in and the date palms start giving their winter sap, Bangladeshi families make pitha for Nabanna and through the cold months, and chushi pitha is the one grandmothers roll by hand, an evening of small grain-shaped strands rubbed out between the palms. The strands are cooked in reduced milk with bay leaf and cardamom, then sweetened with fresh khejur gur, giving a pale caramel pudding with soft, slightly chewy pieces. The common mistake is adding the jaggery while the milk is still boiling: it can curdle it, so take the pan off the heat and let it cool for a few minutes first. The strands are done when they float, turn translucent at the edges and are soft right through. Chef's tip: let the rolled strands dry on a tray for 15 minutes before cooking; they hold their shape instead of dissolving into the milk.

75 minBangladeshiDessertsGluten free
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Kurkuri bhindiCrispy fried okra strips

Kurkuri bhindi is the dhaba and wedding-buffet side that disappears first: thin, slivered okra tossed in a dry coat of besan, chilli and amchur and fried until it shatters. In Punjabi and Delhi homes it is served as a tea-time snack, scattered over dal-chawal or eaten by the handful while the rest of dinner cooks. The mistake almost everyone makes once is washing the okra and slicing it while still damp: the coating turns into gluey lumps and the strips go limp. Wash it an hour ahead and dry it completely. Chef's tip: toss the slivers with the spices first and add the flours only just before frying, so the okra cannot release liquid into the coating.

27 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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Makhan mishriFresh butter with rock sugar

Stories from Mathura and Vrindavan tell of the child Krishna stealing butter from the pots of the cowherd women, so at midnight on Janmashtami the first offering in the temples and at home is a bowl of fresh white butter mixed with mishri, the rock-sugar crystals. The butter is churned from cream at home, so it is soft, cool and lightly tangy, and the sugar crunches against it. It is eaten as prasad in tiny spoonfuls, often with a tulsi leaf on top. Common mistake: churning warm cream, which turns greasy instead of breaking; the cream must be fridge-cold, and the butter is ready when yellow-white clumps separate cleanly from thin buttermilk. Chef's tip: rinse the butter in iced water two or three times and press it with a spoon; washing out the buttermilk keeps it fresh for a day.

15 minIndianIndian SweetsGluten free
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Obbattu saaruSpiced dal water rasam

Gowri Habba, Karnataka's version of Hartalika, comes the day before Ganesha Chaturthi, and the feast centres on obbattu (holige), flatbreads stuffed with chana dal and jaggery. Nothing goes to waste: the water the dal was boiled in, plus a spoon of the sweet filling, becomes obbattu saaru, a thin, sweet-sour-spicy rasam with tamarind, a coconut-spice paste and a mustard tadka, poured over rice beside the holige. Common mistake: boiling it hard after the coconut paste goes in, which dulls the flavour and makes it split; bring it just to a froth on top and switch off. Chef's tip: if you are not making holige, boil 50 g chana dal in 700 ml water, keep the water and mash a spoon of the dal with a little jaggery as the 'filling'.

30 minIndianSoupsGluten free
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HolanRoasted green chickpeas

In late winter, around the time of Holi, village children in rural Punjab pull up bunches of green chickpea plants from the edge of the field and throw them onto a small fire of dry stalks. Once the pods blacken they rake them out and shell them hot, blowing on their fingers, and the bright green peas inside taste smoky, sweet and nutty. At home you can do the same in a heavy iron kadai. The mistake is leaving them on until the pods are fully burnt; by then the peas inside are dry and hard. Stop when the pods are blistered black in patches and the peas are just tender. Chef's tip: a pinch of salt and chilli with a squeeze of lemon on the shelled peas turns them into a quick chaat.

15 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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Pidi kozhukattaiSavoury rice flour dumplings

Pidi kozhukattai, literally 'fist dumplings', is a Tamil evening tiffin and a Vinayaka Chaturthi offering in homes that make both sweet and savoury kozhukattai. The rice flour is cooked in tempered, spiced water until it forms a dough, then squeezed in your fist so each piece carries the print of your fingers, and steamed to a soft, light bite. The mistake is adding all the flour at once to cold water; it lumps and never cooks evenly, so stir it into boiling water in a stream. Chef's tip: shape them while the dough is still warm, with oiled palms; cold dough cracks.

40 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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Mor kaliButtermilk rice flour cake

Mor kali is a quick Tamil tiffin of the old style, made in Tirunelveli and Chennai Brahmin homes when there's sour buttermilk to use up. Rice flour is stirred into tempered buttermilk until it turns glossy and leaves the pan, then cut into squares, soft and wobbly with the salty, smoky crunch of fried mor milagai (curd chillies). The mistake is stopping too early: undercooked kali tastes raw and sticks to the teeth, so cook until it rolls into a ball that doesn't stick to a wet finger. Chef's tip: use buttermilk that is properly sour, a day or two old; fresh buttermilk tastes flat here.

25 minIndianSnacks & StartersGluten free
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ManoharamRice flour sticks in jaggery syrup

Manoharam is a Chettinad sweet made for weddings and the sweet trays of Deepavali, often shaped into a tall cone for the bridal seer. Short, crisp sticks of rice and moong flour are pressed and fried, then tossed in a jaggery syrup cooked to the hard-ball stage, so the syrup sets around them into a crunchy, molasses-sweet cluster. It is eaten in small pieces with coffee and keeps for weeks. The usual mistake is undercooked syrup, which never sets and leaves the sticks soggy; test it in cold water until it snaps. Chef's tip: have the fried sticks warm and ready in a wide greased bowl before the syrup reaches the right stage, as it starts setting within a minute.

75 minIndianIndian SweetsVeganGluten free
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Kholasapori pithaRice pancakes with coconut and jaggery

Kholasapori means 'pressed in the khola', the shallow clay pan that every Assamese kitchen brings out for Magh Bihu, when guests are offered a plate of pitha before anything else. These are thicker and softer than the crisp til pitha: a loose batter of sticky rice flour is spread on the hot pan, filled with coconut and jaggery and folded over, so the outside is lightly speckled and the inside chewy and sweet. A heavy cast-iron pan stands in well for the khola. Common mistake: a pan that is too hot; the batter should set slowly with no browning in the first minute, and it is ready to fold when the edges lift and the top no longer looks wet. Chef's tip: wipe the pan with a cloth dipped in oil between each pitha rather than pouring oil in, so they stay pale and even.

50 minIndianIndian SweetsVeganGluten free
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Halasina happalaJackfruit papads

In Udupi and the rainy Malnad hills, families turn the glut of summer jackfruit into happala: raw bulbs cooked soft, ground with chilli and cumin, pressed into thin rounds and dried on the terrace for the monsoon months. Fried in coconut oil they puff into a crisp, earthy papad with a gentle chilli heat, eaten with rice and saaru or on their own with tea. The common mistake is pressing them too thick; they stay leathery and won't puff. Aim for about 2 mm, thin enough to see light through the edges. Chef's tip: oil your hands, the plastic sheets and the press, because raw jackfruit latex is very sticky and will glue everything together.

90 minIndianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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NimkiFlaky fried nigella pastry

On Bijoya Dashami, the last day of Durga Puja, Bengali families visit elders, touch their feet and are fed sweets, and the tin of nimki is always opened alongside the narkel naru and mishti. Nimki are small diamonds of short pastry flavoured with kalonji (nigella seeds), fried slowly until they blister into flaky layers. They are salty, crunchy and very moreish with a cup of tea. Common mistake: frying in oil that is too hot; the outside browns while the inside stays raw and hard. Fry on a low-medium flame until the pieces float, sound hollow and are a pale golden colour. Chef's tip: the dough is ready when a handful pressed in your fist holds its shape (the 'moyan' test); too little ghee gives hard nimki, too much makes them crumble in the oil.

55 minIndianSnacks & Starters
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PankiRice flour pancakes in banana leaf

Panki is a delicate Gujarati breakfast and tea-time farsan from old Ahmedabad and Surat homes, now a speciality of a few farsan restaurants. A thin, lightly soured batter of rice flour and yogurt with green chilli, ginger and cumin is spread between two oiled squares of banana leaf and cooked on a griddle until the leaves blister and the panki peels away whole, printed with the veins of the leaf. It is soft, thin and smoky-fragrant, served in its leaf with green chutney. The common mistake is spreading the batter too thick: the panki stays gummy and sticks, so smear a single thin layer that you can almost see through. Chef's tip: warm the banana leaves over a flame first so they turn glossy and pliable and do not split.

45 minIndianSnacks & StartersGluten free
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Ambe dalChana dal with raw mango

Through the month of Chaitra, which opens with Gudi Padwa, Maharashtrian women invite each other home for haldi-kunku, and the plate they send guests away with nearly always holds ambe dal with a glass of kairi panha. It is not a cooked dal at all but a cool, crunchy salad: chana dal soaked for hours, pulsed coarse with green chilli, then tossed with grated raw mango, coconut and a hot mustard tadka. It tastes sour, fresh and gently hot, and it is filling enough for an afternoon visit. The common mistake is grinding it with water into a paste; the dal must stay in tiny separate grains, like coarse couscous, and feel just tender when you bite one. The long time on this recipe is almost all soaking. Chef's tip: grate the mango only just before mixing and add the salt at the end, or the dal turns watery as it stands.

250 minIndianSaladsVeganGluten free
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KanikaSweet ghee rice

Kanika is one of the dishes of the Jagannath temple's mahaprasad in Puri, cooked in clay pots over wood fires and sold at the Ananda Bazaar to pilgrims, and Odia homes make it for Rath Yatra, when the deities ride their chariots through the town. It is a fragrant, glossy rice sweetened with sugar and perfumed with cinnamon, bay leaf and cloves in plenty of ghee, studded with fried cashews and raisins. It sits halfway between a pulao and a dessert and is eaten with dalma or a temple-style mahura. Common mistake: adding the sugar at the start, which hardens the grains; cook the rice almost through first, then add the sugar, and it is done when the syrup is absorbed and the ghee shines on the surface. Chef's tip: use a short-grain aromatic rice such as gobindobhog or the Odia arua rice for the true temple texture; basmati works but gives separate, longer grains.

45 minIndianRice & GrainsGluten free
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CaldarrosteRoasted chestnuts

From October to St Martin's Day on 11 November, Italian towns hold chestnut festivals, the sagre delle castagne, and the smoke of caldarroste drifts from street braziers where chestnuts are shaken in long-handled pans with holes. At home they are roasted in the same way on the hob or in the oven and eaten hot from a paper cone, sweet, floury and smoky, with a glass of new wine for adults or warm milk for children. Chef's tip: wrap the hot chestnuts in a damp tea towel for 5 minutes; the steam loosens the inner skin so they peel cleanly.

35 minItalianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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Kulche khetayeeCardamom pistachio shortbread

When guests come to an Afghan home over Nowruz or the days of Eid, they are poured green tea and offered a plate of kulche khetayee, crumbly round shortbreads that dissolve on the tongue. In Kabul the dough is made with clarified butter or oil, icing sugar and cardamom, and each biscuit is topped with a pinch of ground pistachio before baking very gently so they stay pale. The common mistake is baking too hot: the biscuits should be cream-coloured, not golden, or they lose their melting texture. Chef's tip: let them cool fully on the tray, because they are too fragile to move while warm.

50 minAfghanBaking
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AlewaPulled sugar sweets

Alewa is the chewy pulled sugar sweet of Hausa northern Nigeria, cooked from just sugar, water and a squeeze of lime, then stretched by hand until it turns pale and satiny. Pocketfuls are given to children on Sallah, the Eid al-Fitr holiday, as they go from house to house in new clothes. The taste is clean caramel with a little sharpness from the lime. An adult should do the hot pulling. Chef's tip: oil your hands and the worktop well and pull while the sugar is still hot enough to bend; once it cools it sets hard and won't stretch.

45 minNigerianDessertsVeganGluten free
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Aloo bukhara chutneyDried plum chutney

Wherever a Pakistani wedding serves biryani and qorma, a little bowl of glossy aloo bukhara chutney sits alongside to cut the richness. Dried sour plums are softened, then cooked with sugar, a touch of vinegar, ginger, chilli and warm spices into a jammy, sweet-sour relish, dark and shining. It keeps for weeks and is made in big jars before the shaadi. Chef's tip: stop cooking while it still looks a little loose; it thickens a lot as it cools.

35 minPakistaniChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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KinnathappamSteamed rice and coconut milk squares

Kinnathappam is named after the kinnam, the round steel plate it sets in, and it is one of the soft, wobbly sweets Mappila cooks in Malabar make for iftar and Eid. Rice flour, coconut milk and sugar are stirred into a smooth batter, steamed until just set and cut into glossy diamonds that taste of coconut and cardamom. Chef's tip: strain the batter before steaming; any lumps of rice flour show as white specks in the finished squares.

55 minIndianDessertsGluten free
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KinkélibaKinkéliba leaf tea with mint

Kinkéliba is an herbal tea brewed from the dried leaves of a West African shrub, and in Senegal it is the drink families reach for at the moment of breaking the fast in Ramadan, served hot with bread or dates. The brew is amber, gently bitter and woody, softened with sugar and lifted with fresh mint. Many households also drink it at breakfast all year. Chef's tip: simmer it gently rather than boiling it hard; a fierce boil brings out too much bitterness.

15 minSenegaleseDrinksVeganGluten free
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RužiceWalnut pastry roses in syrup

Ružice, meaning 'little roses', are baked for Bajram in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Eid holidays when trays of syrup-soaked sweets are set out for every guest. Thin sheets of pastry are brushed with butter, scattered with walnuts and rolled up, then sliced so each piece opens like a rose in the oven. The baked roses drink up a cold lemon syrup and turn sticky, crisp on top and soft underneath. Chef's tip: pour cold syrup over hot pastry (or hot over cold), never both the same temperature, or the roses go soggy.

90 minBalkanDesserts
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Sabeel sharbatRose milk with basil seeds

In the first ten days of Muharram, and above all on Ashura, volunteers in Pakistani towns set up sabeel stalls at the roadside and pour free cups of cold sweet milk for anyone passing, in memory of the thirst of Imam Husain's family at Karbala. The drink is pale pink, lightly rose-scented and dotted with swollen basil seeds, and it is made in huge steel pots at the stalls; this is the home-sized jug. Chef's tip: soak the basil seeds in water first, never straight in the milk, or they stay hard and clump.

10 minPakistaniDrinksGluten free
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KesraSemolina pan bread

Kesra is the flat semolina bread of Algerian homes, and in Ramadan a fresh round sits on almost every iftar table, cooked on a clay tajine and torn into pieces to dip into hot chorba frik. This unleavened version is a thin, crumbly-edged galette, golden in patches and slightly chewy in the middle, with a nutty taste from the olive oil. It is made in minutes before sunset so it reaches the table still warm. Chef's tip: work the dough only until it holds together; kneading it like a yeast bread makes kesra tough instead of tender.

40 minAlgerianBreads & ParathasVegan
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Emping melinjoMelinjo nut crackers

Emping are pale, crisp crackers from Banten and Java, made by cracking melinjo nuts, flattening them with a hammer and drying them; at Lebaran a bowl of fried emping sits beside the opor ayam and ketupat. They taste lightly bitter and nutty, and a sweet-spicy coating is popular for the snack jars. Most cooks buy dried raw emping and fry them at home, which is what this recipe does, with the hand-pressing method for anyone who finds fresh nuts. Chef's tip: fry only a handful at a time and lift them out the moment they puff; emping go from perfect to burnt in seconds.

60 minIndonesianSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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PepitadaToasted melon seed milk

Greek and Turkish Jews end the Yom Kippur fast with a glass of pepitada, a pale, gentle 'milk' made from melon seeds that were saved, washed and dried through the summer. The seeds are toasted, ground, soaked overnight in water wrapped in muslin, then squeezed to give a mild, nutty drink sweetened with a little sugar and scented with rose or orange-blossom water. It is soothing on an empty stomach after a day without food or water. The common mistake is toasting the seeds too dark, which makes the drink bitter. Chef's tip: start the night before; the long soak is what draws out the creamy flavour.

750 minIsraeliDrinksVeganGluten free
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Tire Sainte-CatherinePulled molasses taffy

On 25 November, Quebec celebrates St Catherine, patron of unmarried women, with tire Sainte-Catherine, a pulled molasses taffy. The custom goes back to Marguerite Bourgeoys, who is said to have made taffy in the 1600s to draw children to her school in Ville-Marie, and today schools and families still 'pull the tire' together. Hot molasses and sugar syrup is cooled, then pulled with buttered hands until it turns golden and satiny, twisted into ropes and cut into pieces. It is gluten free. Chef's tip: pull it as soon as it is cool enough to handle, as it sets fast; work in pairs.

55 minCanadianDessertsGluten free
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Umphokoqo with amasiCrumbly maize pap with soured milk

Umphokoqo is the dry, crumbly pap of the Eastern Cape, beloved at Xhosa family gatherings and often brought out on Heritage Day as a taste of home. Instead of the stiff pap stirred into a smooth mound, the maize meal is steamed in a little water and broken up with a fork until it falls into fine, fluffy crumbs. It is served cold or at room temperature, with chilled amasi (thick soured milk) poured over, sour, cool and filling, or warm beside braai meat and chakalaka. Chef's tip: don't stir in circles like ordinary pap; cut and fluff with a fork so it stays crumbly.

40 minSouth AfricanRice & GrainsGluten free
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Bandhakopir torkariCabbage with peas and potato

In Bengali homes and pandal kitchens during Durga Puja, the bhog plate needs a dry vegetable beside the khichuri, and bandhakopir torkari is one of the favourites. Cabbage is shredded fine and cooked slowly with potato, peas, ginger and whole cumin, with no onion or garlic because it is offered to the goddess before it is eaten. A pinch of sugar and a final dusting of garam masala make it gently sweet and fragrant. Serve it with khichuri, luchi or plain rice and dal. Common mistake: covering the pan for the whole time, which steams the cabbage grey and watery; cook it mostly uncovered so the liquid evaporates and the edges just start to brown. Chef's tip: salt the shredded cabbage for 10 minutes and squeeze it lightly before cooking; it cooks faster and soaks up the spices better.

35 minIndianVegetarianVeganGluten free
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Bubur candilSweet potato balls in syrup

Bubur candil is a classic takjil, the little sweet that Javanese families break the fast with after dates and water during Ramadan. Chewy balls of orange sweet potato and glutinous rice flour bob in a dark, glossy palm sugar syrup scented with pandan, and a spoon of salty coconut cream goes on top. It is warming, soft and fudgy, and stalls sell it in plastic cups in the hour before maghrib. Chef's tip: drop the balls into syrup that is just bubbling, not boiling hard, or they break up before they set.

45 minIndonesianDessertsVeganGluten free
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Pazham nirachathuCoconut-stuffed fried plantains

Every Malabar iftar spread has a plate of pazham nirachathu: ripe plantains slit open, packed with grated coconut, sugar and cardamom fried with ghee and cashews, then dipped in a thin flour batter and shallow-fried. The outside turns crisp and lacy, the plantain goes soft and caramel-sweet and the coconut stays moist. Chef's tip: slit the plantain without cutting through the far side or the ends, so the filling stays inside the pocket.

30 minIndianSnacks & Starters
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Chichi frégiChickpea flour fritters in sugar

On the seafront at L'Estaque, the old fishing quarter of Marseille, and at summer fêtes all along the coast, kiosks fry chichi frégi: long, ridged fritters of wheat and chickpea flour, rolled hot in sugar and eaten in a paper cone. The dough is a yeasted, egg-free batter piped straight into the oil, crisp outside and soft inside, with a faint nutty taste from the chickpea flour and a hint of orange flower. Chef's tip: keep the oil at 175 °C; cooler and the fritters soak up fat, hotter and they burn before the middle cooks.

105 minFrenchSnacks & StartersVegan
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Almíbar nicaragüenseFruit preserve in panela syrup

In Nicaragua, Semana Santa means almíbar: a big pot of mango, papaya, jocote (hog plum) and grosella (gooseberry) simmered for hours in a dark panela syrup with cinnamon, cloves and allspice. Families make it ahead and share it with neighbours, who return the bowl full of their own. It is served cool in small bowls, sometimes with a slice of cheese. Jocotes and grosellas are hard to find abroad; firm plums and cape gooseberries are good stand-ins. It is vegan and gluten free. Chef's tip: add the fruit in order of firmness so everything finishes tender but whole.

180 minCentral AmericanDessertsVeganGluten free
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PepernotenAnise and honey spice drops

When Sinterklaas arrives in the Netherlands in mid-November, his helpers throw handfuls of pepernoten into the crowd and children find them in their shoes in the morning, until the big present evening of 5 December. Real pepernoten are the old-fashioned kind: soft, chewy, slightly irregular drops of rye flour, honey, anise and spice, paler and chewier than the crunchy kruidnoten sold today. This egg-free dough comes together in minutes. Chef's tip: let the dough rest for an hour so the honey softens the rye and the drops come out chewy, not cakey.

90 minDutchBaking
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Tomato khejur chutneyTomato and date chutney

A Bengali festive meal ends with chutney, and during Durga Puja the bhog plate's last stop is often this glossy tomato and date chutney. Ripe tomatoes are cooked with a mustard-seed and dried-chilli tempering, then sweetened with sugar and stoned dates and studded with raisins until it turns jammy and sticky. It is eaten as its own course after the vegetables, to clean the palate before the sweets. Common mistake: taking it off the heat too early so it stays watery; it is ready when a spoon drawn through the pan leaves a clear line for a second and the chutney looks shiny. Chef's tip: add a few strips of aamsotto (dried mango leather) with the dates if you have it; it gives the deep, fruity sourness of the pandal chutney.

35 minIndianChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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Plastic chutneyRaw papaya chutney

Plastic chutney gets its funny name from the way the thin slices of raw papaya turn clear and glassy, like cellophane, as they cook in syrup. It is the chutney of every Bengali wedding feast and of the Durga Puja bhog, served in a small heap at the end of the meal, sweet, sharp with lime, and dotted with raisins. No onion or garlic goes near it. Common mistake: cutting the papaya too thick or cooking it on high heat; thick slices stay opaque and chewy, while a fast boil caramelises the syrup before the papaya turns clear. The chutney is ready when every slice is see-through and the syrup coats a spoon. Chef's tip: soak the sliced papaya in water with a pinch of baking soda for 15 minutes, then rinse; this helps the slices stay crisp-tender and turn translucent evenly.

40 minIndianChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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MässmoggeHazelnut-filled striped sweets

Every autumn the Basler Herbstmesse, Switzerland's oldest fair, fills the old town with rides and stalls, and the smell of boiling sugar from the stands selling Mässmogge, glossy striped sweets in bright colours with a soft chocolate-hazelnut centre. They are made by pulling hot sugar until it turns satiny, wrapping it round a rope of filling and snipping it into little pillows. It takes practice and a sugar thermometer, and adults should do all the hot work; children can help once the sweets are cool. Chef's tip: work on an oiled silicone mat near a low oven, so the sugar stays pliable for longer.

75 minSwissDessertsGluten free
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Pan co' santiWalnut and raisin loaf

In Siena and the Tuscan countryside, pan co' santi ('bread with the saints') is baked for All Saints' Day on 1 November, when the new walnuts and the late grapes come in. It is a dark, lightly sweet bread dough rich with olive oil, walnuts, raisins and a surprising amount of black pepper, which gives a warm bite. It is eaten with the new wine by adults, or with roasted chestnuts. It is vegan. Chef's tip: fry the raisins and walnuts briefly in the olive oil before adding them, as Sienese bakers do; it brings out their flavour.

80 minItalianBakingVegan
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Rosero quiteñoChilled spiced fruit and corn drink

Rosero is a festive drink of Quito in Ecuador, made for Corpus Christi in June, when the city once filled with processions and dancers. It is thick and refreshing: whole hominy (mote) and a thin purée of naranjilla (lulo) and pineapple, sweetened with sugar, spiced with cinnamon, cloves and allspice, and perfumed with orange-blossom water and rose petals, then served chilled in tall glasses with diced fruit. Frozen naranjilla pulp is sold in Latin shops. It is vegan. Chef's tip: simmer the pineapple peel with the spices for the syrup, as Quiteño cooks do; it adds a lot of flavour.

70 minAndeanDrinksVeganGluten free
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VornGreen gram and coconut milk sweet

On 8 September, Mangalorean Catholics celebrate Monti Fest, the feast of Mary's Nativity, which is also a harvest festival: new ears of grain are blessed at church and shared at home, and the family eats a vegetarian feast of new-season vegetables. Vorn, a pudding of split green gram (moong) cooked with coconut milk, jaggery and cardamom, is the sweet that ends it. It is like a gentle payasam, vegan and gluten free. Chef's tip: dry-roast the moong dal until fragrant before cooking it, which gives vorn its nutty flavour.

60 minIndianIndian SweetsVeganGluten free
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SkābputraSoured barley porridge drink

Skābputra, 'sour porridge', is one of the oldest Latvian foods, and at Jāņi, Midsummer on 23–24 June, it is served cold alongside caraway cheese, pīrāgi and wreaths of flowers. Pearl barley is cooked soft, then soured with buttermilk or kefir for a day or two until it is tangy and fresh-tasting, and it is thinned with milk into a thick, cooling drink sipped or eaten with a spoon on hot summer days. This home version uses bought live buttermilk to start the souring safely. Chef's tip: use clean jars and utensils, and taste it each day; once it is pleasantly sour, chill it so it stops souring.

60 minBalticDrinks
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FunkasoFermented wheat pancakes

Funkaso is a Hausa pancake from northern Nigeria, made from a wheat batter left to ferment until bubbly and fried into soft, spongy rounds with crisp edges. Families cook stacks of it for the pre-dawn sahur and the evening meal during Ramadan, and again on Sallah morning for visitors. It is eaten simply, sprinkled with sugar, or dipped in a hot pepper sauce, with hot kunun or tea. Chef's tip: the batter should be as thick as double cream; too runny and the pancakes spread thin and lose their spongy middle.

480 minNigerianBreakfast & BrunchVegan
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Biscotti di San MartinoRicotta-filled fennel biscuits

St Martin's Day, 11 November, is when Sicilians traditionally open the new wine, and in Palermo it is marked with biscotti di San Martino: round, hard, fennel-scented yeast biscuits shaped like little turbans. Eaten plain, they are dunked in sweet Moscato; the pastry-shop version is split, soaked in a sweet syrup and filled with ricotta cream and candied fruit. This recipe soaks them in an orange syrup, so it is alcohol-free; adults can use Moscato or Marsala. Choose a vegetarian ricotta if needed. Chef's tip: bake them twice, the second time low, so they dry right through and keep for weeks.

80 minItalianBaking
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Torrone dei mortiChocolate hazelnut bar

In Naples, the weeks around All Souls' Day on 2 November are 'torrone time': pastry shops pile up the torrone dei morti, a soft bar of white or dark chocolate filled with a creamy hazelnut or chocolate centre and studded with whole toasted hazelnuts, which friends bring as a gift when visiting. Despite its name it contains no nougat. This homemade version layers dark chocolate around a white-chocolate and hazelnut-paste filling. It is gluten free; some versions add liqueur, this one doesn't. Chef's tip: let the chocolate shell set fully in the fridge before filling, so it doesn't melt through.

40 minItalianDessertsGluten free
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MämmiRye and malt Easter pudding

Mämmi is Finland's Easter dessert, a dark, almost black pudding of rye flour and malted rye, sweetened slowly by the malt's own enzymes and by a little molasses, then baked for hours in birch-bark boxes or small dishes. It looks unusual but tastes mild, malty and gently sweet, and is eaten cold with cream and sugar on Easter Sunday. It is vegan, and it was once eaten through Lent. You need powdered rye malt from a baking supplier or Nordic shop. Chef's tip: keep the porridge warm (around 60 °C) for two hours before baking so the malt can sweeten it; skip this and mämmi tastes bitter.

330 minScandinavianDessertsVegan
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Bhoger khichuriMoong dal and rice with vegetables

On Maha Ashtami, the eighth day of Durga Puja, every para pandal in West Bengal cooks huge pots of bhoger khichuri, offers it to the goddess at noon and then hands it out on sal-leaf plates to anyone in the queue. It is bhog food, so there is no onion or garlic: the flavour comes from dry-roasted moong dal, short, fragrant gobindobhog rice, ginger, whole spices and a generous finish of ghee. The texture should be thick and spoonable, somewhere between a risotto and a porridge, with soft cauliflower, potato and peas through it. Serve it hot with labra, beguni and tomato khejur chutney. Common mistake: skipping the roasting of the dal, which leaves the khichuri flat and pale; roast it until it smells nutty and turns a light biscuit colour. Chef's tip: gobindobhog rice absorbs a lot of water as it stands, so keep a kettle of hot water by the stove and loosen the khichuri just before serving.

60 minIndianRice & GrainsGluten free
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Potoler dormaPaneer-stuffed pointed gourd

Potoler dorma is a showpiece of the Bengali vegetarian table, cooked for Durga Puja Navami lunches, weddings and the jamai shoshti feast. Pointed gourds (potol) are scraped, hollowed, fried, stuffed with paneer, raisins and spices, then simmered in a cashew, yoghurt and tomato gravy that is rich, gently sweet and fragrant with garam masala and ghee. This version keeps to the puja's no-onion, no-garlic style. Common mistake: cutting the gourds open lengthwise; for a dorma you slit only one end and scoop through it with a small spoon, so the filling stays inside while it simmers. The gourd is done when a toothpick slides in easily but the skin is still green and holds its shape. Chef's tip: chop the scooped-out seeds and flesh and cook them into the filling, which adds flavour and wastes nothing.

65 minIndianVegetarianGluten free
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FasaliLayered butter pastry with honey

Fasali is a festive breakfast in Azerbaijan, made on Novruz mornings and other holidays when the house is full: a thin dough is brushed with melted butter, folded again and again into many layers, then cooked slowly in a covered pan until crisp outside and flaky within. It comes to the table cut in wedges with honey, syrup or a glass of sweet tea. The common mistake is cooking over a high heat, which burns the outside before the inner layers have cooked through. Chef's tip: chill the folded parcel for 10 minutes between folds and the butter stays in clean layers.

70 minAzerbaijaniBaking
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SulaimaniSpiced lemon black tea

In Kozhikode, sulaimani is the clear amber tea poured after a heavy biryani, and in Ramadan it is the glass that follows the dates at iftar. A little loose black tea is brewed with cardamom, clove and cinnamon, then sweetened and sharpened with fresh lime so it is light, warming and gently fragrant. Chef's tip: steep the tea for only two minutes; sulaimani should be bright and clear, never strong and bitter.

10 minIndianDrinksVeganGluten free
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Kue satuMung bean flour sweets

Kue satu are the little pale sweets that fill glass jars on Javanese and Sumatran tables when families open their doors for Lebaran visits at the end of Ramadan. Mung-bean flour is dry-toasted until it smells nutty, mixed with icing sugar and a whisper of pandan, then pressed into carved wooden moulds of flowers and leaves and left to dry until crumbly. They melt on the tongue with a sweet, beany, vanilla-like flavour and are offered with tea to every guest. Chef's tip: toast the flour until it is a shade darker and smells like popcorn, because raw-tasting flour is the most common reason kue satu taste flat.

60 minIndonesianDessertsVeganGluten free
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Chana dal halwa

At Punjabi weddings in Lahore and Faisalabad in the cold months, the dessert table often carries a big tray of chana dal halwa beside the gajar halwa. Soaked split chickpeas are ground and fried slowly in ghee until they smell of roasted nuts and turn deep golden, then cooked with milk, sugar and cardamom into a rich, grainy halwa that keeps for days. It takes patience and a strong arm. Chef's tip: keep the heat low and scrape the bottom constantly; the dal catches fast once it starts to brown.

90 minPakistaniIndian SweetsGluten free
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MuffolettaFennel seed rolls with cheese

On 2 November, the Day of the Dead in Sicily, Palermo families eat muffoletta: soft, round rolls scented with fennel seed, split warm and dressed 'cunzata' with olive oil, oregano, salt, pepper, anchovy or caciocavallo cheese. The custom recalls when the dead were said to bring gifts to children, and bakers make them only around this time. The bread itself is egg-free and dairy-free; dress it with just oil and oregano for a vegan version. Sicilian caciocavallo and pecorino are usually made with animal rennet, so choose a vegetarian hard cheese if that matters to you. Chef's tip: dress the rolls while still warm so they drink in the oil.

180 minItalianBreads & ParathasVegan
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Taai-taaiAnise and honey biscuits

In the Netherlands, taai-taai ('tough-tough') are chewy honey and anise biscuits shaped into figures of Sinterklaas, his horse, windmills, sweethearts and animals, eaten from mid-November until his feast on 5 December. They contain no fat or egg, so they are firm and chewy rather than crisp, and they keep well. Bakers once used carved wooden moulds; cookie cutters work fine. Chef's tip: heat the honey only until runny, then let the dough rest overnight; the rest is what makes the chew.

50 minDutchBaking
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Leche de burraMilk, corn and sugar sweet

On 7 December, Nicaraguans celebrate La Purísima and La Gritería, when people go from house to house singing 'Who causes so much joy? Mary's Conception!' to altars set up for the Virgin, and the hosts hand out gifts: oranges, sugar cane, gofio and leche de burra. It is a firm, fudgy sweet of milk, sugar and a little cornmeal cooked until thick, then set in a tray, sometimes swirled with pink or brown, and cut into squares. Despite the name ('donkey's milk') it is made with cow's milk. It is gluten free. Chef's tip: stir constantly in the last 15 minutes, as milk sweets catch quickly.

70 minCentral AmericanDessertsGluten free
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KaguyjyWhite corn pudding

On the night of 23–24 June, Paraguayans celebrate San Juan with bonfires, games like walking over hot coals and the 'paso de fuego', and a table of traditional foods, and kaguyjy (also mazamorra) is one of them. It is a soft, creamy pudding of cracked white corn (locro) simmered slowly in water and then milk with sugar or honey, sometimes with orange peel. It is eaten warm or cold. It is gluten free. Chef's tip: soak the corn overnight and cook it until each kernel is tender before adding the milk, or it never turns creamy.

130 minParaguayanDessertsGluten free
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Fulkopir dalnaCauliflower and potato in light gravy

Fulkopir dalna is the gravy dish of a niramish (no onion, no garlic) Bengali menu, and it appears on the Durga Puja bhog table and at home on Navami and Dashami, when many families keep the day's food vegetarian. Large cauliflower florets and potatoes are fried golden and then simmered in a thin, glossy gravy of ginger, cumin, tomato and a little yoghurt, finished with ghee and Bengali garam masala. It should taste mellow, warm and slightly sweet rather than hot. Serve it with luchi or khichuri. Common mistake: boiling the cauliflower in the gravy from raw; fry the florets first until browned in patches, or they turn mushy and taste watery. Chef's tip: whisk the yoghurt with the ground spices before it goes in, and keep the heat low, so the gravy stays smooth instead of splitting.

45 minIndianCurriesGluten free
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Etrog marmaladeCitron preserve

After Sukkot ends, many Israeli families keep the fragrant etrog (citron) used during the festival and turn it into marmalade, so its scent lasts into the winter. The thick pith is bitter, so the sliced fruit is soaked overnight and blanched in fresh water before it is simmered with sugar into a golden, bitter-sweet preserve, lovely on challah or with soft cheese. If your etrog was treated with sprays because it was grown only for ritual use, buy an unwaxed one sold for eating. The common mistake is skipping the soaking and changes of water, which leaves the marmalade harsh. Chef's tip: add a lemon for pectin and brightness, since etrogs are dry and set softly on their own.

1515 minIsraeliChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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Kumror chhokkaPumpkin, potato and chickpeas

Kumror chhokka is the soft, sweet-savoury pumpkin dish that turns up on the niramish bhog plate at Durga Puja, next to khichuri and luchi, and at Bengali vegetarian feasts all year. Red pumpkin and potato are cooked down with soaked chickpeas, panch phoron (the Bengali five-spice), ginger and a pinch of sugar, until the pumpkin half melts and coats everything. There is no onion or garlic, which keeps it fit for the offering. It is mild, a little sweet and comforting. Common mistake: cutting the pumpkin and potato the same size; pumpkin cooks much faster, so cut it into bigger pieces, and stop when the potato is soft and some of the pumpkin has broken down. Chef's tip: a teaspoon of ghee and a pinch of roasted cumin powder stirred in at the very end makes it taste like the pandal version.

45 minIndianVegetarianVeganGluten free
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Persian halvaSaffron rose flour halva

Iranian halva is not the sesame sweet of the Levant but a dense paste of flour toasted slowly in butter and cooked with a saffron and rose-water syrup. It is spread on plates and patterned with a spoon for Ramadan iftars, for mourning gatherings and as nazri, food made and shared with neighbours to fulfil a vow in Muharram. It tastes deeply nutty, floral and not too sweet. Chef's tip: patience with the flour is everything; toast it until it is the colour of peanut butter, never rushing on a high heat.

40 minPersianDesserts
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Miel de chiverreSquash strand preserve

Chiverre is a large, pale squash with stringy flesh that Costa Rican families save for Semana Santa. The strands are cooked for hours with tapa de dulce (cane sugar), cinnamon and cloves until they turn into a golden, chewy, sweet preserve called miel de chiverre, eaten on its own or used to fill the Holy Week empanadas and tortas. Spaghetti squash, though milder, is the closest substitute. It is vegan. Chef's tip: soak the squash strands in cold water for a few hours and drain well, which removes the bitterness.

180 minCentral AmericanDessertsVeganGluten free
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KipingLeaf-shaped rice wafers

Every 15 May, the town of Lucban in Quezon province celebrates San Isidro Labrador, patron of farmers, with the Pahiyas festival, when houses are covered in rice, vegetables and kiping: bright, translucent wafers of ground rice dough pressed onto leaves so they take the leaf's shape and veins, then dried. After the procession, the kiping are taken down and grilled or fried and eaten crisp, sometimes with sugar. This home version presses the dough thinly onto baking paper with a leaf-shaped cutter and the back of a clean banana leaf for texture. It is vegan and gluten free. Chef's tip: spread the dough as thin as you can, almost see-through, so it dries crisp.

60 minFilipinoSnacks & StartersVeganGluten free
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KhajlaFried pastry rounds in sweet milk

In the old lanes of Lahore and Karachi's Burns Road, sweet shops fry khajla through the night in Ramadan so families can buy it fresh for sehri, the meal eaten before dawn. Each round is a stack of paper-thin layers of ghee-rubbed dough that shatter when you press them, and it is crumbled into a bowl of hot sweetened milk, often with fine pheni, to give slow energy for the fasting day. Chef's tip: keep the oil only medium-hot; khajla must fry slowly so every inner layer turns crisp before the outside browns.

100 minPakistaniDesserts
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Manisan kolang-kalingSugar palm fruit in pandan syrup

Kolang-kaling are the chewy, translucent seeds of the sugar palm, and in Indonesia they are a sure sign of Ramadan, piled in buckets at markets and simmered in syrup to go into iftar drinks, kolak and es buah. They have a soft, jelly-like bite and soak up whatever colour and flavour they are cooked in: green for pandan, red for rose syrup. Chef's tip: simmer them slowly and leave them in the syrup overnight; rushing gives pale fruit with a watery middle.

60 minIndonesianDessertsVeganGluten free
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Es timun suriIced cucumber melon drink

Timun suri, a large cucumber-melon, appears in Indonesian markets only during Ramadan, piled high at roadside stalls for families to buy before iftar. Scraped into strands and floated in iced syrup with basil seeds and lime, it makes es timun suri, one of the most refreshing ways to break the fast. It tastes gently sweet, melony and cool. Cantaloupe or galia melon is a good stand-in outside Indonesia. Chef's tip: soak the basil seeds fully before adding them, as dry seeds clump into hard lumps in cold syrup.

20 minIndonesianDrinksVeganGluten free
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Pesaha paalCoconut milk and jaggery drink

Pesaha paal ('Passover milk') is the sweet dip served with Pesaha appam at the Maundy Thursday supper in Kerala's Syrian Christian homes. Coconut milk is simmered with melted jaggery, a little roasted rice flour to thicken it, cardamom and dried ginger until it becomes a warm, silky drink. The family dips pieces of the blessed appam into it after the evening prayers. It is vegan and gluten free, and ready in half an hour. Chef's tip: strain the jaggery syrup before adding the coconut milk, as jaggery often carries grit.

30 minIndianDrinksVeganGluten free
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QuittengeleeQuince jelly

Quinces are too hard and sour to eat raw, so in Germany they are turned into Quittengelee, one of the jewel-coloured jars set out with the pumpkins and sheaves of wheat for Erntedank, the October harvest thanksgiving. The fruit is simmered whole in pieces, the juice drips through a cloth overnight, and then it is boiled with sugar until it sets into a clear jelly the colour of rosé, with a perfume like pear, honey and roses. Eat it on bread rolls, with cheese, or melted as a glaze for apple tart. Chef's tip: quince skin and cores are full of natural pectin, so cook them in with the flesh rather than peeling.

180 minGermanChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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BorstplaatSugar fondant sweets

Borstplaat is the sweet of Sinterklaas in the Netherlands: small, melt-in-the-mouth discs or hearts of boiled sugar and cream or milk with a little butter, flavoured with coffee, vanilla or strawberry. Children find them in their shoes on the morning of 5 December alongside pepernoten and a chocolate letter. They need only a few ingredients and a little care, and are gluten free. Chef's tip: stir the cooled syrup until it turns cloudy and starts to thicken, then pour at once; that stirring forms the fine crystals that make borstplaat creamy.

35 minDutchDessertsGluten free
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LepetSticky rice and peanut logs

Lepet is the companion of ketupat on a Javanese Lebaran morning: glutinous rice and peanuts mixed with grated coconut, rolled in spiralled young coconut leaves and boiled for hours into dense, savoury logs. In Javanese tradition the sticky rice is a reminder to forgive and hold together after Ramadan, so it is shared with neighbours and family. It tastes nutty, salty and rich and is eaten with opor or simply on its own. Banana leaves and string work well where coconut leaves are hard to find. Chef's tip: roll each log loosely, about three-quarters full, so the swelling rice turns soft rather than hard and chalky.

285 minIndonesianRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
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ApfelkrautApple syrup

In the Rhineland, apples from the autumn harvest are pressed and boiled for hours in copper cauldrons into Apfelkraut, a dark, glossy, sweet-sour syrup that is spread on Schwarzbrot with butter and quark, and that families bring to the Erntedank harvest thanksgiving in October. It needs no added sugar at all: the apples' own sugar and pectin concentrate until the juice is as thick as treacle and tastes like baked apple and caramel. Eat it on rye bread, with potato pancakes (Reibekuchen) or in a sauce for Sauerbraten. Chef's tip: use a mix of sweet and tart apples; the tart ones give the tang and the pectin that makes it set.

450 minGermanChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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BurasaCoconut rice cakes in banana leaf

Burasa is the Lebaran rice cake of the Bugis and Makassar people of South Sulawesi: rice half-cooked in salted coconut milk, wrapped in banana leaves, tied in pairs and boiled for hours until it sets firm and rich. On Eid morning it is sliced and eaten with coto Makassar, opor or a spicy beef dish, and it travels well for visits to relatives. Chef's tip: wrap the parcels only half full and tie them firmly, because the rice swells and a full parcel bursts open in the pot.

240 minIndonesianRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
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Kuih makmurGhee and peanut cookies

Kuih makmur is one of the oldest Malay Hari Raya cookies, its name meaning 'prosperity', and its tiny ridged domes are baked by the tray-load before Aidilfitri to fill the cookie jars for open houses. Soft, crumbly ghee pastry wraps a filling of roasted ground peanuts and sugar, and the cookies are rolled in icing sugar while still warm, so they melt in the mouth. Chef's tip: bake them pale; makmur should stay white, and browned cookies taste of scorched ghee.

60 minMalaysianBaking
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Shir berenjRose water rice pudding

Shir berenj, 'milk rice', is one of the gentle sweets of the Iranian Nowruz season, made at home to share with visiting relatives and often given as nazri on special days. Short-grain rice is softened in water first, then cooked slowly in milk until the grains melt into a thick, creamy pudding scented with rose water. It is chilled and served plain, with the sweetness added at the table from a drizzle of grape molasses, date syrup or jam. The common mistake is adding all the milk at once over a high heat, which scorches the bottom and leaves the grains firm. Chef's tip: stir with a wooden spoon in a figure of eight, which reaches the corners where rice likes to stick.

70 minPersianDessertsGluten free
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PflaumenmusOven-baked plum butter

When the late damson plums (Zwetschgen) ripen in September, German kitchens fill trays with them for Pflaumenmus, and jars of it stand on the decorated altar at Erntedank, the harvest thanksgiving in early October. Unlike jam, it uses little sugar and no pectin: the halved plums are baked slowly, uncovered, until they collapse and darken into a thick, almost black spread that tastes of plums and spice rather than sugar. Spread it on rye bread with butter, fill Dampfnudeln with it or stir a spoonful into quark. Chef's tip: bake it in the widest roasting tin you have, because the more surface, the faster the water steams off.

330 minGermanChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
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TaloaMaize flatbread with ham and cheese

During the Fêtes de Bayonne in July, when the whole town dresses in white with red scarves, stalls in the Pays Basque sell taloa: thick flatbreads of maize and wheat flour cooked on a hot griddle and folded around fillings. The classic is with jambon de Bayonne (a cured pork ham), with sheep's cheese or with ventrèche (cured pork belly), and it's eaten hot in the street. Cheese alone makes a good vegetarian version. Chef's tip: cook the taloa on a dry, very hot pan; it should blister and puff in patches like a tortilla.

30 minFrenchBreads & Parathas
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Chirov plavRice pilaf with dried fruit

Chirov plav, rice pilaf with dried fruit ('chir'), is the Armenian Easter dish: after the long Lenten fast, families gather on Easter Sunday to eat this glossy, buttery pilaf, often served beside fried or baked fish and red-dyed eggs. The rice is cooked separately so every grain stays loose, then layered with dried apricots, raisins and prunes warmed in butter, with a golden crust (tahdig-style) at the bottom. Chef's tip: rinse the rice until the water runs clear, and parboil it in plenty of salted water, as that keeps the grains separate.

65 minArmenianRice & GrainsGluten free
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ZhavoronkiLark-shaped buns

On 22 March (9 March in the old calendar), the Orthodox feast of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste falls during Lent, and in Russian villages it was the day the larks were said to return. Children were given zhavoronki, little bread larks, and ran outside to toss them in the air and call the spring. The dough is a lightly sweet yeast dough, and because it is Lent it was made without eggs or butter, so this version is vegan. Raisins or peppercorns make the eyes. Chef's tip: tie a simple knot from a dough rope for each bird and snip the tail; it is quicker than sculpting and keeps the shape.

60 minRussianBakingVegan
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Pane di San GiuseppeSculpted festival breads

For St Joseph's Day on 19 March, families in western Sicily (Salemi, Trapani, Marsala) build 'tavolate' or altars to the saint, laden with ornate, sculpted breads: beards for Joseph, a staff, flowers, birds, fish and the hand of God. The breads are later given to the poor and to guests. The dough is a firm, plain semolina bread, so it holds fine detail, brushed with egg and scattered with sesame. Shape a few simple ones first; they are as much decoration as food. It is vegan, glazed with water rather than the egg some bakers use. Chef's tip: keep the dough firm and rest it so it doesn't spring back; soft dough loses its shapes in the oven.

120 minItalianBakingVegan
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Olivette di Sant'AgataAlmond paste olives

Olivette are tiny green 'olives' of almond paste rolled in sugar, sold in Catania for the feast of St Agatha in early February. A legend tells that as the young saint was led to her trial she stopped to tie her shoe, and a wild olive tree sprang up on the spot and fed her. The sweets are made from ground almonds, sugar and a little water, coloured green and shaped in the palm. They are gluten free and dairy free, and children love to help shape them. Use a natural green such as matcha or spinach powder if you prefer. Chef's tip: knead the paste only until smooth, as overworking draws out the almond oil and it turns greasy.

40 minItalianDessertsGluten free
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Bread halwaFried bread halwa

At Tamil Muslim weddings and Eid feasts in Chennai and Madurai, the biryani is followed by a spoonful of bread halwa, sticky, golden and glistening with ghee. Cubes of white bread are fried until crisp, then cooked down with milk, sugar and cardamom until they melt into a soft, jammy halwa studded with cashews. Chef's tip: day-old bread fries crisper and soaks up the milk more evenly than fresh.

40 minIndianIndian Sweets
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SnobrødBonfire stick bread

On Sankt Hans Aften, Danish Midsummer Eve on 23 June, people gather round huge bonfires on beaches and in gardens, sing the Midsummer song and burn a straw witch, and the children twist ropes of dough round sticks and bake snobrød over the embers. The bread comes out crisp and smoky outside and soft inside, ready to fill with jam, or butter for those who eat dairy. It is just as much fun at any garden fire or campfire. Chef's tip: hold the bread over glowing embers, not flames, and keep turning; flames blacken the outside long before the inside is done.

30 minScandinavianBreads & ParathasVegan
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LemangBamboo-cooked coconut sticky rice

On the eve of Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Malay villages across the peninsula fill with smoke as families cook lemang: glutinous rice and coconut milk packed into banana-leaf-lined bamboo poles and turned slowly beside an open fire for hours. The rice comes out rich, salty and faintly smoky, sliced into thick rounds and eaten with rendang or serunding on Raya morning. Few homes have bamboo and a fire pit, so this recipe gives a home oven method in a banana-leaf-lined tin, with the bamboo way described too. Chef's tip: let the cooked lemang cool before slicing, as warm rice is too soft to cut cleanly.

270 minMalaysianRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
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Slavski kolačDecorated ceremonial bread

The slava is a uniquely Serbian Orthodox custom: each family honours its own patron saint on that saint's feast day, passed from father to son, with a lit candle, boiled wheat (žito) and the slavski kolač, a round, decorated bread. The priest blesses it; the family turns it, cuts a cross into its base, pours a little wine into the cuts, and breaks it together. It is decorated with dough crosses, the seal 'IC XC NI KA', doves, wheat ears and grapes. It is a plain, vegan bread. Chef's tip: keep the decorations' dough a little stiffer than the loaf, so they hold their shape.

110 minBalkanBakingVegan
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Kæst skataFermented skate

St Thorlak's Day (Þorláksmessa), 23 December, honours Iceland's patron saint, and in the Westfjords and now across the country it is the day for kæst skata: fermented skate, boiled and eaten with potatoes and melted, salty sheep's tallow (hamsatólg) or butter. Its ammonia smell is famous, which is why many families cook it in the garage or eat at a restaurant, then have it the next day as a bracing start to Christmas. Buy skate already fermented from an Icelandic fishmonger; don't try to ferment it at home. Chef's tip: cook it in a lidded pot with a window open, and boil the potatoes in a separate pot.

45 minScandinavianFishGluten free
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Pastillas de leche (Bulacan milk candy)

San Miguel in Bulacan, north of Manila, has made pastillas de leche from the rich milk of carabao, the water buffalo, for generations, and the town celebrates it every May with a festival. The candies are slow-cooked from little more than milk and sugar, rolled into fingers, coated in sugar and wrapped in coloured paper, often with fringed, cut-paper wrappers for fiestas and Christmas. They taste like a soft, milky fudge that melts on the tongue. Hand them round with coffee or tuck them into gift boxes. Carabao milk is hard to find, so this version uses whole cow's milk boosted with a little milk powder for the same richness. It is naturally egg-free: the milk solids, reduced with sugar, set into a firm paste on their own. Chef's tip: keep the heat at medium-low and scrape the base often. The common mistake is turning the heat up to save time, which scorches the milk and makes the paste grainy.

95 minFilipinoDessertsGluten free
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Nerikiri (hand-shaped bean paste flowers)

Nerikiri are the jewel-like sweets of the tea ceremony in Kyoto and Tokyo, shaped by hand into the flower, leaf or fruit of the season: cherry blossom in April, hydrangea in June, chrysanthemum in autumn. Each is served alone on a small plate before thick matcha, cut with a pick. The dough is white bean paste kneaded with gyuhi, a soft paste of glutinous rice flour and sugar, and it feels like fine modelling clay, smooth and gently sweet, wrapped around a centre of red bean paste. They are naturally egg-free: the gyuhi gives the bean paste stretch and holds the carved shapes, so no other binder is needed. This simple five-petal flower is a good first shape. Chef's tip: dry the white bean paste well before adding the gyuhi; the common mistake is a soft, wet dough that slumps and loses its petals within minutes.

90 minJapaneseDessertsVeganGluten free
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Orangettes (candied orange peel in dark chocolate)

All over France, from Paris chocolatiers to village pâtisseries, orangettes arrive in the shop windows as the days shorten and are a fixture of the Christmas and New Year sweet table. Long strips of orange peel are candied until tender and translucent, then dipped in dark chocolate: chewy and bittersweet inside, with a clean snap of chocolate and a long citrus finish. Serve them with an espresso after dinner, tie them up in a box as a gift, or offer them with a cheese course. They are naturally egg-free: the sugar syrup preserves the peel and stops it going tough, and the tempered chocolate sets into a firm, glossy shell with no other help. For a vegan batch, use a dark chocolate made without milk. Chef's tip: dry the candied peel well before dipping; the common mistake is dipping wet peel, which makes the chocolate seize and turn dull.

180 minFrenchDessertsGluten free
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Dasik (Korean pressed tea cakes)

Dasik are small pressed tea cakes stamped with patterns of flowers, characters for long life and good fortune, made across Korea for Chuseok, weddings and the tables set for ancestral rites. Powders of roasted grain, black sesame or yellow pine pollen are kneaded with honey and pressed into carved wooden moulds, so a single plate shows contrasting colours. They are dense and melt slowly, tasting of toasted nuts and honey, and they are always served with tea: green tea, or a tea of jujube or citron. This version makes two colours, roasted soybean and black sesame. They are naturally egg-free: honey binds the powders and lets them hold the fine pattern of the mould. Chef's tip: add the honey a teaspoon at a time; the common mistake is too much, which makes a sticky dough that blurs the pattern and won't leave the mould.

35 minKoreanDessertsGluten free
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Xôi vò (mung bean coated sticky rice)

Xôi vò is a Hanoi sticky rice offered at the altar for Vu Lan, the Buddhist full moon of the seventh lunar month when people honour their parents and ancestors, and again on the first days of Tết. Unlike most xôi, it is not a sticky mass: 'vò' means rubbed, and the soaked rice is rubbed with crumbled mung bean so each grain steams up separate, glossy and pale gold. It tastes mild, nutty and lightly salty, and is eaten with chè (sweet soup), a little sugar, or toasted sesame salt. Chef's tip: crumble the warm mung bean paste through a coarse sieve; fine, dry crumbs are what keep the grains apart.

90 minVietnameseRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
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Tmar mehchi (Moroccan almond-stuffed dates)

Tmar mehchi is the stuffed date of Fez and Marrakech, piled high on silver trays at weddings, engagements and Eid, and offered to guests with mint tea. Soft dates are filled with a homemade almond paste perfumed with orange-blossom water, often tinted pale green or pink to match the celebration, then scored with a knife so the filling shows. They are soft, rich and caramel-sweet, with a floral, nutty middle. The paste here is mixed from ground almonds and icing sugar, so there is no shop marzipan, which can contain egg white. It is naturally egg-free: the dates' sticky flesh and a few spoonfuls of orange-blossom water bind the almond filling. Chef's tip: add the orange-blossom water a little at a time and stop when the paste is firm like play dough. The common mistake is a wet paste, which oozes out and makes the dates slippery.

30 minMoroccanDessertsVeganGluten free
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Waatlemoenkonfyt (Cape watermelon-rind preserve)

In the farm kitchens of the Western Cape, late summer meant turning the pale rind of big watermelons into jars of konfyt, a preserve that then came out all winter. The pieces are translucent green, firm and almost crunchy at the edge, soaked through with a ginger-spiked syrup. It is served with a wedge of mature cheese, on buttered bread or toast, beside coffee when visitors arrive, and in little dishes on the table at Christmas. Like all Cape konfyt it is naturally egg-free: a soak in food-grade pickling lime lets calcium firm the rind's own pectin so the pieces keep their shape, and the long simmer in sugar syrup preserves and sets them. Start two days ahead; the rind needs an overnight soak and a night resting in the syrup. Chef's tip: rinse the rind in several changes of water after the lime soak; the common mistake is rushing this, which leaves the konfyt tasting chalky.

1500 minSouth AfricanDessertsVeganGluten free
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Quinotos en almíbar (Argentine kumquats in syrup)

In Buenos Aires and the river provinces of the Litoral, kumquat trees ripen in the middle of winter, between June and August, and the fruit goes straight into jars of syrup. Grandmothers' pantries held quinotos for the whole year, brought out for birthdays and long Sunday lunches. Each little fruit turns glossy orange and translucent, with a soft, bittersweet skin and a sharp, juicy centre. Spoon them over vanilla ice cream, serve them with a slice of fresh cheese in the style of postre vigilante, or eat them straight from the jar. Many bar menus offer them steeped in spirits; this version keeps only the syrup. Naturally egg-free, the quinotos rely on sugar syrup to preserve them, while pectin from the peel gives the syrup a light, jammy body. Chef's tip: blanch the fruit three times from cold water; the common mistake is skipping this, which leaves the skins tough and bitter.

120 minArgentinianDessertsVeganGluten free
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Sucre à la crèmeBrown sugar fudge

In Quebec, sucre à la crème is the sweet that comes out at Christmas: a soft, melting brown-sugar fudge made from brown sugar, cream and butter, cut into squares and shared at the réveillon after midnight Mass and through the Fêtes. Every grandmother's recipe differs a little; this one is the classic stovetop method, gluten free and ready in under an hour. Chef's tip: beat the cooled mixture until it loses its gloss and starts to thicken, then pour it at once; that beating is what makes it creamy rather than toffee-like.

40 minCanadianDessertsGluten free
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Halawa tahiniya (Egyptian tahini halva)

In Egypt halawa tahiniya is a breakfast and suhoor food more than a dessert: it is eaten in Ramadan before dawn, on Coptic fasting days when animal foods are avoided, and spread in warm aish baladi bread at any time of year. Tahini is mixed with sugar syrup at the firm-ball stage, and the syrup crystallises through the sesame paste to give the halva its fibrous, crumbly strands. It tastes nutty, sweet and toasty, and pairs well with sweet tea. Factory halva often uses soapwort root, whose foam whips the syrup and gives longer strands; this home version offers it as an option, and never uses egg white. It is naturally egg-free: the hot syrup, crystallising as it is folded into the tahini, is what sets it. Chef's tip: stir only until the mixture turns matte and starts to look stringy. The common mistake is over-mixing, which makes the oil separate and the halva greasy.

150 minEgyptianDessertsVeganGluten free
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Rapadura (Brazilian sugarcane blocks)

Rapadura is the sweet of the Brazilian Northeast, made since colonial times in the small sugar mills of Pernambuco, Paraíba and Ceará. Fresh cane juice is boiled down for hours and beaten until it sets into dense golden-brown bricks, sold at every feira and roadside stall and carried by farm workers as quick energy. It is eaten after lunch with a cup of coffee, with farinha or a slice of queijo coalho, and chopped onto the tables of the June festivals. The texture is firm but crumbly, like a hard fudge, and the flavour is deep caramel with a faint grassy note of cane. It is naturally egg-free: nothing binds it but sugar, which crystallises as you beat the hot syrup and sets the block. Use fresh or frozen sugarcane juice; peanuts or coconut make popular variations. Chef's tip: beat until the syrup loses its shine and turns thick and opaque; the common mistake is pouring too soon, which leaves a sticky toffee instead of a block.

120 minBrazilianDessertsVeganGluten free
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Nanohana karashi-ae (rapeseed blossoms with mustard)

Nanohana, the budding shoots of the rapeseed plant, arrive in Japanese shops at the end of winter, and their little yellow-green flower heads are a sign that spring has come. That makes them a natural side dish for Hinamatsuri on 3 March, next to chirashizushi and clam soup. The greens are blanched just until tender, then dressed with Japanese karashi mustard loosened with soy sauce and kombu dashi: pleasantly bitter, nose-tinglingly hot and very fresh. Outside Japan, tenderstem broccoli or cime di rapa works almost as well. Chef's tip: dress the greens at the last minute, because the soy starts to dull the green colour within half an hour.

15 minJapaneseSidesVegan
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Kuri gohan (chestnut rice)

Kuri gohan is one of the great dishes of the Japanese autumn, made all over the country when fresh chestnuts arrive in September, and it is often eaten around the harvest moon, when chestnuts are offered beside dumplings and taro (the later moon-viewing in October is even nicknamed the "chestnut moon"). Sweet, fluffy chunks of chestnut sit in salty, slightly sticky rice scented with kombu, and the dish is all about the season's bounty. It traditionally uses a spoonful of sake; this is optional, and plain water works perfectly well for an alcohol-free version. Serve with miso soup, pickles and grilled fish, sprinkled with black sesame salt. Chef's tip: soak the chestnuts in hot water for 30 minutes before peeling; the shells soften and the furry inner skin lifts away far more easily.

75 minJapaneseRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
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Chitose ame (thousand-year candy)

Chitose ame, "thousand-year candy", are the long red and white sugar sticks that children carry home from the shrine at Shichi-Go-San in November, in Tokyo and now right across Japan. The length of the stick is a wish for a long life, and red and white are the colours of celebration. Pulling the cooling sugar fills it with air, turning it from clear to a silky, opaque white with a soft, almost milky crunch. Boiling sugar reaches more than 150 °C, so wear heatproof gloves, work on a heatproof silicone mat, and keep children well away until the candy has cooled; they can admire the finished sticks. Hard sweets are a choking risk for small children, so break off small pieces for them and stay with them while they eat. Chef's tip: oil your gloves lightly and keep pulling until the candy turns satiny and starts to resist; that is when it sets into sticks.

60 minJapaneseDessertsVeganGluten free
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Asham (Jamaican parched-corn sweet)

Asham is one of rural Jamaica's oldest treats, a sweet carried over from West African parched-grain foods and still made in country districts of St Elizabeth, Clarendon and St Ann. Children ate it after school from a twist of paper, and it reappears at heritage fairs around Emancipation Day and Independence in early August. Dried corn is parched until toasty and golden, ground to a fine, sandy powder and mixed with dark sugar: nutty, faintly smoky and melting slowly on the tongue. Eat it by the pinch, press it into little balls, or stir a spoonful into warm milk or water as a drink. It is naturally egg-free; the powder needs no binder at all, and for balls a sprinkle of water and the sticky brown sugar hold it together. Chef's tip: eat the loose powder in small pinches and don't breathe in as you eat it; it is famous for making people cough. In the pot, keep the corn moving, as scorching is the common mistake and turns it bitter.

40 minJamaicanDessertsVeganGluten free
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Pustakari (Newari khuwa and jaggery toffee)

Pustakari is the toffee of the Newar community in the Kathmandu Valley, sold in small squares in the old bazaars of Asan and Bhaktapur and made at home for festivals such as Tihar and Yomari Punhi, and on winter afternoons. Jaggery is cooked to a syrup, then khuwa and ghee are stirred in and cooked until the mixture turns into a thick, glossy, deep brown mass that sets into a chewy toffee. It tastes of caramel and milk, a little like fudge but with more chew. Serve a few pieces with tea or as a small sweet after a meal. It is naturally egg-free: the jaggery syrup, cooked to the firm-ball stage, sets the khuwa, so no other binder is needed. Chef's tip: watch the temperature of the syrup; cooking it past 125°C is the common mistake that makes the toffee hard enough to hurt your teeth.

70 minNepaliIndian SweetsGluten free
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