No onion, no garlic recipes (Swaminarayan and sattvic)

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Mứt tắc (candied kumquats)

In the south, potted kumquat trees heavy with fruit stand at the door for Tết, because their round gold fruit promises plenty; mứt tắc brings that same luck to the candy tray. Each fruit is slit, gently pressed to push out the seeds and juice, firmed briefly in clear water made with food-grade slaked lime (vôi ăn), then candied until glossy and amber, with a chewy skin and a pleasant bitter-sweet edge. A no-lime method is given too. Serve with strong tea, or drop a fruit into hot water with honey for a soothing drink. Chef's tip: blanch the fruit twice in fresh water before candying; it tames the bitterness without losing the perfume.

240 min

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Coussin de Lyon (green almond-paste cushions with chocolate ganache)

Lyon's sweet emblem recalls the city's plague vow of 1643, when the aldermen carried a candle and gold coins on a silk cushion to the chapel of Fourvière. Chocolatiers turned that cushion into a confection in the 1960s and it is now the gift Lyonnais bring at Christmas and New Year, or for a host on a Sunday visit. A soft, almond-sweet shell of pale green paste, marked with a darker green stripe, hides a melting dark chocolate ganache scented with orange. Serve two or three with coffee after dinner. The classic ganache is laced with orange liqueur; here fresh orange juice and zest give the flavour without alcohol. Shop marzipan is not always egg-free, so this almond paste is bound with sugar syrup cooked to the soft-ball stage, which coats the ground almonds and sets them firm as it cools. Chef's tip: chill the ganache until it holds a line before shaping; the common mistake is using it soft, so it squeezes out of the seams.

85 min

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Num plae ai (Khmer palm sugar rice balls)

Num plae ai are a favourite Cambodian sweet for Khmer New Year in April, made to share with visiting family and offered at the pagoda, the hidden palm sugar inside standing for a sweet surprise in the year ahead. Small balls of glutinous rice dough are wrapped around a cube of palm sugar, boiled until they float and then rolled in fresh coconut with a pinch of salt. Bite in and the warm sugar bursts out like syrup against the soft, chewy dough. They are best eaten warm, within a few hours of making. Cut the balls in half for young children, as sticky rice dough can be hard to chew. Chef's tip: seal each ball carefully and roll it smooth between your palms, or the sugar leaks out into the water.

45 min

Cambodian Desserts

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Marzipankartoffeln (German marzipan potatoes)

In Germany the run-up to Christmas is when these appear, piled in paper bags at the markets and in bowls on the Advent table; Lübeck, the city most famous for marzipan, makes them by the tonne. They are simply small balls of marzipan dusted in cocoa until they look like freshly dug new potatoes, sometimes with a few pricked 'eyes'. The inside is soft, sweet and fragrant with almond and a hint of rosewater; the cocoa coat is bitter and dry, which keeps the sweetness in check. Serve them with coffee, tuck them into a cookie tin or wrap them as small gifts. Shop marzipan sometimes contains egg white, so this one is made from scratch: a sugar syrup cooked to the soft-ball stage binds the ground almonds into a smooth, pliable paste, doing the job egg white does in some commercial pastes, and the result is naturally egg-free. Chef's tip: the common mistake is kneading the warm paste too long, which squeezes oil out of the almonds and makes it greasy; knead only until it comes together, then let it cool.

30 min

German Desserts

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Knäck (Swedish Christmas toffee)

No Swedish julbord is complete without knäck. Families make it in the weeks before Christmas Eve, often with children filling the little paper cases, and it sits on the table beside saffron buns, gingersnaps and ischoklad. Equal parts of cream, golden syrup and sugar boil down into a deep caramel that sets glossy and firm, then gives way to a pleasant chew; chopped almonds add crunch. It is lovely with strong coffee or glögg made from berry juice. Knäck has never contained egg: the cream is boiled until its milk sugars caramelise and the mixture reaches the hard-ball stage, so the sugar itself sets the toffee. Some cooks stir in breadcrumbs; they are left out here so the toffee stays gluten free. Chef's tip: test the toffee by dropping a little into cold water rather than trusting the clock alone; the common mistake is stopping too early, which leaves knäck that sticks to your teeth and to its paper.

55 minScandinavian Desserts

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Khailmag (cream and raisin sweet)

Tsagaan Sar, the Mongolian Lunar New Year, means 'White Month', and white dairy foods stand for purity, plenty and a clean start to the year, so homes across the country set out cream, curds and sweets beside the steaming buuz. Khailmag is one of the most luxurious: clotted cream (or Mongolian öröm, the thick skin skimmed from boiled milk) is cooked with butter-toasted flour, sugar and raisins until it turns into a golden, fudgy porridge. It is very rich, so serve small spoonfuls with salty milk tea, or alongside ul boov biscuits and boortsog. There is no alcohol in it. Chef's tip: toast the flour slowly until it smells nutty; that toasting gives khailmag its caramel flavour.

30 min

Mongolian Desserts

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Yeot-gangjeong (nut and sesame bars in rice syrup)

Yeot-gangjeong is a traditional Korean hangwa made all over the country, especially in the weeks before Seollal and Chuseok, when trays of these bars are given as gifts and set out for visitors. Toasted nuts, sesame seeds and puffed rice are folded into hot rice syrup, pressed flat and cut into bars that are crunchy, nutty and only gently sweet, with a faint malty flavour from the syrup. Serve them with green tea or sikhye, the sweet rice drink, or pack them for a lunchbox. They are naturally egg-free: rice syrup, heated until it bubbles, acts as the glue and sets firm as it cools. Chef's tip: cut the slab while it is still warm. The common mistake is waiting until it is cold, when the bars shatter instead of slicing cleanly.

25 min

Malaysian Snacks & Starters

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Arrowhead chips (nga gu chips)

Arrowhead (nga gu, or ngaku) is a small aquatic tuber that only shows up in Malaysian markets in the weeks before Chinese New Year, and frying it into chips is a family job. Its curved sprout looks like a shoot rising from the root, so it stands for growth and many descendants in the year ahead. Sliced thin and fried, the chips are crisp and nutty like potato crisps, with a gentle bitterness that keeps you reaching for more. Put them out in jars with peanuts and love letters for visitors. Chef's tip: soak the slices and dry them very well; wet slices make the oil spit and fry up chewy instead of crisp.

40 min

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Tsukimi dango (moon-viewing dumplings)

On the night of the harvest moon in September or early October, families across Japan set a tray of plain white dumplings by the window with a vase of pampas grass, as thanks for the harvest and an offering to the full moon. The round white dango stand for the moon itself, and the traditional count is fifteen, for the fifteenth night of the eighth lunar month, stacked nine, four and two. This Kanto-style dough is steamed and then kneaded, which gives a smoother, firmer bite than boiled dango, with a clean rice flavour that loves a dusting of kinako or a spoonful of sweet red bean paste once the moon-viewing is over. Mochi is very sticky: cut the dumplings small for young children and older people, and see that they chew well and eat sitting down. Chef's tip: knead the steamed dough while it is still hot, wrapped in a damp cloth, until it turns satiny.

40 min

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ZeltenFig, walnut and raisin Christmas loaf

Zelten comes from the Alpine valleys of Trentino and South Tyrol, where it is baked around St Lucy's Day and eaten slowly until Epiphany, a slice at a time after Christmas dinner. The Trentino version is a dark, dense cake packed with dried figs, raisins, walnuts and pine nuts in just enough soft yeasted dough, topped with a pattern of whole nuts and cherries. Grappa or rum is usually poured over the fruit; here it is soaked in warm orange juice, and adults can add 2 tbsp rum to the soak. It keeps for 3 weeks wrapped. Chef's tip: press the decorative nuts in firmly before baking, or they pop off as the loaf rises.

90 min

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Croccante (southern Italian almond brittle)

Croccante is the sweet of southern Italian feast days: from Naples to Calabria and Apulia it is sold from stalls at the patron saint's festa, set out at Christmas and at Carnival, and in some towns shaped into little baskets for weddings. Whole almonds are toasted and folded into caramel, then pressed thin on marble with the cut side of a lemon, which stops it sticking and leaves a faint citrus scent. It is crisp and glassy with a deep, nutty, slightly bitter caramel. Break it into shards to eat with coffee, or crush it over ice cream. It is naturally egg-free: only caramelised sugar holds the almonds, setting hard as glass as it cools. Chef's tip: keep the almonds warm when they go in; the common mistake is adding cold nuts, which makes the caramel seize into lumps.

30 min

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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 min

Argentinian Desserts

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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 min

Jamaican Desserts

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BeraweckaDried fruit and nut Christmas loaf

In Alsace, berawecka (the name means 'pear loaf') is baked in early December and sliced thinly through Advent, often handed to neighbours and godchildren. It is mostly fruit: dried pears, figs, prunes, raisins and walnuts held together with just enough bread dough, spiced with cinnamon, star anise and clove. Alsatian families soak the fruit in kirsch; this version uses strong black tea, which keeps the loaf moist and alcohol-free, and you can add 3 tbsp kirsch to the soak for adults if you like. It is vegan, keeps for weeks wrapped in foil, and is lovely buttered with a cup of tea. Chef's tip: cut the pears and figs the same size as the raisins, so every slice holds a mosaic of fruit instead of big lumps that tear the loaf.

100 min

French Baking

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Pâte de coingsQuince paste

On Christmas Eve in Provence the gros souper ends with the treize desserts, thirteen small sweets set out together and left on the table until 27 December. Pâte de coings, a firm, glowing amber quince paste cut into squares and rolled in sugar, is nearly always among them, beside nougat, dried fruit and fougasse. It is simply quince pulp and sugar cooked down slowly until it pulls away from the pan, so it is vegan and gluten free, and it keeps for months. Serve it in small cubes, or with a sharp cheese. Chef's tip: cook the quinces whole with their skins and cores, which hold most of the natural pectin, and only sieve them afterwards.

150 min

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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 min

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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 min

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Polkagris (Gränna peppermint candy sticks)

Gränna, a small town on the shore of Lake Vättern, has been pulling polkagris since the 1850s, and visitors still stand at shop windows watching the sugar being stretched and twisted on marble tables. The sticks are sold all year but are a favourite in summer, when the town fills with tourists, and again at Christmas. Pulled properly, the white part turns satiny and slightly airy, so the candy is crisp on the outside and almost chalky-soft as it melts, with a clean, cooling peppermint flavour and a thin red spiral. Eat them as they are, crush them over ice cream or hang them on the tree. Polkagris is naturally egg-free: nothing but sugar boiled to the hard-crack stage holds it together, and the pulling, not any added protein, gives the pale, opaque texture. Chef's tip: work in a dry kitchen with oiled gloves and have every tool ready before the sugar reaches temperature; the common mistake is letting the mass cool too far before pulling, at which point it cracks instead of stretching.

50 minScandinavian Desserts

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Khao niao daeng (Thai red sticky rice)

Khao niao daeng, "red sticky rice", is made in Central Thailand in the days before Songkran and carried to the temple as an offering, its sticky grains a wish that family ties hold fast through the year. The rice is steamed first, then folded into a long-reduced coconut and palm sugar caramel until it turns a glossy red-brown and every grain is sweet, chewy and fragrant. Pressed into a tray, it slices neatly and keeps for a few days, so it is a good make-ahead sweet for a crowd. Serve squares with a sprinkle of toasted sesame and a cup of tea. Chef's tip: reduce the caramel until it is thick and bubbling slowly before the rice goes in, or the rice turns mushy instead of chewy.

90 min

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Abekawa mochi (kinako mochi)Mochi with roasted soybean flour

Abekawa mochi comes from the banks of the Abe River in Shizuoka, where teahouses served it to travellers on the old Tōkaidō road, and today families all over Japan make it with leftover New Year mochi and at kagami-biraki on 11 January, when the offering cakes are broken open and shared for good health. Kinako, roasted soybean flour, gives a nutty, toasty sweetness, and its golden colour is said to look like gold dust, a wish for wealth in the year ahead. The mochi underneath is pillowy and stretchy. Serve with hot green tea, with a little black sugar syrup (kuromitsu) poured over if you like. Chef's tip: dunk the cooked mochi in hot water just before rolling, so the kinako sticks in an even, velvety coat.

15 min

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Krówki (Polish milk fudge)

Krówki, 'little cows', are the sweets Polish children grow up with: wrapped in paper with a cow on it, handed out at name days and school parties, and bought by the bag all year round. Fresh ones have a thin, sugary crust that crumbles at the edges while the middle stays soft and almost runny, with a deep taste of cooked milk and butter, close to dulce de leche. Eat them with black tea or coffee, or chop them into ice cream. They are naturally egg-free: milk and cream are boiled with sugar until the milk solids caramelise and the mixture reaches the soft-ball stage, then beating it as it cools starts fine sugar crystals that set the fudge and give that crumbly crust. A spoonful of honey adds its own flavour and keeps the centre soft. Chef's tip: stop beating as soon as the mixture loses its shine and starts to thicken; beating too long is the common mistake, and the fudge then sets in the pan before you can pour it.

175 min

Japanese Breakfast & Brunch

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Azuki-gayu (red bean rice porridge)

On Koshōgatsu, the 'little New Year' of 15 January, households across Japan eat a bowl of azuki-gayu in the morning; the red of the adzuki beans has long been thought to drive away evil and illness for the year ahead. It is a plain, comforting dish: rice cooked slowly until the grains burst, stained soft pink by the bean cooking water, with the beans themselves floury and tender. It is lightly salted rather than sweet, as it is traditionally eaten. Serve with umeboshi, a sprinkle of sesame salt or a few toasted mochi pieces dropped in at the end. Chef's tip: throw away the first boiling water of the beans to lose their bitterness, but keep the second; that is where the pink colour comes from.

75 min

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Mứt bí (candied winter melon)

Pale as rice paper and crunchy at the edge, mứt bí is one of the cheapest and best-loved sweets on the Tết candy tray all over Vietnam; its white colour stands for a clean, bright start to the year. The melon is first firmed in clear lime water made with food-grade slaked lime (vôi ăn, calcium hydroxide, sold for pickling), which sets the outside so the batons stay crisp while the sugar soaks in. If you would rather not use lime, a quick blanch and longer drying gives a softer but still delicious result. Serve with green tea, or with candied ginger and coconut. Chef's tip: choose an old, heavy winter melon with a dusty white skin; young ones are watery and collapse in the syrup.

240 min

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Ginataang mais (sweet corn coconut porridge)

Across the Philippines, ginataang mais turns up on the quiet, meatless days of Holy Week, when many families keep Good Friday as a day of fasting and abstinence and want something warm and simple to share in the afternoon. Glutinous rice swells in coconut milk until the pot turns thick and glossy, and sweet corn kernels pop through it with little bursts of sweetness. It is eaten warm from small bowls, sometimes with a swirl of extra coconut cream or crunchy toasted pinipig, and is just as good cold from the fridge the next day. Chef's tip: save the sugar until the rice is fully soft; added too early it slows the grains and they stay chalky in the middle.

40 min

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Śliwki w czekoladzie (chocolate-coated prunes with walnuts)

Boxes of chocolate prunes are a classic Polish gift: brought to grandmothers at Christmas, set out on the Wigilia table among the twelve dishes, and passed round on name days. Plump smoked or soft prunes from the south of the country are best. Each one hides a walnut half, so you get chewy, slightly tart fruit, a crunchy bitter nut and a snap of dark chocolate in one bite. Serve them with coffee or tea after a big meal. Nothing here ever needed egg: the prune itself holds the nut, and chocolate sets around it as it cools. Older recipes soak the prunes in spirits; here they are alcohol-free, plumped in warm orange juice instead, which also brightens the flavour. Use a dark chocolate made without milk and the sweets are vegan. Chef's tip: dry the soaked prunes very well before dipping; the common mistake is leaving them damp, and even a few drops of juice will make melted chocolate seize and turn grainy.

55 min

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Mebos (Karoo salted apricot sweets)

Mebos belongs to the dry Karoo and the orchards of the Western Cape, where summer apricots were salted, sun-dried and pounded into a paste that lasted the year. Today it is a car-trip and school-holiday treat, bought from farm stalls and passed around with afternoon tea. The flavour is bright and tart, then sweet, with a little salt that makes the apricot taste even stronger; the texture is dense and chewy, like a soft fruit leather. Eat it on its own, with a cup of rooibos, or chopped over plain yoghurt. This version starts from dried apricots, so it can be made at any time of year. It is naturally egg-free: the apricots' own pectin and fibre, thickened with sugar in the pan, hold the paste together with no other binder. Chef's tip: measure the salt; the common mistake is adding it by feel, which turns a sweet-sour sweet into a salty one.

120 min

South African Desserts

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Imelletty perunalaatikkoSweet baked potato casserole

Imelletty perunalaatikko is the most traditional of the Finnish Christmas casseroles, made in the days before Christmas Eve. Mashed potato is mixed with a little flour and left warm for hours, so the potatoes' own enzymes turn starch into sugar ('imelletty' means sweetened), and then it is baked slowly until the top is a deep caramel brown. The result tastes gently sweet with no added sugar and is eaten with ham, herring or, on a vegetarian table, with mushroom salad and beetroot. Chef's tip: keep the mash at hand-warm (about 55 °C) while it sweetens; too hot and the enzymes die, too cool and nothing happens.

300 minScandinavian Sides

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Omija hwachae (five-flavour berry punch)

Across Korea, Dano marks the start of the hot season, and a bowl of hwachae is the old way to cool down. Omija means 'five flavours': the dried schisandra berries are sour, sweet, salty, bitter and pungent at once, and steeping them gives a ruby-pink drink that is tart and bright, said to refresh the body against summer fatigue. Honey is the traditional sweetener; sugar syrup keeps this version vegan and entirely alcohol-free. Float thin pear flowers and a few pine nuts on top and serve it beside tteok or yakgwa. Chef's tip: steep the berries in cold water only, because hot water pulls out their bitterness and the colour turns murky.

30 min

Korean Drinks

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Surichwi-tteok (Dano wheel rice cakes)

Dano, on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, was once called surit-nal, and the green surichwi-tteok of Gangwon and the rest of Korea carries that name: the cakes are pounded with surichwi (Korean mountain aster) and pressed with a cartwheel stamp, since 'suri' was read as 'wheel', a wish for the year to roll on smoothly and for good health as summer heat sets in. The leaves give a grassy, faintly bitter scent and a deep green fleck, and the steamed rice is pounded until it turns chewy and bouncy. If you can't find surichwi, mugwort (ssuk) powder or dried mugwort works well; the flavour is a little more herbal and the cakes are just as traditional in spirit. Serve at room temperature with cold omija hwachae or barley tea. Chef's tip: pound the rice while it is still steaming hot; once it cools it tightens and will never go smooth.

120 min

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Pruneaux d'Agen fourrés (stuffed Agen prunes)

Agen, on the Garonne in south-west France, has dried its plums into prunes for centuries, and its confectioners stuff the best ones with a paste of more prunes and almonds. Boxes of pruneaux fourrés are a Christmas present across the south-west and a speciality of the town's prune festival at the end of August. Each one is glossy and plump, with a soft, sticky skin and a dense, mellow filling that tastes of fruit, almond and a little orange. Serve them with coffee or tea, or as part of a cheese plate. The filling is a kind of almond paste, held together by the sticky prune purée and sugar, so it is egg-free like the rest of the sweet; some versions add a little brandy, and orange juice takes its place here. Chef's tip: if the prunes are dry, steam them for 5 minutes first; the common mistake is forcing filling into stiff prunes, which split.

45 min

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Grillázs (Hungarian walnut brittle)

Grillázs belongs to Hungarian celebrations: it is sold at Christmas fairs and on saints' day markets, and at village weddings a towering grillázs castle or basket is often the centrepiece, broken up and shared at the end of the night. Walnuts are traditional, almonds are the fancier choice. The caramel is cooked to a deep amber, so it tastes rich and slightly bitter-sweet and shatters cleanly, with the toasted nuts giving a softer crunch. Serve shards with coffee, crumble it over ice cream, or press warm sheets over an oiled bowl to make a basket for fruit or sweets. It is naturally egg-free: melted, caramelised sugar sets glass-hard as it cools and holds the nuts together, with a few drops of lemon juice to keep it smooth. Chef's tip: warm the walnuts in the oven before they go in; the common mistake is adding cold nuts, which chill the caramel so it seizes and turns grainy before you can spread it.

40 min

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Rakugan (pressed dry sweets for tea)

Rakugan are higashi, the dry sweets served before thin matcha at a tea ceremony, and the castle towns of Kanazawa and Matsue, both with a long tea tradition, are famous for them. Fine sugar and roasted rice flour are pressed into carved wooden moulds to make cherry blossoms in spring, maple leaves in autumn and plum flowers in winter; they also appear on Obon altars as offerings. They feel firm in the hand but dissolve on the tongue into a delicate, clean sweetness, which balances the bitterness of the tea. Serve two or three per person with matcha or sencha. They are naturally egg-free: a few drops of water make the fine sugar just damp enough to stick, the roasted rice flour holds the shape, and drying sets it hard. Chef's tip: add water a few drops at a time and stop when the sugar feels like damp sand; the common mistake is too much water, which glues the mixture into the mould.

200 min

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Qiaoguo (Qixi fried pastries)Sesame sugar fried dough knots

Qiaoguo, 'skill fruits', are fried for Qixi on the seventh night of the seventh lunar month in Zhejiang and Jiangsu. The festival celebrates the Weaver Girl and the Cowherd, the star-crossed lovers who meet once a year, and girls once set out these pastries and asked the Weaver Girl to make them clever with their hands; the neat twists and cut-out shapes show off that skill. They are crunchy, lightly sweet and toasty with sesame, like a delicate biscuit. Serve a plate under the evening sky with tea, melon and fruit. Chef's tip: roll the dough thin, about 2 mm; thicker pieces stay hard in the middle instead of crisp.

60 min

Chinese Baking

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Omani halwa (saffron and rose water halwa)

No Omani welcome is complete without a dish of halwa and a cup of cardamom coffee, and in Muscat and Nizwa it is stirred for hours in huge copper pots for Eid, weddings and every family gathering. Sugar is caramelised, then cooked with a cornflour slurry and ghee until it turns dark, glossy and set. It is wobbly and sticky like a very soft fruit jelly, rich with ghee, and fragrant with saffron, cardamom and rose water, with toasted nuts through it. Serve small spoonfuls in little bowls with qahwa, the lightly roasted cardamom coffee. It is naturally egg-free: the starch, cooked slowly with the sugar until it turns clear and thick, does all the setting. Chef's tip: keep stirring and add the ghee a little at a time. The common mistake is stopping, even for a minute, so the halwa catches and burns on the base.

185 minGulf Arabian Desserts

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Gotgam-ssam (walnut-stuffed dried persimmon rounds)

Sangju in North Gyeongsang is Korea's dried-persimmon capital, and in Andong and across the region gotgam-ssam is a sweet for Seollal and Chuseok tables and for welcoming guests in winter. Soft dried persimmons are opened out flat, rolled tightly around a row of walnut halves and sliced, so each round shows a pattern like a flower. They are chewy and honeyed from the fruit, with crunchy, slightly bitter walnuts in the middle. Serve them with sujeonggwa, the cinnamon-ginger punch, or with a cup of roasted barley tea. It is naturally egg-free: the sticky dried fruit is its own glue, and a short chill firms the roll so it slices neatly. Chef's tip: wrap the roll tightly in cling film and chill it before slicing; the common mistake is slicing it straight away, which squashes the rounds and lets the walnuts fall out.

19 min

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Kluay tak (Thai dried bananas, oven method)

In Bang Krathum, a district of Phitsanulok in lower northern Thailand, small nam wa bananas are peeled and laid out under the sun in glass-roofed drying boxes for several days, then pressed flat to make kluay tak. The district is famous for them, and bags are bought as a gift on the road home and nibbled with tea or coffee in the afternoon. They are dense and chewy like a soft toffee, dark amber, with a deep caramel and honey flavour that comes only from the fruit. As sun-drying takes days and needs steady heat, this version uses a very low oven overnight, then a rest in a jar so the moisture evens out. They are naturally egg-free and need nothing to bind them: the banana's own sugars concentrate and hold it together. Chef's tip: keep the oven low and prop the door open with a wooden spoon; the common mistake is a hot oven, which cooks and blackens the outside while the centre stays wet.

1340 min

Taiwanese Snacks & Starters

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Ma lao (puffed rice sticks)

Ma lao are a Lunar New Year sweet from Yilan on Taiwan's northeast coast, stacked on family altars as offerings and handed to guests through the holiday. The sticks swell to many times their size in the oil, a picture of a family and fortune growing bigger in the new year, and their sticky coating stands for staying close together. They are light and crunchy, almost hollow, with a sweet malt glaze and a nutty crust of toasted sesame or crisp puffed rice. Serve on the New Year candy tray with tea. Chef's tip: start frying in barely warm oil and raise the heat slowly; that gentle start is what makes the sticks puff.

180 min

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Kẹo cu đơ (Hà Tĩnh peanut and ginger candy)

Kẹo cu đơ belongs to Hà Tĩnh province in north-central Vietnam, where it is chewed slowly with a cup of strong green tea, especially on cold mornings and during Tết visits. Roasted peanuts are folded into a dark, sticky toffee of sugarcane molasses and malt syrup, sharpened with fresh ginger, and the hot mass is sandwiched between two crisp, toasted sesame rice papers. Every bite gives a crackle of rice paper, then a chewy, slightly smoky sweetness and a warm ginger finish. Cut it into wedges and serve it with tea rather than as a pudding. It is naturally egg-free: the molasses and malt syrup are cooked to the hard-ball stage, which is what sets the candy and binds the nuts. Chef's tip: toast the rice papers until they are completely puffed and blistered; the common mistake is under-toasting them, which leaves them leathery once the hot toffee goes on.

45 min

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Kẹo mè xửng (Huế sesame peanut chews)

No one leaves the old imperial city of Huế without a box of kẹo mè xửng, the soft sesame chew sold on Đông Ba market stalls and handed out at Tết and on family visits. Rice malt syrup and sugar are cooked with a little tapioca starch into a glossy, stretchy mass, chopped peanuts are folded in, and the slab is pressed between layers of toasted sesame. It chews like a soft toffee, nutty and gently sweet, and the sesame gives every square a roasted fragrance. Serve squares with hot lotus or green tea after dinner. The candy is naturally egg-free: tapioca starch gives it its springy chew and the malt syrup binds it, so nothing else is needed. Chef's tip: oil your knife and cut while the slab is just warm. The common mistake is adding the starch slurry without stirring hard, which leaves white lumps through the candy.

75 min

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Shanzha gao (hawthorn fruit cake)

When the hawthorn trees of Hebei and Shandong drop their red berries in late autumn, cooks across northern China, and especially in Beijing, boil them down into shanzha gao, a firm fruit cake cut into ruby slices. It is a winter sweet, eaten after rich meals because people say it helps digestion, and it sits beside candied hawthorn skewers at the New Year fairs. The texture is like a firm fruit jelly that cuts cleanly, and the flavour is bright and sour-sweet, like a cross between crab apple and cranberry. Serve thin slices with jasmine tea, or cubes on a fruit plate. It is naturally egg-free and needs no setting agent at all: hawthorn is so rich in pectin that the cooked purée sets firm as it cools. Chef's tip: the common mistake is stopping too soon, so keep stirring until a spoon drawn across the pan leaves a clear trail that does not close up.

130 min

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Ruyi cai (soybean sprout stir-fry)

A curled soybean sprout, with its fat yellow head and long tail, looks just like the ruyi sceptre whose name means 'as you wish', so in Shanghai and the Jiangnan region no Spring Festival table is complete without a dish of ruyi cai. It is the gentle, crunchy counterweight to the braised pork and fish of the reunion dinner: nutty sprouts, chewy strips of tofu skin and meaty shiitake in a light soy glaze. Many families cook a big batch on New Year's Eve and eat it cold for days. Serve it with rice, alongside red-braised dishes or as part of a vegetarian New Year spread. Chef's tip: cook the sprouts until the beany raw taste is gone; undercooked soybean sprouts taste grassy and are hard to digest.

25 min

Chinese Vegetarian

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Goan milk creamMilk and cashew sweet

Milk cream is a pale, fudgy Goan Christmas sweet, set in pretty little moulds of flowers, stars and Christmas trees and laid on the kuswar platter beside neureos, bebinca and kulkuls. Whole milk is cooked down with sugar and ground cashews (and sometimes semolina) until it turns into a smooth paste, a little like Indian peda but softer. It is gluten free and very rich, so pieces are small. Chef's tip: dust the moulds with sugar, not flour, so the sweets pop out cleanly with crisp detail.

90 min

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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 min

Canadian Desserts

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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 min

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Berlingots de Carpentras (striped Provençal hard candies)

Carpentras, the market town below Mont Ventoux, has made berlingots since the nineteenth century, using the fruit syrups left over from its candied-fruit trade. The little four-sided pyramids are clear and glassy with fine white stripes, and they are sold year round at the Friday market and in paper cones for the Christmas sweet table. They crunch cleanly and dissolve slowly, here with a cool mint flavour; a fruit syrup can take its place. Offer them after a meal with coffee or herbal tea. Hard candy is naturally egg-free: the sugar, cooked to the hard-crack stage, sets glass-hard by itself, and glucose syrup keeps it clear instead of grainy. You will need heatproof gloves, oiled scissors and a warm place to keep the sugar soft while you shape it. Chef's tip: make these on a dry day; the common mistake is cooking sugar in a steamy kitchen, which leaves the berlingots sticky within hours.

85 min

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Poolaki (Isfahan saffron sugar discs)Saffron caramel discs

Poolaki are the glassy, coin-thin sugar discs of Isfahan, sold in tins in the bazaar near Naqsh-e Jahan square and served with tea in Iranian homes, especially at Nowruz and when guests drop by. Instead of stirring sugar into the glass, you hold a disc on your tongue and sip strong black tea through it. They snap cleanly, then melt into a light caramel scented with saffron, sometimes with cardamom or a scatter of pistachio. They are naturally egg-free: sugar syrup cooked to the hard-crack stage sets as clear as glass the moment it is spread thin, and a little vinegar stops it from turning grainy. Chef's tip: do not stir once the syrup boils; swirl the pan instead and wash down the sides with a wet pastry brush. The common mistake is stirring, which makes the syrup crystallise and turn cloudy.

25 min

Persian Desserts

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Szaloncukor (Hungarian Christmas tree candy)

Every Hungarian Christmas tree carries szaloncukor: sweets wrapped in shiny foil and fringed paper, hung from the branches in December and quietly eaten, one by one, by everyone in the house until Epiphany. The classic is soft white fondant, but the centres vary: tart fruit jelly, coconut, marzipan or nut. Here there are two fillings, raspberry jelly and coconut fondant, both coated in dark chocolate, so each bite gives a snap of chocolate and then a tender, melting middle. They are lovely with coffee or as a small gift. These are egg-free with no animal setting agent: the fondant is just sugar syrup cooked to the soft-ball stage and worked until it crystallises into a smooth, white paste, so no egg white is needed, and the jelly is set with agar-agar, which gives clean cubes that hold their shape at room temperature. Chef's tip: let the syrup cool to about 45°C before working it; the common mistake is starting while it is still hot, which grows coarse crystals and a gritty fondant.

180 min

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Konpeito (Japanese sugar stars)

Konpeito came to Japan with Portuguese traders in the sixteenth century and became a treasured gift; Kyoto confectioners still make them the old way, rolling them in a tilted, heated pan for two weeks or more. Today the tiny pastel stars are given as wedding and birth favours, slipped into tins of emergency hardtack biscuits, and nibbled with green tea. They crunch like a sugar cube and taste purely of sugar, sometimes with a hint of fruit. This home version uses a wok over the lowest heat and a few patient hours, which gives smaller, knobbly stars rather than the perfect shop ones. They are naturally egg-free: they are made of nothing but sugar, and the setting comes from thin layers of syrup crystallising one after another. Chef's tip: add the syrup a teaspoon at a time and keep the crystals rolling until dry. The common mistake is pouring in too much, which glues everything into one clump.

240 min

Japanese Snacks & Starters

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Malban (Egyptian rose and nut jelly sweets)

Malban is the Egyptian cousin of Turkish delight, sold by weight in Cairo sweet shops all year but piled highest for Ramadan nights and the Mawlid sweets of the Prophet's birthday. A syrup of sugar and lemon is cooked with cornflour for the best part of an hour into a thick, clear jelly, scented with rose water and a little mastic and studded with pistachios or hazelnuts. Cut into cubes and rolled in icing sugar, it is soft, springy and chewy, sweet and floral. Serve it with mint tea or Turkish-style coffee. It is naturally egg-free: cornflour, cooked slowly in the syrup, sets it into a firm jelly, with no other setting agent. Chef's tip: whisk the cornflour mixture into the syrup in a thin stream and keep stirring. The common mistake is stopping too early, which gives a soft jelly that weeps and won't hold a cube.

320 min

Egyptian Desserts

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Fukumame (roasted lucky soybeans)

On Setsubun, the eve of spring in early February, households all over Japan fling roasted soybeans out of the door shouting "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" (demons out, luck in), then each person eats one bean for every year of their age, plus one for the year ahead. The beans are called fukumame, "fortune beans", and roasting them matters: a raw bean could sprout, and a demon's bean must not take root. Home-roasted ones are nutty, toasty and properly crunchy, far better than the packet kind, and they are good with green tea or scattered over a salad. Whole roasted beans are a choking hazard, so do not give them to children under five; grind theirs to a powder and sprinkle it on rice or yoghurt instead. Chef's tip: let a test bean cool for a minute before you judge it, because hot beans always feel softer than they will be.

30 min

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Dong li (Dongbei frozen pears)

In Dongbei, China's far north-east, winter temperatures fall so low that pears left outside freeze rock hard and turn glossy black, and a bowl of dong li thawing in cold water is part of every Spring Festival. They are eaten after the rich New Year's Eve dumplings and meats: cold, very sweet and full of juice, said to soothe a throat dry from heated rooms and to bring a clear, fresh start to the year. Freezing breaks down the flesh so it becomes soft and almost slushy, with a flavour like pear sorbet. You can recreate them in a home freezer; serve them as they are in small bowls, with spoons and napkins. Chef's tip: thaw them in cold water, never warm; the cold water pulls the frost out slowly and leaves an ice shell that cracks away cleanly.

30 min

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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 min

Japanese Rice & Grains

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SpongataHoney and nut Christmas pie

Spongata is a Christmas speciality of the hills between Parma, Reggio Emilia and the Lunigiana, a thin, flat round of crisp pastry hiding a dark filling of honey, walnuts, almonds, pine nuts, raisins, candied fruit and spices, all bound with a few breadcrumbs. Families exchange it at Christmas and slice it into thin wedges with coffee. Traditional recipes add white wine to the pastry and a splash of liqueur to the filling; this version uses milk and orange juice, so it is alcohol-free. The filling is best made two days ahead. Chef's tip: prick the top many times with a fork, as the pattern is traditional and it stops the lid ballooning.

75 min

Chinese Snacks & Starters

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Sanzi (fried dough threads)

Sanzi are lacy coils of fried dough threads, made across Jiangsu and Shandong and by Hui and Uyghur cooks in Xinjiang. They belong to Hanshi, Cold Food Day, just before Qingming, when old custom forbade lighting the stove, so families fried them in advance to eat cold; the shatteringly crisp coils keep well for days and stand for the care taken to prepare for the remembrance. The dough is lightly salted and the strands snap like thin crackers, with a nutty note from sesame. Break them over congee or soy milk, or eat them on their own with tea. Chef's tip: rest the oiled ropes properly; relaxed dough stretches to thread-thin without snapping.

120 min

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Hishi mochi (diamond rice cakes)

Hishi mochi sit on the tiered doll display for Hinamatsuri, Girls' Day on 3 March, and their colours are a little poem about early spring: green for new grass pushing through, white for the last snow, pink for peach blossom (some families also read them as health, purity and protection from evil). The diamond shape is said to echo the water chestnut and a wish for growth and many children. This home version is made from glutinous rice flour set in a square tin, so the cake is soft, bouncy and only gently sweet, with a grassy hint from matcha. Serve small pieces with green tea, or beside chirashizushi and clam soup at the festival table. Mochi is very sticky: cut it small for young children and older people, and see that they chew well and eat sitting down. Chef's tip: press each layer on while the one below is still warm and tacky, so the three bond into one cake.

120 min

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Bhapa doi (Bengali steamed sweet yogurt)

Bhapa doi means steamed yogurt, and it's the dessert Kolkata households make when there's no time to visit the sweet shop for mishti doi. It's especially popular on Jamai Shashthi and at Poila Baisakh, the Bengali New Year, but it appears at Sunday lunches all year. Thick hung yogurt is mixed with condensed milk and a little milk, scented with cardamom, then gently steamed until it sets like a soft cheesecake without a crust. Chilled, it's dense, smooth and tangy-sweet. Serve it plain in small bowls, topped with pistachios, or with ripe mango in summer. There is no egg here: the milk proteins in the yogurt and condensed milk set with gentle heat, just as eggs would set a baked custard, and the condensed milk adds body and sweetness. Chef's tip: steam it on a low, gentle simmer; the common mistake is a fierce boil, which makes the yogurt weep whey and turn grainy.

285 min

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Ghanta tarkariMixed vegetables with dried peas

Ghanta is the Odia one-pot of everything the winter market offers, cooked in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack homes for festival days and pujas, and in a similar form in the temple kitchens at Puri. Pumpkin, raw banana, sweet potato, aubergine and beans are cooked with soaked dried peas and chana dal until the pulses thicken it into a soft, chunky stew, seasoned with ginger, cumin and a light panch phoron tempering. A portion gives about 20 g of protein from the dried peas, chana dal and vegetables. The dried peas and chana dal need 8 hours of soaking first (overnight), which is not counted in the times. The most common mistake is adding all the vegetables at once: pumpkin melts to mush while the raw banana is still hard, so add them in two stages. Chef's tip: grind the ginger and cumin with a little water to a fresh paste rather than using powder; it is what gives ghanta its clean, warm flavour.

60 min

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DalithoyMild toor dal with mustard

Dalithoy is the comfort dal of Konkani-speaking families in Goa, Mangalore and Udupi, eaten almost daily at lunch with red rice, and the first thing many make for someone recovering from illness. It is deliberately simple: toor dal cooked very soft with ginger and green chilli, thinned to a pourable soup and finished with coconut oil, mustard seeds, curry leaves and a good pinch of asafoetida. A portion gives about 19 g of protein from the toor dal, or about 23 g with a plate of rice, for about 330 kcal. With a pressure cooker it is on the table in half an hour. The most common mistake is skimping on the asafoetida or burning it: it is the main flavour here, so add it off the heat at the end of the tempering. Chef's tip: whisk the cooked dal until it is completely smooth before thinning it; dalithoy should be silky, with no whole grains left.

30 min

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Bób z koperkiemBroad beans with butter and dill

All over Poland, from Kraków's market stalls to allotments outside Warsaw, the short broad bean season in June and July means bowls of bób z koperkiem: young beans boiled in their pale skins, tossed with melted butter, dill and salt, and eaten with your fingers on summer evenings. You squeeze each bean out of its skin with your teeth, or eat the skin too if the beans are very young. A generous bowl of 300 g beans gives about 22 g of protein, all from the broad beans. The most common mistake is overcooking: the skins burst and the beans turn grey and floury. Chef's tip: add a pinch of sugar to the cooking water along with the salt, as Polish cooks do; it keeps the beans sweet and bright.

15 min

Polish Snacks & Starters

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ซาหริ่ม (Sarim, mung bean noodles in coconut syrup)

Sarim is an old dessert of central Thailand, served at temple fairs and in market dessert shops on sweltering afternoons: thin, slippery strands in pastel green, blue and white, floating in a pale coconut syrup over a mound of crushed ice. The strands are almost flavourless and very soft, so the syrup does the work; in Thailand it is scented with jasmine flowers or the smoke of a scented candle, and here with pandan and optional fresh jasmine. It is naturally egg-free: the strands are pure mung bean starch cooked with water into a clear, thick paste, which sets into a soft gel the moment it hits ice water. Pandan juice and butterfly pea flowers give the colours, so there is no need for dyes. Serve it straight away, as a light end to a spicy meal. Chef's tip: cook the paste until it turns fully glossy and see-through; the common mistake is stopping while it is still milky, which gives strands that break and taste floury.

60 min

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Bánh tro (bánh gio, amber glutinous rice cakes in leaves)Lye water glutinous rice cakes

On Tết Đoan Ngọ, the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, families in northern and central Vietnam eat bánh tro first thing in the morning, believing it cools the body as summer heat arrives. Glutinous rice is soaked in alkaline water, which was once made by steeping plant ash, then wrapped in leaves and boiled for hours. It turns amber, translucent and jelly-soft with a clean, faintly mineral flavour, and is eaten cold, dipped in sugarcane molasses or palm-sugar syrup. Bánh tro is naturally egg-free: the alkali softens the rice grains so their own starch melts together into a firm, sliceable cake. We use food-grade lye water (an alkaline solution of potassium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate sold in Asian shops for noodles and mooncakes). Handle it with care: wear gloves, keep it away from children, never use drain cleaner or caustic soda, and always dilute it as written. Chef's tip: the common mistake is skipping the rinse; wash the soaked rice twice so the cakes taste clean, not soapy.

600 min

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Kluay chuam (Thai bananas in palm-sugar syrup)

Kluay chuam is a market dessert of central Thailand, cooked in big brass pans and sold by the bag year round, and it is a common sweet to offer monks at merit-making. Small, starchy nam wa bananas are simmered slowly in palm-sugar syrup until they turn translucent and amber, soft and chewy rather than mushy, then served with thick, salty coconut cream poured over. The flavour is deep caramel and banana, cut by the salt. Serve at room temperature in small bowls. Being egg-free by nature, it relies on the long simmer in syrup firms the bananas and a little rice flour thickens the coconut topping. Chef's tip: keep the syrup at the gentlest simmer and don't stir; the common mistake is a fast boil and a spoon, which break the bananas before they have time to turn glassy.

60 min

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Mustazzoli (Salento almond, cocoa and spice biscuits)Spiced almond biscuits

In Lecce and the towns of the Salento, mustazzoli are baked for Christmas and for the summer saints' feasts, when stalls at the fairs stack them in glossy dark piles. They are diamond-shaped biscuits of toasted almonds, flour, sugar and cocoa, spiced with cinnamon and cloves and brightened with orange zest, then coated in dark chocolate. Inside they are firm and dense, a bit like a soft gingerbread, with a crisp chocolate shell. Eat them with an espresso after lunch or pack them as a gift; they keep for weeks. The dough was always egg-free: water and the sugar bind it, the ground almonds give fat and body, and a little baking powder keeps them from being leaden. Use a dark chocolate with no milk solids and the whole batch is vegan. Chef's tip: let the biscuits cool completely before glazing; the common mistake is dipping them warm, which melts the chocolate into a thin streaky coat that never sets glossy.

60 min

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Bánh phu thê (Đình Bảng 'husband and wife' cakes)Mung bean tapioca cakes

Bánh phu thê, also called bánh xu xê, comes from Đình Bảng in Bắc Ninh, and it is still part of the gifts a groom's family brings to a Vietnamese wedding, with its paired leaf boxes standing for husband and wife. The dough is tapioca starch cooked with sugar and fresh coconut shreds and tinted golden with gardenia seeds; it steams clear and chewy, almost like amber jelly, around a soft ball of mung bean paste, and the top is scattered with toasted sesame. Eat them the day they are made, with green tea. The cake is naturally egg-free: tapioca starch thickens and turns elastic when heated, so it wraps and holds the filling on its own. Small ramekins lined with banana leaf can stand in for folded leaf boxes. Chef's tip: the common mistake is not part-cooking the dough; stir it on the hob until half of it turns clear, or it runs out of the boxes in the steamer.

120 min

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Tvorozhnaya massa s izyumom (sweet tvorog cream with raisins)

All over Russia, tvorozhnaya massa is the smooth, sweet curd cheese of childhood breakfasts and afternoon teas, and at Easter it is the base of paskha. Fresh tvorog is pressed through a sieve and beaten with soft butter, sugar and vanilla until it is pale and fluffy, then raisins are stirred in. It is creamy and tangy, sweet but light, and high in protein. Spread it on bread, spread it on rye toast or eat it from a bowl with tea and berries. Nothing is cooked and no egg goes in: beating the butter into the sieved curd gives it a mousse-like body, and it firms up nicely in the fridge, so nothing is needed to bind or set it. Chef's tip: soften the butter fully and sieve the tvorog first; the common mistake is beating cold butter into grainy curd, which leaves hard flecks and a lumpy, heavy cream.

15 min

Russian Desserts

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Duraznos en almíbar (Mexican peaches in piloncillo syrup)

Across Mexico, from the orchards of Zacatecas and Puebla to every abuela's pantry, duraznos en almíbar are how the summer peach crop is kept, and a bowl of them chilled from the fridge is a classic Sunday dessert. Peeled peach halves are poached in a syrup of piloncillo, the cone-shaped raw cane sugar, with cinnamon and cloves, so they turn tender and glossy and soak up a warm, molasses-like sweetness. Serve them cold in their syrup, on their own, or with a spoon of crema or thick yoghurt. Nothing needs setting and no egg is involved: the fruit simply poaches in the sugar syrup, which thickens lightly as it cools. Chef's tip: choose ripe but firm peaches and poach them gently; the common mistake is boiling the syrup hard, which turns the halves ragged and stringy.

160 min

Mexican Desserts

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Dulce de fruta bomba (Cuban green papaya in syrup)

In Cuba, papaya is called fruta bomba, and its green, unripe fruit is cooked into this old-fashioned dulce, a fixture of home cooking all over the island and often made in big batches to keep. Strips of firm green papaya are simmered slowly in a cinnamon and lime-peel syrup until they turn translucent and chewy, with a candied, honeyed flavour. The Cuban way to eat it is with a slice of salty, crumbly white cheese, which balances the sweetness; a cup of strong coffee goes alongside. The dulce is egg-free by tradition, with nothing to bind: the papaya candies in the sugar syrup, and a short soak in water with a little bicarbonate of soda helps the strips stay firm. Chef's tip: rinse the strips well after the soak and simmer them gently; the common mistake is boiling the syrup fast, which hardens the outside of the papaya before the syrup can soak in.

110 min

Cuban Desserts

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Atsuage no nimonoSimmered fried tofu and greens

Atsuage no nimono is the kind of simmered dish that turns up on everyday dinner tables across Japan, especially in autumn and winter when komatsuna and spinach are at their best. Thick blocks of fried tofu, crisp outside and soft within, are simmered in a light, slightly sweet broth of dashi and soy until they drink it up, then the greens go in for the last few minutes. This version uses kombu and shiitake dashi and no mirin, so it is vegan and alcohol-free. Served as a main for two with rice, each portion gives about 23 g of protein, from the fried tofu. The common mistake is boiling the broth hard, which toughens the tofu and makes the greens drab. Chef's tip: pour boiling water over the atsuage first to rinse off surface oil; the broth then soaks in instead of sliding off.

25 min

Japanese Vegetarian

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Pheni (layered fried vermicelli nests in sweet milk)

In Lahore and Karachi during Ramadan, sweet shops stack golden nests of pheni in towers, and families buy them to eat at sehri, the meal before dawn. The fine, brittle strands are crumbled into a bowl and drenched with hot sweetened milk, which softens them in a minute into something like a silky vermicelli pudding; it keeps you full through the fasting day. Shop pheni is pulled into hair-thin threads by skilled hands, so at home this recipe uses the layered method: thin sheets of dough are brushed with a ghee and rice-flour paste, rolled and sliced, and the paste makes the layers fan out into fine flaky rings when fried. They are crisp, buttery and delicate. It is naturally egg-free: the dough is just flour, ghee and water, and the rice-flour paste keeps the layers separate. Chef's tip: fry the nests in oil that is only moderately hot, about 160°C; oil that is too hot is the common mistake that browns the outside while the inner layers stay soft and doughy.

90 min

Pakistani Indian Sweets

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Kalamay (Bohol sticky rice and coconut sweet)

Kalamay is the sweet Boholanos bring home for pasalubong, packed into halved coconut shells and sealed with bright red paper. It is made for fiestas and Christmas, and a pot of it is stirred for an hour by whoever has the strongest arms. Glutinous rice flour, coconut milk and dark muscovado sugar cook down slowly until the mixture is nearly black-brown, very thick and elastic. It tastes of toffee and toasted coconut, and the texture is sticky, chewy and smooth. Spread it on pan de sal, eat it with a spoon, or pair it with hot tsokolate. Kalamay is naturally egg-free: the glutinous rice starch swells in the coconut milk and binds everything into one dense, glossy mass, while the sugar keeps it soft. Chef's tip: the common mistake is turning the heat up to save time; it scorches on the bottom and tastes bitter, so keep it low and scrape the base each time you stir.

90 min

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Halape (හලපේ, finger-millet and jaggery parcels steamed in leaves)Finger millet and jaggery leaf parcels

In village homes in the south and the hill country, halape is an afternoon snack and a temple-day treat, steamed in the large, heart-shaped leaves of the kenda tree, which leave a faint grassy perfume. The dough is kurakkan, finger-millet flour, which is brick-brown, slightly bitter and very filling; it wraps a sweet layer of grated coconut and dark kithul jaggery. Once steamed, the parcels are dense, moist and fudgy, a little like a rustic steamed pudding, and they are best warm with a cup of plain tea. Nothing here was ever made with egg: steaming sets the millet starch and the jaggery melts into the coconut and holds it together. Banana leaves work well if you cannot find kenda. Chef's tip: the common mistake is spreading the dough too thick; keep it about 5 mm so the middle steams through before the outside turns hard.

55 min

Sri Lankan Desserts

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Uiro (ういろう, steamed rice-flour cake)

Uiro is the classic sweet of Nagoya, sold in long blocks at the station as a souvenir, and Yamaguchi has its own lighter version made with bracken starch. It is eaten through the year with tea, and in June a triangular version topped with azuki, minazuki, is eaten in Kyoto to mark the halfway point of the year. A simple batter of non-glutinous rice flour, sugar and water is steamed into a firm, smooth, slightly springy cake with a gentle sweetness. This one is flavoured with matcha; stir in a little sweet bean paste or sakura instead for variety. Uiro is naturally egg-free: steaming cooks the rice starch, which sets the cake into a dense, clean-cutting slab with no binder needed. Chef's tip: the common mistake is cutting it hot; let it cool completely, then slice with a wet knife or a piece of cling film, or it smears.

75 min

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Crocette di fichi (Calabrian baked fig crosses)Almond-stuffed fig crosses

Around Cosenza in northern Calabria the late-summer fig crop is dried in the sun, and the best figs are kept for crocette: two figs split open, laid across each other, filled with a toasted almond and a few fennel seeds, then baked until they darken and caramelise. They come out at Christmas, often stored in tins between bay leaves, and are eaten after dinner with nuts and mandarins. Expect a soft, jammy, chewy bite with crunch from the almond and the bright, slightly liquorice note of fennel. They go well with a cup of strong coffee or a little hard cheese. There is no egg and nothing added to bind them: in the oven the figs' own sugars soften and turn sticky, and as they cool they glue the cross together. Chef's tip: pull them out when they look shiny and just a shade darker; the common mistake is baking too long, which makes the figs hard and bitter.

55 min

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Bubur sumsum (Javanese rice-flour pudding with palm-sugar syrup)

Bubur sumsum, named after bone marrow for its colour and softness, is one of Java's best-loved jajan pasar, sold from carts in the morning and in the late afternoon as a sweet bite. In Javanese custom it is also cooked after a wedding or a big celebration to thank those who helped, as a gentle food for tired bodies. The pudding is pure white, silky and barely salty, and it comes drenched in kinca, a warm syrup of palm sugar and pandan. Serve it warm or at room temperature in small bowls, on a banana leaf if you have one. It is naturally egg-free: rice flour cooked in coconut milk swells and sets it to a soft, spoonable pudding, the way cornflour sets a blancmange. Chef's tip: whisk the rice flour into cold coconut milk before it goes on the heat; adding it to hot liquid is the common mistake that leaves lumps you can't whisk out.

30 min

Indonesian Desserts

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Palada payasam (Kerala rice-flake milk pudding)

No Onam sadya in Kerala feels finished without palada, ladled onto the banana leaf near the end of the feast, often after a darker jaggery payasam. Thin flakes of rice (ada) are cooked for a long time in milk and sugar, and as the milk reduces the sugar caramelises very slightly, turning the whole pot a soft blush pink. The result is creamy and gently chewy, with a taste like warm toffee milk. It is served warm or at room temperature, sometimes mopped up with a crisp pappadam crushed into it, the way Keralites eat it at weddings. It is naturally egg-free: the starch from the rice flakes and the slow reduction of the milk thicken it, with no custard at all. Use ready-made rice ada from an Indian shop. Chef's tip: the pink colour only comes with patience; keep the heat low and steady and keep stirring, because rushing it on a high flame scorches the milk and turns it brown and bitter.

95 min

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Malan tou with pressed tofuAster greens and pressed tofu salad

When the first malan tou shoots appear in Shanghai, Suzhou and Hangzhou markets in early spring, families make this little cold dish to start a meal: the tender aster leaves are blanched, chopped very fine and mixed with diced smoked pressed tofu, salt, a pinch of sugar and sesame oil. It tastes grassy, nutty and clean. Malan tou can be hard to find outside China; young spinach or shepherd's purse works well. As a side dish for four, each portion has about 120 kcal and roughly 9 g of protein, from the pressed tofu, so it is light rather than high in protein. The common mistake is leaving the greens wet, which dilutes the dressing; squeeze them hard. Chef's tip: press the mixture into a small bowl and turn it out onto the plate for the traditional neat mound.

18 min

Chinese Salads

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冰粉 (Bingfen, Sichuan ice jelly)Ice jelly with brown sugar syrup

Bingfen is what Chengdu reaches for after a numbing hotpot or on a sticky summer night: a bowl of wobbly, glass-clear jelly, cold from the fridge, splashed with dark brown-sugar syrup and scattered with hawthorn flakes, raisins, peanuts and sesame. It is sold at night markets and hotpot restaurants all over Sichuan and Chongqing, and the jelly itself tastes of almost nothing, just cool and soothing, so the syrup and toppings bring the flavour. It is naturally egg-free and plant-based. The jelly traditionally comes from shoo-fly plant seeds rubbed in water; here it is made with ice-jelly powder, a plant-based setting powder sold in Chinese grocers, which sets clear as it cools. Chef's tip: let the jelly set undisturbed; the common mistake is stirring or moving it while it is half-set, which leaves it cloudy and weeping.

80 min

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Aiskrim potong (Malaysian red bean ice-cream bars)

Aiskrim potong, literally cut ice cream, comes from the days when Malaysian factories froze long blocks of dense ice cream that vendors sliced into bars to order. It is still sold nationwide from motorbike freezers and kampung shops, especially in the afternoon heat after school, in flavours like coconut, sweet corn, yam and durian, with red bean as the classic. It is firmer and denser than scooped ice cream and melts slowly in the hand. There is no egg: the base is cornflour cooked into coconut milk and milk, with a little condensed milk. The cooked starch gives the bars their chewy, close bite and keeps them smooth because it ties up the water before it can form big crystals. Chef's tip: stir the half-frozen block once so the beans don't all sink; the common mistake is pouring and leaving it, which gives a bean-heavy bottom and a plain top.

390 min

Malaysian Desserts

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Cuccìa (Palermo wheat berries with sweet ricotta)

On 13 December, the feast of Santa Lucia, Palermo stops eating bread and pasta for a day. The story goes that during a famine a ship of grain arrived on her feast day and people were too hungry to mill it, so they boiled the wheat whole; cuccìa remembers that. The berries are boiled until plump and chewy, then folded into sweetened sheep's ricotta with candied orange, chocolate and cinnamon, so it eats like a cannolo filling with a pleasant bite. Serve it chilled in bowls or glasses, on the day itself or any winter afternoon. Like most Sicilian ricotta sweets it is egg-free by nature: the thick, drained ricotta binds the wheat into a creamy pudding, with nothing to set. Some families make a savoury version with chickpeas and oil, too. Chef's tip: cool the wheat completely before it meets the ricotta; the common mistake is folding in warm grains, which melts the cheese into a runny, grainy mess.

815 min

Chinese Breakfast & Brunch

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Ba bao zhouEight-treasure porridge

Across China, the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is Laba, and households and Buddhist temples simmer a big pot of eight-treasure porridge to share: glutinous and black rice cooked slowly with red beans, mung beans, peanuts, lotus seeds, red dates and longan until thick and gently sweet. Beijing families still give bowls to neighbours, and it is a warming winter breakfast all season. A bowl gives about 9 g of protein from the beans, peanuts and lotus seeds, so it is a filling porridge rather than a high-protein one. Soak the beans, peanuts and lotus seeds for at least 4 hours or overnight. The common mistake is putting everything in at once: the rice goes to glue before the beans soften, so the beans get a head start. Chef's tip: add the rock sugar only in the last 10 minutes; sugar added early toughens the bean skins.

120 min

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Gudpak (Nepali khuwa, gum and jaggery fudge)

In the Kathmandu Valley, gudpak is the sweet of cold mornings, eaten in the depths of winter and around Maghe Sankranti, and given to new mothers to restore their strength after childbirth. Khuwa (milk solids) is roasted in ghee, sweetened with jaggery, and mixed with crunchy fried edible gum, nuts and coconut before being pressed into a tray and cut into squares. It's dense, rich and slightly chewy, with a warm caramel flavour and pops of crunch from the puffed gum. Eat a square with milky tea or as a small sweet after dinner. It is naturally egg-free: the khuwa and jaggery cooked together into a thick mass bind the fudge, and the edible gum (gond) gives it body. Chef's tip: fry the gum in small amounts over a low heat until it puffs up white; frying it too fast is the common mistake, which leaves it hard, glassy and unpleasant to chew.

115 min

Nepali Indian Sweets

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Shemai (Bangladeshi Eid vermicelli in milk)

On Eid morning in Dhaka, Chattogram and villages across Bangladesh, a pot of shemai is usually on the stove before anyone leaves for prayers, and it's the first sweet offered to every visitor that day. Fine wheat vermicelli is toasted in ghee until golden, then simmered in milk with sugar, cardamom, cinnamon and the bay leaf that gives Bengali sweets their gentle, warm scent, and finished with raisins and nuts. It's creamy and soft but still loose, and it thickens as it cools. Serve it warm, or chilled the day after. It is naturally egg-free: the starch from the toasted vermicelli thickens the reduced milk, so it needs nothing to bind it. Chef's tip: take it off the heat while it still looks a little thin; cooking it until thick in the pan is the common mistake, because it sets into a stiff paste once it cools.

25 min

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Sacolé de maracujá (Brazilian passion fruit ice pops)

Sacolé, called geladinho or chup-chup in other states, is the homemade ice pop of Brazil: a creamy or fruity mixture tied into slim plastic bags and frozen, sold for a few coins from home freezers in Rio's neighbourhoods and all over the country, especially in summer and during school holidays. You bite off a corner and push the frozen pop up as you eat. This creamy passion fruit version is tangy and smooth. There are no eggs: milk thickened with a little cornflour and sweetened condensed milk make the base, the cooked starch and the condensed milk's sugar keeping the crystals small so the pop is soft enough to bite rather than icy. Coconut, corn and chocolate are other favourites. Chef's tip: stir in the passion fruit only once the base is cold; the common mistake is adding the acid pulp to hot milk, which makes it curdle.

310 min

Brazilian Desserts

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Elaneer payasam (Kerala tender-coconut milk pudding)

In Kerala, where green coconuts are sold by the roadside all summer, elaneer payasam is the cool, delicate cousin of the hot temple payasams. It turns up at Vishu lunches and summer weddings, and on any hot afternoon when someone has opened a few tender coconuts. Milk is boiled down until creamy and faintly caramel, sweetened, chilled, and only then mixed with slippery spoonfuls of young coconut flesh and a little of its water, so the coconut stays fresh and floral rather than cooked. The pudding is pourable, silky and cold, with soft white strands of coconut through it; serve it in small glasses after a meal or alongside banana chips. It is naturally egg-free: the long reduction of the milk, helped by a little condensed milk, gives the body that a custard would get from yolks. Chef's tip: the common mistake is stirring the coconut water into hot milk, which can make it split and taste sour; let the milk cool completely first.

165 min

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葛切り (Kuzukiri, Kyoto kudzu noodles)

Kuzukiri is a summer sweet of Kyoto, served most famously in the old tea houses of Gion: a lacquered box of clear, flat noodles floating in iced water, with a cup of dark kuromitsu black-sugar syrup to dip them in. It is eaten in the hottest months as a refreshing afternoon dessert with green tea. The noodles are cool, springy and smooth, with a clean, faintly sweet taste, and the syrup is deep, smoky and molasses-rich. It is naturally egg-free and plant-based: pure kudzu starch mixed with water sets into a firm, glass-clear sheet when it is cooked in a thin layer over boiling water, the starch alone doing the binding. Serve it within half an hour of making it. Chef's tip: buy pure kudzu starch rather than a blend; the common mistake is making kuzukiri ahead, because within an hour or two it turns cloudy and stiff.

45 min

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Narkel naru (Bengali coconut balls)

Narkel naru are made by the plateful in Bengali homes for Lakshmi Puja and on Bijoya Dashami, when they're offered to every visitor who comes to exchange greetings after Durga Puja. Freshly grated coconut is cooked slowly with jaggery, ideally the winter date-palm jaggery called nolen gur, until the mixture turns sticky and caramel-brown, then rolled into small balls while still warm. They're chewy and moist, intensely coconutty, with a deep molasses sweetness. Serve them at room temperature with tea or as part of a festival plate. They're naturally egg-free and vegan: the jaggery, cooked down to a sticky syrup, binds the coconut, with no flour or milk needed. Use sugar for a white naru if you prefer. Chef's tip: roll them while the mixture is still warm; waiting until it's cold is the common mistake, because it then crumbles and won't hold a ball shape.

40 min

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Wandu appa (වංඩු ආප්ප, fermented rice cakes steamed in leaf cones)Steamed rice treacle cakes

Wandu appa are sold in morning markets and at roadside kades all over the island, and they are one of the sweets that appear on the table for Avurudu. A batter of rice flour, coconut milk and kithul treacle is left to ferment for a few hours, then poured into small cones of kenda or jak leaf and steamed. They puff into tender, spongy domes with a gentle sourness, a caramel note from the treacle and the leafy aroma of their wrappers. Eat them warm for breakfast or with afternoon tea. They are naturally egg-free: yeast does the lifting that whisked eggs would do in a sponge, and the rice starch sets the bubbles in place as it steams. Banana-leaf cones or small paper-lined cups work too. Chef's tip: the common mistake is filling the cones to the brim; fill them two-thirds full so they rise into a dome instead of spilling over.

240 min

Sri Lankan Desserts

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Bánh cốm (Hanoi green rice-flake cake with mung bean filling)

When the new crop of young glutinous rice comes in, in early autumn, Hanoi smells of cốm: green, flattened rice flakes from the village of Vòng. The shops on Hàng Than street press them into bánh cốm, square cakes that are still carried as betrothal gifts in their paper wrappers. The outside is soft, chewy and jade green, tasting faintly of grass and pandan; the inside is a mellow paste of mung bean and coconut. Serve them at room temperature with green or lotus tea. Bánh cốm is naturally egg-free: a hot sugar syrup and a spoonful of tapioca starch turn the rice flakes into a sticky mass that binds itself, and the mung bean paste is bound by its own starch. Use frozen or dried cốm from an Asian grocer; soak dried flakes briefly first. Chef's tip: the common mistake is cooking the cốm too hard; stop as soon as it pulls together into a sticky ball, or the cakes go rubbery when cool.

120 min

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Helado de dulce de leche (Buenos Aires dulce de leche ice cream)

Dulce de leche is the flavour Buenos Aires heladerías are judged by, and on a summer night the queues at neighbourhood ice-cream shops stretch out onto the pavement well after dinner. Locals order it plain, with a ripple of extra dulce de leche (dulce de leche granizado adds chocolate flakes), often by the kilo to take home. It is dense, chewy and deeply caramel. This home version is egg-free with no custard: a little cornflour cooked into the milk thickens it the way yolks would, and the dulce de leche itself is milk and sugar cooked down, its sugar and milk solids keeping crystals tiny so it stays smooth and scoopable. Churn it, or still-freeze and stir it every 45 minutes. Chef's tip: chill the extra dulce de leche before rippling it in; the common mistake is folding in a warm one, which melts into the ice cream instead of leaving ribbons.

295 min

Argentinian Desserts

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Fak thong kaeng buat (Thai pumpkin in coconut milk)

When the rains end and pumpkins pile up in the markets of central Thailand, kaeng buat is what cooks make with them: chunks of dense kabocha simmered in coconut milk sweetened with palm sugar and sharpened with a pinch of salt. It is a homely, everyday dessert, sold warm from big pots at markets in the afternoon and also cooked at Ok Phansa, the end of Buddhist Lent. The pumpkin turns velvety but keeps its shape, and the thin, creamy, caramel-scented broth is meant to be drunk from the spoon. Eat it warm or at room temperature, in small bowls. There is no egg in it and never was: nothing needs setting or binding, as the pumpkin's own starch gives the coconut milk a light body as it cooks. Chef's tip: pick a dry, orange-fleshed kabocha and keep the coconut milk at a bare simmer; letting it boil hard is the common mistake that splits the milk and breaks the pumpkin into mush.

30 min

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Ciambelline al mosto (alcohol-free ring biscuits)Grape juice ring biscuits

All over Lazio, from the Castelli Romani to the countryside around Rome, these sugar-crusted ring biscuits are put out at the end of a meal and at the autumn grape harvest, when they are dunked into a glass to soften. The classic dough is made with equal measures of liquid, olive oil and sugar; here the liquid is red grape juice, which is close to the fresh mosto of harvest time and gives the same pinkish crumb and fruity edge with no alcohol at all. The rings are crunchy and light, a little crumbly, with a crackly sugar coat and a hint of aniseed. Serve them with grape juice, coffee or a pot of tea for dunking. They are naturally egg-free: the olive oil and juice bind the flour into a smooth dough, and baking powder does the lifting that eggs might do elsewhere. Chef's tip: roll the ropes no thicker than a pencil and a half, about 1 cm; the common mistake is chunky ropes, which brown outside before the middle dries and leave the biscuits hard instead of crisp.

45 min

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Lavariya (ලැවරියා, string-hopper parcels with coconut treacle filling)

Lavariya turns up on the Sinhala and Tamil New Year table in mid-April, when households across Sri Lanka lay out a spread of sweets after the auspicious hour. It starts as string-hopper dough: roasted rice flour scalded with boiling water and pressed through a mould into fine noodles. Here the noodles are piped in a coil, filled with pani pol, grated coconut cooked down in kithul treacle with cardamom, then folded into a half-moon and steamed. The result is soft, lacy and springy outside, with a sticky, smoky-sweet centre. Serve warm with plain tea or as part of an Avurudu platter with kokis and kavum. It is naturally egg-free: the boiling water cooks and swells the rice starch so the dough holds its shape, and the thick treacle binds the coconut. Chef's tip: the common mistake is using warm rather than boiling water; the dough then crumbles in the press, so pour it straight off the boil and mix with a spoon until cool enough to knead.

80 min

Sri Lankan Desserts

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Aiwowo (艾窝窝, Beijing stuffed sticky rice balls)

Aiwowo began as a Hui Muslim snack in Beijing and is now a fixture of old Beijing snack shops from Lunar New Year until summer, eaten cool as a mid-afternoon treat. Steamed glutinous rice is pounded until sticky, wrapped around a crunchy filling of toasted sesame, walnuts, sugar and sugared osmanthus, then rolled in cooked rice flour so the balls look like little snowballs. They are soft and chewy outside, crunchy and fragrant inside, and only lightly sweet. Serve them with jasmine or chrysanthemum tea. Aiwowo is naturally egg-free: pounding the steamed rice releases its sticky starch, which binds the dough and seals in the filling. Chef's tip: the common mistake is dusting with raw flour; steam the flour first, or the coating tastes chalky.

300 min

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Tilslørte bondepiker (Norwegian veiled farm girls)

Norwegians make tilslørte bondepiker in autumn, when the apple trees in the fjord orchards of Hardanger and Telemark are heavy, and it stays a Sunday-dinner favourite through winter. The 'farm girls' are the layers of tart apple compote, the 'veil' is the whipped cream on top, and between them are crisp breadcrumbs toasted in butter with sugar and cinnamon. It is spooned from a glass bowl: soft fruit, crunchy caramel crumbs and cold cream in each mouthful. Serve it soon after layering, while the crumbs still crunch. No egg is involved anywhere, since the apples cook down into a thick purée on their own, so there is nothing to bind or set; just make the crumbs from an eggless white loaf or plain rusks. Chef's tip: toast the crumbs slowly over a medium-low heat and keep stirring; the common mistake is rushing them over a high heat, so the sugar burns before the crumbs are crisp.

65 minScandinavian Desserts

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Yugwa (Korean puffed glutinous-rice crackers)

Yugwa are the light, airy crackers piled on trays at Seollal, the Lunar New Year, and given in gift boxes for Chuseok and weddings across Korea. A dough of glutinous rice is steamed and pounded until stretchy, rolled thin, cut and dried until hard, then fried slowly so each piece swells to several times its size into a crisp, hollow puff. A brush of rice syrup and a coating of puffed rice or sesame finish them. They melt on the tongue, crunchy but almost weightless, gently sweet and toasty. Serve with green tea or barley tea. Yugwa never used egg: the sticky starch of glutinous rice, steamed and pounded, traps air and binds the dough, and the rice syrup glues on the coating. Some cooks add rice wine to the dough; this version uses plain water and needs no alcohol. Chef's tip: dry the cut pieces until they snap like a cracker before frying; the common mistake is frying them half-dried, and then they stay flat and chewy instead of puffing.

720 min

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Matrimony (Jamaican star apple and orange with condensed milk)Star apple and orange dessert

Jamaica's star apples ripen in winter, so matrimony, the 'marriage' of star apple and orange, is a Christmas dessert, eaten cold after the big meal on Christmas Day. The purple star apples are scooped from their skins, their sweet, milky, jelly-like pulp mixed with juicy orange segments and dressed with condensed milk and freshly grated nutmeg. It is cool, sweet and fragrant, soft and a little jelly-like from the fruit. Serve it straight from the bowl or in glasses, as the last sweet thing of the Christmas meal. It is naturally egg-free and uncooked: condensed milk gives it body and binds the fruit into a creamy dessert, and nothing needs setting. Chef's tip: scrape the pulp only, never the skin; the common mistake is digging too close to the purple rind, whose sticky latex is bitter and gums up the spoon.

15 min

Jamaican Desserts

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Raspados (Mexican shaved ice with fruit syrups)

In Guadalajara and the towns of Sinaloa, raspados are sold from carts and little shops from noon until late on hot days: a paper cup of finely shaved ice soaked in bright homemade syrups like tamarind, mango, strawberry and deep-red hibiscus, sometimes with fresh fruit and a squeeze of lime. They are the cheapest way to cool down, and children and adults line up alike. They are naturally egg-free and plant-based: there is nothing to set or bind, just fruit and sugar cooked into syrups thick enough to cling to the ice. The hibiscus is tart and floral, the mango sweet and thick, and the two side by side make a striking cup. Make the syrups and cool them quickly over iced water. Chef's tip: shave the ice as fine as you can and pour the syrup slowly; the common mistake is using coarse crushed ice, which lets the syrup run straight to the bottom.

20 min

Mexican Desserts

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Jackass corn (Jamaican hard coconut biscuits)

Jackass corn is one of the hard little biscuits of old Jamaica, sold in paper bags at roadside stalls and corner shops and packed for long journeys because it keeps for weeks. The name is usually explained as a joke about how much chewing it takes. It is made from plenty of grated coconut, brown sugar, flour and a good grating of nutmeg, rolled out very thin and baked until crisp right through, so every bite cracks and then turns sweet and nutty with toasted coconut. Have it with hot cocoa tea, mint tea or a glass of cold sorrel juice, or break it over ice cream. There has never been egg in it: coconut oil and water hold the dough together, and the coconut's own fat and the melted sugar set it hard as it bakes and cools. Chef's tip: roll it as thin as you dare, about 3 mm; the common mistake is leaving it thick, which gives a biscuit that is soft in the middle and goes stale instead of staying crunchy.

45 min

Jamaican Baking

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Sült tök (Hungarian roasted sweet pumpkin)

When the first cold sets in, Hungarian street vendors and market stalls set up their ovens and sell sült tök: thick wedges of sweet pumpkin roasted until the flesh is soft as jam and the edges are caramelised and almost sticky. It is bought hot and eaten on the spot through autumn and winter, often from the same stands that sell roasted chestnuts, and at home it is a simple afternoon treat for children. The flavour is deep and honeyed with a slightly smoky edge from the browned skin; a dusting of cinnamon sugar is optional. Eat it with a spoon straight from the skin, alongside a cup of hot tea or warm apple juice. It is naturally egg-free and needs no binding at all: the pumpkin's own sugars concentrate and caramelise in the oven's dry heat. Chef's tip: pick a dense, dry, deep-orange pumpkin such as a Hungarian sweet pumpkin, kabocha or butternut; the common mistake is using a watery carving pumpkin, which steams instead of caramelising.

60 min

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Stagga back (Jamaican molasses ginger cookies)

Stagga back are the dark, chewy cookies that sat in glass jars on the counters of Jamaican country shops, sold singly to schoolchildren on the way home and to anyone wanting something sweet with a cold drink in the heat of the afternoon. They are made with plenty of molasses, brown sugar and both dried and fresh ginger, with a little nutmeg and allspice, so they taste deep, almost smoky, and warm at the back of the throat. The texture should bend before it snaps: firm edges, soft and toffee-like in the middle. Eat them with a cup of mint or ginger tea, or a glass of cold coconut water. They are naturally egg-free: the thick molasses and the oil bind the flour on their own, and bicarbonate of soda reacting with the acidic molasses gives them their lift and crackled tops. This version uses oil instead of butter, so it is vegan. Chef's tip: take them out while the centres still look a little underdone; the common mistake is baking until they feel firm in the oven, and then they cool into rock-hard discs.

40 min

Jamaican Baking

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Aachener Printen (Aachen spiced gingerbread slabs)

The bakeries of Aachen have made Printen for centuries, and from late autumn through Christmas the city's shop windows fill with these narrow brown slabs. Unlike soft German Lebkuchen they are firm and snappy, sweetened with dark sugar-beet syrup and studded with little crunchy bits of rock sugar, and they carry a big blend of spices: cinnamon, aniseed, coriander, cloves, cardamom and allspice. The dough rests overnight to develop flavour, then is raised with potash, which gives the dense, crisp texture. Dunk them in coffee or tea, or serve with baked apples. Printen never contained egg: the thick beet syrup is both sweetener and binder, gluing the flour into a stiff dough that sets hard in the oven. Chef's tip: let the syrup cool to lukewarm before mixing in the flour; the common mistake is adding it hot, which starts cooking the flour and gives a tough, rubbery dough.

1465 min

German Baking

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Hutzelbrot (Swabian dried-pear Christmas loaf)

In Swabia and Franconia, Hutzelbrot is baked in early December and sliced through Advent and Christmas, traditionally on St Thomas's Day, 21 December. Hutzeln are dried pears, and they are the heart of the loaf: soaked overnight and simmered, then mixed with figs, prunes, raisins, hazelnuts, walnuts and candied peel, bound with only enough spiced yeast dough to hold everything together. The result is dark, moist and dense, closer to fruit than to bread, fragrant with cinnamon, aniseed and cloves. Slice it thin and eat it plain, spread with butter or a nut butter, with coffee or a hot fruit tea. The loaf is naturally egg-free: the yeast dough, made with the sweet pear soaking water, is the glue, and the sticky fruit holds it moist for weeks. Chef's tip: wrap the cooled loaves tightly and leave them for 3–4 days before slicing; the common mistake is cutting it on day one, when it crumbles and the flavours have not settled.

900 min

German Baking

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Asinan BetawiPickled vegetable and tofu salad

Asinan Betawi is the cooling salad of old Jakarta, sold from glass-sided carts and eaten mid-afternoon in the heat or brought out at family gatherings in big tubs. Quick-pickled cabbage, cucumber and bean sprouts are piled with cubes of tofu, then soaked in a thin, tangy sauce of chilli, vinegar, palm sugar and ground peanuts. It is crunchy, sour, sweet and spicy all at once. A portion has about 300 kcal and roughly 17 g of protein, from the tofu and peanuts, so it is a light meal rather than a high-protein one. The common mistake is dressing it too early; the vegetables go limp within an hour. Street versions often scatter shrimp crackers on top, so use plain rice or cassava crackers to keep it vegetarian. Chef's tip: chill the sauce well before serving; asinan should be served cold enough to fog the bowl.

40 min

Indonesian Salads

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Sült gesztenye (Hungarian roasted chestnuts)

From November until the end of winter, the smell of roasting chestnuts drifts along Budapest's boulevards and around Christmas markets in every Hungarian town, where sellers shake them over charcoal and pour them hot into paper cones. Roasting turns the nuts sweet and soft, mealy like a baked potato but with a gentle nutty sweetness and a hint of smoke where the shell has charred. Eat them straight away, peeled with your fingers while they are hot, with a cup of hot tea, hot spiced apple juice or a bag of roasted pumpkin from the next stall. They are naturally egg-free, a single ingredient with nothing to bind: heat turns the chestnut's starch to sugar and softens it. A short soak in water before roasting adds steam inside the shell, so the nuts cook evenly and peel more easily. Chef's tip: cut a deep cross through the shell on the rounded side of every chestnut; the common mistake is skipping or under-cutting it, and then the steam bursts the chestnuts open in the oven.

30 min

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Bratapfel (German baked apples with almond paste)

Across Germany, Bratäpfel are the smell of Advent: on cold December afternoons and evenings tart apples go into the oven filled with marzipan, raisins and nuts, and come out puffed, split and bubbling. The skin wrinkles, the flesh turns to a soft, sweet-sour purée and the almond filling melts into the juices. Serve them hot in their dish with the pan juices spooned over, and a plant-based vanilla sauce or a spoon of cold cream if you are not keeping them vegan. Shop marzipan sometimes contains egg white, so here you make a quick egg-free almond paste from ground almonds, icing sugar and a few drops of water, which holds the filling together just as well. The raisins are soaked in apple juice instead of rum. Chef's tip: choose a firm, sharp baking apple and score a ring around its middle; the common mistake is using a sweet eating apple without scoring, which bursts and collapses before the core is tender.

45 min

German Desserts

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Reshteh khoshkar (Gilani rice-flour walnut rolls in syrup)

Reshteh khoshkar is the pastry of Gilan on Iran's Caspian coast, made in Rasht and Lahijan homes and bakeries for Ramadan, when a plate of it with tea breaks the fast at iftar. A thin rice-flour batter is drizzled in a lacy criss-cross over a hot griddle to make a fine net, which is filled with walnuts, sugar, cardamom and cinnamon, folded into a neat roll, fried until crisp and soaked in rose-scented syrup. It is crunchy, then soft and sticky, with a fragrant, nutty filling. Serve it at room temperature with strong black tea. The dish has always been egg-free: the rice-flour batter sets on the hot griddle into a net by itself, and the sugar in the filling and syrup glues the rolls together, so there is no need for any other binder, and nothing in it contains gluten. Chef's tip: test the griddle with a few drops of batter first; the common mistake is a griddle that is not hot enough, which lets the batter spread into a pancake instead of setting into a lacy net.

75 min

Persian Desserts

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Hoa quả dầm (Hanoi fruit cup with yoghurt and condensed milk)

On sticky summer afternoons, Hanoi's young people pack the little stools along streets near Hoàn Kiếm Lake for hoa quả dầm, a cup of diced fruit buried in crushed ice, plain yoghurt and condensed milk. The fruit follows the season, usually mango, papaya, jackfruit, dragon fruit and avocado, and the whole thing is stirred together before eating, so it turns cold, creamy, tangy and sweet at once. Serve it immediately, with a long spoon and toasted coconut on top if you like. No cooking and no egg here: condensed milk and yoghurt dress and bind the fruit, and the crushed ice chills it, so there is nothing to set. Chef's tip: dice everything to the same small size, about 1.5 cm, so each spoonful gets a mix; the common mistake is adding the ice too early, which melts and floods the cup before it reaches the table.

15 min

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Mizu shingen mochi (Yamanashi raindrop cake)

Mizu shingen mochi comes from Hokuto in Yamanashi, at the foot of the Southern Alps, where a sweet shop first set the local spring water into a trembling, glass-clear dome. It is a summer sweet, eaten in the heat of July and August, and it has to be eaten within half an hour of being made, before it starts to weep. There is almost no flavour of its own: the point is the cool, melting texture, with nutty kinako and dark kuromitsu syrup poured over at the table. Despite the name it is not a rice mochi at all, and it is naturally egg-free. Agar, a seaweed setting agent, holds the water in shape; using just enough to set it makes it melt on the tongue. Serve with green tea. Chef's tip: boil the agar hard for a full 2 minutes; just warming it is the common mistake, and the domes stay liquid in the mould.

80 min

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Gil-e-firdaus (Hyderabadi bottle gourd and rice pudding)

The name means 'clay of paradise', and gil-e-firdaus belongs to the grand dessert tables of Hyderabad, served at weddings, at Eid and during Ramadan iftars alongside double ka meetha. Grated bottle gourd (lauki) is softened in ghee, then cooked in milk with coarsely ground rice and crumbled khoya until thick, pale green and fragrant with cardamom and rose water. It's thicker than a kheer, creamy and gently grainy, with soft strands of gourd and plenty of almonds and pistachios. Serve it warm in winter or chilled in summer, in small bowls. It is naturally egg-free: the ground rice and khoya do the thickening, giving it the richness a custard would. Chef's tip: squeeze the grated gourd well and add the sugar only once the rice is cooked; sugar added too early is the common mistake that stops the rice softening and leaves the pudding runny.

75 min

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OhrapuuroBarley porridge

Ohrapuuro is the comfort food of Finnish farmhouses: pearl barley cooked slowly in plenty of milk until it turns creamy, pale and faintly sweet, then served with a knob of butter melting in the middle and a spoon of lingonberry or berry kissel. It is a breakfast for winter mornings and a supper for Christmas Eve in many families, and the oven version used to cook overnight in the cooling bread oven. A bowl gives about 14 g of protein from the milk and barley, so it is filling, but not a high-protein dish. The common mistake is cooking it too fast on a high heat; the milk catches and burns on the bottom, so keep it at a bare simmer and stir often. Chef's tip: soak the barley in water overnight if you can; it cuts the cooking time to about an hour and the grains cook more evenly.

90 minScandinavian Breakfast & Brunch

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Maejakgwa (Korean ginger ribbon twists in honey syrup)

Maejakgwa is one of Korea's oldest hangwa, the traditional confections served on holiday tables at Seollal and Chuseok, at weddings and ancestral rites, and with tea when guests visit. Thin rectangles of ginger-scented wheat dough are slit and twisted into little ribbons, fried until crisp and pale gold, then dipped in honey and cinnamon syrup and finished with ground pine nuts. The name is often said to come from their resemblance to a sparrow perched on a plum branch. They shatter lightly when bitten, then turn sweet and warm with ginger. Serve a small plate with green tea or a cup of sweet rice punch. They are naturally egg-free: the dough is just flour, ginger juice and water held together by its own gluten, and the honey syrup that coats them is the only glaze. Because of the honey they are vegetarian but not vegan. Chef's tip: keep the frying oil at about 160°C; the common mistake is oil that is too hot, which browns the ribbons before they crisp through and leaves them chewy inside.

55 min

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Malai chop (chhana dumplings filled with sweet malai)

Malai chop is a sweet-shop showpiece in Dhaka and Kolkata, bought by the box for weddings, Eid visits, Durga Puja and the arrival of guests. Soft chhana (fresh milk curd) is kneaded, shaped into ovals and boiled in sugar syrup until spongy, then each one is split and filled with thick, sweet reduced-milk malai and topped with pistachios. They're juicy, light and creamy, best served cold, two to a plate. It's naturally egg-free: well-kneaded chhana holds itself together, a little cornflour helps it bind, and the long-reduced milk thickens the filling without any custard. Chef's tip: squeeze the chhana until it's moist but not wet and knead it until your palm feels greasy; chhana that's too wet is the common mistake that makes the dumplings fall apart in the syrup.

190 min

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Bubur gandum (wheat pudding with coconut milk and palm sugar)

In Malaysia bubur gandum belongs to Ramadan: it is ladled out at the bazaars that open before sunset and cooked in giant pots at mosques for breaking the fast, and it appears again at Hari Raya open houses. Pearled wheat is simmered until the grains burst and turn chewy, then cooked with gula Melaka, pandan and coconut milk into a thick, toffee-brown porridge. The texture is somewhere between rice pudding and soft barley, with a sweet, smoky, coconut flavour. Serve it warm, or at room temperature on a hot evening. The pudding has always been egg-free, because the starch released by the wheat thickens the coconut milk as it simmers, so nothing else is needed to bind it. Chef's tip: cook the wheat in water until fully soft before adding the sugar and coconut milk; the common mistake is adding them too early, which keeps the grains hard however long you cook them.

130 min

Malaysian Desserts

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Paal kozhukattai (rice dumplings in sweet coconut milk)

Paal kozhukattai is made in Tamil Nadu homes for Vinayaka Chaturthi and on rainy evenings when something warm and sweet is wanted. Tiny pearls of rice-flour dough are cooked in thin coconut milk until they float and turn glossy, then the pot is sweetened with jaggery and finished with thick coconut milk and cardamom. The dumplings are soft and chewy, the liquid creamy and caramel-coloured, and the whole thing is served warm in small bowls, or at room temperature as part of a festival offering. It is naturally egg-free and vegan: the rice flour, scalded with boiling water, holds the dumplings together, and its starch thickens the coconut milk as they cook. Chef's tip: once the thick coconut milk goes in, keep it below a boil; boiling it hard is the common mistake that splits the coconut milk and makes it oily.

50 min

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RotmosMashed swede and carrot

Rotmos, literally 'root mash', is a Swedish winter staple, cooked from Skåne to Norrland when the cellars are full of swede, and served beside sausages or boiled pork at home dinners, and on Thursdays with pea soup. Swede gives the mash its golden colour and gently peppery sweetness, potato makes it smooth, and a little butter and allspice round it out. It is a vegetarian side with about 3 g of protein per portion; try it with fried halloumi or a bean stew. The common mistake is mashing it straight from the pan: watery roots give a sloppy mash, so steam-dry them first. Chef's tip: leave the mash a little coarse; Swedes like to see flecks of swede and carrot rather than a smooth purée.

40 minScandinavian Sides

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Taler bora (Bengali palm-fruit fritters)

When the ripe palmyra palm fruits (tal) fall in the late monsoon, Bengal's kitchens fill with their heavy, almost fermented-fruit scent, and taler bora are made, above all for Janmashtami in August and September. The dark orange pulp is scraped from the fibrous seeds, mixed with rice flour, a little wheat flour, grated coconut and sugar, and dropped by the spoonful into hot oil. They puff into soft, spongy balls with a dark brown crust and a sweet, fruity, slightly smoky taste. Eat them warm or at room temperature with tea, or as part of a Janmashtami offering. They are naturally egg-free and vegan: the thick, fibrous palm pulp and the rice flour bind the batter, and a pinch of bicarbonate lightens it. Use fresh pulp when you find the fruit, or frozen palmyra pulp from a South Asian grocer. Chef's tip: fry at about 165°C; the sugar in the palm pulp burns easily, so oil that's too hot is the common mistake that blackens the outside while the centre stays raw.

50 min

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Lau ghontoBottle gourd with moong dal

Lau ghonto is a gentle summer dish from Dhaka and Kolkata kitchens, served in the first courses of a Bengali lunch with plain rice, when the bottle gourds are young and sweet. The gourd is grated, cooked down in its own juice with a handful of roasted moong dal, ginger and a little cumin until soft and almost creamy, and seasoned with a pinch of sugar. It is light, about 190 kcal a portion, and gives about 8 g of protein from the moong dal, so it is a vegetable side rather than a protein dish and is not tagged High protein. The most common mistake is adding water: bottle gourd releases plenty of its own, and extra water turns the ghonto into a soup. Chef's tip: choose a gourd that feels heavy, with pale, fuzzy skin you can dent with a fingernail; older gourds have hard seeds and turn bitter.

45 min

Bangladeshi Vegetarian

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Es pisang ijo (Makassar green banana dessert)

Es pisang ijo, green banana ice, is the pride of Makassar in South Sulawesi. It is everywhere during Ramadan as the sweet that breaks the fast at sunset, and sold year-round from stalls by the Losari waterfront. A whole steamed banana is wrapped in a thin, soft jacket of pandan-green rice-flour dough, sliced, laid on a pool of warm salty coconut porridge sauce, then buried under shaved ice and a sharp pink syrup. Cold, warm, salty, sweet and fragrant, all in one bowl. It is naturally egg-free: rice flour cooked with coconut milk and pandan juice makes a smooth, pliable dough that binds without any egg, and a little more rice flour thickens the sauce. Chef's tip: use firm but ripe bananas with a few freckles; the common mistake is very soft ones, which turn to mush inside the dough while steaming.

65 min

Indonesian Desserts

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팥빙수 (Patbingsu, Korean red bean shaved ice)

Patbingsu is the great Korean summer dessert, eaten nationwide from the start of the rainy season until autumn, usually shared from one big bowl in a café after lunch or on a hot evening. Under the mound of milk ice sits the heart of it: sweet, soft red beans cooked until they almost melt, with chewy little rice cakes dusted in roasted soybean powder and a thread of condensed milk. Fluffy, creamy and earthy-sweet. There are no eggs anywhere: the ice is milk and condensed milk frozen in a thin layer, and the condensed milk's sugar keeps the crystals fine so the shavings are soft and snowy rather than crunchy, while the beans thicken with their own starch. Make the beans and the ice a day ahead. Chef's tip: freeze the milk thin in a flat tray and scrape it with a fork; the common mistake is freezing it in a deep tub, which sets too hard to shave.

400 min

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Biancomangiare (Sicilian almond-milk pudding)

In Sicily, and above all around Modica and Avola where the almonds grow, biancomangiare is the cool, white pudding of high summer, turned out of fluted moulds after Sunday lunch or eaten at the bar from a little glass. The old Sicilian kind is made with almond milk rather than cow's milk and thickened with starch, which makes it dairy-free and vegan. It is smooth and soft, faintly marzipan-scented, brightened with a strip of lemon peel and warmed with cinnamon. Serve it cold, topped with chopped pistachios, a dusting of cinnamon or a few jasmine flowers, as they do in Palermo. No egg has ever belonged in it, and nothing else is needed to set it: cornflour boiled in the almond milk sets it as it cools, the same way it sets a custard without yolks. Chef's tip: once it thickens, keep it bubbling for 2 more minutes; the common mistake is pulling it off too soon, which leaves a raw starch taste and a pudding that won't turn out cleanly.

205 min

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Makówki (Silesian poppy-seed bread pudding)

Makówki are a must on the Christmas Eve table in Silesia, around Katowice and Opole, made the day before so they are ready when the first star appears. Slices of stale white rolls are soaked in sweet milk and layered with a thick mass of ground poppy seed cooked with honey, butter, nuts, raisins and candied peel, then left overnight to settle into a soft, moist, spoonable pudding. It tastes of honey and nuts, rich and not too sweet. Serve it cold, scooped from the dish. Use plain eggless white rolls (kajzerki or a basic white loaf), not brioche or challah, which are enriched doughs. The pudding is otherwise naturally egg-free: the soaked bread and the sticky poppy mass bind each other as they chill, so nothing else is needed. Chef's tip: grind the scalded poppy seed twice until it looks like wet paste; the common mistake is grinding it once, which leaves it gritty and bitter.

330 min

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Wandouhuang (豌豆黄, Beijing chilled yellow pea cake)

Wandouhuang is a Beijing spring and early-summer sweet, sold from carts around the Qingming festival and once polished into an imperial version for the Qing court that is still served in Beihai Park's old-style restaurants. Yellow split peas are boiled to a mush, pressed through a sieve and cooked down with sugar until thick, then left to set in a tray and cut into neat pale-gold blocks. Chilled, it is cool and smooth with a fine, melting texture and the gentle, nutty taste of peas. Serve on small plates with jasmine tea, or after a rich meal. It is naturally egg-free and needs no setting agent at all: the starch in the peas firms the paste as it cools, like a polenta. Chef's tip: the common mistake is not cooking the paste down far enough; keep stirring until a line drawn through it with a spatula stays open for a few seconds, or it will not slice.

480 min

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Moron (Leyte chocolate and coconut sticky rice twists)Chocolate sticky rice rolls

Moron is the pride of Leyte and Samar, made for town fiestas and sold all year in Tacloban markets as a merienda. Two doughs of glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk and sugar, one plain and one darkened with tablea, the pure roasted cacao of the Visayas, are rolled into ropes, twisted together and steamed in banana leaves. Each log is chewy and dense, with ribbons of bittersweet chocolate through creamy coconut rice. Unwrap and eat warm or cool, ideally with a mug of thick hot chocolate. Moron is naturally egg-free: the glutinous rice flour is half-cooked in coconut milk first, which swells the starch so it binds into a soft, rollable dough, and steaming sets it. Chef's tip: the common mistake is wrapping the logs loosely; roll the leaf tightly and twist the ends like a sweet wrapper, or water gets in and the logs turn soggy.

90 min

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Qingtuan (青团, mugwort rice balls with red bean)

Qingtuan are the taste of spring across Jiangnan: in Shanghai, Hangzhou and the water towns like Wuzhen, steamers of them appear in March and April, and families take them on Qingming tomb-sweeping visits. The dough gets its deep green colour and grassy, slightly bitter scent from young mugwort leaves blanched and blended into glutinous rice flour. Steamed and brushed with oil, the balls are glossy, soft and stretchy, with a smooth sweet red bean centre. Eat them warm or at room temperature with green tea. Qingtuan is naturally egg-free: glutinous rice flour mixed with hot water and mugwort purée forms a pliable dough that steams firm, so no binder is needed. Buy lard-free red bean paste or make your own. Chef's tip: a pinch of soda in the blanching water keeps the mugwort bright green; the common mistake is leaving it out, which gives an olive-grey dough.

70 min

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Kibi dango (吉備団子, Okayama soft millet rice cakes)

Kibi dango is Okayama's souvenir sweet, sold in boxes at the station and tied to the folk tale of Momotarō, the peach boy, who shared them with a dog, a monkey and a pheasant on his way to fight the ogres. It is a year-round snack with green tea. Today's version is a gyuhi, a soft, cooked dough of glutinous rice flour, sugar and starch syrup, with a little millet flour for a pale-gold colour and a gentle, grainy sweetness. The small flat rounds are pillowy, smooth and stretchy, dusted with potato starch. The cakes are naturally egg-free: cooking the glutinous rice flour with sugar and syrup turns it into an elastic dough that binds itself, and the sugar keeps it soft for days. Chef's tip: add the sugar in three goes and stir until each lot is absorbed; the common mistake is tipping it in at once, which makes the dough seize and go lumpy. Cut them small for children and supervise, as with any mochi.

40 min

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Bhaja muger dalRoasted moong dal with ginger

Bengali households in Kolkata make bhaja muger dal on winter weekdays, and it is a fixture of the vegetarian bhog served at Durga Puja and Saraswati Puja. The moong is dry-roasted in a heavy pan until it smells nutty, then cooked soft with ginger and green peas and finished with ghee, bay leaf and a whisper of sugar. The roasting gives it a toasty, almost sweet depth that plain moong dal never has. A portion gives about 21 g of protein from the moong and peas, for about 360 kcal. Serve it with rice and a fried vegetable such as begun bhaja. The most common mistake is roasting over too high a heat: the outside browns while the inside stays raw, and the dal tastes burnt and never softens evenly. Chef's tip: roast only until the dal is a couple of shades darker, pale gold, and you can smell it from the next room; stop the moment you see the first brown spots.

45 min

Chinese Breads & Parathas

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WowotouSteamed cornmeal cone buns

Wowotou are the little golden cones that fed northern China through hard decades, and Beijing restaurants now serve them, made small and slightly sweet, as nostalgic winter food alongside stews and pickles. A hollow is pressed into the base of each with a thumb so they cook through evenly. Soybean flour gives them a nutty taste and about 10 g of protein for three buns, from the soy and corn, so they are not high-protein on their own. They are gluten free if your cornmeal and soy flour are milled where wheat isn't; check the packet. The usual mistake is mixing with cold water: the dough stays crumbly and the cones crack, so scald it with near-boiling water. Chef's tip: wet your hands before shaping each cone; the dough won't stick and the surface steams smooth and shiny.

45 min

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Fruit custard (Indian chilled vanilla custard with fruit)

All over India, fruit custard is the dessert that turns up at birthday parties, Sunday lunches and wedding buffets, and in summer it is made by the bowlful to sit in the fridge. It is a pale yellow, spoonably thick vanilla custard, chilled until cold and then loaded with chopped banana, apple, grapes, pomegranate and mango or chikoo when they are in season. Serve it on its own in glasses, or next to warm gulab jamun at a party. This version uses eggless custard powder, which is simply cornflour with vanilla flavouring and a yellow colour: the cornflour thickens the hot milk and sets it softly as it cools, doing the work that yolks do in a French crème anglaise, so the custard is naturally egg-free. Check the label says egg-free; the usual powders are just starch, flavour and colour. Chef's tip: add the fruit only when the custard is fully cold and just before serving; stirring banana and apple into warm custard is the common mistake that turns it watery and brown.

85 min

Indian Desserts

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Mozuku-zuSeaweed in sweet vinegar

In Okinawa, where most of Japan's mozuku is farmed, a small bowl of mozuku-zu starts many a home supper and izakaya meal, especially in the hot months. The fine, slippery strands of seaweed are rinsed of their salt and served cold in a gentle dressing of rice vinegar, a little sugar and soy, topped with grated ginger, so it tastes clean, sour and of the sea. Shop versions often use bonito dashi; this one uses kombu dashi, so it is vegan. It is very light, with less than 1 g of protein a portion, so it belongs alongside a tofu dish and rice rather than as a main. The most common mistake is not rinsing salted mozuku enough: it needs two or three changes of water or the dish turns harsh. Chef's tip: chill the dressing and the bowls well; mozuku-zu should be served icy cold.

10 min

Japanese Sides

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Salade d'endives aux noixChicory, walnut and apple salad

Across Picardy and the Nord, and over the border in Belgium, Belgian endive (chicory) is the winter salad, and this one appears after the main course at Sunday lunch or as a light supper from November to March. The pale, crisp leaves are cut into rings and tossed with sweet apple, toasted walnuts and a sharp mustard vinaigrette, so you get bitter, sweet and nutty in every mouthful. Many bistros add Roquefort; this version is vegan, and if you add cheese, note that Roquefort is made with animal rennet. A portion gives about 4 g of protein from the walnuts, so it is a side or starter. The most common mistake is slicing the endive too early: it browns at the cut edges, so dress it within 10 minutes of cutting. Chef's tip: cut out the small cone of core at the base of each endive; it holds most of the bitterness.

18 min

French Salads

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HirsebreiMillet porridge

Hirsebrei is one of the oldest dishes in German cooking, the millet porridge of fairy tales, and it is still made in homes across the country as a warm breakfast or a sweet supper for children on cold evenings. Golden millet is rinsed, then simmered in milk until creamy and soft, and served with stewed apple, berries and a dusting of cinnamon. A bowl gives about 12 g of protein from the milk and millet; stir in a spoon of quark or top with chopped almonds if you want more. The usual mistake is skipping the rinse: unrinsed millet tastes bitter and soapy, so rinse it in hot water until the water runs clear. Chef's tip: toast the rinsed millet in the dry pan for a minute before adding milk; it brings out a lovely nutty flavour.

30 min

German Breakfast & Brunch

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Noppe-jiruTaro and vegetable soup

Noppe-jiru is the everyday and festive soup of Niigata, cooked in big pots for New Year, the Obon holidays and winter family gatherings, and served hot or even cold the next day. Taro, carrot, konnyaku, shiitake and fried tofu are simmered in a soy-seasoned dashi, and the taro's own starch, helped by a little potato starch, gives it a soft, gentle thickness. Many homes use bonito or chicken; this is the vegetarian version with kombu-shiitake dashi. It is warming and earthy, with about 5 g of protein per portion from the fried tofu and shiitake. The usual mistake is skipping the salt rub on the taro, which leaves the broth sticky and gluey rather than silky. Chef's tip: cut all the vegetables to the same small size so every spoonful has a bit of everything.

45 min

Japanese Soups

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Kombu maki with burdock and carrotKelp rolls with burdock and carrot

Kombu maki is one of the dishes packed into the lacquered boxes of osechi for New Year's Day all over Japan, where the word kombu is a pun on yorokobu, 'to rejoice'. Soft kelp is rolled around a filling, tied with ribbons of dried gourd and simmered slowly until it can be cut with chopsticks. Families often roll it around herring or salmon; here it is filled with burdock and carrot, cooked in kombu broth and sweetened with sugar instead of mirin, so it is vegan and alcohol-free. Each portion of three rolls has about 3 g of protein, so it is a side, not a main. It keeps for 4 days in the fridge and is eaten cold. The common mistake is rushing the simmer: the kelp needs a full hour or it stays chewy. Chef's tip: keep a drop-lid or a circle of baking paper on the surface the whole time, so the rolls cook evenly without being turned.

105 min

Japanese Sides

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Plecing kangkungWater spinach with tomato sambal

Plecing kangkung is Lombok's signature vegetable dish, eaten in Mataram and around the island at lunch with rice and grilled food, and sold in Bali night markets too. Bright water spinach is blanched just until tender, then piled with bean sprouts and a raw sambal of tomato, chilli, lime and salt, and finished with crunchy fried peanuts. On Lombok the sambal usually contains terasi (shrimp paste); this vegetarian version leaves it out and uses a squeeze of lime leaf and a pinch more salt. A portion gives about 6 g of protein from the peanuts and sprouts, so it is a fresh side rather than a main. The most common mistake is overcooking the kangkung: it should stay vivid green with crunchy stems, so blanch for under a minute. Chef's tip: shock the greens in iced water straight after blanching, then squeeze lightly; the sambal clings better to dry leaves.

20 min

Indonesian Salads

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Xin tai ruan (心太软, jujubes stuffed with sticky rice in osmanthus syrup)Sticky rice-stuffed red dates

Xin tai ruan, 'the heart is too soft', is a small sweet plate found in restaurants all over Jiangsu and Zhejiang, often served as a starter or between courses at banquets, and it is especially popular in the cold months when jujubes are said to warm the body. Dried red dates are pitted, stuffed with a little glutinous rice dough, steamed and then glossed with syrup scented with sugared osmanthus flowers. Each bite is chewy, then soft, with the deep caramel taste of the dates and a floral finish. Serve warm or at room temperature with tea. It is naturally egg-free: glutinous rice flour and water make a dough that turns sticky and elastic when steamed, filling the dates and holding them closed. Chef's tip: the common mistake is cutting through the whole date when pitting; slit only one side so it stays in one piece and wraps the dough.

50 min

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Wakatake-niBamboo shoot and wakame simmer

Wakatake-ni means 'young bamboo simmer', and in Kyoto it marks the few weeks of April when fresh shoots arrive from the hills around Rakusai; it is served in small bowls at home and in kaiseki menus as a quiet taste of spring. Tender bamboo shoot is simmered in a pale, lightly seasoned broth, and soft wakame goes in at the very end, so the bowl is all clean, sweet and sea flavours. Classic recipes use bonito dashi; this one uses kombu and dried shiitake, and sugar instead of mirin, so it is vegan and alcohol-free. It is a light side dish of about 4 g of protein per portion. The common mistake is boiling the wakame with the bamboo: it turns slimy and drab, so it needs only a minute. Chef's tip: cool the bamboo in the broth for 10 minutes before reheating; it drinks up the seasoning far better than it does while boiling.

35 min

Japanese Sides

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Monaka (最中, rice wafers with azuki bean paste)Rice wafers with sweet bean paste

Monaka is sold in wagashi shops all over Japan, from Tokyo's old districts to temple towns, often pressed into the shape of a flower, a fish or a local landmark. It is a year-round tea sweet and a favourite souvenir. Two crisp, paper-light wafers made of glutinous rice flour and water are filled with tsubuan, a chunky azuki paste cooked with sugar. The wafer is dry and toasty, the filling dense, sweet and earthy, and the pleasure is in eating it before the shell softens. Serve with matcha or sencha. Making the shells needs a special iron mould, so we use bought monaka shells; they are normally just rice flour and water, but check the pack to be sure they are eggless. The bean paste is naturally egg-free, set by the azuki's own starch and the sugar. Chef's tip: the common mistake is filling them in advance; sandwich them just before serving, or the wafers go limp.

120 min

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ไอติมกะทิ (Itim kathi, Thai coconut ice cream)

Itim kathi is the ice cream of Bangkok's pushcarts: a vendor lifts the lid of an insulated drum, scrapes up a scoop of snow-white coconut ice cream and piles it into a small cup over sticky rice, then adds whatever the customer points at, from roasted peanuts and sweet corn to chewy palm seeds. It is sold all afternoon in the hot months, outside schools and temples and in markets. Some vendors tuck the scoop into a soft bread roll; serve it in cups as here and it stays gluten free. It is naturally egg-free and dairy-free. Coconut milk carries the fat that makes it creamy, and a little cornflour cooked into it binds the water so crystals stay fine and the texture stays smooth without any custard, while a pinch of salt sharpens the coconut. Chef's tip: use full-fat coconut milk with no added water; the common mistake is using a light one, which freezes hard and icy.

300 min

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Necci (Tuscan chestnut-flour pancakes with ricotta)

In the chestnut woods of the Garfagnana above Lucca and the hills around Pistoia, necci arrive with the new season's chestnut flour in late autumn and stay through winter, cooked at village fairs and at home as a sweet snack or a light supper. The batter is nothing but sweet chestnut flour, water and a pinch of salt; traditionally it was poured between pairs of hot iron or stone discs lined with chestnut leaves, but a non-stick crêpe pan does the job. The pancakes are soft, faintly smoky and naturally sweet, with an earthy taste, and are rolled around cold fresh ricotta. Serve two or three each, with a drizzle of honey or a cup of coffee alongside. They are naturally egg-free: the fine starch and sugar in chestnut flour set the batter on the heat by themselves, so it holds together without eggs. Chef's tip: sieve the flour and whisk the batter until it is as smooth and thin as single cream; the common mistake is a thick batter, which gives heavy, gummy necci that crack when rolled.

30 min

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Mame gohanRice with green peas

When the first pea pods arrive in Japanese greengrocers in April and May, home cooks from Kyoto to Tokyo make mame gohan: short-grain rice steamed with a strip of kombu and lightly salted, then folded through with sweet, bright green peas. It is eaten warm with miso soup and pickles, or pressed into onigiri for a spring picnic. A bowl gives about 9 g of protein, from the rice and peas, so serve it with tofu or an egg dish if you want a fuller meal; it is not a high-protein dish on its own. Many recipes add a splash of sake; this version leaves it out, so it is alcohol-free. The common mistake is cooking the peas with the rice from the start: they turn khaki and wrinkled. Here they are boiled separately and added at the end. Chef's tip: let the peas cool in their salted cooking water rather than draining them hot; they stay plump instead of puckering.

70 min

Japanese Rice & Grains

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Kem xôi (Hanoi coconut ice cream on sticky rice)

In the Old Quarter of Hanoi, kem xôi shops on Hàng Bài and around Hoàn Kiếm lake serve it from late morning to late at night through the hot season: a bed of warm, salty sticky rice, a scoop of coconut ice cream melting into it, then crisp toasted coconut and crushed peanuts. The contrast of warm and cold, chewy and creamy, is the whole point. This is a no-churn ice cream with no eggs and no custard. Sweetened condensed milk is the base: its sugar and milk solids lower the freezing point and keep crystals tiny, while whipped cream folded through traps air so it freezes soft without stirring, and coconut milk gives the flavour. Make the ice cream the day before and steam the rice just before serving. Chef's tip: whip the cream only to soft peaks; the common mistake is overwhipping it until stiff, which turns grainy and buttery once it freezes.

420 min

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Kem chuối (Vietnamese frozen coconut banana)

Kem chuối is the frozen treat of Saigon's alleys and the Mekong towns, sold from home freezers and school gates through the long hot season. Small, very ripe bananas are pressed flat, coated in thick sweet coconut cream, rolled in roasted peanuts and frozen on a stick; you can also wrap them and slice them into coins. The banana freezes dense and chewy rather than icy, and the coconut coating stays soft and rich. It is naturally egg-free and dairy-free: the coconut cream is cooked with a spoonful of tapioca starch, which thickens it so it clings and holds a thin layer around the fruit, and the banana's own sugar keeps the middle from freezing rock-hard. Kids love making these. Chef's tip: use bananas with plenty of brown freckles; the common mistake is using firm yellow ones, which freeze bland and starchy.

260 min

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Kharvas (steamed milk-and-curd pudding, home method)

Kharvas is a festive treat in Maharashtra and Gujarat, traditionally made from the first milk a cow gives after calving, which sets into a wobbly pudding when steamed. That milk is hard to find in cities, so home cooks in Pune and Mumbai make a version with ordinary milk, curd and condensed milk, and that is the method here. It is steamed until it sets into a soft, sliceable square with a slightly springy texture, coloured with saffron and lightly sweetened with jaggery, with a hint of nutmeg. Families serve it at room temperature or cold as a teatime sweet, especially in the monsoon and around Ganesh Chaturthi. There is no egg: the curd and condensed milk proteins set on steaming the way colostrum does, and the condensed milk gives body and binds it. Chef's tip: whisk the mixture until completely smooth and strain it, because lumps of curd are the common mistake that leaves holes and a grainy set.

160 min

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Aamras (spiced mango pulp)

When Kesar mangoes reach Ahmedabad and Alphonsos reach Pune in April and May, aamras appears at almost every summer lunch in Gujarat and Maharashtra. It's simply ripe mango pulp, thick and silky, with a pinch of dry ginger to help digestion, a little cardamom and sometimes a spoon of sugar if the fruit isn't sweet enough. It's eaten as part of the meal rather than after it, scooped up with hot puris, alongside a potato sabzi and dal; in Maharashtra it's also served at Akshaya Tritiya and Gudi Padwa. Spoon it out chilled in bowls, or offer it to children by itself. It is naturally egg-free and vegan: the mango's own thick pulp gives all the body, so nothing needs to bind or set it. Chef's tip: use only soft, fragrant, fully ripe mangoes and press the pulp through a sieve if they are fibrous; under-ripe fruit is the common mistake that makes aamras sour and thin.

15 min

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Subak hwachae (Korean watermelon punch)

Subak hwachae is the cooling bowl Koreans set out on the hottest days of summer, especially around Boknal, the dog days of July and August, when families gather and eat from a hollowed-out watermelon shell. Balls of watermelon and other fruit float in chilled watermelon juice lightly sweetened and sharpened with lemon, with sparkling water for fizz and plenty of ice. It is refreshing, juicy and only gently sweet. Serve it straight away in small bowls with a spoon, after a barbecue or a spicy meal. This version is egg-free and dairy-free, and nothing needs binding or setting, as it is simply fruit in its own juice. Some modern versions add milk or a fizzy lemon soda; this one keeps it light with sugar syrup and sparkling water. Chef's tip: chill the fruit and juice for at least an hour before adding the fizz; the common mistake is relying on ice alone, which melts and waters the punch down.

15 min

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پشاوری آئس کریم (Peshawari ice cream)Cardamom pistachio ice cream

In the Qissa Khwani bazaar of Peshawar, ice-cream sellers spin a tall metal drum inside a tub of crushed ice and salt, scraping the freezing milk off the walls with a long paddle until it turns thick, stretchy and pale. It is a summer evening treat, eaten from small bowls after dinner or late at night when the streets cool down, and often topped with a spoonful of falooda vermicelli or more chopped pistachio. The flavour is simple: slowly reduced milk, green cardamom and a little rose. This version has no eggs and no custard: a cornflour slurry cooked into the milk thickens it the way yolks would, and the starch holds on to water so ice crystals stay small and the texture stays smooth, while milk powder adds body without extra fat. You can churn it in a machine or still-freeze it in a tray and stir it every 45 minutes. Chef's tip: the common mistake is churning a warm base; chill it until it is fridge-cold right through, or it will turn icy instead of silky.

300 min

Pakistani Desserts

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Łamańce z makiem (wafers in sweet poppy-seed milk)

In Podlasie and across eastern Poland, Christmas Eve supper, Wigilia, is meatless, and among the twelve dishes on the table is a bowl of łamańce: thin, crisp wafers broken into milk that has been turned grey-blue with ground poppy seed and sweetened with honey. Poppy seed stands for plenty in the coming year. The wafers soften at the edges but stay crunchy in the middle, and the milk tastes nutty and gently sweet. Serve it at room temperature or slightly warm, at the end of the meal. Bakery łamańce are not always egg-free; these are, a simple dough of flour, water and oil with a pinch of baking powder that bakes crisp without any binding. Chef's tip: roll the dough paper-thin, almost see-through; the common mistake is leaving it thick, which bakes into hard crackers that never soak up the poppy milk.

60 min

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Boeber (Cape Malay vermicelli and sago milk pudding)

In Cape Town's Cape Malay homes, the fifteenth night of Ramadan is Boeber night, when big pots of this warm, sweet milk are cooked and shared with neighbours and the mosque after the fast is broken. It also turns up on cold winter evenings. Boeber is halfway between a drink and a pudding: toasted vermicelli and pearls of sago swim in milk spiced with cardamom and cinnamon, scented with rose water and finished with almonds and sultanas. It is creamy, fragrant and thick enough to need a spoon. Serve it hot in mugs or bowls. Boeber has never needed egg; the sago pearls release their starch as they cook and thicken the milk, while a little butter gives it a rich finish. Chef's tip: toast the vermicelli in the butter until golden before any milk goes in, for a nutty flavour; the common mistake is to stop stirring once the sago goes in, and it sinks and sticks to the base of the pot.

60 min

South African Desserts

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Fontainebleau (fromage blanc and whipped cream mousse)

Fontainebleau takes its name from the town south of Paris, whose cheese shops sold it in little muslin-wrapped pots for the weekend. It is a fresh-cheese dessert for late spring and summer, best when the first strawberries and raspberries arrive. Fromage blanc and whipped cream are folded together and left to drain in muslin, so the mousse firms up into a light, cloud-soft mound that tastes of fresh milk with a gentle tang. Serve it chilled with berries or a spoonful of red-fruit coulis, and a little extra sugar on the side. Some recipes fold in whisked whites; this one leaves them out entirely, because firmly whipped cream alone holds the air, and draining away the whey gives the mousse its shape. Chef's tip: drain the fromage blanc before you start; the common mistake is folding in a wet, runny cheese, which collapses the cream and leaves a puddle in the dish.

255 min

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Es doger (Bandung pink coconut shaved ice)

Es doger began on the streets of Bandung in West Java, where carts painted with bright patterns still sell it through the afternoon heat. The base is coconut milk and milk, coloured pink with red syrup and frozen or blended with ice into a soft slush, then piled into glasses with whatever the vendor has: cassava, avocado, jackfruit, sticky rice, tapioca pearls, and a ribbon of condensed milk over the top. It is sweet, creamy and cool, more a drink you eat with a spoon. It is naturally egg-free: the coconut milk gives body, the condensed milk binds it into a creamy slush, and the fruit and starchy cassava fill it out. Street versions use fermented cassava, which is lightly alcoholic; this recipe uses plain steamed cassava with sugar instead. Chef's tip: blend the ice in short bursts; the common mistake is running the blender until the slush melts into a milky drink.

45 min

Indonesian Desserts

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BakpiaMung bean pastries

Nobody leaves Yogyakarta without a cardboard box of bakpia; the Pathuk neighbourhood, a short walk from Malioboro, is lined with family bakeries turning them out for visitors as oleh-oleh, the snacks Indonesians bring home from a trip. These are small, round and slightly puffed, with a thin, flaky skin that goes golden in spots and a smooth, lightly salted sweet mung bean centre. They came to Java with Chinese bakers (the name comes from Hokkien bak pia) and are eaten with sweet hot tea or a glass of kopi. Using too much filling is the usual problem; the skin should wrap it with no stretching. Chef's tip: cook the mung beans with a knotted pandan leaf for the classic fragrance, and keep the pastry balls under a damp cloth so the skins stay supple while you work.

110 min

Indonesian Baking

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Jeera riceCumin rice

Jeera rice is the plain-but-not-plain rice of North Indian restaurants and homes, cooked on weeknights from Delhi to Lucknow to go with dal makhani, rajma, chole or any gravy curry. Cumin seeds are fried in ghee with a bay leaf, cardamom and cloves until they crackle, then rinsed basmati is cooked in the same pot, so every long grain is scented and separate. The usual mistake is stirring the rice while it cooks, which breaks the grains and makes it sticky. Chef's tip: if you have 20 minutes to spare, soak the rinsed rice first; the grains cook up longer and even fluffier (that pushes it past 30 minutes).

25 min

Indian Rice & Grains

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Tarte à la ferloucheMolasses and raisin pie

Ferlouche is an old Quebec farmhouse pie, the kind served at the Christmas réveillon, at sugar-shack lunches in spring and at church suppers in the Beauce. Molasses, brown sugar and water are cooked into a dark, glossy custard thickened with cornstarch and full of raisins, then poured into a crisp crust. It needs no eggs at all, and tastes of caramel, toffee and a little spice. The crust is traditionally made with lard, but this version uses butter and vegetable shortening, so it is vegetarian. Stopping the cooking as soon as the filling thickens is a frequent mistake: the cornstarch needs a proper boil or the pie never sets and tastes floury. Chef's tip: let the cooked filling boil for a full 2 minutes, stirring, until it turns from cloudy to translucent.

90 min

Canadian Baking

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Bumbleberry pie

There is no such thing as a bumbleberry: the name is a joke from the diners and farm stands of the Maritimes and Ontario, where a pie is baked from whatever berries are in season plus a little apple and rhubarb. The result is a tall, jammy, double-crust pie that is sweet and sharp at the same time, with a flaky golden lid. Canadians eat it in summer cottage season and at Thanksgiving with vanilla ice cream or a slice of aged cheddar. Cutting it while warm is the classic error, because the juices run all over the plate. Chef's tip: bake until the juice bubbles thickly through the vents, not just at the edges; that is the sign the cornstarch has cooked and the filling will set.

90 min

Canadian Baking

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Dahi alooPotatoes in yogurt gravy

Dahi aloo is the light potato curry cooked in Rajasthan and across Uttar Pradesh when there are no fresh vegetables in the house, and on vrat (fasting) days, when families leave out onion and garlic and cook it with rock salt. Boiled potatoes are simmered in whisked yogurt thickened with a spoon of gram flour, tempered with cumin, hing and green chilli, giving a gently sour, soupy gravy to pour over puris or rice. The mistake nearly everyone makes once is adding cold yogurt straight to a hot pan, where it splits into curds; whisk the gram flour in well and keep stirring over a low heat until it bubbles. Chef's tip: for a fasting version, swap the gram flour for 1 tablespoon of water chestnut flour (singhara atta), leave out the hing and turmeric, and use rock salt. Most hing is cut with wheat flour, so buy a gluten-free one if that matters.

30 min

Colombian Breakfast & Brunch

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HojarascasCinnamon sugar crumble cookies

At weddings, quinceañeras and Christmas gatherings in Nuevo León and Coahuila, someone always brings a platter of hojarascas, the name meaning 'fallen leaves' because they crumble as lightly as dry leaves underfoot. The cookies are short and sandy, spiced with cinnamon, and rolled while warm in more cinnamon sugar so they look frosted. Monterrey families serve them with café de olla or hot champurrado. They are traditionally made with lard; this version uses vegetable shortening, which gives the same tender crumb and makes them vegan, or you can use butter for a richer taste. Overworking the dough once the flour is in is the classic mistake, because it develops gluten and makes them tough. Chef's tip: steep a cinnamon stick in the water first and use that tea to bind the dough, which doubles the spice flavour without bitterness.

40 min

Mexican Baking

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Ikan goreng kunyit (turmeric fried fish)

Ikan goreng kunyit is cooked in Malay kampung kitchens and city flats alike for a simple lunch or dinner with rice, sambal and vegetables: small whole fish or thick steaks rubbed with turmeric, salt and a little chilli, then fried until golden and crisp at the edges. The mistake is moving the fish too soon; leave it until it releases from the pan on its own, or the crust tears and sticks. Chef's tip: score the fish to the bone so the turmeric seasons the flesh and it cooks evenly.

22 min

Malaysian Fish

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Arepa de chocloSweet corn griddle cakes with cheese

Along the mountain roads of Antioquia and Boyacá, roadside stalls cook arepas de choclo on wide griddles all day: thick, sweet cakes of blended fresh corn, golden outside and soft inside, folded or topped with a slab of fresh white cheese and a smear of butter. Colombians eat them for breakfast, as a mid-afternoon snack with hot chocolate, or as a quick supper. The usual mistake is a batter that is too wet, so the cakes tear when flipped; it should hold its shape on a spoon, and a little precooked cornmeal fixes a runny batch. Queso campesino and mozzarella are often made with animal rennet, so look for a vegetarian cheese if needed; check the cornmeal pack is gluten free if that matters. Chef's tip: cook them over a medium-low heat; the sugar in the corn burns before the middle sets if the pan is too hot.

25 min

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Khanom kleeb lamduanFlower shortbread cookies

Named after the lamduan, a fragrant cream-coloured flower with three curled petals, these tiny Thai shortbreads are a classic of the royal-style Thai sweets once made in palace kitchens and now sold in Bangkok's old dessert shops and given at weddings and merit-making. Each flower is three teardrop petals around a ball, pale and fragile, and they melt like sandy fudge. Their perfume comes from tian op, a special scented dessert candle: it is lit, blown out, and left to smoke inside a closed container with the cookies. If you cannot find one, a little jasmine water in the dough gives a different but lovely scent. The mistake is baking them hot or long; they should stay ivory, never golden. Chef's tip: candle smoke is real fire and smoke, so do it in a metal or ceramic pot, well away from curtains and children, with the flame blown out before the lid goes on.

78 min

Thai Baking

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HeidesandBrown butter slice-and-bake cookies

The name means 'heath sand', after the pale sandy soil of the Lüneburg Heath in Lower Saxony, and the texture lives up to it: these little rounds crumble the moment you bite. Browning the butter first gives them a nutty, toffee-ish flavour that plain shortbread lacks. German families bake them in Advent alongside Vanillekipferl and cinnamon stars, but they are just as good with afternoon coffee in any season. There is no egg in the dough, only butter, sugar, flour and a splash of milk, and the log is rolled in coarse sugar so every slice has a glittering edge. Chef's tip: let the browned butter set back to a soft, spreadable paste before you cream it; if you beat in butter that is still liquid, the dough turns greasy and the cookies flatten in the oven.

60 min

German Baking

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Egyptian fayeshSweet sesame rusks

Fayesh belongs to the Sa'id, Upper Egypt, where village women bake it in big batches in mud-brick ovens so the family has something crunchy for breakfast tea for weeks, and travellers from Luxor and Aswan carry bags of it north as a gift. A lightly sweet, aniseed-scented bread is baked, sliced, then dried slowly into hard, golden rusks crusted with sesame. They are dunked in black tea with plenty of sugar or in hot milk, and they never go stale. The common error is drying them too fast at a high heat: the outside browns while the middle stays soft, and that softness turns mouldy in the tin. Chef's tip: slice the loaves the next morning, not while warm; a rested loaf cuts into clean, even slices that dry at the same rate.

210 min

Egyptian Baking

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Pasta al limoneLemon butter pasta

On the Amalfi Coast, where knobbly lemons hang over every terrace, pasta al limone is a summer supper made in the time it takes to boil water. Lemon zest, juice, butter and grated cheese melt into the starchy cooking water to make a light, creamy sauce with no cream at all, fragrant and sharp. Parmesan is traditionally made with animal rennet, so use a vegetarian hard cheese if you need the dish to be fully vegetarian. The usual mistake is adding the cheese over high heat, which makes it clump into strings; take the pan off the flame first. Chef's tip: zest the lemons before you juice them, and only the yellow part, as the white pith is bitter.

20 min

Italian Pasta & Noodles

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Khari biscuitsSalted puff pastry sticks

Chai in Mumbai's Irani cafés and Ahmedabad's corner bakeries comes with a glass jar of khari: long, shattering sticks of puff pastry, salty rather than sweet, that flake all over your lap. People dip them in sweet masala chai, which soaks into the layers in seconds, so the trick is a quick dunk. Bakeries usually laminate with margarine or vanaspati; butter gives a richer, cleaner taste, and this eggless home version uses a block of cold butter folded into a plain dough, with a scatter of cumin or crushed kasuri methi on some. The biggest mistake is letting the butter go soft between folds: it smears into the dough and the sticks bake up hard and bready instead of rising into dozens of leaves. Chef's tip: once the sticks have puffed and coloured, lower the oven and leave them in until the centres are dry; under-dried khari go soft in the jar within a day.

185 min

Japanese Snacks & Starters

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Jaga bataSteamed potatoes with butter and soy

Jaga bata is Hokkaido's simplest pleasure: whole steamed potatoes split open and topped with a slab of butter and a few drops of soy sauce, sold at Sapporo snow-festival stalls and summer street fairs, and made at home as a snack or side. The potato is floury and steaming, the butter melts into it, and the soy adds a savoury edge. The mistake is boiling the potatoes, which makes them watery so the butter slides off; steam them in their skins instead. Chef's tip: cut a deep cross into each hot potato and squeeze from the bottom so it bursts open like a flower to hold the butter.

25 min

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Hyderabadi fruit biscuitsTutti-frutti butter biscuits

Boxes of these pink-and-green flecked biscuits leave Hyderabad in every suitcase: visitors queue at the old bakeries near Charminar and the airport shops stock tins of them. Each one is short and crumbly, buttery, with a faint pineapple scent and chewy bits of candied papaya (tutti-frutti) scattered through. They are eggless, rich with butter and a little custard powder, and go with a cup of Irani chai or a glass of cold milk. The usual slip is mixing the tutti-frutti in wet or sticky, so it bleeds colour and clumps; toss it in a spoon of flour first. Chef's tip: shape the dough into a square log and chill it until firm, then slice; a firm log gives neat, sharp-edged biscuits like the bakery ones.

63 min

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South African crunchiesOat and coconut tray-bake squares

Crunchies are the tray-bake South African home bakers turn to when the biscuit tin is empty: oats, coconut, flour and sugar stirred into butter melted with golden syrup, pressed into a tin and cut into squares while still warm. Unlike Australian Anzac biscuits, which are rolled into individual rounds, crunchies are baked in one slab, then sliced into chewy-centred, crisp-edged bars. They sell at school tuck shops and church bake sales, go into lunch boxes, and are a natural partner for a mug of rooibos. There is no egg in them, and they keep for a week. Chef's tip: score the squares as soon as the tin comes out of the oven and leave them to cool before lifting; waiting until the slab is cold to cut is the common mistake, and it shatters instead of slicing cleanly.

40 min

South African Baking

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Kulche birinjiRice flour cardamom cookies

On the morning of Eid, or when Nowruz comes round in March, Afghan households set out a dish of kulche birinji next to the sugared almonds and dried fruit for every visitor. These small, snow-white rounds are made from rice flour, powdered sugar and ghee, scented with cardamom and sometimes rose water, and they dissolve on the tongue almost as soon as you bite. A pinch of ground pistachio pressed into the centre of each gives colour. Serve them with green tea, the way they are offered in Kabul. They are naturally gluten free and eggless. Browning is the common mistake: they should come out as pale as they went in, just firm on the base. Chef's tip: let the dough rest for 20 minutes after mixing so the rice flour drinks up the ghee; it becomes far easier to roll smooth, crack-free balls.

50 min

Afghan Baking

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Surti jeera butter biscuitsCumin butter tea biscuits

Surat's old bakeries, some of them run by Parsi and Bohra families for a century, sell 'butter' by the kilo: round, crisp, flaky biscuits that crack into layers, and the jeera version is salted and freckled with cumin. Gujaratis eat them with morning tea, crushed into a saucer of chai or spread with a little butter. Unlike khari they start with a lightly yeasted dough that is spread with a ghee-and-flour paste and folded, then baked once until risen and again, low, until bone dry, which gives a crunch rather than a shatter. The mistake most people make is pulling them out after the first bake because they look done; they need the long, slow second bake or they turn chewy. Chef's tip: toast the cumin in a dry pan for a minute and crush half of it before it goes into the dough, so the flavour runs through every layer.

180 min

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Shimla mirch alooPepper and potato stir-fry

Shimla mirch aloo is everyday Punjabi home cooking from both sides of the border, the sabzi that fills a lunchbox paratha or sits next to dal on a weeknight in Rawalpindi. Potato cubes go soft and golden first, then strips of green pepper are tossed in just long enough to soften while keeping a little bite, all held together by a dry tomato-chilli masala. The classic mistake is adding the peppers with the potatoes: they collapse, turn khaki and lose their fresh, slightly bitter flavour. Chef's tip: a pinch of amchur at the end lifts the whole pan without adding any extra liquid.

25 min

Pakistani Vegetarian

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Bizcochos de CayambeTwice-baked butter biscuits

Drive north from Quito towards the snow-capped Cayambe volcano and the roadside is lined with bakeries selling paper bags of bizcochos, small finger-shaped biscuits baked twice until they shatter. Families stop there on weekend trips and order them with a slab of soft, salty queso de hoja, a cup of hot chocolate and a spoonful of dulce de leche (manjar) for spreading. The dough is a lightly yeasted butter dough, rolled into thin sticks, baked once until pale gold and then dried slowly until crisp right through, with a flaky, crumbly bite. A sealed jar keeps them for weeks. Chef's tip: the second bake is about drying, not browning, so keep the oven low; a hot second bake is the usual mistake and leaves them dark outside and chewy inside.

130 minAndean Baking

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Kashmiri bakery kulchaPoppy seed or sesame tea biscuits

Before dawn the kandurwaan, Srinagar's neighbourhood baker, lights his clay oven, and by breakfast his shelf holds stacks of kulcha: small, thick, very crumbly rounds, some salted and crusted with poppy seeds, some sweet and dotted with sesame. They are nothing like the soft Punjabi bread of the same name. Kashmiris eat them with noon chai, the pink salted tea, breaking a kulcha into the cup or alternating bites and sips; they are also handed out at weddings and taken as gifts when visiting. This eggless home version makes both kinds from one ghee-rich dough. Do not overwork it: kneading develops gluten and you lose the sandy crumble that makes kulcha special. Chef's tip: bake them pale and low; a real Kashmiri kulcha is barely golden on top and crisp only on the base, so take them out while they still look a little underdone.

55 min

Hungarian Pasta & Noodles

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Kak-e KermanshahiThin buttered sugar sheets

Kermanshah, in Iran's Kurdish west, is famous for its ghee, and kak is the sweet that shows it off: dough rolled so thin you can read through it, baked crisp in seconds, then brushed with melted ghee and showered with sugar before the sheets are folded and stacked. Shops in the city's bazaar sell them in tall boxes, and families bring them out for guests and at Nowruz with glasses of black tea. They are traditionally made with Kermanshahi ghee, a nutty sheep's-milk ghee; ordinary ghee or clarified butter works well. The classic mistake is rolling too thickly: anything over a millimetre bakes up like a cracker, not a crisp, glassy sheet. Chef's tip: roll on a lightly oiled counter rather than flour, and stretch the last bit over the backs of your hands, as the Kermanshah bakers do; excess flour scorches on the hot tray.

120 min

Persian Baking

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Hopia mungoMung bean pastries

Binondo, Manila's old Chinatown, is where Filipinos queue for hopia, flat little pastries with a paper-thin, flaky skin and a dense, sweet filling. Brought over by Hokkien bakers, they are now sold everywhere from provincial bus stations to convenience stores, and a box is a standard pasalubong (gift) after a trip. The classic is hopia mungo, filled with yellow mung bean paste; purple ube is the other favourite, and you can swap 300 g of sweetened ube halaya for the mung beans. Hopia pastry is traditionally made with lard; this version uses vegetable oil and shortening, so it is vegan. Chef's tip: dry the mung bean paste in the pan until a spoonful holds its shape when rolled; a soft paste is the commonest mistake, and it squeezes out of the seams as you flatten the pastries.

112 min

Filipino Baking

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Currants rollSpiced currant pastry roll

In Trinidad and Tobago, currants roll is the thing in the bakery case next to the coconut drops and salara: flaky shortcrust rolled tightly around a dark, sticky mixture of currants, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, baked whole and cut into thick spiral slices. Schoolchildren buy a piece on the way home and it is a favourite at Christmas when the house is full of visitors. The pastry is crisp and short, the filling jammy and warmly spiced. Spooning the filling on hot and syrupy makes the roll leak and go soggy, so cool it until thick. Chef's tip: roll the pastry on baking paper and use the paper to lift and roll the log, keeping it tight and even.

75 min

Trinidadian Baking

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CampechanasFlaky sweet pastries with sugar top

Campechanas take their name from the port of Campeche, but now they shatter all over the coffee tables of Mexico City and Veracruz: oval, paper-thin layers of dough with a glossy, caramelised sugar crust that cracks as you bite. Mexicans buy them in the evening from the panadería, along with conchas, to dunk in café de olla or hot chocolate. They are traditionally made with lard; this version uses vegetable shortening, which gives the same light flakiness and keeps them vegan. Butter also works but browns faster. The trap is a timid oven: below full heat the sugar stays grainy and white instead of turning to glass. Chef's tip: press the sugar firmly into the top before baking so it melts into an even shiny layer.

180 min

Mexican Baking

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Stuvade makaronerCreamy macaroni

Stuvade makaroner is a Swedish childhood classic, cooked on weekday evenings all over the country: small macaroni simmered in milk with butter and a grating of nutmeg until thick and creamy, served beside meatballs, sausages or, for a vegetarian plate, fried halloumi or eggs and a spoonful of lingonberries. It is mild, comforting and made in one pan. The most common mistake is cooking on too high a heat, so the milk catches and burns on the bottom; keep it at a gentle simmer and stir often. Chef's tip: boil the macaroni in water for 3 minutes first, then finish in the milk, so it cooks evenly without the sauce turning gluey.

20 minScandinavian Sides

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Mákos tészta (Hungarian poppy seed pasta)

Mákos tészta surprises people who meet it outside Hungary: hot wide noodles tossed in butter and finely ground poppy seeds with sugar, eaten as a main course, often on a Friday after a bowl of soup. Children across Hungary grow up on it, and grown-ups still order it in school-canteen-style restaurants in Budapest. The trick is grinding the seeds; whole poppy seeds just roll off the pasta, and the most common mistake is using them unground, which gives a gritty dish with little flavour. Chef's tip: a spice or coffee grinder turns poppy seeds into a fragrant, slightly oily powder in 20 seconds; grind them just before cooking.

17 min

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OkayuPlain rice porridge with pickled plum

Okayu is the porridge Japanese mothers make when someone is ill, tired or simply needs something gentle, and it is also eaten on 7 January as part of the new year with seven spring herbs. This weeknight version starts from cooked rice, simmered in water with a little salt until soft, white and spoonable, then served with a sour-salty umeboshi plum to stir in. The mistake is stirring it constantly, which breaks the grains and turns it gluey; stir only now and then. Chef's tip: for the full, silkier version, start with 100 g raw rice and 1 litre of water and simmer, lid ajar, for 40 minutes.

17 min

Japanese Rice & Grains

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Pasta con la ricotta

Sicilian mothers make pasta con la ricotta on busy evenings and for children home from school: fresh sheep's or cow's milk ricotta is loosened with hot pasta water into a soft, milky sauce, then seasoned with black pepper and a little grated cheese. It is mild, creamy and ready in a quarter of an hour. Ricotta is made without rennet, but parmesan or pecorino usually contain animal rennet, so use a vegetarian hard cheese if needed. The common mistake is spooning cold ricotta straight onto the pasta, where it stays in lumps; whisk it with hot water first. Chef's tip: a little lemon zest or a few mint leaves lifts the sauce without hiding the ricotta.

15 min

Italian Pasta & Noodles

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Młode ziemniaki z koperkiem (new potatoes with dill)

In June, when the first new potatoes reach Polish markets, many families make a whole supper of them: thin-skinned potatoes boiled, tossed in melted butter and a fistful of chopped dill, with a glass or bowl of cold kefir or buttermilk alongside. It is simple, early-summer country food, and it also sits next to fried eggs or cucumber salad. The common mistake is peeling them or boiling them hard; new potatoes should be scrubbed only and simmered gently, or they split and go watery. Chef's tip: add the dill only once the potatoes are off the heat, so it stays bright green and fresh-tasting.

25 min

Polish Sides

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Mauritian cassava biscuits

In Mahébourg, on the south-east coast of Mauritius, a family biscuit works has made thin cassava biscuits on hot iron plates for more than a century, and biscuit manioc has become the island's signature tea biscuit. They are pale, square and so crisp they snap cleanly, with a gentle sweetness and flavours such as plain, coconut, vanilla or cinnamon. Mauritians eat them with a cup of vanilla tea, spread them with butter, or crumble them over a bowl of fruit. Made with cassava flour, they are naturally gluten free. Chef's tip: mix the dough with very hot water, which partly cooks the starch and makes the dough pliable; cold water is the common mistake, and the dough cracks and crumbles as you roll it.

55 min

Mauritian Baking

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Sukhi moong dalDry yellow moong dal

Sukhi (dry) moong dal is made in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh when there is no time for a soupy dal, or to roll into parathas and pack for journeys; Marwari families often serve it at weddings with kachoris. Soaked yellow moong is cooked with just enough water to soften it while keeping the grains whole, then lifted with amchur, ginger and a ghee tempering. The mistake to avoid is too much water or stirring hard, which turns it into a mushy khichdi; add water a little at a time and fold gently. Chef's tip: soak the dal for at least 30 minutes, which is why this dish takes longer than the cooking alone. It is one of the few dals that is just as good at room temperature.

55 min

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Khubz ragagPaper-thin batter flatbread

Khubz ragag is the tissue-thin bread of the UAE, traditionally spread by hand over a hot domed iron griddle by Emirati women at morning markets and cooked in seconds until crisp. At home it is breakfast drizzled with date syrup, or with eggs and cheese cooked on top, and in Ramadan it is torn into thareed stew. This plain version is egg-free and dairy-free, cooked in a non-stick frying pan. The common mistake is a dough that is too stiff: it should be loose and sticky so it can be smeared paper-thin. Toppings like egg or cheese can be added at the end if you are not keeping it vegan. Chef's tip: wipe the pan with a damp, folded cloth between breads to cool the surface slightly, so the next one spreads without tearing.

30 minGulf Arabian Breads & Parathas

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MantecaditosAlmond shortbread with guava

During the long Puerto Rican Christmas season, which runs from Thanksgiving to the fiestas de la calle San Sebastián in mid-January, trays of mantecaditos appear at every parranda and family visit. They are small, eggless shortbread balls scented with almond extract, pressed with a thumb and filled with a cube of sticky, ruby guava paste. They crumble in one bite, rich with butter, and the tart guava cuts the sweetness. Serve them with a cafecito, or a glass of milk for the children. Warm dough is what makes them spread into flat puddles, so chill the shaped balls before they go in. Chef's tip: cut the guava paste with a knife dipped in hot water, and press it into the hollow only after chilling so it stays neatly in place.

45 min

Puerto Rican Baking

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Boniato fritoFried white sweet potato

Boniato, the pale, chestnut-sweet sweet potato of the Caribbean, is fried in rounds all over Cuba as an everyday side for picadillo, eggs or rice and black beans, and in Miami's Little Havana it turns up next to most lunch plates. The slices come out golden and lightly crisp outside, fluffy and floury inside. The common mistake is oil that is too hot with slices that are too thick: the outside burns while the middle stays hard, so keep the slices 5 mm and the heat steady. Ordinary orange sweet potato works too, though it is sweeter and browns faster. Chef's tip: drop the cut slices into cold water as you go, as boniato darkens quickly, then dry them very well before frying.

20 min

Cuban Sides

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Dar ni poriSweet lentil pie with nuts

Parsi families in Mumbai and the small towns of south Gujarat order dar ni pori for Navroz, birthdays and the first day of a new job, when a sweet that keeps well is needed for visitors. A thin, flaky shortcrust holds a fudgy filling of toor dal cooked down with sugar and ghee, scented with cardamom, nutmeg and rose water and studded with almonds and pistachios. It tastes a little like a nutty halwa wrapped in pastry and is cut into small wedges, usually with a cup of milky tea. The usual mistake is stopping the filling too early: if it is still soft and wet it soaks the pastry and leaks through the seams. Chef's tip: the dal is ready when it pulls away from the pan as one mass and a spoonful holds a clean shape on a plate.

150 min