No onion, no garlic recipes (Swaminarayan and sattvic)

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Soan papdiFlaky threaded sweet cubes

Long before it came in gift boxes, soan papdi was a halwai's showpiece in the bazaars of western Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. Hot sugar syrup is pulled like taffy, then worked into a warm paste of gram flour and maida roasted in ghee, and the folding stretches it into hundreds of fine threads. The result is airy, flaky and crumbly, with a toasty, cardamom-sweet flavour, nothing like the stale boxes passed around offices at Diwali. It is genuinely a two-person job at home: one person pulls while the other keeps the flour warm. Wear clean kitchen gloves rubbed with ghee if your hands are sensitive to heat, and keep children away from the syrup. Chef's tip: keep the roasted flour on the lowest possible heat the whole time; the moment it cools, it stops coating the sugar threads and you get dense, chewy lumps.

90 min

Mauritian Snacks & Starters

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Breadfruit chipsBreadfruit crisps

Roadside kiosks on La Digue and the Victoria market sell paper cones of chips friyapen, still warm, to people walking back from the beach. Breadfruit fries up lighter than potato, with a faintly nutty, bready taste and a crunch that shatters, and islanders say whoever eats breadfruit will come back to the Seychelles. Use a fruit that is mature but still firm, with green skin and no soft patches; ripe, yielding breadfruit is too sweet and wet and the slices go leathery. Breadfruit has no gluten at all, so the chips suit coeliac friends if the oil is fresh. Eat them as they are with a cold drink, or alongside grilled fish and a sharp tomato chutney. Chef's tip: rub a little oil on your knife and hands before cutting, because the white sap is sticky and hard to wash off.

30 min

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Goan chana dal doceChana dal and coconut fudge

Doce de grão is one of the oldest sweets on the Goan Christmas kuswar platter, made in Catholic homes from Margao to Mapusa in the weeks before Christmas and also for weddings. Chana dal is boiled and ground with fresh coconut, then cooked with sugar in a wide pan, stirred constantly for the best part of an hour, until it turns into a thick, glossy dough that leaves the sides of the pan. Spread on a plate, cut into diamonds or pressed into small moulds, it is dense, fudgy and nutty, with a soft coconut flavour. Some families add a little ghee at the end for shine, and that makes it vegetarian rather than vegan. The usual mistake is taking it off the heat too soon: it stays sticky and never sets. Push a spoon through the middle; it is ready when the line holds and the mixture rolls into a ball. Chef's tip: grind the coconut and dal together while the dal is warm and without water; a wet paste takes twice as long to cook down.

90 min

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Gulab jamun

No Diwali sweet box, wedding thali or birthday party in India feels complete without a gulab jamun or two. This is the classic halwai version made with khoya, milk reduced to a dense crumbly solid, kneaded with a little flour and fried slowly in ghee until the outside is deep mahogany and the inside cooked through. Soaked in light syrup scented with rose and cardamom, the balls swell and become soft and spongy, with a faint caramel milkiness. Serve them warm on their own, or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a spoonful of rabri. Buy soft, unsweetened khoya (mawa) for this; dry, hard khoya makes dense jamuns. Chef's tip: fry one test ball first; if it cracks, knead in a teaspoon of milk, and if it spreads, add a pinch more flour.

60 min

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RabriThickened sweet milk

Halwais in Mathura, Varanasi and Lucknow make rabri in wide iron kadhais, fanning the surface so a skin forms fast, then pushing each layer of malai to the cooler sides of the pan. After an hour or more, the milk has shrunk to a quarter, and the layers are scraped back in to give a thick, spoonable sweet full of soft, chewy ribbons of cream. It is much thicker than Gujarati basundi, which is stirred smooth. Rabri is served chilled in kulhads, or spooned over hot jalebi or malpua at Holi, the hot-cold contrast being the whole point. Use the widest heavy pan you own; the bigger the surface, the more malai and the faster it reduces. Chef's tip: add the sugar only at the end; sugar added early makes the milk catch and stops the skins forming properly.

90 min

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VattayappamSteamed rice and coconut cake

In Syrian Christian homes in Kottayam and Thiruvalla, vattayappam is the sweet that appears on Christmas and Easter mornings and goes in boxes to every neighbour. A batter of raw rice and coconut is fermented until airy, sweetened, flavoured with cardamom and steamed in a round plate until it rises into a fluffy, honeycombed cake. It is light, moist and gently sweet, with a faint tang from the ferment. Grandmothers used kallu (coconut toddy) to ferment it; this recipe uses dried yeast instead and contains no alcohol at all. Eat it warm with tea, or alongside chicken stew for breakfast. The common mistake is a batter that is too thick: it steams heavy and dense. It should pour like thick pancake batter. Rice and coconut only, so it is naturally gluten-free and vegan. Chef's tip: cook a spoon of the soaked rice into a soft porridge (kurukku) and grind it in; that is what gives vattayappam its fine, silky crumb.

60 min

Indian Baking

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Kuttu ki puriBuckwheat puris

Through the nine days of Navratri, Delhi and Punjabi kitchens switch wheat for kuttu, buckwheat flour, and these dark, earthy puris become the fast-day staple. Kuttu has no gluten, so boiled potato is mashed in to bind the dough and keep the puris soft; they puff less than wheat puris but come out crisp at the edges and tender inside, with a nutty, slightly bitter flavour. Rajgira or singhara flour can be used in exactly the same way. They are eaten with vrat ke aloo, kaddu ki sabzi or a bowl of sweet curd, and on Ashtami many temples serve them with halwa. Only sendha namak goes in, and no regular salt, spices or grains, so they suit strict fasts. Buckwheat is naturally gluten-free, but buy flour labelled gluten-free if that matters to you, as some is milled alongside wheat. Chef's tip: make the dough just before frying; kuttu dough goes sticky and wet if it sits.

30 min

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Upvasachi batata bhajiFasting potato stir-fry with peanuts

Ask anyone from Pune or Nashik what they eat on Ekadashi or a Navratri upvas, and this dry potato bhaji will be on the plate, usually next to sabudana khichdi or bhagar and a bowl of danyachi amti. Unlike North Indian vrat ke aloo, there is no tomato and no gravy: cubes of boiled potato are tossed in ghee or oil with cumin and crushed green chilli, then coated in coarsely ground roasted peanuts that cling to every piece. A little sugar and lemon give it the gentle sweet-sour lift that Maharashtrian cooking loves, and coriander and fresh coconut finish it. It is quick, filling and good cold in a tiffin too. Some families add curry leaves; others leave them out on strict fasts. Chef's tip: cool the potatoes completely before cubing; warm potatoes break into mash when you toss them.

25 min

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KurdaiSun-dried wheat starch spirals

Kurdai is one of the great Marathi summer projects, the kind that takes the whole family and most of the week. In Marathwada and Khandesh, whole wheat grains are soaked for three days, ground, and strained to collect the fine starch (chik), which settles and slightly ferments. That starch is cooked into a glossy paste and pressed through a kurdai press into flat spirals that dry hard and translucent in the April sun. Fried, they swell into airy, rippled curls, crisp and almost melting, with a faint tang from the fermentation. Kurdai turns up on the side of a Maharashtrian thali with varan-bhaat, at festivals, and as a tea-time crunch. Note that it is made from wheat, so it is not gluten-free. Chef's tip: change the soaking water morning and evening without fail. Skip it and the wheat starts to smell sour and musty instead of clean and yeasty, and the kurdai will taste of it.

120 min

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PanchakhadyaCoconut, jaggery and poppy seed offering

Walk into a Maharashtrian home during the ten days of Ganeshotsav and the evening aarti ends with a spoonful of panchakhadya pressed into your palm. Pancha means five and khadya means things to eat: dry coconut (khobra), jaggery, poppy seeds, dry dates (kharik) and dry ginger (sunth) powder, all toasted and pounded together into a loose, sweet crumble. Some families add a few raisins or almonds, but the five are the heart of it. It is warming, chewy and gently spicy from the sunth, and it keeps for weeks, which is why it is made in a big tin at the start of the festival. Eat it by the spoon, or sprinkle over hot milk. The common mistake is grinding everything together into a sticky paste; the jaggery should be grated and stirred in at the end so the mixture stays crumbly. Chef's tip: dry kharik are rock hard; soak them for 10 minutes in hot water, then pat dry and chop, or buy ready kharik powder.

15 min

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Talniche modakFried coconut jaggery dumplings

Steamed ukadiche modak may be the star of Ganesh Chaturthi in Konkan homes, but across Pune, Nashik and Vidarbha the plate of twenty-one for Bappa is just as often fried. Talniche modak use a short dough of wheat flour and fine semolina, pleated by hand around the same coconut, jaggery and poppy-seed saran, then fried slowly until they turn pale gold and shatter when bitten. Because they are dry and crisp they travel well: they go into the steel dabba for relatives and last through all ten days of the festival. The filling is sticky and fragrant with cardamom and nutmeg, the shell flaky like a karanji. Serve them at room temperature with a cup of tea or as part of the naivedya thali. The usual mistake is frying in oil that is too hot, which browns the outside in a minute and leaves the inner pleats raw and doughy. Chef's tip: rub the ghee into the flour until it holds in a clump when pressed; that moyan is what makes the shell blister and flake rather than turn hard like a puri.

65 min

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Inji puliGinger tamarind relish

On the banana leaf of an Onam sadya, inji puli takes the top left corner, a small dark spoonful that you dip into between rice, sambar and payasam to wake the palate up. Some call it puli inji; it is said to balance the 'hundred curries', and it is so loved that the old saying counts it as worth them all. Fresh ginger and green chillies are fried in coconut oil, then simmered in tamarind water with jaggery until thick and shiny, sweet first, then sour, then hot. It is made a day or two before the feast because it gets better as it rests. Serve a teaspoon with rice or curd rice; it also lifts a plain dosa. The usual mistake is browning the ginger too far, which makes the relish bitter; it should just turn golden. Gluten-free if you use gluten-free asafoetida or leave it out. Chef's tip: cook it down until the oil starts to appear at the edges; any wetter and it will not keep.

40 min

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Besan ladooGram flour sweet balls

Every North Indian and Gujarati kitchen has its besan ladoo argument: coarse or fine flour, boora or caster sugar, nuts or not. What nobody argues about is the roasting. The gram flour has to cook in ghee on a low flame for half an hour, going from a stiff lump to a loose, flowing paste the colour of sand, until the raw beany smell is gone and the kitchen smells like roasted peanuts. That patient roast gives a ladoo that is melt-in-the-mouth, faintly grainy and rich, never pasty. They are made for Diwali, offered to Ganesh on Chaturthi and packed for travellers because they keep for weeks. Use besan packed without wheat if you need it gluten-free. Chef's tip: let the roasted besan cool until just warm to the touch before the sugar goes in; hot besan melts the sugar and your ladoos slump into flat discs.

45 min

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Ellu bellaSesame and jaggery mix

'Ellu bella thindu olle maathadi': eat sesame and jaggery and speak only good words. On Sankranti morning, girls in Bengaluru and Mysuru dress in new silk and carry small steel plates of ellu bella, a sugarcane stick, a banana and a sugar figure (sakkare acchu) from house to house, a custom called ellu birodhu. The mix itself is uncooked once its parts are roasted: white sesame, tiny cubes of dry coconut and jaggery, peanuts and putani (roasted gram), sometimes with a few fried gram-dal sugar beads. It is crunchy, nutty and sweet in small bursts. Families make a kilo at a time to give away. The common mistake is mixing it while the sesame is still warm, which melts the jaggery and turns everything into a lump. Chef's tip: cut the copra and jaggery to the same small size as the peanuts so every spoonful has a bit of everything.

20 min

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PatraSteamed colocasia leaf rolls

Arbi leaves (colocasia, sold as patra or alu leaves in Indian shops) are on every farsan counter from Surat to Ahmedabad, and steamed patra is the one Gujarati mothers make on a Sunday when the leaves look good at the market. Several leaves are glued together with a thick besan paste that is sour with tamarind, sweet with jaggery and warm with ginger and chilli, then rolled, steamed, cooled and cut into spirals. A final vaghar of mustard, sesame and curry leaves gives a crisp edge. The same dish in Maharashtra is alu vadi, where the slices are usually fried. Patra is a must on a wedding or Diwali farsan plate and is good cold in a dabba too, with green chutney or nothing at all. Tamarind matters for more than taste: raw colocasia makes the throat itch, and the acid in the paste stops it, so never skip it. Common mistake: slicing the rolls while hot, when they crumble; let them cool completely first. Chef's tip: choose medium leaves without holes, and shave the thick back veins flat with a knife so the leaves lie flat and roll tight.

70 min

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Namak pareSalted dough diamonds

Namak pare are the easiest thing in the festive tin, and usually the first to run out. A simple salted dough with a little ghee, ajwain and black nigella seeds is rolled thin, cut into small diamonds and fried until golden and crunchy. They are much thinner and crisper than mathri, with a satisfying snap rather than a flaky crumble, and the kalonji gives a slightly oniony, peppery note. Punjabi and UP homes make big batches before Holi and Diwali, but they also turn up on train journeys, at kitty parties and with evening tea. Sprinkle with chaat masala for a tangier version. Chef's tip: roll the dough evenly, about 3 mm; thin spots burn while thick ones stay soft, and even sheets give every piece the same crunch.

45 min

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ImartiSyrup-soaked lentil spirals

Imarti (jangiri in Tamil Nadu) is the stately cousin of jalebi: instead of a fermented flour batter it uses soaked urad dal, whipped until airy, piped into hot oil in a ring of small loops like a flower, and plunged into warm saffron syrup. The result is crisp at first and then pleasantly chewy, juicy inside but not soggy, and less tangy than jalebi. Halwais in Jaunpur, Agra and across Rajasthan fry it in desi ghee for weddings, Diwali and Holi, often served warm with rabri. This version is fried in oil so it stays vegan; use ghee if you prefer the halwai taste. The batter is the whole secret: grind the dal with very little water, then beat it by hand until a drop floats in water. Common mistake: frying on high heat, which browns the outside before the inside is set, so the imarti go limp in the syrup. Keep the oil at a gentle medium-low and expect them to take a couple of minutes. Chef's tip: practise the shape on a plate first; a ketchup bottle or a piping bag with a 3–4 mm round nozzle is far easier than the traditional cloth with a hole.

65 min

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Aam papadMango fruit leather

Children in Lucknow, Varanasi and across Uttar Pradesh grew up tearing strips off aam papad from the corner shop, but the homemade kind, made when Dussehri and Langra mangoes are cheap and overripe in June, is in another league: thick, glossy, chewy, deep orange and properly mango-tasting, with a sour edge. Ripe pulp is cooked down with a little sugar and lemon until thick, then spread thinly on greased thalis and left on the terrace. Many families add a new layer every day for a week to build up a thick slab. Eat it as a sweet snack, cut into squares or rolls, or tuck it into a lunchbox. Common mistake: spreading the pulp in one thick layer to save time; the outside dries while the centre stays sticky and can turn mouldy. Chef's tip: no sun? Spread it on a lined tray and dry it in the oven at 60–70 °C, door slightly ajar, for 6–8 hours.

55 min

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Athela marchaQuick pickled green chillies

On a Gujarati table there is nearly always a small steel bowl of athela marcha beside the thali, the quick daily pickle that makes plain khichdi, dal-bhaat, thepla or a plate of fafda taste complete. Thick, mild chillies (Bhavnagri or the pale green ones sold for bhajia) are slit, tossed with rai kuria (split mustard), salt, turmeric and hing, and soused with lemon juice. Within a few hours the mustard blooms and turns pleasantly pungent, the lemon softens the chillies and the colour turns olive green. They stay crunchy for about a week in the fridge, so most homes make a small batch every few days. Use thin, hot chillies if your family likes the heat. Common mistake: washing the chillies and using them damp, which waters down the masala and turns the pickle slimy; dry them completely before slitting. Always serve with a clean, dry spoon and throw the jar out if it turns cloudy, mouldy or smells off. Chef's tip: a pinch of methi kuria and half a teaspoon of sugar round out the sharpness if the lemons are very sour.

17 min

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LadobPlantain in sweet coconut milk

Sunday lunch on Mahé often ends with a pot of ladob carried warm to the table: thick slices of ripe plantain, sometimes breadfruit or sweet potato, stewed in coconut milk until they turn soft and amber. The sauce reduces to a pale, silky cream scented with vanilla, which grows on the islands, and a scrape of nutmeg. Families eat it warm in bowls, or cold from the fridge the next afternoon, and children like it best with the sauce spooned over a little extra. Pick plantains with black-speckled or nearly black skins; yellow-green ones stay starchy and never go sweet and tender, which is the most common disappointment. Chef's tip: simmer gently and never let the coconut milk boil hard, or it splits and the sauce turns oily instead of creamy.

40 min

Mauritian Desserts

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Idli podiLentil and chilli powder

Pack idlis for a train journey out of Chennai Central and they travel already smeared in milagai podi and gingelly oil, which is why Tamilians call this the travel chutney. At home, a small mound sits on the side of every breakfast plate: you make a well in it, pour in sesame oil and drag hot idli or crisp dosa through the paste. A good podi is coarse and sandy rather than floury, nutty from slow-roasted urad and chana dal, toasty from sesame, smoky from the chillies and lifted by curry leaves and asafoetida. Mix byadgi chillies for colour with a few hotter ones for bite. Common mistake: grinding the dals while still warm; the steam turns the podi damp and lumpy and it loses its crunch in a week. Chef's tip: roast each ingredient separately on a low flame, because the dals, chillies and sesame all brown at different speeds.

25 min

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AnnakutWinter vegetable shaak

The day after Diwali, Pushtimarg havelis from Nathdwara to Ahmedabad build the annakut, literally a mountain of food, piled before Shrinathji to remember Krishna lifting Govardhan hill. Among dozens of sweets and farsan, there is always a shaak cooked from every vegetable of the new season, and many Gujarati and Rajasthani homes make their own version for the New Year meal. In the haveli tradition there is no onion or garlic, and many families leave out tomato too; the flavour comes from ajwain, ginger, green chilli, a little jaggery and lemon. It is lightly spiced, sweet-sour and full of different textures, from creamy raw banana to crunchy beans. Serve with puri, kadhi and rice. This version uses groundnut oil, so it is vegan; havelis cook it in ghee. Chef's tip: cut every vegetable to roughly the same size and add them in order of how long they take, so the shaak ends up tender, not mushy.

60 min

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Madras mixtureCrunchy savoury snack mix

In Chennai sweet shops the glass jars of mixture sit beside the murukku, and at Deepavali most Tamil families make their own. It is built from separately fried parts: thin besan omapodi-style sev, little spiced kara boondi pearls, thick poha fried to a crunch, fried gram, peanuts and a big handful of curry leaves, all tossed with chilli and asafoetida while warm. The flavour is salty, peppery and savoury, with no sugar and no raisins, which is what sets it apart from Gujarati chevdo. Each part has a different crunch, so every handful is different. Serve it with filter coffee or tea. Use gluten-free asafoetida if you need it gluten-free. Chef's tip: fry everything in the same oil in order, from lightest to heaviest flavour: poha and peanuts first, then boondi, then sev; that keeps the oil clean and every part tastes fresh.

75 min

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Kopra pakFresh coconut fudge

Kopra pak is the sweet a Gujarati home makes when a coconut has been broken for a puja and there is too much to use. It is ready in under an hour: fresh coconut is cooked with milk until the milk is soaked up, then with sugar until the mixture comes away from the pan, and it is spread in a thali to set. The result is soft and moist, with the clean, milky sweetness of fresh coconut and a little chew, quite different from dry desiccated barfi. It appears at Diwali, Sharad Purnima and on Bestu Varas, and as prasad after Satyanarayan katha. Use only the white part of the coconut for a pale barfi. Chef's tip: grate the coconut finely or pulse it briefly; coarse shreds make a loose barfi that crumbles when you cut it.

40 min

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ChhundoSweet grated mango preserve

Every May, when rajapuri mangoes arrive hard and green, Gujarati terraces fill with muslin-covered jars of chhundo slowly cooking in the sun. Grated raw mango is salted, mixed with sugar and left out for a week or more, stirred each day, until the sugar melts into a clear, glossy syrup and the shreds turn translucent. Red chilli and roasted cumin go in at the end, so it is sweet first and then warm. It is what children spread inside a thepla or a rotli for the school dabba, and it sits beside khakhra, puri and dal-bhaat all year round. No terrace or no sun? It cooks just as well on the stove in 25 minutes; both methods are below. Use rajapuri (or another firm, sour, fibre-free raw mango) and grate it on the large holes so the shreds hold. Common mistake: cooking past one-string; the syrup keeps thickening as it cools and the chhundo sets hard like candy. Store it in a dry, sterilised jar and always use a clean, dry spoon; discard it if you ever see mould or it smells fermented. Chef's tip: mix part Kashmiri chilli for colour and part hot chilli for heat, and add the chilli only after the syrup is ready so it stays bright red.

55 min

Mongolian Breads & Parathas

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TsagaaSweet rice with raisins and curd

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

40 min

Mongolian Desserts

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BortsAir-dried beef strips

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

450 min

Mongolian Meat

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GüirilaSweet corn tortilla with curd cheese

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

40 minCentral American Snacks & Starters

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GambirButtered pan-fried flatbread

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

45 min

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Bunelos agaBanana fritters

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

30 minPacific Islander Desserts

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AaruulDried milk curds

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

510 min

Mongolian Snacks & Starters

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Tortilla changaThick corn griddle cake with cheese

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

30 minCentral American Breakfast & Brunch

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ByaslagPressed fresh cheese

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

50 min

Mongolian Basics

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Cà phê cốt dừa (coconut coffee)

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

15 min

Vietnamese Drinks

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Nước sấu (sấu fruit drink)

When Hanoi's tamarind-like sấu trees drop their small green fruit in May and June, street vendors start selling glasses of nước sấu: a few candied fruits, a ladle of ginger syrup, cold water and crushed ice. Families make big jars to last until the season ends in August. It is sipped with a spoon so you can bite into the crunchy-soft fruit at the bottom. It tastes sour and sweet at once, with a clean ginger warmth and a flavour a little like green mango and plum. Traditional cooks soak the peeled fruit in limewater to keep it crisp; a salt soak works well at home. The common mistake is skipping the blanch and slow syrup: raw fruit stays acrid and the syrup clouds. Blanch the fruit briefly, then cook it gently in sugar until it turns translucent yellow-green and the syrup is clear and glossy. Store it in a sterilised jar in the fridge for up to 2 months with a clean spoon; discard if it fizzes, smells fermented or shows mould. Fresh sấu is rare abroad; look for frozen sấu in Vietnamese shops, or use firm green ambarella. Chef's tip: slash each fruit a few times so the syrup soaks all the way in.

55 min

Vietnamese Drinks

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Panch mishali tarkariMixed vegetable curry

Panch mishali means 'five mixed', and in Bangladeshi homes from Sylhet to Khulna it is the weekday tarkari made from the odds and ends of the vegetable basket, eaten with rice and a thin dal. Potato, pumpkin, aubergine, green beans and green papaya or bottle gourd are cooked down with panch phoron, turmeric and green chilli until soft and gently sweet. The usual mistake is adding water at the start: the vegetables steam beautifully in their own juice and a splash later is all they need. Chef's tip: finish with a teaspoon of raw mustard oil drizzled on top; its sharp aroma is the Bengali signature.

40 min

Bangladeshi Vegetarian

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Ssanghwa-cha (herbal tonic tea)

Ssanghwa-cha is the strongest thing on the menu of an old Korean dabang. From the 1960s these smoky tea rooms served it in thick ceramic cups, dark as coffee, with pine nuts, slivered jujube and walnut floating on top; in winter some still slide a raw egg yolk in, which this recipe leaves out. The brew comes from Korean herbal tradition, where ssanghwa-tang is drunk to warm up and recover from tiredness after hard work or a cold. It tastes earthy and bitter at first, then sweet from licorice and jujube, with warmth from cinnamon and ginger and a celery-like perfume from angelica. Herbal shops sell the roots in pre-measured packs. The common mistake is boiling it hard: the liquid reduces too fast and turns harsh. Keep a gentle simmer with the lid ajar for two hours. It is ready when it is very dark brown, reduced to about a third and smells of cinnamon and roots. Because it contains licorice and angelica, skip it if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, have high blood pressure, or take blood thinners or other medicines unless your doctor agrees. Chef's tip: a second, lighter brew from the same roots is good with honey.

135 min

Korean Drinks

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Trà sen (lotus tea)

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

15 min

Vietnamese Drinks

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Conservas de cocoSpiced coconut bars

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

50 min

Venezuelan Desserts

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Insalata di pastaCold pasta salad

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

27 min

Italian Pasta & Noodles

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Aussie salad sandwich

The salad sandwich is the backbone of the Australian lunchbox and the school tuckshop order: soft bread built up with tinned beetroot, grated carrot, tasty cheese, tomato and crisp lettuce, cut into triangles and wrapped in paper. Beetroot is what makes it unmistakably Aussie. The common mistake is laying wet beetroot and tomato straight on bare bread, so by lunchtime it is pink and soggy. Many Cheddar-style "tasty" cheeses use animal rennet; choose one labelled vegetarian. Chef's tip: butter both slices to the edge and put the cheese and lettuce next to the bread, with the wet fillings sealed in the middle.

10 min

Australian Snacks & Starters

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TovveToor dal with green chilli

Tovve is the plainest dal of the Udupi temple kitchens and of Kannada homes along the coast: toor or moong cooked soft, seasoned with green chilli and ginger and finished with a sizzling ghee tempering. There is no tomato, no onion and no masala, so it is the first dal children eat and what families cook for a light dinner or after a fast, with rice, a spoon of ghee and a lemon pickle. Its flavour depends on a well-cooked dal, so it must be soft enough to fall apart when stirred. The usual mistake is adding salt before the dal is tender, which keeps it grainy. Chef's tip: whisk the cooked dal hard for 30 seconds before tempering; the smooth, creamy texture is what makes tovve taste of more than its few ingredients.

40 min

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Cerasee teaBitter melon vine tea

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

15 min

Jamaican Drinks

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ChigumuBanana maize cake

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

75 minSouthern African Baking

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Jhinge postoRidge gourd with poppy seeds

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

40 min

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Gogji razmaKidney beans with turnips

In the Kashmir valley, gogji razma is a winter comfort dish, made in heavy pots when turnips are sweet after the first snow and dried beans from Bhaderwah fill the store. Red kidney beans and turnip chunks simmer in a thin, red gravy flavoured with mustard oil, ground fennel, dried ginger and Kashmiri chilli, without any onion or tomato. Serve with a modest bowl of rice or a millet roti and a green salad. It is suitable as part of a balanced diet. About 300 kcal and 38 g carbohydrate per portion. The usual mistake is slow-cooking dried kidney beans without boiling them hard first; raw kidney beans are unsafe, so soak them overnight and boil hard for 10 minutes before simmering. Chef's tip: add the turnips only when the beans are almost soft, so they keep their shape and sweetness.

90 min

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Khatta magGreen moong in sour yogurt

Khatta mag is weekday comfort across Gujarat, from Ahmedabad flats to Saurashtra farmhouses: whole green moong cooked soft and simmered in a tangy, kadhi-like gravy of yoghurt and gram flour with ginger, green chilli and a clove-and-cinnamon tempering. It is ladled over rice or eaten with bajra rotla, and many families cook it on Wednesdays, the day for moong. A little jaggery is optional. The usual mistake is pouring cold yoghurt into the hot pot without whisking it with gram flour first, which makes it split into curds. Slow-cooker: cook the soaked moong with 600 ml water on low for 5 hours, then stir in the yoghurt mix and cook on high for 30 minutes. Chef's tip: slightly sour, day-old yoghurt gives the best khatta flavour.

55 min

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Neem begunNeem leaves with aubergine

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

20 min

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MutakuraBeans, cowpeas and maize

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

160 minSouthern African Vegetarian

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Jalea de mangoGreen mango paste

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

75 min

Venezuelan Desserts

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Lilva tuvar nu shaakGreen pigeon pea curry

From December to February, Gujarati markets fill with fresh tuvar pods, and families in Surat, Vadodara and Ahmedabad spend evenings shelling them for lilva dishes. This simple shaak cooks the sweet, nutty green pigeon peas with ginger, green chilli, ajwain and a fistful of coriander, with a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of sugar for the classic Gujarati balance. Eat it with bajra rotla, rotli or khichdi. The usual mistake is cooking the peas too long, which turns them grey and floury; they should stay green and tender. Chef's tip: frozen lilva from Indian grocers work well outside the season; add them straight from frozen and shorten the cooking time.

35 min

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Val valMixed vegetables in coconut gravy

Val val is a gentle Goan Saraswat stew of mixed vegetables in coconut milk, cooked for festive meals at Ganesh Chaturthi, weddings and temple feasts in Ponda and Margao, where it balances hot curries and fried fish-free starters on the plate. Drumsticks, pumpkin, green beans and potato cook in thin coconut milk with green chilli and cumin, then thick coconut milk is stirred in at the end for a creamy, pale, mildly sweet sauce. Eat it with rice, or with puris for a feast. The usual mistake is boiling it after the thick coconut milk goes in, which splits it into oily curds. Chef's tip: grind the cumin with the green chillies and a spoon of coconut milk; it gives a fresh warmth without colouring the white sauce.

40 min

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BotaMaize porridge with peanut butter

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

20 minSouthern African Breakfast & Brunch

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Matar paratha (green pea paratha)

In Delhi and Punjab, matar paratha is the winter tiffin made when the first sweet peas arrive: the peas are boiled, mashed coarse and spiced with ginger, green chilli, cumin and amchur, then sealed inside wholewheat dough and roasted on the tawa with a little ghee. Rolled up in foil with a spoon of pickle, they are still soft at lunch. The mistake is a wet filling, which bursts through the dough; cook the mashed peas in a pan until dry and cool them before stuffing. Chef's tip: make the filling slightly saltier than tastes right, because the dough around it is unsalted and mutes it.

45 min

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KabalagalaBanana and cassava pancakes

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

35 minEast African Snacks & Starters

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Koko alaisaCocoa coconut rice

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

40 minPacific Islander Breakfast & Brunch

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SoetpatatsGlazed sweet potatoes

Sunday lunch in an Afrikaans home means a table crowded with sweet and savoury sides around the roast, and soetpatats is always one of them, sitting next to the yellow rice, the green beans and the pumpkin. Thick rounds of sweet potato are cooked slowly in a covered pan with butter, brown sugar, a cinnamon stick and a strip of orange peel until they are soft right through and lacquered in a sticky, toffee-like glaze. Every family has a view on how sweet they should be; this version is rich but not cloying, with a pinch of salt and a squeeze of orange to keep it lively. They go well with a nut roast, pap tert or a lentil bobotie for a vegetarian table. Stirring too much is the trap: the rounds break up into mash, so shake the pan instead. Chef's tip: leave the lid off for the last ten minutes and the syrup reduces into a proper glaze.

45 min

South African Sides

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Lemon sevai (lemon rice noodles)

Sevai is pressed rice-flour vermicelli, and in Tamil Nadu and the Mysuru region the lemon version is a lighter alternative to lemon rice for a school lunch box. Today most homes use dried rice sevai, softened in hot water and steamed, then tossed with a turmeric tempering of mustard, dal, peanuts and green chilli and plenty of lemon. The common mistake is soaking the dry sevai too long, so it breaks into short mushy bits; it should be just pliable before it goes into the steamer. Chef's tip: toss with a fork, not a spoon, and lift rather than stir so the strands stay long.

22 min

Indian Pasta & Noodles

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MosbolletjiesAniseed grape buns

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

105 min

South African Baking

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Lolo bunsCoconut cream baked buns

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

65 minPacific Islander Baking

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BabakauFried dough balls

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

35 minPacific Islander Breakfast & Brunch

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Dalimbi usalSprouted field bean curry

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

60 min

Italian Breads & Parathas

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Neer mor (spiced buttermilk)

From April to June, when Chennai and Madurai bake at forty degrees, temples, shops and political parties set up 'thaneer pandhal' sheds by the roadside, offering free neer mor to every passer-by from great clay pots. At home it comes after a rice meal of sambar and rasam, or in the middle of the afternoon. The curd is churned and thinned with water until barely white, then seasoned with green chilli, ginger, curry leaves, coriander and a pinch of asafoetida, sometimes finished with a tempering of mustard seeds. It should be very thin, salty, tangy and herby, with a little chilli heat and a lingering savoury scent. The common mistake is using too little water: it then drinks like a heavy lassi rather than a thirst-quencher. Aim for about one part curd to four parts water. It is ready when the buttermilk is smooth, cold and pale green-flecked, and smells of curry leaf. It keeps a day in the fridge. Chef's tip: crush the ginger, chilli and curry leaves rather than chopping them; bruising releases far more flavour into the thin liquid.

12 min

Indian Drinks

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Mupunga unedoviPeanut butter rice

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

30 minSouthern African Rice & Grains

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Pane toscanoUnsalted Tuscan bread

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

70 min

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MaputiPopped maize

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

12 minSouthern African Snacks & Starters

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OgokbapFive-grain rice

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

70 min

Korean Rice & Grains

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TereréIced yerba mate

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

10 min

Paraguayan Drinks

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Pineapple gojjuSweet and sour pineapple gravy

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

40 min

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Kadle manoliBlack chickpea and coconut curry

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

70 min

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OmajowaButter-fried mushrooms

For a few weeks after good summer rains, people sell enormous omajowa caps by the roadside between Okahandja and Otjiwarongo, each one pushed up through the side of a termite mound, and families fry them that evening in butter with nothing more than salt and pepper. They are meaty and firm with a nutty, almost chicken-like richness. Never forage for them or any wild mushroom: here we use shop-bought king oyster and portobello mushrooms, which take the same treatment very well. Pile them onto toast, serve beside pap or eat them straight from the pan. The classic error is crowding the pan, which stews the mushrooms in their own water instead of browning them. Butter is used here, so it is vegetarian but not vegan. Chef's tip: press the slices down with a spatula for the first minute so they sear golden before you season them.

20 minSouthern African Vegetarian

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Vazhakkai podimas (raw banana podimas)

Podimas comes from Tamil Brahmin kitchens in Thanjavur and Chennai, where green plantain is boiled whole, grated into soft crumbs and tossed with a tempering of mustard, dal, ginger, green chilli and coconut, then sharpened with lemon. It is light and fluffy, and it sits happily next to sambar rice or rasam rice in a tiffin. The mistake is overboiling the plantain: it turns sticky and will not grate into crumbs. Pull it out as soon as a knife slides in with a little resistance. Chef's tip: grate it on the large holes of a box grater while still warm, then let it cool before tossing, so the shreds stay separate.

28 min

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Ensalada salvadoreñaChopped fruit apple drink

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

15 minCentral American Drinks

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Sem ki sabzi (flat beans with potato)

When flat green sem pods fill the sabzi carts in Lucknow and Jaipur in winter, they go into this dry stir-fry with potato and a crackle of ajwain, the classic partner for paratha in an office dabba. The beans stay a little firm and sweet, the potato soaks up the spices, and nothing drips into the roti. The mistake is leaving the stringy edges on the pods; they never soften. Snap the tip and pull the string down each side before chopping. Chef's tip: cook covered for the first half to steam the beans tender, then uncover and turn up the heat so the potatoes catch and brown.

32 min

Chilean Breads & Parathas

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MilcaoPotato bread

On Chiloé, where potatoes have been grown for thousands of years, milcao is the bread that comes with almost everything: it is buried in the curanto pit, boiled in broth, or pan-fried until crusty and eaten with honey or sugar in the afternoon. The dough is half grated raw potato and half mashed boiled potato. Islanders often press pork crackling into it; this version is plain and vegan. Forgetting to squeeze the raw potato is the mistake that makes milcaos fall apart in the pan. Chef's tip: let the squeezed potato juice stand for 5 minutes, pour off the water and scrape the white starch from the bottom of the bowl back into the dough; it is the glue that holds milcao together.

65 min

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Atol shucoSour black corn drink

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

40 minCentral American Drinks

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Urulaikizhangu roast (Tamil potato roast)

In Tamil lunch boxes, curd rice almost always comes with this: small cubes of boiled potato roasted slowly in a cast-iron pan with sambar powder, chilli and curry leaves until they are dark, crusty and chewy at the edges. It is a dry side, so it does not leak into the rice, and it tastes as good cold as hot. The mistake is stirring all the time; the potatoes need to sit undisturbed against the hot pan for a few minutes at a time to build the crust. Chef's tip: a teaspoon of rice flour scattered over in the last few minutes makes the coating even crisper.

35 min

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Gobi matar (cauliflower and peas)

In Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, winter means cauliflower and fresh peas, and gobi matar is what fills countless school and office dabbas between November and February. It is cooked dry, so the florets brown a little at the edges, sweetened by the peas and sharpened by plenty of ginger. The mistake is cooking the cauliflower covered with water until it is soft and smells of cabbage; steam it briefly in its own moisture, then fry it uncovered. Chef's tip: cut the florets so they have one flat side; that face sits on the pan and browns while the rest steams tender.

30 min

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Dousha bao (red bean buns)

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

55 min

Chinese Baking

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GodrogodroCoconut rice flour sweet

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

70 min

Malagasy Desserts

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GuayusaHolly leaf infusion

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

14 minAndean Drinks

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Batata nu rasawalu shaakPotato curry in thin gravy

Batata nu rasawalu shaak is the potato curry that arrives with hot puris at Gujarati wedding breakfasts, Sunday brunches and festival thalis, and it is one of the first curries children in Gujarat love. Soft potato chunks float in a thin, red, sweet-and-sour gravy with mustard seed, curry leaves and hing, lightly spicy and very comforting. Serve with puri, rotli or plain rice. The usual mistake is cutting the potatoes in uneven pieces, so some fall apart while others stay hard; cut them all the same size. Chef's tip: once the potatoes are cooked, mash a few against the side of the pan; the starch gives the rasa (gravy) body without any flour.

30 min

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Puri bhajiPuffed bread with potato curry

In Mumbai, Pune and across Gujarat, puri bhaji is what goes into the steel dabba on exam days and into the bag for a long train ride: small puffed puris and a dry, sunny-yellow potato bhaji spiked with mustard seeds, green chilli and curry leaves. Because the bhaji is dry, it never soaks the puris, and both taste good at room temperature by lunchtime. The common mistake is a soft dough, which drinks oil and gives flat, greasy puris; knead it stiff, like a firm chapati dough. Chef's tip: mash only a third of the potatoes and leave the rest in rough chunks, so the bhaji clings together in the box without turning to paste.

45 min

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Ellu sadam (sesame rice)

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

20 min

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Dulces abrillantadosGlazed milk fudge figures

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

110 min

Venezuelan Desserts

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Pan bonDark spiced fruit and cheese bread

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

120 minCentral American Baking

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DhebraPearl millet flatbreads

Gujarati families pack a stack of dhebra for every train journey, picnic and tiffin box, because the yogurt and oil in the dough keep these spicy millet and fenugreek flatbreads soft for two or three days. They are thicker than a thepla and earthy from the bajra, and they are eaten with pickle, chhundo or a cup of tea. The common mistake is adding too much water at once: the yogurt and fenugreek release moisture as you knead, and a slack dough sticks and tears. Chef's tip: pat them out on a damp cloth or between two sheets of plastic rather than rolling, the way Gujarati kitchens do, so the delicate millet dough does not crack.

40 min

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Kothamalli sadam (coriander rice)

Chennai mothers turn a big bunch of coriander into this bright green rice when they want a lunch box that looks fresh and smells of the market. The leaves and stems are ground with green chilli, coconut, ginger and a little tamarind, then fried in oil until the raw grassy smell goes and the paste turns a deeper green. The mistake is adding the paste and the rice together: the paste stays raw and the rice goes dull and sour. Cook the paste first until it leaves the sides of the pan. Chef's tip: keep the coriander stems; they carry more flavour than the leaves and grind into a smoother paste.

25 min

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Yukari shiso saltRed shiso rice seasoning

Yukari is the bright purple, salty-sour shaker that Japanese parents sprinkle over plain rice so that a bento looks cheerful and tastes of something even when it has gone cold. Traditionally it is made from the red shiso leaves left after pickling umeboshi plums; this home version gets the same flavour by salting and souring fresh red shiso in early summer. The common mistake is drying the leaves too hot, which turns them brown and bitter. Chef's tip: keep the oven no hotter than 80 °C and leave the door ajar, and the colour stays a jewel-like magenta.

120 min

Japanese Basics

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Cơm nắm muối vừngRice blocks with sesame salt

Before trains, buses and school trips, families in northern Vietnam press warm rice into firm, dense blocks and wrap them in banana leaf or paper with a twist of muối vừng, toasted sesame and peanut salt, for dipping. It is humble, filling and keeps its shape for a whole day's journey. Peanuts and sesame are both allergens. The common mistake is using cold or loose rice, which will not stick; it must be pressed hot. Chef's tip: mix a handful of sticky rice into ordinary jasmine rice before cooking, and the blocks hold together firmly without being gluey.

40 min

Vietnamese Rice & Grains

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Karuveppilai sadam (curry leaf rice)

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

23 min

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CafungaBanana coconut cake in leaves

Cafunga belongs to Venezuela's eastern coast, in Sucre and the Afro-Venezuelan villages of Barlovento, where ripe bananas, coconut and panela are wrapped in banana leaves and baked until fragrant. It comes out dense and moist, somewhere between a pudding and a cake, and is sold in its leaf at fiestas and village markets. The common mistake is not softening the leaves first, so they crack and leak. Chef's tip: pass each leaf over a gas flame or dip it in boiling water until it turns glossy and pliable.

80 min

Venezuelan Baking

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DashmiMilk and jaggery flatbread

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

40 min

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Mangai sadam (raw mango rice)

When hard green mangoes pile up at the markets of Tamil Nadu in April and May, school lunch boxes fill with mangai sadam, sour and fresh like lemon rice but with a fruitier bite. Grated raw mango is cooked only briefly in a mustard, chana dal and curry leaf tempering so it softens but keeps its tang. The mistake is overcooking the mango into mush, which makes the rice sticky; two or three minutes is enough. Chef's tip: taste the mango first. A very sour one needs a pinch of sugar, and a half-ripe one needs a squeeze of lemon at the end.

22 min