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Chicken sukkaDry coconut chicken masala

Kori sukka comes from the Bunt and Catholic kitchens of Mangaluru and Udupi, where it is cooked for village feasts, Monti Fest, weddings and slow Sunday lunches. 'Sukka' means dry: bone-in chicken is cooked in a fiery paste of roasted byadgi chillies, coriander, cumin, pepper and tamarind, then tossed with grated coconut that has been roasted to a deep brown until every piece is coated in a coarse, nutty, smoky masala. Byadgi chillies give a brilliant red colour with moderate heat, so the result is spicy but rounded. Cook the chicken to 74 °C at the thickest part before the coconut goes in. Serve with neer dosa, rice and a thin rasam, or with kori rotti. Common mistake: roasting the coconut over too high a heat; it burns from golden to bitter in seconds, so keep the flame low and stir constantly. Chef's tip: grind the masala coarse, not smooth, and add the roasted coconut only at the end so it keeps its texture.

60 min

Indian Chicken

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Cu liu baicai (vinegar cabbage)Vinegar-fried cabbage

Through the long winters of Shandong, Hebei and Beijing, napa cabbage was the vegetable stored in every courtyard, and cu liu baicai is how northern homes turn it into a bright, quick dish in ten minutes. The thick white stalks are sliced thin and seared hard in a smoking wok, then splashed with black vinegar so they stay crunchy, juicy and sharp, with a little sweetness and the warmth of dried chilli. It goes with rice, steamed buns or dumplings. The classic mistake is crowding a cool wok, which stews the cabbage in its own water; cook in two batches if your pan is small. Chef's tip: add half the vinegar around the hot edge of the wok so it sizzles and turns fragrant, and the rest at the end for fresh tang.

15 min

Chinese Vegetarian

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PanakamJaggery and ginger water

On Sri Rama Navami, temples and homes across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu set out brass pots of panakam beside neer mor (spiced buttermilk) and kosambari. The drink is offered first, then handed to everyone in small steel tumblers. It is nothing more than jaggery dissolved in water, but the dry ginger and black pepper give it a pleasant heat that cuts through the sweetness, and cardamom and a few tulsi leaves make it smell of the festival. It is never boiled; it's stirred until the jaggery melts. The common mistake is not straining: jaggery often carries sand and fibres, so always pour it through a fine cloth. Chef's tip: a squeeze of lemon is not traditional everywhere, but in hot Vijayawada summers many homes add it, and it brightens the drink wonderfully.

10 min

Indian Drinks

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PiyushShrikhand buttermilk drink

Piyush means nectar, and Pune and Mumbai Maharashtrians drink it on summer afternoons, at Gudi Padwa lunches when there is leftover shrikhand, or from old dairy shops near Dadar and Girgaon where it is sold in glass bottles. It sits between lassi and dessert: thick but pourable, sweet and gently sour, yellow with saffron and scented with cardamom and a whisper of nutmeg. It is lovely with a spicy batata vada or after a puran poli meal. The common mistake is pouring cold buttermilk straight onto stiff shrikhand, which leaves stubborn lumps; loosen the shrikhand with a little buttermilk first, then whisk in the rest. Chef's tip: bloom the saffron in a spoonful of warm milk; cold buttermilk won't pull the colour out.

10 min

Indian Drinks

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Pidiyum kozhiyumRice dumplings with chicken curry

Central Kerala's Syrian Christian families, from Kottayam to Thrissur, make this for Christmas and Easter mornings and for the gatherings that follow a wedding. The pidi are marble-sized balls of roasted rice flour and coconut, poached in water and then simmered in thick coconut milk with garlic, cumin and shallots until they sit in a creamy, gently savoury sauce. Alongside goes a fiery kozhi curry (chicken curry) of bone-in chicken in a coconut-oil masala of onion, ginger, chilli and fennel-scented garam masala, cooked until the chicken reaches 74 °C at the thickest part. Each plate gets a ladle of soft, mild pidi and a ladle of red curry, and the two run together. It takes a little time, so families often roll the pidi together while the curry simmers. Common mistake: mixing the rice flour with cold or lukewarm water; the dough cracks and the pidi fall apart in the pot. Chef's tip: use boiling water and knead while it is still hot, wrapped in a cloth.

110 min

Indian Chicken

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Stir-fried two wintersBamboo shoot and shiitake stir-fry

In Hangzhou and Suzhou the cold months bring winter bamboo shoots, dug before they break the soil, and cooks pair them with dried 'winter' mushrooms, the thick-capped shiitake picked in the cold. Temple kitchens in the Jiangnan region make this the centrepiece of a meatless meal: crunchy, sweet bamboo and deeply savoury mushroom in a light, shiny sauce made with the mushroom soaking water. Serve it hot with plain rice. Its one trap is bamboo that tastes bitter or metallic, because it went into the wok straight from the packet; blanch it first. Chef's tip: soak the shiitake overnight in cold water in the fridge rather than in hot water for an hour, and the caps stay plump and the liquid tastes far richer.

25 min

Chinese Vegetarian

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Kokum sharbatKokum cordial

Along the Konkan coast, from Ratnagiri down to Goa, the purple kokum fruit is split and dried in the sun every summer, and the leathery rinds go into curries, sol kadhi and this sharbat. Unlike sol kadhi, there is no coconut milk here: just a clear, deep-red syrup that is fruity, tart and faintly salty, diluted with cold water and drunk after a fish lunch or on a hot afternoon to cool the stomach. Families in Malvan and Sawantwadi still make the concentrate by layering fresh fruit with sugar in jars; this quicker version uses the dried rinds you can buy anywhere. The common mistake is boiling the kokum hard for a long time, which makes the syrup taste stewed and murky; simmer gently just until the colour floods out. Chef's tip: a pinch of roasted cumin and black salt in the glass turns a simple sweet drink into the proper coastal version.

15 min

Indian Drinks

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Khus sharbatVetiver root syrup drink

Before air-conditioning, North Indian houses hung wet mats of khus grass over their doors in June, and the breeze through them smelt of damp earth and wood. The same vetiver root flavours this sharbat, a summer staple in Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Shop-bought bottles are bright emerald green from colouring; a homemade syrup is pale gold and tastes far more of the root itself, cool and grassy. Families serve it diluted with water to guests arriving from the heat, or with cold milk as a dessert drink at summer parties. The common mistake is boiling the roots hard; the aroma is delicate and cooks off, so infuse them in hot water instead and add the infusion to the syrup off the heat. Chef's tip: if you want the classic green colour for children, a drop of green food colour does no harm, but taste it plain first.

30 min

Indian Drinks

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Aam pannaRaw mango cooler

When the first hard green mangoes arrive in April, kitchens from Lucknow to Pune start boiling them for panna. The cooked pulp is blended with roasted cumin, black salt, mint and sugar or jaggery into a thick concentrate that keeps in the fridge for a week, then diluted glass by glass with cold water. Grandmothers swear by it against loo, the hot dry wind of a North Indian summer, and in Maharashtra the same drink, called kairi panha, is served to guests at Gudi Padwa and haldi-kumkum gatherings. It tastes sour first, then sweet, then smoky from the cumin. A common mistake is using mangoes that have begun to ripen and turn yellow: the panna tastes flat and fruity rather than bracing, so pick firm, green, sour ones. Chef's tip: pressure cooking the mangoes whole in their skins keeps the pulp pale and fragrant; scraping too close to the skin and stone adds bitterness.

30 min

Indian Drinks

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Kulukki sarbathShaken lime cooler

Kulukki means shaken, and the show is half the fun: at roadside stalls in Kozhikode, Kochi and Thrissur, the vendor drops lime, a slit green chilli, basil seeds, syrup and ice into a tall steel tumbler, caps it with another and rattles it furiously before pouring a frothy glass. The drink became a craze across Kerala in the 2010s and is now a beach and festival favourite. It tastes sharp, sweet, salty and then hot as the chilli catches the back of your throat. Some stalls add pineapple or passion fruit. The common mistake is crushing the lime and chilli too hard or leaving them to sit, which makes the drink bitter from the peel and far too fiery; shake briefly and pour at once. Chef's tip: use a jar with a tight lid half filled with ice; the ice does the crushing and makes the foam.

10 min

Indian Drinks

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Paneer bhurjiScrambled paneer

Dhabas on the Delhi-Chandigarh highway and Punjabi homes everywhere make paneer bhurji when an egg bhurji won't do: for vegetarian guests, for a fast lunchbox, or when there's a block of paneer waiting in the fridge. The paneer is crumbled and folded into an onion-tomato masala with green chilli, a little garam masala and kasuri methi, and a splash of milk keeps it soft and moist. It goes with butter roti, a buttered pav from the Mumbai stalls, or rolled into a paratha for a tiffin. The common mistake is cooking the paneer too long; it toughens and dries out in minutes. Add it last and heat it through for no more than two or three minutes. Chef's tip: homemade or very fresh paneer crumbles best; grate a firm shop block instead of crumbling it.

20 min

Indian Vegetarian

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Nannari sarbathSarsaparilla and lime cooler

Walk past any sarbath kadai in Madurai, Tiruchi or Chennai's Parry's Corner in summer and you'll hear the clink of a glass being stirred with a long spoon. Nannari, the sweet, woody, vanilla-like root of Indian sarsaparilla, is cooked into a dark syrup; the vendor pours a little into a glass, squeezes in a whole lime, adds a pinch of salt and ice, and tops it with water or a fizz of soda. It is sweet, sharp and earthy all at once, and nothing like the milky jigarthanda made with the same syrup. Many shops add soaked sabja seeds for texture. The common mistake is too much syrup: the root flavour gets lost in sweetness, so start with less and let the lime lead. Chef's tip: squeeze the lime straight into the glass and drop in one squeezed half; a little oil from the peel gives that roadside freshness.

10 min

Indian Drinks

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Murgh musallamStuffed whole chicken curry

Murgh musallam means 'whole chicken', and in Lucknow and Old Delhi it is still the showpiece that comes out at Eid or a wedding dawat, carved at the table. A whole skinned chicken, bought cleaned with the giblets removed (as supermarket birds come, without head or feet), is slashed deeply, marinated twice, stuffed with hard-boiled eggs and tied, then browned in ghee and slowly braised in a velvety gravy of browned onions, almonds, yogurt and whole spices with saffron and kewra. The flavour is rich, mildly spiced and fragrant rather than hot. Because the bird is cooked whole and stuffed, check the thickest part of the thigh with a probe: it must reach 74 °C before you serve it. Serve with sheermal, naan or plain pulao and a cucumber raita. Chef's tip: cook it in the smallest heavy pot the bird fits in snugly; the gravy then comes halfway up the chicken and it braises rather than fries.

120 min

Indian Chicken

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Jiachang doufu (home-style tofu)Home-style braised tofu

Jiachang means 'home-style', and in Chengdu this is the tofu dish every family cook and every small neighbourhood canteen knows by heart: golden fried slices of firm tofu simmered briefly in a red, garlicky sauce of Pixian chilli bean paste with crunchy wood ear and green pepper. Restaurants often add a few slices of pork; this version keeps it fully vegetarian, which is how many Sichuan homes cook it midweek. It is salty, gently hot and made to be eaten with plenty of steamed rice. The usual mistake is moving the tofu around the pan before it has browned, which tears it; leave it alone until it releases. Chef's tip: fry the chilli bean paste slowly in the oil until the oil turns red before adding anything else, as that is where the colour and depth come from.

30 min

Chinese Vegetarian

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Celery with smoked tofu

Market stalls in Changsha and Nanjing sell slabs of xiang gan, pressed tofu smoked or braised until brown and dense, and the most common way to cook it at home is with thin Chinese celery. The celery stays juicy and crunchy with a strong, almost herbal flavour, the tofu is chewy and smoky, and a little fresh chilli gives it a Hunan edge. It is an everyday side for rice in Hunan and Jiangsu canteens. The usual mistake is cutting the tofu too thick so it never picks up the seasoning; slice it as thin as the celery. Chef's tip: if you can only find thick Western celery, peel the strings off the back with a vegetable peeler and slice it on the diagonal.

16 min

Chinese Vegetarian

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Badam milkAlmond milk

In Hyderabad and Bengaluru, darshinis and Irani cafés sell badam milk from steaming steel urns, while in North Indian homes a hot glass of it is what you get after an exam or on a cold Delhi evening. It is creamy and nutty, tinted pale gold by saffron, and has fine, pleasant flecks of almond rather than being smooth like a shake. Chilled, it is sold in bottles all summer and served at weddings. Soaking and peeling the almonds is what makes it taste clean and sweet. A common mistake is grinding the almonds dry, which turns them oily and gritty; grind soaked almonds with a little milk to a fine paste. Chef's tip: simmer gently after adding the almond paste and keep stirring, because it settles and catches on the bottom of the pan within minutes.

25 min

Indian Drinks

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Nasu dengakuMiso-glazed aubergine

Dengaku began in Kyoto as tofu on skewers brushed with miso and grilled at temple festivals; today the aubergine version is a favourite izakaya plate across Japan, best in late summer when Japanese aubergines are at their sweetest. The halves are scored, cooked until the flesh is custard-soft, then spread with a glossy sweet miso and grilled until it bubbles and blisters. The mirin and sake contain alcohol but simmer away in the glaze; the notes give alcohol-free swaps. The usual mistake is grilling the miso before the aubergine is fully soft: it burns while the inside stays spongy. Chef's tip: score the cut side in a deep criss-cross, almost to the skin, so the heat and the glaze both get right in.

32 min

Japanese Vegetarian

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Bel sharbatWood apple drink

Bael trees grow beside temples across Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and in May the hard golden fruits are cracked open on the doorstep with a pestle. The orange pulp smells of tamarind, marmalade and rose, and mashed into water it makes a thick, pulpy sharbat that people in Patna, Prayagraj and Gorakhpur drink mid-morning to keep the heat at bay; it is also famously kind to the stomach. Rickshaw stalls sell it from big steel pots. Ripe fruit is essential: it should sound hollow when tapped and smell sweet. The common mistake is blending the pulp in a mixer, which crushes the seeds and sticky fibres and makes the drink bitter and gluey; soak it and mash by hand instead. Chef's tip: let the pulp soak a full 15 minutes before mashing, and it practically falls off the fibres.

20 min

Indian Drinks

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Masala chaasSpiced buttermilk

No Gujarati lunch is finished until the steel glass of chaas comes round. From Ahmedabad pols to Kathiyawadi farmhouses, homemade dahi is thinned right down, churned with a wooden ravai or a blender, and seasoned with roasted cumin, black salt, a little ginger and green chilli, then poured ice-cold after dal-bhaat-shaak-rotli. It should be thin enough to drink in one go, salty, gently hot and full of coriander; that is what settles a heavy meal in May. Kerala's sambaram, with shallot and curry leaf, is a close cousin. A common mistake is churning thick, very cold full-fat dahi for too long: the fat clumps into flecks of butter and the chaas turns thin and greasy. Blend the dahi with only part of the water for a few seconds, then stir in the rest. Chef's tip: dahi that is a day old and slightly sour makes the best chaas; very fresh, sweet dahi tastes flat however much masala you add.

10 min

Indian Drinks

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Mango mastaniMango milkshake with ice cream

Pune's mastani was born in the city's old peths, and families still queue on summer evenings at the famous shops near Budhwar Peth and Sadashiv Peth for a tall glass so thick you need a spoon. The base is a mango milkshake, made dense with ripe Alphonso pulp and ice cream, then topped with another scoop of mango ice cream, chopped nuts, tutti frutti and a cherry. It is named, people say, after Bajirao Peshwa's beloved Mastani. Rich and fruity, it is dessert and a cool drink in one. A common mistake is adding ice to the blender: it thins the shake and dulls the mango, so chill the milk and pulp well instead. Chef's tip: Alphonso from Ratnagiri or Devgad gives the right colour and fragrance; in the off season use good tinned Alphonso pulp and skip the sugar.

10 min

Indian Drinks

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Fa gao (prosperity cakes)Steamed rice flour cakes

Fa gao is the little cake on every Cantonese New Year altar in Guangzhou and in Chinatowns from Kuala Lumpur to London: the word 'fa' means both 'rise' and 'prosper', and the deeper the cross-shaped crack on top, the luckier the year. This quick version uses rice flour, a little wheat flour and baking powder, steamed hard so the tops burst open, and it is egg- and dairy-free. The mistake that stops them smiling is a gentle steamer; the water must be at a fierce rolling boil before the cups go in. Chef's tip: fill the cups right to the brim, so the batter has to split as it rises.

35 min

Chinese Baking

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JaljeeraTamarind mint cumin drink

Street vendors in Old Delhi and Varanasi sell jaljeera from big red clay matkas wrapped in wet cloth, ladling it into glasses with a handful of boondi on top. The name simply means cumin water, but the flavour is busier than that: sour tamarind and lemon, a cool rush of mint, the sulphur note of black salt and the warmth of roasted cumin and dry ginger. It is drunk before a heavy Punjabi meal to wake the appetite, at summer weddings, and on long train journeys. Make the masala fresh and the difference shows. The common mistake is using raw cumin powder; it tastes dusty. Dry-roast whole cumin until it darkens a shade and smells toasty, then grind it. Chef's tip: add the boondi only at the table so it stays crunchy for the first sip and softens by the last.

13 min

Indian Drinks

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Peanut cookies (hua sheng bing)

Lift the lid on a Chinese New Year snack tray in Guangdong, Penang or Singapore and there will be these pale golden domes, so short they crumble the moment they touch your tongue. They are nothing but roasted peanuts ground fine, flour, icing sugar and oil, and this version skips the usual egg wash, so they are vegan. The mistake is over-grinding the peanuts into a paste, which makes the dough greasy and the cookies flat; stop while it is still a fine powder. Chef's tip: let them cool fully on the tray before moving them, because they are fragile until set.

40 min

Chinese Baking

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Dry-pot cauliflower

Hunan's dry-pot restaurants bring this to the table in a small wok over a burner, still crackling, and it is one of the most ordered dishes in Changsha. Loose-headed cauliflower is used there because its long, thin stems char quickly; ordinary cauliflower works if you cut it into small, flat florets. Restaurants usually fry it with slices of pork belly, but this version is fully vegetarian, with smoky charred edges, plenty of garlic and a deep chilli heat from dried and fresh peppers. Eat it with rice and a cooling soup. The common mistake is boiling the cauliflower first, which makes it soft and stops it charring; dry-fry it instead. Chef's tip: let the florets sit still in the hot wok for a minute at a time so they blacken in spots, because those scorched patches are the whole point.

25 min

Chinese Vegetarian

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