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242 recipes

Šakotis

Šakotis, 'branched', is the tall, spiky cake that crowns Lithuanian weddings and christenings: a rich egg batter dripped over a turning spit in front of an open fire, layer after layer, so the drips harden into branches that stick out like a fir tree. Specialist bakers around Druskininkai and Vilnius make them to order. At home, a foil-wrapped rolling pin turned slowly under a hot grill builds a smaller version. A common mistake is a thin batter, which runs off instead of forming spikes. Chef's tip: turn the spit slowly as you ladle on each layer and let the drips set before the next coat; the spikes form where the batter drips and hardens.

280 minBaltic Baking

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Kugelis

Kugelis is Sunday food all over Lithuania: raw potatoes grated very finely, mixed with eggs, hot milk and fried onion, then baked for over an hour in a deep tin until the top and edges are dark and crisp and the inside is dense and creamy. It is cut into squares and eaten with sour cream. Lithuanian families usually add bacon; this version uses plenty of onion fried in butter. A common mistake is leaving the grated potato to sit, which turns it grey. Chef's tip: pour hot milk over the potatoes as soon as they are grated; it stops them darkening and helps the pudding set.

105 minBaltic Vegetarian

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Mulgipuder

Mulgipuder comes from Mulgimaa, the old farming region of southern Estonia around Viljandi, and it has become one of the country's national dishes: potatoes and barley groats boiled together and mashed into a thick, nutty purée. It is normally topped with fried bacon and onion; this version uses mushrooms and onion fried in butter. It is eaten with sour milk or kefir and pickles. A common mistake is using too little water, so the barley stays hard while the potatoes are already soft. Chef's tip: start the barley first and add the potatoes after 20 minutes, so both are tender at the same moment.

65 minBaltic Vegetarian

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Kibinai

Kibinai are the pastries of the Karaim, a small Turkic community settled in Trakai, the lake-island castle town near Vilnius, since the 14th century. Every café along Karaimų street sells them hot from the oven: half-moon pastries of flaky, buttery dough with a juicy filling of chopped lamb and onion, crimped along the top. A common mistake is mincing the meat; the Karaim chop it into small cubes so the filling stays juicy. Chef's tip: use cold dough and bake hot, so the pastry flakes and the juices stay sealed inside. The filling must reach 71 °C.

80 minBaltic Snacks & Starters

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Kama

Kama is a uniquely Estonian food: a fine flour of roasted barley, rye, oats and peas, sold in every Tallinn supermarket, stirred into kefir, buttermilk or yogurt with a little sugar or honey and berries. It was once farmers' food for the fields; today it is a fast, filling breakfast and the flavour of Estonian ice creams and sweets. If you can't find kama, roast equal parts barley, rye and oat flour with a little pea flour in a dry pan until nutty. A common mistake is eating it at once; give it a few minutes to thicken. Chef's tip: stir in the kama, leave for 5 minutes, then add the berries, so it thickens like a mousse.

5 minBaltic Breakfast & Brunch

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Sklandrausis

Sklandrausis is the ancient pie of Kurzeme in western Latvia, an EU-protected speciality: a thin, crisp shell of rye pastry filled with a layer of mashed potato and a second layer of sweetened carrot spiced with cinnamon, baked until the carrot caramelises at the edges. It is sweet, earthy and served at midsummer (Jāņi) and folk festivals. A common mistake is rolling the rye dough thick, which makes the shell hard and heavy. Chef's tip: work the dough while warm and roll it thin; rye pastry made with hot water is soft and easy to pinch up into a rim.

70 minBaltic Baking

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Cepelinai

Cepelinai, named after the Zeppelin airships they resemble, are Lithuania's national dish: big oval dumplings of grated raw and boiled potato wrapped around seasoned minced pork, simmered until glossy and served with a sauce of sour cream and fried bacon bits and onion. This dish contains pork. Families in Kaunas and Vilnius make them on weekends and holidays; curd cheese or mushroom fillings are common vegetarian versions. A common mistake is skipping the potato starch; it is what holds the dumplings together. Chef's tip: squeeze the grated potato very dry and stir back the starch that settles from the liquid. Minced pork must reach 71 °C.

100 minBaltic Meat

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Maizes zupa

Maizes zupa, 'bread soup', is Latvia's way of using up dark rye bread: the bread is soaked and cooked down with dried fruit, sugar and cinnamon into a thick, sweet, deep-brown pudding, cooled and topped with whipped cream. It is on the menu in Riga's canteen-style restaurants and in school lunches, and every Latvian grandmother has her own version. A common mistake is using light rye; it needs dense, dark Latvian or German-style rye for its malty taste. Chef's tip: add a squeeze of lemon and a spoon of cranberries; their sharpness lifts the sweet, heavy soup.

55 minBaltic Desserts

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Šaltibarščiai

Šaltibarščiai is the shocking-pink soup of Lithuanian summers, so loved that Vilnius holds a pink soup festival every June: cooked or pickled beetroot grated into cold kefir with cucumber, dill, spring onion and boiled egg, served with a plate of hot boiled potatoes on the side. The contrast of icy soup and steaming potatoes is the point. A common mistake is using warm beetroot, which dulls the colour and warms the soup. Chef's tip: grate chilled beetroot into ice-cold kefir and let it stand for 10 minutes; the colour deepens to vivid fuchsia.

30 minBaltic Soups

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Pelēkie zirņi ar speķi

Grey peas with bacon is Latvia's national dish, eaten at Christmas and on the winter solstice and served in Riga's canteens all year: large, earthy grey peas soaked and boiled until soft but whole, then tossed with crisp pieces of fried smoked bacon and onion and served with a glass of cold kefir. This dish contains pork. Grey peas are sold in Baltic shops; carlin peas or brown chickpeas are close. A common mistake is overcooking the peas into mush. Chef's tip: fry the bacon slowly so its fat renders out, then fry the onion in that fat; it coats the peas with flavour.

90 minBaltic Curries

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Skābeņu zupa

In late spring, Latvian gardens and meadows are full of sorrel, and skābeņu zupa is the first green soup of the year: potatoes simmered with onion and carrot, then a big handful of chopped sorrel added at the end, so the soup turns sour, bright and khaki-green. It is served hot or cold with a halved boiled egg and a spoon of sour cream. Use vegetable stock for a vegetarian soup. A common mistake is cooking the sorrel for long; it turns grey and loses its tang in a minute. Chef's tip: add half the sorrel at the end and the other half raw in the bowl for colour.

40 minBaltic Soups

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Jāņu siers

Jāņu siers is the round, golden caraway cheese that Latvians make for Jāņi, the midsummer festival on 23–24 June, when it is eaten with rye bread and honey, and songs, around bonfires. Unlike most cheeses it needs no rennet: fresh curd cheese is cooked with hot milk, eggs, butter and caraway into a smooth mass, then pressed in a cloth and left to set. Its round shape and golden colour stand for the sun. A common mistake is cooking it over a high heat, which makes it grainy and rubbery. Chef's tip: stir constantly over a low heat until it pulls away from the pan in one shiny ball, then press it straight away.

90 minBaltic Snacks & Starters

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Estonian kringle

Kringel is the celebration bread of Estonia, baked for birthdays and name days and carried to every visit: a rich yeast dough rolled with cinnamon butter and sugar, sliced lengthways, twisted into a braided wreath so the layers show, and baked until golden. In Tallinn's old-town cafés it is sold by the slice with coffee. A common mistake is cutting the roll with a blunt knife, which squashes the layers. Chef's tip: chill the filled roll for 15 minutes before slicing; it cuts cleanly and twists without the filling escaping.

70 minBaltic Baking

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Huatia

After the potato harvest in May and June, families in Puno, Cusco and across the highlands build a huatia in the field: a little dome of dry earth clods heated with dried brush until the clods glow, then knocked down over freshly dug potatoes and oca so they bake slowly underground. Opened an hour later, the potatoes are smoky, floury and so soft their skins split, and the oca turns sweet and tangy. Everyone eats them with their hands, with salt, chilli sauce and fresh cheese. This recipe gives an oven method for home cooks: a lidded pot bedded with coarse salt and herbs, which traps heat and steam much like the earth. If you do try a real huatia outdoors, use a clear patch of ground away from anything that can catch fire and keep water nearby. Don't uncover the pot early to check: the steam escapes and the potatoes turn leathery. Fresh oca is sold in some markets as New Zealand yam; small sweet potatoes will do. Chef's tip: choose potatoes of a similar size so they all finish together, and serve with uchucuta.

80 min

Peruvian Sides

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Bizcochitos de grasa

A paper bag of bizcochitos de grasa sits next to the mate gourd in kitchens, offices and roadside service stations across Argentina, from Buenos Aires to the Andes. These little rounds, a couple of bites each, are layered with beef fat, so they flake and crumble, salty and plain enough to eat by the dozen with bitter mate in the afternoon. The fat is rendered beef fat (grasa vacuna), so they are not vegetarian; ask your butcher for dripping or render suet yourself. A dough worked too warm is the mistake that robs them of their layers; the fat melts into it instead of staying in sheets. Chef's tip: chill the dough for 10 minutes between folds whenever it starts to feel greasy, and prick each round right through so it puffs in flakes rather than domes.

60 min

Argentinian Baking

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Pesque de quinua

Up on the Altiplano around Lake Titicaca, where quinoa grows at almost 4,000 metres, pesque is everyday food: quinoa cooked until it collapses, then beaten with milk, a knob of butter and crumbled fresh cheese until it looks like a loose, savoury risotto. Puno families eat it for a warming lunch or supper, often with a glass of milk poured over or a fried egg on top, and in the cold dry air it is exactly what the body wants. It is soft, nutty and mildly salty. The step people skip is rinsing the quinoa, and the natural saponins then leave a soapy, bitter edge; rub it under running water until the foam stops. Serve with a tomato salad or a spoon of uchucuta for some heat. Andean fresh cheese is usually set with animal rennet, so choose a vegetarian fresh cheese if needed. Chef's tip: cook the quinoa in a little more water than usual and leave it a few minutes longer than for a salad, so it turns creamy and the grains burst.

35 min

Peruvian Vegetarian

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Ceviche de chocho

Chocho, or tarwi, is the Andean lupin bean, a protein-packed legume grown high around Huaraz, Cajamarca and Puno, and street carts in the highlands sell it in plastic cups dressed like a ceviche: lime, red onion, tomato, coriander and a little ají, sometimes with toasted corn for crunch. It is fresh, sour and pleasantly firm, a vegan stand-in for fish ceviche that works as a starter or a light lunch. Food safety matters here: raw or bitter lupins contain toxic alkaloids and must never be eaten as they are. Use only ready-debittered, cooked chochos, sold in jars, vacuum packs or chilled tubs in Latin shops; if they taste bitter, rinse and soak them longer or throw them away. Lupin is also a common allergen and may affect people allergic to peanuts. The usual mistake is to drown everything in lime and leave it, which makes the onion limp; mix the dressing just before serving. Chef's tip: squeeze the limes gently by hand rather than with a press, so the juice doesn't turn bitter.

15 min

Peruvian Salads

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Kapchi

Kapchi (sometimes spelled capchi) comes from the Quechua for something like 'dressed' or 'creamed', and around Cusco it turns up when the fresh broad beans are in season: green habas, potatoes and soft fresh cheese simmered with milk until the sauce turns thick and pale, with ají and a handful of huacatay. Market stalls in San Pedro sell it with rice, and families make it at Easter as a meatless dish. It is gentle and creamy with a herby, slightly minty finish, and the beans stay sweet and tender. The trap is boiling the sauce once the cheese is in; it splits into curds and goes watery, so keep it at a bare simmer. Serve with white rice or boiled potatoes and a spoon of uchucuta. The same recipe works with sliced mushrooms instead of beans, which Cusco cooks also do. Queso fresco is usually set with animal rennet, so pick a vegetarian fresh cheese if you need to. Chef's tip: peel the beans of their pale inner skins after blanching; it takes ten minutes and makes the dish far silkier.

35 min

Peruvian Vegetarian

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Uchucuta

Ground on a batán, the flat grinding stone found in Andean kitchens, uchucuta is the table sauce of Ayacucho and Cusco: rocoto or yellow chilli crushed with huacatay, toasted peanuts and a little fresh cheese into a thick, speckled green-red paste. It goes on boiled potatoes, choclo, broad beans and huatia, and on festival days it sits next to every plate. The flavour is hot, herby and nutty, with a salty creaminess from the cheese. The name comes from the Quechua uchu, chilli, and it is meant to be spicy, but people often add all the rocoto at once and end up with something inedible; blend in half, taste and build up. A food processor or blender will do the work of the stone, though pulse it so the sauce keeps some texture. Queso fresco is usually made with animal rennet, so choose a vegetarian fresh cheese if you prefer. Chef's tip: toast the peanuts yourself until just golden; their warmth softens the raw sharpness of the chilli.

15 min

Peruvian Chutneys & Dips

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Arroz con pato

Chiclayo and the northern coast claim arroz con pato as their own, and family lunches and big Sunday gatherings there often centre on a deep pot of it: duck legs browned and simmered in dark beer and a purée of coriander and spinach, then rice cooked in the same green, duck-rich liquid with peas, red pepper and ají amarillo. The rice is moist and loose, the duck tender with crisp edges, and it is served with salsa criolla and, often, papa a la huancaína. The beer contains alcohol, and not all of it cooks off; for an alcohol-free pot use alcohol-free beer or the stock swap in the ingredients. A common mistake is skipping the browning, which leaves flabby skin and a pale, fatty rice; render the duck slowly first and pour off excess fat. Chef's tip: let the cooked rice rest under the lid off the heat for 10 minutes before fluffing.

95 min

Peruvian Rice & Grains

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Centolla gratinada

Centolla, the southern king crab hauled from the cold waters of the Beagle Channel, is Ushuaia's pride, and seafood restaurants along the harbour serve it gratinada: sweet chunks of leg meat in a light white sauce, crowned with cheese and browned under a fierce grill. It is rich, so serve it in small dishes as a starter with lemon and a green salad, plus crusty bread for anyone who can eat gluten. Buy cooked, frozen king crab legs or meat and thaw them in the fridge overnight; if you ever cook crab yourself, it must be alive when it goes into the pot. A frequent mistake is a sauce so thick and cheesy that the delicate crab disappears; keep it pourable and the cheese thin. Chef's tip: fold the crab in gently at the end, in big pieces, and let the oven only heat it; it is already cooked and turns stringy if it boils.

45 min

Argentinian Fish

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Trucha a la manteca

Restaurants on the shores of Nahuel Huapi, in Bariloche and Villa La Angostura, put rainbow trout from the cold Andean lakes on almost every menu, and this butter version is the one locals order most. Fillets are fried with crisp skin, then drenched in butter browned with flaked almonds and sharpened with lemon. Serve with boiled new potatoes and a green salad. Any trout or char works. People commonly start the fish in butter, which burns before the skin crisps; fry it in a film of oil and make the brown butter after. Chef's tip: dry the skin really well and dust it with rice flour; it gives a thin, glassy crust without any gluten.

25 min

Argentinian Fish

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Mejillones a la provenzal

On the Atlantic coast around Puerto Madryn and the Golfo Nuevo, mussels from cold Patagonian waters are farmed and gathered in quantity, and seafood places along the rambla steam them a la provenzal, which in Argentina means lots of garlic and parsley. A splash of dry white wine goes into the pot; the alcohol mostly cooks off, but you can swap it for fish stock with a little lemon for an alcohol-free pot that tastes just as good. Serve with bread or chips to mop up the briny juices. Cooking mussels too long is the usual slip: they shrink and turn rubbery, so lift the lid as soon as most have opened. Before cooking, throw away any mussel with a broken shell or one that stays open when tapped; after cooking, discard any that stay shut. Chef's tip: keep the garlic in gently warm oil until it just smells sweet; brown garlic turns bitter and dominates the mussels.

25 min

Argentinian Fish

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Leche de tigre

Every cevichería along Lima's coast, from Chorrillos to the market stalls of Surquillo, sells this as a pick-me-up before lunch: a small glass of milky, lime-sharp juice blitzed with fish, celery, ginger and ají limo, with a few cubes of fish and kernels of cancha floating on top. It is cold, salty, very sour and fiery, and people swear by it the morning after a long night. Because the fish is cured only by lime, this safer version uses very fresh white fish that has been frozen at −20 °C for 24 hours first, keeps everything ice cold and is drunk at once; it is not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system. The common mistake is blending the lime with the fish for too long, which makes the juice bitter, so pulse only briefly. Chef's tip: squeeze the limes by hand, gently, without pressing the pith; the last hard squeeze is what turns leche de tigre bitter.

15 min

Peruvian Snacks & Starters

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