All recipes

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Szaloncukor (Hungarian Christmas tree candy)

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

180 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Quinotos en almíbar (Argentine kumquats in syrup)

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

120 min

Argentinian Desserts

by KrazyBadal 0 views

AchappamFried rose cookies

Achappam, the rose cookie, is a Christmas staple in Kerala's Syrian Christian and Latin Catholic homes, fried in big batches in December and offered to neighbours of every faith. A thin batter of rice flour, egg, coconut milk and sugar, scented with sesame or cumin, clings to a flower-shaped iron, which is dipped into hot oil until the lacy rose drops off. They keep for weeks in an airtight tin. You need an achappam (rosette) mould. Chef's tip: heat the mould in the oil each time; if the batter slides off, the mould is too cool, and if it won't release, it's too hot.

60 min

Indian Snacks & Starters

by KrazyBadal 0 views

KokadCoconut, jaggery and semolina squares

Kokad is one of the sweets in the Goan Christmas kuswar, the tray of homemade sweets Catholic families swap with neighbours in the days around 25 December. Freshly grated coconut is cooked with jaggery, semolina and ghee until it pulls together into a dark, fudgy mass, then pressed into a tray, scored into diamonds and topped with cashews. It is chewy, caramel-sweet and fragrant with cardamom. Chef's tip: roast the semolina in ghee first, until it smells nutty, as raw semolina makes kokad pasty.

75 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Goan milk creamMilk and cashew sweet

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

90 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Turrón de maníPeanut nougat

On an Argentine Christmas Eve, after midnight toasts, the 'mesa dulce' appears with pan dulce, garrapiñadas and turrón de maní: a chewy white nougat of honey, sugar, whipped egg white and roasted peanuts, often set between two sheets of rice paper. Families make it in the days before Nochebuena. The egg white is cooked by the hot syrup. It is gluten free if you use gluten-free wafer paper or none. Chef's tip: work fast once the syrup is in, as the nougat stiffens as it cools and gets hard to spread.

60 min

Argentinian Desserts

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Grillázs (Hungarian walnut brittle)

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

40 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Sült tök (Hungarian roasted sweet pumpkin)

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

60 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Ghanta tarkariMixed vegetables with dried peas

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

60 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Chilcano de pescadoClear fish broth

In the fishermen's terminals of Chorrillos and Callao, chilcano is what you drink on a Sunday morning after a long night: a clear, gingery broth made from the heads and bones left over from cleaning fish for ceviche, with chunks of fish, red onion, chilli and a squeeze of lime in the bowl. It is light and warming, around 160 kcal a bowl, and still gives about 24 g of protein from the fish fillet and the broth. The common mistake is squeezing the lime into the pot while it boils, which turns it bitter; add it to each bowl at the table. Don't boil the bones for more than 30 minutes either, or the broth turns cloudy and harsh. Chef's tip: ask the fishmonger for heads and frames from mild white fish like sea bass or cod, and leave out oily fish such as mackerel, which makes the broth strong and fishy.

55 min

Peruvian Soups

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Bhapa doi (Bengali steamed sweet yogurt)

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

285 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Aguadito de polloCoriander chicken rice soup

Aguadito is the soup Lima serves in the small hours: at the end of a wedding, after New Year's Eve and at weekend family lunches, it is ladled out thick and steaming to revive everyone. Rice simmers in chicken broth coloured deep green with blended coriander and warmed with yellow ají amarillo, along with peas, carrot, pepper, sweetcorn and potato. A portion gives about 24 g of protein, from the chicken with a little from the rice and peas, for around 480 kcal. The common mistake is adding the coriander purée too early: cooked for long it turns khaki and loses its fresh taste, so stir it in for the last 10 minutes. The chicken must reach 74 °C at the bone. Chef's tip: blend a handful of spinach with the coriander; it keeps the colour vivid green without changing the flavour.

75 min

Peruvian Soups

by KrazyBadal 0 views

ParihuelaSpicy seafood soup

Parihuela is the big weekend seafood soup of Callao and the Peruvian coast, eaten at long Sunday lunches in cevicherías and praised as a cure for tiredness and late nights. A deep red broth of ají panca, ají amarillo, tomato and fish stock is loaded with chunks of fish, prawns, squid and mussels. A portion gives about 30 g of protein, from the fish and shellfish, for roughly 300 kcal. Some cooks add chicha de jora or beer; this version has none. The common mistake is adding all the seafood at once: squid and prawns turn rubbery while the fish cooks, so they go in last. Before cooking, discard any mussels that stay open when tapped, and after cooking discard any that stay shut. Chef's tip: fry the chilli pastes in the oil until they darken and smell sweet; that toasted ají is what gives parihuela its depth.

70 min

Peruvian Fish

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Sült gesztenye (Hungarian roasted chestnuts)

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

30 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Bhaja muger dalRoasted moong dal with ginger

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

45 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

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

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

160 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

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

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

75 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

DalithoyMild toor dal with mustard

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

30 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Aamras (spiced mango pulp)

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

15 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Gongura pappuLentils with sour roselle leaves

In Guntur, Vijayawada and across Telangana, gongura pappu is the everyday lunch dal that people who move away miss most: toor dal cooked soft with handfuls of sour roselle leaves, which melt into a tangy, olive-green purée, then finished with a sizzling tempering of garlic and dried red chillies. It is eaten mixed into hot rice with a spoon of ghee or oil and a crisp papad. A portion gives about 20 g of protein, almost all from the toor dal, and about 23 g with a plate of rice. Gongura is sold in Indian grocers in bunches; you need only the leaves. The most common mistake is cooking the leaves in an aluminium or iron pan: their acid reacts with the metal and the dal turns dark and tastes metallic, so use a steel or enamelled pot. Chef's tip: mash the dal and wilted leaves together hard with a whisk or wooden masher before tempering; a smooth, creamy pappu carries the sourness evenly instead of in stringy patches.

45 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Methi dalLentils with fenugreek leaves

In Punjab, Rajasthan and Delhi homes, methi dal arrives in late autumn and winter, when bunches of fresh fenugreek are cheap and fragrant at every vegetable cart. The leaves are stirred into a pot of soft toor and moong dal, where their gentle bitterness balances the earthy lentils, and a cumin and garlic tadka goes over the top. It is a light everyday dinner with phulka or rice. A portion gives about 21 g of protein from the two dals, for about 350 kcal. The most common mistake is cooking the leaves for too long or chopping in the thick stems, which makes the dal bitter and stringy: use only leaves and tender tips and add them for the last few minutes. Chef's tip: toss the chopped leaves with a pinch of salt, leave them for 10 minutes and squeeze out the green juice; it takes the harsh edge off the bitterness without losing the flavour.

45 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Avarekalu saaruField bean and coconut curry

When the avarekai (hyacinth bean) season comes to Bengaluru and Mysuru in December and January, the city celebrates with a whole street festival of avarekalu dishes, and this thin, fragrant saaru is the one cooked at home for lunch with ragi mudde or rice. The tender beans, popped out of their pods, are simmered in a gravy of coconut, roasted spices and a little tamarind and jaggery. Fresh beans are watery, so a portion gives about 12 g of protein, from the beans, a little toor dal and the coconut; that is why it is not tagged High protein. Frozen shelled avarekalu from Indian grocers works well out of season. The most common mistake is undercooking the beans: like all hyacinth beans they must be cooked until completely soft, never eaten raw or half-cooked. Chef's tip: for the classic hitikida flavour, soak the shelled beans in warm water for 30 minutes and squeeze each one out of its skin; it takes time but gives a creamier, sweeter saaru.

50 min