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557 recipes

Fak thong kaeng buat (Thai pumpkin in coconut milk)

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

30 minThaiDessertsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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

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

295 minArgentinianDessertsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Kaeng khae with tofu and mushroomsHerb curry with tofu and mushrooms

Kaeng khae comes from the hills around Chiang Mai and Lampang, where it is cooked through the rainy season with whatever the garden and forest give: pea aubergines, long beans, pumpkin tips, acacia shoots and handfuls of leaves, in a brothy, coconut-free curry scented with lemongrass and the peppery prickly ash called makhwaen. In northern homes it is a lunch dish eaten with sticky rice. It is normally cooked with chicken, frog or fish and seasoned with fermented fish; this vegetarian version uses firm tofu, oyster mushrooms, soy sauce and a little salted soybean paste. With the tofu a portion has about 11 g of protein, so it is light rather than high protein. The common mistake is adding all the vegetables at once: the leaves are done in a minute while the beans and aubergines need five. Chef's tip: dry-fry the curry paste in a spoon of oil until it smells toasty before adding water; it gives the broth its depth without any fish.

45 minThaiCurriesVeganSpicy
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Asam pedas ikanSour spicy tamarind fish

Asam pedas, "sour and spicy", is the pride of Malay kitchens in Melaka and Johor, cooked for everyday lunches and sold at rice stalls with a dozen other dishes. Fish steaks simmer in a thin, brick-red gravy of dried chilli, shallot and belacan soured with tamarind, with okra and tomato soaking up the sauce and Vietnamese mint scenting it. It is fiery, tangy and light, with about 29 g of protein a portion from the fish; eat it with plenty of plain rice. The common mistake is rushing the chilli paste: if it isn't fried until the oil separates, the gravy tastes raw and harsh. Chef's tip: use oily, firm fish such as Spanish mackerel or stingray, which stand up to the sour broth.

50 minMalaysianFishGluten freeSpicy
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Nasi ulamHerb rice

In Kelantan and Terengganu on Malaysia's east coast, nasi ulam is the cool, fragrant rice eaten at lunch in the heat: day-old rice tossed with a heap of hair-thin raw herbs (ulam), lemongrass, lime leaf, shallots and dry-toasted coconut. It is traditionally mixed with flaked salted or dried fish; this is a vegetarian version that leaves the fish out and leans on the toasted coconut and a squeeze of lime for depth. It is a light meal of about 340 kcal, with around 7 g of protein, so it is not high in protein; serve it with fried tofu or tempeh. The common mistake is using hot rice, which wilts the herbs into a dark mush; the rice must be cold. Chef's tip: stack the leaves, roll them into a tight cigar and slice across as thinly as you can; the finer the herbs, the more perfume.

45 minMalaysianRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Aiskrim potong (Malaysian red bean ice-cream bars)

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

390 minMalaysianDessertsGluten free
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 minPeruvianSoupsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

ไอติมกะทิ (Itim kathi, Thai coconut ice cream)

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

300 minThaiDessertsVeganGluten free
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 minPeruvianSoupsGluten freeSpicy
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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

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

130 minMalaysianDessertsVegan
by KrazyBadal 0 views

ซาหริ่ม (Sarim, mung bean noodles in coconut syrup)

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

60 minThaiDessertsVeganGluten free
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 minPeruvianFishGluten freeSpicy
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Kluay chuam (Thai bananas in palm-sugar syrup)

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

60 minThaiDessertsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Torta de ricotaLemon ricotta tart

Italian families brought ricotta tarts to Buenos Aires and Rosario, and torta de ricota is now as Argentinian as mate: every panadería has one in the window, with a lattice of sweet, crumbly masa frola over a pale, lemon-scented ricotta filling. It is cut into wedges for the merienda, the late-afternoon snack, or for a birthday where nobody wants a heavy cake. The texture is light and slightly grainy rather than silky, and the pastry tastes of butter and vanilla. Wet ricotta is the biggest risk, giving a weeping, soggy tart. Chef's tip: drain the ricotta overnight in the fridge in a sieve lined with a cloth, and add a few raisins only if they have been soaked, or they draw moisture from the filling.

90 minArgentinianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Tao hoo tod (Thai fried tofu with sweet chilli peanut dip)

In Bangkok and towns all over Thailand, tao hoo tod is sold from street-side woks in the late afternoon, scooped into paper bags with a little bag of sweet chilli dip and a spoon of crushed peanuts for snacking on the way home. Done properly, each cube has a thin, blistered, crisp skin and a soft, almost creamy centre. The mistake that ruins it is frying wet tofu in oil that isn't hot enough, so it soaks up fat and never crisps. It makes a good starter or a light supper with sticky rice and cucumber. Chef's tip: press the tofu under a heavy pan for 10 minutes while you make the dip; drier tofu crisps faster and spits less.

22 minThaiSnacks & StartersVegan
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Heong pengSesame maltose biscuits

Ipoh, the old tin-mining city in Perak, is famous for heong peng ('fragrant biscuits'), and visitors buy them by the bag along with white coffee. They are flat, round pastries with a crisp, flaky shell coated in sesame seeds, filled with a sticky, chewy layer of maltose mixed with shallot oil and fried shallots: sweet, savoury and deeply aromatic at once. Locals eat them with a cup of kopi in the morning or as a snack on the road. The pastry is traditionally made with lard; this recipe uses vegetable shortening and keeps the shallot oil, so it is vegan. Chef's tip: warm the maltose jar in hot water before measuring, then chill the finished filling until firm, because maltose softens fast and a runny filling leaks out and burns on the tray.

117 minMalaysianBakingVegan
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Khanom kleeb lamduanFlower shortbread cookies

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

78 minThaiBakingVegan
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Tarta de coco y dulce de lecheCoconut and dulce de leche tart

Ask Argentinians for their favourite tart at a family birthday and this one often wins: a crisp shortcrust spread thickly with dulce de leche, then covered with a coconut, sugar and egg topping that bakes into a golden, chewy crust. Bakeries from Córdoba to Mar del Plata sell it by the slice for the merienda with mate or a café con leche. It is very sweet, so the slices are thin, and it is a good keeper for a few days. Ordinary spreading dulce de leche is the mistake: it runs and bubbles out at the edges. Use the thicker pastry-style kind, sold in Argentina as 'repostero'. Chef's tip: chill the case with the dulce de leche spread on it for 15 minutes before adding the coconut, so the two layers stay distinct.

75 minArgentinianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Moo manao (pork in lime and chilli dressing)

Moo manao is a drinking snack and dinner side from central Thailand, served in Bangkok bars and at home with sticky rice: thin slices of pork, blanched until just cooked, laid on ice-cold cabbage or lettuce and drowned in a fierce dressing of lime, raw garlic, bird's eye chilli and fish sauce. This is a pork dish. The mistake is boiling the pork for too long, which makes the thin slices tough and dry; poach them only until they turn white all through. Chef's tip: plunge the cooked slices into iced water for a few seconds, so they stay tender and take the dressing well.

17 minThaiMeatGluten freeSpicy
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Khai luk khoei (son-in-law eggs)

Khai luk khoei, son-in-law eggs, is a central Thai dish made for family meals and temple fairs, and a favourite way to turn a few eggs into dinner: boiled eggs fried until blistered and golden, halved and spooned over with a sticky tamarind, palm sugar and fish sauce sauce, then finished with crisp shallots and chilli. It contains fish sauce, so it is not vegetarian. The mistake is frying wet eggs in oil that isn't hot enough; dry them well and the skin puffs and crisps instead of spitting. Chef's tip: boil the eggs for 7 minutes for a jammy centre; give 10 minutes and fully set yolks for anyone pregnant, very young, older or vulnerable.

27 minThaiSnacks & StartersGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Ikan goreng kunyit (turmeric fried fish)

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

22 minMalaysianFishGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Salpicón de aveCold chicken salad

Salpicón de ave is the cold supper of Argentine summers, made in Buenos Aires flats and on estancias alike when it is too hot to cook much, and a favourite way to use the chicken from a puchero or Sunday roast. Shredded chicken is mixed with diced pepper, tomato, spring onion, sweetcorn and boiled egg, bound with mayonnaise sharpened with lemon and mustard, and served chilled with crusty bread or on lettuce. The common mistake is dressing it while the chicken is still hot, which melts the mayonnaise into an oily puddle; let everything cool first. Chef's tip: dress the chicken with the lemon juice and a pinch of salt before the mayonnaise goes in, so the meat itself is seasoned, not just its coating.

30 minArgentinianSaladsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Biskut dahliaPiped flower butter cookies

In the last days of Ramadan, Malaysian kitchens from Johor to Kedah turn into small factories of kuih raya, and biskut dahlia is one of the easiest and prettiest: soft buttery dough piped through a star nozzle into ruffled flowers, each with a bit of glacé cherry or a chocolate chip in the centre. They are crisp at the edges and tender inside, with a vanilla-milky flavour from custard powder and milk powder, and they fill the jars set out for open-house visitors at Hari Raya Aidilfitri. This version uses one egg yolk; for an eggless batch, replace it with 2 tablespoons of milk. Dough that is too stiff is the usual problem, as it will not go through the nozzle; beat the butter well and keep the kitchen warm. Chef's tip: chill the piped trays for 15 minutes before baking so the petals hold their sharp ridges.

50 minMalaysianBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Fideos con mantecaButtered noodles with cheese

Ask anyone from Buenos Aires to Córdoba what they ate when they came home late or felt poorly as a child, and the answer is often fideos con manteca: short pasta tossed with butter and a snowfall of grated queso rallado. It is the plainest dish in the Argentine home kitchen and the one people cook for themselves on a tired weeknight. The mistake that ruins it is draining the pasta bone-dry and adding cold cheese to a hot empty pan, which leaves greasy strands and clumps; a splash of cooking water makes a light, creamy coating instead. Argentine reggianito and Parmesan are made with animal rennet, so use a vegetarian hard cheese if needed. Chef's tip: grate the cheese very finely, like dust, so it melts on contact.

15 minArgentinianPasta & Noodles
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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