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296 recipes

Asham (Jamaican parched-corn sweet)

Asham is one of rural Jamaica's oldest treats, a sweet carried over from West African parched-grain foods and still made in country districts of St Elizabeth, Clarendon and St Ann. Children ate it after school from a twist of paper, and it reappears at heritage fairs around Emancipation Day and Independence in early August. Dried corn is parched until toasty and golden, ground to a fine, sandy powder and mixed with dark sugar: nutty, faintly smoky and melting slowly on the tongue. Eat it by the pinch, press it into little balls, or stir a spoonful into warm milk or water as a drink. It is naturally egg-free; the powder needs no binder at all, and for balls a sprinkle of water and the sticky brown sugar hold it together. Chef's tip: eat the loose powder in small pinches and don't breathe in as you eat it; it is famous for making people cough. In the pot, keep the corn moving, as scorching is the common mistake and turns it bitter.

40 min

Jamaican Desserts

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Jackass corn (Jamaican hard coconut biscuits)

Jackass corn is one of the hard little biscuits of old Jamaica, sold in paper bags at roadside stalls and corner shops and packed for long journeys because it keeps for weeks. The name is usually explained as a joke about how much chewing it takes. It is made from plenty of grated coconut, brown sugar, flour and a good grating of nutmeg, rolled out very thin and baked until crisp right through, so every bite cracks and then turns sweet and nutty with toasted coconut. Have it with hot cocoa tea, mint tea or a glass of cold sorrel juice, or break it over ice cream. There has never been egg in it: coconut oil and water hold the dough together, and the coconut's own fat and the melted sugar set it hard as it bakes and cools. Chef's tip: roll it as thin as you dare, about 3 mm; the common mistake is leaving it thick, which gives a biscuit that is soft in the middle and goes stale instead of staying crunchy.

45 min

Jamaican Baking

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Matrimony (Jamaican star apple and orange with condensed milk)Star apple and orange dessert

Jamaica's star apples ripen in winter, so matrimony, the 'marriage' of star apple and orange, is a Christmas dessert, eaten cold after the big meal on Christmas Day. The purple star apples are scooped from their skins, their sweet, milky, jelly-like pulp mixed with juicy orange segments and dressed with condensed milk and freshly grated nutmeg. It is cool, sweet and fragrant, soft and a little jelly-like from the fruit. Serve it straight from the bowl or in glasses, as the last sweet thing of the Christmas meal. It is naturally egg-free and uncooked: condensed milk gives it body and binds the fruit into a creamy dessert, and nothing needs setting. Chef's tip: scrape the pulp only, never the skin; the common mistake is digging too close to the purple rind, whose sticky latex is bitter and gums up the spoon.

15 min

Jamaican Desserts

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Stagga back (Jamaican molasses ginger cookies)

Stagga back are the dark, chewy cookies that sat in glass jars on the counters of Jamaican country shops, sold singly to schoolchildren on the way home and to anyone wanting something sweet with a cold drink in the heat of the afternoon. They are made with plenty of molasses, brown sugar and both dried and fresh ginger, with a little nutmeg and allspice, so they taste deep, almost smoky, and warm at the back of the throat. The texture should bend before it snaps: firm edges, soft and toffee-like in the middle. Eat them with a cup of mint or ginger tea, or a glass of cold coconut water. They are naturally egg-free: the thick molasses and the oil bind the flour on their own, and bicarbonate of soda reacting with the acidic molasses gives them their lift and crackled tops. This version uses oil instead of butter, so it is vegan. Chef's tip: take them out while the centres still look a little underdone; the common mistake is baking until they feel firm in the oven, and then they cool into rock-hard discs.

40 min

Jamaican Baking

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Jamaican pepper steak

Pepper steak came to Jamaica with the Hakka Chinese families who opened groceries and restaurants in Kingston, and it is now a takeaway favourite and a fast weeknight dinner across the island, eaten over white rice or rice and peas. Thin strips of beef are seared hard, then tossed with bell peppers and onion in a glossy soy, ginger and garlic sauce, with a little Scotch bonnet for warmth. The common mistake is crowding the pan, which steams the beef grey and tough; sear it in two batches over a high heat. Chef's tip: slice the beef across the grain while it is very cold or half-frozen; you'll get thin, even strips that stay tender.

25 min

Jamaican Meat

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Algerian mkhabezIced almond and lemon diamonds

No Algerian wedding tray, and few Eid tables in Algiers or Constantine, is complete without mkhabez: soft, chewy diamonds of ground almond and lemon zest under a smooth white icing, each topped with a sugar flower or a silver ball and set in its own paper case. Making them is a social affair, with sisters and aunts icing and decorating hundreds the week before a celebration. The almond base is flourless and dairy free, sweet and lemony, and the icing sets to a thin shell; serve them with mint tea or strong coffee. Overbaking is the mistake to avoid: the diamonds should come out pale and soft, or they go dry and crumbly under the icing. Chef's tip: ice them when completely cold, and get the icing so thick it only just flows; runny icing slides off the sides and never sets glossy.

105 min

Algerian Baking

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Tcharek el arianeAlmond crescents with orange blossom

On the last nights of Ramadan, kitchens across Algiers and Constantine fill up with trays of tcharek el ariane, the 'naked' tcharek: crescents of thin, buttery dough wrapped around almond paste with cinnamon and orange-blossom water. Unlike their sugar-coated cousins they are left bare, so the fine dough with its pinched, lace-like pattern shows. Families give them to neighbours on Eid morning and set them out at weddings with mint tea and coffee. The dough is traditionally made with smen (aged butter); plain melted butter works well. Overbaking is the common slip, because they turn hard and dry; they should stay pale with only golden tips. Chef's tip: keep the dough under a damp cloth while you shape, as it dries in minutes and then cracks along the curve.

120 min

Algerian Baking

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Jamaican ginger cake

Jamaica grows some of the world's most pungent ginger in the hills of Clarendon and St Mary, and island ginger cake shows it off: a dark, sticky loaf made with molasses, a big knob of freshly grated root, and allspice (pimento), another Jamaican crop. Corner shops sell it in wrapped slabs for school lunches and road trips, and at home it comes out with afternoon tea or a cup of hot cocoa. The heat is real but warm, not harsh. Overbaking is the easy mistake: a few minutes too long and it loses its stickiness, so take it out once a skewer comes out clean even if the top still feels slightly tacky. Chef's tip: wrap the cooled cake and leave it a day before slicing; the top turns properly sticky and the ginger mellows.

70 min

Jamaican Baking

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Lenja pitaGrated apple pie

The name means 'lazy pie', and that is the point: unlike the paper-thin pies of Serbia and Bosnia, lenja pita needs no stretching of filo, just two sheets of soft short pastry and a thick layer of grated apple with cinnamon. Home cooks in Belgrade and Sarajevo make a tray of it on autumn weekends, for name days and slava visits, and cut it into squares dusted with icing sugar to serve with Turkish-style coffee. The pastry is tender and crumbly, the apple soft, sweet and sharp. Putting the grated apple straight onto the pastry is the error to avoid: it floods the base, so squeeze it and cook it down first. Chef's tip: mix sour and sweet apples and leave the skins on a few of them for more flavour.

75 minBalkan Baking

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TopfengolatschenSweet quark puff pastry squares

A Topfengolatsche is what Viennese office workers grab from the bakery on the way in, and what grandparents order with a Melange in a coffee house on a Sunday afternoon. The corners of a puff pastry square are folded over a lemony, vanilla-scented filling of Topfen (Austrian quark) with plump raisins, and the top gets a thin white glaze. It is flaky, light and not too sweet. Raisins are sometimes soaked in rum; warm water or orange juice works just as well, and the recipe below is alcohol-free. Wet quark is the classic problem, because it turns the filling runny and it leaks out in the oven. Chef's tip: hang the quark in a sieve lined with a clean cloth for an hour, or squeeze it, until it is as thick as soft cream cheese.

57 min

Austrian Baking

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Okra and saltfish

Okra and saltfish is a Jamaican home breakfast and quick dinner, cooked in kitchens from Kingston to Montego Bay and eaten with boiled green bananas, fried dumplings, yam or white rice. Rounds of okra are sautéed with onion, garlic, tomato, thyme and Scotch bonnet, then the flaked salt cod is folded through. The cod needs desalting first, so allow overnight soaking or the quick double-boil method; that is why the total time is honestly over half an hour. The usual mistake is stirring the okra too much and covering the pan, which turns it slimy; cook it in an open pan and keep stirring gentle. Chef's tip: a squeeze of lime at the end cuts through the okra and brightens the whole pan.

40 min

Jamaican Fish

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Stamp and goCrisp saltfish fritters

Stamp and go are the thin, lacy saltfish fritters sold from roadside stalls and bus-stop cookshops across Jamaica, and fried at home for breakfast or an evening snack with hard dough bread and a cold drink; the name is said to come from hurrying customers who would 'stamp and go'. Flaked salt cod is beaten into a loose flour batter with scallion, thyme and Scotch bonnet and fried in spoonfuls until crisp. The salt cod has to be desalted first, which is why this isn't a true 30-minute recipe: soak it overnight in the fridge, or use the quick double-boil method below. The common mistake is skipping the desalting, which makes fritters too salty to eat. Chef's tip: keep the batter loose enough to spread in the pan; thin fritters are the crisp ones.

40 min

Jamaican Snacks & Starters

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SomunDimpled flatbread

During Ramadan in Sarajevo, queues form outside the Baščaršija bakeries in the last hour before iftar, everyone waiting for somun still warm from the oven. It is a round, pale flatbread about three fingers thick, with a crust so thin it barely crackles and a soft, airy middle, and a criss-cross grid pressed into the top. All year it is split and stuffed with ćevapi and onions at the grill houses; for a meat-free plate, fill it with kajmak, roasted peppers and ajvar or grilled vegetables. Somun should stay pale: leave it in the oven until it is brown and the crust turns hard, which is the commonest mistake. Chef's tip: wrap the loaves in a clean tea towel the moment they come out; the trapped steam softens the crust to that typical pillowy finish.

140 minBalkan Breads & Parathas

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Kärntner ReindlingCinnamon raisin yeast cake

Carinthia's Easter loaf takes its name from the Reindl, the round, deep pan it is baked in, and in southern Austria no Easter basket goes to church without one. Inside the golden yeast crust is a spiral of butter, cinnamon sugar and plump raisins, so every slice shows a dark swirl. Locals eat it two ways: sweet with coffee on Easter morning, or alongside the savoury Easter platter with horseradish. Many bakers soak the raisins in rum overnight; warm water or tea works just as well and keeps it alcohol-free. A dry, crumbly Reindling usually means too much flour went in during kneading, so keep the dough soft and only lightly floured. Chef's tip: butter the pan well and dust it with sugar, which caramelises into a thin crunchy shell.

180 min

Austrian Baking

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ErdäpfelstrudelSavoury potato strudel

Austrians, especially in the Mühlviertel of Upper Austria and the Waldviertel, make savoury strudels as often as sweet ones, and Erdäpfelstrudel is a farmhouse favourite for a meatless Friday or a cold evening. Thin pastry wraps a filling of potatoes, fried onion, sour cream, marjoram and parsley, baked until crisp and golden and sliced with a green salad or a dill and sour-cream dip. Bought filo makes it easy at home. The mistake to avoid is a wet filling, which turns the pastry soggy underneath. Chef's tip: cool the filling completely before rolling; warm filling makes the layers stick and tear.

90 min

Austrian Vegetarian

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HmissGrilled pepper and tomato salad

Hmiss is an everyday cooked salad from Algiers, Oran and Constantine, made in summer when peppers are cheap, and it is set out with bread at the start of Ramadan iftars and family lunches. Green and red peppers and tomatoes are grilled until charred, peeled, chopped and then cooked briefly with garlic, cumin and plenty of olive oil, so it is smoky, soft and gently spicy. Serve it with bread, beside eggs, or with grilled fish. Suitable as part of a balanced diet. About 120 kcal and 10 g carbohydrate per portion. The usual mistake is chopping it to a purée in a blender: hmiss should keep some texture, so chop by hand. Chef's tip: grill a mild green chilli alongside the peppers for gentle heat without overpowering the sweetness.

40 min

Algerian Salads

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ZlevankaBaked cornmeal and buttermilk cake

Zlevanka, from the Slovenian for 'poured', is a farmhouse batter cake from the Prekmurje and Štajerska regions, poured into a tin and baked for breakfast, then cut into squares and eaten with a big cup of milky white coffee. This sweet version is made with cornmeal and buttermilk, which give it a soft, moist, slightly crumbly crumb with a golden crust; some families add fruit on top. The common mistake is overmixing the batter once the flour goes in, which makes it tough; stir only until combined. Chef's tip: soak the cornmeal in the buttermilk for 15 minutes before mixing, so it softens and the cake isn't gritty.

50 minBalkan Baking

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Charbat (Algerian lemon drink)

During Ramadan, as the afternoon wears on, vendors in Algiers' Bab El Oued, in Blida and Boufarik and in the old streets of Constantine fill plastic bags and jugs with ice-cold charbat for families to carry home before the call to iftar. It is lemonade made with lemon zest rubbed into sugar, a good splash of orange blossom water and a little milk, which turns it pale, opaque and silky and takes the sharp edge off the lemon. Served with zlabia, qalb el louz or straight after the dates and chorba, it tastes like lemon sherbet with a floral finish. The common mistake is adding the milk to strong, undiluted lemon juice, which curdles it into flecks; dilute the lemon fully, chill it, and only then pour in cold milk slowly while stirring. It is ready when it looks like pale lemon cream, smells of orange blossom and tastes sweet first, then tart. Lemon-and-milk drinks do not keep well, so make it the afternoon you serve it. Chef's tip: let the zest sit in the sugar for a good 10 minutes before adding water; the oils give charbat its perfume, far more than the juice alone.

15 min

Algerian Drinks

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KajganaScrambled eggs with peppers

Kajgana is the everyday breakfast of Serbia and Montenegro, cooked in every home and kafana: eggs scrambled softly in a little fat, often with sweet peppers or onion, and finished with a spoon of kajmak, the rich clotted cream of the Balkans, or crumbled white cheese. It is eaten straight from the pan with warm bread. The mistake is high heat: the eggs seize into dry, rubbery lumps; a medium-low flame and constant gentle stirring give soft, creamy curds. Chef's tip: take the pan off the heat while the eggs still look slightly underdone, because they keep cooking in the hot pan for another minute.

13 minBalkan Breakfast & Brunch

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PasuljWhite bean soup

Pasulj is the beloved bean soup of Serbia, served in Belgrade's old taverns and in army and school canteens, and especially on Thursdays and cold weekends. Usually it is cooked with smoked pork ribs or bacon; this vegetarian version gets its smoky depth from smoked paprika instead, and it is the version cooked on Orthodox fasting days. White beans simmer slowly with onion, carrot, bay and paprika until creamy and thick enough to stand a spoon in. Eat it with bread and pickled peppers. Suitable as part of a balanced diet. About 310 kcal and 40 g carbohydrate per portion. The usual mistake is thickening with too much flour roux; mashing some beans gives the same body and keeps it gluten free. Pressure cooker option: 25 minutes at pressure. Chef's tip: change the water after the first boil, as Serbian cooks do, for a softer, gentler soup.

130 minBalkan Soups

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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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BrudetFisherman's fish stew

Brudet (or brodetto) is the fisherman's stew of the Dalmatian coast and islands, cooked in Split, Hvar and Korčula with whatever the morning's catch brings, and eaten for Friday lunch and summer suppers. Thick fish steaks on the bone stew slowly in olive oil with onion, garlic, tomato and a dash of wine vinegar, and the pot is shaken, never stirred. It is high in protein and suitable as part of a balanced diet; polenta is the classic partner, but grilled courgettes, chard or a small portion of soft polenta keep the carbohydrate down. About 330 kcal and 10 g carbohydrate per portion. The usual mistake is stirring with a spoon, which breaks the fish into shreds. Chef's tip: use at least three kinds of fish, mixing firm and softer ones, for a deeper broth.

60 minBalkan Fish

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LakrorLeek and cheese pie

Lakror comes from the south of Albania, around Korçë, where it was baked in a round copper tray under a saç, a domed iron lid heaped with embers, and eaten for breakfast or carried to the fields. Thin rounds of homemade dough are layered with oil, then filled with leeks, onions and cheese, giving a pie that is crisp at the top and soft inside. At home, a very hot oven stands in for the saç. The common mistake is rolling the dough too thick: each round should be thin enough to see your hand through, or the layers stay doughy. Chef's tip: rest the dough balls for 30 minutes after kneading; relaxed dough rolls out thin without shrinking back.

100 minBalkan Baking

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Bissy tea (kola nut tea)

Kola trees came to Jamaica with enslaved West Africans, and the nut, called bissy on the island, has stayed in country medicine ever since. Older people in St Mary, St Elizabeth and the hills of Clarendon still keep a dried bissy in the kitchen and grate some into boiling water when the stomach is upset or after eating something that disagreed with them,. Parched in a dry pan first, the grated nut gives a reddish-brown tea that smells faintly of cocoa and tastes bitter and astringent, softened by plenty of sugar. The common mistake is boiling raw, ungrated nut and expecting much flavour: whole pieces give little. Grate it finely, parch it until it darkens and smells like toasted cocoa, then boil. It is ready when the tea is a deep reddish-brown and coats the tongue with bitterness. Kola nut is very high in caffeine, as strong as a big mug of coffee or more, so drink one cup, not late in the day, and keep it away from children, pregnant people and anyone sensitive to caffeine or with heart trouble. Chef's tip: strain it through a fine cloth; the grated nut leaves a gritty sediment that a sieve lets through.

20 min

Jamaican Drinks

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