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Kem chuối (Vietnamese frozen coconut banana)

Kem chuối is the frozen treat of Saigon's alleys and the Mekong towns, sold from home freezers and school gates through the long hot season. Small, very ripe bananas are pressed flat, coated in thick sweet coconut cream, rolled in roasted peanuts and frozen on a stick; you can also wrap them and slice them into coins. The banana freezes dense and chewy rather than icy, and the coconut coating stays soft and rich. It is naturally egg-free and dairy-free: the coconut cream is cooked with a spoonful of tapioca starch, which thickens it so it clings and holds a thin layer around the fruit, and the banana's own sugar keeps the middle from freezing rock-hard. Kids love making these. Chef's tip: use bananas with plenty of brown freckles; the common mistake is using firm yellow ones, which freeze bland and starchy.

260 min

Vietnamese Desserts

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Bông bí xào tỏiGarlic stir-fried pumpkin flowers

From the Mekong Delta to the market gardens outside Hanoi, pumpkin vines are picked for their flowers and tender shoots, and bông bí xào tỏi is the everyday way to cook them: a few minutes in a hot wok with lots of garlic, served beside rice and a bowl of soup at family dinners. The flowers are soft and sweet and the shoots slightly crunchy. Some cooks add a splash of fish sauce; this version is seasoned with salt and a little soy, so it is vegan. It is a light side with about 3 g of protein per portion. The common mistake is leaving the stamens and the stringy skin on the shoots: both make the dish bitter and tough. Courgette flowers work well instead. Chef's tip: put the shoots in first and the flowers only for the last 30 seconds, so the delicate petals don't collapse into mush.

20 min

Vietnamese Sides

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Kokt torskPoached cod with potatoes

From January to April, when the spawning skrei cod arrive at the Lofoten Islands, Norwegian homes eat kokt torsk at least once a week: thick cod loins poached in well-salted water, served plainly with boiled potatoes, carrots and a little melted butter. It is clean, gentle food, and the whole plate comes to around 430 kcal with about 40 g of protein, almost all from the cod. The common mistake is boiling the fish: the water should barely tremble, which Norwegians say makes it "smile", or the flakes tighten and turn woolly. Cook it until it is opaque and the flakes separate at a light press, about 60–63 °C in the thickest part. Chef's tip: salt the poaching water as heavily as the sea, about 60 g to a litre; it seasons the cod all the way through in the few minutes it cooks.

35 minScandinavian Fish

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Tilslørte bondepiker (Norwegian veiled farm girls)

Norwegians make tilslørte bondepiker in autumn, when the apple trees in the fjord orchards of Hardanger and Telemark are heavy, and it stays a Sunday-dinner favourite through winter. The 'farm girls' are the layers of tart apple compote, the 'veil' is the whipped cream on top, and between them are crisp breadcrumbs toasted in butter with sugar and cinnamon. It is spooned from a glass bowl: soft fruit, crunchy caramel crumbs and cold cream in each mouthful. Serve it soon after layering, while the crumbs still crunch. No egg is involved anywhere, since the apples cook down into a thick purée on their own, so there is nothing to bind or set; just make the crumbs from an eggless white loaf or plain rusks. Chef's tip: toast the crumbs slowly over a medium-low heat and keep stirring; the common mistake is rushing them over a high heat, so the sugar burns before the crumbs are crisp.

65 minScandinavian Desserts

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RotmosMashed swede and carrot

Rotmos, literally 'root mash', is a Swedish winter staple, cooked from Skåne to Norrland when the cellars are full of swede, and served beside sausages or boiled pork at home dinners, and on Thursdays with pea soup. Swede gives the mash its golden colour and gently peppery sweetness, potato makes it smooth, and a little butter and allspice round it out. It is a vegetarian side with about 3 g of protein per portion; try it with fried halloumi or a bean stew. The common mistake is mashing it straight from the pan: watery roots give a sloppy mash, so steam-dry them first. Chef's tip: leave the mash a little coarse; Swedes like to see flecks of swede and carrot rather than a smooth purée.

40 minScandinavian Sides

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Hoa quả dầm (Hanoi fruit cup with yoghurt and condensed milk)

On sticky summer afternoons, Hanoi's young people pack the little stools along streets near Hoàn Kiếm Lake for hoa quả dầm, a cup of diced fruit buried in crushed ice, plain yoghurt and condensed milk. The fruit follows the season, usually mango, papaya, jackfruit, dragon fruit and avocado, and the whole thing is stirred together before eating, so it turns cold, creamy, tangy and sweet at once. Serve it immediately, with a long spoon and toasted coconut on top if you like. No cooking and no egg here: condensed milk and yoghurt dress and bind the fruit, and the crushed ice chills it, so there is nothing to set. Chef's tip: dice everything to the same small size, about 1.5 cm, so each spoonful gets a mix; the common mistake is adding the ice too early, which melts and floods the cup before it reaches the table.

15 min

Vietnamese Desserts

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OhrapuuroBarley porridge

Ohrapuuro is the comfort food of Finnish farmhouses: pearl barley cooked slowly in plenty of milk until it turns creamy, pale and faintly sweet, then served with a knob of butter melting in the middle and a spoon of lingonberry or berry kissel. It is a breakfast for winter mornings and a supper for Christmas Eve in many families, and the oven version used to cook overnight in the cooling bread oven. A bowl gives about 14 g of protein from the milk and barley, so it is filling, but not a high-protein dish. The common mistake is cooking it too fast on a high heat; the milk catches and burns on the bottom, so keep it at a bare simmer and stir often. Chef's tip: soak the barley in water overnight if you can; it cuts the cooking time to about an hour and the grains cook more evenly.

90 minScandinavian Breakfast & Brunch

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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

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NässelsoppaNettle soup

In Sweden the first young nettles of April and May go straight into nässelsoppa, a smooth, grassy green soup often served at Easter or on Walpurgis Night with halved boiled eggs. It tastes a little like spinach with a mineral edge, and is eaten with crispbread and butter. A bowl with one egg gives about 10 g of protein, so it is a light soup, not a high-protein meal; add a second egg each if you want it more filling. Wear gloves to pick and wash nettles: blanching removes the sting completely. The most common mistake is cooking the nettles too long, which turns the soup khaki and dull; add them at the end and blend straight away. Chef's tip: pick only the top four to six leaves of young plants before they flower; older leaves are tough and gritty.

35 minScandinavian Soups

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KålsoppaCabbage and root vegetable soup

Kålsoppa is old-fashioned Swedish home cooking, the soup of cold autumn and winter evenings in Skåne and the countryside, when white cabbage and root vegetables fill the cellar. The cabbage is first browned in a little oil with a pinch of syrup, which gives the broth its gentle sweetness and golden colour, then simmered with carrot, swede and potato and seasoned with whole allspice. Many families float small meatballs in it; this is the vegetarian version without them. It has about 4 g of protein per bowl; serve with crispbread and a hard cheese, or add white beans, for more. The common mistake is rushing the browning: the cabbage needs a good 10 minutes of slow frying to caramelise. Chef's tip: crush the allspice berries lightly before adding them, so their warm, clove-like scent fills the soup.

60 minScandinavian Soups

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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

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Bánh cốm (Hanoi green rice-flake cake with mung bean filling)

When the new crop of young glutinous rice comes in, in early autumn, Hanoi smells of cốm: green, flattened rice flakes from the village of Vòng. The shops on Hàng Than street press them into bánh cốm, square cakes that are still carried as betrothal gifts in their paper wrappers. The outside is soft, chewy and jade green, tasting faintly of grass and pandan; the inside is a mellow paste of mung bean and coconut. Serve them at room temperature with green or lotus tea. Bánh cốm is naturally egg-free: a hot sugar syrup and a spoonful of tapioca starch turn the rice flakes into a sticky mass that binds itself, and the mung bean paste is bound by its own starch. Use frozen or dried cốm from an Asian grocer; soak dried flakes briefly first. Chef's tip: the common mistake is cooking the cốm too hard; stop as soon as it pulls together into a sticky ball, or the cakes go rubbery when cool.

120 min

Vietnamese Desserts

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Kem xôi (Hanoi coconut ice cream on sticky rice)

In the Old Quarter of Hanoi, kem xôi shops on Hàng Bài and around Hoàn Kiếm lake serve it from late morning to late at night through the hot season: a bed of warm, salty sticky rice, a scoop of coconut ice cream melting into it, then crisp toasted coconut and crushed peanuts. The contrast of warm and cold, chewy and creamy, is the whole point. This is a no-churn ice cream with no eggs and no custard. Sweetened condensed milk is the base: its sugar and milk solids lower the freezing point and keep crystals tiny, while whipped cream folded through traps air so it freezes soft without stirring, and coconut milk gives the flavour. Make the ice cream the day before and steam the rice just before serving. Chef's tip: whip the cream only to soft peaks; the common mistake is overwhipping it until stiff, which turns grainy and buttery once it freezes.

420 min

Vietnamese Desserts

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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

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Bánh tro (bánh gio, amber glutinous rice cakes in leaves)Lye water glutinous rice cakes

On Tết Đoan Ngọ, the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, families in northern and central Vietnam eat bánh tro first thing in the morning, believing it cools the body as summer heat arrives. Glutinous rice is soaked in alkaline water, which was once made by steeping plant ash, then wrapped in leaves and boiled for hours. It turns amber, translucent and jelly-soft with a clean, faintly mineral flavour, and is eaten cold, dipped in sugarcane molasses or palm-sugar syrup. Bánh tro is naturally egg-free: the alkali softens the rice grains so their own starch melts together into a firm, sliceable cake. We use food-grade lye water (an alkaline solution of potassium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate sold in Asian shops for noodles and mooncakes). Handle it with care: wear gloves, keep it away from children, never use drain cleaner or caustic soda, and always dilute it as written. Chef's tip: the common mistake is skipping the rinse; wash the soaked rice twice so the cakes taste clean, not soapy.

600 min

Vietnamese Desserts

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Cá hấp gừngGinger steamed whole fish

Cá hấp gừng is a family dish across Vietnam, from Hanoi to the Mekong Delta, put in the middle of the table for a weekend lunch or a Tết dinner and shared with rice and greens. A whole fish is steamed over ginger, then heaped with ginger and spring onion shreds and dressed with sizzling oil and a light soy and fish sauce. The flesh comes out silky and delicate. A portion has about 25 g of protein from the fish. The common mistake is oversteaming: thin parts go dry and woolly. Take it off as soon as the flesh at the thickest point pulls cleanly from the bone. Chef's tip: score the fish to the bone on both sides so it cooks evenly and the sauce gets in.

30 min

Vietnamese Fish

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Canh rau ngot with tofuKatuk leaf and tofu soup

Canh rau ngot is one of the plainest and most loved soups on a Vietnamese family table, served at dinner in Hanoi and the Mekong Delta alike, in a shared bowl beside rice, a braised dish and a dipping sauce. The leaves of the katuk shrub are bruised and simmered briefly until soft and sweet. It is usually made with minced pork or dried shrimp; this vegetarian version uses cubes of tofu and a little fried shallot for savouriness. Each bowl has about 110 kcal and roughly 10 g of protein, from the tofu, so it is a light side soup. Katuk can be found frozen in Asian shops; young spinach is the nearest stand-in. The common mistake is overcooking the leaves, which turn khaki and slimy. Chef's tip: rub the leaves between your palms before cooking; bruising them lets them release their sweetness in just a few minutes.

20 min

Vietnamese Soups

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Dau hu non hapSteamed silken tofu

Steamed silken tofu is a fast, gentle dish cooked in homes from Hanoi to Saigon, especially on vegetarian days at the start and middle of the lunar month, when many families eat chay. A whole block of silken tofu is steamed until wobbling and hot, then topped with sizzling spring onion oil, a light soy dressing, chilli and crisp fried shallots. It is soft and savoury, and goes with rice and a stir-fried green. Each portion has about 150 kcal and roughly 10 g of protein, from the silken tofu, so it is a light dish rather than a high-protein one. The common mistake is turning the block out roughly so it cracks; slide it gently onto the plate. Chef's tip: pour off the water that gathers on the plate after steaming, or it thins the sauce.

15 min

Vietnamese Vegetarian

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Bánh phu thê (Đình Bảng 'husband and wife' cakes)Mung bean tapioca cakes

Bánh phu thê, also called bánh xu xê, comes from Đình Bảng in Bắc Ninh, and it is still part of the gifts a groom's family brings to a Vietnamese wedding, with its paired leaf boxes standing for husband and wife. The dough is tapioca starch cooked with sugar and fresh coconut shreds and tinted golden with gardenia seeds; it steams clear and chewy, almost like amber jelly, around a soft ball of mung bean paste, and the top is scattered with toasted sesame. Eat them the day they are made, with green tea. The cake is naturally egg-free: tapioca starch thickens and turns elastic when heated, so it wraps and holds the filling on its own. Small ramekins lined with banana leaf can stand in for folded leaf boxes. Chef's tip: the common mistake is not part-cooking the dough; stir it on the hob until half of it turns clear, or it runs out of the boxes in the steamer.

120 min

Vietnamese Desserts

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Bánh mì ốp la (Vietnamese fried eggs with baguette)

All over Saigon and Hanoi, street stalls serve bánh mì ốp la for breakfast: two or three eggs fried in a little iron pan, brought to the table sizzling, with a split baguette for scooping and a splash of dark seasoning sauce on top. The whites go lacy and crisp at the edges while the yolks stay soft, and the cucumber and chilli on the side keep it fresh. The usual mistake is frying the eggs on a fierce heat until the bottoms burn before the whites on top have set; a medium heat and a lid fix that. For pregnant people, young children, older or vulnerable people, cook the yolks until fully set. Chef's tip: warm the baguette in a hot oven for 3 minutes first so the crust shatters the way it does at the stall.

10 min

Vietnamese Breakfast & Brunch

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Tôm rim (caramelised prawns)

Tôm rim is a homely dish cooked in kitchens from Hanoi to the Mekong Delta and eaten at the family rice tray with boiled greens and a clear soup: prawns simmered down in fish sauce, sugar and shallot until the liquid turns to a sticky, salty-sweet glaze. The mistake is walking away in the last few minutes, when the sauce goes from glaze to burnt very quickly. Chef's tip: leave the shells on if your prawns are small, as many Vietnamese cooks do; they turn crisp and caramelised and add flavour.

20 min

Vietnamese Fish

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Bánh patê sôPork puff pastries

Bánh patê sô (from the French pâté chaud) are what Hanoi and Saigon bakeries pull out of the oven at dawn: round, flaky puff pastries with a juicy filling of seasoned pork mince, shallot, garlic, wood ear mushroom and plenty of black pepper. People eat them warm on the way to work with a glass of iced coffee, and boxes of them go to the family at Tết. The pastry shatters, the pork inside is savoury, slightly sweet and peppery. For a vegetarian version, swap the pork for crumbled firm tofu and chopped shiitake, seasoned with soy sauce instead of fish sauce. Warm pastry is the common mistake: it won't rise into layers, so keep the circles cold until they go in. Chef's tip: shape the filling into flattened balls a little smaller than you think, leaving a clear 1.5 cm rim to seal.

80 min

Vietnamese Snacks & Starters

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Bò lúc lắc (Vietnamese shaking beef)

Bò lúc lắc, shaking beef, is a Saigon dish from the French-influenced south, ordered at family dinners and celebrations: cubes of tender steak seared in a smoking pan and shaken with garlic and onion, then tipped over peppery watercress and tomato with a lime, salt and pepper dip. The mistake almost everyone makes is crowding the pan, which boils the meat grey instead of searing it; cook in two batches. Chef's tip: let the cubes sit untouched for a full minute before the first shake to build a dark crust.

25 min

Vietnamese Meat

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Chicharrón de pescadoCrisp fried fish chunks

Up and down the Peruvian coast, from Chorrillos in Lima to the beaches of Piura, chicharrón de pescado is the crunchy plate ordered alongside ceviche at a long seafood lunch: bite-size chunks of firm white fish marinated briefly in garlic and lime, dusted in flour and fried, then served with fried cassava, salsa criolla and tartar or rocoto sauce. Using frozen peeled cassava keeps it to half an hour. The common mistake is leaving the fish in the lime too long: after about ten minutes the acid starts to 'cook' the outside and the coating slips off. Chef's tip: toss the floured pieces in a sieve to shake off every bit of loose flour; a thin coat fries crisp, a thick one turns pasty.

30 min

Peruvian Fish

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