Skip to content
Recipes

All recipes

Vegetarian, or something you can't eat? Set your diet once and we'll hide recipes that don't fit.

MsemenFlaky square pancakes

Msemen are the square, layered flatbreads sold hot from griddles in every Moroccan medina at breakfast time and again for afternoon tea, when they are drizzled with honey or dipped in olive oil. The dough is stretched paper-thin on an oiled surface, sprinkled with fine semolina, folded into a square and cooked until crisp outside and flaky in the middle. This version uses oil throughout so it is vegan; many homes use butter or smen. Chef's tip: oil your hands and work surface generously; the dough should be stretched, not rolled, and it tears if it sticks.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Niislel saladPotato and egg salad

Niislel means 'capital', and this creamy salad is the one served across Ulaanbaatar at Tsagaan Sar (Lunar New Year), birthdays and in every canteen. It descends from the Russian Olivier salad of the Soviet era, made Mongolian with plenty of cucumber and sometimes apple; it usually includes ham or sausage, left out here and replaced with extra egg. It's cool and comforting next to hot buuz (dumplings) or tsuivan. Chef's tip: cut everything into small, even cubes the size of a pea; that uniform dice is what makes it niislel and not just potato salad.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Olluquito con charquiOlluco and dried beef stew

Olluco is a glossy yellow-and-pink tuber grown high in the Andes, crunchy when raw and silky when cooked, and in Lima's market eateries it is cut into fine matchsticks and stewed with charqui, sun-dried meat that was the travel food of Inca messengers. The dish is gently spiced with ají panca and finished with fresh parsley, and it is always served with white rice. Latin shops sell olluco in jars; if you can't find it, firm new potatoes or courgette give a similar texture, and beef brisket stands in well for charqui. Chef's tip: cut the olluco and rinse it well; the slippery sap washes off and the stew won't turn slimy.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Öröm with breadClotted cream on bread

In Mongolian summer, when the herds are milked several times a day, families on the steppe gently heat fresh milk in a wide pan, ladling and pouring it back to froth it, then leave it overnight. By morning a thick, wrinkled, pale-gold skin of cream has formed: öröm. Lifted off and folded, it's spread on boortsog (fried dough) or bread with a sprinkle of sugar and eaten with milk tea. It's rich, slightly nutty and very simple. Chef's tip: use the widest, heaviest pan you own and the lowest possible heat; öröm needs a large surface and patience, not boiling.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Pachamanca a la ollaPot-steamed meats with potatoes

In the highlands around Huancayo and Ayacucho, families mark harvests and saints' days by burying marinated meats, potatoes, sweet potatoes, broad beans and humitas under hot stones and earth for a pachamanca, an 'earth pot'. City cooks get close to it with a heavy pot: the same green marinade of huacatay (black mint), chincho, ají and garlic, layered with meats and roots and steamed in their own juices under banana or corn leaves. Chef's tip: layer the hardest things lowest, potatoes on the bottom and chicken nearest the lid, just as the stones are packed in the field.

135 minPeruvianMeatGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Panqueques con dulce de lecheCrêpes with dulce de leche

In Argentina and Uruguay, panqueques are not fluffy American pancakes but thin crêpes, and the classic way to eat them is rolled around dulce de leche, often as the dessert at a neighbourhood parrilla or on a rainy Sunday afternoon at home. Some restaurants sprinkle them with sugar and caramelise the top with a hot iron; at home a dusting of sugar is enough. Chef's tip: rest the batter for 20 minutes so the flour relaxes and the crêpes come out thin and tender rather than rubbery.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Papa a la huancaínaPotatoes in spicy cheese sauce

Papa a la huancaína is named after Huancayo in Peru's central Andes, but it is eaten everywhere, from Lima's set-lunch counters to Sunday family tables. Thick slices of cold boiled potato are blanketed in huancaína sauce, a silky, mildly hot sauce of ají amarillo, fresh cheese and evaporated milk, then finished with boiled egg and black olives. It is served cold as a starter, and the sauce is also the favourite dip for boiled corn and fried yuca. Use a queso fresco made with vegetarian rennet if you want it fully vegetarian (or a mild feta rinsed of salt). Chef's tip: fry the chillies, onion and garlic before blending; this takes off their raw edge and gives the sauce its rounded, sweet heat.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Pastel mandi'oCassava turnovers with beef

Pastel mandi'o are the golden half-moons sold at bus stations and street stalls all over Paraguay, especially in Asunción and around Holy Week: a soft dough of cooked cassava (mandi'o in Guaraní) and a little corn flour, wrapped round minced beef with onion, pepper, boiled egg and cumin, then fried. The mistake is a wet cassava dough that sticks and tears; drain the cassava well and add starch until it is smooth and pliable. Chef's tip: shape them between two sheets of cling film, which stops the soft dough sticking to the worktop.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

PicaronesSweet potato and squash doughnuts

Picarones are Lima's favourite street sweet, fried to order at stalls in the parks and outside churches, especially in October during the Señor de los Milagros processions. The light, chewy rings are made from a yeasted dough of sweet potato and squash, scented with anise, fried until crisp and drenched in miel de chancaca, a dark syrup of unrefined cane sugar with orange peel, cinnamon and cloves. They are eaten hot, straight from the oil, with plenty of syrup. Chancaca is sold in Latin shops; dark muscovado or piloncillo makes a very good syrup too. Chef's tip: the dough should be very soft and sticky, like a thick batter; resist adding more flour, or the picarones turn heavy and bready.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Pollo a la brasaRoast chicken with green chilli sauce

Born in the 1950s in Chaclacayo, just east of Lima, this rotisserie chicken has grown into a national obsession, with its own holiday on the third Sunday of July and a pollería on almost every block. The bird is marinated in soy sauce, lime, garlic, cumin and ají panca, then roasted until the skin is lacquered and dark. At home a hot oven does the job, and the meal is not complete without chips, a simple salad and a jar of creamy green ají sauce. Chef's tip: dry the skin well and leave the chicken uncovered in the fridge overnight after marinating; it roasts up much crisper.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

ProvoletaGrilled provolone with oregano

Provoleta is the first thing off the grill at an Argentine asado: a thick round of provolone-style cheese, invented by Italian immigrants in Buenos Aires, cooked in a small iron pan or straight on the grate until the outside forms a golden crust and the inside turns molten. It comes to the table bubbling, sprinkled with oregano and chilli flakes and drizzled with chimichurri, to scoop up with crusty bread. Many provolones use animal rennet, so check the label and choose one made with vegetarian rennet. Chef's tip: chill the cheese well before cooking; cold cheese forms a crust before the middle melts and runs.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

QuinottoCreamy quinoa with mushrooms

Quinotto is quinoa cooked like a risotto, a dish from the new Andean cooking of Cusco and Lima that marries Italian technique with the grain of the high Andes. Quinoa is toasted with onion and garlic, simmered in stock with white wine, then finished with mushrooms, butter, cream and grated cheese until creamy and loose. It has a pleasant pop and nutty flavour that rice never has, and a gentle warmth from ají amarillo. Serve it as a main with a green salad. Use a hard cheese made with vegetarian rennet. Chef's tip: quinoa has little starch, so the creaminess comes at the end; stir in the butter, cheese and cream off the heat and serve straight away while it still flows.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Rocoto rellenoStuffed rocoto peppers

Rocoto relleno is the pride of Arequipa's picanterías: fiery rocoto peppers stuffed with a sweet-savoury filling, topped with cheese and baked over sliced potato in an egg and milk custard. The traditional filling is minced beef; this vegetarian version uses mushrooms and lentils fried with ají panca, cumin, peanuts, raisins, olives and boiled egg, which gives the same rich, spiced, slightly sweet bite. The peppers are first blanched several times in fresh water with sugar and vinegar to tame their heat, which is the real skill of the dish. If you can't find rocotos, use small red bell peppers and add a little habanero to the filling. Chef's tip: taste a sliver of rocoto after the second blanching; stop when it is hot but pleasant, and blanch once more if it still burns.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

SeffaSweet steamed vermicelli

Seffa comes from the old medina of Fez, where it is carried out at the end of wedding feasts and served for breakfast after a baby's naming day: a mountain of fine steamed vermicelli tossed with butter, then decorated with lines of cinnamon, icing sugar and crushed almonds. The noodles are steamed rather than boiled, so they stay soft and separate rather than sticky. Each person eats from their side of the cone, often with a glass of cold milk. Chef's tip: steam the vermicelli in short bursts and fork it apart between each one; a single long steaming leaves it clumped.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

SellouToasted flour and almond sweet

Sellou (also called sfouf or zmita) is made in big batches across Morocco for Ramadan, for new mothers and for Eid, and is served in a mound beside mint tea. Flour is toasted slowly in a dry pan until it turns the colour of sand and smells like biscuits, then mixed with ground toasted almonds and sesame, anise, cinnamon, butter and honey. The result is a crumbly, nutty, not-too-sweet sweet that you eat by the spoonful, or press into balls. It keeps for weeks. Chef's tip: toast the flour patiently over a low heat and keep it moving; scorched flour tastes bitter and the whole batch is lost.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Seven-vegetable couscous (bidaoui)Couscous with seven vegetables

In Casablanca, Friday lunch after midday prayers means couscous bidaoui, the city's own version piled with seven vegetables, from pumpkin and turnip to cabbage and carrot. Families eat it from one great dish, each person working on their own corner of the mound, with extra broth ladled on as they go. The grains are steamed twice over the simmering broth so they swell into separate, fluffy beads that soak up the flavour without turning soggy. This vegetarian version builds the broth from onion, tomato, saffron and chickpeas, so it is rich enough without meat. Chef's tip: rub the couscous between your palms after each steaming to break up every clump; that is what makes it light.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

SolteritoBroad bean, corn and cheese salad

Solterito, the 'little bachelor', is a cold salad from Arequipa in southern Peru, so called because it was simple enough for a single man to make. Broad beans, sweet corn, fresh cheese, tomato and red onion are tossed with black olives, parsley and a little rocoto chilli in an oil and vinegar dressing. It is eaten with the spicy dishes of Arequipa's picanterías, or on its own as a light lunch. Rocoto is a fat, fiery red chilli; a red pepper with a little habanero gives a similar crunch and heat. Use queso fresco made with vegetarian rennet. Chef's tip: peel the broad beans after blanching; the pale skins are tough and the bright green beans inside make the salad sweet and tender.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

So'o yosopyGround beef and rice soup

So'o yosopy, "pounded meat" in Guaraní, is a soup Paraguayans make for anyone who is tired or recovering, and on cold days in Asunción's winter: beef is ground very finely and stirred into cold water so it breaks into soft, delicate threads, then simmered with onion, tomato, pepper and a little rice and oregano. The texture is smooth and the broth light. The mistake is adding the beef to boiling water, which makes it clump into meatballs; mix it into cold water first and stir as it heats. Chef's tip: ask the butcher to mince lean beef twice, or pulse it very fine in a food processor.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Sopa de quinuaQuinoa and vegetable soup

Sopa de quinua is everyday food in the Andes, from Puno on Lake Titicaca to Cusco and Huancayo, where quinoa has been grown for thousands of years. Quinoa, potato, carrot and corn simmer in a light broth seasoned with garlic, cumin, oregano and a little ají amarillo, and the potato breaks down slightly to give body. It is light yet filling, the soup families eat at midday to warm up in cold mountain air. In Peru it is finished with huacatay, the black mint of the Andes; a mix of mint and coriander stands in well. Chef's tip: rinse the quinoa in a sieve under running water, rubbing it, until the water stops foaming; the natural saponin coating tastes bitter and soapy.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Suspiro limeñaCaramel custard with port meringue

Suspiro a la limeña, 'the sigh of a Lima woman', is the city's grand dessert from colonial times, said to have been named by the poet José Gálvez for its sweetness. A thick manjar blanco, milk slowly cooked down to a silky caramel cream and enriched with egg yolks, is topped with a cloud of glossy Italian meringue flavoured with port and dusted with cinnamon. It is very sweet and very rich, so serve it in small glasses. Make it in the morning for the evening. Chef's tip: the manjar is ready when a spoon dragged across the bottom of the pan leaves a clear path for a moment; undercooked, it stays runny and the meringue sinks into it.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

TacachoMashed roasted green plantain balls

Tacacho is the breakfast of the Peruvian Amazon, from Tarapoto to Iquitos: green plantains roasted over coals, mashed with fat and salt and shaped into balls. There it comes with cecina (smoked pork) and is mashed with lard and crackling; this vegan tacacho uses good oil and a pinch of smoked paprika for the same savoury, smoky depth. The balls are dense, chewy and starchy, crisp at the edges where the plantain charred, and they are eaten hot with a fiery chilli sauce or alongside stews. Use plantains that are fully green and firm. Chef's tip: mash the plantains while they are still very hot; as green plantain cools its starch sets and it won't bind into a smooth ball.

by KrazyBadal 1 views

Tacu tacuPan-fried beans and rice cake

Tacu tacu was born in the Afro-Peruvian kitchens of Lima, as a thrifty way to turn yesterday's beans and rice into something new; today it appears on the menus of smart criollo restaurants too. Mashed canario beans and rice are fried with garlic, onion and ají amarillo, then shaped in the pan into a long, crisp-edged cake, soft inside and golden outside. It is a hearty lunch for two with a sharp salsa criolla of onion and lime, and often a fried ripe plantain on the side. Canario beans are pale yellow and creamy; pinto or cannellini beans work well. Chef's tip: use cold, day-old rice and beans; warm, freshly cooked ones are too soft to hold their shape and the tacu tacu falls apart.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

TaktoukaRoasted pepper and tomato salad

Taktouka is the pepper partner to zaalouk, served side by side on the salad plates of Moroccan homes and cafés, especially around Casablanca and the north. Grilled green peppers are peeled and cooked down with tomato, garlic and cumin until soft and jammy, then eaten lukewarm with bread or as a side to tagines and grilled vegetables. It is cheap, quick and keeps for three days in the fridge. Chef's tip: use the thin-skinned, slightly bitter green peppers if you can find them; they give a more authentic flavour than sweet bell peppers.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Tallarín saltadoStir-fried noodles with vegetables

Tallarín saltado is the noodle cousin of lomo saltado, a chifa favourite from Lima where Chinese wok technique meets Peruvian ingredients. Spaghetti-style wheat noodles are tossed over a fierce heat with mushrooms, pak choi, red onion, tomato, ginger and ají amarillo, then glossed with soy sauce and a splash of vinegar. The noodles soak up the smoky, tangy sauce while the vegetables stay crisp. Peruvians use plain spaghetti from the shop on the corner, and so can you. Chef's tip: cook the noodles a minute short of the packet time and rinse them in cold water; they finish cooking in the wok and won't turn soft or clump.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Showing 24 of 413 recipes

Show more recipes

Page 16 of 18