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501 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 minJamaicanDessertsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Tmar mehchi (Moroccan almond-stuffed dates)

Tmar mehchi is the stuffed date of Fez and Marrakech, piled high on silver trays at weddings, engagements and Eid, and offered to guests with mint tea. Soft dates are filled with a homemade almond paste perfumed with orange-blossom water, often tinted pale green or pink to match the celebration, then scored with a knife so the filling shows. They are soft, rich and caramel-sweet, with a floral, nutty middle. The paste here is mixed from ground almonds and icing sugar, so there is no shop marzipan, which can contain egg white. It is naturally egg-free: the dates' sticky flesh and a few spoonfuls of orange-blossom water bind the almond filling. Chef's tip: add the orange-blossom water a little at a time and stop when the paste is firm like play dough. The common mistake is a wet paste, which oozes out and makes the dates slippery.

30 minMoroccanDessertsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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 minJamaicanBakingVegan
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

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 minJamaicanBakingVegan
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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 minJamaicanMeat
by KrazyBadal 0 views

پشاوری آئس کریم (Peshawari ice cream)Cardamom pistachio ice cream

In the Qissa Khwani bazaar of Peshawar, ice-cream sellers spin a tall metal drum inside a tub of crushed ice and salt, scraping the freezing milk off the walls with a long paddle until it turns thick, stretchy and pale. It is a summer evening treat, eaten from small bowls after dinner or late at night when the streets cool down, and often topped with a spoonful of falooda vermicelli or more chopped pistachio. The flavour is simple: slowly reduced milk, green cardamom and a little rose. This version has no eggs and no custard: a cornflour slurry cooked into the milk thickens it the way yolks would, and the starch holds on to water so ice crystals stay small and the texture stays smooth, while milk powder adds body without extra fat. You can churn it in a machine or still-freeze it in a tray and stir it every 45 minutes. Chef's tip: the common mistake is churning a warm base; chill it until it is fridge-cold right through, or it will turn icy instead of silky.

300 minPakistaniDessertsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Pheni (layered fried vermicelli nests in sweet milk)

In Lahore and Karachi during Ramadan, sweet shops stack golden nests of pheni in towers, and families buy them to eat at sehri, the meal before dawn. The fine, brittle strands are crumbled into a bowl and drenched with hot sweetened milk, which softens them in a minute into something like a silky vermicelli pudding; it keeps you full through the fasting day. Shop pheni is pulled into hair-thin threads by skilled hands, so at home this recipe uses the layered method: thin sheets of dough are brushed with a ghee and rice-flour paste, rolled and sliced, and the paste makes the layers fan out into fine flaky rings when fried. They are crisp, buttery and delicate. It is naturally egg-free: the dough is just flour, ghee and water, and the rice-flour paste keeps the layers separate. Chef's tip: fry the nests in oil that is only moderately hot, about 160°C; oil that is too hot is the common mistake that browns the outside while the inner layers stay soft and doughy.

90 minPakistaniIndian Sweets
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

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

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 minJamaicanDessertsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Shimla mirch alooPepper and potato stir-fry

Shimla mirch aloo is everyday Punjabi home cooking from both sides of the border, the sabzi that fills a lunchbox paratha or sits next to dal on a weeknight in Rawalpindi. Potato cubes go soft and golden first, then strips of green pepper are tossed in just long enough to soften while keeping a little bite, all held together by a dry tomato-chilli masala. The classic mistake is adding the peppers with the potatoes: they collapse, turn khaki and lose their fresh, slightly bitter flavour. Chef's tip: a pinch of amchur at the end lifts the whole pan without adding any extra liquid.

25 minPakistaniVegetarianVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Tallarines rojosSpaghetti in red sauce with chicken

Tallarines rojos is the Sunday-lunch and weeknight pasta of homes all over Peru, from Lima to Arequipa: spaghetti in a sweet, deep-red sauce of blended tomato, onion and garlic with a little ají panca and oregano, often with pieces of chicken cooked right in it. Children love it, and it is served with a sprinkle of grated cheese and sometimes a spoon of huancaína on the side. The usual mistake is cooking the sauce too briefly, so it tastes of raw onion; let the blended tomato fry until it darkens and the oil shows at the edges. Chef's tip: a bay leaf and a spoon of ají panca paste give the sauce its Peruvian character; paprika will do if you can't find the paste.

30 minPeruvianPasta & Noodles
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Aloo bainganPotato and aubergine

From Multan to Hyderabad in Sindh, aloo baingan is the humble pairing that makes a summer glut of aubergines go a long way: potatoes give body, aubergine melts into a jammy, smoky-sweet tomato masala. It is eaten with chapati at dinner, often next to a bowl of daal and some sliced onion. The most common mistake is stirring hard once the aubergine softens, which mashes everything into a grey purée; fold it gently and let the pan do the work. Chef's tip: give the aubergine a few minutes on its own in the hot oil before the masala goes in, so its edges catch and brown.

30 minPakistaniVegetarianVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Pejerrey arrebozadoBattered fish fillets with onion salsa

Pejerrey arrebozado is a Lima classic from the cevicherías and home kitchens of the coast, eaten at lunch on a plate with white rice, a heap of sharp salsa criolla and sometimes boiled potato. The pejerrey, a small silverside, is opened into butterflied fillets, dipped in a light egg-and-flour batter and fried golden. Outside Peru, use small fillets of whiting, sole, haddock or tilapia. The batter here uses sparkling water, not beer, so it is alcohol free. The common mistake is frying in oil that isn't hot enough: the batter drinks the oil and turns greasy, so test with a drop of batter first. Chef's tip: make the salsa criolla first and let the onion sit in lime for ten minutes; it softens its bite and turns a pretty pink.

25 minPeruvianFish
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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 minPeruvianFish
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Aloo palakPotato and spinach

In Lahore and the villages of Pakistani Punjab, aloo palak is the dish that turns up on a weekday when the spinach at the sabzi stall looks good and nobody has time for a long curry. Small cubes of potato cook in a garlicky cumin masala, then a mountain of chopped spinach wilts down over them into a soft, dark green coat. Eat it with hot chapati or plain rice and a spoon of yogurt on the side. The usual mistake is cutting the potatoes too big: they are still hard when the spinach is done, and by the time they soften the greens have gone grey. Chef's tip: keep the lid off once the spinach goes in, so the water cooks away and the leaves stay bright.

30 minPakistaniVegetarianVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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 minJamaicanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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 minJamaicanSnacks & StartersSpicy
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Moroccan bachkoutouOrange and sesame dunking biscuits

Moroccan grandmothers bake bachkoutou by the trayful and keep them in big tins for the afternoon glass of sweet mint tea, and neighbourhood ovens in Fes and Casablanca bake them for families who bring their dough. These are dry, crunchy little biscuits, not rich at all, made with eggs, sugar and oil rather than butter, with orange zest and a coating of toasted sesame; they are meant to be dunked until they soften slightly. Shapes vary from town to town: fingers, rings and rope twists are all common, and some cooks add aniseed. Too much flour is the easy mistake: the dough should stay soft and slightly sticky, or the biscuits bake heavy and hard rather than crisp and light. Chef's tip: once they are cold, put them back in a warm, switched-off oven for 20 minutes; that extra drying is what makes them keep their snap for weeks.

38 minMoroccanBaking
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Qeema matarMinced meat and pea curry

In Lahore and across Pakistani Punjab, qeema matar is the mince dish that appears on a Tuesday when nobody has time for a slow salan: minced mutton or beef browned hard, cooked down with tomato, ginger and garlic, then studded with sweet green peas. It is dry enough to scoop with a hot roti or paratha, with a little sliced onion and lemon on the side. The usual mistake is adding the tomatoes before the mince has lost its raw, wet look, which leaves it boiled and grey instead of rich and brown. Chef's tip: break the mince up with the back of a spoon while it fries, so it cooks into fine crumbs rather than lumps.

30 minPakistaniMeatGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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 minJamaicanFishGluten freeSpicy
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Pan chutaAniseed round bread

The small town of Oropesa, half an hour from Cusco, calls itself Peru's bread capital, and its wood-fired bakeries are famous for chuta: big, flat, round loaves as wide as a dinner plate, glossy on top, with a faint sweetness and the warmth of aniseed. Travellers on the road to Puno and Bolivia stop to buy them by the bagful, and families bring them home for All Saints' Day and for sharing with hot coca tea or coffee, fresh cheese and butter. The bakeries traditionally use lard; this version uses vegetable shortening and butter, so it is vegetarian. The make-or-break moment is the proof: chuta is large and flat, and if it goes in under-risen it bakes dense and splits at the rim. Chef's tip: toast the aniseed for a minute in a dry pan and crush it lightly before adding, for a rounder, sweeter perfume.

240 minPeruvianBreads & Parathas
by KrazyBadal 0 views

ChaplasHollow puffed Andean bread

Walk through Ayacucho's central market at seven in the morning and you will see women selling stacks of chaplas from cloth-lined baskets, still warm from the wood-fired ovens of the Andes. These round wheat breads puff up like pita in the fierce heat, leaving a hollow pocket inside a thin, soft, lightly floury crust. In Ayacucho and Huancavelica they are eaten with sweet coffee or hot emoliente for breakfast, or split and filled with queso fresco, avocado or a spoonful of rocoto sauce. Highland bakers traditionally work in a little lard; vegetable shortening gives the same tenderness and keeps the bread vegan. A cool baking tray is the reason chaplas stay flat, so preheat it thoroughly. Chef's tip: let the rolled rounds rest before baking and flip them upside down onto the tray, so the smooth, dry side meets the heat first and the pocket opens evenly.

149 minPeruvianBreads & ParathasVegan
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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