Table & Traditions Recipes, rituals & real meals
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Butter chicken in a rich tomato gravy, finished with cream and coriander

The Recipe Collection

Recipes from around the world

Browse 247 tested recipes by region, meal, diet, time or effort — or start with a quick pick below.

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Overhead view of a pale stoneware plate of huevos rancheros on weathered dark wood: two sunny-side-up eggs with bright orange yolks in a pool of brick-red salsa ranchera scattered with crumbled queso fresco and coriander, a patty of refried beans, fanned avocado slices and a lime wedge, with a brown clay mug of café de olla at the upper left.
Veg 30–60 min

Rural Mexico — the haciendas and ranchos of the central and northern states, now served from every fonda and almuerzo counter in the country, with Yucatán's huevos motuleños (Motul) as its best-known regional cousin · Mexican

Huevos Rancheros (Mexican Ranch-Style Eggs)

Mexico's great rural breakfast: sunny-side-up eggs on lightly fried corn tortillas, blanketed in a warm roasted salsa ranchera with refried beans and queso fresco — and the three small decisions that keep the tortillas crisp and the yolks runny.

EasyBreakfastMexican breakfast

No reviews yet

A paper-lined bowl of golden, caramelized kelewele cubes — spiced Ghanaian fried plantain with dark crisp edges — beside a small dish of roasted peanuts on a rustic wooden table in warm evening light.
Vegan Under 30 min

Ghana — the evening street stalls of Accra, Kumasi and Cape Coast, with fried-plantain cousins across Nigeria (dodo), Ivory Coast (aloco) and the wider West African coast · Ghanaian & West African

Kelewele (Ghanaian Spiced Fried Plantain)

Ghana's best-loved street snack: ripe plantain cubes tossed in fresh ginger, hot pepper, onion and warm spices, then fried until caramelized at the edges and soft as custard inside. Sweet, fiery and impossible to stop eating.

EasySnacksVegan

No reviews yet

A stack of pale golden alfajores de maicena, cornstarch shortbread sandwich cookies dusted with icing sugar and oozing thick dulce de leche between the discs, piled on a cream ceramic plate on a light wooden table, with a small bowl of dulce de leche and a steaming cup of coffee softly blurred in warm window light.
Veg 30–60 min

The Río de la Plata — Buenos Aires and the Argentine pampas, shared with Uruguay (and, in variant forms, Peru and Chile) · Argentine & Uruguayan

Alfajores de Maicena (Argentine Dulce de Leche Cornstarch Sandwich Cookies)

Two impossibly tender, cornstarch-rich shortbread rounds sandwiched with thick dulce de leche and rolled in coconut — the crumbly, melt-on-the-tongue cookie of Argentina, Uruguay and the wider Río de la Plata.

IntermediateSweetsMake-ahead

No reviews yet

A tall clear glass of Filipino halo-halo on a weathered wooden table, its layers of red beans, golden jackfruit and pink-and-cream shaved ice visible through the glass, topped with a spoonful of purple ube and toasted pinipig and a golden slice of leche flan, with a metal spoon and a small bowl of evaporated milk beside it in moody window light.
Veg Project

The Philippines — Manila and Luzon's dessert houses, with roots in the shaved-ice-and-beans stalls of early twentieth-century Manila · Filipino

Halo-Halo (Filipino Shaved Ice with Sweet Beans, Fruit, Leche Flan and Ube)

The Philippines' most beloved dessert: a tall glass of snow-fine shaved ice layered with sweetened beans, saba banana, jackfruit and coconut, drenched in evaporated milk and crowned with leche flan, ube halaya and ice cream. You are meant to mix it all together.

IntermediateSweetsFilipino dessert

No reviews yet

A smooth, glossy dome of pounded fufu on a dark plate beside a bowl of orange egusi soup studded with meat and greens, a wooden mortar and pestle blurred in the background on a rustic table.
Vegan 30–60 min

Ghana, among the Akan peoples of the Ashanti, Akuapem, Akyem, Bono and Fante — and, under other names, throughout Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Angola and the Congo basin · Ghanaian & West African

Fufu — West Africa's Pounded Cassava & Plantain Swallow

Boiled cassava and green plantain pounded in a mortar until every lump disappears, into the smooth, stretchy dough West and Central Africa tears off by hand and dips into soup. No pineapple, no shortcuts — just the technique that makes fufu fufu.

IntermediateSidesVegan

No reviews yet

Overhead view of a wide white bowl of pale, silky Cantonese congee on a dark weathered wooden table: glossy amber-brown wedges of century egg arranged in a rosette at the centre under a tuft of fine ginger julienne, with slices of pale pork, torn coriander leaves and green spring onion scattered across the porridge. A white ceramic soup spoon rests in the bowl, a silver spoon lies on the wood to the left, and to the right sit a small dish of golden fried youtiao sticks and a bowl of dark soy sauce.
30–60 min

Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta — the congee shops of Guangzhou, Shunde and Hong Kong, within a rice-porridge tradition shared across China and much of Asia · Chinese

Congee with Century Egg and Pork (皮蛋瘦肉粥)

The Cantonese breakfast bowl the rest of the world learned to love: rice simmered in twelve times its weight in water until the grains vanish into something silky and savoury, finished with century egg, slippery pork and a snowfall of ginger and spring onion.

EasyBreakfastOne pot

No reviews yet

Overhead shot of a two-handled terracotta bowl filled with thick, grainy, golden-orange Nigerian egusi soup, a bright slick of red palm oil streaking across its surface and a pile of glossy dark-braised beef chunks and wilted dark-green leaves heaped in the centre. On a dark blue-grey plate at the top left sits a smooth pale mound of pounded yam; pale cream egusi melon seeds and a long glossy red chilli are scattered across the weathered near-black wooden table, with an earthenware pot lid at the top right and a small bowl of ground crayfish at the bottom edge.
Project

Southern Nigeria — Yorubaland in the south-west and Igboland in the south-east — and, under other names, across Ghana, Benin, Togo, Cameroon and the Congo basin · Nigerian & West African

Egusi Soup — Nigeria's Melon-Seed Stew, Fried in Red Palm Oil

Ground melon seeds fried in red palm oil until they break into soft golden curds, then simmered with stockfish, crayfish and fermented locust bean into the thick, savoury, oil-slicked stew that anchors the Nigerian table. Eaten with your hands, with pounded yam or eba.

IntermediateMainsOne-pot

No reviews yet

A wide white ceramic plate of Thai mango sticky rice on a dark weathered wooden table, shot at a low three-quarter angle: a smooth domed mound of white coconut sticky rice heaped with crisp toasted yellow mung beans, thick pale salted coconut cream running down its side and pooling on the plate, and a cross-hatched cheek of deep golden nam dok mai mango fanned out beside it, with a silver spoon resting on the rim, a crumpled grey linen napkin at the left, and a whole ripe mango, green pandan and lemongrass stems and a grey bowl of coconut cream blurred in the background.
Vegan 30–60 min

Central Thailand — the coconut-and-mango belt of the Chao Phraya plain, from Bangkok's dessert shophouses out to the orchards of Chachoengsao and Nakhon Pathom · Thai

Mango Sticky Rice (Khao Niao Mamuang)

Thailand's hot-season dessert: glutinous rice steamed over water, then soaked while hot in sweet-salty coconut cream until every grain swells glossy, served with a ripe nam dok mai mango and a spoonful of salted coconut sauce over the top.

IntermediateSweetsNational dessert

No reviews yet

Overhead view of a stack of about eight freshly made corn tortillas in a round woven basket lined with a red-and-white striped cloth, their pale cream surfaces mottled with amber and dark brown comal blisters, on a weathered dark wood table with a cast-iron tortilla press at the upper left, small terracotta bowls of chunky red salsa and green salsa, a lime wedge and scattered dried corn kernels around them.
Vegan 30–60 min

Central and southern Mexico — the Michoacán highlands and the Valles Centrales of Oaxaca, the old heartland of the milpa, with the same bread eaten daily across Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras · Mexican

Corn Tortillas (Tortillas de Maíz)

The foundational bread of Mesoamerica: nixtamalized corn ground to a soft masa, pressed thin and cooked dry on a hot comal until it puffs into two paper-thin leaves — with both the 40-minute masa harina route and the overnight whole-corn one.

IntermediateBreadsThree ingredients

No reviews yet

A dark metal bowl lined with crumpled brown paper, heaped with about twenty glossy, deep-golden Nigerian puff puff balls, sitting on a weathered dark wooden table in warm side light. At the lower left one ball has been torn in half to show its soft, pale, airy interior; behind it sit a small wooden bowl of freshly grated nutmeg, a long metal rasp grater and three whole nutmegs. A tall glass of deep red hibiscus zobo stands at the top left and a grey linen cloth falls down the right-hand edge.
Vegan 30–60 min

Lagos and southern Nigeria — and, under a dozen other names, from Ghana and Togo through Cameroon to the Congo basin · Nigerian & West African

Puff Puff — West Africa's Yeasted, Nutmeg-Scented Fried Dough

Not a doughnut and not a fritter: puff puff is a wet, live, nutmeg-scented yeast batter squeezed from a fist straight into hot oil, where it blows up into a lacquered golden sphere with a stretchy, honeycombed inside. Nigeria's party snack, and West Africa's under a dozen other names.

EasySweetsDeep-fried

No reviews yet

Overhead view of a stack of four freshly griddled Malaysian roti canai on a round stainless steel plate, their edges layered and irregular and their pale surfaces blistered with dark golden-brown scorch marks, on a weathered dark wooden table with a small steel bowl of dark red sambal, a steel bowl of dhal with soft potato and carrot cubes, a lime wedge and a tall glass of pale orange teh tarik around them.
Veg Project

Peninsular Malaysia — the mamak stalls of Penang, Kuala Lumpur and the Klang Valley, with the same bread sold across the causeway in Singapore as roti prata · Malaysian

Roti Canai (Malaysian Mamak Flatbread with Kuah Dhal)

The flaky, layered flatbread of Malaysia's mamak stalls: a soft enriched dough rested overnight, stretched translucent and coiled, griddled in ghee until it shatters, then clapped between the palms to open its layers — served with a thin, fragrant kuah dhal.

AdvancedBreadsStreet food

No reviews yet

Overhead view of a Brazilian feijoada completa spread on a dark weathered wooden table — a wide black cast-iron pot brimming with glossy dark beans in a thick brown broth, studded with chunks of braised pork and scattered with chopped parsley, ringed by white bowls of fluffy white rice, dark sautéed collard greens, sandy toasted farofa crumbs, green beans, golden plantain chips and slices of orange, with a small bottle of pepper sauce and a rumpled linen cloth at the edge in warm natural light.
Project

Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais — the black-bean south-east of Brazil, where the *feijoada completa* table took its modern form · Brazilian

Feijoada Completa — Rio's Saturday Pot of Black Beans and Pork

Brazil's national dish is a long, patient pot of black beans and salted, smoked and fresh pork, eaten at lunchtime on a Saturday with rice, garlicky collards, farofa and sliced orange. Here is how the whole table comes together, and why each part of it is there.

IntermediateMainsSoak overnight

No reviews yet

Overhead view of a round terracotta dish of Senegalese chicken yassa on a dark wooden table — four charred bone-in drumsticks and thighs arranged around a heap of glossy golden braised onion strands studded with green olives and a whole red chilli, with a slate plate of whole and cut lemons, a bowl of pale broken rice and a small dish of sliced red onion alongside a rumpled linen cloth in warm side light.
Project

Casamance, southern Senegal — the Jola country below the Gambia river, and across the borders into the Gambia and Guinea-Bissau · Senegalese & Gambian

Chicken Yassa (Poulet Yassa) — Casamance's Lemon and Onion Braise

More onion than chicken, by weight — that is not a mistake, it is the recipe. Casamance's poulet yassa marinates chicken overnight in lemon, mustard and a mountain of sliced onions, chars it over fire, then braises it back down into a jammy, sour-sweet sauce.

IntermediateMainsMarinate overnight

No reviews yet

An overhead view of a round bamboo steamer basket holding nine Shanghai xiaolongbao arranged in a ring, each dumpling pleated into a tight twisted spiral at the top, faint steam rising from the basket; a small black dish of dark vinegar with fine ginger matchsticks and a pair of wooden chopsticks sit to the left and a pale cup of green tea to the right, on a dark weathered wooden table.
Project

Nanxiang, in Shanghai's western Jiading district — and the teahouse counters around Yu Garden that carried it into the city · Chinese

Xiaolongbao (Shanghai Soup Dumplings, the Nanxiang Way)

The dumpling that carries its own soup: chilled pork aspic folded into the filling, sealed inside a thin unleavened wrapper with eighteen pleats, and steamed until the jelly melts back into broth. Every part of the technique exists to protect that liquid.

AdvancedSnacksWeekend project

No reviews yet

Overhead view of freshly baked pastéis de nata on a pale marble counter, their flaky spiral pastry shells deep gold and their custard tops blistered with dark, almost black caramelised spots; one tart in the foreground is cut in half to show the smooth pale-yellow set custard and the thin layered shell, with a white cup of black espresso, a slim fork and two glass shakers of ground cinnamon and icing sugar alongside in warm side light.
Veg Project

Belém, Lisbon — the Jerónimos Monastery quarter on the Tagus, within Portugal's wider convent-sweet tradition · Portuguese

Pastéis de Nata (Portuguese Custard Tarts)

Lisbon's blistered custard tart — a spiral-rolled puff shell that shatters like glass, a flour-set egg-yolk custard scented with lemon peel and cinnamon rather than vanilla, and an oven turned as hot as it will go so the top scorches into dark, bitter-sweet freckles.

IntermediateSweetsBakery classic

No reviews yet

Overhead view of a whole grilled peri-peri chicken lying flat and splayed on a weathered dark grey wooden board: the skin lacquered a deep scarlet-mahogany and glossy, streaked with grill marks and blackened at the drumstick and wing tips. To the left a small brown ceramic bowl of thick red peri-peri sauce with a spoon standing in it, two glossy red bird's eye chillies, charred garlic bulbs and a scattered bay leaf; to the right a lemon wedge, a charred lemon half and a sprig of rosemary. A grey linen cloth runs down each side, a long brass spoon lies below the bird, and a dark plate of green salad with tomato and red onion sits in the lower right corner.
Project

The Mozambican coast and the Zambezi delta — Maputo, Quelimane and Ilha de Moçambique — with a parallel life in Angola, in South Africa, and in the churrasqueiras of Portugal's Algarve · Mozambican

Peri-Peri Chicken — Frango Piri-Piri, the Chilli That Sailed Both Ways

A butterflied chicken lacquered in African bird's eye chilli, garlic, lemon and paprika, grilled over coals and basted until the skin is scarlet and blistered. The dish belongs to Mozambique, Angola, Portugal and South Africa at once — here is the version they'd all recognise, and why the baste matters more than the marinade.

IntermediateMainsGrilled

No reviews yet

Overhead view of a round hammered copper tray of pistachio baklava on a white marble surface: about two dozen diamond-cut pieces with deep golden, syrup-glossed tops of ruffled paper-thin pastry, scattered unevenly with coarsely ground green pistachio, and two pieces at the front tipped onto their sides so the layered cross-section and the seam of nut through the middle are visible. A rumpled charcoal linen cloth lies to the left, a tall glass of amber tea sits at the top right, and a white cup and saucer, a small bowl of whole pistachios and a cup of dark tea are ranged down the right-hand side, with a few loose pistachios scattered on the marble.
Veg Project

Gaziantep, south-eastern Anatolia — with living traditions across Greece, the Levant, Armenia and the Balkans · Turkish

Baklava — Gaziantep Pistachio, Clarified Butter and Forty Sheets of Yufka

The best baklava is not the sweetest — it is the crispest. This is the Gaziantep way: a tray of tissue-thin pastry, ground green pistachio, clarified butter and a plain lemon-sharpened sugar syrup, cut before it bakes and drenched hot-on-cold so every layer shatters instead of sagging.

IntermediateSweetsMediterranean

No reviews yet

Overhead view of Jamaican jerk chicken on crumpled brown butcher paper over a wooden board: eight bone-in pieces with glossy mahogany skin blackened and blistered at the edges, scattered with sliced scallion and fresh thyme, a small dark bowl of thick red jerk sauce at the lower left, a mound of steamed white rice flecked with allspice and scallion at the right ringed by golden fried festival dumplings, lime wedges above and below the rice, and a long red chilli laid across the top corner of the dark wooden table.
Project

Portland parish, Jamaica — the Blue Mountain and John Crow interior of the Windward Maroons, and the roadside pits of Boston Bay · Jamaican

Jamaican Jerk Chicken — Pimento Smoke, Scotch Bonnet and the Maroons' Fire

Real jerk is not a sauce you brush on at the end. It is a wet pimento-and-Scotch-bonnet paste worked into slashes cut to the bone, then smoke-roasted slowly over allspice wood until the skin blisters black. Here is how to get genuinely close on a home grill — and why low heat, not high, is the whole trick.

IntermediateMainsGrilled

No reviews yet

Overhead view of a wide dark-glazed bowl of Taiwanese beef noodle soup on a weathered dark wooden table: deep red-brown broth holding chunks of glossy braised beef shank, a coil of pale wheat noodles, a segment of collapsing tomato and a sprig of coriander with sliced spring onion, flanked by two halves of blanched baby bok choy with bright green leaves and white stems. A small ceramic dish of chopped pickled mustard greens sits at the top left, a shallow bowl of red chilli oil at the bottom left, and a pair of wooden chopsticks lies on the wood to the right in warm, low natural light.
Project

Taiwan — born in the juancun military-dependents' villages around Gangshan in Kaohsiung, perfected in the noodle shops of Taipei · Taiwanese

Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup — Red-Braised Niu Rou Mian with Shank and Tendon

Taiwan's national bowl: beef shank and tendon braised for three hours in a dark, glossy broth built on fried chilli bean paste, caramelised rock sugar and tomato. The colour comes from frying the doubanjiang in oil, not from soy sauce — and that one step is the whole dish.

IntermediateMainsMake-ahead

No reviews yet

A white rectangular baking dish of South African bobotie on a dark wooden table, lit from the side: a smooth set turmeric-yellow egg custard scattered with toasted flaked almonds, two dark green bay leaves and a cinnamon stick standing upright in the centre, and the dark spiced mince visible where a corner has been served out. A square portion sits on a pale plate in the foreground showing both layers in cross-section, with a bowl of yellow raisin rice and a small dish of fruit chutney alongside.
Project

Cape Town and the Western Cape — the Cape Malay kitchens of the Bo-Kaap and the wider Cape · South African

Bobotie — Cape Malay Curried Mince with a Golden Egg Custard

South Africa's great baked dish: mildly curried mince sweetened with dried fruit, bound with milk-soaked bread, and finished under a thin turmeric-yellow custard with bay leaves standing in it. The two things that decide the outcome are the soaked bread and a loosely levelled top.

IntermediateMainsBaked

No reviews yet

Four golden-brown Chinese scallion pancakes on a dark round wooden board, the front one cut clean through to reveal dozens of thin separated flaky layers with green spring onion running between them, a torn piece resting on the rim of a small black bowl of dark soy-and-vinegar dipping sauce, sliced scallion rings scattered across the board and whole spring onion stalks and a pale linen cloth in the soft background.
Vegan Project

Shanghai and the lower Yangtze, drawing on the northern wheat belt of Shandong and Henan where the bing tradition began · Chinese

Cong You Bing — Chinese Scallion Pancakes with Shatteringly Flaky Layers

Flour, water, oil and spring onions, laminated like puff pastry and fried until the layers separate into flakes. The two things that decide the outcome are a half-boiling-water dough and an oil roux — not plain oil — between the sheets.

IntermediateBreadsVegan

No reviews yet

Four thick pale-gold arepas on a dark rustic wooden board, the one in front split open like a pocket and packed with shredded chicken and diced avocado reina pepiada filling, the others whole and showing their speckled griddled corn crusts, with two lime wedges, a small dark bowl of diced avocado, scattered coriander leaves and a rumpled linen cloth alongside in warm side light.
Vegan 30–60 min

The Andean valleys and Caribbean coast shared by Venezuela and Colombia — Timoto-Cuica, Cumanagoto and Muisca corn country · Venezuelan & Colombian

Arepas — Griddled Corn Cakes from Venezuela and Colombia

Three ingredients, four hundred years older than either country that argues over them: masarepa, warm water and salt, griddled to a crust and baked through until they sound hollow. The trick is that masarepa is pre-cooked corn flour and nothing else will do.

EasyBreadsNaturally gluten-free

No reviews yet

An overhead view of a deep white bowl heaped with freshly boiled pierogi ruskie, their thin pale dough glossy with butter and each half-moon showing a pinched, crimped seam, scattered with deep golden fried onion pieces, cracked black pepper and small fronds of dill, a spoonful of thick white sour cream nestled at one side of the bowl, a small dish of extra fried onions and two broken-open dumplings showing their pale potato and curd-cheese filling on the weathered grey wooden table alongside, with a soft grey linen cloth at the left edge.
Veg Project

Poland — eaten nationwide, but named for Ruś (Red Ruthenia), the historic borderland now split between south-eastern Poland and western Ukraine · Polish

Pierogi Ruskie (Polish Potato and Twaróg Dumplings)

Poland's most-loved pierogi: a hot-water dough rolled thin enough to see through, wrapped around floury potato, tangy twaróg curd cheese and onions fried slowly to deep gold — boiled, buttered, and eaten under a spoonful of sour cream.

IntermediateMainsMake-ahead

No reviews yet

A wire cooling rack of freshly baked Hong Kong egg tarts on dark wood, their fluted golden shortcrust shells holding smooth, glassy pale-gold custard with no browning on top, one tart tipped on its side to show the thin crisp pastry base and the clean set of the filling, with a glass cup of dark Hong Kong milk tea and a scattering of loose tart tins behind.
Veg Project

Hong Kong — the cha chaan teng and bing sutt bakeries of Central, Wan Chai and Kowloon, with roots in 1920s Guangzhou · Hong Kong

Hong Kong Egg Tarts (Daan Taat)

The glassy, wobble-free custard tart of Hong Kong's cha chaan teng — a short, biscuity butter crust, a filling of whole eggs and evaporated milk strained twice until it sets clear, and a two-stage bake that browns the pastry before the custard ever has a chance to soufflé.

IntermediateSweetsBakery classic

No reviews yet

A wide communal platter of Senegalese thieboudienne: an orange-red bed of broken rice topped with browned bone-in fish steaks stuffed with green parsley rof, surrounded by batons of cassava, carrot, wedges of cabbage, sweet potato rounds and whole okra, with lime wedges and salted onion rings scattered over.
Project

Saint-Louis and the Atlantic coast of Senegal — now cooked nationwide, from Dakar to the Casamance · Senegalese

Thieboudienne (Ceebu Jën) — Senegalese Fish and Broken Rice

Senegal's national dish and UNESCO-listed culinary art: whole fish stuffed with a pounded parsley-and-garlic rof, fried, then simmered with cassava, cabbage and carrot in a long-fried tomato base — and broken rice steamed in that broth until every grain drinks it up.

IntermediateMainsOne-pot

No reviews yet

A wide white bowl of spicy vegan miso ramen with a pale, creamy, frothed sesame-oat broth. Toppings are composed in distinct zones: a blistered charred tomato half at the left, two crisp lacy lotus-root chips standing behind, a large fanned cluster of roasted maitake mushroom at the right, a bright-green okra pod split lengthwise to show its seeds standing upright in the centre, a small nest of fine red-brown thread chili, dark greens, a dusting of smoky spice fanned across the near edge of the broth, flecks of yellow yuzu zest, and a ribbon of dark chili oil — on a wooden table.
Vegan 30–60 min

Tokyo, Japan (teamLab Planets, Toyosu) · Japanese

Spicy Vegan Miso Ramen (Vegan Ramen UZU–Style)

A home tribute to the spicy vegan miso ramen at teamLab's Vegan Ramen UZU in Tokyo: a kombu-and-shiitake dashi whisked with oat milk into a pale, creamy broth, a sesame-miso-doubanjiang tare, and a composed plate of real vegetables — charred tomato, a fanned roasted maitake, crisp lotus chips, split okra, thread chili, and a whisper of yuzu. No fake meat, all umami.

IntermediateMainsNoodles

No reviews yet