Back to Home
Discover · make-ahead + snack

47 recipes

Tap a chip to add another filter, or use Clear all below.

Gefilte Fish

Gefilte Fish

A mix of white-fleshed fish (carp, pike, whitefish, or a more modern blend of cod and haddock) is ground with grated onion, eggs, matzo meal and a little sugar, then formed into quenelles. The quenelles poach gently in a broth made from the fish skin, heads and bones with onion and carrot. After an hour they are lifted out and chilled overnight in the strained broth; some of the broth jellies as it cools, which is the point. Served cold, on a leaf of lettuce, with a generous spoon of horseradish.

Snacks 5 hours 45 minutes Serves8
Humitas

Humitas

The Andean-Chilean answer to the Mexican tamale, but unfilled - just sweet fresh corn intensified by being pulped, wrapped in its own husk, and steamed into tender parcels. You shuck fresh sweetcorn and save the husks in warm water to soften. Strip the kernels: half get pulsed to a coarse paste, half stay whole, and the two textures combine in the bowl. Onion softens in butter with paprika and salt, then folds through the corn. Two tablespoons of mixture spoon onto each softened husk, the sides fold in, the ends fold down, and a thin strip of husk ties the parcel closed. Steam for forty-five minutes until the corn has set. Served hot with a sprinkle of sugar (the savoury-sweet thing happens at the table) or with pebre alongside for a saltier finish.

Snacks 1 hour 20 minutes Serves6
Iraqi Falafel

Iraqi Falafel

Dried chickpeas soak in cold water 24 hours, the long soak hydrates them fully without cooking. Once drained, they are ground with onion, garlic, fresh coriander, parsley, dill, green chilli, cumin, coriander seed and ground cardamom to a coarse pale-green crumb. Bicarbonate of soda adds at the last minute for the open, fluffy interior. The mix chills for 30 minutes; small patties form; deep-fry at 175°C for 3 minutes until deep gold outside, fluffy and bright green inside. Eaten in warm samoon with the trimmings.

Snacks 25 hours 15 minutes Serves4
Jian Bing

Jian Bing

A thin batter of mung-bean flour, millet flour, plain flour, water, salt and five-spice is whisked to a single-cream consistency; rested for 1 hour. A wide flat griddle or large non-stick pan is heated; a ladle of batter is spread thinly with a wooden disc-rake (jian bing rake, or just rotate the pan to spread). An egg is cracked onto the crepe; smashed and spread with a spatula. The crepe is flipped; the cooked side is painted with sweet bean sauce and chilli paste; scattered with herbs; topped with a crisp wonton sheet; folded into quarters. Eaten warm, by hand.

Snacks 1 hour 35 minutes Serves4
Kachalou Pakora

Kachalou Pakora

Kachalou pakora are Afghan-style battered potato slices, fried crisp and dusted with chaat masala while they are still hot from the oil. The batter is chickpea flour (besan) with a touch of rice flour for crispness, water, salt, turmeric, ground coriander, chilli powder, ajwain seeds, crushed garlic and a pinch of baking soda. Ten minutes to rest so the chickpea flour hydrates and the batter clings properly. Potatoes slice into 3 mm rounds and salt briefly to draw out a little moisture. Each slice dips in the batter, lifts with chopsticks, drops into oil at 175°C, fries three minutes a side until amber. Drained, dusted with chaat masala, served with a quick mint-and-coriander chutney. Eat hot. Cold pakora are a different food entirely, and not in a good way.

Snacks 45 minutes Serves4
Keftedakia (Greek Mini Meatballs)

Keftedakia (Greek Mini Meatballs)

A grated onion (juice squeezed out) folds into beef-or-pork-and-beef mince with bread soaked in milk and squeezed dry, an egg, a generous amount of dried mint and oregano, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper. A tablespoon of ouzo or red wine adds depth. Mixture rests for 30 minutes (the flavours mingle, the bread fully absorbs). Rolls into walnut-sized balls, dusts in flour, pan-fries in olive oil 6-8 minutes turning often until deep brown and cooked through. Serves with tzatziki and lemon wedges.

Snacks 1 hour 10 minutes Serves6
Lo Bak Go

Lo Bak Go

Dried shrimp and dried shiitake soak in warm water until plump; the soaking water is reserved. Chinese sausage dices fine; shallots, soaked shrimp and shiitake chop separately. All these flavourings fry together in oil until aromatic. Grated daikon is added with the shiitake-shrimp soaking liquid; cooked for 10 minutes covered until softened. Rice flour whisks with cold water into a smooth slurry; pours into the daikon mixture; cooks for 2 minutes, stirring, until thickened into a batter. Tipped into a greased loaf tin; smoothed; steamed for 60 minutes in a wide pot. Cooled fully, refrigerated, then sliced 1 cm thick and pan-fried in oil until crusted gold on both sides. Served with chilli oil and a dipping sauce of light soy and rice vinegar.

Snacks 2 hours Serves8
Martabak Telur

Martabak Telur

A simple flour-water-oil dough rests for 1 hour (gluten relaxes; will roll paper-thin). Filling: beef mince cooks with shallot, garlic, ginger, curry-leaf, ground spices till dry and aromatic; cools; mixes with beaten eggs, spring onion and chopped coriander just before frying. Dough divides; each portion stretches paper-thin like a strudel; filling spoons in the centre; the edges fold over to make a flat square parcel; pan-fries for 3 minutes per side. Cuts in quarters; eats with chilli-pickle sauce.

Snacks 1 hour 55 minutes Serves4
Miang Kham

Miang Kham

The sauce (the technical heart of the dish) reduces palm sugar, fish sauce, tamarind paste, water, ginger and dried shrimp to a thick, glossy, dark amber syrup. The fillings, diced lime (skin and all), diced ginger, sliced shallot, chopped roasted peanuts, dried shrimp, small chilli, and toasted shredded coconut, are arrayed in small mounds on a serving platter. Fresh young betel leaves go alongside. Each diner takes a leaf, layers a tiny pinch of each filling, drops a quarter-teaspoon of the sauce on top, folds and pops the whole thing in one bite.

Snacks 40 minutes Serves4
Pasteis de Bacalhau

Pasteis de Bacalhau

These are the little salt-cod fritters you'd order at a marble counter in Lisbon, sitting with a glass of vinho verde while the bartender slides a plate across with no ceremony. The recipe itself is simple, dry mashed potato through flaked bacalhau with onion, garlic, parsley and egg, then a brief fry, but it does start the day before because the salt cod wants 24 to 36 hours of cold water soaks to draw the salt out. That step is the one thing you cannot shortcut. Once the cod is desalted, everything else is an afternoon's work: simmer the cod, flake it through warm potato, shape into the three-sided football "quenelles" that are the Portuguese signature, and fry until amber. Eat them warm with a wedge of lemon and a dish of piri-piri on the side.

Snacks 36 hours 55 minutes Serves6
Pork Pie

Pork Pie

Pork shoulder (uncured, fatty) and a small amount of bacon are chopped into 5 mm dice (not minced, the texture is key). Mixed with white pepper, mace, sage, salt and a touch of anchovy paste for umami. The hot-water-crust pastry: flour is mixed with hot water-and-lard mixture, kneaded warm into a pliable dough. Two-thirds of the dough lines a tall round tin (or is moulded freestanding around a glass jar); the filling is packed in tight; a lid of remaining dough is laid over the top with a 1 cm steam hole punched. Baked at 200°C for 30 min, then 160°C for another 60-75 min. Left to cool. A rich pork stock (made from trotters or with gelatin sheets) is poured through the steam hole while the pie is still warm. Refrigerated overnight to set the jelly. Sliced and eaten cold.

Snacks 3 hours 15 minutes Serves6
Sabich

Sabich

Aubergine slices salt, drain 30 min, pat dry, fry crispy in olive oil. Eggs hard-boil (or for the traditional Iraqi-Jewish version, slow-cook overnight in a hamin pot, the brown eggs become beigene). Israeli salad: cucumber, tomato, red onion, parsley, lemon, olive oil. Tahini whisks with lemon juice and water to a pourable sauce. Pita warms briefly. Build: hummus smears inside; aubergine slices layer; egg quarters; salad; tahini drizzle; amba spoon; parsley.

Snacks 40 minutes Serves4
Sfeeha Jordani

Sfeeha Jordani

A yeasted bread dough rises for 1 hour. Topping: lamb mince mixed RAW with grated onion (squeezed dry), diced tomato, garlic, baharat, allspice, pomegranate molasses, lemon, parsley and a small spoon of olive oil, no pre-cooking. Toasted pine nuts fold in. Dough divides into 18 balls; each rolls into an 8 cm disc with a slight raised rim. A heaped tablespoon of topping spreads on each; pinched into a slight 4-corner star shape (the Jordanian visual signature, distinguishes from the Lebanese version which is flat-edged). Baked at 220°C 10-12 minutes until the dough is gold and the meat is glossy-set. Garnished with extra parsley and pomegranate seeds.

Snacks 1 hour 52 minutes Serves6
← Prev Page 2 of 3 Next →