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28 recipes

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Aroog

Aroog

Fine bulgur (#1 grade) soaks in hot water until soft and fluffy. Lamb or beef mince mixes with the bulgur, grated onion, lots of chopped parsley and coriander, ground baharat, cumin and a pinch of cinnamon. The mixture should be soft enough to spread, if it's too dry the aroog crumble. Small portions press onto a hot oiled pan and flatten to 1 cm thick discs; cook for 4-5 minutes per side over medium heat until deeply browned and the meat is just cooked through. Lift, drain briefly, eat hot with lemon and yoghurt.

Snacks 1 hour 20 minutes Serves4
Conch Fritters

Conch Fritters

The Bahamian fish-shack starter that every visitor to Nassau or the Out Islands ends up trying within a day of arrival. You pound the conch briefly to tenderise it, then chop it fine and mix with diced onion, green and red pepper, celery, fresh chilli and herbs. A thick batter of flour, baking powder, milk and egg binds the lot into a holdable spoonful. Drop golf-ball-sized scoops into hot oil and fry until they're deep gold and crisp at the edges. The pink dipping sauce comes together in thirty seconds (mayo, ketchup, hot sauce, a squeeze of lime) and is half the reason anyone orders fritters in the first place. Eaten standing up at a beachside hut with a cold beer or a glass of sky juice, lime wedges on the side, the sea twenty feet away.

Bahamian 45 minutes Serves4
Cracked Conch

Cracked Conch

The Bahamas' fried-fish answer to the seafood basket, the dish you'll find on every island fish-fry menu from Arawak Cay to Spanish Wells. You pound cleaned conch between sheets of cling film with a meat mallet until it's thin and tender (the cracking is literal - the muscle fibres have to break before the conch is anything you'd want to eat), then season it well, dip in seasoned flour and a beaten-egg batter, and shallow- or deep-fry until golden and crisp at the edges. The flesh inside stays sweet and just-tender, with the same chew that prawns have at their best. Served with fat lime wedges to squeeze over, a citrus-cabbage slaw to cut the richness, and whatever peppered hot sauce the cook keeps on the shelf for it. Cold beer alongside; an afternoon at the beach already half over.

Bahamian 40 minutes Serves4
Jamaican Curry Chicken Wings

Jamaican Curry Chicken Wings

Buttermilk-fried wings in the American Southern tradition, with a Caribbean accent twice over: Jamaican curry powder folded into both the marinade and the dredge, and a pinch of allspice in the breading. The flavour is warm and earthy rather than sharp, turmeric and allspice are the dominant notes, with Creole Cajun seasoning bridging the Caribbean and Louisiana sides of the dish. The cornstarch in the dredge is the technical move; mixing flour with about 15% cornstarch produces a thinner, crisper, more crackly crust than flour alone, the same trick Korean fried chicken uses. The buttermilk overnight brine tenderises and lets the flavour penetrate down to the bone. Smell out of the fryer is curry powder hitting hot oil. Not difficult but you need patience: 6-hour marinade minimum, careful oil temperature management (165°C / 330°F is lower than typical fried chicken; the wings need long enough to cook through to the bone before the crust browns). A clear example of cross-pollination between Jamaican kitchens and the American South.

Jamaican 6 hours 45 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
Lablabi

Lablabi

Chickpeas (pre-soaked overnight and slow-cooked, OR tinned for speed) simmer in their cooking water with crushed garlic, cumin, salt and a spoon of harissa for 20 minutes. The broth thickens slightly as a few chickpeas break down. Deep bowls are loaded with torn stale baguette. The hot broth ladles over to soften the bread. Each bowl is topped with a soft-poached or soft-boiled egg, a drizzle of olive oil, lemon juice, a fresh spoon of harissa, a heap of canned tuna, olives, capers and a sprinkle of cumin.

North African 45 minutes Serves4
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
Moin Moin

Moin Moin

Dried black-eyed beans soak briefly to loosen the skins. The skins rub off; the beans soak more to soften. They blend smooth with red pepper, onion, Scotch bonnet and a little water into a thick batter. Palm oil whisks in. Ground crayfish, a stock cube, salt and ground egusi (or breadcrumbs) bind. The batter portions into oiled ramekins (or banana leaf parcels). A hard-boiled egg half, a piece of smoked fish or a spoon of cooked beef goes into each. They steam in a wide pot 50-60 minutes until firm and set.

Nigerian 2 hours 30 minutes Serves4-6
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
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
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