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Bombay Potatoes is comfort food at its finest. Small potatoes are partially cooked, then coated in a richly spiced oil infused with seeds and aromatics. Some potatoes are mashed to create a creamy base, while others remain whole for texture. The result is a warm, golden, deeply spiced side dish that's utterly satisfying. This is a vegetarian staple of Indian home cooking.
Cooked chickpeas (tinned for speed, OR overnight-soaked and home-cooked for the best texture) toss with diced red onion, finely chopped tomato, small-diced boiled potato and chopped fresh coriander. The dressing: lemon juice, chaat masala (a salty-sour spice mix sold at Pakistani shops), roasted ground cumin, Kashmiri chilli powder and a pinch of salt. Hot chilli sauce and tamarind chutney drizzle on; the chaat tosses; crushed papri tops; eat immediately.
Chicken thighs cube small; marinate for 1 hour in yogurt, ginger-garlic paste, Kashmiri chilli, garam masala and cornflour. Deep-fried in two stages, first to cook through, second to crisp. While the chicken rests, a hot tempering of curry leaves, garlic, dried chillies, soy and vinegar sputters in a wok. The fried chicken tosses through the tempering for 30 seconds and goes straight to the plate.
A classic Roman salad featuring crisp cos lettuce coated in a rich, anchovy-based dressing with crispy croutons, tender chicken, and pancetta. The soft-boiled egg adds creaminess to the velvety emulsified dressing.
Chicken poaches with onion, cardamom and bay 35 minutes; shredded off the bone. Chickpeas warm in the strained chicken stock. Pita pieces toast crisp under the grill. Yogurt-tahini-garlic sauce whisks together. Plated with pita on the bottom, chickpeas and chicken on top, yogurt sauce poured over, taqliya (butter, cumin and sliced garlic sizzled hot) drizzled on top, and pine nuts scattered.
The Saudi take on foul medames, somewhere between the Egyptian original and the Yemeni daal-like versions. You soak dried fava beans overnight, then simmer them with a chickpea or two and a garlic clove for six hours low and slow (or pressure-cook for forty-five minutes if you don't have the day) until they're so soft they fall apart at a glance. Once drained, the beans go back into a hot pan with olive oil and garlic, cumin and a hit of chilli; you crush them roughly with a fork (chunky, not smooth) and finish with lemon and a handful of chopped parsley. Eaten warm for breakfast across the Gulf, scooped with flatbread, with a side of pickles or salata hara, and a glass of mint tea.
Lamb mince fries with onion, garlic, ginger and a spice mix of garam masala, cumin, coriander and chilli. Frozen peas thaw into the dry filling at the end; lemon juice and chopped coriander finish it. Left to cool. Spring-roll pastry strips fold around a generous tablespoon of filling into triangular packets (flag-fold) and seal with flour paste. Deep-fried 175°C until deep gold.
Split yellow moong dal (or chana dal, or a mix) is rinsed and pressure-cooked or simmered with turmeric until completely soft. The dal is mashed lightly to a porridge consistency. A second pan fries ghee with whole cumin, garlic, sliced green chilli, dried red chilli and curry leaves until the garlic just turns golden. The hot tarka is poured over the dal with a dramatic sizzle; coriander and lemon finish.
A thick batter of gram (chickpea) flour, rice flour, ajwain, turmeric, chilli powder and salt mixes with cold water to a thick coating consistency. Sliced onion, cubed potato, cauliflower florets and chopped spinach toss through the batter until thickly coated. Small ragged clusters drop into hot oil (170°C) and fry for 3-4 minutes per side until deep gold and crisp.
Dried chickpeas soak overnight with a pinch of bicarbonate of soda. The next morning, they simmer in fresh water with garlic, cumin and bay until very soft (about 1 hour, longer if the chickpeas are old). Some chickpeas (about a third) blitz with garlic, lemon juice, tahini and ice water into a smooth purée. The remaining whole chickpeas keep warm in their cooking liquid. To plate: smooth purée on the bottom of the bowl, hot whole chickpeas piled in the centre, more tahini-lemon-garlic sauce poured over, drizzle of olive oil, sprinkle of cumin, scatter of parsley. Eaten with hot bread.
Maris Piper or floury potatoes peel and cube 2 ½ cm. Double-cook for shatter-crisp shell + fluffy interior: blanch / boil for 8 minutes till just tender, drain, cool slightly. Brava sauce: olive oil heats with garlic and a touch of flour; smoked paprika + cayenne stir in 30 seconds; tomato passata, sherry vinegar, salt, sugar; simmer for 15 minutes; blend if you want a smooth sauce or leave rustic. Optional garlic aioli: garlic-and-egg-yolk mayonnaise. Potatoes fry in hot oil 6-8 minutes till deep gold. Plate with sauce zigzagged over; aioli alongside.
A boiled water-butter-flour dough rolls thin; a thick shrimp béchamel goes on top; folded into half-moons, sealed, dipped in egg, rolled in breadcrumbs, fried. Mozambican home cooks make these in batches of fifty and freeze them. The dough is forgiving as long as you let it rest.
Potato cubes are par-boiled separately so the dish comes together quickly in the pan. A tempered base of cumin seeds, onion, garlic, ginger and green chilli is built, the potato is browned briefly, then chopped spinach is wilted through in two batches with turmeric, ground coriander and a small dash of water. The potato carries the spice; the spinach keeps the colour.
Sambousak are Afghanistan's answer to the samosa: small triangular fried pastries with a spiced lamb filling, served as a starter or with afternoon tea alongside a green chutney. The filling is a quick fry-up of lamb mince with onion, leek, garlic, ginger, ground coriander, cumin, chilli and a hit of dried mint, then cooled completely before it goes into the wrappers. The dough work is the move: spring-roll pastry sheets get cut into long strips, then folded around a teaspoon of filling using the flag-fold (the strip wraps over the filling at a diagonal, then keeps folding triangle-over-triangle down its length until you have a closed triangle). Seal the seam with a flour-and-water paste, fry at 170°C for three minutes a side until amber. Eat warm with a mint-and-coriander chutney.
A simple yeasted bread dough rises for 1 hour; balls are divided and rolled into 9 cm rounds. A raw mince mixture of lamb, grated onion, tomato, pomegranate molasses, Aleppo pepper, allspice and pine nuts is spread thinly on top. Baked for 12-14 minutes at 230°C, high heat so the dough turns crisp before the meat dries out. Served warm with lemon wedges and yogurt.
Raw shrimp marinate briefly in buttermilk and hot sauce; dredge in seasoned flour and cornmeal mix; deep-fry at 180°C until deep gold and crisp (2-3 minutes, shrimp cook fast). Long French rolls split lengthways; toasted on the cut side; slathered with mayo and Creole mustard; piled with shrimp, lettuce, tomato, pickles. Wrap halfway in paper; eat.