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31 recipes

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Amok Trey

Amok Trey

Cambodia's national dish, the centrepiece of any Khmer feast and the proper-occasion food across the country. You start by pounding kroeung fresh in a mortar (the paste of lemongrass, galangal, turmeric, garlic, shallots, kaffir lime zest and coriander root that defines Khmer cooking, and that no shop-bought paste comes close to matching). The kroeung fries briefly to bloom its aromatics, coconut cream and stock loosen it, and eggs whisk in to set the eventual custard. Chunks of firm white fish fold through with chopped greens (traditionally noni leaves, with spinach or chard standing in), and the whole mix spoons into banana-leaf cups (or small ramekins). Twenty minutes in a steamer turns the custard just-set around the soft fish, and the banana leaves perfume everything. Served from the parcels with steamed rice and a wedge of lime.

Cambodian 55 minutes Serves4
Brown Stew Shrimp and Sweet Potato Grits

Brown Stew Shrimp and Sweet Potato Grits

A Caribbean-Southern crossover that works because both traditions cook in a similar register: butter, peppers, alliums, slow heat, savoury depth. The brown stew base on top of the dish is Jamaican, bell peppers, carrot, Scotch bonnet, ginger, browning sauce, that mahogany-coloured gravy with the unmistakable allspice-and-thyme signature, and the bed underneath is from Lowcountry Charleston, where sweet potato grits enriched with butter, half-and-half and gouda are a long-running modern Southern restaurant standard. The shrimp themselves are quick-cooked and sweet, picking up the brown stew sauce. Two textures stacked: silky-rich grits, brothy stew on top with bite from the diced peppers and carrot. Smell is sweet-onion-and-browning-sugar over the corn-sweet base of the grits. Not difficult but it's two pans running at once, so timing matters; the grits hold on a low warm setting while the shrimp cook quickly. A modern fusion rather than a traditional dish, popularised by Black American chefs in the 2010s exploring the points of overlap between Lowcountry and Caribbean cookery.

Jamaican 1 hour Serves4
Cataplana de Marisco

Cataplana de Marisco

A cataplana is a hinged copper clamshell pan, and the seafood stew named after it is one of those dishes where the cookware does the work. You build a base of onions, peppers, sliced chouriço, smoked paprika, tomato and white wine in the bottom of the cataplana, then layer clams, mussels, prawns and chunks of firm white fish on top, clamp the lid shut, and steam it all for less than ten minutes. The lid lifts at the table to release a cloud of paprika-and-wine-scented steam, which is the entire point of the dish. If you do not have a cataplana, any wide pan with a tight lid does the same job. Coriander and lemon at the end, crusty bread for the broth, and vinho verde for everything else.

Portuguese 55 minutes Serves4
Chingri Malai Curry

Chingri Malai Curry

Chingri malai curry is one of those rare Bengali dishes that crosses the river: equally beloved in Kolkata's bonedi households and in the coastal kitchens of Khulna and Chittagong. The name is often misread as a reference to Malaysia (Malay), and there is a folk tradition that the dish came back with Bengali traders from the Malay Peninsula, but in practice malai here simply means cream, in this case the rich first-pressed coconut milk that gives the gravy its body. The prawns must be large, ideally tiger prawns or the freshwater bagda chingri, kept whole with heads and tails on for maximum flavour. The cooking is short and the spice profile delicate: a tempering of whole garam masala in ghee and a little mustard oil, a base of finely ground onion paste rather than chopped onion, a gentle bloom of ginger and turmeric, and then the prawns barely poached in coconut milk so they remain juicy. Sugar plays a quiet but important role, just enough to round the salt and amplify the coconut's sweetness. The result is a curry that is luxurious without being heavy, fragrant without being sharp. It is rich enough to be served with plain basmati or gobindobhog rice and nothing else, though a small wedge of lime on the side is welcome. Overcooked prawns are the only real danger; once you have mastered the timing, this is one of the easier showstoppers in the Bengali repertoire.

Bengali 50 minutes Serves4
Doenjang Jjigae

Doenjang Jjigae

A quick anchovy-and-kelp stock makes the broth backbone (the Korean kitchen standard, taking 10 minutes). Doenjang (about 3 tablespoons) whisks into the hot stock with a small spoonful of gochujang for warmth, never aggressive heat. The vegetables go in by sturdiness: potato first, then courgette and mushrooms, then onion and chilli, finally cubed tofu and clams (or anchovies) at the end. Simmers for 12-15 minutes total. A little minced garlic stirs in at the very end so it doesn't dull. Brought to the table in the cooking pot, still bubbling.

Korean 40 minutes Serves4
Fire-Roasted Jerk Shrimp

Fire-Roasted Jerk Shrimp

A fast, fragrant, hands-on dish: medium shrimp roasted hard in a beer-and-butter pool, with the jerk flavours (Scotch bonnet, allspice, thyme, garlic, scallion) bloomed into the fat at 260°C. The shrimp themselves are quick-cooked and sweet; the real treasure is what's at the bottom of the dish, a spiced, foaming butter that gets sopped up with hot toasted Cuban bread or baguette. Allspice (called pimento across the Caribbean) is the herbal warmth, Scotch bonnet brings the fruity-fierce heat, and beer adds a yeasty undertone that lifts the butter. Smell hits the kitchen the moment the dish leaves the oven and is genuinely the best part of dinner. Absurdly easy, everything goes cold into one dish, into the oven, 5 minutes, done. The dish is adapted from the Bahama Breeze restaurant chain, where it's a long-running menu staple, but the core technique (shrimp roasted in spiced butter, dipped with bread) is shared across the Bahamas as a casual party-snack format.

Bahamian 20 minutes Serves2
Kung Pao Shrimp

Kung Pao Shrimp

Kung pao (gongbao) shrimp is the seafood cousin of the classic Sichuan gongbao jiding, named for the 19th-century governor-general Ding Baozhen whose title was Gong Bao. Where the chicken version uses diced meat, the shrimp version keeps the prawns whole or halved so they curl into bright pink commas around the chillies and peanuts. The flavour profile is the signature Sichuan "lychee" balance: a touch of sweetness from sugar, sourness from black vinegar, salt and umami from soy, and the warm tingle (ma la) of toasted Sichuan peppercorn paired with the smoky bite of dried er jing tiao chillies. This is a fast dish, fundamentally a wok exercise: every ingredient must be prepped and lined up before the heat goes on, because once the chillies hit the oil you have maybe ninety seconds before everything is overcooked. Difficulty is moderate for a home cook with a working wok and high burner; the trick is keeping the chillies dark red and fragrant without scorching them black, and pulling the shrimp out the moment they curl. Served over plain rice it is one of the most rewarding ten-minute meals in the repertoire.

Chinese 28 minutes Serves3-4
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