Mains
What you take home from the kitchens we cover. Few ingredients, one balance to get right.
Chettinad chicken curry recipe: the roast-and-grind method
Tamil Nadu's signature curry gets its depth from whole spices roasted before grinding, not after. Here's the Chettinad technique, with or without the region's hardest-to-find aromatics.
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Lamb Tagine Recipe: Honey, Apricots and a Slow Braise
A Moroccan mrouzia-style lamb tagine recipe: shoulder braised until it falls apart, finished with honey, apricots and toasted almonds in a glossy, reduced sauce.
Pumpkin risotto recipe: the Mantovana way with sage
Roasting the squash before it meets the rice is what keeps this autumn risotto tasting of pumpkin instead of watered-down orange starch.
Lamb dhansak recipe: the Parsi lentil curry done right
A five-lentil base, sweet-sour tamarind and jaggery, and lamb simmered until it falls apart: the dish chef Cyrus Todiwala built a London institution on.
Vincisgrassi recipe: the Marche's EU-protected lasagna
Hand-chopped chicken giblets, cloves and nutmeg set this Macerata classic apart from ordinary lasagna — and earned it EU protected status in 2022.
Oyakodon recipe: Tokyo's parent-and-child rice bowl
A weeknight staple built on one trick: eggs poured into the pan twice, so the bowl keeps ribbons of barely-set yolk instead of turning into an omelette.
Fesenjan recipe: Persia's pomegranate and walnut stew
Chicken simmers slowly in ground walnuts and pomegranate molasses until the sauce turns a deep, glossy mahogany — a dish built on patience, not shortcuts.
Lu rou fan recipe: Taipei's braised pork rice at home
Diced pork belly, fried shallots, two soy sauces and rock sugar, simmered until glossy: Taiwan's cheapest comfort bowl needs patience more than skill.
Nihari recipe: the lamb shank stew on Oorja's menu
Amuse Kitchen's version of the Old Delhi classic now on the menu at Oorja Marylebone, thickened the traditional way with a wheat-flour slurry.
Ox cheek cottage pie recipe: Adam Byatt's porter braise
A three-hour porter braise turns a cheap, hard-working cut into a pie the mash can barely hold down, built by the chef behind Clapham's Trinity and Wandsworth's Rosina.
Cassoulet recipe: the Castelnaudary way, crust and all
Lingot beans, duck confit, Toulouse sausage and an earthenware cassole: the slow-baked dish of the Lauragais, following the town brotherhood's reference recipe.
Chicken yassa recipe: Dakar NOLA's Senegalese braise
Lemon, mustard and a mountain of caramelized onions: the chicken dish chef Serigne Mbaye grew up on, now served at his newly Michelin-starred Dakar NOLA in New Orleans.
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