Enjoy a Culinary World Tour with These 10 Classic Dishes

From pad see ew to patatas bravas, all your favorites are here

Editorial Team at Kitchen Stories

This month at Kitchen Stories, it’s all about classics—but with a twist. There’s no such thing as the one and only classic recipe for any one dish and every cuisine has their own tradition, influenced by their culture and history. However, there are a few dishes that are enjoyed not only within their own country, but around the world. So we’re starting this month with an overview—a culinary world tour, so to speak. Get ready for 10 of our most popular international classics!

Which cuisine or classic dishes are your favorites? Tell us in the comments below!

Pho (Vietnamese beef noodle soup)

Our tour starts in Vietnam, where the traditional rice noodle soup phở awaits us. While we love to eat this dish for lunch or dinner, it’s traditionally served for breakfast. The heart of this soup is the flavorful meat broth, that requires a lot of time and ingredients, but is more than worth the effort so hands-off any powdered spice mixes or the like—promise? The extra effort required makes this recipe a great weekend project, and it might be better to prepare double the amount of broth so your can freeze half for a rainy day. Rice noodles, beef, or chicken are added to the broth before serving and fresh herbs, chilis, lime wedges, fish sauce, or scallions can be served in or alongside your steamy bowl. If you want to enjoy the Vietnamese classic meatless, use a flavorful miso or vegetable broth and add your favorite type of tofu to the soup.

Find even more Vietnamese dishes here.

Turkish cheese rolls

We continue our trip by bounding off to Turkey. Somewhere between meze, pide, kebab, kofta, and kisir, you can find borek—crispy stuffed yufka dough. Borek comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, from the cigar-like rolls to twisted snails, even just layered in a baking pan.Yufka is a super thin dough made from flour, water, and salt. In Turkish cuisine, it’s used for other sweet and savory dishes such as baklava and gozleme. If you can’t find it, phyllo dough is the most similar alternative. In addition to our vegetarian recipe with spinach and feta cheese, ground meat is another classic filling to try.

Check out more Turkish recipes here!

Quick and easy chana masala

Even with the huge range of popular Indian dishes, chana masala is definitely at the top of the list. This chickpea “curry” scores with its fast preparation, manageable amount of ingredients, and people-pleasing, tomato-based sauce. In our recipe, we even simplified the spices used (cumin, garam masala, turmeric, and chili), but if you can get your hands on the same-named “chana masala” spice mixture, you will be treated with more flavors from bay leaf, fenugreek, pomegranate seeds, and even mango. To make this dish vegan, simply substitute ghee with coconut oil. Serve chana masala traditionally with bhatura (a fluffy, deep fried bread from India), or enjoy it with kulcha, naan, or rice.

Here are even more Indian classics to recreate at home.

French onion soup

French onion soup was a big topic for us recently, when our editor Devan wrote this article about how she discovered her love for onions because of the French soup. Its secret? Maybe it's the tender onions that need no less than one hour to gently caramelize and develop their sweet and buttery flavor. And just as Devan herself writes: "If you top just about anything unpleasant with a layer of bread and melty cheese you’re bound to be that much more convincing, right?" French onion soup is also known as Parisian onion soup. In the variant of an onion soup Strasbourg style, there’s even a raw egg yolk added to the dish right before serving.

Mais oui, find more French recipes here.

Pad see ew (Thai stir-fried noodles)

We already saw rice noodles in the Vietnamese phở soup, but here they are again, in a Thai dish called pad see ew. Even if you don’t know this exact dish, you might have already tried a similar one called pad thai. This dish is super easy to prepare and takes only 30 minutes to cook. While the rice noodles are boiling, the remaining ingredients are fried in a wok and tossed in a mixture of sweet soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice vinegar, and sugar. For the perfect consistency, eggs are added right at the end. If you’re looking for an alternative to the chicken just use tofu, beef, or shrimp. Pad see ew is classically prepared with Chinese broccoli (choy sum), but if you only get your hands on bok choy or even just plain old broccoli, it will taste just as good.

From summer rolls to curry: Check out our other Thai recipes!

Struwen (Westphalian pancakes)

We were somewhat surprised when we saw this was the most popular German recipe in recent months. It doesn’t involve meat or potatoes—in fact, it’s not even a savory dish, and it contains raisins! The Westphalian yeast pancakes called Struwen are traditionally eaten on Good Friday, but it’s hard to dispute that they taste irresistible no matter what day it is. These yeasty, fluffy pancakes are easy to prepare and require only a little patience—as the dough has to have time to rise. If you want to avoid raisins, add some chopped apples to the dough, or even try using some berries when they’re in season.

Here are more German classics, both sweet and savory.

Chinese-style fried noodles

Easy, quick, and versatile for all kinds of tastes and diets—it’s no wonder why fried noodles are popular all over the world. The regional cuisines of Asia offer various types of this dish, from Korean japchae to the aforementioned pad thai. For these Chinese-style fried noodles, egg noodles are boiled, then added to a wok and fried with chopped vegetables. The mixture takes a flavorful bath in a mixture of dark and light soy sauces, rice wine, lime juice, and chopped chilis. If desired, add some chicken, duck, or shrimp.

Grab one of our other Chinese recipes here.

Spanish roasted potatoes with salsa brava

Patatas bravas are not to be missed for any tapas fiesta, but they also seem to have made their way onto dinner tables worldwide—even if there are no pimientos de padrón around to accompany them. Crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, these potatoes are the perfect carby bed for a blanket of spicy tomato sauce and creamy aioli. With a little effort and a manageable list of ingredients, you can serve patatas bravas as a snack, side dish, or even as a main course—because why not?

In the mood for tapas now? Here are 12 must-try recipes for a breezy tapas fiesta.

One-pot stovetop mac and cheese

People love pasta and people love cheese. What does this mean? You can make everyone happy serving mac'n'cheese (yes, we even have a delicious vegan recipe). The cheesy, creamy comfort food can be prepared according to any taste and with any level of cooking skill. While some people are already satisfied with the packaged or boxed versions, others vow it must be baked. If you have a guilty conscience because you’re eating so many carbs, don’t worry, just add some broccoli or other vegetables to the dish. Our most popular recipe for mac’n’cheese is this simple one-pot recipe that takes 20 minutes from start to finish. If you prefer a more refined version, check out “A Chef Makes” where our chef Christian cooking his perfect mac’n’cheese.

Here are even more American classics to satisfy any taste.

Classic spaghetti carbonara

When it comes to popular international classics, we could have easily filled this list with just ten Italian pastas. But we wanted to find the most popular classics from various cuisines. The Italian winner is none other than spaghetti carbonara. The ingredient list for this classic is short, but specific: pasta, bacon, egg, cheese, salt, and pepper. The taboo addition of heavy cream is really not necessary, as the mixture of egg and cheese already ensures enough of a saucy bind and creaminess. If you’re still looking for a twist on the classic, try this recipe with fresh lemon zest and roasted hazelnuts (also without cream—because that’s just how we like it).

More pasta and other Italian classics are always waiting for you here.

Published on November 5, 2019

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