The most popular recipes in June 2026 included a real mix of newer recipes of recent years, such as my zingy Spanish tomato and sardine salad recipe and refreshing Greek watermelon feta salad with mint and dill, as well as older recipes that have been some of the most popular recipes since we launched Grantourismo back in 2010, such as our côte de bœuf recipe that came courtesy of Michelin-starred French chef Pierre Gagnaire and the recipe for Moroccan lamb tagine with prunes and almonds that Terence learn to make in Marrakech.
As some of you have told us that you’ve missed these monthly recipe compilations, which you’ve said you find inspiring, I’ve pulled together this round-up of our 30 most popular recipes in June 2026 for you, and I’ll share our suggestions for dishes to cook in this month, based on July food days and holidays next.
I have to confess that in addition to feeling overwhelmed by everything going on here in Australia (my mum was recently diagnosed with dementia and I’ve unexpectedly become her full-time carer), I was also getting a bit bored sharing the same recipes that topped the list of most-visited recipe posts month after month. So I was relieved to see some different recipes land on this list of most popular recipes in June.
In addition to the classic Spanish tomato sardine salad and traditional Greek watermelon feta salad, recipes that landed here for the first time included my Russian-Ukrainian inspired oysters, which became one of mum’s favourite things to eat for a few months there; an easy Mediterranean-inspired olive dip recipe; and our Cambodian mango sago recipe.
While those all sound like cooling summer dishes, that were obviously popular with readers in the northern hemisphere, many of whom are currently in the midst of heatwaves, there are still plenty of warming dishes that were well-visited by those of you in the southern hemisphere looking for comfort food for winter, from hearty soups to spicy curries.
Now don’t forget: if you’re looking for more cooking inspiration, do dig into our recipe archives, which are brimming with many hundreds of recipes we’ve cooked, created and collected from around the world, from places we’ve lived, worked, travelled, and loved. And remember: when you find recipes you love, you can save them in a private account by clicking on the heart on the right of every post.
And before you scroll down to our most popular recipes in June 2026, we have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader supported. If you’ve enjoyed our recipes, please consider supporting Grantourismo by buying a handcrafted KROK, the best mortar and pestle ever; booking a cooking class or meal with locals on EatWith; or buying something on Amazon, such as one of these best new cookbooks of 2025. Now let’s tell you about the most popular June recipes.
Most Popular Recipes in June 2026 – Recipes Readers Loved Last Month
If you’re looking for July cooking inspo, these were the 30 most popular recipes in June 2026 – the recipes readers searched for, spent most of their time on, and hopefully cooked last month.
Richly Spiced Russian Beef Stroganoff Recipe
Yet again my classic beef Stroganoff recipe landed at the top of our list of most popular recipes in June 2026. It’s no surprise, as it was the most popular recipe last year and tops these lists month after month. This recipe makes my spin on one of my Russian-Ukrainian family recipes. It differs a little to mum’s Strog recipe from the Seventies, in that it’s more richly spiced. It also includes an unusual ingredient that often shocks readers, but makes sense.
An old aristocratic Russian dish with a long history, beef Stroganoff was popularised in early Soviet canteens before travelling the world with Russian émigrés, exiles and World War 2 refugees like my Russian-Ukrainian grandparents. It’s now popular around the globe, everywhere from Brazil to Bendigo, where I’m staying with mum, and where I’ve never seen so many forms of Stroganoff in a supermarket, from seasonings to pre-prepared meals.
But nothing beats homemade Stroganoff and this beef Stroganoff recipe is one of our best Stroganoff recipes. We also have recipes for mushroom, chicken, meatball, and pork Stroganoff. We love to serve beef Stroganoff with classic sides, such as crunchy shoestring fries or mashed potatoes, a crisp garden salad, dill pickles, and sour cream.
For a proper family meal of the kind my adorable rosy-cheeked baboushka made, serve it as part of a spread of dishes, including bowls of borscht with piroshki, a pink beet potato salad and garden salad, casserole pots full of Russian pelmeni and Ukrainian vareniki, cabbage rolls, and perhaps some chicken kotleti.
Russian Beef Stroganoff Recipe for a Retro Classic from a Palace Kitchen
Middle Eastern Rice with Spices, Dried Fruit and Nuts
I loved seeing that my quick and easy Middle Eastern rice recipe with spices, nuts and raisins was another of the most popular recipes in June 2026. Like the beef Strog, it was another one of our most popular recipes last year, too. My recipe will make you a fragrant rice dish infused with Middle Eastern spices and textured with nuts and raisins, and it’s one of our best Middle Eastern recipes.
But while my Middle Eastern rice recipe is authentic in taste and texture – there are few more quintessential Middle Eastern spice blends than the ‘seven spice’ mix known as ‘baharat’, and nuts such as pistachios and cashews – the technique she uses is inauthentic. Instead of the pilaf method of cooking rice, she uses the Asian stir-fry method to use up leftover rice.
This spiced rice is fantastic with smoky kofta kebab, the garlicky chicken called shish tawook, chicken shawarma, Middle Eastern vegetable sides, such as these spicy potatoes from Lebanon, and salads like fatoush and tabbouleh. We combine any leftover rice with leftover meat, which we break up into bite-sized pieces and quickly stir-fry again. The result is a wonderful rice dish that makes an easy yet comforting meal for a filling lunch or casual dinner.
Middle Eastern Rice Recipe with Spices, Pistachios, Cashews and Raisins
Cambodian Nom Banh Chok Recipe for Khmer Noodles
Cambodian food has such a special place in our hearts, having lived in Siem Reap since 2013, researching and writing our epic Cambodian cookbook and culinary history, which we still hope to publish one day. So we love seeing readers searching for our Cambodian recipes and were thrilled to see this nom banh chok recipe high on the list of our most popular recipes in June 2026 once again.
Nom banh chok, also written as nom banhchok, is both the name of the fresh daily-made rice noodles and the noodle soup itself. Nom banh chok is thought to be an ancient Khmer dish that has influenced many other noodle soup dishes around Southeast Asia, from Thailand’s khanom jeen to a Southern Vietnam Khmer dish from the Mekong Delta called bún kèn.
There are a handful of types of nom banh chok, but our traditional nom banh chok recipe for Cambodia’s beloved ‘Khmer Noodles’ will make you nom banh chok samlor proher, a popular Siem Reap breakfast of the rice noodles served with a yellow-green coconut-based fish curry, fragrant with fresh herbs, seasonal greens, edible flowers, and foraged herbs. It’s one of our favourite noodle soups.
Authentic Nom Banh Chok Recipe for Cambodia’s Beloved Khmer Noodles
Creamy Cauliflower and Cabbage Potato Soup Recipe
One of our most popular winter soup recipes, one of our best potato soup recipes, and one of our favourite cabbage recipes, my easy cauliflower cabbage potato soup recipe makes a creamy vegetable soup that’s incredibly rich and comforting. It was another of our most popular recipes in June 2026 on Grantourismo.
This creamy cauliflower cabbage potato soup recipe will make you a comforting vegetable soup textured with homemade croutons that tastes so rich and creamy you’d think there was cream in it (there isn’t!) and while you could happily tuck into a bowl on the sofa in your PJs, you could also make it a bit fancy.
You could enjoyably slurp it as it is on a chilly winter or autumn/fall evening, dunking toast into the silky broth. Or you could add texture to the soup by sprinkling on those crushed croutons, fresh fragrant dill sprigs, and cracked black pepper on top. For a dinner party you could serve small portions in shot glasses or an espresso cup and sauce with toast fingers as an amuse bouche or starter.
Cauliflower Cabbage Potato Soup Recipe for a Comforting Creamy Vegetable Soup
Hummus with Spiced Beef Recipe for Hummus bil Lahme
Our hummus with spiced beef recipe for hummus bil lahme makes an addictively delicious hummus drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkled with cumin powder, and topped with a generous layer of richly-spiced ground beef and roasted pine nuts. It’s one of our favourite Middle Eastern dishes and one of our best hummus recipes.
You can tuck into a plate of hummus bil lahme on its own, scooping it up with crispy homemade pita chips – which are a cinch to make in the oven from rounds of pita bread (recipe on previous link) – or serve with pickles and olives and an array of Arabic mezze or starters, such as baba ghanoush and muhammara.
Hummus bil lahme also makes a fantastic side dish to beef kofta, mixed grilled meats, roasted chicken, grilled lamb chops, Arabic sausages, and salads, such as fattoush and tabbouleh, if you’re cooking up a Middle Eastern feast for a group of friends or family. And if you are, please send us an invitation!
Calabrian Spicy Italian Sausage Pasta Recipe
We were thrilled to see that this spicy Italian sausage pasta recipe was another of the most popular recipes in June 2026, as it’s one of our best pasta recipes. We fell in love with this pasta dish many years ago, on one of our most memorable culinary adventures, a months-long road trip criss-crossing Calabria, Italy’s southernmost mainland region, researching and writing the first English-language Calabria travel guidebook.
It was on that Calabria trip that we fell in love with Calabrian cuisine, some of Italy’s spiciest food, courtesy of Peperoncino Calabrese or Calabrian chilli used in everything from bomba Calabrese, a spicy chilli relish, and Calabrian soppressata, a spicy salami, to Calabria’s fiery spreadable chilli pepper and pork sausage, ’nduja. You can read more about that in our guide to ’nduja and how to use it.
Traditionally, this recipe calls for ’nduja, although you’ll also find Southern Italian pastas made with Italian sausage at restaurants in Calabria, especially the mushroom capital of Camigliatello Silano, that don’t feature ’nduja, such as my mushroom and sausage pasta recipe.
These days it’s easy to buy ’nduja online and if you are a fan, see our recipes for Calabria’s version of eggs in purgatory; an easy nduja bruschetta with goat’s cheese and sweet red capsicum, which makes a perfect snack, brunch, lunch or finger food; our take on Australian chef Christine Manfield’s legendary eggplant ‘sandwich’ with ’nduja (instead of basil pesto); and my ’nduja pizza made in a Dutch oven.
Spicy Italian Sausage Pasta Recipe from Calabria in Southern Italy
Baboushka’s Russian-Ukrainian Borscht Recipe
One of our most popular soup recipes, this borscht recipe makes the hearty home-cooked soup of my childhood that my Russian-Ukrainian grandmother used to make. I loved that Terence wrote last month how he felt lucky to know my baboushka and papa, and get to tuck into bowls of baba’s borscht and that my take came very close.
While borscht has its provenance in Ukraine, it was cooked all over Russia, the former Soviet states, Poland, and parts of Eastern Europe. My baboushka’s beetroot-driven vegetable soup was always served with sour cream and fresh dill and was a filling meal in itself; sometimes baba served piroshki (hand pies) alongside the soup, then reheated the broth for breakfast the next day.
Borscht would also get served as a starter before the weekend family feasts we used to enjoy, along with this beet potato salad, Olivier potato salad, a classic garden salad, Russian pelmeni, Ukrainian varenyki (mashed potato with caramelised onion filled dumplings), stuffed cabbage rolls, and chicken kotleti (pan fried meat patties).
Russian Borscht Recipe for the Hearty Home-Cooked Soup of my Childhood
Buckwheat Kasha with Bacon, Eggs and Mushrooms
Despite the rustic appearance, this is perhaps the least traditional of my Russian-Ukrainian family recipes. Although of all the Russian breakfasts that baba used to make – French toast, blini, potato cakes, and buckwheat pancakes – kasha was my least favourite breakfast as a child. The nutty flavour and strong smell put me off.
It wasn’t until I was an adult that I became smitten with kasha. This comforting Russian buckwheat kasha recipe with caramelised onions, bacon lardons, pan-fried mushrooms, and soft-boiled eggs makes a heartier take on my grandmother’s traditional Russian breakfast and it was another of our most popular recipes in June 2026 on Grantourismo.
The key ingredient of this savoury porridge (kasha) is buckwheat groats (grechka). While based on baba’s recipe, I spiced things up. Baba kept things simple and sprinkled chopped hard-boiled eggs on top, whereas I use soft-boiled eggs, and garnish with diced gherkins, loads of fresh fragrant dill, and a dollop of sour cream. If you enjoy this, try my spiced pumpkin kasha rcipe for cossack comfort food.
Russian Buckwheat Kasha Recipe with Bacon, Caramelised Onions, Mushrooms and Eggs
Korean Coleslaw Recipe for a Classic Side
This Korean coleslaw recipe makes a zingy Korean cabbage salad that we first shared as part of a series of Korean small plate dishes we love – Korean street food, Korean sides called banchan, and Korean dishes served as drinking food called anju – which included recipes for Korean corn cheese, Korean meatballs, Korean potato salad, and Korean cucumber salad.
If you’re a lover of cabbage dishes, especially coleslaw and cabbage salads, such as our colourful coleslaw made with purple cabbage and pickled pink shallots, this Burmese raw cabbage salad, and this Japanese style cabbage and cucumber salad, you’re also going to enjoy this classic Korean cabbage salad recipe for Korean coleslaw.
We love to serve this Korean slaw as a side to Korean fried chicken – or any fried chicken for that matter! – with Korean-style burgers (or this Japanese chicken katsu burger) or tucked into a Korean-inspired gourmet hotdog.
If you’re a fan of Korean food and have made and enjoyed our Korean recipes for Korean spicy udon noodles, Korean japchae (glass noodles), and bokkeumbap (kimchi fried rice), you will love this Korean coleslaw. It was another of our most popular recipes in June 2026.
Classic Korean Coleslaw Recipe for a Korean Cabbage Salad Side Dish
Authentic Khmer Fish Amok Recipe
One of our favourite Cambodian recipes, this classic Cambodian fish amok recipe for a traditional steamed fish curry is based on the recipe of a respected family of elderly cooks whose mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers made the dish during a time when Cambodian women thought nothing of spending a full day preparing a family feast – and we did just that with the ladies when we met them soon after moving to Siem Reap way back in 2013.
Our fish amok recipe makes an authentic steamed fish curry made to a recipe from an older generation of cooks who believe that if it’s not properly steamed, it’s not amok trei, a steamed fish curry. ‘Amok’ means to steam in banana leaves in Khmer and many Cambodians believe this refined dish is a Royal Khmer specialty dating back to the Khmer Empire. Although the banana leaf packaging and firm-ish texture also made it easy for farmers to transport to the rice fields for lunch.
Our recipe doesn’t make the watery fish amok style curry or sloppy fish amok you might have eaten in Siem Reap tourist restaurants, which can be made in minutes in a wok. To make this authentic steamed fish curry from scratch, including pounding your own Khmer yellow kroeung (a herb and spice paste), you’ll need to allow at least an hour. It’s worth it! Want to learn more about fish amok? Read Terence’s engaging story on ‘ruining amok’.
Cambodian Fish Amok Recipe for an Authentic Steamed Fish Curry in the Old Style
Richly Spiced Burmese Chicken Curry Recipe
One of our favourite curry recipes, this authentic Burmese chicken curry recipe makes a fragrant gently-spiced curry perfumed with turmeric, ginger, garlic, chilli, and lemongrass. A rich curry with a moreish tomato-based gravy and a layer of aromatic oil that’s soaked up by coconut rice, it’s meant to be served with zingy salads, such as this Burmese raw cabbage salad, Burmese potato salad and Shan tomato salad, and a relish or two.
This classic Burmese chicken curry recipe, and this Burmese Indian style chicken curry recipe, are recipes we adapted from our favourite Burmese cookbook, Mi Mi Khaing’s Cook and Entertain the Burmese Way, dating to 1978. It’s a delightful little booklet that I bought in a dusty bookshop near the Strand Hotel in Yangon that is as much a historical document as it is a practical cookbook.
If you’re a lover of curries, you’re going to adore these Burmese curries. And if you do, make sure to browse some of our other Myanmar recipes, including Mi Mi Khaing’s recipe for homemade curry powder, and these recipes for Burmese street food-style fried chicken and Burmese coconut rice.
Classic Burmese Chicken Curry Recipe for an Aromatic Tomato Based Curry
Japanese Style Cabbage Cucumber Salad Recipe
Another one of the most popular recipes in June 2026, this Japanese style cabbage and cucumber salad recipe calls for quintessential Japanese ingredients such as sliced roasted seaweed or nori sheets, some black sesame seeds and white sesame seeds.
The sesame seeds give it a nutty flavour as well as fantastic texture, while the dressing, made with Shichimi Togarashi Japanese Seven Spice (we recommend the S&B brand), Japanese sesame oil, Japanese soy sauce, Japanese rice vinegar, and mirin give the salad a gentle spice, nuttiness, and delightful tartness and zing.
This salad is the perfect side to my recipes for Japanese fried chicken, as well as juicy pork tonkatsu, or katsu burgers, or any Japanese comfort food dish. This Japanese potato salad recipe also makes a great side if you’re preparing a Japanese spread.
Japanese Style Cabbage and Cucumber Salad Recipe with Sesame Seeds
Comforting Cambodian Chicken Rice Porridge Recipe
One of our best breakfast rice recipes, one of our best Asian breakfast recipes, and one our favourite Cambodian recipes, this Cambodian chicken rice porridge recipe for borbor sach moan makes a Cambodian congee that we’ve been making since we first moved to Siem Reap. If you enjoy this, you’ll also love this borbor sor with pork meatballs.
The Cambodian take on Chinese congee or jok is a classic Cambodian food favourite that’s eaten at any time of day these days. Cambodians tuck into big bowls of borbor for breakfast, brunch, lunch, an afternoon snack, dinner (particularly if someone isn’t feeling well), and a late night supper (it’s a great hangover cure).
Called borbor sach moan in Khmer, this chicken congee is thought to be a dish of Chinese origin and part of the Cambodian-Chinese culinary heritage rather than a Khmer dish. But whatever its provenance, over many centuries it’s become a comfort food staple for all Cambodians – as well as Cambodian residents, including ourselves.
Cambodians have really made the classic Chinese rice porridge their own. In Siem Reap you’ll find anything from chicken, pork, fish, dried fish, seafood, snails, and frog legs in borbor and you’ll also see an array of condiments, from dried fish floss and pickled vegetables to the condiments we love to use: fish sauce, chilli flakes, chilli oil, and fresh fragrant herbs.
Cambodian Chicken Rice Porridge Recipe for Borbor Sach Moan, Cambodia’s Congee
Classic Cape Malay Chicken Curry Recipe
This wonderful Cape Malay chicken curry recipe makes a richly spiced tomato-based curry from South Africa, inspired by the aromatic chicken curry we learnt to make in a Cape Malay cooking class in colourful Bo-Kaap, the heart of Cape Malay culture, during what easily goes down as one of the world’s best cooking classes.
We were in Cape Town for two weeks during the yearlong global grand tour that launched Grantourismo way back in 2010, staying in a beautiful holiday house with a fabulous kitchen, just a block from breathtaking Camps Bay beach and boasting gob-smacking views of Table Mountain.
Terence ended up cooking a tomato bredie, a classic Cape Town stew for his series called The Dish on the quintessential dishes of places we settled into on that trip. Had there have been time to cook and publish a second recipe, it would have been the bredie’s close cousin, this Cape Malay chicken curry recipe.
This Cape Malay chicken curry recipe makes a richly spiced curry that’s typically eaten with aromatic Cape Malay yellow rice, buttery roti, and simple tomato, onion and cucumber sambals. It’s an incredibly delicious curry that you’ll be sorry to finish. Our advice: make double the amount, as it tastes even better as leftovers the next day.
Cape Malay Chicken Curry Recipe for a Richly Spiced Cape Town Curry
Chebureki Recipe for a Crimean Beach Holiday Treat
My chebureki recipe makes the traditional, Crimean Tatar, crispy fried pastries filled with spiced ground beef and sautéed onions, which went from being a beloved Black Sea beach holiday snack to becoming a popular street food in Russia, Ukraine, former Soviet countries, and Central Asia.
They’re so big you need to hold the crispy crescent-shaped savoury turnovers in two hands to bite into their crunchy exteriors. Whenever I make these, I can’t help but imagine the cheeky grin and sparkle in the eyes of the little girl who became my grandmother, as she munched into these fried treats on the seaside holidays she used to fondly recall when she was alive.
If you make these classic Crimean chebureki and enjoy them, please do try my mini chebureki recipe, which makes smaller, more manageable and spicier versions of these ground beef turnovers.
Chebureki Recipe for a Crimean Beach Holiday Treat and Popular Street Food Snack
Aromatic Khmer Yellow Kroeung Herb and Spice Paste
This Khmer yellow kroeung recipe makes the Cambodian herb and spice paste called kroeung, which is an irreplaceable ingredient in Khmer cooking. The yellow kroeung is the foundational kroeung and the most versatile of the five main herb and spice pastes used in many classic Cambodian dishes, especially soups such as samlor machou kroeung sach ko.
The Khmer yellow kroeung paste is the basic kroeung or freshly-pounded herb and spice paste in Cambodian cooking. The other main four pastes are the green kroeung (kroeung prâhoeur), the red kroeung (kroeung samlor kari), ‘k’tis kroeung’ (kroeung samlor k’tis; k’tis is coconut cream/milk in Khmer), and the saraman kroeung (kroeung samlor saraman), used to make the Cambodian Saraman curry.
The yellow kroeung is used for many classic Khmer and Cambodian dishes, including fish amok (amok trei), a steamed fish curry, and soups such as samlor machou kroeung sach ko, sour beef soup with morning glory, which is why the paste is commonly called kroeung samlor machou.
The Khmer yellow paste is also used as a marinade for the popular street food snack, charcoal-grilled beef skewers, and in prahok k’tis, the ubiquitous Khmer dip made with prahok (fermented fish), minced pork, coconut milk, and pea eggplants that is eaten with crunchy vegetable crudites. This was another of our most popular recipes in June 2026.
Khmer Yellow Kroeung Recipe for Kroeung Samlor Machou, Cambodia’s Essential Spice Paste
Creamy Olive Dip Recipe for a Mediterranean Inspired Dip
This easy olive dip recipe makes a Mediterranean inspired dip from green and black olives. We stir Sicilian green olives and juicy Greek Kalamata olives and aromatic fresh dill into sour cream and cream cheese, seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic. Garnish with plenty of chopped olives in extra virgin olive oil and sprigs of dill, and serve with crackers, crisps or crunchy crudités.
If you’ve made and enjoyed our fragrant dill dip, French onion dip, smoked salmon dip, or tuna, black olive and walnut dip, some of our best dip recipes, you’ll love this easy olive dip recipe. Like those other homemade dips, it’s easy to make and comes together in minutes, especially if you use pitted olives.
We love to serve our dips with crunchy crudités such as cucumber spears and carrot batons, crispy potato chips, homemade pita crisps, which are easy to make, or these sourdough crackers or spicy sourdough crackers if you bake sourdough.
Homemade dips are fantastic for casual gatherings and pre-dinner nibbles and your guests will appreciate the fact that you’ve taken time to make your own dips, rather than head to the nearest deli or supermarket. It shows that you care enough about your loved-ones to take the trouble to make something from scratch – although homemade dips are really no trouble at all. If you’re a fan of making dips, see our guide to how to make a dip out of almost anything.
Olive Dip Recipe for a Mediterranean Inspired Green and Black Olive Dip
Genuine Mexican Guacamole Just Like A Mexican Grandma Makes
This authentic Mexican guacamole recipe makes a genuine Mexican guacamole of the kind a Mexican abuela (grandma) makes – the kind that’s made table-side at good restaurants in Mexico. It’s all about the creamy luscious texture, bright green colour and full flavour of perfectly ripe avocados.
And it’s one of the best things to make with a mortar and pestle. Although even Mexicans can’t agree on that. Chef Martha Ortiz of Dulce Patria in Mexico City said it was essential to make guacamole with a molcajete, a Mexican mortar and pestle, while Marilau, who we did a Mexican cooking class with in San Miguel de Allende, was adamant that a molcajete wasn’t necessary. She said it’s only used for dry not wet ingredients.
I’ve been making this genuine Mexican guacamole for over 30 years, since we tasted our first proper Mexican guacamole in Mexico City on our inaugural trip to Mexico in the mid-1990s. We became so smitten with this sublime guacamole that was simpler yet far superior to the guacamole we’d been making for a decade or longer, that upon our return to Sydney, Australia, we established a weekend guacamole ritual.
This guacamole is best served with fresh tortilla chips and washed down with classic margaritas or micheladas. You can also top a nachos or big old bowl of chili con carne with a few dollops of this wonderful avocado dip. If you’re making a Mexican feast, fill your table with dishes of guacamole and our easy red tomato salsa, bowls of tortilla soup and plates of tacos al pastor, char-grilled corn on the cobs, a grilled corn salad, nachos, and quesadillas.
Authentic Mexican Guacamole Recipe Like A Mexican Abuela Would Make
Easy Indian Raita Recipe for a Cooling Curry Side
This Indian raita recipe makes a deliciously refreshing yogurt side or salad of diced cucumber, tomato and red onion with fresh fragrant mint and coriander. It’s the perfect cooling accompaniment to any spiced dish, from curries to biryanis, but can be eaten with pickles, relishes, flat breads or papadams. Super easy to make, it’s also very versatile.
We love to make Indian raita to eat with this Indian-style Burmese curry, which we make regularly. It’s my favourite curry. We serve it with this Burmese coconut rice, papadams, chilli and lime pickles, and a spicy mango chutney. My idea of spice heaven! It’s also a perfect side to this Punjabi chole or chickpea curry and tamarind eggplant.
There are many kinds of raita beyond the basic raita, though: legendary Indian cookbook author Camellia Panjabi, in her book 50 Great Curries of India, has recipes for raita with potato, raita with spinach, and raita with tomato, and says that other ingredients are also used, such as pumpkin, eggplant, ‘bhoondi’ (tiny balls of fried besan or gram flour; we have a boondi raita recipe here) and sev, from the Bombay Mix snack. She encourages home cooks to experiment.
Authentic Easy Indian Raita Recipe for a Cooling Curry Accompaniment
Zingy Spanish Tomato and Sardine Salad Recipe
This Spanish tomato and sardine salad recipe for ensalada de tomate y sardinas makes a salad from Southern Spain that’s enormously popular in summer. Although I can happily eat this salad year-round. Sweet tomato wedges and sardines are scattered with sliced shallots, salty capers, Spanish green olives, fresh parsley, and a zingy vinaigrette. Serve on homemade croutons or with crusty sourdough bread to mop up the juices.
I’d planned to share this tomato sardine salad recipe with you when we settled into an apartment rental for two weeks in Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia in the south of Spain way back in 2010, when we launched Grantourismo with our yearlong trip dedicated to slow, local and experiential travel. Terence shared recipes for huevos con chorizo and rabo de toro oxtail stew from Jerez, but I was so focused on the flamenco, markets and churros that I ran out of time.
If you’re a tomato lover like I am, we have more recipes with tomatoes here, and if you’re a fan of canned sardines or any canned fish, try some of our canned fish recipes. They include this lovely sardine salad with celery, cos, capers, and mustard dressing, my sardine pasta with capers and gremolata, a tuna pasta with scallions, capers and fresh herbs, my Russian mimosa salad, this fancy sardines on toast, and Terence’s ultimate tuna melt.
Spanish Tomato and Sardine Salad Recipe for Ensalada de Tomate y Sardinas
Classic Cambodian Chicken Curry Recipe
This classic Cambodian chicken curry recipe makes one of Southeast Asia’s most comforting chicken curries and along with a Saraman curry is one of our favourite curries. While the curry has a depth of flavour that comes from dried spices and fresh aromatic ingredients, it has a richness thanks to a liberal use of coconut cream and milk, and a gentleness due to the mild red chillies.
This chicken curry was originally adapted from Authentic Cambodian Recipes From Mother to Daughter by Sorey Long and Kanika Linden, although I’ve tweaked the recipe over the years. We highly recommend the book if you’re new to Cambodian cooking, and if you can get hold of the book the recipe is called Chicken Curry or Samlar Can Moan.
A ‘samlar’ or ‘samlor’ is a stew or soup, which often stumps foreigners unfamiliar with Cambodian food, who have been known to question the consistency of a dish served at a restaurant if they’ve sampled one or the other.
‘Cari’ is curry and ‘moan’ is chicken, which our Cambodian friends often charmingly translate to ‘kitchen’. We can’t tell you how many times Cambodian real estate agents have said “Let me show you the chicken (meaning ‘kitchen’)… ” then break out into giggles when they realise their mistake.
Cambodian Chicken Curry Recipe for a Gentle Comforting Southeast Asian Curry
Cote de Boeuf Recipe Courtesy of Michelin Starred Chef Pierre Gagnaire in Paris
This côte de bœuf recipe comes courtesy of Michelin-starred superstar French chef Pierre Gagnaire. A quality bone-in ribeye steak is cooked on a grill, then the oven, then rested. A quintessential French dish, the fragrant juicy beef, served with roast potatoes or creamy mash epitomises home-cooked French comfort food. For a restaurant style meal or special occasion, serve with sauce béarnaise, pomme noisettes or potato Dauphinoise, and a green salad or vegetable sides.
And to think that this was almost a couscous recipe! Way back in the spring of 2010, about a quarter of the way through our 12 month global grand tour aimed at inspiring you all to live like locals and travel more slowly, sustainably and more experientially, we spent two weeks in Paris in a lofty Montmartre apartment with rooftop views and a petite kitchen.
As we’d done in every destination we settled into for two weeks at a time that year we sought the opinions of locals on what we should eat and cook. In the case of Paris we asked the legendary chef what the quintessentially Parisian dish was that Terence should learn to cook in Paris for his series The Dish. We’d gotten to know Pierre the previous year when we had the privilege of spending a night in the kitchen of the chef Dubai restaurant Reflets for a story.
We knew that Pierre loved the food of the Middle East and North Africa, but we could never have expected that, firstly, the chef would say ‘couscous’; secondly, when we urged Pierre to choose something more traditionally French (as we’d just come from Morocco, the home of couscous), that he recommended côte de bœuf; and, lastly, that this cote de boeuf recipe would become one of our all-time top posts.
Cote de Boeuf Recipe Courtesy of Chef Pierre Gagnaire in Paris
Russian Salmon Potato Salad Recipe with Soft-Boiled Eggs, Gherkins, Capers and Dill
My Russian salmon potato salad recipe with soft-boiled eggs, capers, gherkins and dill makes a filling salad that you can eat year-round. In the cool season, you can serve it with warm potatoes and seared salmon straight from the pan, while it can be refrigerated for warm weather meals, such as summer barbecues and spring picnics. It was another of the most popular recipes in June 2026.
My Russian-Ukrainian family loved their salads, from this pink beetroot potato salad to this Soviet-era crab salad. I ate a lot of salad as a child, but potato salads were my favourite salads. My Australian grandmother made a classic Australian style potato salad for Sunday family dinners, while my Russian baboushka made a few Russian potato salads. This one was a bit special and generally only made appearances on holidays when mum would top it with spoonfuls of caviar.
If you’re making this salmon potato salad recipe for pot lucks, picnics or barbecues, follow the instructions then refrigerate it. This salad is fantastic whether chilled in summer or served warm in winter, which is something I adore in a salad. And highly recommend spooning on dollops of caviar or salmon roe!
Salmon lover? Browse our best salmon recipes collection, which includes recipes for Russian blini with smoked salmon and caviar, a twist on that: buckwheat pancakes with smoked salmon and ‘caviar’ of gherkin and radish, creamy smoked salmon dip, elegant devilled eggs with smoked salmon and caviar, Cambodian salmon ‘ceviche’, smoked salmon ‘carpaccio’, fish soup with salmon, smoked salmon pasta with capers and dill pickles, Vietnamese caramelised salmon, an easy salmon tray bake, salmon fillets with crispy skin, and scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and caviar.
Russian Salmon Potato Salad Recipe with Soft-Boiled Eggs, Gherkins, Capers and Dill
Moroccan Lamb Tagine with Prunes and Almonds Recipe
Terence learnt to make this traditional Moroccan lamb tagine with prunes and almonds recipe – one of our best recipes with nuts – from the lovely Jamila, the cook at the Marrakech riad we settled into for two weeks in Marrakech way back in February 2010, when we launched Grantourismo.
Morocco was the first stop on that year-long grand tour of the world aimed at inspiring you all to travel more slowly, locally and experientially, forms of travel we’d long believed were more immersive, engaging and interactive, and therefore more meaningful and more memorable. Cooking food, and slow food, was a big part of that project.
This Moroccan tagine has been one of our most popular recipes since we published it, and one of our favourite tagine recipes, along with this classic chicken tagine with preserved lemons and olives. If you’re making a full Moroccan meal, kick it off with bowls of my spiced Moroccan chickpea soup, which Terence also learnt to make from Jamila, or my hearty Moroccan harrira made with lentils.
For dessert, you could try my take on a sweet Moroccan orange salad with cinnamon, mint, pomegranate and pistachios. And for breakfast, try Terence’s Moroccan version of chakchouka, which he shared for his Moroccan edition of Weekend Eggs.
Moroccan Lamb Tagine with Prunes and Almonds Recipe from Marrakech
Best Mango Sago Recipe for an Easy Healthy Creamy Mango Sago Pudding
Another of the most popular recipes in June 2026 and one of our best Southeast Asian dessert recipes, this mango sago recipe makes an easy, healthy, creamy Southeast Asian mango sago pudding that’s made without cream – no coconut cream, no dairy cream, no condensed milk, nada. The secret to the creaminess is frozen mangos, just like with a good mango smoothie – which also makes this mango sago pudding healthier than most.
Another reason this is the best mango sago recipe is because we actually use sago. It’s curious how many mango sago recipes that I stumble upon use tapioca instead of sago. Why aren’t they just called mango tapioca recipes? Sago and tapioca are a bit ‘same same but different’ but they’re not the same. While they’re both used here in Southeast Asia, I explain the similarities and differences between sago and tapioca below.
I’ve called this a Southeast Asian mango sago recipe because you’ll find variations of mango sago desserts right across the region, here in Cambodia, as well as other countries in Southeast Asia. I’ve noticed some recipes attribute the origin of mango sago to a Hong Kong chain called Honeymoon Dessert, which appears to specialise in Southeast Asian desserts, however, I guarantee you mango sago made and eaten here in Southeast Asia long before the Chinese business was founded in 1995!
If you enjoy this mango sago pudding, do browse our other recipes with mango, including recipes for an easy homemade mango jam, mango and sticky rice, savoury mango salads and mango gazpacho, a Catalan-style gazpacho we used to eat on Mallorca. You can find our full collection of mango recipes here.
Best Mango Sago Recipe for an Easy Healthy Creamy Mango Sago Pudding
Ohn No Khao Swe Recipe for Burmese Chicken Coconut Noodle Soup
One of our best Asian street food recipes, our ohn no khao swe recipe for Myanmar’s much-loved coconut chicken noodle soup – probably the most popular dish alongside mohinga – combines the best of the many renditions we sampled on our Myanmar travels, starting with the first ohn no khao swe we savoured at Yangon’s grand old hotel, The Strand.
Ohn no khao swe – more correctly, ohn no khao swè, but you’ll also see it written as ohn no khauk sway, on no khauk swe, ohn no khau sway, and ohn no khau swe – consists of egg noodles in an aromatic chicken curry soup with a coconut milk base, typically garnished with crunchy fried noodles, boiled eggs, shallots, fried garlic, dried chilli, lime, coriander (cilantro), and sometimes fried chickpea fritters.
In Cook and Entertain the Burmese Way, published in 1978, author Mi Mi Khaing includes her ohn no khao swe recipe in a chapter titled Eating Out and One-Dish Meals. Khaing, who was of the Mon ethnic group, married a royal from the Shan States, and was one of the first scholars and authors to write in English about her culture and cuisine.
In the chapter introduction she describes how “from sleek cars drawn up at roadside counters, dainty and bejewelled women get out to eat”, and how dishes were “sold in streets by male hawkers with shoulder poles and two loads. One load holds the fire and main pot; the other, some accompaniments, dishes, and a wash basin” and “female hawkers carrying food more gracefully on their heads”.
Ohn No Khao Swe Recipe for Burmese Chicken Coconut Noodle Soup
Greek Watermelon Feta Salad Recipe with Red Onion, Mint, Dill and Balsamic
One of the best Greek recipes, this easy Greek watermelon feta salad recipe makes a refreshing watermelon salad with salty feta, zingy red onion and fresh fragrant mint and dill. This classic Greek salad has a little Italian twist, a generous drizzle of Modena balsamic vinegar glaze. You’ll love this if you enjoyed our watermelon, tomato and halloumi salad from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus and adore the combo of fruit and cheese in salads. You do? Then try our Caprese salad of buffalo mozzarella, tomatoes and basil from Capri in Southern Italy, another Mediterranean island.
I love serving this watermelon feta salad with barbecued or grilled meats, such as these Greek souvlaki, smoky char-grilled chicken skewers or Cypriot keftedes, gently spiced meatballs, and sides of tzatziki, Greek cucumber and yoghurt dip and a Cypriot village salad or classic Greek salad.
For a proper Mediterranean feast, which would be wonderful for a weekend lunch or early dinner, I’d start the meal with a spread of meze, Mediterranean style small plates and dips, such as homemade taramosalata and a Greek red pepper feta dip, or even these Greek blistered cherry tomatoes on goats cheese.
I first shared this watermelon feta salad recipe as part of a series of recipes for the salads I had on rotation over the summer months. It included this Italian melon, buffalo mozzarella and prosciutto salad (a fancier version of prosciutto e melone, the classic aperitivo snack and appetiser from Italy) and this Mediterranean style chicken salad with spring vegetables and a garlicky lemony Middle Eastern dressing.
Greek Watermelon Feta Salad Recipe with Red Onion, Mint, Dill and Balsamic
Russian Kotleti Recipe for Delicious Deep-Fried Russian Style Chicken Meat Patties
This Russian kotleti recipe makes delicious deep-fried Russian style chicken meat patties or chicken ‘cutlets’, as my Russian-Ukrainian grandmother translated them. My baboushka served with mashed potatoes and a garden salad or as one dish of an array of plates if being eaten as part of a shared family feast as so many of our meals were. It was another of the most popular recipes in June 2026.
One of our best chicken cutlet recipes, my kotleti recipe makes one of my favourite Russian recipes. Baboushka would often cook these as one of the many traditional Russian-Ukrainian dishes that she would lay out for shared family meals – whether it was Orthodox Christmas or Easter or one of the countless long Sunday lunches that turned into dinners.
If it wasn’t a big shared family feast, and it was perhaps just papa, baba and myself if I’d trekked out to their home in Sydney’s western suburbs for the night, as I often did during my first two years at university, then baba might plate dinner individually, serving the kotleti with creamy mashed potatoes and a garden salad.
As with all the traditional Russian-Ukrainian recipes I usually share over holidays such as Orthodox Christmas and New Year, such as these recipes for Russian pelmeni, Ukrainian vareniki, stuffed cabbage rolls, and a beet potato salad, these are family recipes, the recipes of my childhood and of my memories, recipes I’ve been cooking and have adapted over many many years.
Russian Kotleti Recipe for Delicious Deep-Fried Russian Style Chicken Meat Patties
Cambodian Grilled Corn Recipe for Poat Dot with a Delicious Coconut Milk Sauce
One of our best summer corn recipes, this Cambodian grilled corn recipe makes poat dot, a Cambodian street food snack of smoky barbecued corn on the cob brushed with a delightfully sweet and salty sauce made from coconut milk, fish sauce and spring onions.
Note: this sauce is not the same as the Vietnamese scallion oil that’s typically spooned onto barbecued and grilled seafood, such as these Vietnamese-style grilled oysters with scallion oil, peanuts and crispy shallots. I see this get confused a lot in recipes in food magazines and blogs.
Poat dot is a hugely popular Cambodian street food snack that’s especially popular during corn season. Corn on the cob is continually brushed with a delightfully creamy salty-sweet coconut sauce as it’s being barbecued. It drips with umami and is deliciously addictive. It’s also one of our best coconut milk recipes.
While I love eating poat dot on the street I prefer making it at home. When you make this street food favourite yourself, you can not only cook the corn to your liking – we prefer our corn cobs more charred than they’re sold on the street – but you can also make sure you get the sauce balanced to your taste (it’s often too sweet for me when done on the street) and you can serve extra sauce on the side.
Cambodian Grilled Corn Recipe for Poat Dot with a Delicious Coconut Milk Sauce
Oysters with Caviar, Dill Pickles, Fresh Dill and Champagne
Another of the most popular recipes in June 2026, my recipe for oysters with caviar, dill pickles, fresh dill and Champagne makes a sublime starter that’s perfect for kicking off a celebratory meal or romantic dinner. Impressive looking, it’s quick and easy if you buy freshly shucked oysters, and can be adapted to any budget: go all out with Beluga and French bubbly or opt for lumpfish caviar and local sparkling wine for a more affordable yet still fancy appetiser.
These Russian-Ukrainian inspired oysters with caviar, dill pickles, fresh dill, and Champagne are divine: the finely-diced dill pickles bring a delightful sourness and crunch to the deliciously-briny yet creamy plump oysters; the caviar adds more salty ocean flavour and texture, popping in the mouth; the bubbly brings a gentle effervescence and brightness, while the dill gives the dish a grassy freshness.
I prepared these oysters for my Russian-Ukrainian mum for New Year’s Eve, for Orthodox Christmas a week later, and for Orthodox Easter, as oysters are her favourite food. I adore oysters too, and Australian oysters have been so affordable, I’ve been concocting all sorts of oyster recipes. Also an oyster lover? Try these Vietnamese oysters with scallion onion, peanuts and crispy shallots, my oysters with pomegranate mignonette dressing recipe and our moules frites recipe.
Cambodian Green Papaya Salad Recipe for Cambodia’s Bok Lahong
One of Cambodia’s favourite salads, our Cambodian green papaya salad recipe makes nhoam lahong or bok lahong, a fresh, aromatic, crunchy papaya salad that is a little funky, a little spicy, a little sour, a little salty, and a little sweet. It’s not only scrummy, it’s a cinch to prepare.
It’s a well-balanced salad and this is arguably what sets it apart from its bolder cousins in Laos (where pounded salads are called Tum Som), Thailand (Som Tam), and Vietnam (Gỏi Đủ Đủ), which are, respectively, a lot funkier, more fiery, and more fragrant.
Typically bought from a papaya salad stall at a market or on the street and eaten as a late afternoon snack, green papaya salads are also eaten in restaurants and made at home. Big wooden mortar and pestles are typically used for pounded salads such as these, as well as dips and relishes, as you want to soften or bruise the ingredients, you don’t want to pound them to a paste.
We shared this Cambodian green papaya salad recipe as part of a series on classic Cambodian salads that we’re recipe testing for our Cambodian cookbook, which included recipes for an addictive Cambodian minced pork larb, aromatic grilled beef salad, a light and tasty pork and jicama salad, a wonderful Cambodian banana flower chicken salad, and a green mango and smoked fish salad.
Cambodian Green Papaya Salad Recipe for Cambodia’s Bok Lahong
How to Boil Eggs Perfectly Every Time
Not so much a recipe, but rather a guide to how to boil eggs perfectly every time, this was another of our most popular food posts in June 2026. Terence first shared his perfect boiled eggs guide in his Weekend Eggs recipes series on breakfast egg dishes from around the world, which he started way back in January 2010 when we launched Grantourismo.
Even if you’re not a breakfast eggs person and prefer to slurp a noodle soup or tuck into a plate of pancakes, it’s still handy to learn how to boil eggs perfectly. We use soft-boiled eggs in our creamy curried egg sandwiches and semi hard-boiled eggs in our ohn no khao swe recipe for the wonderful Burmese chicken coconut noodle soup.
Terence’s top tips include everything from starting with room temperature eggs and beginning boiling the eggs in boiling water to using old eggs rather than fresh eggs. There are lots more tips in the post. If you’re a lover of boiled eggs, we have lots more boiled eggs recipes.
How to Boil Eggs Perfectly Every Time for Perfect Soft and Hard Boiled Eggs
Please do let us know if you make any of our most popular recipes in June 2026, as we’d love to know how they turn out for you. And don’t hesitate to ask questions in the comments below if you need help or ideas. Or share your feedback, tips and tweaks.
