Most Popular Recipes of May 2025 – Recipes Readers Loved Last Month

Our most popular recipes of May 2025 include recipes for Cambodia’s nom banh chok, rice noodles in a fragrant coconut-based fish curry, my gently spiced Russian beef Stroganoff served with crispy shoestring fries, aromatic Middle Eastern spiced rice textured with crunchy nuts and dried fruit, a luscious Southern Italian pasta from Calabria with a spicy sausage sauce, and a richly-spiced Cape Malay chicken curry from Cape Town, South Africa, best accompanied by buttery naan.

Looking for inspiration for dishes to cook this month? Well, I’ve compiled our most popular recipes from our archives of May 2025 just for you. These were the most searched-for recipes on Grantourismo last month; the recipe posts where our readers and visitors to our site spent most of their time, and the recipes that we’d like to think our readers were cooking in May.

If you haven’t dropped by in a while, we re-booted our ‘most popular recipes’ series in response to requests from readers who said they missed this series. According to the experts, Google doesn’t like these recipe round-ups and doesn’t rank them highly, but many readers have told us they find these compilations inspiring and helpful. And we publish recipes and stories for you, people who love to cook, eat, read and travel. We don’t publish for search engines, as much as our income sadly depends on them.

Before I share our most popular recipes of May 2025, I have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader-supported. If you’ve enjoyed our recipes, please consider supporting Grantourismo. There are are numerous ways but just a few suggestions: you could make a donation to our epic, original, first-of-its-kind Cambodian cookbook and cuisine history project on Patreon; or you could buy a handcrafted KROK, the best mortar and pestle ever; book a cooking class or a meal with locals on EatWith next time you travel; or buy something on Amazon, such as these cookbooks for culinary travellers, classic cookbooks for serious cooks or gifts for Asian food lovers.

Looking for more cooking inspo? We’ve got hundreds of recipes in our archives from around the world from places we’ve lived, worked, travelled and loved. And you can save your favourite recipes in your own private account by clicking on the heart on the right of any post. Now let me tell you more about our most popular recipes of May 2025.

Most Popular Recipes of May 2025 – Recipes Our Readers Searched For Last Month

These were our most popular recipes of May 2025 – the recipes our readers searched for, spent most of their time on, and hopefully cooked last month.

Fragrant Nom Banh Chok Recipe

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. So I love seeing readers searching for our Cambodian recipes and am thrilled to see this nom banh chok recipe topped the list of our most popular recipes of May 2025.

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.

Authentic Nom Banh Chok Recipe for Cambodia’s Beloved Khmer Noodles

Gently Spiced Beef Stroganoff Recipe

One of my Russian-Ukrainian recipes, this classic beef Stroganoff recipe was one of our most popular recipes of May 2025 on Grantourismo. No surprise, as it’s long been one of our top recipes, and is one of my best Stroganoff recipes. I also have recipes for chicken Stroganoff, mushroom Stroganoff, meatball Stroganoff and pork Stroganoff.

An old aristocratic Russian dish with a long rich history, beef Stroganoff was democratised and popularised in canteens during the Soviet era, and travelled the world with Russian exiles, émigrés and World War 2 refugees like my Russian-Ukrainian grandparents, becoming popular everywhere from Australia to the Americas.

Serve it with classic Stroganoff sides: crunchy shoestring fries or mashed potatoes and a crisp garden salad, plus homemade dill pickles and sour cream. For a proper Sunday meal of the kind my baboushka prepared, serve it at the centre of a spread of dishes, with plates of piroshki, borscht, Russian pelmeni, Ukrainian vareniki, cabbage rolls, a beet potato salad, and chicken kotleti.

Russian Beef Stroganoff Recipe for a Retro Classic from a Palace Kitchen

Tomato Bredie Recipe for a Classic Cape Town Stew

This tomato bredie recipe, which makes a classic Cape Town stew was another of our most popular recipes of May 2025 on Grantourismo. A ‘bredie’, which is an Afrikaans word meaning ‘stew’, is a slow-cooked mutton and tomato stew, and it’s as Cape Town as Table Mountain.

The variety of bredies and amount of spices used have an infinite variety of permeations. This is Terence’s version, cooked during our two weeks in Cape Town way back in 2010. After sampling the dish in a number of Cape Town restaurants during our stay, and testing the recipe several times in our Cape Town kitchen, just a stones throw from beautiful Camps Bay, Terence found the sweet spot with this recipe. He’s been making it ever since.

It’s a good mix of lamb pieces cooked for at least a couple of hours. It gets a good rest overnight before reheating, and then you add the potatoes. Garnish with fragrant coriander and serve this tomato bredie recipe with some aromatic rice, and roti if possible, and a good South African Shiraz or some ice cold beer.

Tomato Bredie Recipe for a Classic Cape Town Stew from South Africa

How to Boil Eggs Perfectly Every Single Time

How to boil eggs perfectly every time is one of the questions most often asked from home cooks, including our egg-loving readers. Our readers wanted to know exactly how long to boil eggs for perfect soft boiled eggs and how long to boil eggs for hard boiled eggs. Terence shared this guide as part of his 15 year old Weekend Eggs recipes series on breakfast egg dishes from around the world, which we started way back in 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 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. And he has lots more tips in the post. If you’re a lover of boiled eggs, we have more boiled eggs recipes here.

How to Boil Eggs Perfectly Every Time for Perfect Soft and Hard Boiled Eggs

Middle Eastern Rice Recipe with Spices, Nuts and Dried Fruit

This quick and easy Middle Eastern rice recipe with spices, nuts and raisins will make you an aromatic rice dish infused with Middle Eastern spices and textured with nuts and raisins. It’s fantastic with smoky kofta kebab or the garlicky chicken called shish tawook, Middle Eastern vegetable sides, such as these spicy potatoes from Lebanon, and salads such as fatoush and tabbouleh. It’s one of our best Middle Eastern recipes.

While my Middle Eastern rice recipe is authentic in taste – 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 I use is inauthentic. Instead of the pilaf method, I use the Asian stir-fry method to use up leftover rice.

The next day, I combine any leftover Middle Eastern spiced rice with kofta kebab meat or garlicky chicken leftovers, such as chicken shawarma, which I 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

Traditional Cambodian Fish Amok Recipe

One of our best Cambodian recipes, our authentic traditional fish amok recipe makes a steamed fish curry to a classic recipe from an older generation of cooks who believe that if it’s not properly steamed, then it’s not amok trei. ‘Amok’ means to steam in banana leaves and ‘trei’ means fish in Cambodia’s Khmer language.

While the dish is eaten by all Cambodians on all kinds of occasions – the firm consistency and banana leaf wrapping made it convenient for farmers to take it out to the rice paddies for a midday deal, while the sumptuous texture and rich taste made it a wedding party favourite – it’s thought that this refined dish is a Royal Khmer specialty dating as far back as the Khmer Empire.

Our traditional Cambodian fish amok recipe was one of our most popular recipes of May 2025 on Grantourismo, which thrills me no end, after spending so many years researching Cambodian cuisine and working on our epic Cambodian cookbook.

Cambodian Fish Amok Recipe for an Authentic Steamed Fish Curry in the Old Style

Cambodian Chicken Rice Porridge Recipe

This Cambodian chicken rice porridge recipe for borbor sach moan, a Cambodian congee, was another of our most popular recipes of May 2025, and it’s no surprise. It makes an incredibly comforting dish that’s super easy to make and is one of my favourite Southeast Asian breakfast dishes.

During our nearly ten years in Cambodia we’ve observed Cambodians tuck into big bowls of borbor for breakfast, brunch, lunch, an afternoon snack, dinner (particularly if feeling unwell), and late night supper (i.e. hangover cure).

We like to use local Cambodian fish sauces for Cambodian dishes, but you’re unlikely to find those outside Cambodia. We recommend the Thai fish sauce brand Megachef, although we know that our American readers love the American-Vietnamese brand Red Boat.

Cambodian Chicken Rice Porridge Recipe for Borbor Sach Moan, Cambodia’s Congee

Buckwheat Kasha Recipe with Bacon, Eggs and Mushrooms

Despite the rustic appearance, this is perhaps the least traditional of all my Russian family recipes and it’s one of my favourite recipes. Although I have to confess that of all the Russian breakfasts my baboushka 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, and it wasn’t until I was a young adult that I finally became smitten with kasha.

This comforting Russian buckwheat kasha recipe with caramelised onions, bacon lardons, pan-fried mushrooms, and soft-boiled eggs makes my heartier take on my grandmother’s traditional Russian breakfast and it was another of our most popular recipes of May 2025 on Grantourismo.

The key ingredient of this savoury porridge (kasha) is buckwheat groats (grechka). While based on my Russian grandmother’s recipe, I’ve spiced things up. My baboushka kept things simple and sprinkled chopped-up hard-boiled eggs on top, whereas I use soft-boiled eggs, and also garnish it with diced gherkins, plenty of fresh fragrant dill, and a generous dollop of sour cream.

Comforting Russian Buckwheat Kasha Recipe with Bacon, Caramelised Onions, Mushrooms and Eggs

Cambodian Spicy Roasted Peanuts Recipe

This Cambodian spicy roasted peanuts recipe is a perfect snack for casual gatherings or holiday season tables, and a great accompaniment to a beer cocktail or a potent spiced Negroni. While I’ve been making this Vietnamese roasted spicy peanuts recipe since we lived in Hanoi years ago, I found the local Khmer peanuts in Cambodia have a few subtle and not-so subtle differences.

When you go out to a good bar in Cambodia, especially in Siem Reap, you’ll probably be served two or three small dishes of nibbles with your drinks – typically, crispy purple taro and orange sweet potato chips, maybe crunchy banana chips, perhaps some mini crispy rice cakes.

If you’re lucky, you’ll also get a bowl of these Cambodian spicy roasted peanuts with chillies, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, and garlic. This recipe makes those deliciously-addictive roasted peanuts, which are aromatic, spicy, salty, and sweet – Cambodia in a nutshell, so to speak – and it’s one of our best recipes with nuts.

Lara had been begging me to make these at home for years, so when I finally got around to it, we sampled a handful of packets of the Cambodian spicy roasted peanuts sold at Siem Reap’s local markets. Lara swears she’ll never buy peanuts from the local markets again, these are that good.

Cambodian Spicy Roasted Peanuts Recipe with Chilli, Kaffir Lime Leaves and Lemongrass

Classic Burmese Chicken Curry Recipe

Our authentic Burmese chicken curry recipe makes a fragrant gently-spiced curry that is 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 I’ve adapted from my favourite Burmese cookbook, Mi Mi Khaing’s Cook and Entertain the Burmese Way, dating to 1978. It’s a delightful little booklet I bought in a dusty bookshop near the Strand Hotel, where we stayed 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

Traditional Russian Beef Stew Recipe for Solyanka

This traditional Russian beef stew recipe makes solyanka, a delicious hearty stew or heavy soup that’s a little sour, a little sweet, and was a whole lot saltier back in its day.

First mentioned in print in the 15th century, solyanka is an ancient dish made for modern times: it’s a one-pot dish that is filling and comforting. Based on my baboushka’s recipe, which I grew up eating in the 1970s and 1980s, it’s one of my favourite beef stew recipes.

Solyanka has long been thought to have been invented to use up leftovers, which explains all the bits and pieces, and why some solyanka recipes call for several kinds of meats and sausages, and ingredients such as dill pickle juice.

Traditional Russian Beef Stew Recipe for Solyanka, a Medieval Dish for Modern Times

Khmer Yellow Kroeung Paste Recipe

The Khmer yellow kroeung paste is the basic kroeung or freshly-pounded herb and spice paste in Cambodian cooking. The other four are the green kroeung (kroeung prâhoeur), the red kroeung (kroeung samlor kari), ‘k’tis kroeung’ (kroeung samlor k’tis), 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 the sublime fish amok (amok trei) and hearty soups such as samlor machou kroeung sach ko, a sour beef soup with morning glory, which is why the paste is commonly called kroeung samlor machou.

The yellow kroeung 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. It was fantastic to see it was another of our most popular April recipes.

Khmer Yellow Kroeung Recipe for Kroeung Samlor Machou, Cambodia’s Essential Spice Paste

Salmon Potato Salad Recipe with Soft-Boiled Eggs

One of our best potato salad recipes, my Russian salmon potato salad recipe with soft-boiled eggs, capers, gherkins and dill makes my take on one of our family recipes so it was wonderful to learn that it was another of our most popular May recipes.

It 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. Work quickly and combine the potatoes, pan-seared salmon and soft-boiled eggs while they’re still warm.

For warm weather meals, such as summer barbecues and spring picnics, simply refrigerate the salad until it’s chilled. However you serve it, you’ll need Terence’s guide to how to boil eggs perfectly every time from his Weekend Eggs series.

Russian Salmon Potato Salad Recipe with Soft-Boiled Eggs, Gherkins, Capers and Dill

Spicy Italian Sausage Pasta Recipe

I was so chuffed to see that this spicy Italian sausage pasta recipe was another one of the most popular recipes in May 2025, 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, which you can read more about 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 our ’nduja pizza made in a Dutch oven.

Spicy Italian Sausage Pasta Recipe from Calabria in Southern Italy

Cauliflower Cabbage Potato Soup Recipe

One of our best potato soup recipes, and one of our favourite cabbage recipes, our easy cauliflower cabbage potato soup recipe makes a creamy vegetable soup that’s incredibly rich and comforting and it was another of our most popular recipes of May 2025 on Grantourismo.

You could enjoyably slurp it as is on a chilly autumn or fall evening, dunking toast into the silky broth, or add texture and make it a bit fancy by sprinkling crushed croutons, fresh fragrant dill sprigs, and cracked black pepper on top.

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.

Cauliflower Cabbage Potato Soup Recipe for a Comforting Creamy Vegetable Soup

Cambodian Green Papaya Salad Recipe

Our recipe makes bok lahong or nhoam lahong, Cambodia’s famous green papaya salad, a fragrant, crunchy salad that’s a little funky, a little spicy, a bit sour and salty, and a tad sweet. Eaten for lunch or an afternoon snack, this bespoke salad is made to order, and has cousins in Laos (Tum Som), Thailand (Som Tum), and Vietnam (Gỏi Đủ Đủ).

Here in Cambodia, there are papaya salad stalls at markets, vendors make bok lahong to order from mobile carts they park on the roadside, and you can order the salad at restaurants, but we like to make at home. It’s not only scrummy, it’s a cinch to prepare.

A wooden mortar and pestle is best for pounding salads such as these, as you want to soften them or bruise them, you don’t want to pound them to a paste. If you don’t have a wooden martar and pestle, you can use the stone or granite mortar and pestle used for making curry pastes and Cambodian kroeungs, the herb and spice pastes that form the basis for so many Cambodian dishes.

This is a fantastic salad for a Cambodian or Southeast Asian style picnic or barbecue, and we have lots of Cambodian barbecue recipes to go with it, along with more Cambodian salad recipes, such as this Cambodian minced pork larb, an aromatic grilled beef salad, and, one of my favourites, a light and tasty pork and jicama salad.

Cambodian Green Papaya Salad Recipe for Cambodia’s Bok Lahong

Chebureki Recipe for a Beach Holiday Treat

This recipe for traditional chebureki (чебуреки) makes deliciously-crunchy fried pastries filled with savoury minced beef and onions. They are so big you need to hold them in two hands but I also have a recipe for mini chebureki that are a little spicier.

My Russian-Ukrainian grandmother had fond memories of summer holidays on the Black Sea and cheburkei have long been a beloved Black Sea beach holiday snack. Now a popular street food in Russia, Ukraine and other Eastern European and Central Asian countries, its origins are in Crimean Tatar cuisine.

This chebureki recipe was another of our most popular recipes of May 2025 on Grantourismo. My chebureki recipes will definitely be going in the Russian-Ukrainian cookbook and family memoir I’m developing, so I’m always delighted to see our readers landing on these recipes.

Chebureki Recipe for a Crimean Beach Holiday Treat That Became a Popular Russian Street Food Snack

Sour Beef Soup with Morning Glory Recipe

This Cambodian sour beef soup with morning glory recipe makes a wonderful green vegetable-driven broth called samlor machou kroeung sach ko in Khmer. It’s super healthy and super easy to make and if you’re not a fan of tang you can easily adjust the seasoning to suit your taste.

I first shared this recipe soon after the pandemic started when Terence and I had just moved with Pepper (our black Cambodian cat) from our spacious colonial apartment with swimming pool in the French Quarter of Cambodia’s Siem Reap to a snug apartment in a little building in a village on the edge of Siem Reap, which flooded whenever it rained. Let’s say it was an ‘adventure’…

We were cooking on a traditional clay brazier on our balcony and Terence was sharing recipes for a Cambodian barbecue series, while I was testing recipes for a series of Cambodian recipes for samlors, soups and stews, starting with this sour beef soup with morning glory recipe for samlor machou kroeung sach ko, and including recipes for a pork, pineapple and coconut milk soup-cum-stew, a samlor korko soup, and an ‘outside the pot’ soup. Ah… memories…

Sour Beef Soup with Morning Glory Recipe for Samlor Machou Kroeung Sach Ko

Cambodian Fried Rice Recipe

As you’d expect of a Southeast Asian country with a long history of Chinese trade and migration, Cambodia has no shortage of fried rice recipes, but this Cambodian fried rice recipe makes a particularly delicious Cambodian bai cha (fried rice).

It’s a lighter style of fried rice and is essentially the Cambodian take on the classic Chinese fried rice, and it’s another of our best rice recipes. Bai cha is simply ‘fried rice’ – ‘bai’ is rice and ‘cha’ is to stir-fry – and it’s distinguished by two typical Cambodian breakfast ingredients, sausage and eggs.

The sausage in question is Siem Reap sausage, the local take on lap cheong, the smoked, sweetened, red Chinese sausage. Sometimes it’s served with a fried egg on top in addition to the scrambled egg through the rice. This Cambodian shrimp fried rice is another favourite I recommend you try.

Cambodian Fried Rice Recipe – How to Make the Best Bai Cha

Traditional Burmese Egg Curry Recipe

Our traditional Burmese egg curry recipe makes a Myanmar curry shop staple that’s typically eaten for breakfast. Served with a spicy tomato and onion-based curry, the boiled eggs are peeled and deep fried in turmeric until golden, which is why you’ll also see this called a Burmese golden egg curry recipe in Burmese cookbooks.

We adapted this classic Burmese egg curry recipe for our Weekend Eggs series from the modestly printed Burmese cookbook Cook and Entertain the Burmese Way (1978) by Mi Mi Khaing, which we bought on our first trip to Myanmar some years ago. It’s a delight to read and is full of insights into the culinary culture as much as the cuisine.

The cuisines of Myanmar, particularly Burmese cuisine and Shan cuisine, are some of our favourite Southeast Asian cuisines and this traditional Burmese egg curry recipe makes one of our favourite dishes from Myanmar – another is ohn no khao swe, a Burmese chicken coconut noodle soup.

Traditional Burmese Egg Curry Recipe for a Myanmar Breakfast Favourite

Cape Malay Chicken Curry Recipe

This Cape Malay chicken curry recipe makes a richly spiced curry from Cape Town. The recipe was inspired by the fragrant chicken curry we learnt to make in a Cape Malay cooking class in colourful Bo-Kaap, the heart of Cape Malay culture.

The gently spiced chicken curry is a cousin of the classic Cape Town tomato bredie, above. They’re dishes that locals here in Southeast Asia would describe as ‘same same but different’, sharing a lot of similar spices.

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 Curry from Cape Town, South Africa

Spanish Chorizo and Potato Croquettes Recipe

One of our favourite recipes with chorizo, this classic Spanish chorizo and potato croquettes recipe for croquetas de patata y chorizo makes a delectable snack. Bite into the light crispy shell and you’ll find creamy mashed potatoes flecked with spicy pieces of chorizo.

A beloved tapas bar snack in Spain and abroad, croquettes are so popular that some bars even specialise in croquettes offering a diverse array of fillings. This is one of our best Spanish tapas recipes, so make a big batch as they’re addictive.

We shared this as part of a series of Spanish tapas bar recipes that included this meatballs recipe for albondigas, a chorizo in red wine for chorizo al vino tinto, a garlic shrimp for gambas al ajillo, and calamari al plancha for smoky squid cooked on a griddle. If you’re a fan of small plates, also try our Basque pintxos recipes.

Spanish Chorizo and Potato Croquettes Recipe for Croquetas de Patata y Chorizo

Middle Eastern Hummus and Spiced Ground Beef Recipe

Our hummus with spiced beef recipe for hummus bil lahme will make you an addictively delicious hummus that’s drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkled with cumin powder, and topped with a generous layer of aromatic, 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 tabbouli, 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!

Delicious Hummus with Spiced Ground Beef Recipe for Hummus bil Lahme

Cambodia’s Rich Saraman Curry Recipe

Cambodia’s Saraman curry or cari Saramann is the richest of the Cambodian curries and the most complex, and it’s one of our best curry recipes. A cousin of Thailand’s Massaman curry and Malaysia’s beef Rendang, its time-consuming nature makes it a special occasion dish for Cambodians, particularly in the Cham Muslim communities of Cambodia.

The similarity between Cambodia‘s Saraman curry and Thailand’s Massaman curry (also written as Mussaman curry) lies in the base curry paste with just a few ingredients setting the Saraman curry apart. That’s the use of star anise, sometimes turmeric, dry roasted grated coconut, and roasted peanuts – which makes this one of our best recipes with nuts.

The dry roasted coconut is what the Saraman curry has in common with Malaysia’s beef Rendang, helping to give the curry that beautiful rich, thick gravy that has you adding yet another spoonful of rice to your bowl just to mix it with the sauce.

Cambodia’s Rich and Spicy Saraman Curry Recipe for Cambodia Cari Saramann

Russian-Ukrainian Potato Vareniki Recipe

My potato vareniki recipe makes the boiled Russian-Ukrainian dumplings stuffed with rustic mashed potato and caramelised onion that my baboushka used to make for family meals, particularly for Russian Christmas, Russian Easter, and the seemingly never-ending Sunday lunches that turned into dinners.

My baboushka would serve the vareniki swimming in butter in a casserole pot, sprinkled with fresh fragrant dill, and accompanied by dishes of sour cream (smetana). If our whole family was gathering – my grandparents, my parents, uncles and their partners – baba would make big batches of potato vareniki, as well as vareniki filled with ‘farmers cheese’, and minced meat filled pelmeni.

Any leftovers would be sent home in casserole pots (my baboushka seemed to have an endless supply of the things) or refried the next day for breakfast, brunch or lunch (depending on how bad the hangovers were!) for those lucky enough to stay overnight. More dumpling recipes here.

Potato Vareniki Recipe for Mash and Caramelised Onion Filled Dumplings

Cambodian Fried Spring Rolls Recipe

Our Cambodian fried spring rolls recipe makes a traditional crispy deep-fried spring roll – or egg roll, as our American readers call them – of the kind you’ll find sold in local markets and street food stalls as a snack and served in restaurants as an appetiser here in Cambodia. We also have a tangy Cambodian fried spring roll dipping sauce recipe that you can make to serve with them.

Easy to make, once you get the hang of the rolling technique, these Cambodian fried spring rolls are a classic, but by all means can be adapted to your taste. While the origin of the spring roll is Chinese, and in Cambodia specifically its provenance is the Chinese-Cambodian community, these fried spring rolls are eaten by everyone these days. When you taste them you’ll realise why!

Cambodian fried spring rolls are made with dried shrimp rather than the fresh plump sweet prawns in fresh spring rolls. Make sure to buy the best quality dried shrimp you can find. We use it in loads of dishes including this Cambodian papaya salad, long bean salad with smoked fish, green mango salad with smoked fish, and cucumber salad.

Cambodian Fried Spring Rolls Recipe for Crispy Deep-Fried Egg Rolls Just Like in Cambodia

Egg Foo Young with Gravy Recipe

This egg foo young with gravy recipe makes the Chinese American restaurant specialty of crispy omelettes doused in gravy and sprinkled with scallions, sesame seeds and bean sprouts. Served with steamed rice, the fantastic and filling omelette can be eaten for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner and is just as delicious as the Cantonese original.

The original Cantonese-style egg foo young, also called Cantonese fu yong dan or fuyong dan, is a delightfully crispy omelette filled with pork, spring onions and bean sprouts, with provenance in Southern China dating back to the 18th century Ching Dynasty.

Now if you love a good omelette, try our recipes for two classic omelettes, ourThai omelette recipe, my Russian sour cream omelette with broccoli and bacon, Terence’s luxurious Southeast Asian crab omelette, or our herby Cambodian sa’om omelette, or just browse our collection of best omelette recipes.

Egg Foo Young with Gravy Recipe for the Chinese American Crispy Omelette

Moroccan Lamb Tagine with Prunes and Almonds

Back in 2010, Marrakech in Morocco was the first stop on the yearlong global grand tour which launched Grantourismo, with the aim of inspiring you all to travel more slowly, locally and experientially, forms of travel we’d long believed were more immersive, engaging and interactive. Learning to cook local food and slow food were big parts of that project.

Terence learnt to make this Moroccan lamb tagine recipe from Jamila, the lovely cook at our Marrakech riad. In the Moroccan edition of Weekend Eggs he wrote about the many different versions of chakchouka, but that was nothing compared to the variations of tagine. You won’t find two cooks who’ll agree on exactly what should go into a tagine.

This Moroccan lamb tagine with prunes and almonds was another of our most popular recipes of May 2025 on Grantourismo. It’s also one of our best recipes with nuts and one of my favourite tagine recipes, along with this classic chicken tagine with preserved lemons and olives.

Moroccan Lamb Tagine with Prunes and Almonds Recipe from Marrakech

Simple Calamari Recipe with Garlic, Chilli, Olive Oil and Lemon

Our simple calamari recipe with garlic, chilli, olive oil, and lemon makes calamari a la plancha, cooked on a barbecue or griddle. It’s one of the easiest calamari recipes you can make for a Spanish tapas feast, yet if done correctly it’s also one of the most delicious.

Calamari is a Spanish food staple found in everything from seafood paella and slow-braised squid stew to fried calamari and calamari a la plancha, popular Spanish tapas bar dishes. Although normally sliced in rings, we use the Southeast Asian ‘pineapple cut’ of scoring the squid in a criss-cross pattern, which ensures the calamari stays tender and the flavours cling.

This simple calamari recipe is next in our series of Spanish tapas recipes, which have so far included a Spanish meatballs recipe for albondigas, a chorizo and potato croquettes recipe  for croquetas de patata y chorizo, and a chorizo in red wine recipe for chorizo al vino tinto, one of our favourite recipes with chorizo.

Simple Calamari Recipe with Garlic, Chilli, Olive Oil and Lemon for a Spanish Tapas Spread

Russian Devilled Eggs Recipe

My Russian devilled eggs recipe will make you a Russian retro-classic which, like chicken Kiev and beef Stroganoff, spread like wildfire around the world, featuring on formica trays of hors d’oeuvres at every swinging soirée from Sydney to San Francisco in the 1960s and 1970s.

Devilled eggs were a feature of Russian imperial cuisine, laid out on the elaborate spreads of zakuski or hors d’oeuvres on buffet tables overflowing with trays of snacks and small plates. See Terence’s guide to boiling eggs if you need help in that area.

You could pipe the mix into the egg white using a piping bag, but unless you dice your gherkins and purple shallots super-finely, which you should anyway, the mix will get stuck in the bag. If you’re looking for a fancier devilled eggs, try this one with caviar and smoked salmon.

Russian Devilled Eggs Recipe for a Zakuski Table Fit for a Russian Emperor

Pearl Couscous Salad Recipe with Pomegranate and Pistachios

One of our best Middle Eastern recipes, our pearl couscous salad with pomegranate, pistachios and fresh herbs makes a Middle Eastern salad that’s loaded with texture, flavour and aroma. It’s essentially a traditional village salad with the additions of pearl couscous, pomegranate seeds, pistachios and a mix of herbs, but it’s super versatile. Use bulgur or quinoa and whatever nuts or herbs you have on hand.

It’s one of my favourite Middle Eastern salads, alongside a farmers salad for salata falahiyeh – also called a village salad, Palestinian salad, Arabic salad, and chopped salad or salata na’ameh – and fattoush, like a farmers salad but with the addition of pomegranate seeds or pomegranate molasses and homemade crispy pita chips.

Traditional farmers salads or village salads are found right across the Middle East and Europe and, like my Russian family’s garden salad, consist of classic salad ingredients – tomatoes, cucumbers and onions, maybe capsicums (bell peppers) or olives, fresh herbs (which vary according to what’s grown in the region) salt and pepper, and a simple dressing of olive oil and vinegar or lemon juice. Although I use this classic French vinaigrette on my salads.

It’s a fantastic starter served with Middle Eastern mezze such as hummus, baba ganoush and muhammara, or as a side to meatier mains such as kebabs, meatballs and shish tawook, and this Middle Eastern spiced rice dish.

Pearl Couscous Salad Recipe with Pomegranate, Pistachios and Fresh Herbs

Please let us know in the comments below if you make any of the recipes in this collection of our most popular recipes of May 2025 on Grantourismo, as we’d love to hear how they turn out for you.