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Pepper, beans and fruit salad

A big, bright salad of red, green and yellow peppers, boiled peanuts, sweet corn, grapes, apple and coconut, tossed in a sweet-sour passion fruit and mint dressing. It is very popular at big parties: it looks festive, keeps its crunch and is easy to double. Serve it on a bed of crisp lettuce.

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Ash-e shalghamTurnip and rice soup

In Tehran and Mashhad homes, ash-e shalgham is the pot put on the stove when someone in the family catches a cold in the first frosts of winter. Turnips and rice are simmered together until the turnips melt and the rice thickens the soup, which ends up soft, sweet and peppery, with a fried-onion and turmeric base. Many families add a little lamb; this one is vegan. The usual mistake is using big, old turnips, which taste bitter and woody; choose small, heavy ones. Chef's tip: grate half the turnips and dice the rest, so the soup is creamy yet still has pieces to bite.

65 min

Persian Soups

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AsierSweet dill pickled cucumbers

Late August in Danish allotments means the asie, a fat yellow-green cucumber left on the vine until its skin turns thick and its seeds big, and the smell of hot vinegar in every kitchen. The cucumbers are peeled, seeded and salted overnight, then sealed in jars with a sweet vinegar lage, dill crowns and mustard seeds. Asier are a fixture of the Danish table all winter: beside frikadeller, flæskesteg and roast duck at Christmas, sliced onto smørrebrød with liver pâté, and with boiled potatoes and brown gravy on any Tuesday. The pickle is crisp yet tender, sweet first and then sharply sour, with dill and mustard on the finish. Common mistake: skipping the overnight salting, which leaves watery, flabby asier that dilute the vinegar. The salt draws the water out so the cucumber stays firm. They are ready after two weeks, when the flesh has turned translucent and sweet-sour right through. Chef's tip: no asier? Use large, overgrown ridge or field cucumbers; ordinary salad cucumbers are too watery.

55 minScandinavian Chutneys & Dips

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MabíFermented bark drink

Around Juana Díaz on Puerto Rico's south coast, and in the Dominican countryside, mabí is sold ice-cold from barrels on hot afternoons and at patron-saint fiestas. It is made from the bark of the mabí tree (Colubrina elliptica, the mauby of the English-speaking Caribbean), boiled with spices, sweetened with brown sugar and left a day or so to ferment with a splash from the last batch, the madre. It tastes bittersweet, like a woodier root beer, with a creamy head and light fizz. Fermenting makes a trace of alcohol, well under 1% if drunk within a few days. The common mistake is skipping the beating: mabí should be poured back and forth between two jugs from a height until it is thick with foam, which also airs the yeast. It is ready when a tan foam stays on top, it tastes sweet-bitter with a slight sourness and small bubbles rise. Look for mabí or mauby bark in Caribbean shops; there is no real substitute. Traditionally drunk to cool down; drink it in moderation, and if you are pregnant or on blood-pressure medication, check with a doctor first. Chef's tip: keep a cup of finished mabí in the fridge as the madre for the next batch.

50 min

Puerto Rican Drinks

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Roti sardinSardine-filled bread rolls

Roti sardin is a Malaysian school-bag and teatime favourite: tinned sardines in tomato sauce mashed with onion, chilli and lime, rolled inside flattened white bread and pan-fried until golden. Mothers across Malaysia make them for bekal and they are sold at Ramadan bazaars. The common mistake is leaving the sardine filling wet, which soaks through the bread; cook it down until it is thick. Chef's tip: seal the rolls with a little beaten egg, then fry seam side down first so they hold together.

20 min

Malaysian Fish

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MajaditoRice with dried beef and egg

Majadito is everyday lunch in Santa Cruz and the Beni: rice cooked with onion, tomato, peppers and urucú (annatto), stirred with shredded charque until it is soft and moist, then crowned with a fried egg and fried ripe plantain. Charque is sun-dried salted beef, sold in Latin American shops; plain unseasoned dried beef works too. The mistake most cooks make is skipping the soaking and boiling, so the beef stays salty and tough. Chef's tip: pound the boiled charque in a mortar before frying; the fine, fluffy shreds spread through the rice.

70 minAndean Rice & Grains

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Shanghai cai fanRice with bok choy and pork

Cai fan, "vegetable rice", is what Shanghai grandmothers cook on cold winter days and what office workers buy steaming from the canteen: rice cooked in one pot with Shanghai bok choy and diced salted pork, enriched with a spoon of lard so every grain glistens. It goes into an insulated lunch tin piping hot. The common mistake is adding the greens with the raw rice, which turns them khaki and mushy; fry the stems first and stir the leaves in at the end. For a vegetarian version, use oil instead of lard, leave out the pork and add diced shiitake. Chef's tip: let the pot sit undisturbed on the lowest heat for the last 5 minutes to form a thin golden crust, guoba, at the bottom.

45 min

Chinese Rice & Grains

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Atol shucoSour black corn drink

In San Salvador's Plaza Libertad and outside churches on cool mornings, atol shuco is ladled from steaming clay pots into gourd bowls. Shuco means 'dirty', for its dusky purple-grey colour: it is made from fermented black corn, so it tastes slightly sour and earthy, topped with ground toasted pumpkin seeds, a few whole black beans and a pinch of chilli salt. It is savoury and filling rather than sweet. The usual mistake is leaving the masa to ferment too long in a hot kitchen; check it after a day and use it as soon as it smells pleasantly tangy. Throw it away if you see mould or it smells unpleasant. Chef's tip: if you can't wait for fermentation, a squeeze of lime at the end gives a similar tang.

40 minCentral American Drinks

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TitiyasCoconut milk flatbread

Titiyas are the soft, slightly sweet flatbreads of Guam and the Marianas, cooked on a griddle and eaten warm at breakfast, with fiesta food or rolled round a piece of grilled meat. Flour titiyas are made with coconut milk, which keeps them tender and gives a faint coconut taste; there is also a corn version (titiyas mai'es). A common mistake is rolling them too thick; 5 mm cooks through without burning. Chef's tip: cook on a dry, medium-hot pan and wrap each one in a towel as it comes off so they stay soft.

30 minPacific Islander Breads & Parathas

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Bachali kura pappuDal with Malabar spinach

Bachali, or Malabar spinach, climbs over back walls all across Telangana and Andhra, and its thick, glossy leaves go into this everyday pappu that turns up at lunch several times a month with rice, ghee and a pickle. The leaves give the dal a silky body and a faint lemony note. People often overcook it until the greens turn khaki; add them after the dal is soft and cook just long enough to wilt. Chef's tip: use the tender stems too, chopped small; they add a pleasant crunch.

35 min

Indian Curries

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Aval kanji for babiesRice flake porridge for babies

In Tamil homes from Madurai to Chennai, aval (flattened rice, the same poha sold in every kirana shop) is one of the first grains a grandmother reaches for when a baby turns six months. The flakes are dry-roasted until they smell like puffed rice, ground to a fine powder and simmered with water into a thin, pale porridge with a gentle toasted flavour, usually given as a mid-morning feed. For babies it is made with no salt, sugar, jaggery or honey. It is free of the major allergens: no milk, egg, gluten, nuts, soya, sesame or fish. Chef's tip: roast a whole cup of aval at once, grind it and keep the powder in a dry jar for up to two weeks, so each feed takes five minutes.

15 min

Indian Breakfast & Brunch

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Makhaniya lassiSaffron lassi with butter

Around the clock tower and old city of Jodhpur, lassi shops churn this rich drink all day in summer: chilled set curd whisked with sugar, saffron and cardamom, poured into tall glasses and crowned with a spoon of fresh white butter (makhan) and a layer of malai. You drink the cool lassi and eat the butter and cream with a spoon. It is a meal in itself. The common mistake is thinning it with too much water or ice, which loses the thick, almost spoonable texture that makes it Jodhpuri. Chef's tip: use curd set from full-fat milk the night before and whisk it by hand or with a few pulses only.

10 min

Indian Drinks

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AyampacoLeaf-steamed chicken and palm heart

From Macas and the Shuar communities of Morona Santiago comes ayampaco: chicken with palm heart, garlic, culantro and spring onion wrapped in bijao leaves and cooked over the fire, so everything steams together into a fragrant, juicy bundle. It is a celebration dish at festivals and family gatherings, served with boiled cassava and a sharp chilli sauce. Banana leaves stand in for bijao at home. The usual mistake is packing the parcels too full, so the middle stays undercooked; keep them flat and check the chicken reaches 74 °C. Chef's tip: let the chicken marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes so the garlic and herbs flavour it right through.

75 minAndean Chicken

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Ayote en mielSquash in spiced syrup

Nicaraguan grandmothers set a pot of ayote en miel on the stove on Holy Wednesday, so there is something sweet to share with neighbours right through Easter week, often alongside sweet green mango and coconut. Chunks of squash simmer in dark panela syrup with cinnamon, cloves and allspice until they are glossy and tender and the syrup tastes of caramel and spice. Stirring is the common mistake: a spoon breaks the soft squash into mush, so shake the pot instead. Chef's tip: leave the skin on the squash; it holds each piece together and turns soft enough to eat.

75 minCentral American Desserts

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Mbatata cookiesSweet potato cinnamon cookies

Mbatata simply means sweet potato in Chichewa, and these orange-flecked cookies are what Malawian mothers bake from leftover boiled sweet potato, sold too at Lilongwe and Blantyre bakeries alongside the tea urn. They come out soft and cakey rather than crisp, with a gentle sweetness from the potato, warm cinnamon and a buttery crumb. Serve them with milky tea at mid-morning or slip them into school lunch boxes. The recipe contains egg. Watery mash is the common pitfall, giving a sticky dough and flat cookies, so mash the potato dry and let it cool before mixing. Chef's tip: roast or steam the sweet potato rather than boiling it, for a deeper colour and a firmer dough.

35 minSouthern African Baking

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Mămăligă cu laptePolenta with milk

In the villages of Romanian Moldavia, mămăligă cu lapte is the simplest country breakfast or supper: a firm mămăligă (cornmeal mush) is turned out, cut into cubes and dropped into bowls of milk, warm in winter and cold from the cellar in summer. The soft, sweet corn soaks up the milk like a homely cereal. The mistake is making the mămăligă too soft; it has to be firm enough to cut with a thread or knife, or it melts away in the milk. Chef's tip: add the cornmeal in a thin rain while whisking, then switch to a wooden spoon once it thickens, and you will never get lumps.

30 min

Romanian Breakfast & Brunch

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ManganeChana dal and sago pudding

In Goan Hindu homes, especially around Ganesh Chaturthi, a pot of mangane is cooked for the naivedya and handed round warm after the aarti. Soft chana dal and glassy sago pearls sit in a thick, caramel-coloured sauce of coconut jaggery and fresh coconut milk, scented with cardamom and studded with cashews. The common mistake is boiling the dal hard after the thick coconut milk goes in, which splits it into oily curds; once the first milk is added the pot should only steam gently. Serve it warm in small bowls, or cool so it sets a little and spoon it up like a soft pudding. Chef's tip: soak the sago only until the pearls just give when pressed, or they melt into glue in the pot.

55 min

Indian Indian Sweets

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Badam ka halwaAlmond halwa

In Jaipur, badam ka halwa came out of the royal kitchens and now appears at winter weddings and on cold nights when someone wants a real treat. Soaked, peeled almonds are ground to a coarse paste and cooked slowly in ghee with milk, sugar and saffron until the halwa turns golden, glossy and leaves the sides of the pan. It is very rich, so a small bowl is enough. The common mistake is grinding the almonds too fine, which gives a pasty halwa instead of a soft, grainy one. Chef's tip: stop grinding when the almonds look like wet semolina and add the milk only during grinding, never water.

55 min

Indian Indian Sweets

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Mannaya kashaSemolina porridge

Mannaya kasha is the breakfast of every Russian childhood, served in kindergartens and at home: semolina simmered in milk into a smooth, soft porridge, with a melting knob of butter and a spoon of jam or berries in the middle. The famous mistake, joked about by generations of children, is lumps; they form when semolina is tipped in all at once, so rain it in slowly while stirring. Chef's tip: for a thick porridge use 3 tablespoons of semolina per 250 ml of milk, and for the runny kindergarten style use 2; it thickens a lot as it cools, so take it off the heat a little thinner than you want.

12 min

Russian Breakfast & Brunch

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Bagoong alamangFried krill paste

Across Luzon, a jar of ginisang bagoong sits in nearly every kitchen. In the hot months from March to May, when green mangoes are sour and crisp, it becomes the classic merienda: thin slices of unripe mango dragged through sweet, salty, garlicky shrimp paste, often shared on a porch in the afternoon. It is also the essential partner to kare-kare and the base of binagoongang baboy. Raw salted alamang (tiny krill or shrimp) is sold pink and wet; frying it with garlic, onion and tomato, then sugar and cane vinegar, turns it deep reddish brown, thick, glossy and rounded, with the briny punch still there. The raw paste is a raw-cured seafood, so this recipe always cooks it right through; pregnant people, babies, older people and anyone with weak immunity should only eat bagoong that has been fully sautéed and kept cold. Common mistake: high heat after the sugar goes in, which scorches it and turns the bagoong bitter. Keep it at a medium-low simmer. It is ready when the oil separates and shines on top and it smells toasty rather than fishy. Chef's tip: a few slivers of crisp pork belly fried first make it richer.

40 min

Filipino Chutneys & Dips

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BahoSteamed beef, plantain and cassava

Baho, also spelled vaho, is the dish Nicaraguan families plan a Sunday around, especially in Granada and Managua: beef marinated overnight in sour orange and garlic, then steamed for hours in a big pot lined with banana leaves on a bed of green plantain, ripe plantain and cassava. Everything comes out tender and fragrant with the leaves, and it is served with a crunchy, vinegary cabbage salad to cut through the richness. Marinate the beef in the fridge, never at room temperature. The mistake that ruins it is letting the pot boil dry, which scorches the leaves and the plantain at the bottom; top up the water every hour. Chef's tip: keep a few banana leaves back to tuck over the top, so the steam stays trapped inside the parcel.

250 minCentral American Meat

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Marquesa de chocolateNo-bake chocolate icebox cake

In Caracas homes the marquesa is the cake you make for a birthday when nobody wants to switch on the oven: plain tea biscuits dipped in vanilla milk and stacked with a rich chocolate cream, then chilled until it slices like a torte. Older recipes fold in raw egg yolks; this one uses whipped cream instead, so it is safe for everyone. The usual mistake is soaking the biscuits too long, so the cake slumps. Chef's tip: dip each biscuit for one second, then let the cream do the softening overnight.

35 min

Venezuelan Desserts

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Martín FierroCheese with quince paste

Ask for dessert in a Montevideo bodegón or a country parador and you may be offered a Martín Fierro: a thick slice of fresh, mild cheese laid with an equal slice of dense quince or sweet-potato paste, named after the gaucho of the epic poem. It's salty against sweet, soft against firm, and takes two minutes to assemble. Uruguayan fresh cheese is usually made with animal rennet, so choose one with vegetarian rennet if that matters to you. The mistake is serving it fridge-cold, which dulls both flavours. Chef's tip: cut the cheese and paste to exactly the same thickness, about 1 cm, so every bite has both.

5 min

Paraguayan Desserts

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Mas ko dalBlack lentil dal

Mas ko dal, made from whole black urad, is the thick, dark dal of the Nepali hills, cooked in heavy pots in Kathmandu, Gorkha and the Newar towns, especially on cold days and for festival meals. Slow cooking makes it creamy and earthy, and the tempering of jimbu, garlic and cumin in hot mustard oil gives it the scent of the Himalaya. Eat with rice, roti or dhido. Suitable as part of a balanced diet, it is high in protein and fibre: about 250 kcal and 30 g carbohydrate per portion; brown rice or millet dhido suits it well. The usual mistake is not soaking the lentils, which leaves them hard and the dal thin; soak them overnight. Chef's tip: simmer the dal with a few ginger slices and mash it lightly with a wooden spoon at the end for the classic thick texture.

70 min

Nepali Curries

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OgokbapFive-grain rice

Ogokbap is cooked across Korea for Jeongwol Daeboreum, the first full moon of the lunar year, when families share five-grain rice with nine kinds of dried namul and crack nuts to wish for good health. Sticky rice, millet, sorghum, black soybeans and adzuki beans cook together into a chewy, purple-tinged rice with a nutty, gently sweet flavour. It is good any time of year beside soup and banchan. The usual mistake is putting the adzuki beans in raw with the rice: they stay hard while the rice turns soft, so parboil them first. Chef's tip: keep a little of the adzuki cooking water for the rice, as it gives ogokbap its lovely rosy colour.

70 min

Korean Rice & Grains

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Paneer tikka

Paneer tikka is the vegetarian star of Punjabi dhabas and Delhi wedding buffets, and at home it is a weekend starter cooked under the grill or in a hot oven. Thick cubes of paneer, pepper and onion are coated in hung yogurt with ginger, garlic, chaat masala and roasted gram flour, then charred at high heat so the edges blister while the centre stays soft. Paneer set at home with lemon juice or vinegar uses no rennet; if you buy it, check the label. Serve with mint chutney and a big salad instead of naan. It is suitable as part of a balanced diet. About 330 kcal and 10 g carbohydrate per portion. The usual mistake is a runny marinade, which slides off; hang the yogurt for 20 minutes first. Chef's tip: marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, and don't skip a final blast of high heat for the charred spots.

35 min

Indian Snacks & Starters

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MasikitaGrilled beef skewers

As the light fades in Mahajanga, Toliara and Antananarivo, the smoke from masikita grills drifts along the pavements, with vendors fanning glowing charcoal under rows of tiny skewers. In Madagascar they are made with zebu, the humped cattle that are central to life on the island; good beef rump or sirloin is the closest match at home. Small cubes are marinated with garlic, ginger, pepper and a little oil, threaded tightly and grilled fast, so the outside chars and the inside stays juicy. Eat them straight off the stick with sakay, a squeeze of lime and a cold drink, or with rice for dinner. Cutting the cubes too big is the common mistake: masikita should be bite-sized so they cook through in minutes. Chef's tip: soak wooden skewers for 30 minutes first so they don't burn before the beef is done.

30 min

Malagasy Meat

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SiomaySteamed fish dumplings with peanut sauce

Siomay travelled from Bandung to Jakarta on the backs of bicycles: the vendors' tall aluminium steamers still clank through housing estates and park outside offices in Kuningan at lunch. Inside sit dumplings of mackerel and tapioca, stuffed tofu, cabbage rolls, potato, bitter melon and eggs, all kept hot over steam, then snipped into pieces with scissors and buried under a thick, garlicky peanut sauce with kecap manis and lime. The fish dumplings are soft but springy. Contains fish, peanuts, soy, egg and wheat (in the wrappers and kecap). Chef's tip: keep the fish and the bowl cold while you mix; warm fish paste goes mushy and won't hold its bounce.

75 min

Indonesian Fish

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