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Soya chunks sabzi
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Soya chunks sabzi

Dry soya chunk curry

Soya chunks, called nutrela or meal maker across India, are a hostel and office-tiffin favourite from Delhi to Hyderabad because they are cheap, keep for months and soak up masala like a sponge. Here they are boiled, squeezed and cooked dry with onion, tomato and garam masala until each chunk is glossy and coated. The mistake is not squeezing hard enough: water left inside dilutes the masala and the chunks taste of nothing. Squeeze them in a fist, twice. Chef's tip: soak them in hot salted water with a pinch of turmeric, so they are seasoned all the way through.

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Kibbeling is the fish snack of Dutch markets and harbours, sold in paper trays from fish vans at Saturday markets from Volendam to Rotterdam: bite-sized chunks of cod or pollock coated in a spiced batter and fried until crisp, with a pot of garlic sauce or remoulade. It began as a way to use the cheeks of cod. A common mistake is a thick batter, which turns bready and greasy. Chef's tip: season the batter well with a little curry powder and paprika, the market-van secret, and fry at 180 °C until golden; the fish is done when opaque and flaking.

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In the dairy belt of Sirajganj and Pabna, where milk is cheap and plentiful, khirsha is made the patient way: milk is boiled in a wide iron karai and stirred for well over an hour until it has reduced to a sixth of its volume and become a thick, pale-caramel paste, then sweetened and cooked a little longer. Sold in clay saucers or pressed into blocks, it tastes of pure cooked milk, sweet and slightly toffee-like, with a fudgy, fine-grained texture. It is eaten on its own, spread on puffed rice, rolled into pithas or packed into the shells of other sweets. Burning the bottom is the classic mishap, which makes the whole batch taste scorched, so stir constantly and scrape the corners once it thickens. Chef's tip: use a wide, heavy pan rather than a deep one; the bigger the surface, the faster the milk reduces.

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The oasis towns of Turbat and Panjgur in Makran grow some of Pakistan's finest dates, the soft, honeyed Begum Jangi and Muzawati among them, and after the late-summer harvest households turn the surplus into this rich, fudgy halwa. Dates are softened in warm milk, mashed and cooked down slowly in ghee until the mixture is dark and glossy and comes away from the pan, then finished with almonds, walnuts and cardamom. It needs little or no added sugar, and it is served in small portions at Eid, to new mothers and to guests with green tea. Using dry, hard dates without soaking is where it goes wrong, leaving the halwa lumpy and leathery. Chef's tip: choose soft, moist dates and blend them only briefly after soaking, so a few small pieces remain for texture.

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Kesel muwa curryBanana blossom curry

Every banana plant in a Sri Lankan back garden eventually pushes out a heavy, purple, spear-shaped flower, and rather than waste it, home cooks across the western province slice it into this savoury, slightly meaty curry. Once the tough outer bracts come off, the pale heart is shredded and cooked with roasted curry powder, mustard seed and chilli, then finished with coconut milk until it is tender with a faint, pleasant astringency, a bit like artichoke. It is a weekday dish, served with red rice, parippu and a pol sambol. The flower browns and turns bitter within minutes of being cut, which is where most first attempts go wrong, so have a bowl of salted turmeric water waiting and drop the slices in as you go. Chef's tip: if you can only find tinned banana blossom in brine, rinse it well, chop it and skip the soaking; it needs only half the cooking time.

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Atama soupPalm nut and atama leaf soup

From Abak and the Ibibio heartland of Akwa Ibom comes this palm-nut soup with a perfume all its own: atama leaves, which smell somewhere between mint, anise and fresh hay. The palm cream is cooked with assorted meat, stockfish, dried fish and periwinkles until the oil glistens on top, then the atama goes in near the end. It is weekend and visitors' food, eaten with pounded yam, fufu or eba. Dried atama is sold in African shops; dried tarragon is the closest substitute. Periwinkles should be bought cleaned, and any with cracked shells thrown away. Avoid adding the atama leaves too early: long boiling dulls their perfume. Chef's tip: go easy on the atama, as too much turns the soup bitter, so start with the amount below and taste before adding more.

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Keshi yenaChicken-stuffed Edam cheese

Keshi yena, "stuffed cheese", is the most famous dish of Curaçao and Aruba, born when cooks on Dutch plantations reused the rinds of big Edam cheeses by filling them with leftover meat. Today it is a festive dish: a spiced chicken filling with tomato, onion, olives, capers, raisins and hot pepper, sealed in sliced Edam and baked until the cheese melts into a golden crust, eaten with white rice or funchi. The mistake to avoid is a wet filling, which makes the cheese case collapse; cook it down until thick. This home version is baked in ramekins lined with cheese slices. Chef's tip: oil the ramekins well and turn the cheese cups out onto plates for a dramatic presentation.

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AkpleCorn and cassava swallow

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Chiu chow fun guoPork and peanut dumplings

Chiu Chow families who settled around Sheung Wan and Kowloon City brought these chubby half-moon dumplings with them, and Hong Kong teahouses still steam them in bamboo baskets for the morning crowd. The wrapper is a mix of wheat and tapioca starch that turns translucent and slightly elastic, so you can see the filling inside: minced pork, crunchy roasted peanuts, garlic chives, salty preserved radish and a little dried shrimp. Each bite is chewy, savoury and crunchy at once. Dab them with chilli oil or a little Chiu Chow chilli sauce. People often roll the dough too thin, then it tears as it steams; aim for 2 mm and keep it under a damp cloth while you work. Chef's tip: toast the peanuts yourself and add them at the very end so they stay crunchy.

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Kichiri qurootRice and mung beans

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LaffaLarge chewy flatbread

Laffa is the big, floppy flatbread that falafel and shawarma stands from Tel Aviv's Levinsky market to Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda use when a pita is not enough. It came with Iraqi Jews, who baked it on the inside wall of a taboon; at home a very hot pan or upturned wok does the job. It should be thin but chewy, with charred blisters, and soft enough to roll around falafel, salads and tahini without cracking. The mistake is cooking it too long: once it stiffens it splits when you wrap it. Chef's tip: stack the hot breads straight into a towel-lined bowl and cover, so they steam each other soft.

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Asopao de polloSoupy chicken and rice

Somewhere between a soup and a risotto, asopao is the pot Puerto Rican mothers put on for a rainy Sunday, a cold, or a hangover after a long party night, and it is spooned straight from deep bowls with tostones on the side. Bone-in chicken is seasoned with garlic, oregano and lime, simmered in a sofrito broth, then rice goes in until the whole pot turns thick and brothy, finished with olives, capers, peas and strips of roasted pepper. The common mistake is making it ahead: the rice keeps drinking the broth and turns stodgy, so cook it just before eating, or keep extra stock to loosen leftovers. Chef's tip: take the pot off the heat while the rice is still a touch firm; it carries on cooking in the bowl.

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KattamaFlaky onion flatbread

Kattama is the layered flatbread of Kyrgyz homes, made to go with tea on cold mornings in Bishkek and the villages around Lake Issyk-Kul: a plain dough rolled thin, spread with butter and chopped onion, rolled up, coiled and rolled flat again, then fried in a pan so it puffs into flaky, crisp layers. A common mistake is pressing the coiled dough too hard, which squeezes out the butter and flattens the layers. Chef's tip: let the coils rest for 15 minutes before the final rolling; the gluten relaxes and the bread opens up into layers as it cooks.

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Katino mezePork and mushrooms in cream

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Kauk nyin baungSteamed sticky rice with peas

At sunrise on Yangon street corners, women sit behind bamboo baskets of steaming sticky rice wrapped in cloth, spooning portions onto squares of banana leaf for people heading to work. The glutinous rice is soaked and steamed until each grain is glossy, chewy and slightly translucent, then topped with soft pe pyot peas, freshly grated coconut and a sprinkle of toasted sesame pounded with salt. It is a plain, satisfying breakfast, sweet from the coconut, salty and nutty from the sesame, and usually eaten with a cup of green tea; some vendors use purple sticky rice for a darker, nuttier bowl. Boiling the rice like ordinary rice is the mistake that ruins it, turning it to glue, so always steam it. Chef's tip: soak the rice overnight; a short soak leaves hard white centres in the grains.

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Kasha varnishkesBuckwheat with bow-tie pasta

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Chingri bhorta is the bhorta most likely to win over newcomers: tiny fresh shrimp, the kind sold by the heap in every bazar, dry-fried until pink and toasty, then mashed by hand with raw onion, green chilli, coriander and a trickle of pungent mustard oil. It is sweet from the shrimp, sharp from the onion and hot from the chilli, and it is eaten in small balls with hot rice, often alongside aloo bhorta and begun bhorta. It takes less than half an hour and works perfectly well with frozen small prawns. A typical error is adding oil to the pan, which stews the shrimp instead of toasting them; dry heat brings out their sweetness. Chef's tip: rub the mash with your fingertips rather than a blender, so it stays rough and the onion keeps its crunch.

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KategnaCrisp spiced injera

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KavumFried rice flour oil cakes

On the Sinhala and Tamil New Year tray in April, kavum is the sweet that marks a real Avurudu kitchen, and in villages neighbours still gather around a big pan of oil to fry them together. A thick batter of rice flour and dark kithul treacle is rested overnight, then ladled into hot coconut oil, where the cook pokes and bastes the middle with a thin stick until it puffs up into the famous konda, the little topknot. The cakes are dark brown, crisp at the rim and soft and chewy inside, with a smoky treacle flavour, and they are eaten with plantains, kokis and milk rice. A batter that is too runny is the classic disappointment, since it spreads flat and never forms a knob; it should drop thickly from the spoon, like cold honey. Chef's tip: fry one test cake first and adjust the batter with a spoon of rice flour or coconut milk before doing the rest.

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KarpatkaCustard cream choux cake

Named after the Carpathians, karpatka is the cake whose crinkled, craggy top looks like a range of snowy peaks once it is dusted with icing sugar. Two thin layers of choux pastry, baked flat until they puff into hills and valleys, sandwich a deep layer of rich vanilla custard whipped with butter. It is a fixture of Polish name-day parties and café counters, and children love the cloud-like filling. The usual slip is opening the oven early, which makes the choux collapse into a flat, rubbery sheet. Chef's tip: let the custard and the butter reach the same room temperature before beating them together, or the cream splits.

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Dominican chimi burgerBurger with cabbage and mayo-ketchup

After dark in Santo Domingo, chimichurri carts (the "chimi" trucks) fire up griddles on street corners and sell these big, messy burgers into the small hours. A garlicky, oregano-seasoned beef patty, sometimes mixed with pork, is griddled and piled into a soft roll with lots of shredded cabbage, onion, tomato and the pink mayo-ketchup sauce. The common mistake is pressing the patty while it cooks, squeezing out the juices; flip it once and leave it. Cook the mince to 71 °C in the centre. Chef's tip: dress the shredded cabbage with a little of the sauce and lime first, so it softens slightly and stays in the bun.

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KartofdzhynPotato and cheese pie

Ossetian pies come in threes at every celebration in Vladikavkaz, stacked on one plate for the sun, earth and water, and kartofdzhyn, with potato and cheese, is the everyday family favourite of North Ossetia. Soft kefir-yeast dough is wrapped around a ball of filling and patted flat by hand into a wide, thin round, so dough and filling are each barely a centimetre thick, then baked hot and soaked with butter. Ossetian cheese is a fresh brined cheese made with animal rennet; for a vegetarian pie use a feta-style or young brined cheese labelled vegetarian. The usual slip is overfilling, which makes the pie burst as you flatten it; aim for about the same weight of dough and filling. Chef's tip: stack the hot pies and butter each one, so the butter soaks through and they stay supple.

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KarjalanpaistiBeef and pork hotpot

Karjalanpaisti, the Karelian hotpot, is one of Finland's national dishes, cooked for Independence Day, family celebrations and Christmas: chunks of beef and pork, sometimes lamb, layered with onion, whole allspice and bay, covered with water and baked slowly for hours in a clay pot until the meats are falling apart in a rich, peppery broth. This dish contains pork. It is served with mashed potato and lingonberries. A common mistake is a hot oven, which toughens the meat. Chef's tip: do not stir or brown the meat; Karelian cooks let it bake low and slow, and the long cooking alone gives the deep flavour.

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BacánPlantain and pork parcels

Bacán belongs to Baracoa, the coconut-growing corner of eastern Cuba, where it is made for family gatherings and sold wrapped at weekend markets. Grated green plantain is mixed with fresh coconut milk into a soft dough, wrapped around a filling of seasoned pork in a banana leaf and steamed until set, a little like a tamal but sweeter and silkier. The pork is shoulder, cooked in a sofrito before wrapping. The common mistake is using ripe plantain, which won't set; it must be hard and green. Chef's tip: pass the banana leaves briefly over a flame or hot pan until they turn glossy and supple, and they will fold without splitting.

120 minCubanMeatGluten free
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KasarPuffed rice and jaggery balls

Kasar is a sweet of good fortune: Bahun and Chhetri families in the hills make it by the basketful to send with a bride to her new home, to hand out at bratabandha thread ceremonies and to fill the Tihar plates. It is the simplest of sweets, puffed rice stirred into bubbling jaggery syrup flavoured with cardamom and pressed into balls while warm, sometimes with sesame, coconut or peanuts added, and it is crunchy, light and caramel-sweet. Children love making it because it is all about quick hands and a bowl of cold water. The pitfall is syrup that is not cooked far enough, which gives soft, sticky balls that collapse in a day. Chef's tip: test the syrup by dropping a little into cold water; when it sets into a firm ball that cracks if you squeeze it, it is ready.

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60 minBalkanMeat
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Asun started in Ekiti, where goat was roasted whole over an open fire, and it has become the star of Lagos owambe parties and Friday evenings at the bar. Skin-on goat is boiled with seasoning until just tender, grilled until smoky and charred at the edges, chopped into bite-size pieces, then tossed in a hot sauce of scotch bonnet, onion and a little oil. It is chewy in a good way, smoky and very spicy, eaten on its own, with jollof rice or with cold drinks. Cook the goat until tender and no pink remains. Chef's tip: dry the boiled goat well before grilling; wet meat steams and never takes on the charred, smoky flavour that makes asun.

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Karachi halwaCornflour halwa

Glassy, jewel-bright and chewy like a Turkish delight with more bite, Karachi halwa is the sweet that the city's mithai shops on Saddar and Tariq Road stack in orange, green and red slabs studded with cashews and melon seeds, and it travels well as a gift to family abroad. It is made from cornflour cooked with sugar syrup and lemon until it turns clear, then fed with ghee spoon by spoon until it shines and pulls away from the pan in one elastic mass. Across the border it is called Bombay halwa, and in Pakistan it is a staple for weddings, Eid and Diwali sweet boxes from the Hindu shops of Sindh. Lots of cooks lose their nerve and stop before the halwa has absorbed all the ghee and turned translucent, and it sets cloudy and sticky. Chef's tip: work the halwa with a flat wooden spatula and add the ghee only when the previous spoonful has disappeared; when the ghee starts to leak back out, it is done.

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Karawala thel dalaStir-fried dried fish

Every Sri Lankan market from Negombo to Trincomalee has a stall stacked with karawala, sun-dried salted fish, and when the larder is low or the rain keeps the boats in, a quick thel dala turns a small piece of it into something to wake up a plate of rice. Strips or small whole fish are fried until crisp, then tossed with plenty of onion, tomato, green chilli and chilli flakes until they are glossy, salty, smoky and hot. It is eaten in small amounts beside dhal, rice and a mild vegetable curry, or with kiribath and pol roti for breakfast, and it keeps for a day or two. Watch out for the classic fault of skipping the soak, which leaves the dish far too salty to eat. Chef's tip: fry the soaked fish until really crunchy before the onions go in; that crisp edge is what makes it addictive.

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KapamaPork, chicken and sauerkraut feast pot

In the stone houses of Bansko, beneath the Pirin mountains, kapama is the dish of the winter holidays, carried to the table in its clay pot at Christmas, New Year and the masked Kukeri carnival. Pork shoulder, chicken on the bone and fresh pork sausage are layered with sauerkraut, rice and paprika, then sealed and baked for hours until the meat falls apart and the rice has soaked up the tangy, smoky juices. Old cooks seal the lid with a rope of dough; this version uses foil under a tight lid, which keeps it gluten free. Serve with extra sauerkraut and pickled peppers. The usual slip is lifting the lid too often, which lets out the steam and dries the top layer. Chef's tip: taste a strand of the sauerkraut first and rinse it only if it is very salty; its sourness is the backbone of the dish.

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Karawila sambolaFried bitter gourd salad

Even people who claim to hate bitter gourd tend to come round to karawila sambola, the crunchy, tangy salad that turns up on rice and curry plates from the coast to the eastern towns. Paper-thin slices of the knobbly green gourd are salted to draw out some of the bitterness, fried until they are crisp like crisps, and then tossed at the last minute with raw red onion, green chilli, tomato and plenty of lime. The result is salty, sour and gently bitter, a bright contrast to rich coconut curries. Many cooks also scatter in Maldive fish flakes; this vegan version leaves them out. The mistake to avoid is mixing the salad too early, since the lime and tomato juice soften the fried slices within minutes. Chef's tip: squeeze the salted slices really hard in a clean cloth before frying; the drier they are, the crisper and less oily they come out.

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Kancha kola bhortaGreen banana mash

Green cooking bananas are cheap all year in Bangladeshi markets, and in homes from Comilla to Kushtia they are boiled whole and turned into a pale, gently starchy bhorta that is more filling than it looks. The flesh is mashed while warm with raw onion, green chilli, coriander and a generous splash of mustard oil, so it tastes mild and earthy with a sharp, nose-tingling finish. It is a weekday lunch with rice and dal, food for someone recovering from illness, and a regular on the bhorta platter during the Pohela Boishakh meal. Peeling the bananas before boiling makes them waterlogged and gluey, so they go into the pot in their skins. Chef's tip: mash while still warm; cold green banana goes hard and lumpy and won't absorb the oil.

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KanchembaFried buckwheat fingers

In the Thakali villages of Thak Khola, kanchemba is what is fried when visitors arrive in the afternoon or when the family gathers on a winter evening, and it has since become a favourite snack in Thakali restaurants in Pokhara and Kathmandu. The buckwheat dough is seasoned with turmeric, chilli and a little onion, rolled into thick fingers, then deep-fried until crunchy outside and soft and nutty in the centre. A punchy dipping achar of tomato, chilli, garlic and roasted timur comes alongside, and the pair is eaten with a bowl of salty butter tea or a glass of hot water. The trouble usually starts when the fingers are too thick, so the middle stays pasty while the outside darkens. Chef's tip: keep the fingers no thicker than your own, and fry at a moderate heat so they cook through before they brown.

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