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Chocolate mousse tart
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Chocolate mousse tart

A crisp almond pastry case filled with a smooth chocolate mousse that's set with agar-agar instead of eggs or gelatine, so it's fully vegetarian. Light whipped cream is folded through and the tart is finished with chocolate curls. Serve chilled.

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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.

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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.

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Mseto, meaning 'mixture', is a staple of the Swahili coast from Mombasa to Lamu and Zanzibar, often eaten at lunch or for breaking the fast in Ramadan. Rice and green grams (whole mung beans) cook together in coconut milk with onion and a little turmeric until soft, fluffy and gently creamy. It is served beside a vegetable or bean curry, a kachumbari salad and a squeeze of lime. The usual mistake is adding the rice before the green grams are tender, so the rice turns mushy while the beans stay hard. Chef's tip: once the rice is in, cover the pot tightly and leave it on the lowest heat without lifting the lid, so the rice steams evenly.

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Frozen Christmas pudding

In the heat of an Australian December, many families swap the steamed pudding for a frozen one, ice cream packed with fruit, nuts and chocolate and set in a pudding basin so it still looks the part on the Christmas table in Brisbane or Perth. It is made days ahead and turned out just before serving. A common mistake is letting the ice cream melt too much while mixing, which makes it icy when refrozen; soften it only until stirrable. Chef's tip: soak the fruit in orange juice the night before so it stays soft when frozen.

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Urulaikizhangu roast (Tamil potato roast)

In Tamil lunch boxes, curd rice almost always comes with this: small cubes of boiled potato roasted slowly in a cast-iron pan with sambar powder, chilli and curry leaves until they are dark, crusty and chewy at the edges. It is a dry side, so it does not leak into the rice, and it tastes as good cold as hot. The mistake is stirring all the time; the potatoes need to sit undisturbed against the hot pan for a few minutes at a time to build the crust. Chef's tip: a teaspoon of rice flour scattered over in the last few minutes makes the coating even crisper.

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Vegetable pulao

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Pudina pulao (mint pulao)

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Capsicum rice (capsicum bath)

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Menthya soppu bath (fenugreek leaf rice)

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Golden syrup dumplings

Golden syrup dumplings are a winter pudding from Australian country kitchens, made during the Depression and still cooked by grandmothers in the Riverina and the Victorian high country when the nights turn cold. Soft scone-dough balls simmer in a sauce of golden syrup, butter and brown sugar until they swell and turn sticky. Serve with vanilla ice cream or custard. A common mistake is a pan that's too small; the dumplings double in size and need space. Chef's tip: keep the lid on and resist peeking, so the tops steam light and fluffy.

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Verkadalai sadam (peanut rice)

Peanut rice is the filling variety rice that Tamil and Kannada parents send when the school day ends with games: roasted peanuts, dry coconut, sesame and red chillies are ground into a coarse powder and tossed through rice in a curry leaf tempering. It tastes a little like a savoury peanut brittle, and it stays good at room temperature for hours. The mistake is grinding the peanuts too long; they turn into peanut butter and the rice clumps. Pulse in short bursts and stop while it is still sandy. Chef's tip: keep a few whole roasted peanuts aside and add them at the end for crunch.

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Tōge no kamameshiChicken and mushroom pot rice

At Yokokawa Station in Gunma, at the foot of the Usui Pass, travellers have bought tōge no kamameshi since 1958: a little clay pot of rice cooked in soy-seasoned dashi and crowded with chicken, shiitake, bamboo shoot, burdock, a sweet chestnut, a dried apricot and a quail egg. It tastes just as good at room temperature on a train. The seasoning includes mirin, a sweet rice wine that bubbles away as it cooks; for alcohol-free, use 1 tbsp sugar instead. The common mistake is lifting the lid while the rice cooks, which lets the steam out and leaves the grains hard. Chef's tip: simmer the chicken and mushrooms first and use that liquid to cook the rice, so every grain tastes of them.

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Ndizi na maharageGreen bananas and red beans

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Vagem refogadaSauteed green beans

In São Paulo and Rio, the marmita (lunch tin) that workers carry from home almost always has arroz, feijão, a protein and a simple legume refogado, and green beans cooked with garlic, onion and tomato are one of the most common. Refogar means to sauté gently in oil before the vegetables cook in their own steam. The common mistake is boiling the beans until army-green and floppy; they should stay bright and keep a little snap. Chef's tip: blanch for just 3 minutes, then finish in the pan, so they still taste fresh when reheated at work.

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RosinbollerCardamom raisin buns

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Louise sliceJam and coconut meringue slice

Louise slice, or Louise cake, is a New Zealand tea-time classic found on church cake stalls and in grandma's tins from Invercargill to Whangārei. A buttery shortcake base is spread with raspberry jam and topped with a chewy coconut meringue that bakes to pale gold. It is light and pretty, and very easy. A common mistake is baking the meringue too hot, which browns it before it sets inside. Chef's tip: spread the meringue right to the edges so the jam doesn't bubble through.

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Ipoh white coffee

Ipoh's old town kopitiams, with their marble tables and morning crowds queueing for kai si hor fun and egg tarts, gave Malaysia its 'white coffee'. The name comes not from milk but from the roast: beans are roasted with palm-oil margarine, lighter than the dark, sugar-roasted kopi of the rest of the country, then brewed and served with condensed milk. It is smoother and less bitter than ordinary kopi, nutty and buttery, pale caramel in the cup, drunk hot at breakfast or iced in the afternoon heat. At home, buy ground Ipoh-style white coffee from an Asian grocer; you cannot easily reproduce the margarine roast in a kitchen. The common mistake is brewing it like espresso: forced extraction makes it bitter and kills the soft, toasty flavour. Steep it in a cloth sock or a coffee filter with water just off the boil. It is ready when the brew is reddish-brown and clear, not inky. This is a strong coffee with real caffeine, not for children. Chef's tip: warm the cups with hot water first; white coffee cools fast and loses its aroma.

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Crudités

Crudités are how a French family lunch, a Paris bistro menu or a school canteen meal often begins: a plate of raw vegetables, each prepared on its own: grated carrot with lemon, crunchy radishes, cucumber slices and celery, dressed with a sharp mustardy vinaigrette. Crisp, cold vegetables taste so lively that very little salt is needed; with the small amount of mustard in the dressing this plate has about 0.3 g salt per portion. The usual mistake is dressing everything together in advance, which turns it watery and limp; dress each vegetable just before serving. Chef's tip: grate the carrots on the fine side of the grater and toss them with lemon first; they soften slightly and taste sweeter, the way French grandmothers make carottes râpées.

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