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Apple, pear, kiwi and celery juice

A sweet, energising juice of apples, pears and kiwi fruit with a stick of celery, all used unpeeled for extra goodness. It's naturally sweet, so it needs no sugar. Serve well chilled.

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QuimbolitosSteamed sweet cheese and raisin cakes

Southern Nariño shares the quimbolito with neighbouring Ecuador. In Pasto these small sweet cakes are steamed in achira leaves and eaten at the mid-afternoon onces with a cup of hot chocolate or coffee. The batter is a rich mix of butter, sugar, eggs, wheat and corn flours and fresh cheese, dotted with raisins; steaming makes it light and moist, closer to a sponge pudding than a cake, and the leaf adds a mild green scent. Some cooks add a splash of anise liqueur; this version uses vanilla and keeps it alcohol-free. Fresh cheese is often set with animal rennet, so pick a vegetarian (microbial-rennet) one if needed. Achira leaves are rare outside the Andes: banana-leaf pieces or squares of baking paper work. Overfilling is what usually goes wrong, as the batter rises and bursts the parcel, so fill each leaf only halfway. Chef's tip: keep the water at a steady simmer, never a rolling boil, so the cakes rise evenly and stay dry.

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Quinua con manzanaQuinoa and apple drink

Morning market stalls and street carts from Lima to Huancayo ladle quinua con manzana into glasses alongside emoliente and maca, and many people drink it as breakfast on its own, with a bread roll or a sandwich beside it. Quinoa and chunks of apple are simmered with cinnamon and cloves until the grains burst and the liquid thickens, then sweetened and served warm or cold. Some stalls blend it smooth; others leave the grains and soft apple pieces to spoon up. It is mild, fruity and filling, and children usually like it. The mistake that ruins it is skipping the rinse: quinoa's natural coating, saponin, makes the drink bitter and soapy, so rub it under running water until the foam stops. Chef's tip: add a few drops of lime at the end; it lifts the apple and keeps the drink from tasting flat.

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RadiSalted spiral-cut radish

In Bavaria a Radi is a single big white radish, cut into one long spiral or paper-thin slices and salted until it 'weeps', then eaten with your fingers in the beer garden between bites of pretzel. Stalls at Munich's Viktualienmarkt sell the long white roots from spring to autumn, and old regulars carry a special spiral cutter. It is crisp, peppery and cooling, the opposite of everything rich on the table. A common mistake is eating it straight away: the salt needs ten minutes to draw out the bitter juice and soften the bite. Chef's tip: pick a heavy, firm radish with a smooth skin; a light one is often woody and hollow inside.

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Rajas con cremaPoblano strips in cream

Rajas means strips, and in Puebla they mean poblano chillies, the dark green pepper the state is named after, charred, peeled and sliced, then simmered with onion, sweetcorn and cream. Poblanos are mild with a grassy, gently smoky bite, so the dish is rich rather than fiery. It turns up on Puebla tables as a side for rice, as a taco filling at fondas, or in a tamal for breakfast. Some cooks melt in Chihuahua or Oaxaca cheese, which may be made with animal rennet; use a vegetarian melting cheese if needed. Chef's tip: sweat the peeled chillies in a covered bowl for 10 minutes; the steam lifts the skins off cleanly without rinsing away the smoky flavour.

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Rancho à minhotaChickpea, meat and macaroni stew

Rancho was the food of farmhands at harvest time around Viana do Castelo: one huge pot of chickpeas, beef, pork, chicken and chouriço, with cabbage, potatoes and short macaroni cooked in the broth to stretch it further. It is now a winter favourite in family restaurants, eaten from deep plates with plenty of the cooking liquid. This contains pork (pork belly and chouriço). Chef's tip: add the pasta only ten minutes before serving and keep the stew loose, as the macaroni soaks up broth fast.

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RanfañoteToasted bread dessert in spiced syrup

Made from leftovers in colonial Lima by Afro-Peruvian cooks, ranfañote is one of the city's oldest sweets and turns up today at criollo food fairs and at old-style dessert stalls in Barrios Altos. Cubes of day-old bread are toasted crisp, then layered with walnuts, coconut, raisins and little cubes of fresh cheese and drenched in a thick chancaca syrup scented with cinnamon, clove and orange peel. The cheese is not a typo: its saltiness cuts the syrup, and the contrast of crunchy bread, chewy fruit and soft cheese is the point. It is eaten warm or at room temperature on its own. The common error is pouring thin syrup over the bread, which drowns it; the syrup should be thick like honey. Queso fresco is generally made with animal rennet, so choose a vegetarian fresh cheese if you need to. Chef's tip: toast the bread in the oven rather than frying it; it stays crisp longer under the syrup and is less greasy.

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RanginakWalnut-stuffed dates with butter flour

Ranginak is the date sweet of the south, made in Shiraz, Bushehr and Kerman in late summer when the new dates arrive and served in squares with bitter tea, and also at mourning gatherings and Ramadan iftar. Soft dates are stuffed with walnuts, packed into a dish and covered with flour slowly toasted in butter until it smells of biscuits, then dusted with cinnamon and pistachio. A common mistake is toasting the flour on too high a heat: it scorches before it turns nutty, so stir it patiently over a low flame. Chef's tip: use soft, moist dates such as Kabkab or Medjool; dry dates go hard once the butter sets.

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RashoofLentil and cracked wheat yoghurt soup

In the stone villages around Karak and Tafileh, rashoof is what simmers on cold, wet evenings: brown lentils and coarse bulgur cooked soft, then enriched with jameed, the dried salted yoghurt that is also the soul of mansaf. The result is thick, sour and comforting, almost a porridge, finished with a heap of onions fried golden in samneh. Jameed is sold in hard balls or as a liquid in Middle Eastern shops; thick strained yoghurt with a little extra salt makes a fine stand-in. The classic mistake is letting the soup boil hard once the yoghurt goes in, which makes it split into grainy curds. Chef's tip: temper the yoghurt with a ladle of hot soup first and stir in one direction over a low heat; it stays silky.

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RaspaoShaved ice with blackberry syrup

On a hot Barranquilla afternoon, the raspao cart is the fastest way to cool down. The vendor scrapes a block of ice with a metal plane, packs the snow into a cup and floods it with bright syrups: kola, tamarind, lime, blackberry. Many add a ribbon of condensed milk on top, but this version stays vegan and lets the fruit carry it. Children love it, and it is a fun one to make at home with a blender and a jug of syrup. The usual misstep is pouring warm syrup over the ice, which melts it to slush in seconds, so chill the syrup completely first. Make the syrup a day ahead if you like; it keeps a week in the fridge. Chef's tip: freeze water in a shallow tray, then blitz the slab in pieces with a few pulses for fluffier, snow-like ice than ice cubes give.

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RaxoMarinated pork loin cubes

Order a ración of raxo in a tavern in Santiago or A Coruña and it comes sizzling on a metal plate: little cubes of pork loin marinated with garlic, paprika and oregano, fried until browned, with chips and sometimes Padrón peppers alongside. This contains pork. Unlike zorza, which is chopped like chorizo filling, raxo keeps its meat in neat cubes and is gentler on the paprika. Marinate the pork in the fridge, covered. A common mistake is crowding the pan, which stews the meat instead of browning it, so fry in two batches. Chef's tip: let the cubes sit for a minute without stirring when they first hit the pan, so they form a golden crust.

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Camu camuCamu camu berry juice

Camu camu are small purple-red berries that grow on bushes along the flooded riverbanks of the Peruvian Amazon, and in Iquitos and Pucallpa they are sold as frozen pulp and blended into a sharp, pink refresco at juice bars and lunch places. The flavour is intensely sour, more than lime, with a faint cherry note, and the berries are famous for containing far more vitamin C than oranges. It is the drink people order with a heavy plate of tacacho or rice. Never boil camu camu or make the juice hours ahead: heat and air quickly fade its colour and much of the vitamin C, so blend it cold and drink it soon. Frozen pulp or freeze-dried powder from health-food and Latin shops are the forms you'll find abroad. Chef's tip: start with half the pulp and add more to taste; it's strong enough that a little goes a long way.

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Relleno de cerdoStuffed pork shoulder with plantain

In Guerrero's Tierra Caliente, around Ciudad Altamirano, relleno de cerdo is the centrepiece of weddings and saints' days: a whole pig is stuffed with fruit, vegetables and its own chopped meat, rubbed with chilli and roasted for hours, then served in tortas or tacos. This home version is a pork dish for an ordinary oven, using a boned pork shoulder rubbed with a guajillo adobo and rolled around a stuffing of ripe plantain, potato, carrot, olives, raisins and almonds, so you get the same sweet, salty and spicy mix. Slice it thickly with its juices, warm tortillas, rice and pickled jalapeños. Chef's tip: ask the butcher to butterfly the shoulder evenly to about 3 cm thick; an even slab rolls neatly and cooks at the same rate all through.

300 minMexicanMeatGluten free
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RepápalosBread fritters in sweet milk

Repápalos belong to the kitchens of Extremaduran villages, where nothing was wasted: stale bread crumbs are mixed with egg into small dumplings, fried until golden, then simmered in milk scented with cinnamon and lemon until they swell and soften. They turn up at Easter and in Lent, and on winter afternoons when there was bread to use up, and they are eaten warm or cold from a deep dish with plenty of the sweet milk. Chef's tip: use bread that is at least two days old; fresh bread makes heavy, doughy fritters.

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Reshteh poloRice with toasted noodles and dates

On the last evening before Nowruz, and on the first night of the new year in many Tehran households, a platter of reshteh polo is set out so the family can 'take hold of the reins' of their luck for the year ahead; the noodles are the reins. Long-grain rice is par-boiled with toasted reshteh (thin, salty Persian noodles), layered with buttery dates, raisins and cinnamon and steamed until each grain separates, with a golden tahdig crust underneath. Meat is often served alongside, but the polo itself is meat-free. A common mistake is skipping the noodle toasting, which leaves them pale and gummy. Chef's tip: wrap the lid in a clean tea towel while the rice steams so condensation doesn't drip back and make the rice wet.

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ReviroFried flour and egg scramble

For field workers in the yerba-mate plantations of Misiones, the morning starts with reviro: a simple dough of flour, egg, water and salt fried in plenty of fat and then broken up with a spatula as it cooks, until it becomes a pile of crisp, golden, irregular crumbs with soft centres. It is filling, cheap and very good dunked in a mug of mate cocido or milky coffee, and it shares its roots with the Guaraní and Paraguayan kitchen across the river. Traditionally it is fried in lard or beef fat; this version uses butter and oil so it is vegetarian. Turning it too early is the classic blunder: the batter needs to fry undisturbed until a crust forms, or it turns into a pale, doughy mash. Chef's tip: keep chopping and turning with the edge of a metal spatula for the last 10 minutes; the more edges you make, the more crunch you get.

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RevithadaClay-pot baked chickpeas

On Sifnos, Saturday night means taking a clay pot of chickpeas, onions, olive oil and bay to the village baker, who leaves it in the cooling wood oven overnight; on Sunday morning, after church, families collect it and eat it for lunch. The chickpeas turn creamy and almost melting in a thick, sweet, onion-rich broth. A home oven at low heat does the same job in about five hours. Common mistake: adding salt at the start, which can keep the chickpeas firm; add it in the last hour. Chef's tip: rub the soaked chickpeas with a little bicarbonate of soda and rinse well; it helps them soften to that silky texture.

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Revuelto GramajoScrambled eggs with potatoes and ham

Late at night in the bodegones of Buenos Aires, when the kitchen has been busy for hours, revuelto Gramajo is what regulars order with a glass of something cold: a pile of crisp shoestring potatoes tossed in the pan with cooked ham (pork), onion, peas and eggs scrambled just until creamy. Legend credits a colonel's aide called Gramajo with inventing it, and every porteño has an opinion about how soft the eggs should be. Done right, some potato threads stay crunchy and others soak up the egg. The mistake to avoid is adding the potatoes too early, which turns them to mush; they go in at the very end, with the pan off the heat. Cook the eggs until no liquid egg remains if you are feeding anyone pregnant, very young or elderly. For a vegetarian version, leave out the ham and double the peas and onion. Chef's tip: fry the potato matchsticks twice, first pale and then golden, so they stay crisp even after meeting the eggs.

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Rhabarberkuchen mit BaiserRhubarb meringue cake

From late April until the traditional end of the season on St John's Day in June, German bakeries and garden tables everywhere have rhubarb cake, and the most loved version is crowned with meringue. A buttery sponge is covered with sour pink rhubarb, baked, then piled with a cloud of sweet meringue and returned to the oven until golden and crisp outside, marshmallow-soft within. The sweet topping balances the sharp fruit perfectly. A common mistake is not draining the rhubarb, so its juice pools under the sponge and the base stays wet. Chef's tip: toss the cut rhubarb with a little sugar an hour ahead, then drain it well; it softens slightly and stops weeping into the cake.

120 minGermanBaking
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StuffiesStuffed clams with chouriço

Stuffies are Rhode Island's summer starter, sold at clam shacks in Warwick and Bristol and made at home for Fourth of July cookouts: big hard-shell quahog clams are steamed, the meat chopped and mixed with buttery breadcrumbs, peppers and spicy Portuguese chouriço (pork sausage), then baked back in the shells. Chef's tip: save the steaming liquid and use it to moisten the stuffing; plain water makes it bland.

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Rillettes de ToursPotted shredded pork

Touraine, the stretch of the Loire Valley around Tours, has made rillettes since the Middle Ages, and every charcuterie counter in the region sells them alongside rillons, their chunky cousins. This is pork through and through: pork shoulder and belly cooked very slowly in their own fat with a little water until they collapse, then shredded with forks into a soft, rich spread that is brown at the edges and deeply savoury. Pots of it go on the table at apéritif time with crusty bread, cornichons and a glass of something cold. Kept sealed under a layer of fat, they last a week in the fridge. Chef's tip: cook it long enough that the meat colours lightly in the fat at the end; that browning is what gives Tours rillettes their deeper taste.

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Riz a djejChicken and spiced rice with nuts

Riz a djej is the centrepiece of Lebanese celebrations and Eid lunches, carried to the table on a huge platter: rice cooked in chicken broth with a little spiced minced beef, crowned with pulled poached chicken and a heavy scattering of fried almonds, pine nuts and cashews. The flavours are gentle and warm — cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg — so it is a favourite with children too. Plain yoghurt and a crisp salad go alongside. Common mistake: skipping the rinse; unrinsed rice turns sticky in the rich broth. Chef's tip: poach the chicken the day before and chill the broth so you can lift off the fat; you get a cleaner, more savoury rice.

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RobiolsCurd cheese or jam half-moon pastries

Robiols belong to Easter week in Mallorca, when grandmothers and grandchildren shape them by the trayful alongside crespells and panades. They are soft, crumbly half-moons of pastry with a frilled edge, filled with brossat (a fresh curd cheese like ricotta), cabell d'àngel pumpkin jam or apricot jam, and showered with sugar. Traditional dough uses pork lard; this vegetarian version uses butter and olive oil. Ricotta can be made with or without animal rennet, so check the label if that matters. Chef's tip: keep the dough cool and handle it as little as possible, because a short, tender crumb is what makes a robiol.

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RosinenstutenRaisin milk loaf

Rosinenstuten is the soft, slightly sweet raisin loaf that Westphalian and Rhineland families buy for Sunday breakfast and for christenings, where a giant one was once the traditional gift. It is baked in a long tin, sliced thick and spread with good butter, sometimes with a layer of cheese on top, which sounds odd and works beautifully. The crumb is fine and fluffy and the crust soft and shiny. A common mistake is adding dry raisins straight to the dough; they burn on the crust and steal moisture. Chef's tip: soak the raisins in hot water for 15 minutes, pat them dry and knead them in only at the very end, gently, so the dough stays light.

190 minGermanBaking
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Rojões à minhotaMarinated fried pork with potatoes

Rojões are the centrepiece of a Minho winter feast, traditionally cooked in the weeks after the family pig was killed and still served in Braga and Ponte de Lima restaurants with arroz de sarrabulho alongside. This contains pork (pork shoulder and lard). Chunks of pork shoulder spend a night in white wine, garlic, paprika and bay, then cook slowly in their own fat until the outsides are crusty and the insides tender. The dish uses wine; an alcohol-free option is given in the ingredient list. A common mistake is crowding the pan, so the pork stews in its juices instead of browning in its own fat. Chef's tip: dry the pork well after marinating, or it will stew rather than brown.

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Romeu e JulietaGuava paste with fresh cheese

Two ingredients, no cooking, and a name every Brazilian knows: Romeo is the dark red goiabada, Juliet the mild white queijo Minas frescal, and they are always eaten together. Mineiros serve it after lunch on a saucer, at the end of a feast in a roadside restaurant, or as a mid-afternoon snack with coffee; the sweet, dense guava and the cool, milky, lightly salty cheese balance each other perfectly. Variations melt the guava into a warm sauce over the cheese, or bake both inside a pastry. Queijo Minas frescal is often made with animal rennet, so pick one labelled vegetarian, or use a young vegetarian farmer's cheese or paneer-style fresh cheese. The usual fault is cutting the guava thicker than the cheese, which buries Juliet; keep both slices the same size. Chef's tip: take the cheese out of the fridge 15 minutes ahead so it tastes of fresh milk rather than cold rubber.

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RondónCoconut fish and conch stew

The English-speaking Raizal islanders of San Andrés and Providencia call it rundown, and it is cooked for a crowd on weekends and at beach gatherings: coconut milk boiled down until it 'runs down' and starts to release its oil, with cassava, green plantain, breadfruit or sweet potato, flour dumplings, salted pig tail and, on top, fish and conch steamed in the creamy broth. Pork appears as the salted tail, which seasons the pot. The broth is rich, coconut-sweet and herby with thyme, with a perfume of whole Scotch bonnet that gives aroma rather than fire as long as it doesn't burst. Start the day before: the pig tail needs overnight soaking. A common mistake is stirring once the fish goes in, which breaks it up; layer it and let the steam do the work. Chef's tip: queen conch is protected in much of the Caribbean, so buy only legally sourced frozen conch, or swap in large raw prawns added with the fish.

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Ropa vieja canariaChickpea, beef and chicken fry-up

The 'old clothes' of the name are the leftover meats from Sunday's puchero, shredded and fried the next day with chickpeas, potatoes, peppers and tomato; it is a different dish from the Cuban ropa vieja, and on the islands it is Monday lunch and a fixture of bar menus in Las Palmas. Some versions include pork; this one uses beef and chicken, poached from scratch if you have no leftovers. A splash of white wine is common; it is optional and the dish is complete without it. Chef's tip: fry the chickpeas until a few catch and crisp, because those browned bits make the dish.

100 minSpanishMeatGluten free
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Rosca de PascuaEaster ring bread

Argentine Easter Sunday breakfast centres on the rosca de Pascua, a ring of soft, orange-scented brioche-like dough laid with stripes of pastry cream, candied cherries and pearl sugar, with whole boiled eggs pressed into the dough as a symbol of new life. Bakeries in every barrio stack them in the window from Holy Thursday, and families share it with coffee or mate after the Easter egg hunt. The crumb is fluffy and pale yellow, and the custard bakes into soft, golden ridges. Because the eggs bake for 30 minutes on top of their boiling, they are fully cooked; many people keep them for decoration and peel them later. The mistake to avoid is piping the pastry cream too thick, which slides off as the ring rises; thin lines give neat ridges. Chef's tip: cook the custard until it is very thick and chill it before piping, and brush the ring with egg before (not after) the cream goes on.

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RoscónGuava-filled sweet bread ring

Every Bogotá bakery has a tray of roscones by the counter: soft, enriched bread rings glazed and sprinkled with sugar, hiding a seam of melted guava paste inside. They are eaten at onces, the afternoon coffee break, or for breakfast with hot chocolate, and they are a favourite thing to bring when visiting. The dough is a gently sweet milk-and-butter bread, close to a brioche but lighter. Chunks of guava paste that are too big are what normally goes wrong: they melt, burst the seam and burn on the tray, so cut it into thin batons and seal the dough firmly around them. Plan about 2 hours, most of it rising time. Look for guava paste (bocadillo or goiabada) in Latin shops; quince paste works in a pinch. Chef's tip: brush with the egg wash twice, once before the second rise and once before baking, for a deep, shiny crust that holds the sugar.

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Rote GrützeRed berry pudding

Rote Grütze is the summer dessert of Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony, made when the gardens are full of redcurrants, raspberries and sour cherries. The fruit is cooked briefly, thickened with a little cornflour and chilled until it sets to a glossy, spoonable jelly, tart and deep red, with whole berries still in it. Northerners pour cold vanilla sauce or plain cream over it; with a plant-based vanilla sauce it is fully vegan. A common mistake is boiling all the berries: add the soft raspberries last, off the heat, so they keep their shape. Chef's tip: frozen mixed berries work beautifully out of season, and their juice gives an even deeper colour.

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Rougail saucissesSmoked sausages in spicy tomato sauce

On Réunion Island, rougail saucisses is the everyday favourite cooked in a big cast-iron pot for family lunches, beach picnics and Sunday gatherings, and it is a pork dish built on smoked pork sausages. The sausages are blanched, browned, then simmered in a thick sauce of onions, ripe tomatoes, garlic, ginger, turmeric and fresh chilli until everything turns rich and slightly smoky. It is always served Creole-style with white rice and grains (red beans stewed with garlic and thyme) and, for those who like heat, a spoonful of fresh tomato-chilli rougail on the side. Chef's tip: blanch the sausages first; it removes excess salt and fat so the sauce tastes clean and bright.

85 minFrenchMeatSpicy
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RubacãoRice with cowpeas and dried beef

Paraíba's cousin of baião de dois, rubacão (also spelt rubação) is cooked for long family lunches in João Pessoa and Campina Grande, and it is a fixture of the São João season in June. Rice and freshly shelled green cowpeas (feijão verde) cook together with dried beef and smoky bacon, then coalho cheese and cream are folded through so the pot turns soft, creamy and stretchy, salty from the meat and sweet from the beans. Serve it on its own with a tomato salad and pepper sauce; it is a meal in one pot. If you use charque or carne seca, it needs soaking overnight in the fridge. The pitfall to avoid is adding the cheese while the pot is on the flame, which turns it rubbery; fold it in off the heat and let the steam soften it. Chef's tip: save the bean cooking water and use it to cook the rice; it gives the dish its earthy colour and flavour.

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RumbledethumpsPotato, cabbage and onion bake

Rumbledethumps comes from the Scottish Borders, a thrifty supper of mashed potato, buttery cabbage and onion baked under a crust of cheddar, usually made with the Sunday roast leftovers on a Monday night. The name is said to come from the rumbling and thumping of the pans. Traditional cheddar is often made with animal rennet, so use a vegetarian cheddar if that matters to you. Chef's tip: cook the cabbage only until bright and just tender so it keeps some bite in the bake.

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RummaniyehLentil and aubergine stew with pomegranate

Rummaniyeh, from rumman (pomegranate), is a Gazan autumn dish made when the pomegranates ripen: brown lentils and cubes of aubergine cooked to a thick, earthy stew, soured with pomegranate juice and molasses, enriched with tahini and finished with a sizzling oil of garlic, dill and chilli. It is eaten warm or at room temperature, scooped up with bread, and keeps well for days. Common mistake: adding the tahini over a high heat, where it seizes and turns grainy; stir it in off the boil. Chef's tip: fry the garlic and dill only until the garlic is pale gold; brown garlic tastes bitter against the sour fruit.

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Sabzi khordanFresh herb and cheese platter

No Tehran dinner table is complete without sabzi khordan, literally 'herbs for eating': a basket or plate of whole sprigs of basil, mint, tarragon, chives and coriander with radishes, spring onions, walnuts and a block of white cheese. People tear off bread, add a little cheese and a walnut, then stuff in a few leaves, eating between mouthfuls of stew or rice. The mistake most people make is serving the herbs wet or limp; they should be crisp, dry and cold. Traditional Iranian white cheese is set with animal rennet, so choose a feta labelled vegetarian (microbial rennet) if that matters to you. Chef's tip: wash the herbs an hour ahead, spin them dry and chill them wrapped in a damp tea towel so they stay perky on the table.

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Sagu de vinhoTapioca pearls in red wine

Glossy, wine-dark and wobbling with little translucent pearls, sagu is the dessert of the serra gaúcha, the Italian-settled wine country around Caxias do Sul and Bento Gonçalves, where it ends Sunday lunch at family tables and galeteria buffets. Tapioca pearls are cooked until clear, then simmered in red wine with sugar, cloves and cinnamon so they soak up the colour and spice. Locally it comes with a spoon of vanilla custard on top. The dish contains red wine, and simmering does not remove all the alcohol; for an alcohol-free version, use red grape juice and cut the sugar by half. Choose a vegan wine if that matters to you, as some are fined with egg or fish products. The common mistake is adding the wine before the pearls are clear, which leaves white chalky centres. Chef's tip: rinse the cooked pearls under cold water before they go into the wine, so the starch washes off and the dessert stays glossy.

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