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Tepache

In Guadalajara and markets across central Mexico, tepacheros sell this drink from big clay jars, ladled over ice into bags with a straw on hot afternoons. It is the thrifty drink of the house: the peel and core left after eating a pineapple are fermented for two or three days with piloncillo, cinnamon and cloves until the liquid turns golden, faintly fizzy and pleasantly sour, like a spiced pineapple cider. Wild yeasts from the peel do the work, so it makes a trace of alcohol, well under 1% when drunk young; the longer it sits, the sourer and more alcoholic it gets. The common mistake is leaving it too long in a warm kitchen, when it turns vinegary and cloudy; in hot weather check after 36 hours. It is ready when it has a layer of fine bubbles, smells sweet-sour and fruity, and tastes tart rather than syrupy. White, flat foam can be skimmed; fuzzy, coloured mould, a slimy texture or a rotten smell mean throw it away. Keep it in the fridge 3–5 days, and if you bottle it for fizz, burp the bottles daily so pressure cannot build. Chef's tip: use an organic pineapple and do not scrub the peel, as the yeasts live on its skin.

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Jingisukan

When the cherry trees bloom in Sapporo in early May, parks fill with groups grilling lamb on ridged, dome-shaped pans, and the city's beer halls serve it all year. Named after Genghis Khan, the dish grew up after Hokkaido began raising sheep for wool in the early 20th century. In the Sapporo style, plain lamb is seared on the hump of the pan while bean sprouts, onion and pumpkin cook on the rim in the dripping juices, and everything is dipped in a fruity soy sauce. No domed pan? A heavy frying pan or flat griddle works well. Chef's tip: grease the pan with a piece of lamb fat rather than oil, as it gives the vegetables a rich, meaty flavour.

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Ou khatta

Ou tenga, the elephant apple, is a hard, sour green fruit that grows across Assam and turns up in every winter market in Guwahati. Ou khatta is its sweet chutney: slices are boiled until tender, then simmered with jaggery and panch phoron until glossy, sticky and sharp-sweet. It is served in a little mound at the end of a festive Assamese lunch and at Bihu feasts, the way Bengalis end with tomato chutney. Chef's tip: outside the Northeast, use a mix of very sour green apple and a little tamarind; it gets surprisingly close.

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Ishikari nabe

Autumn salmon swimming up the Ishikari River, near Sapporo, gave the fishing families at its mouth a glut of fish, and this miso hot pot is how they cooked it. Today Hokkaido families bring a clay pot of it to the table on cold nights from October onwards, and everyone helps themselves as it bubbles on a portable burner. Chunks of salmon, potato, cabbage, tofu and mushrooms simmer in kombu broth thickened with miso. A pinch of sansho pepper at the end lifts the richness, and some cooks melt a knob of butter on top. Chef's tip: salt the salmon for 10 minutes and pour boiling water over it before it goes in the pot, as this firms the flesh and washes away any fishy smell.

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Til pitha

Til pitha is the essential sweet of Magh Bihu, the January harvest festival, when Assamese homes stay up late around the fire, frying and toasting. Fresh flour of soaked bora (sticky) rice is spread thin on a hot pan into a round, filled with roasted black sesame and jaggery and rolled into a cigar while still soft; it crisps as it cools. Tins of til pitha are carried to every house visited during Bihu. Chef's tip: the flour must be freshly ground from soaked sticky rice and still slightly damp; dry shop rice flour won't fuse into a sheet.

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Jolpan

Jolpan is how Assam starts the morning of Magh Bihu and Bohag Bihu, and how guests are welcomed in villages all year: a bowl of chira (flattened rice), muri, or sticky bora saul, served with thick curd, yellow jaggery or gur, and sometimes cream. It is not cooked so much as assembled, and every family has its own order: soak the chira, top with doi, crumble in gur. Variants such as komal saul (a soft rice that needs only soaking) are also jolpan. Chef's tip: rinse the chira quickly and drain it at once; a long soak turns it to paste.

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Ikameshi

At Mori, a small fishing town on the railway north of Hakodate, ikameshi has been sold as a station lunchbox since the war years, when rice was scarce and squid was plentiful. It is still one of Japan's best-known station bentos and a star of the regional food fairs that department stores hold all over the country. Small squid are stuffed with soaked glutinous rice, pinned shut and simmered in a sweet soy sauce until the rice swells into a sticky, savoury filling. Slice them into rounds to serve warm or at room temperature. Chef's tip: use small squid with bodies about 15 cm long, as larger ones need longer cooking and turn rubbery before they soften again.

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Narikol laru

Narikol laru are the small, chewy coconut balls that sit next to til pitha on every Bihu plate in Assam, offered to visitors with tea and jolpan. Fresh coconut is cooked with jaggery until it binds, flavoured with cardamom and rolled warm. They are soft and moist, not dry like desiccated-coconut ladoos, and are made in big batches the night before the festival. Chef's tip: roll them while still warm with damp palms; once cold, the mixture won't hold.

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Zangi

Ask for fried chicken in Kushiro or Sapporo and you'll be handed zangi, which locals insist is not the same as karaage. A Kushiro restaurant says it coined the name around 1960, and today zangi shops, ski-lodge canteens and supermarket delis across Hokkaido sell it in big, bone-in pieces. The chicken soaks for hours in a punchy mix of soy, sake, garlic, ginger and oyster sauce with an egg beaten in, so the flavour runs right through the meat, and it often comes with a sharp dipping sauce of vinegar, soy and black pepper. The coating is a mix of flour and starch, so it fries darker and more savoury than karaage. Chef's tip: marinate it overnight in the fridge for the full Hokkaido flavour; 30 minutes works, but the difference is clear.

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Kinema curry

Kinema is the Limbu and Nepali fermented soybean of Sikkim and the Darjeeling hills: boiled soybeans wrapped in leaves and left by the hearth for a couple of days until sticky and pungent. Cooked with onion, tomato, turmeric and fiery dalle or green chilli, it becomes a thick, savoury curry eaten with rice in Gangtok and Kalimpong homes, especially in winter. It is rich in protein and has a deep, almost meaty savour. Chef's tip: dry-fry the kinema before adding the masala; it tames the smell and brings out a toasted flavour. Outside the hills, Japanese natto is the closest substitute.

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Kiritanpo nabe

In Akita, in Japan's snowy north-west, the new rice harvest in October marks the start of kiritanpo season, and the town of Odate holds a festival for it every autumn. Freshly cooked rice is half-pounded, pressed around sticks and toasted, then cut up and dropped into a soy-seasoned chicken broth with burdock, maitake mushrooms and crunchy Japanese parsley called seri. Locals use the region's Hinai-jidori chicken; any good free-range bird works. The toasted rice soaks up the broth but keeps a little chew. Chef's tip: toast the rice sticks until dry and golden in patches all over, as a crisp outer skin keeps them from dissolving in the pot.

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Dalle chutney

Dalle khursani is Sikkim's round, cherry-sized chilli, grown in every hill garden and among the hottest chillies in India. No meal in Gangtok goes without a little bowl of dalle achar beside the rice or momos. This fresh version pounds the chillies with blistered tomato, garlic, a pinch of timur (Sichuan-type pepper) and lemon into a coarse red chutney that is searingly hot, sharp and fruity. Eat it by the dot. Chef's tip: wear gloves when cutting dalle, and never touch your eyes; the heat stays on your hands for hours. Use a mix of habanero and bird's-eye chillies if you can't get dalle.

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Sha phaley with cabbage and cheese

Sha phaley comes from Sikkim's Bhutia and Tibetan communities: rounds of dough are filled, sealed into half-moons and fried until golden and blistered, like a fat, crisp pie. In Gangtok's MG Marg cafés and home kitchens the classic filling is minced meat, but a vegetarian version with cabbage, spring onion, ginger and cheese (paneer or soft churpi) is common and very good. Eat them hot with dalle chutney and a bowl of thukpa or tea. Chef's tip: squeeze the salted cabbage hard before filling; any loose water steams inside and makes the dough soggy.

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Darjeeling first flush tea

Darjeeling's first flush is picked in March and April on estates clinging to the hills above the town, and in Darjeeling's tea rooms it is served plain: pale gold, flowery and slightly astringent, with a 'muscatel' note in the later second flush. It is the opposite of a strong breakfast tea, so it is never boiled, stewed or given milk. Hill families drink it from morning till dusk, and it is a souvenir every visitor buys from Chowrasta. Chef's tip: use water just off the boil (about 90°C) and time the brew; overheated or overbrewed first flush turns bitter and loses its scent.

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Imoni (Yamagata taro and beef stew)

On autumn weekends in Yamagata, friends, families and workmates carry big pots, firewood and bags of taro down to the riverbanks and cook imoni outdoors; the gathering is called an imoni-kai. Yamagata city even holds a festival on the Mamigasaki River where the stew is made in a giant pot and ladled out with a mechanical digger. The Yamagata version uses beef and a soy broth, while neighbouring Miyagi makes it with pork and miso. Taro gives the soup a soft, slightly thick body, konjac adds bite and the leeks go in last so they stay sweet. Chef's tip: rub the peeled taro with salt and rinse it before cooking; this removes most of the slippery coating, so the broth stays clean rather than gluey.

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Churpi ningro

In the monsoon, ningro (fiddlehead fern) shoots appear in the hill markets of Gangtok, Namchi and Darjeeling, curled like violin scrolls. Sikkimese homes cook them quickly with onion, tomato and green chilli, then stir in crumbled soft churpi, a fresh, tangy cheese made from yak or cow's milk, which melts into a creamy, slightly sour sauce. It is a side dish for rice and dal, and tastes green and grassy, a little like asparagus. Chef's tip: always boil ferns for a few minutes and drain before cooking; it removes bitterness. Ricotta or crumbled feta is a fair stand-in for churpi.

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Singju

Singju is Imphal's favourite evening snack, sold from stalls at Khwairamband market and Thangal Bazar: a pile of finely shredded cabbage, lotus stem, banana flower, onion and fresh herbs, tossed with roasted chilli and toasted gram flour. Most stalls add a little ngari (fermented fish); vegetarian Meitei homes skip it and use extra roasted perilla or sesame and toasted gram flour, which give a nutty, savoury depth. It is crunchy, hot and herby. Chef's tip: shred everything as thinly as you can, almost like hair; the dressing clings better.

25 min

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Morok metpa

Morok metpa is the chilli relish on every Manipuri table, from Imphal homes to roadside eateries: fresh chillies roasted over the fire until blistered, then crushed with salt, raw onion and herbs. Many versions add ngari (fermented fish); the vegetarian one here gets its depth from charring the chillies and a little roasted garlic. A teaspoon of it lifts plain rice, kangshoi or boiled vegetables. Chef's tip: roast the chillies directly over a flame until the skins are black in patches; charred skin is where the flavour is.

10 min

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Galho

Galho is Nagaland's comfort food, a soft, loose rice porridge cooked with seasonal vegetables, greens, ginger and chilli, sometimes thickened with a spoon of fermented soybean (axone). In Kohima homes it is the dish for cold evenings and for anyone unwell, and in restaurants it is often made with pork; this vegetarian version uses mushrooms and axone for savour. It sits somewhere between khichdi and congee, thick but spoonable. Chef's tip: stir only occasionally; galho should be soupy with distinct grains, not a smooth paste.

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