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Aeropuerto
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Aeropuerto

Fried rice and noodles with omelette

Nobody agrees why Lima's chifas call it 'airport', though the favourite story is that everything 'lands' on one plate: arroz chaufa and fried noodles stir-fried together in a smoking wok with roast pork, bean sprouts, snow peas and spring onion, then crowned with a thin egg omelette, sometimes with a few fried wontons alongside. It is hearty, smoky and salty from soy and oyster sauce, a late-night and lunchtime favourite to share. The main mistake is using freshly cooked rice, which goes mushy; use rice cooked the day before and kept in the fridge. Chef's tip: for a veg version, swap the pork for firm tofu and extra vegetables, and use a mushroom-based 'oyster' sauce.

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Ube halayaPurple yam jam

Ube halaya is a thick, deep purple jam made from purple yam, slowly stirred with coconut milk, condensed milk and butter until it pulls away from the pan. Bohol, where ube grows in abundance and the province holds a festival for it every January, claims it, and in Baguio jars of it are bought as pasalubong (gifts) to take home. It appears at Christmas and fiestas, spread on bread, eaten by the spoonful, packed into halo-halo or shaped in moulds and topped with latik or grated cheese. Real ube has a gentle, nutty, vanilla-like flavour; purple sweet potato is not the same. Chef's tip: frozen grated ube from Asian grocers works perfectly and saves an hour of peeling and grating.

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Zupa pomidorowaCreamy tomato soup with rice

In Poland, zupa pomidorowa is famously Monday's soup: on Sunday the family drinks rosół, and the next day the leftover broth becomes tomato soup with rice or thin noodles and a swirl of soured cream. Children across the country rank it as their favourite school-canteen dish. It is creamy, mild and a little sweet, nothing like a spicy Mediterranean tomato soup. This version starts from vegetable stock (the traditional base is chicken broth) and builds the flavour with carrot, celery root and tomato paste fried in butter. Serve it with rice cooked in the pot or with makaron (fine noodles). Chef's tip: fry the tomato paste in butter until it darkens one shade; raw paste tastes tinny and that one minute makes the soup taste like it simmered for hours.

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Brik à l'œufFried egg pastry triangle

Brik is Tunisia's crackling street and Ramadan snack: a sheet of paper-thin malsouka pastry folded around a raw egg, mashed potato, parsley and capers, and fried for a minute until the shell shatters and the yolk is still runny. In Tunis and La Goulette it is eaten by hand, held by the corners and bitten carefully to avoid egg on the chin. The classic filling adds tuna; this version keeps it vegetarian with a little cheese. It is different from Moroccan briouats, which are small rolled parcels baked or fried with a cooked filling. Chef's tip: have the oil hot and ready before cracking the egg onto the pastry; once the egg sits, it soaks through the sheet.

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Uganda matokeMashed green bananas

Uganda's national dish: green matoke bananas steamed in banana leaves, mashed and kept warm in the leaves, then topped with a thick, gently spiced tomato and ground peanut sauce. It's soft, savoury and very filling. The book's Handy Hints add that bananas and peanuts are both good for the heart.

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KharRaw papaya and lentil dish

Every traditional Assamese lunch begins with khar, a mouthful of it mixed into the first ball of rice to settle the stomach. The defining ingredient is khar itself, an alkaline liquid filtered from the ash of dried bhim kol (seeded banana) peels; it gives the dish its soft, slightly soapy, earthy taste. Raw papaya and a handful of lentils are cooked in it with mustard oil, garlic and green chilli until silky. At home in Guwahati or Jorhat it is made several times a week. Chef's tip: outside Assam, use a small pinch of bicarbonate of soda in place of khar; too much tastes metallic, so start with ⅛ tsp.

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Khao poon with tofu and vegetablesCoconut curry noodle soup

Khao poon is celebration food in Laos, ladled out at weddings, baci ceremonies and big family gatherings, and sold at morning markets in Vientiane by women with huge steaming pots. Fine round rice noodles sit under a spicy, red-tinged broth of coconut milk, lemongrass and galangal, and everyone adds their own shredded cabbage, banana blossom, beansprouts, mint and lime. The usual chicken or fish is swapped for golden fried tofu and bamboo shoots. Chef's tip: fry the red chilli paste in the coconut cream until oil seeps out in red drops on the surface; that's when the colour and heat are fully released.

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Khao piak sen with mushroom brothRice noodles in mushroom broth

Khao piak sen is the soup Laotians crave on a cool morning or when they feel unwell, and roadside shops in Vientiane and Luang Prabang sell it from dawn. The noodles are cut by hand from a soft rice and tapioca dough and cooked straight in the broth, so their starch turns the soup thick, slippery and comforting. Instead of the usual chicken stock, this version builds a deep broth from dried shiitake, charred onion and ginger, and finishes it with crisp fried garlic, spring onion and coriander. Chef's tip: dust the cut noodles well with tapioca starch and keep them apart; they stick together into a clump in seconds if left in a pile.

75 minLaoSoupsVeganGluten free
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KhashBeef foot broth

Khash is a winter ritual in Armenia: friends gather in the early morning between November and March, often at the weekend, to share bowls of plain broth made from beef feet that have cooked all night. Everyone seasons their own bowl at the table with crushed garlic and salt, crumbles dried lavash into it and eats with radishes, pickles and fresh herbs. The broth is rich, sticky with gelatine and deliberately unseasoned in the pot. Skimping on the cleaning and soaking is the classic error; it leaves the broth grey and smelling of the farmyard instead of clean and milky-white. Chef's tip: ask the butcher to clean the feet and saw them into pieces for you.

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Khao man gaiChicken and ginger rice

Around Pratunam market in Bangkok, the khao man gai stalls are easy to spot: a queue, pale poached chickens hanging in a glass cabinet, and a cook slicing with a cleaver at speed. Like its Hainanese ancestor, the dish pairs silky chicken with rice cooked in the bird's fat and broth, but the Thai plate stands apart for its sauce, a punchy mix of fermented soybeans (tao jiao), ginger, garlic, chilli and vinegar, and for the little bowl of clear broth with winter melon served on the side. Bangkok eats it for breakfast, lunch or a late supper, always with cucumber slices and coriander. Chef's tip: plunge the cooked chicken into iced water for 10 minutes; the skin firms to a jelly-like snap and the meat stays juicy.

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Khao jee pâtéBaguette sandwich with pâté

Khao jee pâté is the breakfast sandwich of Vientiane, sold from glass-fronted carts on street corners since the French era left Laos its love of baguettes. It is a pork sandwich: a crisp, light baguette is warmed over charcoal, spread with pork liver pâté and filled with Lao-style cold cuts (pork sausage or ham), pickled papaya or carrot, cucumber, herbs, chilli sauce and a splash of Maggi-style seasoning. Pregnant people should avoid pâté because of listeria risk. Chef's tip: warm the bread until the crust crackles; a soft baguette makes a soggy sandwich.

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Khasta kachori with aloo sabziFlaky urad dal pastries with potato curry

In the lanes of Old Delhi, breakfast often means a leaf plate of khasta kachori broken into a hot, thin potato curry, with a dollop of pickle and a cup of chai. The kachoris are large and flat with a peppery filling of coarsely ground urad dal, fried slowly until they blister and puff, and the aloo sabzi is fiery with chilli and sharp with tomato and dried mango. It's a weekend dish, filling enough to last until lunch. Chef's tip: break the boiled potatoes by hand rather than chopping them; the rough edges melt into the gravy and thicken it naturally.

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KhatkhatemMixed vegetable and dal stew

Khatkhatem is the vegetable stew Goan Hindu families cook for Ganesh Chaturthi and wedding feasts, when onion and garlic are kept out of the kitchen. It takes whatever the monsoon garden gives: pumpkin, sweet potato, raw banana, corn on the cob, drumsticks, yam and the long Goan cucumber, simmered with a little toor dal in a ground paste of coconut, red chillies and coriander seeds. The flavour comes from tirphal, a dried berry from the Western Ghats with a woody, citrusy, slightly numbing bite. Serve it with rice and a crisp papad as part of the festive spread. Chef's tip: add the vegetables in stages, hardest first; khatkhatem should have every vegetable tender but whole, not a mush.

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Khanom jeen nam ngiaoRice noodles in spicy pork broth

Breakfast stalls from Chiang Rai to Mae Sai ladle this tangy red broth over soft rice noodles from dawn until it sells out, usually before noon. The soup is light but full-flavoured: pork ribs give body, cherry tomatoes give a fresh sourness, and dried cotton-tree flowers (dok ngiao) add a faint floral, earthy chew. Each diner finishes their bowl at the table with bean sprouts, shredded cabbage, crispy garlic and lime. Cubes of cooked pig's blood are traditional; they are optional here and left out by default. Chef's tip: blanch the ribs and throw that first water away, so the finished broth stays clear and clean-tasting.

90 minThaiSoups
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KhanfarooshSaffron rice-flour cakes

Khanfaroosh are an old Emirati sweet, made by grandmothers in Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah and served with Arabic coffee when guests arrive, at weddings and during Eid. A rice-flour batter rich with eggs, saffron, cardamom and rose water is shallow-fried in small rounds that puff up, golden-brown with a lacy edge and a soft, spongy middle. They are less sweet than they look and best eaten warm from the pan. Chef's tip: let the batter rest for 30 minutes so the rice flour softens; unrested batter fries up gritty.

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BriamRoasted summer vegetables

Briam is what Greek home cooks put in the oven on a hot afternoon when the garden is full of courgettes: potatoes, courgettes, aubergine, peppers and onions tumbled with grated tomato, garlic and oregano, then roasted slowly until soft and caramelised at the edges. It is one of the ladera, dishes cooked in olive oil and eaten as a main course, usually at room temperature with feta and bread. It tastes better the next day, when the flavours have settled. Chef's tip: cut the potatoes thinner than everything else so they cook in the same time; same-size chunks are the common mistake that leaves you with hard potatoes and mushy courgettes.

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KhandviGram flour yogurt rolls

Khandvi are delicate, melt-in-the-mouth rolls from Gujarat, made by cooking gram flour with sour buttermilk until thick, spreading it paper-thin while hot and rolling it up. They're finished with a sizzling tempering of mustard seeds, sesame and curry leaves, plus fresh coconut and coriander. They're soft, tangy and gently spiced, and a favourite at Gujarati weddings and tea-time. They look tricky, but once you know when the batter is cooked, they're quick. Chef's tip: keep a plate by the stove and test the batter often; when a spoonful spread thin on the plate sets in 30 seconds and peels off in one piece, it's ready, and not a minute before.

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KhobzRound semolina bread

Khobz is the round, flat loaf that sits on every Moroccan table, used instead of cutlery to scoop up tagine and salads. In the older quarters of Fez and Marrakech families still shape their dough at home and carry it on wooden boards to the neighbourhood wood-fired oven, the ferran; at home it bakes perfectly on a hot tray. The semolina and wholemeal give it a slightly nutty taste and a soft, chewy crumb with a thin crust. It keeps for a day wrapped in a cloth and is wonderful toasted. Chef's tip: prick the top all over before baking so it rises evenly and stays flat instead of puffing like a pitta.

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KhambirLeavened wholewheat bread

Khambir is the everyday bread of Ladakh: a thick, round wholewheat loaf with a dent pressed into the middle, browned on a griddle and finished in the heat of the kitchen stove. In homes in Leh and Kargil it appears at breakfast, torn into chunks and dipped into salty butter tea, or spread with apricot jam made from the region's dried apricots. The crust is chewy and toasty, the inside dense and slightly sour. Bakers in Leh's old town still sell it warm in the mornings. Chef's tip: let the dough rise until truly doubled; under-risen khambir is heavy and gummy in the middle.

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Key watSpicy beef stew

Ask for key wat at a restaurant in Addis Ababa and you get a bowl of tender beef drowned in a sauce so red it gives the dish its name: key means red in Amharic. It is everyday celebration food, cooked for Sunday lunch, weddings and the end of a fast, and it shares the slow-cooked onion base of doro wat but with chunks of beef and a sharper, more peppery heat. The sauce should be thick and glossy, with a layer of red oil on top. Spoon it over injera with a cooling plate of greens or lentils beside it. Chef's tip: cut the beef into small, even 2 cm cubes so it soaks up the sauce and becomes tender in under an hour and a half.

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RolexOmelette chapati roll

The rolex is Uganda's most famous street food, its name a play on 'rolled eggs': at stalls all over Kampala, and now the whole country, a vendor beats eggs with shredded cabbage, tomato and onion, fries a thin omelette, lays a fresh chapati on top and rolls the two together. It is breakfast, lunch and late-night food. Unlike the Mombasa coast egg chapati, nothing is folded inside raw pastry: the omelette and a soft, ready-cooked chapati are rolled together. Chef's tip: cook the omelette thin and wide, the size of the chapati, so every bite has egg.

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Khorkhog-style lambHot stone-style lamb

Khorkhog is the feast of the Mongolian countryside, cooked when a herding family welcomes guests: a sheep is cut into pieces and sealed into a milk churn with hot river stones, onion, carrot and potato, and the churn is set over the fire until the meat is tender and smoky. Guests pass the hot, greasy stones from hand to hand for good health. This home version cooks the lamb in a heavy sealed casserole in the oven, which gives the same tender meat and rich juices; please don't heat stones in a kitchen pot, which is dangerous. The mistake is adding water: the lamb steams in its own juice with only a little liquid. Chef's tip: use lamb on the bone, such as neck or shoulder, for the deepest flavour.

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KetoprakTofu and noodles in peanut sauce

Ketoprak is a Jakarta cart dish, made to order: the seller grinds peanuts, garlic and chilli in a wide stone mortar, loosens them with water and sweet soy, then tips fried tofu, rice cake, rice vermicelli and bean sprouts on top. It is a cousin of gado-gado but simpler, with no egg-and-greens platter, and the raw-garlic sauce is the whole point. Eat it at lunch with plenty of crackers. Chef's tip: grind the garlic with the hot fried peanuts so the garlic mellows slightly; a raw paste made with cold nuts is harsh.

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Khua klingDry-fried spicy minced pork

Ask for this at a rice-and-curry shop in Phuket or Hat Yai and it comes as a small, dark heap beside your rice, smelling of lime leaf and black pepper and hot enough to bring tears. There is no sauce at all: minced pork or beef is fried with a turmeric-heavy southern paste until every crumb is dry, separate and coated in spice. The heat is fierce, so it is always eaten with jasmine rice, sliced cucumber, raw long beans and herbs to cool the mouth. It also keeps well for a couple of days and is excellent cold in a lunchbox. Chef's tip: keep stirring and pressing the meat against the hot wok at the end; the name means 'roll and roast', and that last dry-frying is what makes it.

25 minThaiMeatGluten freeSpicy
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KvassFermented rye bread drink

Before the cola era, kvass was Russia's everyday thirst-quencher, sold every summer from yellow barrel trailers on Moscow street corners and poured into glass mugs. At home it is brewed from dried rye bread, sugar and a pinch of yeast, fermented for a day or two until it tastes malty, a little sour and gently fizzy, and only about 1% alcohol. It is drunk ice cold and is also the broth for okroshka. Chef's tip: toast the bread until really dark, almost burnt at the edges; that is where kvass gets its deep colour and its toasted, malty taste.

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KespeEgg noodles in vegetable broth

Kespe is the plainest and most comforting of Kazakh soups: home-made egg noodles, cut thin with a knife, simmered in broth with potato, carrot and onion. The name comes from 'kesu', to cut. Grandmothers in villages around Karaganda and Pavlodar make it on winter evenings and for anyone feeling unwell, and in Kyrgyzstan the same soup goes by the same name. It is usually cooked in mutton broth; this version uses a well-browned vegetable broth. Chef's tip: dry the cut noodles for 20 minutes before cooking; they hold their shape and don't cloud the broth.

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BourekasFeta and potato pastry triangles

Bourekas are what Israelis grab from the bakery on a Friday morning or bring to a family gathering: puff pastry shapes with savoury fillings, shiny with egg and dotted with sesame. The tradition came from Sephardi Jews of Turkey and the Balkans, but in Israel it settled into puff pastry, with the shape telling you the filling at a glance (triangles for cheese, rectangles for potato in many bakeries). This version fills triangles with feta and ricotta and rectangles with herby mashed potato, and goes with a hard-boiled egg, pickles and grated tomato. Chef's tip: keep the pastry cold right up to the oven; warm puff pastry won't rise into flaky layers.

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KhuraBuckwheat pancakes

Khura are the buckwheat pancakes of the Monpa people of Tawang and West Kameng, high in Arunachal Pradesh, where buckwheat grows better than wheat. A thick, egg-enriched batter of buckwheat flour is cooked into soft, spongy pancakes for breakfast, eaten with butter tea, chilli-cheese chutney (chamin) or vegetable curry. They are earthy, slightly sour and filling on a cold morning. Chef's tip: let the batter stand for 20 minutes; buckwheat absorbs water slowly and the pancakes hold together much better.

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