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Caramelised clay-pot tofu and mushrooms
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Caramelised clay-pot tofu and mushrooms

Braised tofu and mushrooms

Kho is the slow braise of the Mekong Delta: food simmered in a little clay pot (nồi đất) with dark caramel and seasoning until the sauce is sticky and the flavours go deep. This vegetarian cousin of cá kho tộ (braised fish) uses golden tofu and meaty mushrooms in place of fish, cooked in coconut water, as cooks do in the south, and finished with plenty of black pepper. Serve it bubbling in its pot with steamed rice and a sour soup or plain boiled vegetables. Chef's tip: take the caramel (nước màu) to a deep mahogany, darker than you think, just before it smokes; pale caramel only tastes sweet, while dark caramel gives the bittersweet, smoky flavour of a real kho.

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Vegetable phoVegetable rice noodle soup

Pho began in the north, around Hanoi and Nam Định, and is now eaten all over Vietnam, often for breakfast. Phở chay is the Buddhist vegetarian version served in temple kitchens and chay restaurants: the deep, clear broth comes from charred onion and ginger, toasted star anise, cinnamon and cloves, simmered with daikon, carrot, sweetcorn and dried shiitake instead of beef bones. Silky flat rice noodles, golden tofu and mushrooms go in the bowl, and everyone adds their own bean sprouts, Thai basil, lime and chilli at the table. Chef's tip: char the onion and ginger until properly blackened in patches and toast the spices in a dry pan until they smell like warm Christmas cake; that smoky, perfumed base is what makes the broth taste like pho and not vegetable soup.

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Croquetas are the pride of Spanish home cooking and tapas bars alike: a thick, silky béchamel full of flavour, chilled, rolled in egg and breadcrumbs and fried until crisp. Every family has its own; ham and chicken are classic, but croquetas de setas, made with wild or chestnut mushrooms, are found all over the country and are especially loved in the mushroom-picking regions of Castile and Catalonia. A good croqueta is creamy, almost liquid, inside, with a thin shell. Make a big batch: they freeze beautifully raw. Chef's tip: cook the flour in the butter and oil for a full 2 minutes and then beat the milk in slowly over a low heat for 10–15 minutes; this long cooking takes away the raw taste of flour and gives the creamy centre that makes Spanish croquetas special.

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This crustless cheesecake was created in the early 1990s at La Viña, a pintxos bar in the old town of San Sebastián (Donostia) in the Basque Country, and is now famous around the world. It's baked very hot so the top caramelises almost black and the sides rise and crack, while the middle stays soft and creamy, almost runny. There's no base and no water bath, and the rough, rustic look is the point: it's lined with crumpled baking paper. La Viña uses a spoonful of wheat flour; cornflour does the same job and keeps it gluten free. Chef's tip: take it out of the oven while the centre still wobbles like a soft set custard; it firms up as it cools, and if it looks set in the oven, the middle will be dry instead of creamy.

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Gỏi cuốn are the fresh, unfried rolls sold from glass cases at Saigon street stalls and eaten as a light lunch or snack on hot afternoons. Here golden tofu takes the place of the usual prawns and pork, rolled up with rice vermicelli, lettuce, mint, Thai basil, cucumber and garlic chives. They come with a thick, sweet-salty peanut and hoisin dip, as they do in the south. Chef's tip: dip the rice paper for barely a second and let it soften on the board, then lay the prettiest ingredients against the wrapper first, so the tofu and herbs show through the translucent skin and the roll stays tight.

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Pisto manchego is the summer vegetable stew of La Mancha, the high plains of Don Quixote country: onions, green and red peppers and courgette cooked slowly in olive oil, then simmered with fresh tomato until soft, sweet and jammy. Spain's answer to ratatouille is humbler and softer, with the vegetables cooked one after another rather than all at once. In La Mancha it is eaten with bread and very often topped with a fried egg; it is also served alongside rice or potatoes, or cold the next day as a tapa. Chef's tip: be patient with the onion and peppers; give them a full 15–20 minutes over a low heat until really soft and sweet before the tomato goes in, because that slow start is where pisto gets its deep, mellow flavour.

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Pa amb tomàquet (pan con tomate in Spanish) is the everyday bread of Catalonia: toasted country bread rubbed with garlic and a cut ripe tomato, drizzled with good olive oil and sprinkled with salt. Catalans eat it at breakfast, as a side to grilled vegetables or with a slice of tortilla, and it is so basic to the table that it is rarely even listed on menus. With so few ingredients the quality of each one matters: the ripest tomatoes, a rustic open-crumbed loaf and fruity extra virgin olive oil. Chef's tip: in Catalonia they use small, juicy 'tomàquets de penjar', hanging tomatoes; at home choose the ripest, softest vine tomatoes you can find and rub them in hard until only the skin is left in your hand.

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Mushroom and cassava escondidinhoMushroom and cassava bake

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Stew peas is a thick, comforting Jamaican one-pot of red kidney beans simmered in coconut milk until creamy, studded with 'spinners', small hand-rolled dumplings. It's a classic Wednesday or Saturday dinner across the island, usually cooked with pig's tail and salt beef. Here mushrooms browned hard and a little smoked paprika bring the savoury depth instead, so nothing is missing. Serve over plain white rice. Chef's tip: when the beans are soft, crush a ladleful against the side of the pot. Stew peas should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, and the crushed beans give that body without any flour.

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QuindimCoconut egg yolk custards

Quindim is a jewel of Bahian sweets: small, shiny, intensely yellow custards made from egg yolks, sugar and grated coconut. It goes back to Portugal's convent sweets, rich in yolks, which cooks in colonial Bahia combined with the coconut of the Brazilian coast. When baked, the coconut sinks to form a chewy base and the yolks set into a silky, translucent top that becomes the shining crown when unmoulded. Chef's tip: strain the yolks so there are no traces of white or the chalazae (the stringy bits). Egg white makes quindim pale and rubbery instead of glossy, deep gold and smooth.

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Ital stewPumpkin and sweet potato stew

Ital food is the cooking of the Rastafari, found from the hills of St Andrew to roadside Ital shops in Westmoreland and St Thomas. It is plant-based, close to the earth and traditionally made without added salt, built on fresh 'food' (ground provisions) and greens. This stew is golden and gently sweet, thickened by melting pumpkin and silky okra, with coconut milk, thyme and pimento giving warmth and a whole scotch bonnet giving fruity heat. Serve with rice and peas or boiled green bananas. Chef's tip: cut half the pumpkin very small and the other half in big chunks. The small pieces collapse into the coconut milk and thicken it naturally, while the big ones hold their shape.

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Jamaican callalooSteamed callaloo greens

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Limonada suíçaCreamy lime drink

Limonada suíça is the creamy, frothy limeade served in juice bars and lunch counters all over Brazil. Despite the name ('Swiss lemonade'), nobody knows of any Swiss link, and it's made with whole Tahiti limes, blended briefly, skin and all, then strained and sweetened with condensed milk. It's cold, zingy and pale green, perfect with a hot lunch. Chef's tip: blend for no more than 10–15 seconds. Lime peel gives the drink its wonderful perfume, but blended too long it releases bitterness from the pith; serve it straight away for the same reason.

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Palm heart and plantain moquecaPalm heart and plantain coconut stew

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Pholourie with tamarind chutneySplit pea fritters with tamarind chutney

Pholourie are little round fritters sold by the bag at doubles stands, school gates and parties all over Trinidad, especially through Divali and Christmas. A turmeric-yellow batter made with ground split peas and flour is dropped by the spoonful into hot oil, where it puffs into crisp-skinned, soft, spongy balls. They're always served with a sticky tamarind chutney spiked with garlic, shado beni and pepper. Unlike Indian pakoras, there are no vegetables in the batter: pholourie is all about the soft, light dough and the dip. Chef's tip: beat the batter hard for a few minutes until it's thick, smooth and falls off the spoon in a sticky blob. Well-beaten batter traps air, so the pholourie puff up round and light instead of flat and greasy.

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KurmaSweet fried dough sticks

Kurma is a crunchy Indo-Trinidadian sweet made for Divali, weddings and pujas, and sold in bags at roadside parlours in Central Trinidad. A rich dough flavoured with ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg is cut into thin sticks, fried until hard and golden, then tossed in a hot ginger sugar syrup until it dries into a frosty white coating. It keeps for weeks in a tin. Chef's tip: keep stirring the kurma in the syrup off the heat until the sugar suddenly turns opaque and sandy. That moment is the whole trick; stop too early and the coating stays sticky, and the 'frost' is what makes kurma kurma.

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Mango chowSpiced green mango

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Fried ripe plantain

Fried ripe plantain is on almost every Jamaican plate, from breakfast with ackee and callaloo to Sunday dinner beside rice and peas. When plantains are fully ripe their starch turns to sugar, so the slices fry up soft and custardy inside with dark, sticky, caramelised edges, sweet with a little salt. Chef's tip: wait until the skin is mostly black. A yellow plantain fries up firm and starchy; a black one gives that melting, toffee-sweet result, and medium heat lets the sugars caramelise without burning.

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Dhalpuri rotiSplit pea filled flatbread

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Arroz e feijãoRice and beans

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Jamaican carrot juice

Jamaican carrot juice isn't a thin health drink but a creamy, sweet treat, blended fresh in homes and sold cold in bottles at markets and juice stands across the island, especially on Sundays and at Christmas. Grated carrots are blended with water and strained, then sweetened with condensed milk and spiced with nutmeg, vanilla and a squeeze of lime. Chef's tip: add a squeeze of lime and a little fresh ginger. The sharpness cuts through the sweetness and stops the drink tasting flat, the way Jamaican cooks make it.

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Cornmeal porridge

Cornmeal porridge is the breakfast many Jamaicans grew up on, cooked in homes across the island before school and work. Fine cornmeal is simmered slowly with milk and water until thick and velvety, then spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla and sweetened with condensed milk. It's warm, filling and gently sweet. Chef's tip: whisk the cornmeal into cold water first to make a smooth slurry before it meets any heat. Adding dry cornmeal to hot liquid is how porridge goes lumpy.

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Heart of palm coxinhaHeart of palm croquettes

Coxinha is the king of Brazilian salgados, sold in every padaria and served at every birthday party, especially in São Paulo. The teardrop shape copies a chicken thigh, but coxinha de palmito, filled with soft heart of palm, tomato and creamy cheese, is a much-loved meat-free version. The dough is a cooked, savoury choux-like paste, rolled in breadcrumbs and fried until shatteringly crisp. Chef's tip: cook the dough until it comes away from the pan in one smooth ball, then knead it while still warm with oiled hands. Lumpy or under-cooked dough cracks in the fryer and lets the filling leak.

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