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Hariharizuke
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Hariharizuke

Dried daikon pickle

Hariharizuke takes its name from the sound it makes, 'hari-hari', as you chew. It starts with kiriboshi daikon, the radish strips dried in the cold winter sun across Miyazaki and much of rural Japan, which are rehydrated and steeped in a sharp, slightly sweet soy-vinegar with ribbons of kombu and a little chilli. It is a year-round side dish, but home cooks lean on it in late winter and early spring when fresh vegetables are fewer, packing it into bento boxes or setting it beside grilled fish and rice. The taste is sweet-sour and savoury, with a concentrated, almost caramel daikon flavour, and the texture is springy and crunchy. The common mistake is soaking the dried daikon too long: after 10–15 minutes it is pliable, and beyond that it turns soft and loses its crunch. It is ready when the strips are glossy, tan and taste seasoned right through, about an hour after mixing, and even better the next day. Look for dried daikon in Japanese or Korean shops (Korean mumallaengi is the same thing). Chef's tip: add the carrot in very fine matchsticks and a few drops of sesame oil just before serving for colour and aroma.

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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

In Jamaica, callaloo means the leaves and tender stems of a type of amaranth, sold in big bundles in every market from Coronation Market in Kingston to Santa Cruz in St Elizabeth. It's steamed down with onion, tomato, garlic and thyme into soft, savoury greens with a mild mineral sweetness, and eaten at breakfast with fried dumplings, boiled green bananas or hard dough bread, or as a side at dinner. Spinach or Swiss chard can stand in if you can't find callaloo. Chef's tip: peel the fibrous skin from the thicker stems with a small knife and slice the stems and leaves finely across, about 1 cm wide. That's how Jamaican cooks get callaloo that's tender all the way through rather than stringy.

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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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Mango chowSpiced green mango

Chow is what Trinidadians eat on a hot afternoon: fruit, most often half-ripe mango, sliced and tossed with lime juice, salt, garlic, chopped shado beni and plenty of hot pepper. It's sold in little bags at roadside stands, beach stalls and outside schools all over the island. It's crunchy, sour, salty, garlicky and fiery all at once. Pineapple, cucumber and pommecythere (golden apple) are made the same way. Chef's tip: let the chow sit for 10 minutes before eating. The salt and lime draw out the mango's juice into a tangy, peppery 'pickle' liquid, and that juice is the best part.

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Sorrel drinkHibiscus drink

Sorrel is the drink of a Jamaican Christmas: in December the markets fill with the red flowers (the calyces of a hibiscus), and every home brews a big batch to share. They're steeped with lots of fresh ginger, pimento and cloves, then sweetened, giving a deep ruby drink that's tart, spicy and refreshing over ice. Many families add a splash of white or dark rum for the adults. Chef's tip: be generous with the ginger and let it steep overnight. A long, cool steep pulls out the colour and a fiery ginger bite without the bitterness of over-boiling.

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Vegetable pattiesSpiced vegetable pastry pockets

The patty is Jamaica's favourite grab-and-go food, sold hot from glass cases in patty shops and school canteens across the island, from Half Way Tree in Kingston to Montego Bay. Its signature is the pastry: short, flaky and bright yellow from turmeric, wrapped around a spicy filling and crimped with a fork. This vegetarian version is filled with callaloo, potato, carrot and peas seasoned with curry, thyme and scotch bonnet. Eat them warm, on their own or squeezed inside soft coco bread. Chef's tip: use half butter and half solid vegetable shortening in the pastry, and keep everything cold. The shortening gives the patty its crumbly, flaky snap and the butter gives the flavour.

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Vegetable pelauRice and pigeon pea one-pot

Pelau is the dish of the Trinidad beach lime and family gathering: rice and pigeon peas cooked in one big pot, coloured a deep brown by sugar caramelised in oil until almost burnt, then simmered with coconut milk, green seasoning and a whole hot pepper. It's usually made with chicken; here deeply browned mushrooms and chunks of pumpkin carry the savoury depth, so it's still rich, smoky-sweet and moreish. Serve with coleslaw, sliced cucumber and pepper sauce. Chef's tip: let the sugar go further than feels safe: it should melt, froth and turn the colour of dark chocolate, just starting to smoke, before anything goes in. Too pale and the pelau tastes sweet; too black and it's bitter.

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Tutu de feijãoBean purée with toasted manioc meal

Tutu de feijão is everyday comfort food from Minas Gerais, made from yesterday's beans: they're blended smooth, fried with onion and garlic, then thickened with manioc meal into a soft, spoonable mash. In Minas it comes with pork crackling and sausage; here smoked paprika and a crisp onion topping bring the savoury, smoky edge. Serve with rice, couve à mineira and a fried egg if you eat them. Chef's tip: rain in the manioc meal slowly while stirring, as you would polenta, and stop while it's still a little looser than you want. Tutu firms up as it stands, and too much farinha makes it stodgy.

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Trini callaloo soupDasheen leaf and okra soup

Callaloo is Trinidad and Tobago's national dish and part of the classic Sunday lunch, served beside rice, macaroni pie and stewed peas. Dasheen bush (young taro leaves) is simmered with okra, pumpkin, coconut milk, onion, garlic, chives and thyme, then beaten smooth with a wooden swizzle stick into a thick, velvety green soup. It's usually cooked with crab or salt pork; this vegetarian version leaves them out and adds a pinch of smoked paprika for depth. Spinach and Swiss chard can replace dasheen. Chef's tip: cook the dasheen leaves for at least 25–30 minutes. They must be very soft, both to swizzle silky smooth and because undercooked dasheen leaves make your throat itch.

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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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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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Stew peas with spinnersKidney bean stew with dumplings

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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Tapioca crêpeCassava starch crêpe

Tapioca is the Northeast's favourite breakfast, cooked on griddles at beach stalls from Recife to Fortaleza and now loved all over Brazil. Damp cassava starch (goma) is sieved into a hot dry pan, where it fuses into a thin white disc that's soft, chewy and slightly crisp. This recipe gives two classic fillings: melting cheese with butter, and coconut with condensed milk. Chef's tip: hydrate the starch until it feels like damp sand that holds when squeezed, then sieve it into the pan and never press it down. A loose, even layer is what makes the starch melt into one lacy, flexible sheet.

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TotoCoconut cake

Toto is an old-time Jamaican country cake, the kind baked in a 'dutchie' over coals in rural St Mary and St Ann and sold in squares at bakeries and school tuck shops. It's dense and moist rather than light, packed with grated coconut, darkened with brown sugar and fragrant with nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla. Lovely with a cup of tea, still slightly warm. Chef's tip: use fresh grated coconut if you can, or soak desiccated coconut in the warm coconut milk for 15 minutes first. Dry coconut steals moisture from the batter and leaves the cake crumbly instead of chewy.

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Gyeran mariRolled omelette

Gyeran mari (계란말이) is a Korean rolled omelette: beaten egg with finely chopped vegetables, cooked in thin layers and rolled up in the pan, then cut into thick slices that show a neat spiral. It is a much-loved side dish and lunchbox favourite nationwide, and children enjoy it with a little ketchup. The trick is a low heat, so the egg stays soft and yellow rather than brown. Serve warm or at room temperature with rice. Chef's tip: roll while the top of each layer is still slightly wet. The runny egg is the glue, and it keeps the roll soft and in one piece.

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TamagoyakiRolled omelette

Tamagoyaki (卵焼き) is a rolled omelette made in layers, found in breakfast trays and bento boxes all over Japan. Thin sheets of seasoned egg are cooked one at a time and rolled up around each other, giving soft, springy slices with pretty spiral lines. This is the gently sweet home style; a little soy keeps it savoury. A square tamagoyaki pan helps, but a small round frying pan works too. Chef's tip: keep the heat moderate and the pan well oiled between layers. If the egg browns, the heat is too high; a good tamagoyaki is evenly yellow with just a few golden patches.

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Yaki udonStir-fried udon noodles

Yaki udon (焼うどん) was first made in Kitakyushu, in northern Kyushu, just after the war, when a café owner ran out of soba for yakisoba and fried udon instead. The thick, chewy noodles are tossed in a hot pan with cabbage, onion, mushrooms and carrot, then glazed with soy, mirin and a little vegetarian Worcestershire-style sauce. Meat is usual in Japan; this vegetarian version gets its richness from shiitake and a fried egg on top. A fast, filling weeknight supper. Chef's tip: get the pan really hot and leave the noodles alone for 30 seconds at a time, so they pick up slightly charred edges; that smoky 'koge' is what makes yaki udon taste like the street-stall version.

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TteokbokkiRice cakes in spicy sauce

Tteokbokki (떡볶이) is Korea's best-loved street snack: chewy cylinders of rice cake simmered in a thick, glossy, sweet and spicy red sauce. It became a classic in Seoul, where it is sold from street stalls and snack bars in every neighbourhood. Street versions use anchovy stock and fish cakes; this vegan version uses a quick kelp and shiitake stock with cabbage and spring onions, and has all the same punch. Eat it hot, while the rice cakes are soft and stretchy. Chef's tip: keep stirring and scrape the bottom; the rice cakes release starch that thickens the sauce but also catches. The sauce is right when it clings to the spoon in a glossy coat.

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Vegetable onigiriRice balls with vegetables

Onigiri (おにぎり) are Japan's everyday lunchbox and picnic food, sold in every convenience store from Tokyo to Kyushu. Warm rice is pressed around a salty or savoury filling and wrapped in a strip of crisp nori. This recipe gives three vegetarian fillings: sour umeboshi (pickled plum), sweet-salty simmered kombu, and a soy-glazed mushroom and carrot mix. Children love helping to shape them, and they keep well for a packed lunch. Chef's tip: use freshly cooked, still-warm rice and salt your hands, not the rice. The grains stick together only while warm, and the salt on the outside seasons every bite the way a Japanese mother would.

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JapchaeGlass noodles with vegetables

Japchae (잡채) is a dish of chewy, translucent sweet potato starch noodles tossed with spinach, mushrooms and brightly coloured vegetables in a sweet soy and sesame dressing. It is made all over Korea for birthdays, holidays and big family meals, because it can be prepared ahead and is eaten warm or at room temperature. Each vegetable is cooked quickly on its own, then everything is mixed by hand so the noodles soak up the seasoning. Older recipes include beef; this one uses shiitake for the savoury depth. Chef's tip: dress the noodles while they are still hot and keep each vegetable crisp. Overcooked noodles clump and turn gluey, so pull them as soon as they are clear and chewy.

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