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Galinha à portuguesa (Portuguese chicken)

Puzzlingly, you will not find this in Portugal: galinha à portuguesa belongs to Macau, where cooks mixed a Portuguese idea of a creamy baked chicken with the turmeric, curry powder and coconut milk that came through the Portuguese trading routes from Goa and Malacca. Macanese restaurants and Hong Kong's cha chaan teng serve it bubbling in a clay pot or baking dish, golden on top, with chicken and potatoes in a mild, yellow, gently sweet coconut sauce, always with white rice to soak it up. It is a favourite for family dinners and Christmas tables. The thing people get wrong is boiling the coconut sauce hard, so it splits and turns oily; keep it at a gentle simmer. Chef's tip: brown the chicken well first, and finish under a hot grill for the speckled golden top that Macau restaurants are known for.

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African chicken (Macanese galinha africana)

Macau restaurants have served galinha africana since the 1940s, and the story most often told is that a hotel chef in the city created it from spices that Portuguese sailors brought back from Mozambique and Angola. Today it is a signature at Macanese and Portuguese restaurants from Taipa village to Coloane, eaten at long weekend lunches with rice or crusty bread. Chicken pieces are marinated, grilled until charred, then baked under a thick, brick-coloured sauce of ground peanuts, coconut milk, chilli, paprika, garlic and onion that is rich, nutty and quietly fiery. It is often made with a pale, timid sauce; cook the onion, garlic and paprika slowly until really deep red before the coconut goes in. Chef's tip: marinate the chicken overnight in the fridge so the garlic and chilli reach the bone.

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Fricasé de polloChicken stew with olives and raisins

Fricasé de pollo is a family dinner all over Cuba: chicken pieces marinated in sour orange and garlic, browned, then simmered with potatoes, green olives, capers and a few raisins in a light tomato sauce. The sweet-salty balance is what makes it so Cuban. A frequent mistake is skipping the marinade time; even an hour in the fridge seasons the meat right through. Serve with white rice. Chef's tip: add the raisins with the potatoes rather than at the start, so they plump up but don't melt into the sauce.

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Arroz con pollo cubanoChicken and yellow rice

Cuban arroz con pollo is the one-pot Sunday lunch of the island, and every abuela in Santiago or Havana has her own way with it. Chicken pieces are browned, then the rice cooks right in the pot with sofrito, a pinch of saffron (or bijol, the annatto colouring most Cuban kitchens use) and stock until each grain is golden and moist, almost creamy. Peas and roasted red peppers go on top at the end. It is eaten with fried ripe plantain and a green salad. Many versions add a splash of beer to the pot; this one uses chicken stock only, so it is alcohol-free. The usual mistake is stirring the rice once it is covered, which breaks the grains and makes it gluey. Chef's tip: let the pot rest off the heat with the lid on for 10 minutes before serving, so the rice finishes softening in its own steam.

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Gentse waterzooiCreamy chicken and vegetable stew

Ghent claims waterzooi as its own, and in the cafés around the Korenmarkt it is served in deep plates as a cross between soup and stew. Originally made with river fish, the city's version today is nearly always chicken, poached gently with leek, carrot, celery and potato, then the broth is enriched with cream and egg yolk until it turns silky and pale gold. It is eaten all year but tastes best on a damp Flemish evening, with crusty bread for the last of the broth. The mistake to avoid is boiling it after the yolks go in, which scrambles them; keep it below a simmer while it thickens. Chef's tip: cut the vegetables into fine, even julienne so they cook in the same time and look neat in the bowl.

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Vol-au-ventChicken and mushroom pastry cases

In Belgium a vol-au-vent is not a party nibble but a full plate: a big puff-pastry case filled with creamy chicken ragout, button mushrooms and tiny meatballs, served with chips in Brussels brasseries and for family celebrations and Sunday lunches all over the country. The little meatballs are made with pork mince, so this dish contains pork. The sauce is built on the poaching stock from the chicken, which gives it far more flavour than milk. A mistake many cooks make is filling the pastry too early, so the base turns soggy; fill the cases just before they go to the table. Chef's tip: poach the meatballs in the same stock as the chicken; they take just 5 minutes and season the broth further.

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