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RužiceWalnut pastry roses in syrup

Ružice, meaning 'little roses', are baked for Bajram in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Eid holidays when trays of syrup-soaked sweets are set out for every guest. Thin sheets of pastry are brushed with butter, scattered with walnuts and rolled up, then sliced so each piece opens like a rose in the oven. The baked roses drink up a cold lemon syrup and turn sticky, crisp on top and soft underneath. Chef's tip: pour cold syrup over hot pastry (or hot over cold), never both the same temperature, or the roses go soggy.

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Lengua a la vinagretaBeef tongue with vinaigrette

Argentina's Nochebuena is a hot summer night, so the table is full of cold dishes, and lengua a la vinagreta is one of the classics: beef tongue simmered until tender, peeled, sliced and covered with a sharp vinaigrette of parsley, garlic, red pepper, onion and chopped hard-boiled egg. It is made a day ahead and served chilled with vitel toné and Russian salad. Chef's tip: peel the tongue while it is still hot, as the skin comes away easily then and clings once it cools.

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Laksa JohorSpaghetti in fish and coconut gravy

Laksa Johor is the Hari Raya pride of Johor, where a 19th-century sultan is said to have brought spaghetti home from Europe and married it to a Malay fish gravy. Mackerel is cooked, flaked and ground into a thick coconut sauce with kerisik and spices, and the pasta is topped with raw cucumber, bean sprouts, onion, mint and laksa leaf, with sambal belacan and lime on the side. Families serve it to visitors over the Raya open-house days. Chef's tip: grind the fish very finely; the gravy should be smooth and thick, not lumpy.

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LemangBamboo-cooked coconut sticky rice

On the eve of Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Malay villages across the peninsula fill with smoke as families cook lemang: glutinous rice and coconut milk packed into banana-leaf-lined bamboo poles and turned slowly beside an open fire for hours. The rice comes out rich, salty and faintly smoky, sliced into thick rounds and eaten with rendang or serunding on Raya morning. Few homes have bamboo and a fire pit, so this recipe gives a home oven method in a banana-leaf-lined tin, with the bamboo way described too. Chef's tip: let the cooked lemang cool before slicing, as warm rice is too soft to cut cleanly.

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KourdassGrilled lamb liver bundles

After the sacrifice of Eid al-Adha, Moroccan families use every part of the lamb, and kourdass is one of the dishes made in the days that follow: pieces of tripe and liver rubbed with cumin and paprika, wrapped in caul fat and traditionally hung up to air-dry before grilling. This home version skips the drying, which is hard to do safely in a modern kitchen, and grills the bundles fresh over charcoal or under a grill until the fat crisps and the liver is cooked through. Buy cleaned, pre-cooked tripe and caul fat from a halal butcher. Chef's tip: wrap the bundles tightly so the caul fat bastes them as it melts.

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Slavski kolačDecorated ceremonial bread

The slava is a uniquely Serbian Orthodox custom: each family honours its own patron saint on that saint's feast day, passed from father to son, with a lit candle, boiled wheat (žito) and the slavski kolač, a round, decorated bread. The priest blesses it; the family turns it, cuts a cross into its base, pours a little wine into the cuts, and breaks it together. It is decorated with dough crosses, the seal 'IC XC NI KA', doves, wheat ears and grapes. It is a plain, vegan bread. Chef's tip: keep the decorations' dough a little stiffer than the loaf, so they hold their shape.

110 minBalkanBakingVegan
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Bubur asyuraRice, bean and beef porridge

On 10 Muharram, the day of Ashura, Malay mosques and kampung neighbourhoods stir bubur asyura in giant pots and share it out to every household, a custom said to recall the meal Prophet Nuh's family cooked from their last stores. Rice, mung beans, peanuts, sweet potato and pumpkin cook down with beef and spices into a thick, savoury porridge, flavoured with coconut milk and kerisik. This family-sized pot keeps the communal spirit; a vegetarian version is a variation to add later. Chef's tip: stir constantly from the bottom once it thickens, as the beans catch quickly and a burnt bottom spoils the whole pot.

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TihaneStuffed lamb spleen

Tihane, or tehal, is an old Eid al-Adha speciality from Moroccan towns such as Fez and Marrakech, made on the days after the sacrifice when the offal is shared out. The lamb's spleen is cut open into a pocket and stuffed with chopped liver and heart, a little fat, green olives, preserved lemon, garlic and cumin, then sewn shut, poached and roasted until browned. It is sliced thin and eaten warm or cold with bread. Ask a halal butcher for the spleen and offal. Chef's tip: prick the spleen with a fine needle before poaching so it doesn't burst in the pot.

130 minMoroccanMeatGluten free
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Sopa teólogaTurkey broth with bread and cheese

Sopa teóloga ('the theologian's soup') goes back to colonial convents in Lima and Arequipa, where it was cooked for feast days, and it is still served at Holy Week and family celebrations. A rich turkey (or chicken) broth is thickened with soaked bread, milk and fresh cheese, with yellow potatoes and shreds of turkey, and finished with a little ají amarillo and chopped huacatay or parsley. It is thick, comforting and filling. Chef's tip: blend part of the soaked bread with broth before adding it, which gives the soup its creamy body without lumps.

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Kuih makmurGhee and peanut cookies

Kuih makmur is one of the oldest Malay Hari Raya cookies, its name meaning 'prosperity', and its tiny ridged domes are baked by the tray-load before Aidilfitri to fill the cookie jars for open houses. Soft, crumbly ghee pastry wraps a filling of roasted ground peanuts and sugar, and the cookies are rolled in icing sugar while still warm, so they melt in the mouth. Chef's tip: bake them pale; makmur should stay white, and browned cookies taste of scorched ghee.

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KaguyjyWhite corn pudding

On the night of 23–24 June, Paraguayans celebrate San Juan with bonfires, games like walking over hot coals and the 'paso de fuego', and a table of traditional foods, and kaguyjy (also mazamorra) is one of them. It is a soft, creamy pudding of cracked white corn (locro) simmered slowly in water and then milk with sugar or honey, sometimes with orange peel. It is eaten warm or cold. It is gluten free. Chef's tip: soak the corn overnight and cook it until each kernel is tender before adding the milk, or it never turns creamy.

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OsterpinzeEaster anise brioche

Osterpinze is the Easter bread of Styria, Carinthia and the area around Trieste, a soft, golden brioche dome with three deep cuts on top for the Holy Trinity, so that it opens into a crown as it bakes. The dough is rich with egg yolks and butter and flavoured with anise and lemon; old recipes add a splash of white wine, left out here. It is blessed in the Easter basket on Holy Saturday and eaten on Easter morning with ham, horseradish and eggs, or with butter and jam. Chef's tip: make the three cuts with scissors just before baking, deep enough to reach halfway down, so the crown opens wide.

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Chipa so'oCheese bread with spiced beef

In Paraguay, families bake chipa in the clay tatakua ovens on Holy Wednesday so there is food for Thursday and Good Friday, when cooking stops. Chipa so'o ('chipa with meat') is a cassava-starch and cheese bread wrapped around a little filling of minced beef cooked with onion and egg, then baked until crisp outside and chewy within. It is naturally gluten free. Chef's tip: knead the dough until it no longer cracks at the edges when pressed; dry dough splits around the filling.

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Kuih siputFried snail-shell curls

Kuih siput are little ridged curls of dough rolled on a comb or fork into the shape of a snail shell, then fried until crunchy; in Malaysian homes the whole family sits down to roll them in the days before Hari Raya. They come sweet, tossed in sugar, or spicy, coated in chilli and curry leaf, and both go into the Raya snack jars. Chef's tip: roll each curl tightly round the end of a chopstick so it has a hollow centre; solid ones stay hard instead of crunchy.

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AllerheiligenstriezelBraided sweet loaf

In Bavaria and Austria, godparents give their godchildren an Allerheiligenstriezel on All Saints' Day, 1 November: a large braided loaf of sweet yeast dough, brushed with egg and scattered with almonds or pearl sugar. The braid is said to recall the old custom of cutting a plait of hair in mourning, and the size of the loaf once showed how generous the godparent was. It is lightly sweet, with lemon and vanilla, and is eaten sliced with butter or jam. Some recipes add rum-soaked raisins; these are soaked in warm water instead. Chef's tip: braid four strands for an impressive, high loaf.

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Kambing golekSpiced roast goat

At Aidiladha and big kenduri feasts in Johor and Selangor, kambing golek is the showpiece: a goat rubbed with spices and turned for hours on a spit until the meat falls from the bone, carved for the crowd and served with a peppery brown sauce. A whole spit-roast goat isn't practical at home, so this recipe is written as carved bone-in leg and shoulder portions, marinated overnight and slow-roasted in the oven, keeping the flavour of the original. Chef's tip: roast covered first and uncover only at the end, so the meat stays moist and then gets its golden crust.

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Pajagua mascadaBeef and cassava patties

Pajagua mascada is a Paraguayan street-food classic that appears on every table for the San Juan festival on 24 June, when bonfires burn and the night is full of games and traditional food. Minced beef is mixed with mashed cassava, onion, garlic and a little egg and flour, shaped into flat patties and fried until crisp. The name comes from Guaraní and refers to the 'chewing' of old Paraguayan cooks, who made it from leftover meat. Chef's tip: dry the boiled cassava well and remove its woody core, which keeps the patties light and crunchy.

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Bakalar na bijeloSalt cod with potatoes and garlic

On Badnjak, Christmas Eve, Croatian families in Dalmatia keep the meal meatless, and bakalar na bijelo ('white salt cod') is the dish that says Christmas. Salt cod is soaked for days, then cooked with potatoes, a lot of garlic, parsley and good olive oil and shaken in the pot until it turns into a creamy, almost spreadable mix. It is served warm with bread and a glass of wine for the adults. Chef's tip: shake the pot rather than stirring it, so the fish breaks into flakes and emulsifies with the oil and potato.

90 minBalkanFishGluten free
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PečenicaRoast pork

Pečenica is the Christmas Day roast of Serbia and Montenegro: traditionally a whole young pig turned on a spit in the yard from early morning, so that it is ready when the family returns from church and greets each other with 'Hristos se rodi'. This home recipe follows our site's approach of using carved portions rather than a whole animal: bone-in pork shoulder pieces with the skin on are rubbed with salt and slow-roasted until the meat is tender and the skin crackles like the spit-roast. Serve with česnica bread, pickled vegetables and roasted potatoes. Chef's tip: baste the skin with beer, or with cold water for an alcohol-free version, near the end; it helps the crackling blister.

290 minBalkanMeatGluten free
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KalanehWild leek stuffed flatbread

In Kurdistan and Kermanshah, Newroz arrives with the first spring greens on the hillsides, and families gather wild leeks to fold into kalaneh, thin griddle breads cooked over a fire or a hot pan and soaked in melted butter. The dough is plain and soft, rolled very thin around a pile of chopped leek or chives with a little salt and pepper, so the greens steam inside as the bread blisters. Eat it hot, torn into strips, with yogurt and tea at a Newroz picnic. The common mistake is wet greens, which turn the dough soggy and make it tear; dry them well after washing. Chef's tip: brush the butter on the moment the bread leaves the pan so it soaks right in.

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PincaEaster sweet bread

Pinca (or sirnica in Dubrovnik) is the Easter bread of Dalmatia and Istria in Croatia. It is a tall, golden round of rich yeast dough with egg yolks, butter, lemon and orange zest and vanilla, cut with three slashes on top before baking so it opens into a three-pointed cross. It is blessed at church on Holy Saturday with the Easter eggs and ham, and eaten at Easter breakfast. Old recipes add a spoon of rum or prošek wine; this one doesn't. Chef's tip: let the dough rise slowly, even overnight in the fridge, as pinca gets its tender, fragrant crumb from a long rise.

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Dowina (Kurdish yogurt soup)

Dowina, called ash-e doogh in Persian, is warming spring food in Kurdish homes around Newroz, when yogurt is plentiful and the first herbs are cut from the garden. Rice and chickpeas simmer in a tangy, lightly thickened yogurt broth, finished with fresh dill, coriander and a sizzle of dried mint in oil. It is eaten warm, never boiling hot, with flatbread. The common mistake is to heat the yogurt too fast without stirring, which makes it split into grainy curds. Chef's tip: whisk an egg yolk and a spoonful of rice flour into the yogurt before it goes on the heat; it holds the soup smooth all the way to the simmer.

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Arrowhead chips (nga gu chips)

Arrowhead (nga gu, or ngaku) is a small aquatic tuber that only shows up in Malaysian markets in the weeks before Chinese New Year, and frying it into chips is a family job. Its curved sprout looks like a shoot rising from the root, so it stands for growth and many descendants in the year ahead. Sliced thin and fried, the chips are crisp and nutty like potato crisps, with a gentle bitterness that keeps you reaching for more. Put them out in jars with peanuts and love letters for visitors. Chef's tip: soak the slices and dry them very well; wet slices make the oil spit and fry up chewy instead of crisp.

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Jiu hu char (dried cuttlefish and jicama stir-fry)

Jiu hu char is a Penang Nyonya dish cooked in big batches for Chinese New Year, when it is passed round as a gift and kept on hand for visitors; its long, fine shreds stand for long life, and the abundance of the pot for a full year. Shredded jicama (yam bean), carrot and cabbage are fried slowly with strips of dried cuttlefish, a little pork and shiitake until sweet, soft and full of the savoury, slightly smoky flavour of the cuttlefish. Wrap spoonfuls in crisp lettuce with a dab of sambal belacan. Chef's tip: cut the vegetables into very fine, even matchsticks; this is what gives the dish its silky texture.

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