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Mullah tagalia (Sudanese dried-meat and okra stew)

Tagalia is the stew northern Sudanese families turn to for everyday lunches and when guests arrive unannounced, because it is made almost entirely from the store cupboard: pounded sharmout, dried okra powder called weika and a mountain of onions fried slowly until dark. Unlike mullah bamia, which uses fresh okra, it is smooth, thick and dark brown, with a rich, savoury, slightly smoky taste, and it is scooped up with kisra or aseeda from one shared bowl. Cooks in Nubia and along the Nile say good tagalia is all in the onion. Dumping the weika in at once is the classic mistake, and it sets into slimy lumps; sprinkle it slowly while whisking. Chef's tip: keep frying the onions until they are a deep chestnut colour but never black; burnt onion makes the whole pot bitter.

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Madeeda (Sudanese warm millet and milk drink)

Thick enough to sip slowly from a glass but thinner than porridge, madeeda is a warming drink from northern Sudan made by cooking flour, often pearl millet, in milk and sweetening it with sugar or dates. Families make it on cool winter mornings, for anyone feeling under the weather and for new mothers, and it is a gentle way to break the fast in Ramadan. This version uses millet flour with cardamom and a little cinnamon, so it is smooth, nutty and lightly spiced. Lumps are the usual problem: whisk the flour into cold milk before it goes onto the heat. A frequent slip is not stirring enough, so the millet catches and the milk scorches. Chef's tip: for a date version, blitz 6 soft pitted dates with the milk and halve the sugar.

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Aradeib (Sudanese tamarind drink)

Tamarind trees shade villages throughout Darfur and Kordofan, and their sticky brown pods become aradeib, one of the best-loved Sudanese cold drinks. The pulp is soaked, rubbed and strained, then sweetened to make a deep amber, puckeringly sour drink that cuts through rich food and is much loved at iftar through Ramadan. It is also drunk as a home remedy for upset stomachs and heat. Seedy block tamarind from any Asian or African shop works perfectly. Pouring boiling water straight onto the pulp and leaving it too long draws out a harsh, tannic edge, so use hot rather than boiling water and strain after an hour. Avoid squeezing the soaked tamarind through a cloth too hard; fibres get through and make the drink cloudy and gritty. Chef's tip: make a concentrate and keep it in the fridge for up to a week; dilute with cold water by the glass.

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Mullah kawal (Darfur fermented-leaf stew)

Kawal is one of Darfur's great pantry secrets: the leaves of a wild legume that grows among the sorghum are pounded, fermented in a buried pot for a couple of weeks and dried into dark little balls with a smell as strong as blue cheese. Crumbled into a stew of fried onion, dried meat and tomato and thickened with okra powder, it gives a deep, savoury, almost meaty flavour that people in Darfur and Kordofan crave, and the stew is eaten with aseeda or kisra. Kawal is very hard to find outside Sudan; fermented locust beans (dawadawa or iru) from West African shops are the closest substitute, or use mashed fermented black beans. Too much kawal is the beginner's mistake; start with a little and taste. Chef's tip: soak the kawal in warm water for 10 minutes and mash it before it goes in, so it dissolves evenly.

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Kawari (Sudanese trotter soup)

Small restaurants in Khartoum's markets open early to sell bowls of kawari, a soup of cow's or sheep's trotters cooked for hours until the meat and gelatinous skin slip off the bone and the broth turns rich and sticky. It is seasoned simply with onion, garlic, cardamom and black pepper and then brightened at the table with lime, chilli and raw garlic, and it is eaten with bread, especially on cold mornings and as a reviving breakfast. The flavour is deep and meaty, the texture silky. Skipping the first blanch is the usual mistake: it leaves the soup murky and smelling of the farmyard. Buy trotters already cleaned and cut by the butcher, and scrape off any remaining hair. Chef's tip: a pressure cooker cuts the simmering to about 1½ hours.

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Hilu-mur (Sudanese spiced sorghum Ramadan drink)

Weeks before Ramadan, households across Sudan fill with the smell of hilu-mur, literally 'sweet-bitter', as sorghum is sprouted, dried, ground and mixed with flour, dates and a heady spice blend, left to sour for a day, then spread paper-thin on a hot griddle into brittle reddish-brown flakes. Each evening during the month a handful is soaked in water, strained and sweetened, giving the dark, tangy, clove-and-ginger-scented drink that breaks the fast. The souring is short, like a sourdough, and the flakes are cooked dry; the drink is non-alcoholic and served to the whole family. The full process takes about 5 days: 3 days to sprout, 1 to dry and a night to sour, so only active and cooking time are in the totals. Many people buy ready-made flakes from Sudanese shops. Discard any grain that smells musty or shows mould while sprouting. The usual mistake is pouring the batter too thick on the griddle; the flakes should be paper-thin to dry crisp. Chef's tip: spread the batter as thinly as you can; thick flakes stay chewy and go mouldy in storage.

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Sudanese shata (dried chilli, garlic and lime sauce)

No Sudanese meal is complete without a little dish of shata on the side, and every household and roadside grill from Port Sudan to Nyala has its own version. This one is the classic everyday type: dried red chillies soaked soft and pounded with raw garlic, salt and plenty of lime juice into a loose, brick-red sauce that is fiery, sour and garlicky all at once. A spoonful goes over ful, fried fish, grilled meat, salads and stews. Wear gloves when handling the chillies, and do not rub your eyes. Using the soaking water in place of fresh water is a mistake, as it can taste bitter and dusty; drain it off. Chef's tip: make it a few hours ahead and keep it in the fridge; the heat settles and the garlic mellows.

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Guddaim (Sudanese grewia berry drink)

Small, round guddaim berries, the fruit of a wild grewia shrub that grows across Kordofan and Darfur, are dried and sold by the cupful in Sudanese markets. Soaked in water and rubbed off their stones, they give a cloudy reddish-brown drink that tastes a little like dates and sour cherries, with a pleasantly sharp finish. It is drunk ice-cold in the heat of the day, at iftar and to welcome guests. Look for dried guddaim in Sudanese or East African shops. If you cannot find it, a mix of 150 g pitted dates and 50 g tamarind pulp soaked the same way gives a similar sweet-sour drink, though not the same. Rubbing too hard and breaking the stones is the usual mistake, as it clouds the drink with grit; rub gently. Chef's tip: soak the berries in cool water overnight in the fridge for the fullest flavour.

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Abreh (Sudanese white sorghum flake drink)

Where hilu-mur is dark and spiced, abreh abyad, white abreh, is its pale, gentle partner: a batter of white sorghum flour is left to sour lightly, then baked into thin cream-coloured flakes that are soaked in cold, sweetened water and served at iftar across northern Sudan. The drink is cloudy, refreshing and faintly tangy, a good way to rehydrate after a long day of fasting; some families add a splash of lime or a little cardamom. The overnight souring takes 12–18 hours and is not counted in the totals; it is non-alcoholic, and the flakes are dried hard on the griddle. Spreading the batter too thickly is the classic mistake, so work fast and thin. Chef's tip: make a big batch in one session; the dry flakes keep for months in a tin, so a jug of abreh is only an hour away.

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Agashe (Sudanese peanut-crusted beef skewers)

On Khartoum evenings the smoke from agashe grills drifts across the streets: thin slices of beef threaded onto sticks, coated in a dry rub of ground roasted peanuts, ginger, chilli and garlic, and grilled fast over charcoal until crusty and fragrant. The style came to Sudan with West African communities and is close cousin to Nigerian suya, but it has become a Khartoum favourite in its own right, served with sliced onion, tomato, lime and a sprinkle of extra spice. Slicing the beef too thick is the usual error, because the crust burns before the inside is done; aim for 5 mm. Marinate in the fridge, never on the counter. Chef's tip: dust the skewers with a second coat of peanut mix halfway through grilling for the best crust.

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Kamounia (Sudanese cumin offal stew)

Named after kammoun, cumin, this Sudanese stew of lamb offal is a Khartoum favourite after Eid al-Adha, when every household has fresh heart, kidneys and liver from the sacrifice, and it is also sold in restaurants for breakfast and lunch. The meat is cooked with lots of onion, garlic, tomato and a heavy hand of cumin until the sauce is thick and dark and smells wonderful. It is eaten with bread or kisra and a squeeze of lime. Putting the liver in with the heart is the classic mistake: liver turns grainy and dry when overcooked, so add it only in the last 10 minutes. Chef's tip: toast whole cumin seeds in a dry pan and grind them yourself; the flavour is twice as strong.

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Sharmout (Sudanese dried beef, oven method)

Across Darfur and Kordofan, and in kitchens throughout Sudan around Eid al-Adha, strips of lean beef are salted and hung to dry in the hot, dry air for several days until they turn hard and dark. That sharmout is then pounded and fried with onion to give tagalia, kawal and other stews their rich, savoury depth. Air-drying raw meat at home is risky, so this safer version heats the strips to 71 °C first and then dries them slowly in a low oven, and the finished sharmout is kept in the fridge. The traditional raw air-dried version is not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system. Leaving fat on the strips is the usual mistake: fat does not dry and turns rancid, so trim every bit. Chef's tip: partly freeze the beef so you can slice it into even 5 mm strips along the grain.

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Sudanese shorba (lamb and peanut Ramadan soup)

Every evening during Ramadan, Khartoum tables are set with dates, juices and a big pot of shorba, a lamb broth full of carrots, potato and onion made creamy with peanut butter and sharpened with lime. It is the first thing many families eat after the dates, warm and gentle on an empty stomach, and it is made in quantity to share with neighbours. The soup is savoury, nutty and lightly spiced, thick enough to coat a spoon. Adding peanut butter straight into the pot is a mistake, as it clumps; whisk it smooth with hot broth first. Chef's tip: skim the broth carefully in the first 10 minutes for a clean taste, and finish with lime just before serving.

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Dama (Sudanese beef and tomato stew)

Thick, red and full of garlic, dama is the tomato stew that Khartoum families make for weekday lunches and that restaurants serve in shiny steel bowls with gurasa, the soft, thick Sudanese pancake, or with bread and rice. Beef is browned, then simmered with a generous amount of onion, fresh tomato, tomato paste and gentle warm spices, cardamom and a little cinnamon, until the sauce is rich enough to cling to every piece. The meat ends up spoon-tender. Adding all the liquid at once is the common mistake; it gives a thin, watery sauce, so add water little by little as the stew needs it. Chef's tip: grate the onions rather than chopping them, so they melt into the sauce and thicken it without flour.

105 minSudaneseMeatGluten free
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Mullah rob (Sudanese peanut and yoghurt stew)

Rob is the Sudanese word for soured milk, and in Khartoum kitchens it goes into one of the simplest, most comforting stews of all: onions cooked down until sweet, peanut butter stirred in for body, and rob whisked through at the end to make a creamy, tangy, pale-gold sauce. It is everyday food, eaten at lunch with sheets of kisra or a mound of aseeda, and it costs very little to make. Without fermented milk to hand, pasteurised natural yoghurt thinned with water does the job well. Boiling the sauce once the yoghurt is in is the classic mistake, because it curdles into grainy flecks; keep it just below a simmer. Chef's tip: let the onions go properly soft and golden, about 15 minutes; they carry the flavour of the whole dish.

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Moukhbaza (Kassala mashed banana)

Kassala, in the green orchard country of eastern Sudan near the Eritrean border, grows bananas in abundance, and its signature dish uses them very simply: very ripe bananas mashed with a little sugar and cooked briefly until thick and jammy. Moukhbaza is eaten as a snack or light breakfast, torn kisra or soft gurasa pancakes dragged through it, and children adore it. It tastes like warm banana bread without the oven. Under-ripe fruit is the usual mistake; you want bananas with heavily speckled, almost black skins, or the mash is starchy and bland. Chef's tip: a squeeze of lime at the end keeps the colour bright and balances the sweetness.

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Bitifoor (Sudanese Eid butter biscuits)

During the last days of Ramadan, Khartoum neighbourhoods smell of butter and vanilla as women bake bitifoor, the piped biscuits whose name comes from the French petit four, for the Eid visits that follow. They are piped into rosettes, fingers and swirls, sometimes topped with a piece of glacé cherry or dipped in chocolate, and arranged on platters with ka'ak and sweets for guests. The texture is melt-in-the-mouth, short and delicate. Over-soft butter is the classic mistake, giving biscuits that spread into flat puddles; use butter soft enough to dent, not oily, and chill the piped trays for 15 minutes. Chef's tip: a little cornflour in the flour keeps them extra tender and crisp.

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Tabaldi (Sudanese baobab drink)

The great baobab trees of Kordofan and Darfur drop hard pods full of chalky, cream-coloured pulp, and Sudanese cooks soak it in water to make tabaldi, a thick, milky-looking drink with a sherbet-like tang. It is sold from big cool-boxes in Khartoum markets in summer, served at weddings, and appears on the iftar table during Ramadan. Fresh pulp pieces with seeds are sold in African and Middle Eastern shops; baobab powder is a good substitute and needs no straining. Leave the drink to soak for an hour in the fridge before straining (soaking time is not counted in the total). The usual mistake is blending the seeds, which makes the drink bitter; rub the pulp off by hand instead. Chef's tip: a few drops of rose water or a pinch of ground cardamom makes it feel festive.

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Esterházytorte

Named after a Hungarian noble family and claimed by both Budapest and Vienna, this torte is a showpiece of Viennese pastry shops, where it sits in the glass counter beside richer chocolate cakes. Five or six crisp-chewy almond meringue layers are stacked with a vanilla custard buttercream, then topped with white icing and the famous feathered chocolate lines. It has no flour at all, so it suits gluten-free guests. A common mistake is baking the layers too pale; they should be light golden, or they go soft and sticky in the cream. Chef's tip: draw the circles on baking paper first and spread the meringue to the line with a palette knife, so every layer matches.

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Linzer Torte

Linz, the Danube city in Upper Austria, has baked this tart for centuries, and it still fills bakery windows there all year, with extra demand in Advent. It is closer to a soft, crumbly nut biscuit than a pastry: ground hazelnuts, butter, cinnamon and cloves are pressed into the tin, filled with tart redcurrant jam and topped with a lattice. Serve a thin slice with coffee or tea. A common mistake is eating it on the day it is baked; it is much better after two or three days, when the jam soaks into the crumb. Chef's tip: chill the lattice strips on a tray before lifting them on, and they will not tear.

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Kardinalschnitten

Kardinalschnitten, 'cardinal slices', were created in Vienna with the colours of the Church in mind: white meringue and yellow sponge baked side by side in stripes. In Viennese cafés they are a light, summery choice with an afternoon coffee. Two baked sheets of alternating stripes sandwich a soft coffee cream, and the result is crisp, airy and cool at the same time. A common mistake is overfilling with cream that has not been stabilised; it squeezes out when you cut. Here a little mascarpone keeps the cream firm without gelatine. Chef's tip: pipe the meringue stripes first and the sponge in the gaps after, so the sponge does not spread flat.

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Steirische Kernöl-Eierspeis

Eierspeis is the Austrian word for scrambled eggs, and in Styria they get a final drizzle of the region's dark green pumpkin seed oil. It is a farmhouse breakfast or a late-night snack after a long evening in a Graz wine bar, eaten straight from the small pan it was cooked in with a slice of rye bread. The eggs are soft and creamy in big folds, and the oil adds a toasted, nutty depth that tastes almost like brown butter. A common mistake is stirring too fast on a high heat, which gives small dry crumbs instead of soft curds. Chef's tip: salt the eggs a few minutes before cooking; it helps them set more tenderly.

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Chinchulines

No proper Sunday asado in Buenos Aires province or the interior is complete without a round of achuras, and chinchulines are the boldest of them: beef small intestine, coiled on the grill and cooked slowly until the outside crackles like pork scratchings and the inside stays soft and rich with its own fat. Pass them round on a board with lemon and bread as a starter while the bigger cuts cook. Buy them already cleaned from a butcher or a Latin American meat counter, and rinse them again well at home. The usual mistake is too much heat: the outside burns long before the inside cooks. Offal must be cooked right through, with no soft, raw-looking parts. Chef's tip: simmer them briefly before grilling; it cleans them further, shortens the time on the coals and gives you a much more even crunch.

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Steirische Kürbiscremesuppe

When the pumpkin fields of Styria turn orange in October, every inn from Graz to the Slovenian border puts this soup on the board. It is velvety and gently sweet, with a little nutmeg and a dash of vinegar for lift, and comes to the table with a swirl of almost black pumpkin seed oil and a scattering of toasted seeds. Serve it as a starter before a Sunday roast or with crusty bread for supper. A common mistake is boiling the soup hard after the cream goes in, which can split it and dull the colour. Check the stock if you need it gluten free. Chef's tip: toast the seeds dry in a pan until they puff and pop; it takes 3 minutes and doubles the nutty flavour.

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