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Mushroom ceviche

Ceviche is Lima's great obsession, eaten at lunchtime in cevicherías all along the coast; this vegetarian ceviche de champiñones keeps everything that makes it thrilling except the fish. Raw mushrooms are sliced thin and tossed at the last minute in leche de tigre, the bright, peppery marinade of lime, garlic, ginger, celery and ají limo, so they turn silky but still bite back. Red onion brings crunch, coriander freshness, and on the plate it gets the classic Lima company: a slice of sweet potato, a wedge of corn on the cob and a handful of toasted cancha. Serve it as a starter on a hot day, straight away. Chef's tip: squeeze the limes gently by hand and stop before the pith; pressing hard or using a squeezer that crushes the peel makes the leche de tigre bitter.

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Pastel mandi'oCassava turnovers with beef

Pastel mandi'o are the golden half-moons sold at bus stations and street stalls all over Paraguay, especially in Asunción and around Holy Week: a soft dough of cooked cassava (mandi'o in Guaraní) and a little corn flour, wrapped round minced beef with onion, pepper, boiled egg and cumin, then fried. The mistake is a wet cassava dough that sticks and tears; drain the cassava well and add starch until it is smooth and pliable. Chef's tip: shape them between two sheets of cling film, which stops the soft dough sticking to the worktop.

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Sopa paraguayaCheesy cornbread

Paraguayans love telling visitors that their national 'soup' is eaten with a fork: sopa paraguaya is a dense, moist cornbread baked with sweated onions, fresh cheese, eggs and milk. It's on every table at asados, weddings and the Christmas meal, and sold in squares at bus stations from Asunción to Encarnación. The crust is golden and the inside soft and cheesy, more like a savoury pudding than bread. Chef's tip: soak the cornmeal in the milk for 15 minutes before mixing; hydrated cornmeal bakes up tender instead of gritty.

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So'o yosopyGround beef and rice soup

So'o yosopy, "pounded meat" in Guaraní, is a soup Paraguayans make for anyone who is tired or recovering, and on cold days in Asunción's winter: beef is ground very finely and stirred into cold water so it breaks into soft, delicate threads, then simmered with onion, tomato, pepper and a little rice and oregano. The texture is smooth and the broth light. The mistake is adding the beef to boiling water, which makes it clump into meatballs; mix it into cold water first and stir as it heats. Chef's tip: ask the butcher to mince lean beef twice, or pulse it very fine in a food processor.

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Torta fritaFried dough discs

In Uruguay, a grey rainy afternoon has one answer: torta frita and mate. These thin discs of dough, pierced with a hole in the middle, are fried until puffed and golden and either sprinkled with sugar or eaten plain, still hot, between sips passed around the circle. In Montevideo you'll smell them from street stalls on wet days; at home they're made with butter or beef fat, here with butter. Chef's tip: the hole in the middle isn't decoration; it lets the centre cook through at the same speed as the edges.

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Vegetarian vori voriCornmeal dumpling and vegetable soup

Vori vori is the soup Paraguayan grandmothers make on cold June and July evenings: a golden broth full of bori, small balls of cornmeal and cheese that swell soft as they simmer. The name is a Guaraní take on the Spanish 'bolita' (little ball). It's usually made with hen; this version gets its colour and body from pumpkin, carrot and a sofrito with saffron or turmeric. Chef's tip: shape the balls no bigger than a hazelnut; they double in size and larger ones stay raw inside.

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ČesnečkaGarlic soup

Česnečka is the soup Czechs swear by after a long night in a Prague pivnice: a thin, savoury broth fragrant with raw garlic, caraway and marjoram, with soft potato cubes, crunchy fried bread and a fistful of grated cheese melting into each bowl. It costs almost nothing, comes together in half an hour and is served in workers' canteens and village pubs all winter. This version uses vegetable stock instead of the old meat bouillon. Chef's tip: crush the garlic into the bowls or add it right at the end off the heat; boiled garlic goes sweet and mild, and česnečka should bite.

30 minCzechSoups
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BuchtyFilled baked yeast buns

Buchty are the soft, pillowy yeast buns that Czech grandmothers bake in a roasting tin on Saturday, filled with povidla (plum butter), jam or sweet quark and packed so close that they rise into each other and have to be torn apart. They are the Czech answer to a cinnamon bun: eaten warm with milky coffee, packed for train journeys and school trips, and famous from the fairy tale in which the hero sets off with a bag of his mother's buchty. Unlike open koláče, the filling is sealed inside. Chef's tip: brush the sides of each bun with melted butter before you pack them in, so they pull apart cleanly with soft, shiny walls.

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Houskové knedlíkyBread dumpling loaf

Houskové knedlíky are the sliced bread dumplings that sit beside almost every sauce in a Prague pub, from mushroom svíčková-style cream sauces to sweet-sour dill gravy. Unlike the round German Semmelknödel, these are a soft yeast dough rolled into a log with crisp cubes of stale roll inside, simmered whole, then cut into thick, spongy slices that drink up gravy. Czech grandmothers still slice them with a length of thread rather than a knife, which keeps the crumb open instead of squashing it. Chef's tip: cut the cooked loaf with a piece of cotton thread wrapped around it and pulled tight; a knife presses the slices into dense, gluey discs.

55 minCzechSides
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Bryndzové haluškyPotato dumplings with sheep's cheese

Bryndzové halušky is Slovakia's national dish, cooked in every koliba (timber shepherd's restaurant) in the Liptov and Orava valleys and fought over each summer at the halušky-eating contest in Turecká. Little grated-potato dumplings are tossed while hot with bryndza, a tangy, spreadable sheep's cheese, and finished with a sour milk drink called žinčica. The traditional topping is crisp smoked bacon; here golden fried onions bring the same savoury crunch, and meat-eaters can add bacon on their own plates. Chef's tip: grate the potatoes at the last moment and work fast; grated potato left standing turns grey and watery and the dumplings go heavy.

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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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Tomaat-garnaalTomatoes stuffed with grey shrimp

Along the Belgian coast, from Ostend to De Panne, tomaat-garnaal is the starter that tells you you are at the seaside: a hollowed raw tomato heaped with tiny, sweet North Sea grey shrimp in homemade mayonnaise, served with lettuce, lemon and often a few chips. The shrimp are caught and boiled on the boats, so they come ready-cooked and peeled. Because the dish has so few parts, everything depends on good ripe tomatoes and very fresh shrimp. The thing people often get wrong is drowning the shrimp in mayonnaise; use just enough to bind them so their sweetness comes through. Chef's tip: salt the hollowed tomatoes and turn them upside down for 10 minutes so they do not leak water onto the plate.

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Arabian date pinwheels

Crumbly, buttery biscuit dough is rolled out, spread with a soft date filling flavoured with cinnamon and lemon, rolled into logs, sliced and baked into pretty pinwheels. They make a big batch of 50 and keep well in an airtight tin. Serve with tea, or with ice cream as a dessert.

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Baklava

The famous layered pastry: crisp sheets of buttered fillo sandwich a filling of almonds, pistachios and cashews spiced with cinnamon, cardamom and saffron. After baking, the hot baklava is soaked in a syrup of sugar, honey, lemon, rose and cardamom and decorated with almond and pistachio flakes. Cut into 40 diamonds; serve with fresh cream or ice cream.

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Tamia (Arabian fritters)Sesame-coated chickpea fritters

Tamia is the Egyptian cousin of falafel: soaked raw chickpeas are ground with dill, coriander, onion, garlic, chilli and cumin, shaped into small patties, coated with sesame seeds and deep-fried until crisp and golden outside and green and fluffy inside. Serve hot with coconut and tamarind chutneys, or tuck them into pitta with salad.

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Lebanese date cake

A soft, moist cake made without eggs: self-raising flour and brown sugar are rubbed with butter, then mixed with milk and sour cream and studded with chopped dates, raisins and pistachios, with a warm hint of nutmeg and vanilla. Lovely with tea or served warm with cream.

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CacıkCucumber yogurt dip

Cacık is the Turkish version of tzatziki: thick yogurt mixed with cucumber, onion, plenty of parsley, garlic and green chilli, seasoned with salt, white pepper and a pinch of sugar and finished with fresh mint. Cool and refreshing, ready in minutes. Serve with warm pitta bread, curries and rice dishes.

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Baba ganoush

A creamy, smoky dip of baked aubergine blended with tahini dip, yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, a touch of chilli and olive oil. Sprinkled with parsley, it is perfect with toasted pitta or a plate of vegetable sticks as a starter or part of a mezze spread.

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Arabian coconut halwaCoconut semolina cake in lemon syrup

A soft, moist baked sweet in the style of basbousa: desiccated coconut, semolina and flour are mixed with melted butter, milk and vanilla, baked until golden, cut into diamonds and soaked in cold lemon syrup. Each piece is topped with an almond. Sweet, buttery and fragrant with coconut; serve at room temperature with tea or coffee.

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Arabian cigarsWalnut and almond fillo rolls

Thin, crackly rolls of buttered fillo pastry wrapped around a filling of walnuts, almonds, sugar, cinnamon and clove, baked until light golden and then bathed in a warm syrup scented with lemon rind, cinnamon and cloves. Like little baklava fingers, sweet and nutty. Serve with coffee or mint tea; they keep well for a few days.

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Um Ali (banana & bread dessert)Bread and banana pudding

Um Ali is Egypt's much-loved warm bread pudding. Here toasted bread is layered with bananas, pistachios, almonds, walnuts and raisins, then covered with saffron and cardamom milk mixed with sweetened whipped cream and baked until bubbling and golden. Rich, creamy and comforting; serve warm.

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Falafel in pitta

A full falafel meal: crisp chickpea fritters flavoured with fenugreek, spinach, chilli and ginger are stuffed into pitta pockets spread with hummus and tahini, then packed with a crunchy cabbage, cucumber and carrot salad and a fiery home-made red chilli sauce. Serve with green, red and tamarind chutneys.

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Konafa (sweet pastry)Shredded pastry with coconut and nuts

Konafa (kunafa) is a celebration sweet of shredded kataifi pastry tossed in butter and baked in two layers around a filling of coconut, almonds, pistachios and mixed peel with glacé cherries. The hot pastry is drenched in cold rose-water syrup and pressed so it holds together, then cut into squares. Crisp, syrupy and nutty; serve cold with fresh cream or ice cream.

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Lebanese date and coconut balls

Soft dates cooked briefly in butter with cardamom, shaped around a fried almond and rolled in desiccated coconut. A simple no-bake sweet that is rich, chewy and naturally sweet, perfect for festive trays and with coffee. Makes about 40.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

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