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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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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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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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Gorditas de la VillaSweet corn griddle cakes

Every 12 December, millions of pilgrims walk to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City ('La Villa'), and all around it women cook gorditas de la Villa on clay comales: small, thick, sweet cakes of corn masa with piloncillo, cinnamon and a little anise, wrapped in coloured tissue paper to take home. They are soft and slightly chewy, with toasty spots. They are gluten free. Chef's tip: cook them on a dry, medium-low griddle; too hot and the sugar burns before the middle cooks through.

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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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Tostadas de pataTostadas with pickled cow's foot

On the night of 15 September, when Mexicans gather for the Grito and the Fiestas Patrias, the table fills with antojitos: pozole, sopes and tostadas de pata, a favourite of Mexico City and Puebla. Cow's foot is simmered for hours until it turns soft and gelatinous, then sliced thin and pickled in vinegar with onion, oregano and chilli. Piled on crisp tostadas over beans with lettuce, cream and salsa, it is tangy, rich and crunchy all at once. Chef's tip: slice the foot while it is cold from the fridge; warm, it falls apart.

240 minMexicanMeatSpicy
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Empanadas de vigiliaTuna empanadas

During Cuaresma (Lent) and on the Fridays of Holy Week, Mexican kitchens turn to 'vigilia' food without meat, and fish empanadas are a favourite: tender wheat pastry half-moons filled with tuna (or soaked salt cod) cooked with tomato, onion, olives, capers and pickled jalapeños, a cousin of bacalao a la vizcaína. They are baked here, but can be fried. Chef's tip: cook the filling until quite dry, as a wet filling makes soggy empanadas that leak.

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Relleno negroTurkey and pork black chilli stew

Relleno negro, or chilmole, is the great fiesta dish of the Yucatán peninsula, cooked for Christmas, New Year and village saints' days. Turkey is simmered in a jet-black broth coloured by recado negro, a paste of chillies charred until black, and served with a 'but', a meatball of minced pork and spices wrapped around hard-boiled egg. Recado negro paste is sold in Mexican shops; it is very hard to make at home safely because the chillies are burnt outdoors. Serve with corn tortillas or in tortas. Chef's tip: dissolve the recado in some of the warm broth first, so it blends smoothly instead of floating in black lumps.

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Huauzontles capeadosBattered cheese-stuffed greens

In central Mexico, Lent and Holy Week bring meatless Fridays, and huauzontles capeados are a beloved vigil dish. Huauzontle is a leafy, broccoli-like green with tiny seed buds; little bundles of the blanched sprigs are pressed around a piece of fresh cheese, dipped in fluffy egg batter, fried and then simmered briefly in a light tomato and chile broth. If you can't find huauzontle, use tenderstem broccoli tips or quelites. Queso fresco is usually made with animal rennet, so choose a vegetarian one if needed. Chef's tip: squeeze the blanched greens very dry, as wet greens make the batter slide off.

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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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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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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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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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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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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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Khao chae (jasmine-scented chilled rice)

Khao chae came to Central Thailand with the Mon people and became the classic Songkran lunch for the hottest days of April: rice served in iced, flower-scented water to cool the body and honour the New Year with something cool and fresh. The rice sits in its fragrant water, surrounded by little savoury bites eaten in turn: fried shrimp-paste balls (luk kapi), battered stuffed shallots and moo foi, sweet shredded pork fried until it is dry and caramelised. Each mouthful is a bite of salty-sweet side followed by a spoon of cold, clean rice. Scent the water with food-safe, unsprayed jasmine flowers or a few drops of food-grade jasmine extract, never florist's flowers. Chef's tip: rinse the cooked rice to wash off its starch so the water stays clear and the grains stay firm.

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Kluay tak (Thai dried bananas, oven method)

In Bang Krathum, a district of Phitsanulok in lower northern Thailand, small nam wa bananas are peeled and laid out under the sun in glass-roofed drying boxes for several days, then pressed flat to make kluay tak. The district is famous for them, and bags are bought as a gift on the road home and nibbled with tea or coffee in the afternoon. They are dense and chewy like a soft toffee, dark amber, with a deep caramel and honey flavour that comes only from the fruit. As sun-drying takes days and needs steady heat, this version uses a very low oven overnight, then a rest in a jar so the moisture evens out. They are naturally egg-free and need nothing to bind them: the banana's own sugars concentrate and hold it together. Chef's tip: keep the oven low and prop the door open with a wooden spoon; the common mistake is a hot oven, which cooks and blackens the outside while the centre stays wet.

1340 minThaiDessertsVeganGluten free
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Alfeñique (Toluca Day of the Dead sugar-paste figures)

Each October the arcades of Toluca, in the State of Mexico, fill with the Feria del Alfeñique: stalls of little skulls, lambs, coffins, baskets and fruit, all modelled from sugar paste and painted bright colours for the Day of the Dead altars of 1 and 2 November. Children buy a skull with their own name on it; families place them on the ofrenda beside marigolds, candles and pan de muerto. The paste is snow-white, smooth and brittle once dry, with a clean sugar and lime taste. The old Toluca paste is egg-free, kneaded with chautle, a gum from an orchid bulb; here gum tragacanth plays that part, making the paste stretchy enough to model and helping it dry hard. The decorating icing is egg-free too, made from icing sugar, lime juice and a pinch of the same gum. Chef's tip: work the syrup while it is warm and keep the paste wrapped; the common mistake is letting it sit uncovered, so it dries out and cracks as you shape it.

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Kalamae (Thai coconut caramel sticky rice sweet)

Kalamae is the Songkran sweet of Central Thailand: in villages, neighbours take turns at a huge wok for hours, and the finished trays go to monks and elders at the New Year, the long shared stirring standing for a community pulling together and the sweetness for a sweet year ahead. Glutinous rice flour, coconut milk and palm sugar slowly turn from milky beige to a deep mahogany paste that is chewy, a little smoky and rich with coconut. Cut it into small squares and serve with jasmine tea, or wrap the pieces in banana leaf to give away. A home batch takes about two and a half hours at the stove, so put on some music and keep a wooden spoon moving. Chef's tip: use the widest heavy pan you own; more surface means faster thickening and less risk of scorching.

180 minThaiDessertsVeganGluten free
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Krathong thong (crispy golden cups with chicken)

Krathong thong, "golden baskets", are named after the little floating krathong set on the rivers at Loy Krathong in Central Thailand, and their golden colour makes them a party bite for wishing wealth at festivals and New Year gatherings. A thin rice-flour batter is fried on a hot flower-shaped mould into crisp, delicate cups that shatter at the first bite. The filling is minced chicken cooked with sweetcorn, carrot, garlic and a little sugar, so it is gently sweet and savoury, which children love. Serve them as a starter with a sweet chilli dip, filling the cups just before serving so they stay crisp. Chef's tip: the cups keep for a week in an airtight tin, so fry them a day ahead and only cook the filling on the day.

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Tmar mehchi (Moroccan almond-stuffed dates)

Tmar mehchi is the stuffed date of Fez and Marrakech, piled high on silver trays at weddings, engagements and Eid, and offered to guests with mint tea. Soft dates are filled with a homemade almond paste perfumed with orange-blossom water, often tinted pale green or pink to match the celebration, then scored with a knife so the filling shows. They are soft, rich and caramel-sweet, with a floral, nutty middle. The paste here is mixed from ground almonds and icing sugar, so there is no shop marzipan, which can contain egg white. It is naturally egg-free: the dates' sticky flesh and a few spoonfuls of orange-blossom water bind the almond filling. Chef's tip: add the orange-blossom water a little at a time and stop when the paste is firm like play dough. The common mistake is a wet paste, which oozes out and makes the dates slippery.

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Khao niao daeng (Thai red sticky rice)

Khao niao daeng, "red sticky rice", is made in Central Thailand in the days before Songkran and carried to the temple as an offering, its sticky grains a wish that family ties hold fast through the year. The rice is steamed first, then folded into a long-reduced coconut and palm sugar caramel until it turns a glossy red-brown and every grain is sweet, chewy and fragrant. Pressed into a tray, it slices neatly and keeps for a few days, so it is a good make-ahead sweet for a crowd. Serve squares with a sprinkle of toasted sesame and a cup of tea. Chef's tip: reduce the caramel until it is thick and bubbling slowly before the rice goes in, or the rice turns mushy instead of chewy.

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Caldo de piedraFish and tomato stone soup

Caldo de piedra comes from San Felipe Usila in the Chinantla of northern Oaxaca, where Chinantec men cook it by the river: fish, tomato, chilli and epazote go into a gourd bowl of water and red-hot river stones are dropped in to bring it to a fierce boil in seconds. It is eaten as a celebration and every year at a festival in the village. Heating stones at home is dangerous (wet or porous stones can crack or burst), so this version brings a heavy pot to a hard boil first and cooks the fish just as briefly. A portion gives about 38 g of protein, from the fish and prawns, for roughly 260 kcal. The common mistake is letting the fish boil on: it is done in 3–4 minutes, when it turns opaque and flakes, and after that it falls apart. Chef's tip: blend the tomato, onion and chilli raw; the broth tastes fresh and sharp, closer to the riverside original than a cooked sauce.

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Caldo xóchitlChicken, rice and chickpea broth

Caldo xóchitl, named after the Nahuatl word for flower, is the restorative chicken soup of Mexico City's fondas and markets, eaten at lunch on cool days, after a late night or when someone is unwell. A clear broth with chicken, rice, chickpeas, courgette and carrot is served with a spread of chopped onion, coriander, serrano chilli, avocado and lime so everyone builds their own bowl. A portion gives about 24 g of protein, from the chicken and chickpeas, for around 360 kcal. The common mistake is boiling it hard, which clouds the broth and toughens the chicken; keep it at a lazy simmer and skim the foam. The chicken must reach 74 °C in the thickest part and the meat should pull easily from the bone. Chef's tip: cook the rice in the broth only for the last 18 minutes and serve straight away; left to sit, it drinks up the broth and turns soft.

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