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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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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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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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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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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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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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Poon choi (basin feast)Layered braised meat and seafood basin

Poon choi comes from the walled villages of Hong Kong's New Territories, where the whole clan eats from one great basin at Lunar New Year and other village celebrations; sharing a single pot stands for unity, and the layers piled to the brim for plenty. Each layer is cooked on its own and stacked so the sauces trickle downwards: soft braised pork belly and soy chicken near the top, prawns and mushrooms in the middle, and radish, tofu skin and cabbage at the bottom soaking up everything. The home version here leaves out shark fin, uses canned abalone only if you want it, and is made for 8 in a large flameproof casserole. Bring the whole basin to the table bubbling and serve with steamed rice. Chef's tip: pack the absorbent vegetables at the bottom and the showy pieces at the top; the radish should finish as the tastiest thing in the pot.

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Wu tau go (taro cake)

Wu tau go is one of the 'gou' cakes that Hong Kong and Guangdong families steam before Lunar New Year, because gou sounds like 'tall' and promises a year that rises higher. This one is studded with chunks of taro, diced Chinese sausage (lap cheong, a sweet cured pork sausage usually made with rose wine or Shaoxing wine) and dried shrimp, set with rice flour and fragrant with five-spice. For an alcohol-free cake, choose a lap cheong labelled alcohol-free, or use the smoked tofu from the vegetarian variation. Cold, it slices cleanly; pan-fried, it gets a crisp golden crust over a soft, starchy, savoury middle with nubbly bits of taro. Serve slices hot with chilli sauce or oyster sauce, alongside turnip cake at New Year dim sum. Chef's tip: cook the batter on the hob until it is as thick as mashed potato before steaming; a runny batter lets the taro sink and leaves a pasty layer at the bottom.

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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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Sang choi bao (minced pork lettuce cups)

At Lunar New Year in Hong Kong, lettuce (saang choi) is on the table because its name sounds like 'growing wealth', and sang choi bao wraps that wish around a hot, savoury filling. Minced pork is stir-fried quickly with water chestnut, shiitake and a little oyster sauce, then spooned into cold, crisp iceberg cups so every bite is juicy, crunchy and fresh at once. It is fast enough to make while the bigger dishes braise, and it works as a starter or alongside rice and poon choi. Chef's tip: get the wok really hot and spread the mince out flat; crowded, cool mince stews in its juices instead of browning.

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Ho si fat choy (dried oysters with black moss)

Ho si fat choy is the Cantonese Lunar New Year dish that every shopkeeper in Hong Kong wants on the table: ho si (dried oysters) sounds like 'good business' and fat choy (black moss) sounds like 'get rich'. Wild fa cai is now banned from harvest in China because gathering it damaged the grasslands, so this recipe uses the widely sold 'vegetarian black moss' substitute, which looks the same; you can also leave it out and the dish is still delicious. The dried oysters are soaked and slowly braised with shiitake until plump, chewy and deeply savoury, in a glossy oyster-sauce gravy. Serve it piled on blanched lettuce with steamed rice. Chef's tip: rinse the soaked oysters under running water, rubbing each one, to wash out any grit hiding in the folds.

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Candied lotus root (tong lin ngau)

Open the octagonal tray of togetherness in a Hong Kong or Guangdong home at Lunar New Year and you will usually find pale, sugar-frosted rounds of candied lotus root. The lotus is prized because its root grows in linked sections and its name, lin, sounds like the word for 'continuous', so the slices carry a wish for abundance that keeps coming back year after year. Simmered slowly in syrup and then dried, they turn translucent and chewy at the centre with a fine crust of sugar and a faint, earthy sweetness, and the lacy pattern of holes stays on show. Set them out with candied lotus seeds, melon seeds and a pot of jasmine or pu-erh tea for visitors. Chef's tip: blanch the slices with a pinch of salt and a splash of vinegar first; it stops them going grey and keeps them crisp-edged instead of mushy.

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ParihuelaSpicy seafood soup

Parihuela is the big weekend seafood soup of Callao and the Peruvian coast, eaten at long Sunday lunches in cevicherías and praised as a cure for tiredness and late nights. A deep red broth of ají panca, ají amarillo, tomato and fish stock is loaded with chunks of fish, prawns, squid and mussels. A portion gives about 30 g of protein, from the fish and shellfish, for roughly 300 kcal. Some cooks add chicha de jora or beer; this version has none. The common mistake is adding all the seafood at once: squid and prawns turn rubbery while the fish cooks, so they go in last. Before cooking, discard any mussels that stay open when tapped, and after cooking discard any that stay shut. Chef's tip: fry the chilli pastes in the oil until they darken and smell sweet; that toasted ají is what gives parihuela its depth.

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Chilcano de pescadoClear fish broth

In the fishermen's terminals of Chorrillos and Callao, chilcano is what you drink on a Sunday morning after a long night: a clear, gingery broth made from the heads and bones left over from cleaning fish for ceviche, with chunks of fish, red onion, chilli and a squeeze of lime in the bowl. It is light and warming, around 160 kcal a bowl, and still gives about 24 g of protein from the fish fillet and the broth. The common mistake is squeezing the lime into the pot while it boils, which turns it bitter; add it to each bowl at the table. Don't boil the bones for more than 30 minutes either, or the broth turns cloudy and harsh. Chef's tip: ask the fishmonger for heads and frames from mild white fish like sea bass or cod, and leave out oily fish such as mackerel, which makes the broth strong and fishy.

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Aguadito de polloCoriander chicken rice soup

Aguadito is the soup Lima serves in the small hours: at the end of a wedding, after New Year's Eve and at weekend family lunches, it is ladled out thick and steaming to revive everyone. Rice simmers in chicken broth coloured deep green with blended coriander and warmed with yellow ají amarillo, along with peas, carrot, pepper, sweetcorn and potato. A portion gives about 24 g of protein, from the chicken with a little from the rice and peas, for around 480 kcal. The common mistake is adding the coriander purée too early: cooked for long it turns khaki and loses its fresh taste, so stir it in for the last 10 minutes. The chicken must reach 74 °C at the bone. Chef's tip: blend a handful of spinach with the coriander; it keeps the colour vivid green without changing the flavour.

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Moroccan bachkoutouOrange and sesame dunking biscuits

Moroccan grandmothers bake bachkoutou by the trayful and keep them in big tins for the afternoon glass of sweet mint tea, and neighbourhood ovens in Fes and Casablanca bake them for families who bring their dough. These are dry, crunchy little biscuits, not rich at all, made with eggs, sugar and oil rather than butter, with orange zest and a coating of toasted sesame; they are meant to be dunked until they soften slightly. Shapes vary from town to town: fingers, rings and rope twists are all common, and some cooks add aniseed. Too much flour is the easy mistake: the dough should stay soft and slightly sticky, or the biscuits bake heavy and hard rather than crisp and light. Chef's tip: once they are cold, put them back in a warm, switched-off oven for 20 minutes; that extra drying is what makes them keep their snap for weeks.

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Hong Kong coconut tarts

Next to the wobbling egg tarts in any Hong Kong bakery window sit their sturdier siblings, coconut tarts (yē tāt), with a domed, golden-brown filling of sweetened shredded coconut. Office workers grab one with a milk tea at cha chaan teng tea time around three o'clock, and children love the chewy, macaroon-like centre inside a crumbly, cookie-like butter crust. The filling is just coconut, sugar, egg, butter and a little evaporated milk, with a pinch of baking powder that lifts it into a dome. Overfilling the cases is the usual slip: the coconut rises and spills down the sides, so stop at the rim. Chef's tip: let the filling stand for 15 minutes while you line the tins; the coconut softens and soaks up the liquid, so the tops bake moist instead of scorching.

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Hong Kong paper-wrapped sponge cake

Hong Kong bakery windows line up these tall, golden cylinders, each in its own band of greaseproof paper, and they sell out early as a breakfast with a glass of milk tea or an after-school snack. Known in Cantonese as zhi bao dan gao, they are close to a chiffon cake: oil and milk keep the crumb soft and moist, and whisked egg whites make it light and bouncy. You peel the paper off as you eat, and the thin outer crust is the best bit. Greasing the paper is a frequent mistake; the batter needs a dry surface to grip and climb, otherwise the sponges slump. Chef's tip: stand the paper cups in a deep muffin tin or ramekins so they keep their shape, and fill them only three-quarters full.

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Wife cakeWinter melon flaky pastry

Wife cakes (lou po beng) are one of the gifts people carry home from Yuen Long in Hong Kong's New Territories, and every Cantonese bakery from Guangzhou to London's Chinatown sells them by the box. The thin, shattering pastry hides a soft, chewy filling of candied winter melon set with glutinous rice flour, with toasted sesame and ground almonds for a nutty sweetness. Serve them with a pot of oolong or pu'er. Traditionally the pastry is made with lard; this version uses vegetable shortening, which flakes just as well, so the cakes are vegetarian and dairy free. Rolling too hard is the mistake that ruins them: the layers tear and the pastry bakes up dense. Chef's tip: cook the filling until it pulls away from the pan in a single mass and chill it, because a soft, wet filling bursts through the thin pastry in the oven.

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Pejerrey arrebozadoBattered fish fillets with onion salsa

Pejerrey arrebozado is a Lima classic from the cevicherías and home kitchens of the coast, eaten at lunch on a plate with white rice, a heap of sharp salsa criolla and sometimes boiled potato. The pejerrey, a small silverside, is opened into butterflied fillets, dipped in a light egg-and-flour batter and fried golden. Outside Peru, use small fillets of whiting, sole, haddock or tilapia. The batter here uses sparkling water, not beer, so it is alcohol free. The common mistake is frying in oil that isn't hot enough: the batter drinks the oil and turns greasy, so test with a drop of batter first. Chef's tip: make the salsa criolla first and let the onion sit in lime for ten minutes; it softens its bite and turns a pretty pink.

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Chicharrón de pescadoCrisp fried fish chunks

Up and down the Peruvian coast, from Chorrillos in Lima to the beaches of Piura, chicharrón de pescado is the crunchy plate ordered alongside ceviche at a long seafood lunch: bite-size chunks of firm white fish marinated briefly in garlic and lime, dusted in flour and fried, then served with fried cassava, salsa criolla and tartar or rocoto sauce. Using frozen peeled cassava keeps it to half an hour. The common mistake is leaving the fish in the lime too long: after about ten minutes the acid starts to 'cook' the outside and the coating slips off. Chef's tip: toss the floured pieces in a sieve to shake off every bit of loose flour; a thin coat fries crisp, a thick one turns pasty.

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Tallarines rojosSpaghetti in red sauce with chicken

Tallarines rojos is the Sunday-lunch and weeknight pasta of homes all over Peru, from Lima to Arequipa: spaghetti in a sweet, deep-red sauce of blended tomato, onion and garlic with a little ají panca and oregano, often with pieces of chicken cooked right in it. Children love it, and it is served with a sprinkle of grated cheese and sometimes a spoon of huancaína on the side. The usual mistake is cooking the sauce too briefly, so it tastes of raw onion; let the blended tomato fry until it darkens and the oil shows at the edges. Chef's tip: a bay leaf and a spoon of ají panca paste give the sauce its Peruvian character; paprika will do if you can't find the paste.

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