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Torta capixabaSeafood and palm heart pie

Torta capixaba is the Good Friday dish of Espírito Santo in south-east Brazil, cooked in the region's black clay pans (panelas de barro). Soaked salt cod, crab meat, prawns, palm hearts and olives are cooked with tomato, onion, coriander and annatto, then bound with beaten egg and baked until puffed and golden under a lid of egg and onion rings. It is served hot or warm with rice. Any ovenproof dish works. Chef's tip: fold in the egg whites last and gently, as they give the torta its light, set texture.

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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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Persian halvaSaffron rose flour halva

Iranian halva is not the sesame sweet of the Levant but a dense paste of flour toasted slowly in butter and cooked with a saffron and rose-water syrup. It is spread on plates and patterned with a spoon for Ramadan iftars, for mourning gatherings and as nazri, food made and shared with neighbours to fulfil a vow in Muharram. It tastes deeply nutty, floral and not too sweet. Chef's tip: patience with the flour is everything; toast it until it is the colour of peanut butter, never rushing on a high heat.

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Espetinho de carneGrilled beef skewers

All through Brazilian Carnival, from Salvador's street parties to the blocos of Rio, the smoke of espetinho grills drifts along the pavements, and a skewer of beef with a spoonful of farofa is the snack that keeps revellers dancing all night. Chunks of rump are seasoned with garlic, coarse salt and lime, threaded onto skewers and grilled hard and fast over charcoal. Marinate the beef in the fridge. The common mistake is packing the pieces tightly, which steams them instead of charring. Chef's tip: soak wooden skewers for 30 minutes so they don't burn before the meat is done.

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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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Afogado do DivinoBeef and potato stew

In São Luiz do Paraitinga in the hills of São Paulo state, the Festa do Divino Espírito Santo at Pentecost ends with a meal for everyone: huge pots of afogado, beef 'drowned' in a rich broth with potatoes, tomato, onion, garlic and herbs, served with pirão (a cassava-flour porridge made from the broth) and rice. Volunteers cook it in the town's kitchens through the night, and anyone who comes is fed. Chef's tip: brown the beef in small batches so it sears rather than stews, which gives the broth its deep colour.

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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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Shir berenjRose water rice pudding

Shir berenj, 'milk rice', is one of the gentle sweets of the Iranian Nowruz season, made at home to share with visiting relatives and often given as nazri on special days. Short-grain rice is softened in water first, then cooked slowly in milk until the grains melt into a thick, creamy pudding scented with rose water. It is chilled and served plain, with the sweetness added at the table from a drizzle of grape molasses, date syrup or jam. The common mistake is adding all the milk at once over a high heat, which scorches the bottom and leaves the grains firm. Chef's tip: stir with a wooden spoon in a figure of eight, which reaches the corners where rice likes to stick.

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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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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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Shirini danmarkiCinnamon cardamom pastry swirls

In Tehran, nobody arrives empty-handed on a Nowruz visit: the custom is a cardboard box of shirini from the neighbourhood bakery, and soft, glazed shirini danmarki swirls are always tucked in among the cookies. This home version uses an enriched yeast dough rolled thin, spread with cinnamon-cardamom butter, rolled up and sliced into spirals that bake tender and flaky-edged. Serve them with tea in small glasses while the haft-sin table is laid. The common mistake is rushing the rise in a hot spot, which makes the buns dense and yeasty; a warm kitchen and patience give the lightest crumb. Chef's tip: chill the filled roll for 15 minutes before slicing, so the spirals stay round instead of squashing flat.

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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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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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Bananada (Brazilian banana paste bars)

Bananada comes from the banana country of Minas Gerais and the Vale do Ribeira in São Paulo state, where roadside stalls stack it in wrapped bars beside rapadura and goiabada. Children find it in lunchboxes and it turns up on the sweet tables of the June festivals. Cooked slowly, ripe bananas and sugar darken to a reddish brown and set into a dense, chewy paste with a caramel and baked-banana flavour, finished with a sugary crust. Serve the bars with coffee or a piece of fresh cheese. It is naturally egg-free: the starch and pectin in the bananas, concentrated with sugar over a long, slow cook, set the paste firm enough to slice. Very ripe bananas give the sweetest, darkest result. Chef's tip: keep going until you can see the base of the pan for a second when you drag the spoon through; the common mistake is stopping early, which gives a soft jam that won't cut.

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Rapadura (Brazilian sugarcane blocks)

Rapadura is the sweet of the Brazilian Northeast, made since colonial times in the small sugar mills of Pernambuco, Paraíba and Ceará. Fresh cane juice is boiled down for hours and beaten until it sets into dense golden-brown bricks, sold at every feira and roadside stall and carried by farm workers as quick energy. It is eaten after lunch with a cup of coffee, with farinha or a slice of queijo coalho, and chopped onto the tables of the June festivals. The texture is firm but crumbly, like a hard fudge, and the flavour is deep caramel with a faint grassy note of cane. It is naturally egg-free: nothing binds it but sugar, which crystallises as you beat the hot syrup and sets the block. Use fresh or frozen sugarcane juice; peanuts or coconut make popular variations. Chef's tip: beat until the syrup loses its shine and turns thick and opaque; the common mistake is pouring too soon, which leaves a sticky toffee instead of a block.

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Poolaki (Isfahan saffron sugar discs)Saffron caramel discs

Poolaki are the glassy, coin-thin sugar discs of Isfahan, sold in tins in the bazaar near Naqsh-e Jahan square and served with tea in Iranian homes, especially at Nowruz and when guests drop by. Instead of stirring sugar into the glass, you hold a disc on your tongue and sip strong black tea through it. They snap cleanly, then melt into a light caramel scented with saffron, sometimes with cardamom or a scatter of pistachio. They are naturally egg-free: sugar syrup cooked to the hard-crack stage sets as clear as glass the moment it is spread thin, and a little vinegar stops it from turning grainy. Chef's tip: do not stir once the syrup boils; swirl the pan instead and wash down the sides with a wet pastry brush. The common mistake is stirring, which makes the syrup crystallise and turn cloudy.

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Quinotos en almíbar (Argentine kumquats in syrup)

In Buenos Aires and the river provinces of the Litoral, kumquat trees ripen in the middle of winter, between June and August, and the fruit goes straight into jars of syrup. Grandmothers' pantries held quinotos for the whole year, brought out for birthdays and long Sunday lunches. Each little fruit turns glossy orange and translucent, with a soft, bittersweet skin and a sharp, juicy centre. Spoon them over vanilla ice cream, serve them with a slice of fresh cheese in the style of postre vigilante, or eat them straight from the jar. Many bar menus offer them steeped in spirits; this version keeps only the syrup. Naturally egg-free, the quinotos rely on sugar syrup to preserve them, while pectin from the peel gives the syrup a light, jammy body. Chef's tip: blanch the fruit three times from cold water; the common mistake is skipping this, which leaves the skins tough and bitter.

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Doce de figo verde (Minas green figs in clove syrup)

On the farms of Minas Gerais, figs picked hard and green at the start of summer are turned into one of the state's proudest doces, made in big copper pans and set out at Christmas, at Festa Junina and after a long Sunday lunch. The whole figs come out dark olive-green, glossy and tender right through, in a thick syrup fragrant with cloves. They are eaten with a slice of fresh queijo minas, the salty cheese making the sweetness sing, or on their own with a small coffee. Like most Brazilian fruit preserves it is naturally egg-free: the long simmer in sugar syrup preserves and firms the fruit, and the figs' own pectin thickens the syrup. The work is in the repeated blanching, which draws out the bitter milky sap. Chef's tip: wear gloves while scraping the figs, because the sap irritates skin, and keep the syrup at a bare simmer; the common mistake is boiling hard, which bursts the figs and toughens their skins.

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Turrón de maníPeanut nougat

On an Argentine Christmas Eve, after midnight toasts, the 'mesa dulce' appears with pan dulce, garrapiñadas and turrón de maní: a chewy white nougat of honey, sugar, whipped egg white and roasted peanuts, often set between two sheets of rice paper. Families make it in the days before Nochebuena. The egg white is cooked by the hot syrup. It is gluten free if you use gluten-free wafer paper or none. Chef's tip: work fast once the syrup is in, as the nougat stiffens as it cools and gets hard to spread.

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Sacolé de maracujá (Brazilian passion fruit ice pops)

Sacolé, called geladinho or chup-chup in other states, is the homemade ice pop of Brazil: a creamy or fruity mixture tied into slim plastic bags and frozen, sold for a few coins from home freezers in Rio's neighbourhoods and all over the country, especially in summer and during school holidays. You bite off a corner and push the frozen pop up as you eat. This creamy passion fruit version is tangy and smooth. There are no eggs: milk thickened with a little cornflour and sweetened condensed milk make the base, the cooked starch and the condensed milk's sugar keeping the crystals small so the pop is soft enough to bite rather than icy. Coconut, corn and chocolate are other favourites. Chef's tip: stir in the passion fruit only once the base is cold; the common mistake is adding the acid pulp to hot milk, which makes it curdle.

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Salada de palmitoHearts of palm salad

Salada de palmito is a fixture of Brazilian lunch buffets, Christmas tables and churrasco sides from São Paulo to Goiás, prized because hearts of palm feel festive. The tender, slightly lemony palm hearts are cut into rounds and tossed with tomato, red onion, coriander or parsley and a quick lime and olive oil dressing; it is cool, soft and crunchy at once. A portion gives about 3 g of protein, so it is a side; serve it with rice and black beans for a full meal. The most common mistake is not draining and rinsing the palm hearts: the brine from the jar makes the salad taste tinny and too salty. Chef's tip: soak the sliced onion in iced water with a pinch of salt for 10 minutes; it stays crisp but loses its bite.

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Caldo de piranhaPiranha broth

In Cuiabá and Corumbá, on the edge of the Pantanal wetlands of Mato Grosso, caldo de piranha is served in small cups in bars and at riverside festivals, and is said to restore strength (some say more). The bony little fish are simmered with tomato, onion, peppers and annatto, then the flesh is blended into the broth and strained, so it is thick, smooth and savoury. If you can't get piranha, any firm white river or lake fish such as tilapia or catfish works. A bowl gives about 24 g of protein, from the fish, for about 200 kcal. The common mistake is careless straining: piranha has many fine bones, so pass the soup through a fine sieve twice. Chef's tip: finish with a good handful of cheiro-verde, the Brazilian mix of parsley and chives, and a squeeze of lime just before serving.

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Helado de dulce de leche (Buenos Aires dulce de leche ice cream)

Dulce de leche is the flavour Buenos Aires heladerías are judged by, and on a summer night the queues at neighbourhood ice-cream shops stretch out onto the pavement well after dinner. Locals order it plain, with a ripple of extra dulce de leche (dulce de leche granizado adds chocolate flakes), often by the kilo to take home. It is dense, chewy and deeply caramel. This home version is egg-free with no custard: a little cornflour cooked into the milk thickens it the way yolks would, and the dulce de leche itself is milk and sugar cooked down, its sugar and milk solids keeping crystals tiny so it stays smooth and scoopable. Churn it, or still-freeze and stir it every 45 minutes. Chef's tip: chill the extra dulce de leche before rippling it in; the common mistake is folding in a warm one, which melts into the ice cream instead of leaving ribbons.

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Reshteh khoshkar (Gilani rice-flour walnut rolls in syrup)

Reshteh khoshkar is the pastry of Gilan on Iran's Caspian coast, made in Rasht and Lahijan homes and bakeries for Ramadan, when a plate of it with tea breaks the fast at iftar. A thin rice-flour batter is drizzled in a lacy criss-cross over a hot griddle to make a fine net, which is filled with walnuts, sugar, cardamom and cinnamon, folded into a neat roll, fried until crisp and soaked in rose-scented syrup. It is crunchy, then soft and sticky, with a fragrant, nutty filling. Serve it at room temperature with strong black tea. The dish has always been egg-free: the rice-flour batter sets on the hot griddle into a net by itself, and the sugar in the filling and syrup glues the rolls together, so there is no need for any other binder, and nothing in it contains gluten. Chef's tip: test the griddle with a few drops of batter first; the common mistake is a griddle that is not hot enough, which lets the batter spread into a pancake instead of setting into a lacy net.

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