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TopfengolatschenSweet quark puff pastry squares

A Topfengolatsche is what Viennese office workers grab from the bakery on the way in, and what grandparents order with a Melange in a coffee house on a Sunday afternoon. The corners of a puff pastry square are folded over a lemony, vanilla-scented filling of Topfen (Austrian quark) with plump raisins, and the top gets a thin white glaze. It is flaky, light and not too sweet. Raisins are sometimes soaked in rum; warm water or orange juice works just as well, and the recipe below is alcohol-free. Wet quark is the classic problem, because it turns the filling runny and it leaks out in the oven. Chef's tip: hang the quark in a sieve lined with a clean cloth for an hour, or squeeze it, until it is as thick as soft cream cheese.

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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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Ikan goreng kunyit (turmeric fried fish)

Ikan goreng kunyit is cooked in Malay kampung kitchens and city flats alike for a simple lunch or dinner with rice, sambal and vegetables: small whole fish or thick steaks rubbed with turmeric, salt and a little chilli, then fried until golden and crisp at the edges. The mistake is moving the fish too soon; leave it until it releases from the pan on its own, or the crust tears and sticks. Chef's tip: score the fish to the bone so the turmeric seasons the flesh and it cooks evenly.

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Salat iz ogurtsov i pomidorov (Russian cucumber and tomato salad)

From Moscow dachas to Siberian kitchens, this is the salad that sits on almost every summer table: cucumber, ripe tomato and onion chopped together with dill, dressed either with smetana for a creamy version or with unrefined sunflower oil, whose nutty taste is the flavour of the Russian countryside. It is eaten beside boiled potatoes, kasha or grilled food, and it is made minutes before the meal. The usual mistake is salting it early: the tomatoes and cucumbers release their juice and the salad turns into a watery soup. Chef's tip: if you can find it, use unrefined, cold-pressed sunflower oil; it tastes of toasted seeds and makes the plainest salad sing.

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Telur dadar (Malaysian fluffy omelette)

Telur dadar turns up on Malaysian tables from Penang to Johor at almost any meal: next to nasi lemak for breakfast, in a nasi campur spread at lunch, or with plain rice, soy sauce and sambal on a night when there is no time to cook. It is thicker and puffier than a French omelette, with crisp brown edges and pockets of soft onion and chilli. The common mistake is pouring the eggs into oil that isn't hot enough, so they spread thin and turn rubbery instead of puffing up. Chef's tip: beat the eggs hard with a fork until frothy just before they go in, and use a small pan so the omelette stays thick.

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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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Heong pengSesame maltose biscuits

Ipoh, the old tin-mining city in Perak, is famous for heong peng ('fragrant biscuits'), and visitors buy them by the bag along with white coffee. They are flat, round pastries with a crisp, flaky shell coated in sesame seeds, filled with a sticky, chewy layer of maltose mixed with shallot oil and fried shallots: sweet, savoury and deeply aromatic at once. Locals eat them with a cup of kopi in the morning or as a snack on the road. The pastry is traditionally made with lard; this recipe uses vegetable shortening and keeps the shallot oil, so it is vegan. Chef's tip: warm the maltose jar in hot water before measuring, then chill the finished filling until firm, because maltose softens fast and a runny filling leaks out and burns on the tray.

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Biskut dahliaPiped flower butter cookies

In the last days of Ramadan, Malaysian kitchens from Johor to Kedah turn into small factories of kuih raya, and biskut dahlia is one of the easiest and prettiest: soft buttery dough piped through a star nozzle into ruffled flowers, each with a bit of glacé cherry or a chocolate chip in the centre. They are crisp at the edges and tender inside, with a vanilla-milky flavour from custard powder and milk powder, and they fill the jars set out for open-house visitors at Hari Raya Aidilfitri. This version uses one egg yolk; for an eggless batch, replace it with 2 tablespoons of milk. Dough that is too stiff is the usual problem, as it will not go through the nozzle; beat the butter well and keep the kitchen warm. Chef's tip: chill the piped trays for 15 minutes before baking so the petals hold their sharp ridges.

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Tau sar piahMung bean pastries

Old biscuit shops in George Town, Penang, still bake tau sar piah in big trays every morning, and tourists leave with stacks of plastic tubs. The pastries are only a couple of bites each: a tender, flaky shell, glazed golden, around a fluffy mung bean filling. Penang bakers sell two kinds, sweet, and a savoury-sweet one with fried shallots and white pepper, which is what many locals prefer; this recipe gives the sweet filling with the savoury twist as an option. The pastry is traditionally made with lard; this version uses vegetable shortening and keeps them vegetarian. Chef's tip: leave a small, unfloured patch at the seam when wrapping, because floury edges won't stick together and the pastries split open as they bake.

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Kaya puffsCoconut jam puff pastries

Malaysian kopitiams spread kaya, a silky jam of coconut milk, eggs, sugar and pandan, on toast for breakfast; bakeries in Kuala Lumpur and Melaka fold the same jam into crisp puff pastry half-moons sold warm from the oven, often alongside curry puffs. They are a school-holiday treat and a favourite at tea time with teh tarik. This recipe makes a small batch of pandan kaya on the stove and uses ready-made all-butter puff pastry, so it fits into an afternoon. Overfilling is the trap, as the kaya bubbles out and burns on the tray. Chef's tip: chill the kaya until firm and keep the pastry cold; cold pastry puffs into crisp layers, while warm pastry stays flat and greasy.

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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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Sambal udang (prawns in chilli sambal)

Sambal udang is a Malay home dish cooked for everyday rice meals and dished up at nasi lemak stalls from Kuala Lumpur to Penang: prawns cooked in a deep red paste of dried chilli, shallot and garlic, soured with tamarind and sweetened with a little sugar. This version leaves out belacan (shrimp paste) as optional. The mistake is not frying the chilli paste for long enough; it needs to cook until the oil separates and turns red, or it tastes raw and harsh. Chef's tip: soak the dried chillies in just-boiled water while you peel the prawns and the paste blends silky smooth.

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Telur masak kicap (Malaysian eggs in sweet soy sauce)

Telur masak kicap is the kind of dish Malaysian mothers make on a busy school night, and children across Selangor and beyond grow up loving it: fried eggs with crisp, frilly edges, bathed in a sweet-salty soy sauce with soft onions, spooned over hot rice. The sauce soaks into the browned whites while the yolks stay creamy. The mistake to avoid is boiling the sauce hard after the eggs go back in, which makes the whites tough and the sauce bitter. Leave out the chilli for small children. For pregnant people, young children, older or vulnerable people, fry the yolks until fully set. Chef's tip: fry the eggs in plenty of hot oil and baste the tops, so the edges go brown and lacy; that crisp skin is what holds the sauce.

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Tvorog so smetanoy (farmer's cheese with sour cream)

Across Russia, a bowl of soft tvorog with a spoon of smetana and a little sugar or jam is the breakfast grandmothers swear by and the supper students live on. The fresh, slightly sour curd and the cool cream make something like a rustic cheesecake you eat with a spoon, high in protein and ready in five minutes; add berries in summer. Tvorog, like quark and cottage cheese, is set with culture rather than rennet, so it suits vegetarians. The mistake is buying the driest block and serving it as it is, which feels chalky; break it up and loosen it with the smetana first. Chef's tip: mash the tvorog with the sugar and let it stand two minutes so the sugar dissolves before you add the cream.

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Stolichny keksRaisin loaf cake

Stolichny keks, the 'capital city' cake, was made to a fixed state recipe in Soviet bakeries and sold in waxed paper in every Moscow grocery: a tall, buttery loaf with a cracked top, a fine yellow crumb and so many raisins that each slice is studded with them. People still bake it at home for New Year and for guests, and it keeps well for a week, wrapped, next to the teapot. Some cooks plump the raisins in brandy or cognac; this recipe soaks them in hot water and lemon juice instead, and a spoonful of brandy can go into the soak if you like. Under-creamed butter is the usual problem: the cake comes out heavy and greasy, so beat the butter and icing sugar until really pale. Chef's tip: dry the soaked raisins on a towel and roll them in flour; wet raisins all sink to the bottom.

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Kärntner ReindlingCinnamon raisin yeast cake

Carinthia's Easter loaf takes its name from the Reindl, the round, deep pan it is baked in, and in southern Austria no Easter basket goes to church without one. Inside the golden yeast crust is a spiral of butter, cinnamon sugar and plump raisins, so every slice shows a dark swirl. Locals eat it two ways: sweet with coffee on Easter morning, or alongside the savoury Easter platter with horseradish. Many bakers soak the raisins in rum overnight; warm water or tea works just as well and keeps it alcohol-free. A dry, crumbly Reindling usually means too much flour went in during kneading, so keep the dough soft and only lightly floured. Chef's tip: butter the pan well and dust it with sugar, which caramelises into a thin crunchy shell.

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KrendelSweet pretzel-shaped bread

Name days and birthdays in old Russia called for a krendel: one huge pretzel-shaped sweet loaf, carried to the table whole and torn apart over tea from the samovar. The shape is said to come from Baltic and German bakers in St Petersburg, but the bread itself is very Russian, a buttery yeast dough rolled around cinnamon sugar so the crumb streaks with spice. Serve it with tea, jam or honey and a bowl of sour cream. The pretzel is made from one long filled roll, slit open down its length so the layers show; forgetting to chill the filled roll before slitting is what makes the filling smear and the shape slump. Chef's tip: shape it straight on the lined tray rather than lifting it afterwards, as a filled rope this long tears easily.

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ChaplasHollow puffed Andean bread

Walk through Ayacucho's central market at seven in the morning and you will see women selling stacks of chaplas from cloth-lined baskets, still warm from the wood-fired ovens of the Andes. These round wheat breads puff up like pita in the fierce heat, leaving a hollow pocket inside a thin, soft, lightly floury crust. In Ayacucho and Huancavelica they are eaten with sweet coffee or hot emoliente for breakfast, or split and filled with queso fresco, avocado or a spoonful of rocoto sauce. Highland bakers traditionally work in a little lard; vegetable shortening gives the same tenderness and keeps the bread vegan. A cool baking tray is the reason chaplas stay flat, so preheat it thoroughly. Chef's tip: let the rolled rounds rest before baking and flip them upside down onto the tray, so the smooth, dry side meets the heat first and the pocket opens evenly.

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Grechka s molokom (buckwheat with milk)

Grechka s molokom, buckwheat groats cooked soft and served in a bowl of warm milk with a little butter, is the breakfast or light supper that generations of Russian children have eaten at home and in nursery school. The groats are earthy and nutty and the milk makes them gentle and sweet-tasting, without any sugar. Buckwheat is naturally gluten free (despite its name); the dish contains milk and has no egg, nuts, soya, sesame or fish. Chef's tip: use toasted buckwheat (the brown kind sold for kasha), which has the rounder, nuttier flavour.

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Pan chutaAniseed round bread

The small town of Oropesa, half an hour from Cusco, calls itself Peru's bread capital, and its wood-fired bakeries are famous for chuta: big, flat, round loaves as wide as a dinner plate, glossy on top, with a faint sweetness and the warmth of aniseed. Travellers on the road to Puno and Bolivia stop to buy them by the bagful, and families bring them home for All Saints' Day and for sharing with hot coca tea or coffee, fresh cheese and butter. The bakeries traditionally use lard; this version uses vegetable shortening and butter, so it is vegetarian. The make-or-break moment is the proof: chuta is large and flat, and if it goes in under-risen it bakes dense and splits at the rim. Chef's tip: toast the aniseed for a minute in a dry pan and crush it lightly before adding, for a rounder, sweeter perfume.

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Glazirovanny syrok (chocolate-glazed curd bars)

Glazirovanny syrok, the chocolate-coated curd cheese bar, has been sold in Russian dairy aisles since Soviet times and is still what children across Russia, Ukraine and the Baltics grab after school. Made at home, it is a firm, creamy, gently sweet vanilla tvorog filling under a thin snap of dark chocolate, like a tiny cheesecake bar. This version uses less sugar than shop bars. It contains milk (and may contain soya in the chocolate). Chef's tip: press the tvorog through a sieve first; it is the only way to get the smooth, dense texture of a real syrok.

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Borodinsky breadDark sourdough rye with coriander

Moscow's darkest everyday loaf is said to be named after the 1812 Battle of Borodino, though the recipe bakers follow today was fixed by the city's bread trust in 1933. Borodinsky (Бородинский хлеб) is a dense, moist sourdough rye, sweet-sour from molasses and red fermented rye malt, with whole coriander seeds crackling on the crust. Russians slice it thin for breakfast with butter and salted cucumbers, alongside borscht or herring for meat-eaters, or under a slice of cheese with strong tea. The method looks long, but most of it is the starter and the scald quietly working on their own. The usual mistake is cutting it on baking day: rye crumb needs a full day wrapped in a cloth to set, and a warm loaf is gummy right through. Chef's tip: red fermented rye malt gives the colour and the deep flavour; plain diastatic malt will not do the same job, so look for the reddish-brown 'fermented' kind in Eastern European shops.

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Sprat butterbrods

A golden tin of Baltic smoked sprats was once a prized find in Soviet shops, saved for birthdays and New Year's Eve, and sprat butterbrods are still the first plate on many Russian holiday tables. Toasted slices of baguette or rye are spread with garlic mayonnaise and topped with cucumber, a slice of egg and two glossy little fish, eaten standing up with the first toast of the evening. Smoked sprats are ready to eat, but like all smoked fish they are not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system unless heated until steaming. The common mistake is assembling them hours ahead, which turns the bread soft. Chef's tip: toast the bread lightly in a dry pan so it stays crisp under the topping.

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Zebra cake

Russian mothers learned the trick of zebra cake from Soviet women's magazines in the 1980s: spoon a vanilla and a cocoa batter alternately into the centre of the tin and the rings spread out by themselves into stripes. Cut open at a birthday tea or on a Sunday afternoon in Moscow flats, it always draws a gasp from children. The sponge is made with sour cream, so it stays moist for days. The common mistake is spreading the batter with a spoon, which smears the stripes. Chef's tip: drop each spoonful exactly in the middle of the previous one and let gravity do the work.

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