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Talawa gosht means fried meat, and in Hyderabad it is one of the first dishes made from the fresh mutton of Eid al-Adha. Bite-sized pieces are boiled with ginger, garlic and whole spices until tender, then fried hard in oil until crisp and dark at the edges, and eaten with khichdi, khatta or dalcha. Chef's tip: boil until the water has almost gone; the meat should be dry before it fries, or it will spit and steam rather than crisp.
Chatti pathiri is the Malabar answer to lasagne, baked in a chatti (pan) for the Ramadan iftar table in Kozhikode and Kannur. Thin crêpes are dipped in sweetened egg and milk, then stacked with layers of spiced minced chicken, onions and boiled egg, and the whole pie is cooked slowly until it sets into firm, tender wedges. Chef's tip: dip each crêpe quickly; a long soak makes them tear.
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.
During Ramadan the stalls of Mohammed Ali Road in Mumbai stay open all night, and the baida roti makers there are a show of their own: they swirl dough into paper-thin sheets, spoon in spiced minced mutton, pour in beaten egg and fold it into a square that is crisped on a huge tawa. 'Baida' means egg. Chef's tip: oil the dough balls well and rest them; well-rested dough stretches so thin you can almost see through it.
At Tamil Muslim weddings and Eid feasts in Chennai and Madurai, the biryani is followed by a spoonful of bread halwa, sticky, golden and glistening with ghee. Cubes of white bread are fried until crisp, then cooked down with milk, sugar and cardamom until they melt into a soft, jammy halwa studded with cashews. Chef's tip: day-old bread fries crisper and soaks up the milk more evenly than fresh.
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.
Buffad (sometimes spelled 'bufat') is the Christmas Day dish of Anglo-Indian families in Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore, eaten after midnight Mass with bread, rice or coconut-milk pulao. Duck is simmered with potatoes, carrots, cabbage and peas in a light gravy of ginger, green chilli, mild spices and vinegar, a gentler, more British-influenced curry than its neighbours. It reheats beautifully. Chef's tip: brown the duck pieces first and pour off most of the fat, so the gravy is rich but not greasy.
Romanian Easter Sunday lunch, after the Resurrection service at midnight and the long Lenten fast, always includes ciorbă de miel: a sour soup of young lamb with spring onions, green garlic, rice and lovage, soured with borș (fermented bran liquid) or lemon and finished with a liaison of egg and soured cream. It is light, tangy and very green, a taste of spring. Chef's tip: temper the egg and cream with ladlefuls of hot soup before stirring them in, or they will scramble.
Every Malabar iftar spread has a plate of pazham nirachathu: ripe plantains slit open, packed with grated coconut, sugar and cardamom fried with ghee and cashews, then dipped in a thin flour batter and shallow-fried. The outside turns crisp and lacy, the plantain goes soft and caramel-sweet and the coconut stays moist. Chef's tip: slit the plantain without cutting through the far side or the ends, so the filling stays inside the pocket.
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.
On Tłusty Czwartek, Fat Thursday, Poles queue at bakeries for pączki, but at home many families make oponki instead: little ring doughnuts from a quick twaróg (curd cheese) dough with no yeast and no waiting. They fry in minutes into light, tender 'tyres' that are rolled in sugar or glazed and eaten warm by the plateful. The common mistake is kneading the dough too much, which makes them tough; mix only until it holds together. Chef's tip: press the twaróg through a sieve first, or blend it, so the dough is smooth and the rings puff evenly.
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.
Erachi pathiri, 'meat pathiri', is the snack Malabar cooks make by the dozen for Ramadan iftar: two small rounds of soft dough sealed around a filling of minced beef fried with onion, green chilli and garam masala, then deep-fried until they puff into golden pillows. Use halal beef mince, or chicken mince cooked to 74 °C. Chef's tip: let the filling cool completely before you fill, or the steam softens the dough and the edges burst.
In Hyderabad the pre-dawn sehri meal of Ramadan is often khichdi, kheema and khatta: a thin, sour tamarind and onion sauce, tempered with curry leaves, garlic and dried chilli, ladled over the soft rice and lentils to wake up the palate at four in the morning. It is runny like a rasam, tart and savoury with just a little heat. Chef's tip: fry the onion only until soft, not brown, so the khatta stays light and sharp.
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.
Pork bafat is the curry Mangalorean Catholic families cook for Christmas, weddings and every big feast. Fatty pork pieces are simmered with onion, ginger, garlic and bafat powder, a deep red-brown blend of roasted chillies, coriander, cumin, pepper, turmeric and cinnamon, then soured with vinegar and a little tamarind. It is fiery and tangy and is eaten with sannas, the soft, steamed rice cakes. Bafat powder keeps for months, so make a jar. Chef's tip: let the curry rest overnight, as the vinegar and spices mellow into each other and it tastes far better the next day.
Fulkopir dalna is the gravy dish of a niramish (no onion, no garlic) Bengali menu, and it appears on the Durga Puja bhog table and at home on Navami and Dashami, when many families keep the day's food vegetarian. Large cauliflower florets and potatoes are fried golden and then simmered in a thin, glossy gravy of ginger, cumin, tomato and a little yoghurt, finished with ghee and Bengali garam masala. It should taste mellow, warm and slightly sweet rather than hot. Serve it with luchi or khichuri. Common mistake: boiling the cauliflower in the gravy from raw; fry the florets first until browned in patches, or they turn mushy and taste watery. Chef's tip: whisk the yoghurt with the ground spices before it goes in, and keep the heat low, so the gravy stays smooth instead of splitting.
On Pesaha, Maundy Thursday, Syrian Christian families in Kerala gather in the evening for a meal that remembers the Last Supper. The head of the house cuts the Pesaha appam (indri appam), an unleavened, steamed cake of roasted rice flour, urad dal and coconut, marked with a cross made from the palm leaves blessed on Palm Sunday, and shares it with everyone, dipped in sweet Pesaha paal. It is soft, dense and lightly savoury. Chef's tip: grind the soaked urad dal and coconut together very finely; the batter should be smooth and thick, like idli batter.
In Kerala's Syrian Christian homes, Christmas morning starts after midnight Mass with lacy appam and a bowl of duck mappas: duck pieces simmered in coconut milk with ginger, garlic, green chilli, black pepper and garam masala, finished with a splash of vinegar and fried shallots. It is creamy, warm with spice but not fiery, and a favourite across Kuttanad, where ducks are raised on the backwaters. Chef's tip: add the thick first-press coconut milk only at the end and don't boil it, so the gravy stays silky.
Herring is a must at the Polish Wigilia, the meatless Christmas Eve supper, and śledzie w śmietanie, salted herring fillets in soured cream with crisp apple, onion and dill, is the favourite way to serve it, with boiled potatoes or rye bread. The herring is cured, not cooked: use good-quality salted or matjes fillets from a shop, which have been frozen to kill parasites, and keep the dish chilled. Cured fish is not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system; for them, make the safer version in the last step with hot-smoked mackerel or herring fillets baked until opaque. Chef's tip: dress the herring a few hours ahead so the cream picks up the flavour.
Kinnathappam is named after the kinnam, the round steel plate it sets in, and it is one of the soft, wobbly sweets Mappila cooks in Malabar make for iftar and Eid. Rice flour, coconut milk and sugar are stirred into a smooth batter, steamed until just set and cut into glossy diamonds that taste of coconut and cardamom. Chef's tip: strain the batter before steaming; any lumps of rice flour show as white specks in the finished squares.
Carp in aspic is one of the cold dishes of the Polish Wigilia. Carp steaks are poached gently in a stock of root vegetables and the fish's own bones, then laid in a dish with carrot slices, lemon and parsley and covered in the clarified stock, which sets into a clear, shimmering jelly overnight. Serve it chilled with lemon and horseradish. A little powdered gelatine helps the aspic set reliably at home. Chef's tip: simmer the fish bones and vegetables slowly and never boil the stock hard; boiling makes it cloudy.
Kaipola is a Malabar Ramadan favourite, set on the iftar table in Kozhikode and Thalassery between the fried snacks and the sweets. Very ripe nendran bananas are blended with eggs, sugar and cardamom and slowly baked in a covered pan over ghee-fried cashews and raisins, so it comes out soft and custardy, with a caramel-brown base. Chef's tip: use bananas with black-speckled skins; underripe ones make it dry and bland.
Indad is the slow-cooked pork curry of Mangalore's Catholic community, made for Christmas and Easter. Pork is cooked with a paste of Kashmiri chillies, spices and vinegar, then simmered with masses of onions and a lump of jaggery until it turns thick, glossy, dark and sweet-sour, a little like a vindaloo's gentler cousin. Like bafat, it is made ahead and served with sannas, pulao or bread. Chef's tip: cook the onions down slowly until jammy before the pork goes in; they melt into the gravy and give indad its sweetness.
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