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Kmínová polévka

Few soups are as cheap or as old as this one. Kmínová polévka was the Bohemian peasant's breakfast long before coffee arrived, and Czech mothers still make it for an upset stomach or a hangover. The roux is cooked until it smells of toasted hazelnuts, the caraway is fried in butter until it pops, and the hot soup is poured straight onto crunchy toasted bread so it softens at the edges. Where most people go wrong is taking the roux off the heat while it is still pale: you get a floury, raw-tasting soup instead of a nutty one. A beaten egg trickled in at the end makes it more filling. Chef's tip: crush half the caraway in a mortar first, so the flavour spreads through the broth while the whole seeds give little bursts.

25 min

Czech Soups

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Nakládaný hermelín

Behind the bar of almost every Czech hospoda sits a big glass jar of cheeses sunk in oil with onion rings and chillies. Nakládaný hermelín is the classic beer snack: a soft white-rind cheese, split and spread with garlic and paprika, then left to mellow in spiced oil for about a week until it turns rich, tangy and spreadable. It is eaten with thick slices of dark bread (use gluten-free bread if needed) and a few pickled peppers. Hermelín and camembert-style cheeses are usually made with animal rennet, so for a vegetarian jar choose a white-rind cheese labelled as made with vegetarian or microbial rennet. Where it goes wrong is leaving cheese poking above the oil, where it can spoil: keep everything submerged and the jar in the fridge, and eat it within 10 days. Chef's tip: use a cheese that is not fully ripe; it holds its shape in the oil and softens to perfection as it marinates.

20 min

Czech Snacks & Starters

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Jeow mak phet

Of all the jeows on a Lao table, this is the most basic and most loved, roasted fresh chillies, garlic and shallots pounded together and eaten with sticky rice at almost every meal, from farm lunches in the rice fields to Vientiane office canteens. Made with long green chillies, as here, it is bright, grassy and more fragrant than fierce, with sweetness from the softened shallot; swap some for bird's eye chillies if you want it hotter. Serve it with sticky rice, boiled pumpkin shoots, steamed vegetables, eggs or grilled tofu. Charring the chillies to carbon is the trap, and burnt skins turn the whole jeow bitter. Fish sauce is the usual seasoning; this version uses salt and a little tamari to stay vegetarian. Chef's tip: wear gloves when peeling hot roasted chillies, and keep your hands away from your eyes for the next hour.

20 min

Lao Chutneys & Dips

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Kyselo

High in the Krkonoše, the Giant Mountains on the Polish border, poor mountain families made a whole meal from a jar of rye sourdough starter, a handful of dried mushrooms and potatoes from the cellar. Kyselo still turns up in chalet restaurants around Špindlerův Mlýn and at local food festivals. It is pleasantly sour and creamy from the fermented rye, scented with caraway, and poured over boiled potatoes with softly scrambled egg spooned on top. The usual slip is boiling the soup hard after the starter goes in, which makes it catch on the bottom and turn lumpy; keep it at a lazy simmer and stir often. If you can, mix the starter with water the night before and leave it covered at room temperature, for a deeper sourness. Chef's tip: a mature, bubbly rye starter that smells like yoghurt gives the best flavour; a sleepy one makes a flat soup.

60 min

Czech Soups

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Čočka na kyselo

Brown lentils, a good splash of vinegar and a crisp-edged fried egg on top: čočka na kyselo is the Czech school-canteen and workers' lunch that people grow nostalgic about. Bohemian families also eat lentils around New Year, when the small round seeds stand for coins. The lentils are cooked soft, bound in a light roux with fried onion and finished sour and a touch sweet, then served with a sliced pickled gherkin and fresh bread. The texture should be spoonable, not soupy and not stiff. Where most cooks slip up is adding the vinegar too early: acid keeps lentils firm, so they stay hard however long you cook them. Season at the end instead. Chef's tip: a teaspoon of mustard stirred in with the vinegar rounds out the sourness without making it taste of mustard.

50 min

Czech Curries

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Smažený květák

Order a vegetarian meal in a Czech pub and there is a fair chance you will get smažený květák: fat cauliflower florets in a crunchy breadcrumb coat, with buttery parsley potatoes and a dollop of tatarka, the pickle-studded tartar sauce. Children love it, and many families in Bohemia make it on Fridays. The florets are blanched first so the inside is tender and sweet under the crust. Where most people go wrong is breading wet cauliflower: the coating slips off in the oil. Dry the florets well on a towel and let them cool before you dip them. Chef's tip: press the crumbs on firmly with your palm, then rest the breaded florets for 10 minutes so the coat sets and fries up evenly.

40 min

Czech Vegetarian

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Koy pa

Fishing villages on the Mekong in Champasak, down towards the islands of Si Phan Don, make koy pa from the morning catch and eat it with sticky rice under the stilt houses at lunchtime. It is a fierce, fresh salad: finely chopped fish tossed with lime, roasted chilli, shallot, galangal and toasted rice powder, then buried in mint, dill and sawtooth herb. Traditionally the fish is raw and only 'cooked' by lime, and raw river fish in the region can carry parasites; that raw version is not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system. Here the fish is poached until opaque and flaking, then chopped, keeping the texture and punch. Stirring the rice powder into hot fish is the mistake that ruins it, turning the salad gluey. Chef's tip: toast your own rice powder with a lemongrass stalk and lime leaf; the shop-bought kind has nothing like the same nutty perfume.

35 min

Lao Salads

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Khai paen

Along the Mekong and Nam Khan below Luang Prabang, women gather silky green river weed in the dry months, when the water runs low and clear, then press it into thin sheets and dry them in the sun. Those sheets turn up everywhere in town, stacked at the morning market and the night market, and a plate of fried khai paen is a favourite nibble with sticky rice and a pot of jeow bong in the late afternoon. Frying takes seconds: the sheets puff, darken and turn shatteringly crisp, tasting of the river, toasted sesame and garlic, a little like nori but earthier. Buy the sheets dried; outside Laos, look in Southeast Asian grocers, and if you can't find them, nori sheets make a stand-in, though they are thinner, sea-salty rather than freshwater and fry even faster. Leaving a sheet in the oil a moment too long is the classic error, as it goes bitter and brown almost instantly. Chef's tip: cut the sheets into squares with scissors before frying, not after, so they don't crumble into dust.

15 min

Lao Snacks & Starters

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Lao iced coffee

High on the Bolaven Plateau above Pakse, the coffee towns around Paksong grow most of Laos's beans, and roadside stalls there brew them dark and strong through a long cloth sock, all day long. Ordered cold, it arrives as a glass of ice with a thick layer of sweetened condensed milk at the bottom, the black coffee poured over and stirred to a caramel brown, often with a free cup of weak tea to sip afterwards. It is bitter-sweet, chocolatey and much richer than a café latte, made for hot afternoons on the plateau or a morning stop in Pakse. A French press or a fine sieve lined with a paper filter stands in for the cloth sock. Pouring hot coffee straight onto ice before adding the milk is where it goes flat: the condensed milk won't dissolve in cold coffee and sinks in a gluey lump. Chef's tip: stir the condensed milk into the hot coffee first, then pour over the ice.

10 min

Lao Drinks

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Bramboračka

Ask anyone from Bohemia what their grandmother cooked on a cold Saturday and bramboračka comes up first: a thick, earthy potato soup that smells of dried porcini, caraway and marjoram. It is a fixture of pub lunch menus and mountain chalets, ladled out with a slice of dark rye bread. Floury potatoes break down at the edges and thicken the broth, while carrot, parsley root and celeriac add sweetness under the woodland flavour of the mushrooms. This version is fully plant-based, with the roux made in oil. A common mistake is adding the marjoram and garlic at the start, where long boiling dulls them; they go in at the very end, off the heat. Chef's tip: rub the dried marjoram between your palms over the pot to wake up its oils before it drops in.

50 min

Czech Soups

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Luang Prabang khao lam

Lines of blackened bamboo tubes propped beside smouldering charcoal mark the khao lam sellers on the roads into Luang Prabang, busiest in the cool season after the November harvest, when new-crop sticky rice is at its sweetest. Inside each tube, rice and black beans have cooked slowly in salted coconut milk, picking up a faint smoky, grassy flavour from the bamboo lining. You split the tube, peel back the thin inner skin and eat the dense, chewy, gently sweet log by hand, often on the morning walk or on a bus journey. At home the tubes roast in the oven or over a barbecue, and a lidded dish lined with banana leaf works if you can't get bamboo. Overfilling the tubes is the usual slip: the rice swells, the plug pops and the coconut milk boils away. Chef's tip: soak the rice overnight; well-soaked grains cook evenly right to the centre of the tube.

90 min

Lao Desserts

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Houbový kuba

On Štědrý den, the Czech Christmas Eve, many families kept a meat-free fast until the evening carp, and houbový kuba was what filled the gap at lunch. Village cooks in Bohemia baked pearl barley with mushrooms picked and dried in autumn, plenty of garlic and marjoram, until the top went crunchy. The inside stays moist and chewy, almost like a mushroom risotto, while the edges crisp. It used to be made with lard; this version uses oil and is fully plant-based. Serve it on its own with sauerkraut or a sharp pickled salad, or as a side to roast vegetables. A common mistake is boiling the barley until soft right through, which turns the bake to paste; it should still have a little bite before it goes in the oven. Chef's tip: save the mushroom soaking water and cook the barley in it, for flavour all the way through.

75 min

Czech Rice & Grains

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Koprovka

Summer in a Czech garden means dill gone wild between the cucumbers, and koprovka is where most of it ends up. This pale green, gently sour cream sauce is a staple of Bohemian home cooking and of workplace canteens, where it is served over boiled potatoes with halved hard-boiled eggs (or with bread dumplings). It should be smooth, silky and only lightly thick, balanced between cream, a little vinegar and a pinch of sugar. Where it usually goes wrong is boiling the dill: it turns grey and loses its fresh smell, so stir it in at the end, off the heat. Chef's tip: keep the dill stalks, chop them very finely and simmer them in the sauce, then add the soft fronds at the end for a double hit of flavour.

30 min

Czech Vegetarian

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Jeow het

Monsoon jeow, this one: once the rains bring mushrooms to every Lao market from July onwards, cooks grill a basket of them over charcoal and pound them with roasted chilli and garlic for a meaty, smoky dip that disappears with sticky rice at dinner. The texture is shaggy rather than smooth, juicy shreds of mushroom held together by a hot, garlicky paste, with fresh herbs stirred through at the end. It is just as good with steamed greens, cucumber and long beans, or spooned over grilled tofu. Oyster and king oyster mushrooms are the closest match to the wild ones. Many people blitz or pound it to a paste and lose the chew, and that's the thing to avoid. Chef's tip: tear the grilled mushrooms into strips by hand before they go into the mortar, then pound only to bruise them.

25 min

Lao Chutneys & Dips

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Lao bamboo shoot soup

When the rains arrive in June, Vientiane's morning markets fill with pale, freshly dug bamboo shoots, and pots of kaeng nor mai start simmering in kitchens across the city for the family lunch. The broth is a deep olive green, tinted by the juice squeezed from yanang leaves, and thickened with a spoonful of pounded soaked sticky rice so it coats the spoon. Earthy bamboo, sweet pumpkin and slippery mushrooms float in it with lemon basil on top, and a basket of sticky rice and a dish of jeow sit alongside. Skipping the pre-boil of the bamboo is where most cooks go wrong: raw shoots taste bitter and need cooking through to be safe, so always blanch fresh ones and drain. This version leaves out the fermented fish of village kitchens and seasons with salt and tamari. Chef's tip: squeeze the yanang leaves in cold water, never hot, or the broth turns brown and loses its grassy freshness.

60 min

Lao Soups

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Lao fish soup with dill

Restaurants on stilts over the Mekong at Pakse, where the Xe Don river joins it, serve tom pa at lunch in big communal bowls, and southern Lao families make it at home whenever the market has fresh river fish. Chunks of fish poach gently in a clear broth fragrant with lemongrass, galangal and lime leaf, soured with tomato and lime and finished with a generous fistful of dill, an herb Lao cooks use far more than their neighbours. The result is light, tangy and aromatic, with soft fish and a whisper of chilli heat; spoon it over sticky rice or sip it between mouthfuls of jeow. Boiling hard once the fish goes in is the mistake to watch, as the pieces break up and the broth turns cloudy. Chef's tip: add the dill only when the pot is off the heat, so it stays green and sweet.

30 min

Lao Soups

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Nam khao

Party food in Vientiane often means a platter of nam khao: golden balls of curry-spiced rice deep-fried until crackling, then smashed and tossed with sour pork, peanuts, shallots, herbs and lime, and scooped into lettuce leaves with a fresh chilli on the side. Evening stalls near the city's markets sell it by the bag, and it's a fixture at weddings and New Year gatherings in April. Traditionally the sour pork is som moo, cured raw fermented pork with shredded skin, which is never cooked; that raw cured version is not for pregnant women, young children or anyone with a weakened immune system. This safer version uses minced pork cooked through and sharpened with lime and garlic, with cooked pork skin for chew if you like. Frying rice balls in oil that isn't hot enough is the usual mistake, as they soak up oil and fall apart. Chef's tip: use rice cooked the day before and chilled; it holds together and fries far crisper.

75 min

Lao Salads

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Luang Prabang salad

Clear spring-fed beds outside Luang Prabang grow some of the crispest watercress in Laos, and the old royal capital turned it into a salad that shows its French years: peppery cress, tomato and cucumber under a smooth dressing made from mashed hard-boiled yolks. Cafés along the Nam Khan serve it at lunch in the cool season, from November to February, often as the light plate beside grilled river fish or a bowl of sticky rice. It tastes fresh, gently sweet and garlicky, with crunch from fried garlic and peanuts on top. Restaurants sometimes add fish sauce or pork; this version is vegetarian and seasoned with salt. Dressing the cress too early is the mistake to avoid, because it wilts into a soggy heap in minutes. Chef's tip: dry the watercress properly in a salad spinner, or the dressing slides off instead of clinging.

30 min

Lao Salads

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Jeow mak keua

Long purple aubergines laid straight on the embers turn into one of the softest dips on a Lao dinner tray, eaten up and down the country in the hot season when aubergines are cheap and plentiful. The skins blacken and the flesh collapses into a smoky, silky pulp, which is pounded loosely with charred garlic, shallot and green chilli until it is spoonable but still a little stringy. Pinch a ball of sticky rice, press a hollow in it and scoop up the jeow, or dip in cucumber, long beans and cabbage. Families often add fish sauce; here it is seasoned with salt and a little tamari so it suits vegetarians. Rinsing the charred aubergine under the tap is a mistake, as it washes away the very smoke you worked for. Chef's tip: peel with damp fingertips and leave a few flecks of black skin in the dip.

30 min

Lao Chutneys & Dips

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Jeow som

Grilled food in Laos rarely leaves the stall without a little bag of jeow som, the thin, sour-sweet sauce that every street grill from Vientiane's riverside to small-town bus stations ladles out beside the skewers. Unlike the pounded jeows, it is pourable: lime juice, garlic and raw chilli in a light, sweet-salty syrup, sharp enough to cut through anything charred. Dip grilled tofu, corn, aubergine or sticky rice into it, or spoon it over a plate of steamed vegetables. Stall versions lean on fish sauce; salt and tamari keep this one vegetarian. Tipping granulated sugar straight into cold lime juice is the usual fault, since it never fully dissolves and the sauce tastes gritty and unbalanced. Chef's tip: let the sauce sit for 15 minutes before serving so the garlic and chilli mellow into the lime.

10 min

Lao Chutneys & Dips

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Mok het

Wild mushrooms pile up at Luang Prabang's Phosy market as soon as the monsoon soaks the hills, from July into September, and families wrap them up as mok het for the evening meal. Mushrooms are bruised with lemongrass, shallot, chilli and a big handful of dill, bound with beaten egg, then folded into banana leaf and steamed until set, so each parcel opens into a soft, fragrant, slightly wobbly cake. It goes on the shared tray with sticky rice, a bowl of soup and some raw greens. Cultivated oyster, shiitake or chestnut mushrooms work beautifully. A watery filling is the common pitfall: mushrooms leak juice, so salt them and squeeze them first or the egg never sets. Chef's tip: grill the steamed parcels over a flame for a few minutes at the end; the charred leaf adds a lovely smoky edge.

50 min

Lao Vegetarian

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Kremrole

Every Czech cukrárna, the old-fashioned pastry shop, has a tray of kremrole in the glass counter: flaky puff pastry spirals baked around metal cones and piped full of light, sweet whipped egg-white cream. Children choose them for name days and they are a Sunday coffee treat in towns all over Bohemia and Moravia. The pastry should shatter, the cream should be glossy, stiff and marshmallowy. This filling is a cooked meringue, whisked over simmering water to 70 °C, so it is safe to eat and holds its shape. A common mistake is filling the tubes too early: within a couple of hours the cream softens the crisp pastry. Pipe them just before serving. You will need 12 metal cream horn moulds. Chef's tip: overlap the pastry strips by a third as you wind them on, so the tubes do not unravel in the oven.

90 min

Czech Desserts

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Sin savanh

Translated loosely as heavenly meat, sin savanh is the sweet beef jerky of Vientiane, sold in glossy dark strips at the morning market and carried home as a snack, a picnic food or a gift for family upcountry. Thin slices of beef are marinated with garlic, coriander root, sugar and fish sauce, coated in sesame and traditionally dried in the dry-season sun, then flash-fried just before eating, so they turn chewy, caramelised and slightly crisp at the edges. Eat it with sticky rice and a tomato jeow, or alone with cold drinks. Here it dries in a low oven until fully cooked and leathery, which is easier and safer than sun-drying. The common mistake is cutting the beef too thick, so the outside goes hard while the middle stays soft. Chef's tip: freeze the beef for 45 minutes before slicing; it firms up and slices thin as card.

240 min

Lao Snacks & Starters

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Topinky

Midnight in a Prague beer hall, a basket of topinky arrives: thick slabs of rye-wheat bread fried until shatteringly crisp and rubbed hard with raw garlic, so the rough crust grates the clove like sandpaper. Czech pubs serve them as a snack with beer, and at home they are a quick supper with a glass of buttermilk or a bowl of soup. Some old cooks used lard; frying in oil keeps them vegan. The crumb should stay soft inside the golden crust, and the garlic should be sharp and fiery. A common mistake is frying in oil that is not hot enough, which makes the bread greasy instead of crisp. Chef's tip: choose a dense, day-old rye bread with caraway seeds; fresh, airy bread soaks up oil like a sponge.

10 min

Czech Snacks & Starters

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