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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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AllerheiligenstriezelBraided sweet loaf

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.

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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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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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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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OsterpinzeEaster anise brioche

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.

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Pustakari (Newari khuwa and jaggery toffee)

Pustakari is the toffee of the Newar community in the Kathmandu Valley, sold in small squares in the old bazaars of Asan and Bhaktapur and made at home for festivals such as Tihar and Yomari Punhi, and on winter afternoons. Jaggery is cooked to a syrup, then khuwa and ghee are stirred in and cooked until the mixture turns into a thick, glossy, deep brown mass that sets into a chewy toffee. It tastes of caramel and milk, a little like fudge but with more chew. Serve a few pieces with tea or as a small sweet after a meal. It is naturally egg-free: the jaggery syrup, cooked to the firm-ball stage, sets the khuwa, so no other binder is needed. Chef's tip: watch the temperature of the syrup; cooking it past 125°C is the common mistake that makes the toffee hard enough to hurt your teeth.

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Puhul dosi (Sri Lankan candied ash pumpkin)

Puhul dosi is one of the sweets that crowd the Sri Lankan Avurudu table in April, when Sinhala and Tamil households mark the New Year with kokis, kavum and trays of homemade confectionery for visiting neighbours. Cubes of ash pumpkin, the pale winter melon with a waxy skin, are soaked overnight in lime water, then simmered in a cardamom and clove syrup until the syrup turns back to sugar and frosts each piece. The result is a thin, crunchy shell around a translucent, juicy middle that tastes faintly of spice. Serve a few pieces with plain tea or as part of a sweet platter. It is naturally egg-free: the calcium in the lime water firms the outer layer of the pumpkin so it keeps its shape, and crystallised sugar does the rest of the setting. Chef's tip: rinse the cubes in at least four changes of water after the soak; the common mistake is rushing this, which leaves a chalky, bitter aftertaste.

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Gudpak (Nepali khuwa, gum and jaggery fudge)

In the Kathmandu Valley, gudpak is the sweet of cold mornings, eaten in the depths of winter and around Maghe Sankranti, and given to new mothers to restore their strength after childbirth. Khuwa (milk solids) is roasted in ghee, sweetened with jaggery, and mixed with crunchy fried edible gum, nuts and coconut before being pressed into a tray and cut into squares. It's dense, rich and slightly chewy, with a warm caramel flavour and pops of crunch from the puffed gum. Eat a square with milky tea or as a small sweet after dinner. It is naturally egg-free: the khuwa and jaggery cooked together into a thick mass bind the fudge, and the edible gum (gond) gives it body. Chef's tip: fry the gum in small amounts over a low heat until it puffs up white; frying it too fast is the common mistake, which leaves it hard, glassy and unpleasant to chew.

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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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Halape (හලපේ, finger-millet and jaggery parcels steamed in leaves)Finger millet and jaggery leaf parcels

In village homes in the south and the hill country, halape is an afternoon snack and a temple-day treat, steamed in the large, heart-shaped leaves of the kenda tree, which leave a faint grassy perfume. The dough is kurakkan, finger-millet flour, which is brick-brown, slightly bitter and very filling; it wraps a sweet layer of grated coconut and dark kithul jaggery. Once steamed, the parcels are dense, moist and fudgy, a little like a rustic steamed pudding, and they are best warm with a cup of plain tea. Nothing here was ever made with egg: steaming sets the millet starch and the jaggery melts into the coconut and holds it together. Banana leaves work well if you cannot find kenda. Chef's tip: the common mistake is spreading the dough too thick; keep it about 5 mm so the middle steams through before the outside turns hard.

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Lavariya (ලැවරියා, string-hopper parcels with coconut treacle filling)

Lavariya turns up on the Sinhala and Tamil New Year table in mid-April, when households across Sri Lanka lay out a spread of sweets after the auspicious hour. It starts as string-hopper dough: roasted rice flour scalded with boiling water and pressed through a mould into fine noodles. Here the noodles are piped in a coil, filled with pani pol, grated coconut cooked down in kithul treacle with cardamom, then folded into a half-moon and steamed. The result is soft, lacy and springy outside, with a sticky, smoky-sweet centre. Serve warm with plain tea or as part of an Avurudu platter with kokis and kavum. It is naturally egg-free: the boiling water cooks and swells the rice starch so the dough holds its shape, and the thick treacle binds the coconut. Chef's tip: the common mistake is using warm rather than boiling water; the dough then crumbles in the press, so pour it straight off the boil and mix with a spoon until cool enough to knead.

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Wandu appa (වංඩු ආප්ප, fermented rice cakes steamed in leaf cones)Steamed rice treacle cakes

Wandu appa are sold in morning markets and at roadside kades all over the island, and they are one of the sweets that appear on the table for Avurudu. A batter of rice flour, coconut milk and kithul treacle is left to ferment for a few hours, then poured into small cones of kenda or jak leaf and steamed. They puff into tender, spongy domes with a gentle sourness, a caramel note from the treacle and the leafy aroma of their wrappers. Eat them warm for breakfast or with afternoon tea. They are naturally egg-free: yeast does the lifting that whisked eggs would do in a sponge, and the rice starch sets the bubbles in place as it steams. Banana-leaf cones or small paper-lined cups work too. Chef's tip: the common mistake is filling the cones to the brim; fill them two-thirds full so they rise into a dome instead of spilling over.

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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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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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Carrot sambolRaw carrot and coconut salad

Carrot sambol is a fresh, crunchy side found on rice-and-curry plates all over Sri Lanka, from Colombo lunch packets to home tables in Kandy. Grated carrot is tossed with red onion, green chilli, lime juice and a little coconut, so it cuts through rich curries and dhal. Some cooks add Maldive fish; this version leaves it out so it stays vegan. The common mistake is dressing it too early: the salt and lime draw water out of the carrot and you end up with a soggy puddle. Chef's tip: mix everything except the salt and lime ahead, then season just before serving.

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ChatpateTangy puffed rice snack

Chatpate is the snack Kathmandu students buy after school from street carts near Ratna Park and Basantapur: puffed rice tossed in a steel bowl with boiled potato, onion, tomato, cucumber, green chilli, lime and a drizzle of mustard oil, then sprinkled with chilli and tingling timur. It should be sour, salty, hot and crunchy all at once. The mistake is mixing it too early: the puffed rice soaks up the juices within minutes and goes soggy. Chef's tip: get everything chopped and ready, then mix one portion at a time and eat it straight away.

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Bhuteko bhatFried rice with peas

In Kathmandu homes bhuteko bhat is how last night's rice becomes this morning's khaja or a fast dinner: cold rice is fried in mustard oil with garlic, cumin, onion and turmeric until golden and fragrant, often with peas or whatever vegetables are left. Many families fry an egg to slide on top (leave it off to keep the dish vegan). The usual mistake is using freshly cooked, warm rice, which turns mushy and sticky in the pan. Rice for frying should be cooled within an hour of cooking, kept in the fridge for no more than a day, and fried until piping hot all through. Chef's tip: a pinch of ground timur, Nepal's tingly Sichuan-style pepper, at the end makes it taste of the hills.

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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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Kola kandaHerbal rice and coconut porridge

Kola kanda is a Sri Lankan breakfast porridge, sold in small cups at roadside stalls and morning markets in Colombo and drunk warm before work. Red rice is cooked soft with garlic, then blended greens, traditionally gotu kola, and coconut milk turn it a vivid green with a fresh, slightly grassy flavour. It is served with a piece of jaggery to nibble between sips. The mistake to avoid is boiling it after the greens go in, which turns the colour olive and the taste stewed. Chef's tip: crack the red rice in a spice grinder first; the broken grains cook in about 20 minutes and give the classic loose, creamy texture.

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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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