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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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Tvorozhnaya massa s izyumom (sweet tvorog cream with raisins)

All over Russia, tvorozhnaya massa is the smooth, sweet curd cheese of childhood breakfasts and afternoon teas, and at Easter it is the base of paskha. Fresh tvorog is pressed through a sieve and beaten with soft butter, sugar and vanilla until it is pale and fluffy, then raisins are stirred in. It is creamy and tangy, sweet but light, and high in protein. Spread it on bread, spread it on rye toast or eat it from a bowl with tea and berries. Nothing is cooked and no egg goes in: beating the butter into the sieved curd gives it a mousse-like body, and it firms up nicely in the fridge, so nothing is needed to bind or set it. Chef's tip: soften the butter fully and sieve the tvorog first; the common mistake is beating cold butter into grainy curd, which leaves hard flecks and a lumpy, heavy cream.

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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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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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Tcharek el arianeAlmond crescents with orange blossom

On the last nights of Ramadan, kitchens across Algiers and Constantine fill up with trays of tcharek el ariane, the 'naked' tcharek: crescents of thin, buttery dough wrapped around almond paste with cinnamon and orange-blossom water. Unlike their sugar-coated cousins they are left bare, so the fine dough with its pinched, lace-like pattern shows. Families give them to neighbours on Eid morning and set them out at weddings with mint tea and coffee. The dough is traditionally made with smen (aged butter); plain melted butter works well. Overbaking is the common slip, because they turn hard and dry; they should stay pale with only golden tips. Chef's tip: keep the dough under a damp cloth while you shape, as it dries in minutes and then cracks along the curve.

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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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Algerian mkhabezIced almond and lemon diamonds

No Algerian wedding tray, and few Eid tables in Algiers or Constantine, is complete without mkhabez: soft, chewy diamonds of ground almond and lemon zest under a smooth white icing, each topped with a sugar flower or a silver ball and set in its own paper case. Making them is a social affair, with sisters and aunts icing and decorating hundreds the week before a celebration. The almond base is flourless and dairy free, sweet and lemony, and the icing sets to a thin shell; serve them with mint tea or strong coffee. Overbaking is the mistake to avoid: the diamonds should come out pale and soft, or they go dry and crumbly under the icing. Chef's tip: ice them when completely cold, and get the icing so thick it only just flows; runny icing slides off the sides and never sets glossy.

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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OladyiKefir pancakes

Saturday breakfast in a Soviet flat often began with the sizzle of oladyi: thick little pancakes, no bigger than a saucer rim, made from kefir that had soured a day too long. Grandmothers from Samara to Novosibirsk still drop spoonfuls of the batter into hot oil and stack the puffed, golden rounds on a plate to eat with smetana, honey or a dish of cherry varenye. Unlike blini they are fat and spongy, with a lacy crisp edge. The common mistake is beating the batter after the soda goes in, which knocks out the bubbles and gives flat, rubbery pancakes. Chef's tip: warm the kefir slightly before mixing; the soda reacts faster and the oladyi rise noticeably higher.

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BarankiTea bread rings

Strings of baranki once hung on poles at every Russian fair, and you still see them threaded on twine in Moscow markets and station kiosks. The dough is boiled briefly like a bagel, then baked until hard, golden and glossy, so the rings keep for weeks and soften only when dunked in hot, sweet tea from the samovar. This version is vegan, made with oil instead of butter and eggs. The common mistake is a soft, wet dough, which makes puffy bread rolls instead of crunchy rings. Chef's tip: knead the dough stiff and leave the shaped rings uncovered for 20 minutes to form a skin before boiling; that gives the shine.

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TefteliMeatballs in tomato sauce

Ask anyone who went to a Soviet school canteen and they will remember tefteli: soft meatballs studded with rice, served in a ladle of tomato sauce with buckwheat or mashed potato. They are still the go-to dinner for small children from Moscow to Yekaterinburg because they are tender enough to cut with a spoon. They are softer and plainer than kotlety and are always cooked in sauce, never just fried. The common mistake is boiling the sauce hard, which breaks the meatballs apart. Chef's tip: roll each ball with wet hands and leave them in the fridge for 15 minutes before cooking; they hold together much better.

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ZefirApple marshmallow

Zefir sits in a paper box on almost every Russian tea table: pale, airy halves of apple marshmallow pressed together in pairs, softer and fruitier than any marshmallow. Factories in Moscow and Belyov made them famous, but home cooks pipe their own from baked Antonovka-style sour apples, sugar, egg white and agar. Agar keeps them vegetarian, unlike gelatine. The common mistake is undercooking the agar syrup; if it doesn't reach 110 °C, the zefir never sets and weeps. Chef's tip: bake the apples rather than boil them; the purée is thicker and the zefir far lighter.

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