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ไอติมกะทิ (Itim kathi, Thai coconut ice cream)

Itim kathi is the ice cream of Bangkok's pushcarts: a vendor lifts the lid of an insulated drum, scrapes up a scoop of snow-white coconut ice cream and piles it into a small cup over sticky rice, then adds whatever the customer points at, from roasted peanuts and sweet corn to chewy palm seeds. It is sold all afternoon in the hot months, outside schools and temples and in markets. Some vendors tuck the scoop into a soft bread roll; serve it in cups as here and it stays gluten free. It is naturally egg-free and dairy-free. Coconut milk carries the fat that makes it creamy, and a little cornflour cooked into it binds the water so crystals stay fine and the texture stays smooth without any custard, while a pinch of salt sharpens the coconut. Chef's tip: use full-fat coconut milk with no added water; the common mistake is using a light one, which freezes hard and icy.

300 minThaiDessertsVeganGluten free
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Fak thong kaeng buat (Thai pumpkin in coconut milk)

When the rains end and pumpkins pile up in the markets of central Thailand, kaeng buat is what cooks make with them: chunks of dense kabocha simmered in coconut milk sweetened with palm sugar and sharpened with a pinch of salt. It is a homely, everyday dessert, sold warm from big pots at markets in the afternoon and also cooked at Ok Phansa, the end of Buddhist Lent. The pumpkin turns velvety but keeps its shape, and the thin, creamy, caramel-scented broth is meant to be drunk from the spoon. Eat it warm or at room temperature, in small bowls. There is no egg in it and never was: nothing needs setting or binding, as the pumpkin's own starch gives the coconut milk a light body as it cooks. Chef's tip: pick a dry, orange-fleshed kabocha and keep the coconut milk at a bare simmer; letting it boil hard is the common mistake that splits the milk and breaks the pumpkin into mush.

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RotmosMashed swede and carrot

Rotmos, literally 'root mash', is a Swedish winter staple, cooked from Skåne to Norrland when the cellars are full of swede, and served beside sausages or boiled pork at home dinners, and on Thursdays with pea soup. Swede gives the mash its golden colour and gently peppery sweetness, potato makes it smooth, and a little butter and allspice round it out. It is a vegetarian side with about 3 g of protein per portion; try it with fried halloumi or a bean stew. The common mistake is mashing it straight from the pan: watery roots give a sloppy mash, so steam-dry them first. Chef's tip: leave the mash a little coarse; Swedes like to see flecks of swede and carrot rather than a smooth purée.

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Kluay chuam (Thai bananas in palm-sugar syrup)

Kluay chuam is a market dessert of central Thailand, cooked in big brass pans and sold by the bag year round, and it is a common sweet to offer monks at merit-making. Small, starchy nam wa bananas are simmered slowly in palm-sugar syrup until they turn translucent and amber, soft and chewy rather than mushy, then served with thick, salty coconut cream poured over. The flavour is deep caramel and banana, cut by the salt. Serve at room temperature in small bowls. Being egg-free by nature, it relies on the long simmer in syrup firms the bananas and a little rice flour thickens the coconut topping. Chef's tip: keep the syrup at the gentlest simmer and don't stir; the common mistake is a fast boil and a spoon, which break the bananas before they have time to turn glassy.

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Tilslørte bondepiker (Norwegian veiled farm girls)

Norwegians make tilslørte bondepiker in autumn, when the apple trees in the fjord orchards of Hardanger and Telemark are heavy, and it stays a Sunday-dinner favourite through winter. The 'farm girls' are the layers of tart apple compote, the 'veil' is the whipped cream on top, and between them are crisp breadcrumbs toasted in butter with sugar and cinnamon. It is spooned from a glass bowl: soft fruit, crunchy caramel crumbs and cold cream in each mouthful. Serve it soon after layering, while the crumbs still crunch. No egg is involved anywhere, since the apples cook down into a thick purée on their own, so there is nothing to bind or set; just make the crumbs from an eggless white loaf or plain rusks. Chef's tip: toast the crumbs slowly over a medium-low heat and keep stirring; the common mistake is rushing them over a high heat, so the sugar burns before the crumbs are crisp.

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OhrapuuroBarley porridge

Ohrapuuro is the comfort food of Finnish farmhouses: pearl barley cooked slowly in plenty of milk until it turns creamy, pale and faintly sweet, then served with a knob of butter melting in the middle and a spoon of lingonberry or berry kissel. It is a breakfast for winter mornings and a supper for Christmas Eve in many families, and the oven version used to cook overnight in the cooling bread oven. A bowl gives about 14 g of protein from the milk and barley, so it is filling, but not a high-protein dish. The common mistake is cooking it too fast on a high heat; the milk catches and burns on the bottom, so keep it at a bare simmer and stir often. Chef's tip: soak the barley in water overnight if you can; it cuts the cooking time to about an hour and the grains cook more evenly.

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NässelsoppaNettle soup

In Sweden the first young nettles of April and May go straight into nässelsoppa, a smooth, grassy green soup often served at Easter or on Walpurgis Night with halved boiled eggs. It tastes a little like spinach with a mineral edge, and is eaten with crispbread and butter. A bowl with one egg gives about 10 g of protein, so it is a light soup, not a high-protein meal; add a second egg each if you want it more filling. Wear gloves to pick and wash nettles: blanching removes the sting completely. The most common mistake is cooking the nettles too long, which turns the soup khaki and dull; add them at the end and blend straight away. Chef's tip: pick only the top four to six leaves of young plants before they flower; older leaves are tough and gritty.

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Kokt torskPoached cod with potatoes

From January to April, when the spawning skrei cod arrive at the Lofoten Islands, Norwegian homes eat kokt torsk at least once a week: thick cod loins poached in well-salted water, served plainly with boiled potatoes, carrots and a little melted butter. It is clean, gentle food, and the whole plate comes to around 430 kcal with about 40 g of protein, almost all from the cod. The common mistake is boiling the fish: the water should barely tremble, which Norwegians say makes it "smile", or the flakes tighten and turn woolly. Cook it until it is opaque and the flakes separate at a light press, about 60–63 °C in the thickest part. Chef's tip: salt the poaching water as heavily as the sea, about 60 g to a litre; it seasons the cod all the way through in the few minutes it cooks.

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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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ซาหริ่ม (Sarim, mung bean noodles in coconut syrup)

Sarim is an old dessert of central Thailand, served at temple fairs and in market dessert shops on sweltering afternoons: thin, slippery strands in pastel green, blue and white, floating in a pale coconut syrup over a mound of crushed ice. The strands are almost flavourless and very soft, so the syrup does the work; in Thailand it is scented with jasmine flowers or the smoke of a scented candle, and here with pandan and optional fresh jasmine. It is naturally egg-free: the strands are pure mung bean starch cooked with water into a clear, thick paste, which sets into a soft gel the moment it hits ice water. Pandan juice and butterfly pea flowers give the colours, so there is no need for dyes. Serve it straight away, as a light end to a spicy meal. Chef's tip: cook the paste until it turns fully glossy and see-through; the common mistake is stopping while it is still milky, which gives strands that break and taste floury.

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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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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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KålsoppaCabbage and root vegetable soup

Kålsoppa is old-fashioned Swedish home cooking, the soup of cold autumn and winter evenings in Skåne and the countryside, when white cabbage and root vegetables fill the cellar. The cabbage is first browned in a little oil with a pinch of syrup, which gives the broth its gentle sweetness and golden colour, then simmered with carrot, swede and potato and seasoned with whole allspice. Many families float small meatballs in it; this is the vegetarian version without them. It has about 4 g of protein per bowl; serve with crispbread and a hard cheese, or add white beans, for more. The common mistake is rushing the browning: the cabbage needs a good 10 minutes of slow frying to caramelise. Chef's tip: crush the allspice berries lightly before adding them, so their warm, clove-like scent fills the soup.

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Kaeng khae with tofu and mushroomsHerb curry with tofu and mushrooms

Kaeng khae comes from the hills around Chiang Mai and Lampang, where it is cooked through the rainy season with whatever the garden and forest give: pea aubergines, long beans, pumpkin tips, acacia shoots and handfuls of leaves, in a brothy, coconut-free curry scented with lemongrass and the peppery prickly ash called makhwaen. In northern homes it is a lunch dish eaten with sticky rice. It is normally cooked with chicken, frog or fish and seasoned with fermented fish; this vegetarian version uses firm tofu, oyster mushrooms, soy sauce and a little salted soybean paste. With the tofu a portion has about 11 g of protein, so it is light rather than high protein. The common mistake is adding all the vegetables at once: the leaves are done in a minute while the beans and aubergines need five. Chef's tip: dry-fry the curry paste in a spoon of oil until it smells toasty before adding water; it gives the broth its depth without any fish.

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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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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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Khanom kleeb lamduanFlower shortbread cookies

Named after the lamduan, a fragrant cream-coloured flower with three curled petals, these tiny Thai shortbreads are a classic of the royal-style Thai sweets once made in palace kitchens and now sold in Bangkok's old dessert shops and given at weddings and merit-making. Each flower is three teardrop petals around a ball, pale and fragile, and they melt like sandy fudge. Their perfume comes from tian op, a special scented dessert candle: it is lit, blown out, and left to smoke inside a closed container with the cookies. If you cannot find one, a little jasmine water in the dough gives a different but lovely scent. The mistake is baking them hot or long; they should stay ivory, never golden. Chef's tip: candle smoke is real fire and smoke, so do it in a metal or ceramic pot, well away from curtains and children, with the flame blown out before the lid goes on.

78 minThaiBakingVegan
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Tao hoo tod (Thai fried tofu with sweet chilli peanut dip)

In Bangkok and towns all over Thailand, tao hoo tod is sold from street-side woks in the late afternoon, scooped into paper bags with a little bag of sweet chilli dip and a spoon of crushed peanuts for snacking on the way home. Done properly, each cube has a thin, blistered, crisp skin and a soft, almost creamy centre. The mistake that ruins it is frying wet tofu in oil that isn't hot enough, so it soaks up fat and never crisps. It makes a good starter or a light supper with sticky rice and cucumber. Chef's tip: press the tofu under a heavy pan for 10 minutes while you make the dip; drier tofu crisps faster and spits less.

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Pad thua ngok tao hoo (Thai bean sprouts and tofu stir-fry)

This plain, fast stir-fry is a fixture of home kitchens and made-to-order rice stalls across central Thailand, where it is eaten as one of two or three dishes shared over jasmine rice at dinner. Firm tofu is browned first, then the sprouts go in for barely a minute so they stay juicy and snap when you bite them. Thai cooks often season it with oyster sauce and fish sauce; this version uses soy and a mushroom-based sauce so it is vegan. The mistake almost everyone makes is cooking the sprouts too long, which turns them limp and watery. Chef's tip: pick off the stringy tails of the sprouts if you have five spare minutes; it makes the dish noticeably crisper.

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Khai luk khoei (son-in-law eggs)

Khai luk khoei, son-in-law eggs, is a central Thai dish made for family meals and temple fairs, and a favourite way to turn a few eggs into dinner: boiled eggs fried until blistered and golden, halved and spooned over with a sticky tamarind, palm sugar and fish sauce sauce, then finished with crisp shallots and chilli. It contains fish sauce, so it is not vegetarian. The mistake is frying wet eggs in oil that isn't hot enough; dry them well and the skin puffs and crisps instead of spitting. Chef's tip: boil the eggs for 7 minutes for a jammy centre; give 10 minutes and fully set yolks for anyone pregnant, very young, older or vulnerable.

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Moo manao (pork in lime and chilli dressing)

Moo manao is a drinking snack and dinner side from central Thailand, served in Bangkok bars and at home with sticky rice: thin slices of pork, blanched until just cooked, laid on ice-cold cabbage or lettuce and drowned in a fierce dressing of lime, raw garlic, bird's eye chilli and fish sauce. This is a pork dish. The mistake is boiling the pork for too long, which makes the thin slices tough and dry; poach them only until they turn white all through. Chef's tip: plunge the cooked slices into iced water for a few seconds, so they stay tender and take the dressing well.

17 minThaiMeatGluten freeSpicy
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Moo tod kratiem (Thai garlic pepper pork)

Moo tod kratiem is a one-plate dinner sold at made-to-order stalls across Bangkok and the rest of Thailand: slices of pork marinated in garlic, white pepper and soy, fried until the edges caramelise, then showered with crisp golden garlic and served over rice with a fried egg and cucumber. This is a pork dish. The mistake is frying the garlic on high heat; it burns in seconds and turns bitter, so fry it gently and take it out when it is pale gold. Chef's tip: pound the garlic, pepper and coriander root together rather than chopping, so the paste clings to the meat.

22 minThaiMeat
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Korv StroganoffSausage in tomato cream sauce

Korv Stroganoff is Swedish family food from the 1970s that children still ask for: strips of falukorv, a mild, smooth pork-and-beef sausage, browned with onion and simmered in a pink sauce of tomato purée, mustard and cream. It is a 25-minute weeknight dinner across Sweden, served over boiled rice with a grated carrot or cucumber salad. Falukorv is already cooked, so it only needs heating until piping hot; the common mistake is boiling the cream sauce hard, which can split it and toughen the sausage. Check the sausage label if you need it gluten free; Polish kielbasa or a mild smoked sausage works if you can't find falukorv. Chef's tip: brown the sausage strips properly before adding liquid, because that caramelised edge is where the flavour comes from.

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