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Uzbekistan is a real paradise for those who love to eat delicious and heartily at home, without worrying about such trifles as calories. A rare dish is dispensed with here without meat, a rich variety of vegetables and a lush bouquet of spices. We offer you to study in detail the most popular recipes of Uzbek cuisine at home.
Salad without unnecessary frills
The main salad of Uzbek cuisine is called achchik-chuchuk, or shakarob. Despite the fact that it consists of only two ingredients, its taste is extremely harmonious. Chop 2 large onions in thin half-rings. If the onion is caught “evil”, wash it under a stream of cold water. Next, cut 4-5 small ripe tomatoes into transverse circles and combine them with onions in a bowl, add 1 tsp. coarse salt and 1 tsp. ground black pepper, mix the contents with your hands. In some recipes, red hot pepper chopped into rings is added to the dish, after cleaning it from the seeds and partitions. In any case, such a light salad will be a perfect side dish to juicy kebabs.
Meat in the vegetable abyss
Basma will delight you with a whole kaleidoscope of colors and tastes. This second dish of Uzbek cuisine is prepared from a large number of vegetables and meat. Chop large pieces of 1 kg of lamb, put it on the bottom of the cauldron with fat down, generously sprinkle with salt and cumin. This is followed by 1 kg of onion in half rings, 3-4 tomatoes in slices, 2 carrots in slices and 7-8 potatoes cut into halves. Do not forget to add salt to each layer and hide 2 garlic heads between them. In addition, you can lay out a layer of eggplant and sweet pepper. Tamp on top of 800 g of chopped cabbage and cover with cabbage leaves. Close the cauldron tightly with a lid, bring it to a boil over medium heat, then reduce it to a minimum and simmer for an hour. Give the basma a little brew, and the home will be conquered by the incomparable aroma and play of flavors.
Legend in the bowl
You can’t imagine Uzbek cuisine without colorful soups. And Lagman is rightfully one of her calling cards. Knead the dough from 300 g of flour, 100 ml of water, eggs and a pinch of salt. After cooling it for half an hour, roll out 3 layers, roll up the rolls, thinly slice the noodles. Let it dry and cook in salted water.
In a saucepan with a thick bottom, heat 70 ml of vegetable oil with pieces of chicken fat, brown 5-6 cloves of garlic. Here we fry 1 kg of beef in cubes with 3 half-rings of onions until golden brown. Randomly chop 2 carrots and sweet peppers, 2-3 stalks of celery, half of the green radish, put everything in a saucepan. While the vegetables are languishing, we pass through a meat grinder 5 tomatoes with 4 cloves of garlic. Add this dressing to the meat and vegetables, season with coriander, cumin, red pepper and salt, and simmer for 10 minutes. We spread the noodles in bowls, pour thick soup, sprinkle with coriander — and you can serve lagman to the table.
Sunny pilaf
Pilaf takes an honorable place among a large number of dishes of the national cuisine of Uzbekistan. It is prepared from traditional rice and meat-its recipe is special and original due to the strict ratio of ingredients and the presence of natural spices and seasonings.
Ingredients: rice-800 g, onion – 800 g, carrot-800 g, vegetable oil-2 cups, salt-2 tsp, barberry-2 tsp, cumin-2 tsp, garlic-3 heads, lamb-800 g, freshly ground pepper, mixture-1 tsp, ground red pepper-1 tsp, water-1 liter. Onion cut into half rings, carrots-straws. Soak the rice in salted water for 2-4 hours while we cook the onion, carrot and meat. In a cauldron, we heat sunflower oil. Fry the onion in oil until golden brown, stirring constantly. Add the carrots to the onion, stir and fry until half cooked, about 10 minutes. Cut the meat into small pieces and add it to the cauldron with onions and carrots, mix everything and cook over medium heat for another 10 minutes. We do not cover the cauldron with a lid. Pour 1.5 liters of water into the cauldron, you may need a little more, since the water should cover the vegetables with meat by 1.5-2 cm, add spices, barberry, cumin. Peel 3 heads of garlic. Insert the garlic into the center of the cauldron and cook until the meat is ready, about 1-1. 5 hours. Before filling 800 g of rice, remove the garlic, pour in the rice and evenly level it with a slotted spoon. We return the garlic back, make the fire at maximum and cook until the rice is half cooked. When the rice is cooked until half cooked, cover the cauldron with a lid, reduce the heat to a minimum and cook for 20 minutes. Pilaf is ready, bon appetit!
Dumplings with a flourish
Among the dishes of Uzbek cuisine, manti, similar to our native dumplings, won the special love of gourmets. Beat the egg with 180 ml of water and a pinch of salt, add 400 g of flour, knead the dough and leave it to rest under a towel.
As small as possible, we chop 400 g of lamb with a knife. Cut 3 onions into cubes, mix with minced meat, season liberally with coarse salt, cumin and allspice. Now roll out the dough into a thin layer and cut into squares of 10 × 10 cm. We put the filling on each one, a small piece of fat fat, tightly pinch the edges, forming neat bags from the dough.
Ideally, a mantovark is used to prepare mantovark. The grill of the steamer or insert tiers for the steam pan will also work. Lubricate the manta rays with oil, put them in a mantovarku, set over a pan of boiling water and cook for about 45 minutes. Usually manti is served with rings of onions marinated in vinegar or with sour cream and garlic sauce with herbs.
Delicious geometry
Uzbekistan’s favorite samsa, or minced meat pies, is known far beyond its borders. We offer to prepare their home version. Sift a hill of 700 g of flour, make a recess and pour in 200 ml of water with 1 tsp of salt. Knead the dough and let it rest for half an hour in the refrigerator. At this time, we pass through a meat grinder 500 g of beef or lamb pulp. Add to the minced meat 100 g of fat, 2 diced onions, salt, black pepper and cumin to taste.
The dough is rolled out in 6-8 thin layers, lubricate each with melted butter. We roll the first layer into a roll and in turn tightly wrap the remaining layers around it. After cooling this puff roll for an hour, cut into 14-16 pieces and roll out the tortillas again. We will put the meat filling on them. Now we form the pies in the form of triangles, grease with egg yolk, sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake for 40 minutes in the oven at 180°C. Ruddy crispy samsa will bring joy to home meat eaters.
Honey bliss
Sweets in home Uzbek cuisine — one is more colorful than the other. Crunchy honey chak-chak takes a special place in this series. Beat 3 eggs with a mixer with 3 tbsp. l. milk, 1 tsp. sugar and 0.5 tsp. salt. Add 400 g of flour with 1 tsp of baking powder, knead the soft dough and leave it for half an hour.
Roll out the layer with a thickness of 2-3 mm, cut into strips with a width of 15 mm, and they, in turn, into rectangles of 5 mm. In the process of frying, they will inflate and turn into lush pillows. Heat a thick-walled pan with a large amount of oil, bring it to a boil and lay the dough pieces in small portions. We soak them in oil for no longer than 2-3 minutes and put them on a paper towel.
Melt 30 g of sugar in a saucepan, pour 370 g of honey and simmer for a couple of minutes. We spread the golden pads on a slide on a dish, pour honey syrup and let it freeze. This dessert will turn a casual tea party into a small holiday with an oriental flavor.
Each dish of Uzbek cuisine is a separate story, the aftertaste of which will excite you for a very long time. Want even more delicious stories? Take a look at the page with recipes of Uzbek cuisine with step-by-step photos on our website. And tell us about your favorite dishes in the comments.