According to ANIMALERTS, Uzbek cuisine is one of the most colorful in the East. Some Uzbek recipes have a long history, and cooking is accompanied by various rituals that have survived to this day. There are about a thousand dishes and recipes in the country, whose origins can be traced back to the time before the Turkic and Mongol invasions, and in different regions of the country they can be prepared in their own way. In the north, they prefer pilaf, fried meat, dough products and flat cakes. In the south, they prepare many types of rather complex dishes from rice and vegetables, and also make excellent desserts. An important place on the local table is occupied by lamb, horse meat, excellent local soups with lots of vegetables, vegetables themselves, fermented milk products and bread. Bread is sacred for an Uzbek. For many centuries it has been baked in the form of non cakes in a tandoor (clay oven), and after baking sprinkled with various seasonings. There are two types of cakes – “obi-non” (a regular cake mixed with water), “patyr” (a festive cake made of puff pastry with the addition of lamb fat), as well as “screen”, “lochire”, “chevat”, “katlama”. ” and others. The most delicious cakes are baked, as they say, in Samarkand, however, in many parts of the country there is a recipe for kneading, while there are very original recipes, as a result of which bread can remain usable for a long time, or gets some kind of unusual taste.. Even the great medieval scholar Abu Ali ibn Sina (Avicenna) recommended using Uzbek bread to treat certain diseases. Pilaf is the most famous dish of Uzbekistan.
According to the legends this dish was invented by Tamerlane himself, but studies show that they knew it on this earth a dozen centuries before the “Great Lame”. Pilaf is widely used both on weekdays and on holidays, simple and very multi-component, it is used almost everywhere in Central Asia. However, Uzbek plov is a very national concept. In different parts of the republic, it is prepared in its own way – from lamb and beef, with “zira” (anise seeds) and barberry, with pepper or saffron, with garlic or dried apricots, in sesame or sunflower oil, but always with onions, carrots and rice. Pilaf is cooked here only by men, with obligatory prayer and special care, in a special cauldron (kagan) and preferably on an open fire. The very procedure for preparing real pilaf is very complicated – here and in a special way chopped and fried vegetables (“zirvan”), and long “hardening” of rice (it is soaked in salt water), and oil mixed in a special way, and a multi-stage boiling and languishing procedure. As a result, this famous dish is obtained, a real culinary attraction of the country. Also, a more liquid variety of pilaf is distinguished here, cooked with a large amount of fat, onions and water – “shawl”. Soups also occupy an important place in the national cuisine of Uzbekistan. These dishes are quite thick, and rich in vegetables, onions and herbs, as well as all kinds of seasonings. The most popular soups include “shurpa”, of which there are dozens of types – “shurpa-chaban” (meat soup made from potatoes, onions and tomatoes), “shurpa-mash” (soup from lamb and a special type of beans “mash”), “kaurma -shurpa “(soup with turnips, potatoes and carrots),” minced lamb soup with mung beans and noodles – “khamrashi” and many other equally interesting dishes. Meat dishes also occupy an important place in the local cuisine.
Traditional Uzbek dishes include cutlets “tukhum-dulma”, “kazi” from horse meat, indispensable kebabs, “chuttan-kebab” from tenderloin, “kukan-kababi” – meat in Kokand, the usual “sih-kabab”, boiled cold meat “yakhna-gusht”, “manty” – a kind of large dumplings (steamed), more similar to our dumplings “barak-chuchvara”, kaurma, kebab, meat stewed in a cauldron with herbs “kazan-kebab” (“kazon- kebob”), cold meat appetizers – “kavurdak” and “khasib”, “langman” (“shima”, “manpar” – noodles with meat), pies with meat and other fillings “balish”, roast “zharkop” and others. Meat is served with fresh vegetables, tomato and cucumber salads “achichuk”, vegetables stewed in layers and “dimlama” meat, indispensable rice or noodles, but they are separate dishes, not side dishes (except for noodles – it is almost always mixed with meat components still under preparation). Meat is also served with ayran, peculiar local yogurts “chakka” and “katyk”, mung bean porridge, thick porridge made from cornmeal, cheese and dairy products “kuezhapha”, butter and all kinds of sauces. It is believed that flour products make up almost half of the local cuisine. Sweets and pastries are served on the table two or three times during meals – both before and after, and in the process of eating. A characteristic feature of local flour products is their baking in a tandoor, which ensures a very high temperature of frying and baking, and, accordingly, a peculiar taste. Characteristic local sweets include “samsa” (“somsa”) – puff pastry pies with meat or other fillings, the famous Uzbek halva, which is cooked here in almost forty-five ways, “zangza” cheesecakes, liquid halva “halvaitar”, butter curly cookies “kush-tili”, puff pastry “katlama”, butter balls “bugirsak”, quince stuffed with nuts “behi-dulma”, melted sugar “novat”, nuts in sugar “chak-chak”, “pashmak” – a kind of cotton candy from caramel, “nisholda” – a kind of meringue with herbal flavor, as well as all sorts of dried fruits and nuts. In addition, Uzbekistan is famous for its fruits, grapes, melons and watermelons.
The main drink of the country is tea. A meal begins with tea, and it ends with tea, and the process of preparing this drink is surrounded by a host of traditions, rituals and rules. Usually it is “pure” tea, without any impurities, although in desert areas milk or sugar is added to tea. The most common green tea is “kok-choy”, which is sometimes mixed with black tea (“mizhoz-choy”) or subjected to a very long infusion in a hot place, getting “rais-choy” – a special tea. Black tea “kora-choy” is the most popular in the capital, and it is also drunk without additives, so tea with sugar even got its own name here – “kand-choy”. Often, various herbs and spices are added to tea, getting “raikhonli-choi” (tea with basil), “zafaronli-choi” (with saffron), “murch-choi” (with pepper), “sedanali-choi” (with nigella seeds) and so on. In addition to tea, various compotes (“meva-suvi”), infusions (“suvi”), sherbets (“sharvati”) from various ingredients, sour-milk drinks (“airan”) or yogurts (“katyk”) with various ingredients are consumed here in large quantities. ice. Beer, wine, vodka, all kinds of brandies and sparkling wines are widely available in all retail outlets and restaurants, but the Uzbeks themselves drink alcohol in small quantities. Dry and vintage wines of local production are famous for their first-class taste and are quite inexpensive (products of the Samarkand winery, as well as Marvarid and Omar Khayyam wines are considered the best).
