Tajik cuisine: plov, qurutob, flatbread and endless tea

Tajik cuisine grew up in the mountains and oases of Central Asia, in the Fergana, Samarkand, Bukhara, Khorasan, Hissar and Pamir regions. It is close to Uzbek and Persian cooking, shares a lot with Afghan food, and changes noticeably from one region to the next. You recognize it by meat, rice, tandoor bread, soured dairy and tea at every turn. Mountains, valleys and ingredients Mountains, valleys and varied climates gave this cuisine a wide range of ingredients. The staples are rice, chickpeas, wheat, lentils, mung beans and beans. Favorite vegetables include carrots, pumpkin, turnip, tomatoes and eggplant. Soured dairy is everywhere: katyk, qurut, kaymak, chakka. The meat is mostly mutton, goat and beef, plus poultry. In summer the bazaars are full of grapes, melons, apricots, pomegranates and figs. Tea and bread Tea is more than a drink here: a meal begins and ends with it, and it is the first thing offered to a guest. Most often it is green tea, hot or cold, usually unsweetened, served in small bowls called piolas. There is also shirchoy, tea with milk and butter. The teahouse, or choykhona, is the classic meeting place. Bread, called non, is almost always on the table. Flatbreads are baked in round wood-fired tandoors: flaky fatir, the large girdacha, thin chapoti and the small kulcha. Bread is treated with respect: a dropped piece is set up high, and a loaf is never placed upside down. Soups and dough • Shurbo — a thick soup of meat and potatoes. • Ugro — a noodle soup in meat broth. • Mastoba — a rice soup. • Sambusa — tandoor pastry with a meat or pumpkin filling. • Manti — steamed meat dumplings. • Qurutob — torn fatir soaked in dissolved qurut, topped with vegetables, herbs and fried onion; the classic version has no meat. It is served on a round dish and eaten by hand. Plov and meat Plov is regarded as the main dish: rice, carrots and meat cooked in a heavy cauldron, starting with the zirvak base. Khujand, Dushanbe, Samarkand, Bukhara and Pamir styles are all known. It is served on one large platter with flatbread and a fresh salad. Favorite meat dishes include kabob, shashlik, tanur-kabob from a leg of lamb, and damlama, meat stewed with onions and vegetables. Features and tips 1. For plov the oil is heated in the cauldron first, and only then go in the meat and carrots. 2. Carrots and oil give the rice its golden color, so cut the carrots into thin strips and use plenty. 3. Dishes are seasoned with cumin, barberry, saffron, anise, garlic and fresh herbs such as cilantro, dill, mint and basil. 4. Qurut, katyk and kaymak go into soups and cold dishes and are served with bread. 5. A shared platter and eating by hand are traditional for plov and qurutob, and sweets and fruit stay on the table throughout the meal. Recipes on Oshxonam • Qurutob • Ugro • Oshi burida • Gelak palav • Osh-tuglama • Birinchoba • Kulcha Sources: Wikipedia — «Таджикская кухня»: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Таджикская_кухня Wikipedia — «Tajik cuisine»: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tajik_cuisine Wikipedia — «Курутоб»: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Курутоб