Узбекская кухня
Wedding Pilaf (Plov).
A delightful mixture of rice, bits of meat, grated carrots and onions, and raisins (with a clove of roasted garlic on top). The “wedding” part refers to the fact that it’s easy to cook in large quantities (traditionally in a kazan over an open fire) and is often served on special occasions, like weddings.
Manty
Steamed dumplings sprinkled with dill and served with sour cream. Meat, spices, or vegetables can make up the stuffing, so you never know what you’re going to get!
Lagman Soup.
Something of a Central Asian version of ramen, this is a spicy, meaty broth filled with chunks of lamb, handspun noodles, and vegetables. It also comes in a non-soup version.
Chuchvara Soup.
A soup in which small dumplings are boiled in salt water or bouillon and served with sour milk (“suzma”) and seasoned with pepper, onion, tomato paste, black pepper, and sour cream.
Samsa
A triangular dough pastry that’s baked in a tandoor oven so that the bread is somehow both crunchy and super-soft. Like manty, they can be filled with a variety of things, including ground lamb, herbs, and, the most interesting traditional option, pumpkin.
Naryn
An oriental merchant favorite, the dish is composed of hand-spun noodles and boiled jerk meat, served with minced onions and black pepper. Traditionally, it is made with horse-meat.
Dimlama
A hearty stew made of meat, potatoes, onions, vegetables and sometimes fruit. And of course spices. And dill. Always dill.
Kebab (Shaslik)
Chunks of lamb, chicken, or lyulya (a mix of mutton and spices) served on steel skewers and topped with more slices of raw onion than you ever thought you’d encounter. It’s often served with Adjika- a bright red, spicy sauce made from hot red peppers.
Shurpa
A soup made out of fatty meat (usually mutton) and fresh garden vegetables like tomato, carrot, and slices onions. There are two version: Kaytnama (made from fresh meat) and Kovurma (made from fried meat).
Achichuk Salad
Uzbek cuisine doesn’t offer much for the diehard vegetarian, but this dish made up of thinly sliced tomatoes and onions seasoned with spices offers a light, healthy, but still flavorful option.