Kyrgyz cuisine
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Kyrgyz cuisine is the cuisine of the Kyrgyz, who comprise a majority of the population of Kyrgyzstan. The cuisine is similar in many aspects to that of their neighbors. Kyrgyz cuisine is rich and unique and has every chance to interest lovers of gastronomic tourism. A special philosophy inherent in the mentality of Kyrgyz people is contained in the saying: “Tash menen urgandy ash menen ur” (if people throw stones at you, offer food to them instead)[1].
Traditional Kyrgyz food revolves around mutton, beef and horse meat, as well as various dairy products. The preparation techniques and major ingredients have been strongly influenced by the nation's historically nomadic way of life. Thus, many cooking techniques are conducive to the long-term preservation of food. Mutton and beef are the favorite meats, although in modern times many Kyrgyz are unable to afford them regularly.
Kyrgyzstan is home to many different nationalities and their various cuisines. In larger cities, such as Bishkek, Osh, Jalal-Abad, and Karakol, various national and international cuisines can be found. Non-Kyrgyz cuisines that are particularly common and popular in Kyrgyzstan include Uyghur, Dungan, Uzbek, and Turkish cuisines, representing the largest minorities in the country.
Meat dishes
Meat in various forms has always been an essential part of Kyrgyz cuisine. Among the most popular meat dishes are horse-meat sausages (kazy or chuchuk), roasted sheep's liver, beshbarmak (a dish containing boiled and shredded meat with thin noodles), and various other delicacies made from horse meat.
Beshbarmak is the Kyrgyz national dish, although it is also common in Kazakhstan and in Xinjiang (where it is called narin). It consists of horse meat (or mutton/beef) boiled in its own broth for several hours and served over homemade noodles sprinkled with parsley. Beshbarmak means "Five Fingers" in the Kyrgyz language, and is so called probably because the dish is typically eaten with the hands. Beshbarmak is most often made during a feast to celebrate the birth of a new child, an important birthday, or to mourn a death in the family, either at a funeral or on an anniversary. If mutton is used instead of horse meat, a boiled sheep's head is placed on the table in front of the most honored guest, who cuts bits and parts from the head and offers them around to the other guests at the table.[2]
Dymdama is a stew consisting of meat, potatoes, onions, vegetables. Preparation method: meat is cut into portions, placed in a frying pan and stewed together with chopped onion rings. Then, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, bell peppers, and eggplant, cut into wedges, are added. Cabbage, cut into large pieces, is placed on top in layers. Garlic is added and a small amount of broth poured in. The pot is covered tightly and the mixture stewed over low heat for 1–1.5 hours until tender. The dish is sprinkled with herbs when serving.[3]
Kuurdak is one of the main meat dishes.
Skewered chunks of mutton grilled over smoking coals that come with raw sliced onions, is served in restaurants and often sold on the street. The meat is usually marinated for hours before cooking. Shashlyk can also be made from beef, chicken, and fish. Each shashlik typically has a fat-to-meat ratio of one-to-one.
Shorpo (or sorpo) is a meat soup.The meat is cut into pieces and cooked in water until the meat is tender on low heat for about 2 h. For 15-25 minutes until ready chopped carrots, turnips, potatoes, sliced halves of tomatoes and onions are added to the soup. Salted and peppered, poured into cups, finely served with chopped greens[3].
Laghman is a dish consisting of meat, vegetables and pulled noodles. Unleavened dough is kneaded and kept for 1 hour to rise under a damp towel, then cut into bundles, oiled and infused for 1.5 hours. Bunches of dough are formed into noodles by hand, stretching the wheat flour dough into long elastic strips. The noodles are boiled in salted water for 5 minutes, washed with cold water, greased with vegetable oil and portioned. Lamb or beef meat is cut into cubes (0.7 × 0.7 cm) and fried until golden brown. Salt, pepper, tomato puree and chopped onions are added and fried for another 5– 10 minutes, then chopped radish green is added and fried again for 10 minutes. At the end, broth is added and the mixture cooked until done. Finely chopped garlic and herbs are added 10–15 minutes before the end of cooking. When serving, the noodles are scalded with boiling water, placed in a kese, poured into a prepared sauce with meat and sprinkled with herbs[3].
Paloo (Template:Lang-ky or күрүч/аш) is the Kyrgyz version of what is generally referred to as plov in Central Asian cuisine. It consists of pieces of meat (generally mutton or beef, but sometimes chicken) fried in a large qazan (a cast-iron cauldron) and mixed with fried shredded carrots, jiucai(garlic chives) and cooked rice. The dish is garnished with whole fried garlic cloves and hot red peppers. Uzgen paloo is made with locally grown rice from the southern Uzgen District of Kyrgyzstan. Shirin paloo, a close relative of shirin plov in Azerbaijani cuisine,[citation needed] is a vegetarian dish in which meat is replaced with dried fruits, such as prunes, apricots, and raisins.
Paloo is the Kyrgyzified form of the Persian word polow or polo, related in etymology to pilaf. In Russian the dish is called plov (Template:Lang-ru), in Turkish pilav, in Turkic languages ash, and in Tajik osh.
Preparation method: meat is cut into pieces (3–4 pieces per serving) and fried in a cauldron, then chopped onions and carrots are placed on top and fried until are crisp-tender and browned. Water is added and the mixture boiled for 30–40 minutes. Prepared rice (pre-sorted and soaked in salted water, the ratio of water to rice 1: 1) is laid out in a cauldron in an even layer and boiled until the rice has completely absorbed the liquid. The rice is collected to the centre, a well is made and pre-heated vegetable oil is poured in. Barberry is added, the pot is covered with a lid and the dish is ready to eat within 25–30 minutes. Paloo is served in kese, and the meat is placed over rice and vegetables. Plov can be served with a salad of fresh tomatoes, fresh sliced apples and strawberries [3].
Noodles and dumplings
Manty are steamed dumplings filled with ground meat and onions.
Samsa are little pockets with meat and vegetables wrapped in flaky pastry or bread, very similar to Indian samosas. They are most often stuffed with mutton and fat, but are also made with chicken, cheese, cabbage, beef, and even pumpkin. They can be bought in most bazaars or on street corners in larger cities.
Lagman (or laghman) is a very popular noodle dish. It consists of thick noodles created by stretching a very simple flour dough, then covered in chopped peppers and other vegetables and served in a spicy vinegary sauce. Lagman is served everywhere in Kyrgyzstan, but is considered a Dungan or Uyghur dish.
Bread and tea
Common types of bread (Template:Lang-ky [nɑn]) available in Kyrgyzstan include Central Asian flat bread (nan), and thick, sturdy Turkish breads. Central Asian flat bread is cooked over coals in tandoori (Template:Lang-ky [tɑndɯr]) ovens, and is round and relatively flat.
More traditional bread products include qattama and boorsoq, two types of fried bread.
The Kyrgyz often eat various breads by dipping it in jam, kaymak, butter (or sary may), etc. Boorsoq is sometimes eaten suspended in tea, or dipped in honey.
Bread is valued as sacred in Kyrgyz culture, and a good host always offers a guest bread at the very least (often with tea), even if the guest is only staying for a few moments.
Beverages
A popular Kyrgyz beverage is kymyz (Template:Lang-ky [qɯmɯz]), a slightly alcoholic drink made by fermenting mare's milk. This drink is considered to be the signature drink of Euroasian nomadic culture, as it is also consumed in Kazakhstan and Mongolia. Fresh kymyz is only available in the summer, from about May until August, when it can commonly be purchased by the roadside in mountainous areas. Bottled kymyz is also available year-round in most food shops in the country.[1]
There are many beverages that could be described as traditional Kyrgyz drinks. One such popular non-alcoholic beverage, especially in the summer, is maksym, a slightly fizzy drink made by fermenting grains. Maksym was traditionally made in small quantities by women for family consumption; however, this drink was introduced as a commercial product in Bishkek by the company 'Shoro', after which it became widely available all over Kyrgyzstan. Maksym is usually made from malt, but other types of grains may be used in its preparation. There are different methods and recipes for it that vary by region. It is prepared by boiling grounded malt or other type of cereals in water. After reaching a certain state of readiness this substance is cooled and undergoes a fermentation process caused by yeast. Maksym is usually consumed chilled[1].
Jarma is a similar drink derived from ground cereals. It is made in almost the same way as maksym, except that it isn't fermented, instead it is mixed with ayran to make it slightly fizzy[1].
Another fizzy drink made from ayran is chalap (sometimes marketed as Tan). Other traditional drinks are sheep's milk and its products (such as qurut) and camel's milk. The two primary companies that commercially produce Kyrgyz national drinks are Shoro and Enesay.
Bozo is a slightly alcoholic drink prepared from wheat.[4]The production method of Kyrgyz traditional beverage Bozo, in contrast, has its own characteristics. According to the typical traditional production process, the Bozo production can be summarized in several steps: (1) preparation of the cereals, (2) boiling, (3) cooling and mashing by addition of ground malt, (4) fermentation, (5) filtration, and (6) storage. During the production of Bozo, malt produced from barley is usually used as a source for a-amylase and glucoamylase. The resulting amount of fermentable sugars is a significant factor, which is finally a decisive factor for the resulting amount of ethanol that is produced during the fermentation process of Bozo [5].
References
- ^ a b c d Smanalieva, Jamila; Iskakova, Janyl; Musulmanova, Mukarama (2022-09-01). "Milk- and cereal-based Kyrgyz ethnic foods". International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science. 29: 100507. doi:10.1016/j.ijgfs.2022.100507. ISSN 1878-450X.
- ^ "Kyrgyztan (sic) Cuisine". Kyrgyzstan.net.my. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
- ^ a b c d Smanalieva, Jamila; Iskakova, Janyl; Musulmanova, Mukarama; Giertlova, Anna (2022-07-06). Kyrgyzstan’s Food Composition Table. figshare. doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.20237163.v1.
- ^ "Kyrgyzstan - popular drinks". Advantour.com. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
- ^ Iskakova, Janyl; Smanalieva, Jamila; Methner, Frank-Juergen (2019-09-01). "Investigation of changes in rheological properties during processing of fermented cereal beverages". Journal of Food Science and Technology. 56 (9): 3980–3987. doi:10.1007/s13197-019-03865-9. ISSN 0975-8402. PMC 6706483. PMID 31477969.
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