Azerbaijan

🇦🇿Absheron Peninsula, Azerbaijan

Absheron Saffron

Zəfəran

Saffron grown on the Absheron peninsula near Bilgah, the only place in the region where it is cultivated at scale.

🇬🇪Georgia

Ajapsandali

Აჯაფსანდალი

Aubergine, pepper, tomato, potato and onion stewed together with coriander and garlic, eaten hot or cold.

🇦🇿Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan

Arzuman Kufta

Arzuman küftəsi

Arzuman Kufta is an enormous celebratory Nakhchivan meatball built around a stuffed whole chicken and eggs, made for several people rather than as an everyday kufta.

🇹🇷Turkey

Ayran

Ajran

Ayran is a cold drink of yogurt, water and salt, whisked until lightly foamy. In Bulgaria it is a summer fountain and meal drink, never a sweet yogurt.

🇦🇿Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani Plov

Plov

Rice steamed separately from its topping: saffron-stained grains piled over a crust of flatbread or batter, with the meat, fruit or herb garnish cooked apart and served alongside.

🇦🇿Lankaran, Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani Tea

Çay

Black tea grown in the Lankaran subtropics, brewed strong and served in a pear-shaped armudu glass with jam, sugar cubes and lemon.

🇦🇿Azerbaijan

Badambura

Flaky layered pastry filled with ground almond and cardamom, folded into a plump parcel and dusted with icing sugar.

🇦🇿Baku, Azerbaijan

Baku Pakhlava

Bakı paxlavası

Eight layers of thin dough with ground walnut and cardamom between them, cut in diamonds, glazed with saffron and finished with a half walnut on each piece.

🇦🇿Azerbaijan

Bayanshira

Bayanşirə

Ancient white grape grown in the Ganja and Shamkir valleys, made dry with green apple and a slightly nutty finish.

🇦🇿Azerbaijan

Bozartma

Lamb or chicken stewed with onion, tomato and potato in a covered pot until the sauce reduces around the meat.

🇦🇲Armenia

Bozbash

Bozbaş

Lamb on the bone boiled with chickpeas, chestnuts and sour plums into a clear, faintly sour broth served with the meat still in it.

🇦🇿Azerbaijan

Buglama

Buğlama

Azerbaijani Buğlama gently braises lamb or veal with onion, tomato, herbs, and little added liquid until tender.

🇦🇿Azerbaijan

Dograma

Doğrama

Cold summer dish of bread torn into buttermilk with chopped cucumber, onion and herbs, eaten with a spoon like a soup.

🇦🇿Azerbaijan

Dovga

Dovğa

Yogurt cooked with rice, chickpeas and a great quantity of chopped herbs, stabilised with egg and served hot or cold.

🇦🇿Azerbaijan

Dushbara

Düşbərə

Minute dumplings of lamb mince folded so small that a hundred fit in a bowl, boiled and served in their own broth with vinegar and dried mint.

🇦🇿Azerbaijan

Feseli

Fəsəli

Layered pastry of thin dough, greens and butter baked in a round pan and cut into wedges, closest to a Caucasian pita.

🇦🇿Azerbaijan

Firni

Rice-flour pudding cooked in milk with saffron and rose water, set in a shallow dish and dusted with cinnamon in a pattern.

🇦🇿Azerbaijan

Gurza

Gürzə

Pinched dumplings sealed with a crimped ridge along the top, filled with lamb and onion and boiled in broth.

🇦🇿Goychay, Azerbaijan

Göyçay Pomegranate

Nar

Göyçay Pomegranate is the celebrated Azerbaijani pomegranate crop associated with the Goychay district and its autumn harvest.

🇦🇿Azerbaijan

Herb Kükü

Kükü

Herb Kükü is an Azerbaijani skillet omelette packed with chopped greens and herbs, set into a tender slice rather than built around eggplant.

🇦🇿Azerbaijan

Jiz-Biz

Cız-bız

Lamb offal — liver, heart, kidney, intestine — fried on a flat pan with potato and onion and served straight from it.

🇦🇿Azerbaijan

Kelle Pacha

Kəllə-paça

Sheep's head and trotters simmered overnight into a clear gelatinous broth, eaten at dawn with garlic vinegar and bread.

🇦🇿Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan

Kete

Kətə

Flat pastry stuffed with fried onion and greens or with a sweet flour-and-butter crumb, baked on a griddle.

🇦🇿Azerbaijan

Khashil

Xəşil

Flour cooked into a stiff paste with water, spread on a plate with a well of melted butter and syrup or honey in the middle.

🇦🇲Armenia

Khavits

Խավից

Flour toasted in clarified butter and beaten with hot milk or water and honey into a smooth, rich, spoonable sweet.

🇦🇿Ganja, Azerbaijan

Khingal

Xəngəl

Wide squares or sheets of boiled dough layered with fried mince or dried meat and garlic yogurt, and eaten with the fingers in some regions.

🇦🇿Azerbaijan

Kufta Bozbash

Küftə bozbaş

A single large lamb meatball with a whole dried plum hidden in its centre, poached in chickpea broth with a potato.

🇦🇿Lankaran-Astara, Azerbaijan

Lavangi

Ləvəngi

Chicken or Caspian fish stuffed with a paste of ground walnut, fried onion and sour plum pulp, then baked whole.

🇦🇿Azerbaijan

Lavash

Լավաշ

Paper-thin unleavened bread slapped onto the wall of a clay tonir and peeled off seconds later, dried in stacks and revived with a sprinkle of water.

🇦🇿Azerbaijan

Lula Kebab

Lülə kabab

Minced lamb and tail fat worked until it clings to a flat skewer, grilled over charcoal and slid off into lavash with sumac onion.

🇦🇿Mountainous Shirvan, Azerbaijan

Madrasa

Mədrəsə

Indigenous red grape from Shamakhi, making a dark, soft, low-acid wine that has been the backbone of Azerbaijani reds since Soviet times.

🇦🇿Azerbaijan

Motal

Մոթալ

Sheep's cheese layered with wild thyme and packed into a cured skin or clay jar to ripen for months into a sharp, herbal, crumbly paste.

🇦🇲Armenia

Mulberry Vodka

Թթի օղի

Spirit distilled from white mulberries, cloudy-clear and intensely fruity, credited locally with medicinal properties.

🇦🇿Azerbaijan

Murabba

Mürəbbə

Whole fruit preserved in syrup so it stays intact — walnut, white cherry, fig, watermelon rind, even rose petals — spooned out to eat with tea.

🇦🇿Azerbaijan

Nabat

Sugar syrup crystallises around a string or stick into clear rock candy that is nibbled with tea.

🇦🇿Azerbaijan

Narsharab

Narşərab

Pomegranate juice boiled down to a dark, syrupy, sharply sour sauce, poured over grilled fish and sturgeon.