Tajikistan

🇷🇺Kazan, Russia

Belyashi

Беляши

Belyashi are Tatar fried meat pies with open tops, seasoned ground meat, and onion filling.

🇹🇯Tajikistan

Fatir

Фатир

A flaky flatbread laminated with tail fat or butter and baked in a tandoor so it separates into layers.

🇰🇬Kyrgyzstan

Green Tea

Чойи сабз

Green tea is poured in small bowls and repeatedly returned to the pot so the brew cools and mixes before it is served.

🇹🇯Tajikistan

Halvoitar

Ҳалвойтар

Flour toasted in oil and cooked with sugar syrup into a pourable liquid halva, eaten warm by dipping bread into it.

🇺🇿Uzbekistan

Hasib

Ҳасиб

A Uzbek boiled sausage with rice, blood, and fat, a festive and regional classic

🇹🇯Tajikistan

Jurgot

Ҷурғот

Thick sour milk thinned with water and salted into a drink taken with meals in hot weather.

🇹🇷Turkey

Kaymak

Қаймақ

Thick clotted cream, essential for breakfasts and desserts.

🇺🇿Uzbekistan

Kazan Kabob

Qozon kabob

A Uzbek hearty dish of meat, potatoes, and onions cooked in a kazan

🇰🇿Kazakhstan

Kurt

Құрт

Salted sour milk is strained, shaped into firm pieces, and dried into a tangy travel cheese.

🇨🇳Xinjiang, China

Lagman

Lag'mon

Lagman is a Uyghur and Central Asian noodle dish built from hand-pulled strands served with meat, peppers, onions, and tomato in a savoury broth or sauce.

🇹🇯Tajikistan

Manti

Манту

A Uzbek large steamed dumpling with minced lamb or beef, onions, and fat, served with yogurt, a daily and festive classic

🇹🇯Tajikistan

Mastoba

Мастоба

A thick rice and lamb soup with vegetables, finished at the table with a large spoon of sour chakka.

🇦🇿Azerbaijan

Nabat

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

🇺🇿Uzbekistan

Nishalda

Нишалло

A Uzbek whipped egg white and sugar meringue with soap root or licorice, a festive and tea classic

🇹🇯Tajikistan

Non

Round flatbread baked against the wall of a tandoor, stamped with a centre pattern and served with nearly every meal.

🇹🇯Tajikistan

Oshi Palav

Оши палав

Rice cooked in a cast-iron deg over lamb, yellow carrot, onion and cumin until the fat coats every grain, served in a mound with the meat on top.

🇹🇯Tajikistan

Oshi Tuppa

Оши туппа

Rolled and cut noodles simmered in a light meat and vegetable broth, a homely everyday soup.

🇹🇯Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan

Pamiri Mulberry Flour

Пихт

Dried white mulberries ground into a sweet, sandy flour, pressed into cakes or stirred with butter and eaten by the spoon.

🇹🇯Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan

Pamiri Yak Meat

Гӯшти қутос

Meat from yaks herded on the high Pamir plateau above 3,500 metres, darker and leaner than beef and usually boiled or dried.

🇹🇯Tajikistan

Qurutob

Қурутоб

Torn fatir is softened with a sauce of dissolved qurut and topped with onion, herbs, and fresh vegetables.

🇹🇯Tajikistan

Shakarob

Шакароб

Tomatoes and onions sliced thin, salted and left to release their juice, sometimes with a spoon of chakka stirred through.

🇦🇲Armenia

Shashlik

Шашлық

Shashlik is marinated meat grilled on skewers with onion and rendered fat, a shared Eurasian form rather than a single national dish.

🇹🇯Tajikistan

Shurbo

Шӯрбо

Lamb on the bone boiled slowly with whole potatoes, carrots, turnip and chickpeas, the broth served first and the solids after.

🇦🇫Herat, Afghanistan

Sumalak

Sprouted wheat is ground with water and flour, then stirred overnight into a dark, naturally sweet Navruz pudding shared from a cauldron.

🇹🇲Turkmenistan

Suzma

Süzmə

A thick, tangy Azerbaijani drained yogurt spread, made by hanging qatiq in cloth to remove whey, seasoned with salt and garlic.

🇹🇯Tajikistan

Tajik Halim

Ҳалим

Wheat grains and lamb cooked and beaten together for hours until the mixture pulls into strands, served with butter and cinnamon.

🇹🇯Tajikistan

Tajik Kulcha

Кулча

A small enriched milk bread baked in the tandoor, softer and sweeter than everyday non.

🇹🇯Tajikistan

Tajik Sambusa

Самбӯса

Triangular parcels of layered dough filled with minced lamb and onion or pumpkin, stuck to the wall of a tandoor and baked until blistered.

🇹🇯Tajikistan

Tajik Street Samsa

Самбӯсаи хом

Flaky pastry parcels of lamb and onion sold hot from tandoor shopfronts and bazaar corners all day.

🇹🇯Tajikistan

Tukhmbiryon

Тухмбирён

Eggs fried into a thick omelette with lamb, onion and tomato and cut into wedges for breakfast.

🇹🇯Tajikistan

Turshak

Туршак

Sour dried plums and apricots pressed into cakes or sold loose, eaten as a snack and used to sour stews.

🇹🇯Tajikistan

Tushbera

Тушбера

Small dumplings of minced lamb and onion boiled in broth and served in it with chakka and herbs.

🇹🇯Tajikistan

Ugro

Угро

Hand-cut thin noodles cooked in a lamb and vegetable broth and finished with sour milk and herbs.