Turkmenistan

🇹🇲Turkmenistan

Balyk Shara

Balyk şara

Caspian fish is lightly floured, fried until crisp, and served hot with flatbread and a sharp accompaniment.

🇹🇲Turkmenistan

Batyrma

A Turkmen lamb stew with vegetables, cooked slowly in its own juices.

🇰🇿Kazakhstan

Baursak

Бауырсақ

Baursak is Kazakh fried yeast dough that puffs and turns golden, served with tea, soups, or main courses.

🇹🇲Turkmenistan

Bekmes

Grape or melon juice is reduced slowly into a thick Turkmen syrup used as a spread or sweetener.

🇹🇲Turkmenistan

Beshbarmak

Beşbarmak

Boiled lamb or mutton is laid over wide noodles and finished with onion sauce and a bowl of meat broth.

🇹🇲Turkmenistan

Chekdirme

Çekdirme

A Turkmen stew of mutton or lamb browned then slowly braised with onions, fresh tomatoes, peppers, and potatoes; sprinkled with parsley and served with flatbread; a TasteAtlas-listed dish; a hearty, everyday Turkmen meal that showcases the simplicity of Central Asian meat cooking.

🇹🇲Turkmenistan

Chorek

Çörek

Turkmen flatbread baked in a tandyr (tandoor oven); round, golden-brown, with a thick crust and soft interior; the staple bread of Turkmenistan, eaten with every meal; also called tandyr nan; the bread is slapped onto the inner wall of the hot clay oven and bakes in minutes; no Turkmen meal is complete without it.

🇹🇲Turkmenistan

Chuchvara

Чучвара

Chuchvara is an Uzbek boiled dumpling filled with minced meat and spices, served in clear broth or with sour cream.

🇹🇲Turkmenistan

Cracked Wheat with Mutton

Ýarma

Cracked wheat cooked in sheep fat with very small pieces of mutton mixed in for flavor; claimed to have existed for at least one thousand years; the name comes from the Turkmen word ýarym meaning 'half, split'; a hearty, ancient dish that reflects the agrarian and pastoral roots of Turkmen cuisine; listed in Wikipedia's Turkmen cuisine.

🇹🇲Turkmenistan

Dograma

A ceremonial Turkmen dish of çörek flatbread torn into pieces, combined with boiled mutton, sliced onions, and tomato, all drenched in a flavorful meat broth; the name means 'to chop up'; prepared for special occasions and religious holidays; a communal dish where everyone participates in tearing the bread by hand.

🇹🇲Turkmenistan

Etli Köje

A traditional Turkmen sorghum porridge with meat; sorghum was introduced to the Turkmen by trade on the Silk Road; the dish is ancient and traditionally prepared for the Nowruz festival; listed in Wikipedia's Turkmen cuisine; a hearty, nutty porridge that reflects the deep agricultural history of the region.

🇹🇲Turkmenistan

Fitchi

A savoury Turkmen pastry filled with minced meat and onion, sealed into a thin round crust and baked until browned.

🇹🇲Turkmenistan

Gainatma

Gaýnatma

A Turkmen noodle dish in a light broth with meat.

🇹🇲Turkmenistan

Gaplama

A Turkmen pilaf of rice cooked with lamb and carrots.

🇹🇲Turkmenistan

Gatlama

A Turkmen layered bread, steamed or baked, soft and buttery.

🇹🇲Turkmenistan

Gowurma

A nomadic preservation method of frying lamb in its own fat and storing it in sealed containers; traditionally eaten in winter or on long journeys when fresh meat was unavailable; now considered a delicacy paired with fresh bread and pickled vegetables; a practical dish born from the desert environment and nomadic lifestyle.

🇹🇲Turkmenistan

Ichlekli

Türkmen etli çöregi

Minced lamb or beef, onion, and spice are sealed inside dough and baked in a tandyr until the filling stays juicy.

🇹🇲Turkmenistan

Kakmach

Kakmaç

Preserved dried meat prepared in individual portions or strips; may be fried in fat or baked in a tandoor, but traditionally dried like jerky in the hot desert sun; a practical preservation method from nomadic life; listed in Wikipedia's Turkmen cuisine; paired with bread and vegetables as a snack or appetizer.

🇮🇷Iran

Kashk

کشک

Drained fermented whey dried into hard balls or sold as a thick liquid, used to finish soups and aubergine dishes with a sharp, funky saltiness.

🇹🇷Turkey

Kaymak

Қаймақ

Thick clotted cream, essential for breakfasts and desserts.

🇰🇿Kazakhstan

Kazy

Қазы

Horse-rib meat and fat are packed into a natural casing, then salted, smoked or boiled, and sliced into rich coins.

🇹🇲Turkmenistan

Kelle Bash Ayak

Kelle baş aýak

A traditional Turkmen dish of boiled sheep's head and feet; listed in Wikipedia's Turkmen cuisine as a festive food; the head is boiled until tender and served whole or dissected; a dish that reflects the nomadic tradition of using every part of the animal; considered a delicacy and served at special occasions.

🇰🇬Kyrgyzstan

Kesme

Кесме

Hand-cut square noodles boiled in a mutton and vegetable broth, a thick everyday soup of the highland villages.

🇷🇺Russia

Korean Carrot Salad (Morkovcha)

Морковь по-корейски

Spicy marinated carrot salad invented by Soviet-deported Koryo-saram cooks: julienned carrots dressed with garlic, coriander seed, chili and hot oil.

🇰🇿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

🇰🇿Kazakhstan

Manty

Мәнті

Manty are Kazakh steamed dumplings filled with minced lamb or beef, onions, and spices, served with kaymak.

🇹🇷Kayseri, Turkey

Mantı

Мантуу

Tiny dumplings stuffed with spiced minced lamb or beef, boiled and served under a blanket of garlic yogurt. The dish is finished with a pour of sizzling melted butter and a sprinkle of dried mint or red pepper flakes. Kayseri is famous for producing mantı so small that forty fit on a spoon.

🇺🇿Uzbekistan

Moshkhurda

Moshxurda

A Uzbek mung bean and rice soup with meat and vegetables

🇦🇿Azerbaijan

Nabat

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

🇰🇬Tashkent, Kyrgyzstan

Naryn

Нарын

Boiled horse meat and fat shredded by hand and tossed through thin sheets of noodle with raw onion, served cool with a bowl of broth.

🇰🇿Kazakhstan

Nauryz Kozhe

Наурыз көже

A Kazakh festive Nauryz soup with seven symbolic ingredients: meat, milk, salt, grain, butter, flour, and water, a spring and cultural icon

🇹🇯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.

🇹🇲Turkmenistan

Pishme

Pişme

Yeasted dough is cut or shaped, deep-fried until golden, and served with green tea as a light Turkmen pastry.