Uzbek Dough Products

Uzbek Dough Products

Some claim that after eating Uzbek dough products, they find it difficult to enjoy similar foods in other countries.
Samsas, a famous Uzbek food, are individual pies with a savory filling which are baked in a clay tandoor oven. The dough for samsas is usually flaky and they are stuffed with every variety of filling, including minced meat, chopped meat, chicken, potatoes, mushrooms, spinach and pumpkin.
Gumma samsas are a special samsa variety filled with offal. Although less common today than in past times, when made these tasty samsas are cooked in a tandoor oven and served hot.
Manty are steamed dumplings made from unleavened dough. They are usually stuffed with meat which has been cut into very fine pieces (not chopped or put through a meat grinder), a method which ensures maximal juiciness.
Chuchvara are small boiled dumplings that, like Russian pelmeni, are prepared from unleavened egg dough and a meat filling. Yet unlike the Russian variation, the Uzbek dumplings are usually served in a vegetable broth. Fried chuchvara, with its crispy dough and juicy seasoned filling, is a special delight.
Hanum, like manty, is steamed, but instead of being formed into individual dumplings it is rolled into one large, thin layer which is stuffed with a savory filling and rolled up into a log. Potatoes and onions are the traditional filling for hanum, but occasionally pumpkin or meat may be used.
Shivit-oshi and tukhum-barak are both served almost exclusively in Khiva. Shivit-oshi are green noodles made from a dough to which dill has been added. Meat fried with vegetables are scooped on top of the noodles before serving. Tukhum-barak are square dumplings stuffed with raw eggs which are poured into the dough just before boiling.

Uzbek Salads

Due to the abundance of vegetables grown in Uzbekistan, salads are always served to guests along with hot dishes.
There are two Uzbek salads that are often confused. Achichuk (achchik-chuchuk) consists of tomatoes, onions and hot peppers (achchik means hot). Shakarob (shakarap) is a sweet salad of tomatoes and onions seasoned with salt (shakar means sweet). A variation of both of these salads includes cucumbers. Traditionally, both achichuk and shakarob are served with plov.
The famous Tashkent salad is made from boiled beef, fried onions and radishes and is sure to please even those who do not ordinarily like this vegetable.