TURKMEN CUISINE

Turkmen cuisine has not yet been the subject of study. The fact is that, firstly, Turkmen cuisine, both in terms of technology and to a large extent in terms of the range of products used, is close to the cuisines of other Central Asian peoples - Uzbeks and Tajiks, so for a long time it was believed that there was no Turkmen cuisine at all; secondly, the inhabitants of different regions of Turkmenistan have their own ethnographic features, including in the field of nutrition, which has made it difficult and still makes it difficult to determine the general characteristics of the Turkmen national cuisine.
The huge desert spaces with rare oases of Turkmenistan led to cattle breeding and contributed to the fact that meat and milk became the main food products for the majority of Turkmens. Only some Turkmens, for example, among the Murchaly people, who were engaged in agriculture, flour dishes prevailed in the past.
Turkmens primarily value lamb meat. However, it is used more often by Teke Turkmens, and Yomud Turkmens, Saryks and others use the meat of gazelles (mountain goats), young non-working camels, and game birds (pheasants, partridges, quails). Beef used to be little known in Turkmenistan, and completely unknown among the Balkhan Yomuds.
Turkmen cuisine, more than the cuisines of other Central Asian peoples, is characterized by purely meat dishes, more precisely, dishes from one meat that has undergone heat treatment without admixture of other products or side dishes.
In most cases, in Turkmenistan, there are methods of cooking meat common to all of Central Asia - frying it in its own fat in small pieces, followed by preservation in earthenware glazed from the inside (among Turkmen this is called "govurma" - a dish similar to the Kazakh and Uzbek "kavurdak"), as well as frying the meat of young animals over coals (kebapa or ball). At the same time, the national Turkmen kebab (kebap) is “keyikjeren kebap”, i.e. kebab from the meat of a young mountain goat. Finally, in Turkmenistan, as in Tajikistan, meat is often baked in a tandoor (tamdyr). At the same time, the Turkmens have such national methods of cooking and preserving meat that are not found among neighboring peoples and are due to specific natural conditions: the presence of high air temperature, dry hot winds and strong heating of the sand. One of these methods, common among the Yomuds, is to dry the meat in the wind under the scorching sun. Very large pieces of meat, along with bones, are strung on the tip of a high pole and left for several days. Such cured-dried meat is called "kakmach". Another method - Tekin - is based on a combination of different environments. In a pre-prepared (i.e., washed and grated with salt and red pepper) stomach of a ram or goat, meat and lard cut into small pieces are stuffed so tightly that there is no air left. After that, the stomach is sewn up and buried in hot sand for a day, and in the evening it is pulled out and tied to a high pole. This change of conditions is repeated until the stomach dries up. Then the meat enclosed in it acquires a pleasant taste, it does not deteriorate for a long time. This meat is called garyn (gastric).
In modern Turkmen cuisine, meat dishes often give way to combined meat-cereals, meat-dough and meat-vegetable dishes common among other peoples of Central Asia and Kazakhstan, i.e. pilaf, manti, beshbarmak, etc.
True, Turkmens have their own names for these dishes, and often they are different. This leads to the fact that it is often thought that we are talking about completely different dishes. So, for example, pilafs are called in Turkmenistan a sh, manti - berek, beshbarmak among the majority of Turkmens - gulak, among the Tekins - squirrel, and among the northern Yomuds - kurtuk. Already from this example, it is clear that Turkmen cuisine combines dishes typical of both Uzbek-Tajik and Kazakh-Kyrgyz cuisine.
Only a minor part of the Turkmen second courses is distinguished by original technological methods and a combination of products not used by neighboring peoples. These dishes include meat-groats and meat-dough ogurjali-ash, yshtykma, etli unash, gatyk-liunash.
As for milk, the most commonly used is camel and sheep, from which various kinds of dairy products are mainly made using lactic acid, rennet and alcohol (yeast) fermentation, followed by straining, churning, squeezing and drying. The Turkmens have a varied dairy table, dairy products undergo complex biochemical and chemical-physical processing. Such, for example, are the original Turkmen dairy products agaran, chal, karagurt, teleme, sykman, and garfish. The originality of dairy products of the Turkmen cuisine is due not only to the originality of the original product - camel milk, but also to the uniqueness of the climatic conditions of Turkmenistan - dry subtropics, creating special conditions for lactic acid and yeast fermentation.
Camel milk and products made from it, mainly chal, are more typical for the western and southwestern parts of Turkmenistan, while in the oases in the east and southeast, sheep's milk is more often consumed.
In contrast to the Uzbek and Tajik cuisines, much fewer vegetables are used in the Turkmen cuisine, which is again due to climatic conditions, and in most cases, the semi-nomadic rather than agricultural way of life of Turkmens in the past. Perhaps, radish and tomatoes are used more often, pumpkin and carrots are used much less often and less often, mung bean is even less common. The lack of vegetables in the diet is partially compensated by greens - sorrel, Turkmen quinoa (gara selma), Turkestan spinach (ysmanak) and tubers of kozelets (skorcener). Of the fruits, the most common is apricot (apricot), used not only in meat and flour, but also in fish dishes. Of melons, melons and watermelons are widely used.
The set of spices used is somewhat different from Uzbek and Tajik. Along with the indispensable onion and red pepper among the Yomuds-Balkhans, Tekins and Saryks, with black pepper among the Yomuds-Ogurdzhalins, most Turkmens widely use mint, wild parsley, azhgon, Tekins - buzhgun (galls of a pistachio tree) for game dishes; instead of turmeric, Turkmens use saffron (especially Ogurdzhalins) and, finally, asafoetida or its substitute - garlic. Apparently, the Turkmens are the only people within the CIS who use asafoetida (chomuch) as a spice (50) and even make a special seasoning from it - alaja (among the Yomuds).
Turkmen cuisine also differs from the cuisines of other Central Asian peoples in a set of fats. Much more widely used in Turkmenistan than melted fat tail fat, which is common throughout Central Asia, is melted butter from camel milk (sary yag) and especially sesame oil, which Turkmens use not only in the manufacture of meat dishes, but also flour, sweet, and fish dishes. .
The presence of fish national dishes among the Turkmens, created by the Caspian Yomuds-Ogurdzhalins, sharply distinguishes the Turkmen cuisine as a whole from other Central Asian cuisines. Even among the Karakalpaks living along the banks of the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, fish dishes are more or less sporadic. And among the Ogurdzhalins they occupy a central place in the kitchen. At the same time, it is important to emphasize not only that the product itself is unusual, rare in the conditions of Central Asia, but also that its preparation technology is special.
Turkmen-Ogurdzhalins adapted fish to traditional Central Asian technology (for example, to frying on a spit or in hot oil, in cauldrons), as well as to traditional Asian plant products - sesame, rice, apricots, raisins, pomegranate juice, which, from the point of view of Europeans , do not combine with fish at all. The result is a whimsical mix that, thanks to the carefully considered proportions of the main products and the skillful combination of spices and fats, gives new, pleasant and unexpected taste effects.
The main condition for the preparation of Turkmen fish dishes is the presence of completely fresh, freshly caught fish; only with such fish can the sweet-sour range of spices be organically combined; in this case, the question of the type of fish is already more or less of secondary importance. Ogurdzhalins themselves use mainly sturgeon, stellate sturgeon, as well as sea and river pike perch, catfish, mullet, carp and kutum.
For the manufacture of Turkmen fish dishes outside Turkmenistan, you can use, in addition to the listed types of fish, cod, hake, grenadier, notothenia, halibut, all perch and carp fish. At the same time, frozen sea fish or fillets do not need to be defrosted beforehand. At the same time, the use of all herrings, which have a specific smell incompatible with sweetish-sour seasoning, is absolutely excluded.
Red fish in Turkmen cuisine is especially often used for cooking kebabs (balyk-shara), as well as kavurdak (balyk gavurdak). At the same time, the same technology is completely preserved as for meat. For balyk-shar, pieces of fish, previously salted and interleaved on a rod (skewer) with onion circles, are fried over coals. For gavurdak balyk, as well as for ordinary kavurdak, small pieces of fish, freed from bones, are fried in their own fat (specially cut from the abdominal part) in a cauldron, sometimes with a small addition of overheated sesame oil, after being placed in earthenware jugs, they are poured with melted tail fat.
Other fish dishes - haplama, cheme, balyk berek, balykly yanakhly ash - are much more complex combinations of products and processing techniques. Some of them resemble the preparation of pilaf and manti, i.e. meat products, while others have no analogues among meat dishes, since the speed of cooking fish, compared to meat, dictates a special technology.
Ogurdzhalintsy, as a rule, subject fish to mixed methods of pre-treatment and heat treatment. For example, fish is dried and then fried; treated with salt and acid, and then simmered or fried; or boiled, and then simmered and treated with acid. The main purpose of these operations is to adapt the fish to the sweet-sour and sweet-spicy range of related products and spices.
Thus, the fish dishes created by the Turkmens of the southwestern part of the republic stand out from the general Central Asian cuisine and are the original contribution of the Turkmen people to the world culinary art.
That is why, when reviewing the main national dishes of the Turkmen cuisine, we will pay attention mainly to the most original dairy products made from camel milk and fish dishes of the Turkmen-Ogurdzhalins.
The vast majority of Turkmens, especially those neighboring Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, that is, in the eastern and central regions of Turkmenistan, are closer in their cuisine to the peoples of these republics.
Differences in traditional dishes and tastes of the Caspian Turkmens and Turkmens from the eastern regions of the republic are visible at least from the following example. When the Tekins eat beef, if they like it, they say: “What a delight, like lamb!”. When Ogurdzhalians eat lamb, they praise it in their own way: “What a charm - just like sturgeon!”.
It is known that the Turkmens, like the rest of the peoples of Central Asia, drink a lot of tea, but the Tekins, Saryks, Mervs drink green tea, like their immediate neighbors - the Uzbeks, and the Yomuds - Balkhans and Ogurdzhalins - black tea, like the Kazakhs. At the same time, with black tea, they drink fresh camel milk, with which tea is “brewed”, as it were, and then put on coals for a short time. This use of milk instead of water for tea brewing is largely due to the fact that the water in the areas inhabited by the Yomuds is too brackish and hard.
As for sweets, among the Turkmens they are basically the same as among the Uzbeks, but their assortment essentially boils down to alarms and bekmes (doshabs) made from watermelon and less often grape juice. The only actually national Turkmen sweetness is a special mass of the halva type, prepared from the roots of the lily plant cheresh (chyrysh), from which the yomuds extract gum trigant and cook from it, in combination with vegetable juices (grape, watermelon, melon, etc.) and spices, a jam-like mass .
Notes:
50. Asafoetida is found in the wild in South-East Kazakhstan, but the author has no information about its use in Kazakh cuisine. However, the Kazakhs in Xinjiang and Dungan, and the Uyghurs living in Kazakhstan have used asafoetida in the past. Due to the pungent smell, asafoetida is used in minimal doses: they do not put it in dishes, but draw one or two lines along the bottom of the boiler with a piece of asafoetida, and then lay rice, vegetables, meat, etc. This is enough to make the whole dish acquire garlic- onion aroma. One trait is equal to two bulbs in terms of the strength of the smell.

The huge desert spaces with rare oases of Turkmenistan led to cattle breeding and contributed to the fact that meat and milk became the main food products.

After the Great October Socialist Revolution, the conditions of life and life of the Turkmen people radically changed. Significant changes have taken place in the national cuisine of the Turkmen during the years of Soviet power. New products, in the past hardly accessible to the broad masses of working people, appeared: potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage, pasta and confectionery, sugar, various canned fish, meat and vegetables. The diet has become much richer. But Turkmens still cook their favorite dishes from meat, flour and dairy products. Lamb, goat meat, camel meat, less often beef, are included in the daily menu of the population. Dishes are prepared mainly from natural meat.

In most cases, the preparation of meat comes down to frying its small pieces in its own fat with further stewing in earthenware (this is “govurma” - a dish similar to the Uzbek and Kazakh “kavurdak”) or frying the meat of young animals over hot coals “kebala” or “ ball"). At the same time, kebab from the meat of a young mountain goat is considered a purely national Turkmen shish kebab (“key-ikjeren kebap”).

The Turkmens have such methods of cooking and preserving meat that are not found in other Central Asian peoples. Special climatic conditions contribute to this: high air temperature, dry hot winds and strong heating of the sand. One of these methods is drying meat in the wind under the scorching sun. Very large pieces of meat are strung on the tip of a high pole and left for several days. Such cured-dried meat is called "kakmach".

Combinations of meat with other products have already begun to be used in modern Turkmen cuisine: meat and flour, meat and cereals, meat and vegetables. These dishes are similar to pilafs, manti, beshbarmak already known to us, but the Turkmens have their own differences and other names. So, pilafs are called "ash", beshbarmak - "gulak" (among the Tekins - "squirrel", Yomuds - "kurtuk"), manti - "berek". The Turkmens also have their own, national, meat-cereal and meat-flour dishes: ogurjali-ash, yshtykma, etli unash, gatykli unash.

Of all the Central Asian cuisines, only Turkmen in a number of regions, especially those adjacent to the Caspian Sea, widely uses fish in their diet, and among the Ogurjaly people it even occupies a central place in the kitchen. Turkmens-Ogurdzhalins have adapted fish to traditional Central Asian technology, i.e. they are fried on a spit or in overheated oil in cauldrons and consumed with sesame, rice, apricots, raisins, pomegranate juice, i.e. with products that, from the point of view of a European, are not combined with fish. Ogurdzhalins mainly use sturgeon, stellate sturgeon, as well as sea and river pike perch, catfish, mullet, carp and kutum. The use of all herrings, which have a specific smell that is not combined with a sweetish-sour seasoning that goes with fish, is absolutely excluded.

In the diet of Turkmens, especially the rural population, a large place is occupied by flour products. National Turkmen bread - churek; it is baked outdoors in special tandoor ovens. Bread is made from sour, unleavened (petyr-chorek) and puff (gatlam) dough, and is also baked in the form of pancakes (charadi).

A lot of vegetables are used in Turkmen cuisine: radish, tomatoes, pumpkin, carrots; from legumes - beans, mung beans, peas. The abundance of onions, herbs and spices is also characteristic. The set of spices is also special. Along with the obligatory onion and red pepper, mint, wild parsley, azhgon, buzhguk (pistachio tree golls), saffron, asafoetida or its substitute - garlic are widely used. Due to the specific smell, asafoetida is used in minimal doses: they do not put it in dishes, but draw one or two lines along the bottom of the boiler with it. This is enough for the dish to acquire a garlic-onion flavor.

In the preparation of first courses, the traditional method is preserved: the meat is first fried and the soup is more fragrant, acquires a golden brown hue.

The range of cold snacks is limited. Turkmen cuisine differs significantly from other cuisines in a set of fats. Much wider than the melted fat tail fat commonly used in Central Asia is melted butter from camel milk (sary yag) and especially sesame oil, which the Turkmens use in the manufacture of both meat and fish, flour and sweet dishes.

Various dairy products are very popular in Turkmenistan. Milk - cow's and sheep's, goat's and camel's - is consumed both natural and processed. The original Turkmen dairy products agaran (camel milk cream), chal (a wonderful soft drink), karagurt, teleme, sykman, and garfish are obtained from it with the help of lactic acid, rennet and alcohol (yeast) fermentation.

The most common drink in Turkmenistan is tea, and they drink it a lot. In most regions of the republic, as a rule, green tea (“gek tea”) is brewed, and cattle breeders of Western Turkmenistan prefer black tea (“gara tea”), into which they add fresh camel milk.

Sweets among Turkmens are basically the same as among other peoples of Central Asia, although the range is sharply limited and essentially boils down to kabat and bekmes from watermelon and, less often, grape juice. Of the fruits, the most common is apricot (apricot), of melons - watermelons and melons.

Recipes of Turkmen cuisine

1 . Stuffed liver

The liver is cut along the entire length, part of the pulp is cut out, the resulting recess is filled with minced meat, and the edges are sewn with twine. To prepare minced meat, viscous buckwheat porridge is boiled, sautéed onions, carrots, stewed and chopped liver, salt, pepper and ice cream are added. Stuffed liver is poured with sauce and stewed until tender. When serving, the liver is poured with the sauce in which it was stewed and sprinkled with herbs.

Beef or lamb liver 180, onion 30, carrot 30, butter 15, buckwheat porridge 50; for lezon: flour 3, milk 5, egg 1/3 pc., salt, spices, sauce 50.

2. Liver stuffed

The liver is stuffed with carrots, garlic, pasta and tail fat. Then it is fried, poured with sauce and stewed until tender. The finished liver is cut into portions and served with a side dish, pour sauce on top.

Beef or lamb liver 135, carrot 15, garlic 5, pasta 10, tail fat 10, salt, spices, sauce 75, garnish 150.

3. Stuffed tomatoes

In a medium-sized tomato, the core is removed, filled with minced meat, poured with sauce and stewed until tender. To prepare minced meat, the liver is scalded, passed through a meat grinder and combined with sautéed onions and carrots. When serving, stuffed tomatoes are sprinkled with herbs.

Tomatoes 120, onions 35, carrots 55, beef or lamb liver 45, tomato 10, salt, spices, herbs 35, sour cream 30 or sauce 75.

4. Chorba Turkmen

The meat is cut into small cubes, about the same - pumpkin and tomatoes, chopped onions. The meat is fried in its own fat, if necessary, add oil, then put the prepared vegetables and onions, stew together for 20–25 minutes. Everything is poured with boiling water, peppered, salted and boiled over moderate heat until tender. Before serving, stale cakes are crumbled into plates, poured with broth, then the thick part of shorba is laid out.

Lamb 190, melted butter 10, tomatoes 45, onion 55, pumpkin 100, pepper, salt.

5. Shorba Ogurdzhalinsky

The egg is beaten with water and finely chopped dill, salt is added, flour is poured in and a stiff dough is kneaded. They let it lie down for 15 minutes under a damp towel, then roll it into a thin layer, cut the noodles (half of the prepared noodles are used for shorba). Oil is heated in a cast-iron frying pan, chopped onion, carrots cut into thin strips are added, fried for 10 minutes, then transferred to an enameled pan. Put small pieces of fish on top, add salt, pepper, part of the bay leaf, saffron, pour in boiling water and cook for 5-7 minutes. Then noodles are poured into the boiling shorba, the rest of the spices are put in and boiled until the noodles are ready.

Fish 190, onion 35, carrot 20, sesame or other vegetable oil 15, saffron, ground black and red pepper, bay leaf, parsley, salt; for noodles: wheat flour 40, egg 1/2 pc., dill 5, water 10.

6. Shurpa soup

Potatoes cut into large cubes are poured with broth, allowed to boil, after which tomatoes are added, cut into four parts, lightly sauteed onions, carrots, flour, bay leaves, peppers and boiled until tender. Soup is served with a piece of boiled lamb and sour cream.

Lamb 80, mutton fat or animal fat 10, sour cream 15, flour 10, potatoes 185, onions 20, tomatoes 80, carrots 25, salt, spices.

7. Shurpa-mash (mung soup)

Rice is placed in the broth, brought to a boil, after which mung bean, carrots, onion, diced, sauteed tomato are placed and brought to a boil.

Lamb 110, margarine 5, mung bean 20, rice 25, carrot 15, onion 15, tomato 15, salt, spices.

8. Dogroma-chorba (soup)

Lamb, kidneys, heart, lung are boiled, then finely chopped. Salt, pepper, tomatoes or tomato are added to the broth when cooking meat products. The churek is crushed into pieces, the onion is chopped. Meat, churek and onion are combined, poured with broth and brought to readiness.

Lamb 80, lamb kidneys 35, heart 35, lung 16, melted butter 10, tomato 15, onion 60, churek 200, salt, spices.

9. Nokudly chorba (soup with peas and lamb)

Lamb is cut into 2-3 pieces with a bone per serving, poured with water and boiled together with peas and peppers. The onion is finely chopped, sautéed and put into the soup 15-20 minutes before the end of cooking.

Lamb 115, shelled peas 50, onion 15, mutton fat 10, ground red pepper, salt.

10. Unash (bean soup with noodles)

Lamb and beans are poured with water and boiled for an hour, then noodles, sautéed onions, peppers are added and cooking is continued until tender. Topped with sour milk. Lamb 75, beans 40, wheat flour of the 1st grade 1.5, eggs 5, onion 15, mutton fat 15, sour milk 150, ground red pepper, salt.

11. Umpach-zashi (flour soup)

Wheat flour is dried in a frying pan, when the color of the flour turns brown, diluted with water so that there are no lumps, finely chopped sautéed onion, salt, ground red pepper are added and allowed to boil. Sprinkle with parsley or cilantro before serving.

Wheat flour 50, melted mutton fat or cottonseed oil 20, onion 15, pepper, herbs, salt.

12. Gara chorba (soup with tomatoes)

Lamb is cut into pieces weighing 15–20 g and fried until a crispy crust is formed, then 1/3 of the chopped onion (from the norm) is put in and fried together with lamb. After that, the meat is put in a bowl, poured with water, sliced ​​tomatoes or tomato puree are added and the lamb is cooked until cooked. When serving, place raw chopped onion on top.

Lamb 145, lamb fat 10, tomatoes 40, tomato puree 10, onion 100, salt.

13. Mastava soup

The beef is cut into pieces, poured with cold water and boiled until cooked, then the broth is filtered and potatoes cut into large cubes, tomatoes in quarters, onions and carrots lightly sliced, rice, salt, pepper, bay leaf are put into it. When serving, put sour cream and a piece of meat into the soup, sprinkle with parsley or dill.

Beef 80, table margarine 10, sour cream 15, rice 30, potatoes 75, carrots 25, onions 20, tomatoes 40, bay leaf, pepper, herbs, salt.

14. Kyufta-shurpa (soup with meat sausages)

Peas are poured with broth and boiled until fully cooked. The meat is passed through a meat grinder twice, mixed with semi-cooked rice, seasoned to taste with salt, pepper and eggs are added. From this mass, kyufta is cut into 2 pieces. per portion in the form of sausages. Potatoes are placed in the broth, allowed to boil, then finely chopped sautéed onions, carrots and kyufta are placed there, red tomatoes or tomato puree and a decoction in which peas were boiled are added and boiled until tender.

Bones 100, lamb 75, rice 20, animal fat 10, peas 20, carrots 25, eggs 1/2 pc., potatoes 50, red tomatoes 40 or tomato puree 10, onion 25, pepper, salt.

15. Suitly-unash (milk soup with noodles)

They prepare ordinary homemade noodles, but they are chopped 10–15 cm long. They are boiled in a mixture of milk and water.

Wheat flour of the 1st grade 90, milk 300, water 150, salt.

16. Etli Borek Chorbasy (soup with dumplings)

Etli borek chorbasy is prepared in the same way as Siberian dumplings, only the products are shaped into quadrangles 4x4 cm in size. Served with meat broth.

17. Naryn (soup)

Lamb and smoked brisket are poured with cold water, allowed to boil, the heat is reduced and boiled until cooked, then the meat is taken out, cooled, cut into oblong pieces in the form of noodles. Chopped onions are fried in fat tail fat, combined with meat. Unleavened dough is kneaded from flour, water, salt, thinly rolled out and cut into noodles. Slightly dried noodles are dipped in strained boiling broth, salt is added and boiled until the noodles are ready. When serving, put noodles on a plate, then meat with sauteed onions, sprinkle with black pepper and pour hot broth.

Lamb 75, brisket 60, tail fat 10, onion 75, pepper, salt;

for noodles: wheat flour 40, water 60, salt.

18. Belke (dough garnish)

The dough is kneaded as for noodles (you can make the dough without an egg), thinly rolled out, cut into 4-4 cm squares and dipped in boiling water, boiled in water until cooked and discarded in a colander. When serving, put the product on a plate, pour it with broth and add sour cream or sour milk. Belke can be served with govurma.

Bones 200, onions 5, carrots 5, wheat flour 100, eggs 20, sour cream 25 or sour milk 80, or govurma 110, salt.

19. Gainatma

Fatty lamb (loin or brisket) is cut into pieces of 20–30 g with bones, poured with cold water, onions are added. When the soup boils, put the washed peas and boil. 20 minutes before readiness add potatoes, tomatoes, spices. Fresh tomatoes can be replaced with dried tomatoes or tomato.

Lamb 160, peas 50, potatoes 110, onions 25, fresh tomatoes 120, bay leaf, pepper, salt.

20. Okroshka Ashgabat

The dish is prepared from the products indicated in the layout.

It is allowed to replace fresh cucumbers with pickles and radishes, and lamb with beef and lean pork. Okroshka is also prepared with potatoes, reducing the amount of meat by 20 g.

Chal (from kefir) 300, lamb 110, green onion 40, fresh cucumbers 80, sour cream 20, 1/2 egg, dill 50, salt.

21. Gaplama (fish with vegetables)

Fresh mullet (mackerel) is gutted, salted from the inside, slightly dried (1–2 days). Then the fish is cut, the fillet is cut into oblong pieces, the potatoes are diced and fried until golden brown. Shredded onions and sliced ​​tomatoes are fried in hot oil, after 10–12 minutes they are lightly salted, half the parsley, a little pepper are added, then fish fillets, prepared potatoes and fried all together over moderate heat for about 10 minutes. Gradually pour in water in small portions, put the rest of the pepper, spicy herbs and stew until the fish becomes soft and most of the water has evaporated. When serving, the fish is sprinkled with pomegranate juice.

Dried mullet (mackerel) fillet 125, potatoes 150, tomatoes 45, onions 35, sesame oil 25, pomegranate juice 5, herbs (parsley, ajgon) 10, black peppercorns, ground black pepper, salt.

22. Govurma (fried lamb)

Boneless lamb is cut into pieces (25–30 g each), sprinkled with salt and pepper and fried until tender. Serve with fried sautéed onions and sprinkle with herbs. Govurma is also used to prepare other dishes.

Lamb 200, mutton fat 20, onion 35, pepper, parsley, dill, salt.

23. Govurlan et (fried lamb with tomatoes)

Lamb is chopped into pieces of 20–30 g each and fried, adding 100 g of water per 1 kg of meat. After evaporating the water, add bacon, onions, tomatoes and stew until tender. When serving, sprinkle with herbs.

Lamb 160, tail fat 30, onion 40, tomatoes 40, herbs, salt.

24. Govurma with squirrel (lamb with dough garnish)

Boneless lamb is cut into pieces (about 30 g each), sprinkled with salt, pepper and fried in fat tail fat. Separately fry the chopped onion rings. Knead a stiff dough, as for noodles (it is possible without eggs), roll it out thinly, cut into squares 4x4 cm in size, and dip into boiling water. Ready-made squirrels (see description above) are thrown into a colander, then laid out on a dish, fried lamb (govurma) and fried onions are placed on top.

Lamb 125, tail fat 20, onion 75, pepper, salt; for protein: wheat flour 80, egg 1/2 pc., water 50, salt.

25. Chekdirme (fried lamb with potatoes and tomatoes)

Fatty lamb is chopped 3-4 pieces per serving, fried with fat until a crispy crust forms, put raw onions, potatoes, tomatoes, cut into large pieces, salt, pepper and fry with lamb until tender, then add a little water and stew.

Lamb 160, animal fat 15, potatoes 105, fresh tomatoes 70, onion 20, pepper, salt.

26. Lula-kebab stewed with onions

Lamb, onion and bacon are passed through a meat grinder, salt, pepper are added and everything is mixed. Kebabs are shaped like sausages, fried in oil, and then stewed with onions. Served in the same bowl that was prepared. Churek is served separately.

Lamb 340, lard (raw) 10, onion 80, spices, butter or margarine 20, churek 200, herbs, salt.

27. Kokmach (langet)

Lamb is cut into portions (like a langet), beaten, salted, peppered and fried in lamb fat. Served with french fries or rice.

Lamb 170, mutton fat 10, spices, french fries 200, or rice 200, salt.

28. Barbecue, steppe

Lamb is cut into pieces 10-15 cm long, minced meat is put on them, wrapped, strung on a skewer and fried on coals. To prepare minced meat, chopped onion, garlic, herbs, salt, spices, pepper are thoroughly mixed. Sprinkle with salt when serving.

Lamb 175, onion 20, garlic 2, herbs 25, salt, spices, pepper.

29. Yshtykma (stuffed game)

The wild duck is cleaned, singeed, washed, dried, rubbed inside with salt. The onion is cut into cubes, fried in hot sesame oil, apricots, raisins, a little salt are added and stewed together for 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat, put finely chopped garlic, pepper, azhgon, salt, mix everything. The bird is stuffed tightly with the prepared stuffing, sewn up and fried in a cauldron in very hot sesame oil from all sides until a dark golden crust is formed. Then pour a little boiling water, add salt, pepper, chopped garlic, put spices (the same as in the filling) and stew the bird, pouring the resulting juice. The finished bird is transferred to another dish, and boiling water is poured into the juice remaining in the cauldron, salt, saffron are added, rice pre-soaked for 30–40 minutes is poured. Cook over low heat until the rice is cooked and the water is completely evaporated, without stirring. Ready rice is raked, the carcass of a bird is placed on the bottom of the cauldron and allowed to warm over low heat.

For 4 servings: duck 1500, rice 345, sesame oil 150, saffron, salt;

for the filling: onion 300, apricot 220, raisins 50, garlic 5, ground red and black pepper, azhgon, salt.

Pilaf

Turkmen pilaf (ash) is similar to Uzbek pilaf, but here game, especially pheasants, is more often used as meat for pilaf. This pilaf is usually cooked with green rice. Carrots are partially or completely replaced with apricots, sesame oil is used for frying and ready-made ash is usually eaten with sour sauce from albukhara (small sour green plum like mirabelle or tkemali) or with pomegranate juice extract.

30. Pilaf with rice

Washed rice is mixed with sautéed tomato, onion and sweet pepper, cut into rings, salted, poured with water and boiled until tender. Pilaf can be served hot or cold.

Rice 90, onion 40, tomato puree 10, bell pepper 30, vegetable oil 10, water 160, spices, salt.

31. Ogurdzhalinsky pilaf

Lamb is chopped into pieces (50–60 g each) and fried in hot oil, adding finely chopped onions and carrots into strips, as in ordinary pilaf. After 20–25 minutes, the meat is removed from the virvak, put into boiling water, boiled until cooked, then it is transferred to a separate bowl, and the broth is poured into a cauldron with zirvak, rice and apricots, spices (azhgoi, pepper, saffron) are poured and cooked first under the lid until the water evaporates, and then 10-15 minutes on low heat until dry. 3-5 minutes before cooking, put the meat on the rice, sprinkle it with parsley and dill and let it simmer for a few minutes.

Lamb 180, onion 60, carrot 80, rice 100, sesame oil 50, apricot 60, parsley and dill 10, water 250, ground red pepper 1, azhgon (seeds) 2, saffron 0.1, salt 3.

32. Balikly yanakhly-ash (fish pilaf)

Cooking fish. Water is boiled, salted, bay leaves, half of finely chopped parsley root, allspice, onion (1/5 of the norm) are put, and fish, cut into pieces, is boiled in this broth over moderate heat. Then it is taken out of the broth, put into an earthenware dish, covered with finely chopped onion, grated root of the remaining parsley, pepper, parsley and dill, fennel, part of saffron, salted, poured with sour cream and set to languish on a very low fire.

Asha preparation. Sesame oil is heated, onion, thinly sliced ​​carrots are fried in it, strained fish broth is poured in, brought to a boil and immediately pour rice pre-washed in cold water and soaked in hot water for 30 minutes and salted. In an open cauldron, continue to cook rice over moderate heat until all the broth boils away. After that, ash is seasoned with the remaining spices, the rice is stirred, covered with a lid and put on a very low fire to cook for 20 minutes.

Put the ash in a deep plate, douse it with sour pomegranate juice and serve the fish separately.

Fish fillet 180, water 250, sesame oil 120, onion 100, carrot 100, rice 100, sour cream 50, black peppercorns 3, ground black pepper, fennel or azhgon seeds 1, parsley root 20, parsley 3, dill 3 , saffron 0.1, bay leaf, pomegranate juice 30, salt 5.

33. Ishleki (dough product)

Lamb pulp together with onions is passed through a meat grinder twice, seasoned with salt, pepper, pour in a little water, mix well.

A stiff dough is kneaded from flour, eggs, water, salt and butter, rolled out thinly, cut into 15x15 cm squares. Minced meat is placed in the middle of each, folded into a triangle, the edges are tightly pinched. Ishleks are fried in a large amount of lard or animal fat.

Lamb 75, onion 75, melted fat (for frying) 5, pepper, salt; for the dough: flour 80, egg 1/2 pcs, butter 10, water 30, salt.

34. Balyk berek (Ogurdzhalinsky manti)

A stiff dough is kneaded from flour, eggs, salt and a small amount of water, allowed to stand under a napkin for about 40 minutes, then rolled into a layer 1–2 mm thick and cut into 10 × 10 cm squares. Fish fillet is cut or cut into 1 cm cubes, added finely chopped onion, black and red ground pepper, saffron, finely chopped spicy herbs, salt, beaten egg. Everything is thoroughly mixed and manty is immediately stuffed: put 25 g of minced meat, pinch the dough on top. Boil manti for a couple in a manti-kaskan and in a large saucepan. A deep plate greased with oil is placed on the bottom of the pan, manti are placed on it in one row, covered with another plate, the bottom of the pan is poured with water, tightly closed with a lid, put on low heat and boiled after boiling water for 25–30 minutes.

For the dough: wheat flour 125, egg 1/2 pc., water 125, salt; for minced meat: fish fillet 250, onion 55, egg 1/4 pc., greens (parsley, dill) 5, ground red and black pepper, saffron, salt.

35. Etli unash

Knead a stiff dough, roll it out thinly (up to 1 mm) and cut into strips d.5–1 cm wide. Dry the noodles before use. The meat is cut into small pieces, fried in hot oil, pour finely chopped onion, chopped carrots, apricots, add black ground pepper, a little salt and a quarter of the garlic, fry together for 10-15 minutes. Then the meat and vegetables are transferred to an enamel bowl, pour a little boiling water, salt, let it boil, lower the prepared noodles and cook over moderate heat until the water is almost completely evaporated. Shortly before the end of cooking, put the rest of the spices - red pepper, azhgon, dill. After removing from the heat, add minced garlic to the bowl, stir, add lemon juice or grape vinegar, let stand covered for 18 minutes.

Lamb 125, onion 75, garlic 5, apricot 50, carrot 80, sesame oil (vegetable) 35, lemon juice or grape vinegar 5, herbs (azhgon, dill) 5, ground black and red pepper, salt.

36. Etli borek (dumplings)

Lamb together with onions is passed through a meat grinder twice, seasoned with salt, pepper, diluted with water. The dough is kneaded as for noodles and square-shaped dumplings with minced meat are cut from it, boiled in salted water. Etli borek is served with sour milk or sour cream.

Lamb 80, wheat flour 50, onion 25, egg 1/8 pc., sour milk 200 or sour cream 200, pepper, salt.

37. Shilekli

Unleavened dough is prepared by adding butter, eggs, roll it thinly and cut into squares (15 cm); minced meat is placed in the middle, the dough is folded into a triangle, the edges are tightly pinched. Deep-fried. For minced meat, lamb pulp and onions are passed through a meat grinder twice, water is added, seasoned with salt and pepper.

Flour of the 1st grade 110, mutton 110, onion 30, egg 1/2 pc., combined animal fat 20, oil 5, pepper, salt.

38. Heygenek (dough product)

Beat eggs, pour in a little milk, add salt, flour, mix thoroughly. Heat the oil in a hot frying pan, pour the mixed mass onto it and bake it in the oven.

Heygenek can be made from melange or egg powder.

Wheat flour 5, egg 3 pcs., or egg powder 40, butter 10, milk 20, salt.

41. Etli shule (rice porridge with gourma)

They cook it like shule mal yagli, only 10–15 minutes before the dish is ready, they add govurma.

Rice 50, govurma 110, melted butter 15, onion 25, pepper, salt.

42. Suigly ash (milk porridge)

Salt, sugar are placed in boiling water, mixed, pour the prepared rice and cook, stirring gently, for 20 minutes. After that, hot milk is poured and cooking is continued at a low boil for 30-40 minutes. Before serving, hot porridge, placed on a warmed plate, is poured with oil or a piece of oil is placed.

Rice 45, water 100, milk 70, sugar 6, salt.

43. Gutap (patties with onions)

Flour, water and salt are used to prepare a stiff dough, like for noodles. The dough is rolled out with a layer 2 mm thick, cut out with a round corrugated notch, smeared with an egg, put in the middle minced meat made from finely chopped green onions, dill, parsley, with the addition of oil, mix well, bend one edge of the tortilla over the minced meat to make a pie in crescent shape. Fry in a lot of fat. Served hot.

Wheat flour 110, water 40, melted butter 20, green onion 70, pepper, dill, parsley, salt.

44. Gatlakly (puff pastry)

A stiff dough is prepared from flour, water and salt, as for noodles, a cake is rolled out with a diameter of 18 cm, greased with oil (the edges are not lubricated), then rolled up and the ends are twisted on both sides, squeezed and squeezed in the form of a cake. The cake is rolled out 1.5 cm thick and the size of a tea saucer; deep-fried cakes.

Wheat flour 110, water 40, butter 30, cottonseed oil 25, salt.

39. Yagli shule (rice porridge with vegetable oil)

Onions are fried in vegetable oil until brown. After that, this onion is removed and fresh onions are put, which are fried until pink. Then add water, salt, pepper and washed rice. Yagli shule is cooked like a semi-viscous rice porridge.

Rice 60, cottonseed oil 15, onion 25, pepper, salt.

40. Shule mal yagli bile (rice porridge with animal fat)

Cooked like yagly shule, but with animal fat.

45. Chapady (dough donut)

The steep yeast dough is rolled into a cake the size of a dessert plate and fried on both sides until golden brown.

Wheat flour 120, cottonseed oil 30, yeast 2, salt.

46. ​​Kulche (shorts)

Sour dough, prepared with the addition of milk, sugar, ghee or butter, is cut into shortcakes and baked in a tandoor. Served with tea.

Flour 200, ghee or butter 25, sugar 30, milk 65.

47. Fitchi (meat pies)

Unleavened dough is molded into a flat cake, minced meat is placed on it in an even layer, covered with another flat cake and the edges of the product are pinched. Having made punctures in several places, fitches are baked in molds.

Flour 130, water 50, lamb 200, onion 25, oil 15, pepper, salt.

48. Etli nan (patties)

The stiff dough, kneaded as for noodles, is rolled into cakes, minced meat is placed in the middle, the edges are pinched in the middle of the product. Lubricate with an egg, bake. Etli nan can be served with broth.

Minced meat is prepared from meat, onions and fresh cabbage, passed through a meat grinder with the addition of salt and pepper.

Flour 100, lamb 150, onion 60, fresh cabbage 60, egg for lubrication 1/10 pcs., spices, salt.

49. Yatoza (dough product)

The flour is divided into two parts, yeast dough is kneaded from one, and unleavened dough from the other. When the yeast dough is suitable, it is mixed with fresh, cut into pieces of 30 g, rolled out, put minced meat on the cakes and pinch the edges, giving the products a quadrangle shape. Yatoza is steamed or baked in an oven. Served with sour cream or butter.

Flour 80, lamb 70, onion 120, fresh cabbage 125, spices, salt.

Waiter:

– Do you like steak?

– Hmm ... as an expert I think – first grade.

– Are you a cook?

– No, shoemaker.

* * *

– Why did you bring a friend a second course with a cucumber, and me without it?

– You don't get a cucumber.

– And I see that it is not allowed. And you put it!

* * *

A visitor in a cafe sits down at a free table. The waiter runs up to him.

– Sorry, but this table is booked.

– Well, in that case, take it and bring me another one...

* * *

– Are you a maitre d'?

– What are you doing here? The schnitzel is hard as a rock and the knife is completely dull.

– There is something to be nervous about! Sharpen your knife on the schnitzel and you'll be fine.

* * *

– My husband married me because he didn't like to eat in the cafeteria.

– And now?

– Oh now he loves!

* * *

A dietitian advises an obese patient:

– Before meals or after?

* * *

– Waiter, one steak.

– With what garnish?

– Just your regular steak. I want to put it under the table leg so it doesn't wobble.

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Turkmen cuisine and its features

Turkmen cuisine has much in common with the cuisines of other Central Asian peoples, primarily Uzbeks and Karakalpaks, which is explained by the similarity of natural conditions and ethnic features.
At the same time, Turkmen cuisine has retained its national identity, which is manifested both in the range of dishes and methods of their preparation, and in the ritual of serving food.
Turkmen cuisine is characterized by original ways of preparing various traditional national dishes, which is associated with the peculiarities of housekeeping or with the influence of neighboring peoples.

During the years when Turkmenistan was part of the USSR, great changes took place in the Turkmen cuisine. If earlier vegetables (beets, onions, etc.) were only occasionally added to meat soups, now chorba with vegetables, especially with potatoes and tomatoes, is an everyday food in all regions of Turkmenistan. Onions are especially popular in Turkmen cuisine. It is eaten raw, served with dinner and consumed as a condiment. Common as a seasoning for dishes, black pepper (gara burch), and among the inhabitants of oases - pomegranate (nar) and grape leaves.

The main place in the Turkmen cuisine is occupied by meat, dairy and flour dishes. Turkmens prefer lamb to all types of meat, they also eat a lot of chicken meat. Turkmens do not eat horse meat. In Turkmen cuisine, the most common dishes are meat - chorba, gainatma, broth with flat cakes - dogroma, (palov), fried meat - govurma, govurdak, shash. A rather large place among the consumed meat is occupied by game - partridges, waterfowl, as well as hares, goitered gazelles, fallow deer.

Meat in Turkmen cuisine is mainly used for pilaf. The main methods of heat treatment of Turkmen cuisine are boiling and frying, often followed by stewing.

Especially common in Turkmen cuisine is govurma (kovurma), which is used for harvesting meat for future use and cooking various dishes. Meat chopped into small pieces is fried in the fat of the same animal. Govurma preserved in this way is considered one of the main dishes; it is consumed both cold and hot. Soup is cooked from govurma - gara chorba.

In the coastal regions of Turkmenistan, fish are widely distributed - sturgeon, beluga, herring. In Turkmen cuisine, a traditional dish is prepared with fish - pilaf.

In addition to meat and fish dishes, a large place in the Turkmen cuisine is occupied by various types of cereals made from millet and mung bean.

For the manufacture of various kinds of dairy products and dishes, Turkmens use cow, goat, and camel milk. Cow's milk is used to prepare butter and ghee, curdled milk - gatyk, a special kind of cottage cheese - suzme, and cheese - gurt. Peynir cheese is made from goat's and sheep's milk. Camel milk is used to make a favorite soft drink - chala.

Finally, another characteristic feature of the Turkmen cuisine is a variety of flour products. Churek baked at bakeries is in great demand everywhere, and various sourdough cakes baked in lard and vegetable oil are widespread in rural bakeries.

The favorite drink in Turkmen cuisine is tea. At any time of the year, Turkmens drink green tea in large quantities - gok tea. In the west of the republic, black tea is common - gara tea, which is drunk mainly in autumn and winter. Each tea drinker, unlike the Uzbeks, is served separately a porcelain teapot with a bowl.

Turkmen cuisine strictly observes its traditions.
National utensils and inventory are firmly preserved in everyday life. Liquid foods are served, for example, in locally produced enameled bowls - tobacco, roasts and cereals - in flat wooden bowls.
In many regions of Turkmenistan, food is cooked in a hemispherical cast-iron cauldron - a ghazan. Even city dwellers use gazan to cook pilaf, as pilaf cooked in a pot is considered less tasty.

The national cuisine of Turkmenistan is as unusual and interesting as the whole history of the Turkmen people. There was even an opinion that Turkmen cuisine does not exist. There were significant differences between the culinary tastes of the numerous tribes that inhabited the country. The tribes of nomads were engaged in cattle breeding and lived in desert areas, farmers settled in oases and floodplains of large rivers, the inhabitants of the Caspian coast preferred fishing. Therefore, different habitats have affected the heterogeneity and diversity of the Turkmen cuisine in general. But, despite this, enthusiasts and culinary connoisseurs managed to combine and systematize one of the most original and, undoubtedly, delicious cuisines of the East.

The hallmark of the national cuisine of Turkmenistan, as in many Central Asian countries, is pilaf, or in Turkmen - “ash”. There are dozens of ways to prepare it, but the main ingredients have always been rice and meat (most often lamb or poultry), to which vegetables, onions, peppers, dried fruits, and seasonings are added. No less delicious meat dishes that you should try in this country:

• "Govurma" - fried lamb;
• "govurlan-et" - lamb with tomatoes";
• "chekdirme" - fried lamb, with potatoes and tomatoes;
• "kokmach" - dried dried meat;
• "garyn" original sausages;
• "berek" - Turkmen manti;
• "ishlekli" - round pies, with meat and onions;
• "Heygenek" - an omelette with meat;
• "kebap" - various types of Turkmen shish kebab.

Turkmen cuisine is rich in first courses. Basically - these are soups on meat broth. Be sure to try:

• "gara-chorba" - soup with tomatoes;
• dograma - pea soup;
• Umpach-zashi - flour soup;
• "unash" - soup with noodles and beans;
• « etli-borek-chorbasy"- soup with dumplings;
• Suiteli-unash - milk soup with noodles;
• “nohudly-chorba” - pea soup with lamb;
• mastava is rice soup with vegetables.

This is what really distinguishes the national cuisine of Turkmenistan from other Central Asian cuisines - this is the presence of national fish dishes. Residents of the Caspian coast (Turkmen-Ogurdzhalins), fry fish on a spit, boiling oil, cook in special boilers ... while adding rice, apricots, raisins, sesame, pomegranate juice to dishes. Sturgeons are used to prepare an amazing shish kebab - “balyk-shara”. Fish fried and stewed in pots - “balyk gavurdak”, will not leave anyone indifferent. Add fish even to pilaf, instead of meat. There are very complex dishes, with a large number of components - " balyk-berek", "cheme", "gaplama", "balikly yakhama" and others. It is worth noting that only fresh fish is used for cooking. Particularly popular dishes from sturgeon, stellate sturgeon, catfish, mullet, pike perch, kutum, carp.

Another characteristic feature of the Turkmen cuisine is the widespread use of milk and sour-milk products. Camel milk, which has a sweet taste and is rich in vitamin C, is used to make yogurt, ghee and butter. From the remaining whey, a refreshing drink "airan" is obtained. Curd mass is made from sheep's milk - "teleme", cheese - "sakman", similar to unsalted cheese and cheese - "peynir". In the course and cow's milk. They make curdled milk from it - "gatyk", special cottage cheese - "suzme", cheese - "gurt" and butter. In general, there are a lot of Turkmen dairy products - garfish, karagurt, agaran, chal, sykman…

Did not ignore the national cuisine of Turkmenistan, lovers of sweets. Be sure to try the special, Turkmen "halva" made from the root of a lily plant - "cheresh"; sweet shortbreads - "kulche"; fried donuts sprinkled with powdered sugar - “pishme”; Turkmen donuts - "chapads". Famous Turkmen melons, local fruits, watermelons deserve special attention.

The favorite drink of the Turkmen is tea. In the western regions and in the north of the country, black tea is preferred, and in the east, green (“gok-tea”). In winter, tea, most often, is brewed not with water, but with milk, adding butter and mutton fat to it. Also, Berzengi mineral water and various fruit juices are popular. Quite good local wines are Kopetdag, Yasman-Salyk and Dashgala. From strong drinks - vodka "Serdar" and cognac "President".
Welcome to hospitable Turkmenistan and bon appetit to all!

Turkmen cuisine has absorbed the features of all peoples inhabiting or inhabiting this country. The nomadic past of the Turkmens has left a noticeable mark in their culinary - the basis of food is meat (lamb, goitered gazelle meat, poultry, and much less often beef), rice, ghee from camel milk sary yag, sesame oil, sour-milk products, as well as cheeses, cereals, vegetables, legumes and gourds, all kinds of soups and cakes. A distinctive feature of Turkmen dishes has always been satiety and relative ease of preparation, which, however, does not mean simplicity of taste. Relatively little greens and spices are used - these products appeared on the local table only in the 20th century, but they are used in moderation, never clogging the taste of the main dish with them.

A characteristic feature of the local cuisine is the abundance of soups, with meat broth soups (chorba) with various spices predominating - pea gaynatma and dograma, gara-chorba tomato soup, umpach-zashi flour soup, bean soup with unash noodles, soup with mung shurpa -mash, soup with dumplings - etli-borek-chorbasy, from beans with noodles - u-our, milk soup with noodles suitli-unash, meat soup with peas and lamb nokhudly-chorba or soup with rice and vegetables - mastava.

The hallmark of Turkmen cuisine is pilaf (palov or ash). Here it is prepared in dozens of ways, but it is always based on rice and meat (mutton), to which peppers, onions, thinly chopped vegetables (sometimes even fruits or dried fruits) and various seasonings are added. It is also worth trying such meat dishes as fried mutton govurma, kaurma meat fried in its own fat, fried mutton with govurlan-et tomatoes, fried mutton with potatoes and chekdirme tomatoes, all kinds of cured-dried kokmach meat, peculiar sausages made from naturally cured meat garyn, dozens of types of kebap kebabs, liver stuffed with vegetables, pelmeni etli-borek, manti berek, various omelettes with and without meat heygenek, beshbarmak - gulak, squirrel or kurtuk, peculiar pies in the form of balls with meat and onion ishlekli, as well as such a colorful dish, like mutton fat churban-churpa dissolved in green tea.

On the Caspian coast, meat in traditional dishes such as pilaf is often replaced with fish and seafood. Barbecue balyk-shara is prepared from sturgeon, fried and stewed in clay pots (balyk gavurdak), soups such as fish shorba are cooked, and complex dishes such as haplam, cheme, balyk-berek, balikly-yanakhly-ash and others are prepared. Chorek, gatlama, chelpek or gatlakly puff pastries baked in the tandoor (tamdyr) are usually served at the table.

A characteristic feature of the local cuisine is also the widest use of milk and lactic acid products. In the western and southwestern regions of Turkmenistan, camel milk is used to prepare agaran, gatyk, suzme, chala, karagurt, teleme, sykman, garfish and other dairy dishes, while in the east and southeast sheep's milk is more often consumed. Also, porridges like Whitley-ash (milk) or Suitly-unash (milk noodles), or rice porridges, including yagli-shule, are boiled in milk.

Sweets of Turkmen cuisine are very similar to halva, baklava, sherbet, nabat and bekmesam (doshabam) from fruit juices, which are typical for the entire region. But the pastries are quite original - here you can try such products as pies (etli-nan, shilekli, etc.) with gutap onions or fitchi meat, kulche shortcakes, pishme cookies or chapada donuts. And of course, all kinds of local fruits and gourds deserve attention, among which the famous Turkmen melons and watermelons are especially good.

Turkmens, like other peoples of Central Asia, drink a lot of tea, and in the eastern regions they prefer green tea (gok-chai), and in the western and northern regions - black. Often tea is brewed not with water, but with milk, or mutton fat and butter are added to it, which turns it into a kind of soup. Everywhere you can find good local wines, among which the most popular brands are Dashgala, Yasman-Salyk, Kopetdag, as well as President cognac and Serdar vodka. In stores everywhere you can find a large assortment of imported alcoholic beverages, but their consumption in connection with Islamic traditions is unpopular. Berzengi mineral water enjoys a good reputation.