Kazakhstan is a multinational and very hospitable country. You will be surprised by the genuine kindness and hospitality of the inhabitants, the wealth of bazaars with white almonds and dried apricots the size of a palm, the luxury of new megacities and transport accessibility, the dizzying height of mountain ranges and endless flower-steppe expanses. National dishes of Kazakhstan will please people from different countries. Pilaf, beshbarmak, ayran, baursaks do not get tired of conquering gourmets.
Food in Kazakhstan
Modern Kazakhs are the descendants of nomads who have always ate nourishing meat and dairy products. Cereals and vegetables were virtually absent from their diet. They prepared food from mare, camel, sheep and cow milk, lamb, horse meat, beef, camel meat.
Only after the transition to a sedentary lifestyle, the cuisine here was finally formed. It is based on fried meat and offal, salted and smoked semi-finished products, dairy products. Cereals appeared on the Kazakh menu much later, mainly wheat flour was used. Fish in the national cuisine is extremely rare.
Gradually, the Kazakh menu was replenished with dishes of Russian, Ukrainian, Caucasian cuisines. And now, along with beshbarmak, you can see borscht and dumplings, barbecue and vegetable salad in it. But even today, preference is given to meat and flour dishes, such as manti, samsa, pasties, pies, chak-chak.
Kazakhs love home-cooked family recipes with love. They cook a lot here and are very tasty. The approach to cooking in every home is thorough; it is not customary to set the table in a hurry in Kazakhstan. Preparation for a festive feast in the family takes several days.
The inhabitants of this country are always glad to have a guest. He is immediately seated at the "dostarkhan" - the dining table. Moreover, you cannot refuse - you can offend the owners. And a feast in a Kazakh house is a special ritual that can be compared, perhaps, with a Chinese tea ceremony. First of all, you will be served tea in a bowl. Then they will start offering all the food and treats that are available in the apartment or yurt.
And the feast ends, of course, with tea, most often strong and with cream. This drink is very popular in Kazakhstan.
TOP 10 Kazakh dishes
Beshbarmak
Beshbarmak
Beshbarmak ranks number one in the Kazakh menu. Not a single holiday in Kazakhstan is complete without beshbarmak. In translation, the name of the dish will sound like "five fingers", because since ancient times it was eaten with hands. These are mouth-watering boiled cuts of horse meat, beef, lamb or camel meat with homemade noodles. The meat is boiled until soft, and then pieces of rolled dough are boiled in this thick broth. Very rarely, beshbarmak is prepared from fish; this can be found only in the west of Kazakhstan. In the south of the country, rice is often used instead of noodles. Ready-made beshbarmak is served with or without broth. Cakes are spread on a large dish, meat and chopped horse sausage are placed on top, all this is seasoned with gravy with onions and herbs, boiled potatoes and carrots are placed along the edges of the tray.
Palau
This is Kazakh lamb pilaf. For its preparation, take meat and lard of ram, rice, onions, carrots, dried apples and dried apricots, spices. All ingredients, except dried fruits, are fried in oil, then mixed, poured with water and simmered in a large cauldron until cooked over low heat. Palau is very popular in Kazakhstan; guests of the country also love it.
Manty in Kazakh
Manty in Kazakh
Although this is a very famous oriental dish, in Kazakhstan it has its own characteristics. Manty is prepared most often from finely chopped lamb with onions. Together with minced meat, a piece of fat tail fat is wrapped in a thin dough. It turns out very tasty, satisfying and juicy. Serve ready-made manti with meat broth, sauce, sour cream.
Kuyrdak
This dish resembles a roast meat with onions. Often, in addition to meat, liver, kidneys, heart, lung are added to it. Fry everything, add a little broth and stew until tender. Potatoes, carrots and even pumpkin can be added to kuyrdak. Served in a deep dish, garnished with herbs.
Baursaki
Baursaki
Small donuts made of sour dough, often replace bread on the table. Baursaks are cooked with kefir, sometimes with yeast. Flour, kefir, eggs, vegetable oil, sugar - this is the composition of the dough, which, after a certain exposure, turns out to be soft and fluffy. Small pieces from the finished rolled dough are deep-fried in a deep frying pan until golden brown. Served hot.
Sorpa
Perhaps the most famous oriental dish is meat soup. Traditional sorpa is made from fresh lamb. The meat is cooked for about 6 hours, the broth turns out to be very rich, carrots, onions, potatoes are added to it. It turns out very appetizing. Serve in a deep cup, sprinkled with herbs. Surpa is often eaten with baursaks.
Kazy
Kazy - sausage made from fatty horse meat, an exclusive of the Kazakh table. Kazy is done by hand. Chunks of bacon and meat, aged in the refrigerator, grated with spices, are tucked into the horse intestine, boiled until tender. It turns out a high-calorie, tasty dish. Serve cooled, cut into pieces. Kazy is also dried.
Kurt
Kurt
The product resembles cottage cheese and cheese at the same time. Prepared from goat or sheep milk. Fermented milk is heated over a fire to a certain thickness. The resulting curd mass is poured into a bag and filtered in a suspended state. The resulting product is salted and rolled into balls. After the balls are dry, the kurt is ready. It tastes sour and salty.
Koumiss
Fermented mare's milk drink. Foamy, white with a pleasant sour-sweet taste, invigorating, a bit like kvass and kefir at the same time. Depending on the leaven, it can be strong and even intoxicating. Kumis is considered an ancient drink of Asian nomads, it quenches thirst well. You can find kumis made from camel, goat and cow milk.
Ayran
Fermented milk drink. Its popularity in Kazakhstan is similar to the popularity of kefir in Russia. For the preparation of ayran, special lactic bacteria are used, which are grown in a mixture of cow, sheep and goat milk. Then add water from the spring, salt (sugar) to taste. The mixture is left warm to ferment. Ayran is considered a summer drink. It is drunk freshly prepared, and irimshik is made from it - fatty cottage cheese. On the basis of ayran, stews with cereals are prepared.
