Asian cuisine no longer seems something distant and unusual. Dishes of this cuisine can be tried in numerous restaurants or even cooked at home. Knowing certain tricks and subtleties, any housewife can handle them.

Rice with egg, Chinese style

This Chinese dish has a very original and interesting taste. It is perfect as a hearty lunch or dinner.

Ingredients:
150 g rice
3 eggs
2 cloves garlic
5 onions
2 tbsp. l. vegetable oil
125 g green peas
1 tbsp. l. soy sauce
salt
Boil the rice for 10–12 minutes. It should be almost done, but not quite soft. Drain the water and rinse the rice under cold water. Place the eggs in the pan. Whisk a little and put on low heat. Heat, stirring, until slightly set. Heat the oil in a large wok or deep frying pan. Add crushed garlic, finely chopped onion, boiled peas and fry, stirring, for 1-2 minutes. Add rice to the wok, stir. Add eggs, soy sauce and a pinch of salt. Stir. Divide into plates and serve.

Asian Noodle and Shrimp Salad

This salad is an excellent solution for when you don’t have time to cook, but want to have a tasty lunch.


Ingredients:
600 g thin noodles
1 kg shrimp (cooked)
1 bunch of radishes
1 bunch of basil
150 ml sweet soy sauce
salt pepper
olive oil
Place noodles in a heatproof bowl. Pour boiling water, salt and pepper and leave for 5 minutes or until cooked.
Transfer noodles to a large bowl. Add shrimp, chopped radishes, basil, a little olive oil and mix gently.
Divide the salad among plates. Drizzle with soy sauce and serve immediately.

Pork and egg noodle soup

Asian soups have a wonderful rich taste. The main thing is to buy all the ingredients in advance and strictly follow the recipe.


Ingredients:
1 tbsp. l. vegetable oil
250 g pork
8 stalks green onion, grated ginger root
6 cups chicken broth
120 g egg noodles
1 tbsp. l. soy sauce
1 carrot
2 radishes
1/2 cup cilantro
2 eggs
salt, ground black pepper
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Season the pork with salt and pepper. Fry the pork in the pan until cooked through. Cook the egg noodles according to package directions until almost done.
Add chopped onion and ginger to the pan. Cook, stirring, until softened, 1 to 2 minutes.
Pour in the broth and bring to a boil. Add the noodles and cook, stirring, until soft, 2-3 minutes.
Add soy sauce.
Combine broth and noodles with pork, carrots, sliced ​​radishes and sliced ​​hard-boiled eggs. Ladle into bowls and serve.

Philadelphia rolls

Prepare rolls at home. First of all, it's not that difficult. And secondly, it’s very fun and interesting. Invite your friends over and cook this popular Japanese dish together. It really brings us together.


Ingredients:
200 g sushi rice
1 sheet of nori seaweed
150 g salmon
20 ml rice vinegar
150 g Philadelphia cheese
1 cucumber
Cook rice as directed on package. When removed from heat, transfer it to a bowl and pour vinegar over it. Take a bamboo mat and wrap it in cling film. Place a sheet of nori on top (rough side up). Place rice on top of the nori sheet (2/3 of the surface of the sheet). Cover the rice with a mat and turn over. The rice should be on the bottom. Place the cream cheese in the center of the nori sheet. Cut the cucumber into 4 pieces lengthwise. Place the cucumber next to the cheese. Roll the roll using a mat. Cut the salmon into thin slices and place close to each other on the roll. Cover with a mat again. Cut the roll into 6-8 pieces with a sharp knife dipped in water. Place on a plate and serve.

Funchoza with chicken and vegetables

Funchose itself is not so filling. But if you add chicken and vegetables to it, you can have a very tasty and satisfying lunch.


Ingredients:
500 g chicken fillet
200 g funchose
400 g green beans
2 onions
1 carrot
1 bell pepper
50 ml rice vinegar
50 ml soy sauce
salt, ground black pepper
1 clove of garlic
Cut the chicken fillet into long slices. Fry over high heat. Add spices and onion, cut into half rings. Fry until golden brown. Prepare funchoza according to the instructions on the package.
Cut the bell pepper into strips.
Grate the carrots on a coarse grater.
Boil the green beans.
Fry green beans, carrots, peppers until tender, adding spices and crushed garlic.
Mix cooked chicken with onions, funchose and vegetables in a large bowl. Season with rice vinegar and soy sauce.
Let it brew for 1 hour. The dish can be eaten both warm and cold.

Spicy pork with soba noodles

A very appetizing dish that you cannot refuse. If you are throwing an Asian-themed party, this is exactly what you need.


Ingredients:
240 g soba noodles
550 g pork
salt, ground black pepper
1 tbsp. l. vegetable oil
1/2 cucumber
2 stalks green onions
1 red chili pepper
2 tbsp. l. rice vinegar
2 tsp. sesame oil
Prepare the soba noodles according to package directions. Season the pork with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the cut pork until cooked through, stirring constantly.
Mix pork with noodles. Add chopped cucumbers, chopped onions, chopped chili peppers.
Season the dish with vinegar and sesame oil. Season with salt. Divide the dish among plates and serve.

Rice with pineapple and sweet pepper

Rice reveals itself in a new way when cooked with unusual ingredients. In Asian countries, they love to add pineapples and sweet peppers to rice. It turns out very juicy and tasty!


Ingredients:
200 g brown rice
1 can of canned pineapple
1 bell red pepper
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp. l. olive oil
ginger root
3 tbsp. l. soy sauce
2 tbsp. l. sesame oil
1 tbsp. l. sesame seeds
green onion feathers, salt, pepper
Boil rice in salted water.
In a frying pan preheated over medium heat with olive oil, fry the peeled and finely chopped onion, garlic and ginger for 3 minutes until the onion is translucent.
Add the diced peppers and fry for another 3-5 minutes, then add the boiled rice and pineapple to the pan.
Add soy sauce and sesame oil, salt and pepper and mix thoroughly. Serve the dish hot, sprinkled with sesame seeds and chopped green onions.

Chicken breasts with honey and sesame seeds

Honey and sesame are great additions to chicken. Such bold combinations can often be found in Asian cuisine.


Ingredients:
500 g chicken breasts
4 tbsp. l. soy sauce
2 tbsp. l. honey
vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic
ground black pepper
curry
ground ginger
Wash the chicken breasts thoroughly and cut into portions. Season with salt, pepper, ginger and curry. Add soy sauce.
Squeeze out the garlic using a garlic press. Add to breasts.
Mix the breasts thoroughly with all the seasonings and leave to marinate for 1 hour.
Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan and add honey. Wait until the honey melts and carefully mix it with vegetable oil so that it is distributed throughout the pan.
Place the chicken breasts in a frying pan and fry over low heat until golden brown on both sides. Finally, sprinkle with a handful of sesame seeds and stir. After a couple of minutes, remove from heat.

Spring rolls

Spring rolls are not only a great snack, but also a complete meal. It all depends on the filling you choose.


Ingredients:
30 g carrots
30 g leeks
50 g cucumber
12 g garlic
5 g ginger root
cilantro
ground white pepper
30 g soy sprouts
30 g shiitake mushrooms
30 g oyster mushrooms
Thai sweet sauce
white rice vinegar
Sesame oil
soy sauce
20 g rice glass noodles
1 sheet of spring roll dough
100 g chicken broth
1 egg
200 g pork neck
200 ml vegetable oil


Cooking method:
Scroll the meat through a meat grinder.
Crush, peel the garlic and divide it into 3 parts: finely chop the first part, cut the second into slices, and grind the third into a paste.
Finely chop the leeks, mushrooms and bean sprouts. Chop the carrots and cucumbers into thin strips, peel and finely chop the ginger.


Pour boiling water over the noodles for 8 minutes (do not boil the noodles), then drain the water and finely chop the noodles and cilantro.


In a frying pan, heat half the sesame seeds and 2 tbsp. l. sunflower oil. Fry the minced meat over high heat for 1 minute, add a clove of finely chopped garlic, leeks, carrots and mushrooms.
Fry over medium heat for 3 minutes, then add half the broth, soy sauce and simmer for another 5 minutes until the broth evaporates.


For the sauce, combine rice vinegar, remaining broth, Thai sauce, sliced ​​garlic and minced ginger.


Mix minced meat, noodles, cilantro, crushed garlic, soy sprouts and cucumber in a bowl, add ground white pepper and the remaining sesame oil.


Lightly beat the egg with a fork. Lay out the sheet of dough, lay out the filling, roll into a roll, brush the edges with egg.
Heat 200 ml of sunflower oil in a saucepan.
Using a spoon, lower the spring roll into the oil - if it begins to brown, the oil has reached the desired temperature.
Fry the spring rolls in oil for 1 minute.


Place the rolls on a plate and serve with sauce.

Noodles with shrimp and vegetables

Noodles go well with seafood. Keep in mind that the vegetables should remain slightly crunchy. Don't overcook them.


Ingredients:
300 g noodles
300 g peeled shrimp
1 sweet red pepper
1 sweet green pepper
1 sweet yellow pepper
2 carrots
1 onion
2 tbsp. l. soy sauce
2 tbsp. l. sesame or olive oil
Boil the noodles.
Cut the onion and pepper into small cubes. Cut the carrots into strips no more than 5 mm thick.
Fry the vegetables over high heat in a frying pan heated with sesame oil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add shrimp and fry for another 2 minutes.
Then add the noodles and soy sauce and fry for another 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.

Pickled carrots with daikon

Pickled carrots with daikon are a great way to diversify your diet.


Ingredients:
1 glass of water
1/4 cup vinegar
2 tbsp. l. Sahara
2 tsp. salt
250 g carrots
250 g daikon
Cut the carrots and daikon into thin strips.
Place the water on the fire and heat until warm.
Mix water with vinegar, sugar and salt. Mix well until the sugar is completely dissolved. Take several jars. Fill them with carrots and daikon.
Pour the marinade over the contents. Close the jars tightly with the lids and let it brew.

Tom yum kung

To appreciate the Thai flavor, you don’t have to go to another country. Just prepare this national soup.


Ingredients:
300 ml coconut milk
300 ml fish stock
5 lemongrass leaves
5 leaves kaffir lime ginger root
1 chili pepper
10 shrimp
cilantro
4 shiitake mushrooms
1 tbsp. l. fish sauce
1/2 tsp. brown sugar
3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp. l. vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. sesame oil
1 lime
Boil the shiitake and shrimp until tender. Chop the lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves, garlic, pepper and ginger very finely.
Fry the garlic and pepper in heated vegetable and sesame oil for 1 minute. Then grind them with a mortar.
Pour coconut milk and broth into the pan. Bring to a boil. Add lemongrass, ginger and kaffir lime leaves to the soup.
Then add the garlic-pepper mixture and cook for 1-2 minutes.
Pour in fish sauce. Add chopped mushrooms and cook for another 2 minutes.
Add lime juice and sugar. Stir gently. Place shrimp in soup, remove soup from heat.
Sprinkle with chopped cilantro before serving.

Fish in Vietnamese

Fish is an essential ingredient in Asian cuisine. It can be prepared in completely different ways.


Ingredients:
450 g white fish fillet
2 cloves garlic
3–4 pcs. shallots
3 stalks lemongrass
1 tsp. turmeric
1 tsp. grated ginger root
1/2 tsp. chilisol powder, ground black pepper
2 tbsp. l. vegetable oil
1 tbsp. l. soy sauce
cilantro or green onions
Grind together the garlic, shallots, lemongrass, turmeric, ginger, chili powder, salt and pepper. Gradually add oil.
Wash the fish and cut into medium pieces. Marinate and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Then place the fish on foil. Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes or cook on a grill over medium heat for 10-15 minutes.
Before serving, drizzle the fish with soy sauce and garnish with cilantro or green onions.

Beef with basil

Thai style beef is usually served with rice. Aromatic basil adds a special taste to this dish.


This recipe is for 2 servings.
Ingredients:
240 g beef tenderloin
15 g lemongrass
1 lime
1 clove of garlic
cilantro
green onions
1 chili pepper
basil
10 g oyster sauce
25 g fish sauce
10 g soy sauce
100 g chicken broth
cane sugar
10 g corn starch
160 g jasmine rice
olive oil


Cooking method:
Pour cold water into the rice in a ratio of 1/1.5, bring to a boil, cover with a lid and cook over moderate heat until the water has completely evaporated (6-7 minutes).


Crush and coarsely chop the lemongrass. Cut the beef into thin slices and marinate with lemongrass, soy sauce and 1/2 starch, stir.


Peel, crush and finely chop the garlic and grind it to a paste. Cut and finely chop 2 thin slices of chili pepper, mix with garlic. Add fish sauce, 1/4 lime juice and sugar to garlic paste.


Coarsely chop the green onions. Dissolve the remaining starch in the chicken broth.


Remove the lemongrass and fry the beef over high heat in olive oil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly, pour in the sauce and starch, add oyster sauce, bring to a boil.


Add onion and basil, stir and remove from heat.


Place the beef and vegetables on the rice, sprinkle with finely chopped cilantro and serve.

Bananas in batter

In Chinese cuisine, there is a dessert popular all over the world - bananas in batter. This dish traditionally uses rice flour. This makes the dough very tender.


Ingredients:
3 medium bananas
100 g rice flour
50 g powdered sugar
100 ml sparkling mineral water
2 tbsp. l. peanut butter
Pour the flour into a deep bowl, slowly add sparkling water and knead the dough, which resembles the consistency of low-fat sour cream. Peel the bananas, cut either lengthwise in half or crosswise into 3 parts. Dip the bananas in the batter and fry in hot peanut oil for a few minutes on each side until golden brown. Sprinkle the fried bananas generously with powdered sugar.

Asian cuisine has many characteristic features that distinguish it from the cuisine of European countries. Due to the fact that rice cultivation is very developed here, it predominates in most dishes. Despite this, local dishes are rich in all sorts of flavors and aromas, which is associated with the use of a variety of herbs and spices. You will learn about what dishes are traditional in the cuisine of Asian countries by reading this article.

Asian cuisine

Asian cuisine consists of dishes originating from the countries of Central, Far Eastern, Southeast and South Asia. In most cases, the basis of these dishes is rice - round, long or basmati varieties. Asian cuisine is also represented in the form of traditional noodle dishes. It is made from wheat flour with the addition of eggs. Soy or fish sauce is used as seasoning. Wheat noodles go in addition to soups and salads. Other dishes from this region are flavored with ginger, coconut milk, curry paste, tofu or seaweed.
From time immemorial, the inhabitants of Central Asia have been engaged in animal husbandry, so the cuisine of these countries consists of mouth-watering dishes made from beef, horse meat and lamb. The side dish is rarely used here or is prepared from wheat flour. Arriving in Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan, you should definitely try besbarmak, kuyrdak or pilaf.

In some Asian countries, great importance is given to etiquette when eating food. For example, in Nepal you cannot eat with your left hand or even touch food with it.

Indian cuisine most often contains dishes made from beans, rice and vegetables, seasoned with hot spices, most often curry. Here you can taste:

• a thali dish of rice, flatbread and curry;
• bean-based dhal soup;
• dessert vattilappam.

Asian food in this region excludes the use of beef, since the cow is a sacred animal in India. But you can try dishes made from tandoori chicken meat.

Asian dishes

Asian cuisine is prepared mainly from pork, chicken, fish and seafood. Japanese cuisine consists of dishes based on rice, fish and seafood. The national dishes of this country are sushi and rolls, which are very popular all over the world. To prepare these dishes, salmon, tuna and salmon fillets, selected rice and cheese are used.
Chinese cuisine is considered one of the most ancient. It takes its origins from the Neolithic era, and its formation was influenced by both climatic and economic factors. This cuisine is divided into 8 subtypes. The most famous dishes of Chinese cuisine are:

• Peking duck,
• dianxin,
• fried rice,
• thousand year egg,
• turtle soup.

The development of Philippine cuisine was influenced by the cuisine of countries such as China, Spain, France and Mexico. Locals prepare traditional dishes by marinating, stewing or frying over an open fire and grilling. You should definitely try traditional Philippine desserts, which are made using local fruits - bananas, pineapples, oranges, guava and papaya. Fruit salads, various types of ice cream and jams are prepared from them.
Korean cuisine is known for its spiciness, which is achieved through the use of red pepper. For residents of this country, the concept of “tasty” is identical to “spicy”. All dishes are seasoned with garlic and pepper, as well as one of three sauces:

• soy sauce,
• gochujang sauce,
• doenjang sauce.

Kanjang soy sauce is an ingredient in many Asian dishes. This is a rich color liquid, rich in minerals, vitamins and amino acids.

If you have ever been to Thailand, then you know that all national dishes are prepared based on the following ingredients.

CENTRAL ASIAN KITCHENS

Speaking about Central Asian cuisines, one cannot help but note their commonality, on the one hand, and some isolation of Turkmen cuisine from Uzbek and Tajik, on the other. The features that distinguish Turkmen cuisine are associated primarily with the unique natural conditions of Turkmenistan, with the unusual distribution of its population and the relative isolation of some Turkmens from others.

When getting acquainted with the national cuisines of Uzbeks and Tajiks, you very soon pay attention not only to the frequent coincidence of the names of many dishes, but also to something more significant - the coincidence of the vast majority of the principles of selection of products and cooking technology.
The reason for this similarity cannot, of course, be explained only by the sameness of natural conditions. The similar food raw materials available to the peoples of Central Asia, of course, to a large extent determine the uniqueness of their cuisines and the selection of combinations of food products, but cannot in themselves lead to the coincidence of the principles and techniques of cooking, or to the use of the same kitchen equipment. The reason for the similarity between Uzbek and Tajik cuisines is undoubtedly related to the close intertwining of historical destinies and the very territorial location of these two peoples.

Back in the 4th-7th centuries, there were two groups of peoples in Central Asia - some of them were descendants of the ancient population of agricultural oases, others were nomadic pastoralists.
Tajiks are the descendants of the oldest Iranian-speaking local population that existed on the territory of Tajikistan many centuries BC. They received their current name after the Arab conquest in the 8th century. Already in the 10th century, Tajiks, whose occupation had always been agriculture and gardening, became a nationality.

From the end of the 10th century, various Turkic-speaking peoples descended on Central Asia, who had previously gradually infiltrated the local Iranian-speaking population over the course of a number of centuries. The Turks began to push the Tajiks out of the valleys into the mountains or partially assimilate with them. By the 12th century, the Turkic-speaking population of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya interfluves formed the basis of the Uzbek nation. Together with the Tajiks, it was subjected to the Mongol conquest in the 13th century, which interrupted the development of the Central Asian peoples for a long time.

At the beginning of the 16th century, Central Asia was conquered by nomadic tribes that remained after the collapse of the Golden Horde and came from the north, from the Kipchak steppes (Khan's Kazakhstan). They mixed with the local population, especially the Turkic-speaking ones, and became the final ethnic layer in the formation of the Uzbek people. Having settled in Mesopotamia, the former nomads began to gradually adopt the agricultural way of life of the Tajiks and other local population, their culture and at the same time exert their influence. Thus, from the 16th century, the Bukhara and Khiva khanates emerged in Central Asia, which existed until 1920 (from the end of the 18th to the end of the 19th century, the Kokand Khanate also existed). These states did not have a national character. Both Uzbeks and Tajiks entered Bukhara, Khiva, and Kokand piecemeal. The ethnic boundaries between these peoples, apart from different languages, were not clearly expressed in everyday life and in spiritual life. Social partitions acquired much greater importance, sharply separating in these feudal states the life and culture of townspeople and peasants, traders and artisans, the feudal elite, mullahs, muftis, qadis and ishans from the mass of working farmers.
Therefore, the cuisine of the population of these khanates did not develop according to national characteristics, but rather along social and class lines.
The farmers' table was dominated by flour products, flatbreads, sour milk, a few vegetables, and legumes, while the wealthy ate mainly meat dishes, game birds, and a lot of fruits and sweets. But at the same time, the principles of culinary processing, developed over centuries in the process of close interaction between different peoples of Central Asia, turned out to be common property and were the same among all classes and nationalities living in the territory of present-day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Modern cuisine of Uzbeks and Tajiks is characterized by the use of a large amount of meat, mainly lamb, and the absolute exclusion of pork and fatty poultry - ducks, geese. Other poultry (chickens, turkeys) is also rarely consumed, while game birds (pheasants, partridges, quail) often serve to supplement the diet.
For both peoples, an increased consumption of local grains (wheat, dzhugar, rice) and legumes (chickpeas, mung bean), some vegetables (turnips, pumpkin, radishes, carrots), various fruits and nuts (apricots, grapes, cherries, plums) is indicative , melons, pistachios, walnuts). At the same time, there are almost no fish dishes, and the consumption of eggs is limited.
What is common is the use of sour milk (katyka) and products made from it (suzma, kurta) in a variety of dishes, especially the first ones, the same approach to the use of fats (combinations of plant and animal), increased consumption of spices, especially onions, red pepper, azhgon (cumin), basil, turmeric, dill, cilantro, mint (garlic is used less often). Popular seasonings include barberry and buzhgun.

However, more than in the choice of products, the unity of Uzbek and Tajik cuisines is found in the choice of basic culinary techniques.
The main methods of heat treatment are frying - mainly in fats and to a lesser extent over an open fire - on a grill or in a tyndyr (tanur). When frying in fats, special heating of the oil is used, and not only meat products are fried, but also flour products and vegetables. Another technique - steam cooking - is also used by both Uzbeks and Tajiks.
These processing methods gave rise to the same kitchen equipment and the use of the same type of stove. Frying is carried out in cauldrons - open metal cauldrons with thick walls, and steam cooking is carried out in manti-kaskans.
Finally, Tajik and Uzbek cuisines are characterized by the same principles of serving dishes to the table, their special order, strong thickening of soups, semi-liquid consistency of second courses and combinations of grains, legumes and vegetables with meat and dough.

These are the main features that unite Uzbek and Tajik cuisines. The differences between them concern particulars. Thus, Tajiks, along with lamb, willingly eat goat meat, more often than their neighbors eat game, and Uzbeks have some dishes made from horse meat and milk, which have survived to this day as a reminder of the distant nomadic past of their ancestors. Among legumes, Tajiks most readily use mountain peas, chickpeas, while Uzbeks prefer local small mung beans. Differences also remain in the composition of individual dishes, and such differences are most often of a regional rather than national nature. In every major city of Uzbekistan or Tajikistan - Khiva, Bukhara, Samarkand, Khojent, Dushanbe and others - they have long been preparing their own types of pilaf (the main national dish of both Tajiks and Uzbeks) with slightly different ingredients than their neighbors, with variations in the order in which the products are added. In addition, in the mountainous part of Tajikistan and in densely populated areas, dishes that are characteristic exclusively of Tajik national cuisine and have no Uzbek analogues (for example, Khalisa, Khushan) have long been preserved and have survived to this day. They indicate the greater antiquity, complexity and sophistication of Tajik cuisine compared to Uzbek cuisine. It is these dishes that we will focus on in the section on Tajik cuisine. And in the section devoted to Uzbek cuisine, both purely Uzbek dishes and culinary products common to Uzbeks and Tajiks will be considered, for example, various types of the common soup - shurpa or fried pies - samsa.
Since the population in Uzbekistan is almost three times larger than in Tajikistan, there are more regional dishes in Uzbek cuisine. Therefore, it is more advisable to start considering Central Asian cuisines with it.

However, first it is necessary to analyze in more detail the features of such groups of dishes in Central Asian cuisine as soups, meat, vegetable, flour and sweet dishes. The preparation of these dishes is very specific, especially when compared with the same groups of European dishes.

Soups occupy a fairly large place in Uzbek and Tajik cuisine. Their uniqueness lies in the fact that their consistency is much denser and very often resembles a mush rather than a soup as we usually imagine. In addition, these soups are fatty and rich because they contain fat tail fat or ghee.
But, in addition to all these purely external differences, soups of Central Asian cuisine differ both in the composition of the products and in the cooking technology. Specific is the use of local cereals in soups - mung beans (small Central Asian beans) and dzhugara (sorghum) - corn, rice and their combinations.
Of the vegetables, carrots, turnips, and pumpkin are almost always present in soups, and in much greater proportions than in European soups. The rate of onion consumption is also extremely high: three to five times more than in Europe. As for the technology of Central Asian soups, the main feature here should be considered, firstly, the preparation of “fried” soups (first the solid part is fried, then filled with water), and secondly, the use of katyk and suzma for the preparation of fermented milk soups. The first technique significantly reduces the time when cooking meat soups, the second gives the soups a very special sour taste, increases their calorie content and digestibility.

The most common types of Uzbek and Tajik soups are shurpa (shurbo), mastava (mastoba), atala (atola), ugra (ugro), pieva (piyoba) and fermented milk soups (katykli). At the same time, in Tajik fermented milk soups, the share of milk is reduced by half compared to Uzbek ones, at the same time, the fat content of the milk component is increased either by using sour cream instead of katyk, or by adding melted butter. In Tajik cuisine there are more variations in the preparation of soups common to both cuisines - Lieva, Atala, Dzhugara soup. These variations do not, however, change the dish itself, but only give it a slightly different flavor.
Some soups are characteristic only of Uzbek cuisine - such as kurtova, shopirma, kakurum, sikhmon. They are based on the use of dairy products and apparently originated with the nomadic ancestors of the Uzbeks. Other soups prepared from grain raw materials (chickpea soup, kashk, brinchoba) are found only among Tajiks and are associated with the most ancient agricultural culture.
Meat dishes are closely related to soups, since most soups are prepared with meat or postdumba (fat tail), especially among Uzbeks.

A common feature in meat processing is the habit of not separating the meat from the bones. In both soups and main courses, the meat is always boiled and fried along with the bone. The only exception can be kebabs, and even then only when they are prepared from tenderloin. A specific technique when processing poultry and game is also the obligatory removal of its skin either before or after heat treatment. Common to both peoples is the production of preserved meat dishes - kavurdak and khasipa (khasiba), which are eaten cold or used as semi-finished products in soups and pilafs. Most meat dishes consist of one meat component, devoid of any garnish, except for onions. Combinations of meat and boiled dough are also typical. Among them, the most common and famous outside Central Asia are manti (a type of large dumplings) and lagman, shima, manpar (types of noodles cooked in combination with meat). Both dishes have different variations among Uzbeks and Tajiks.
A few words should be said about the peculiarities of using vegetables. There are almost no independent vegetable dishes in Uzbek and Tajik cuisines. Vegetables are used in soups, sometimes they act as a snack for meat dishes or pilaf, in which case they are eaten raw (onions, rhubarb, radish), but more often they serve as a kind of semi-finished product for grain, meat or flour dishes: zirvak for pilaf or shavle, filling for samsa, vaja (kayla) for lagman or shima. In this case, vegetables are fried in a large amount of fat, then mixed with meat, grain or dough.

It was already mentioned above that in Uzbek and Tajik cuisine, flour products from both steamed, boiled, and especially baked and fried dough are extremely widely used. It will not be an exaggeration to say that flour products in various forms make up almost half of the dishes of Central Asian cuisine, and a significant number of them, especially numerous types of flatbreads, are 100% flour and are used either instead of bread or as independent dishes with katyk. Most flour products, most often flatbreads (noni, patyrov, lochire, chevati, katlama) and samsa, are baked in a special oven - tyndyr (tanur), to the hot walls of which flour products soaked in water are attached. This circumstance alone makes it difficult to prepare Central Asian flour products in other conditions (for example, in the oven of a gas stove), when it is impossible to reach the required temperature and, therefore, obtain a product of the same consistency and taste as in tyndyr. That is why we present only a limited number of recipes for flour products, and those that, in the absence of a tyndyr, can be baked in the oven and on the example of which we can show the specifics of Central Asian technology, for example, the features of sourdough and kneading dough. Three other methods of baking flour products used in Uzbek and Tajik cuisines are also available outside Central Asia: baking in a cauldron - without oil and with oil lubrication; baking between two frying pans over coals; frying in hot oil.
The sweet table in Uzbek and Tajik cuisines is specific, varied and extensive. Suffice it to say that neither Uzbeks nor Tajiks, like most peoples of the Middle East (Arabs, Persians, Turks), know dessert as the final, final dish. In the East, sweets, drinks and fruits are consumed twice during meals, and sometimes three times - they are served before, after, and during meals.

True, in recent years this custom among Uzbeks and Tajiks has begun to gradually disappear, since an increasing number of people are coming to the conclusion that eating sweets before meals spoils the appetite, but according to established tradition and habit, to this day they still put it on the table before lunch. sweets, sugary drinks, fresh, dried and dried fruits, especially raisins and apricots, melons and watermelons, as well as roasted and salted nuts.
Just like fresh fruits, berries, grapes and melons, tea accompanies all meals in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. They start lunch with tea, wash down fatty meat snacks and baked goods, and especially main courses, and finish off the meal with tea, washing down sweets with it.
Different types of tea are drunk in different areas. In most of Uzbekistan, especially in rural areas, in the east and south (Samarkand, Namangan, Andijan, Fergana, Kokand), green tea is preferred. In Tashkent and the surrounding Northern Uzbekistan, it is customary to drink black long tea. In Karakalpakstan they drink both green and black, but mainly with milk. In Tajikistan, green tea is drunk mainly in the summer, while black tea is drunk everywhere in the winter. By the way, tea in Central Asia is consumed without sugar.

Other typical drinks prepared for the table include sherbets (sharvati) - fruit infusions (or “brews”) with sugar. In Uzbekistan, however, sherbets are less common than in Tajikistan.
As for the sweets themselves, they can be divided into six groups: kiema (fruit and vegetable syrups), bekmes (concentrated condensed fruit and berry juices such as molasses), navat (various combinations of crystalline and boiled grape sugar with the addition of dyes and spices), sweets based on nuts and raisins and, finally, a variety of halvas and halva-like sweets. Most of them are known outside Central Asia as oriental sweets that do not have a clear national characteristic. Indeed, sweets such as navat and halva are prepared throughout the Middle East; their “homeland” is in various centers both in Iran and on the territory of our Central Asian republics. It must be said that Uzbek and especially Tajik confectioners (kandalatchi) have long been among the most famous in the East. However, the preparation of these famous sweets is so specific, based on the use of special ovens and tools, complex skills (for example, quickly stretching thick sugar syrup into threads with your hands), that reproducing them at home is impossible or extremely difficult. To prepare most types of real halva, you need sesame seeds, a strong decoction of Turkestan soap root (paniculata) and food coloring (for example, turmeric).

Therefore, here are given recipes only for those sweets that can be prepared at home without much difficulty and which, as a result, are less likely to be found in trade - these are various nut-fruit mixtures and halva-like sweets that do not contain saponins.

V.V. Pokhlebkin (Tajik recipes and dishes)

FIRST COURSES (SOUPS)

• Chickpea soup
• Kashk
• Oshi-sielaf (spicy and sour greens soup)
• Brinchob
• Shakarob

SECOND COURSES

• Meat dishes
• Pilaf
• Minced meat for Dushanbe pilaf
• Minced meat for Khojent pilaf
• Krupka for pilaf Ugro

Meat and vegetable products

• Nakhudshurak
• Meat and dough products
• Hushan
• Shima
• Manpar

Flour products

• Flour products
• Tortillas made from a mixture of corn and wheat flour
• Flatbread on suzma (chakka)
• Shirmol (or screen)

Sweets

• Nishallo
• Pashmak
• Sherbets
• Pomegranate sorbet
• Grape sorbet
• Apricot sorbet
• Strawberry sorbet
• Lemon sorbet
• Cherry sorbet

V.V. Pokhlebkin (Turkmen recipes and dishes)

FIRST COURSES (SOUPS)

• FIRST COURSES (SOUPS)
• Turkmen Shorba
• Shorba Ogurjalinskaya
• Gainatma
• Chektyrme

SECOND COURSES

Meat and cereal dishes

• Ash (pilaf)
• Ash Ogurjalinsky
• Yshtykma (stewed poultry)

Meat and dough dishes

• Etli unash (meat with apricot noodles)
• Gatykli unash
• Fish dishes
• Gaplama
• Balykly yanakhly-ash (fish pilaf)
• Balyk berek (Ogurjalin manti)
• Dairy products
• Teleme
• Sykman
• Garfish
• Flour products

V. V. Pokhlebkin (Uzbek recipes and dishes)

First courses (soups)

Meat and vegetable soups

• Shurpa
• Corn shurpa
• Lamb shurpa
• Pieva (onion soup)
• Cereal soups
• Yorma (wheat soup)
• Mashkhurda (mung bean with rice)
• Katykli (fermented milk soups)
• Katykli khurda (fermented rice)
• Turnip fermented milk soup
• Sour cream soup
• Kakurum
• Sikhmon
• Chalop

SECOND COURSES

Pilaf and shavli

• Pilaf

Our article will introduce you closer to Asian cuisine, and also teach you how to cook simple and tasty oriental dishes.

• Recently, Asian and Oriental dishes have become increasingly popular. Chefs love them for their quick and easy preparation. Ordinary people like their original taste and memorable aroma
• Each person finds something different in these exotic dishes. Plant-based food lovers can prepare dishes with lots of lightly poached vegetables; people watching their figure can eat rice with turkey or glass noodles with seafood
• The main thing is, don’t be afraid to try something new and believe me, Asian cuisine will definitely surprise you. If you have not yet become acquainted with this exotic cuisine, then we offer you a few simple recipes that will help you surprise your family and friends.

Asian and oriental products

Tofu cheese

• Probably every person knows that it is almost impossible to prepare an Asian dish from familiar products. And it's not all about the spices.
• After all, for example, we have nothing to replace such a component as soy sauce. Therefore, if we do not put it in a marinade or in a spicy dressing, then our food will not taste at all the same.
• For this reason, it is better not to look for a replacement for oriental products, but to use them for cooking. Moreover, you can now buy them without even leaving your home. You will only need to place the desired order in the online store and wait for delivery

Most popular products:
Rice for sushi
Seaweed
Sesame oil
Shiitake mushrooms
Tufu cheese
Rice vinegar and paper
Pickled ginger
Coconut oil
Tempura flour
Japanese noodles
Wasabi

Asian and oriental cuisine - recipe

Chinese cabbage soup with chicken

Eastern cuisine is very different from ours. The food there is prepared very quickly and most often it is fried. Minimal heat treatment makes it possible to preserve almost all useful vitamins and give the finished dish a more piquant and fresh taste.

Therefore, if you want to prepare a completely identical dish, then strictly adhere to all cooking rules.

Asian cabbage soup recipe:
First, cook broth from meat or fish
While the meat is cooking, fry bell peppers, onions and oyster mushrooms in sesame oil
Cut Chinese cabbage into long strips and add it to the broth
Leave everything to boil for literally 2-3 minutes
Then add fried vegetables and hot peppers to the soup
Boil everything for another 2 minutes and you can start eating

Peanut Butter Chicken Recipe:
Boil rice noodles
Pour oil into the frying pan and literally add hot peppers, wheat sprouts and green onions for just one minute
Next, we move on to frying the pieces of meat.
Then mix soy and hot sauce, peanut butter and finely chopped ginger in a saucepan.
Add noodles, meat and vegetables to the resulting mixture
Mix everything thoroughly and place on plates.

Asian soup recipes

Coconut milk soup

Asian style soups have quite an interesting and special taste. Due to the fact that quite a lot of ingredients are used to prepare them, they always emit a wonderful aroma.

Most often, they add meat (can be replaced with fish and seafood), rice or noodles, aromatic spices, hot peppers, fresh vegetables, and, of course, wheat germ. As a result, the dish turns out not only tasty, but also very colorful.

Thai Tom Kha soup recipe:
Heat a wok and pour sesame oil into it
At the next stage, add pre-chopped chili pepper and lemongrass to the oil.
When the oil is saturated with the aromas of spices, pour coconut milk into it and add lime leaves to the resulting mixture
Let the soup boil a little and drop small pieces of meat into the broth
When the meat is cooked, add salt, pepper and fish sauce to the soup and pour everything into plates

Recipe for Asian fish soup with coconut milk:
First, wash, fillet and cut the fish into pieces.
Heat coconut milk in a saucepan and season with hot spices
When the milk boils, start dipping the fish and chopped ginger into it.
While the soup is ready, boil the rice noodles in a separate pan.
After all the components of the soup are ready, you can proceed to the presentation of the dish.
Start by adding a small portion of noodles to the bowl.
Then pour fish soup over everything and drizzle with peanut butter.

Asian salads

Asian salad with grapefruit chicken

This salad can be either a hearty appetizer or an excellent addition to steamed rice or vegetables in sweet and sour sauce.

If you wish, you can use it for a light snack at work. A small portion of salad will help you quickly fill up and forget about the feeling of hunger for a long time.

Recipe for oriental chicken salad:
Boil the chicken fillet, cool it a little and cut it into small cubes
Peel half a grapefruit from the membranes and cut it in the same way as meat
Grind hot pepper, mint leaves and ginger root
Squeeze the lime and grapefruit juice into a separate bowl.
Salt it, pepper it, sprinkle with sesame oil
Place meat, mint leaves, ginger, grapefruit, hot pepper in the center of the plate and pour a light dressing over everything

Asian sauces

Sweet and sour sauce

Some people think that Asian cuisine only uses two sauces, soy and fish. Of course, in most cases they are used for marinating meat, fish and for preparing various dressings.

But if you start getting to know oriental cuisine a little closer, you can learn about the existence of other, no less tasty and original sauces. We will now introduce you to the recipe for one of them.

The sweet and sour sauce recipe is yin and yang.
Pour the rice bite into the saucepan and heat it up a little
Then add soy sauce and ground chili pepper to it.
When the mixture boils a little, add a couple of spoons of any fruit jam to it
Simmer the sauce for another 5 minutes and let it brew

Asian cuisine menu

Spicy pickled Chinese cabbage

Asian dishes differ from those more familiar to us not in the exotic combination of ingredients, but in the abundance of seasonings and soy products. Another difference is that they almost never use potatoes, so familiar to us, to prepare their dishes.

For example, they most often add rice noodles, meat and a variety of vegetables to soups. As a result, they end up with a rather thick soup, which can be both the first and second course.

List of the most popular Asian dishes:
Ramen
Pork in sweet and sour sauce
Spicy pickled Chinese cabbage
Pork stew with star anise
Rice noodles with beef
Spring rolls with shrimp and pork
Chinese puff pancakes

Oriental cuisine menu

Panchani

Oriental cuisine is practically no different from Asian cuisine. Spices, hot sauce, wheat germ and lightly poached vegetables are also popular here. Its only difference is the complete absence of liquid dishes, that is, the soups and borscht we are accustomed to.

But this does not mean that people eat only second courses, they just prepare soups a little differently than we do. Their broth is more like a thick and rich gravy that lightly coats the vegetables and meat. This is due to the fact that Eastern housewives love to thicken it with starch.

The most popular oriental dishes:
Bulgogi
Radish khichmi
Kalbi
Teokbokki
Kuksi soup
Heh from zucchini
Panchani

Eastern cuisine: meat dishes

Chicken skewers in soy sauce

Eastern cuisine involves the use of lamb, beef, chicken and very rarely pork. But unlike us, people living in the east do not like to grind meat into minced meat. They believe that in this way all the taste of the product is killed. Therefore, they try to bake it whole or cut it into small pieces.

Oriental meat dishes:
Lamb shish kebab with vegetables
Lagman with beef
Chicken skewers in soy sauce
Heh from meat
Korean pork ribs

Oriental soups

Oriental lamb soup

If you want to surprise your household, then prepare for them a delicious and aromatic oriental lamb soup. Its preparation requires a minimum set of ingredients and approximately 1 hour of time.

If you want to make this dish more festive, then garnish it with fresh herbs and chili peppers. This soup must be served with freshly baked flatbread.

So:
Make celery and onion broth
Add chopped meat to it
When the meat is cooked until half cooked, add rice to the pan.
Next, beat the egg, yogurt, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Add the mixture into the boiling soup in a thin stream and let it cook until done.

Oriental salad recipe

Spicy vegetable salad

If unexpected guests decide to come to your place, and you have nothing to treat them with, then try to prepare a simple but original salad of oriental cuisine. It itself consists of products familiar to us, but the usual mayonnaise dressing will have to be replaced with a lighter and healthier one.

Spicy vegetable salad recipe:
Take any salad mixture, tear it into pieces and place it on a beautiful platter
Cut cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and ginger into strips
Place prepared vegetables on salad mix
Prepare a dressing from vegetable oil, salt, pepper, garlic and lemon juice.
Pour the sauce over the salad and serve

Southeast Asian cuisine

Fish in Indonesian style

The main highlight of southeastern cuisine, of course, is seafood. Local chefs complement them with seaweed, exotic seasonings, juicy vegetables and edible flowers.

Very often, travelers, having seen such a still life, are afraid to try it. And they do this, of course, in vain. After all, usually fresh seafood is used to prepare these dishes, which can saturate the body with useful substances.

Indonesian fish recipe:
Fry onion, lemongrass, banana in vegetable oil and add pre-boiled and washed rice to it
Cut the fish into large pieces and marinate it in pepper, salt and lemon juice
Dip the fish first in cream, then in flour and fry in plenty of oil.
Place rice and banana on a plate and fish on top
Any hot sauce can be served with this dish.

Eastern European cuisine

Meat - “Three shepherds” in Moldavian

Eastern European cuisine includes food from Georgian, Armenian, Bulgarian and Moldavian cuisine. Although the dishes of these regions are close and familiar to us, among them there are also those that can surprise us with something new.

As a rule, for cooking, residents of these regions use the same products as we do, with only one difference: in Eastern European countries they do not really like to marinate fish and meat in liquid marinades.

Meat recipe - “Three Shepherds” in Moldavian:
Marinate chicken, pork and beef fillets in dry spices
After 1.5 hours, beat each piece separately and cut them into strips 2 cm wide
Next, alternating each type of meat, we begin to twist it clockwise
We chop the workpiece with bamboo sticks
We bake the meat in the oven, periodically sprinkling it with wine.

Uzbek oriental cuisine

Uzbek pilaf

A characteristic feature of Uzbek cuisine are meat dishes. Uzbeks love meat and know how to cook it properly. Moreover, most often they do not eat it, for example, baked. Usually they stew it with vegetables, put it in pies or make the most delicate manti with it.

But the main pride of this region, of course, is. Unlike us, they put a lot of meat, carrots and spicy spices in it, in short, they do everything to make the aroma of the dish amazing.

Uzbek pilaf recipe:
Heat the oil in a cauldron and add chopped onions and carrots into it.
When the vegetables are browned, add pieces of meat to them (ideally it should be lamb)
As soon as you notice that the ends of the carrots are darkening, immediately add half a liter of water, salt, cumin and barberry to the cauldron.
Let everything simmer for 40 minutes
At this time, pour boiling water over the rice and let it swell a little
Then add the rice to the cauldron, put 5-7 cloves of garlic on top of it and cover everything with a lid.
In 15 minutes the pilaf will be ready

Oriental sweets

Honey baklava

Almost all sweet tooths like oriental sweets. The main highlight of these delicacies is the variety of spices and herbs. This allows pastry chefs to create culinary masterpieces like no other in the world.

These countries have more than 200 types of different sweets. Moreover, in each region they prepare one specific one. This is usually done by trained people (shackles) and using special equipment.

Honey baklava recipe:
Take flour, eggs, salt and milk and knead a soft dough
Divide it into 5 equal parts and swing them as thin as possible
Grease each layer with oil, roll it up like a snail and put it in the refrigerator for half an hour.
While the dough reaches the desired consistency, chop the nuts
Take the dough out of the refrigerator and roll it out thinly again.
Place the first layer of dough in the pan and sprinkle it with chopped nuts
Repeat the manipulation three more times
Roll out the last piece, place it on the nuts and cut the workpiece into diamonds
Place the baklava in the oven for approximately 30 minutes
While it is baking, prepare aromatic syrup from honey and water.
Fill the finished baklava with syrup and let it soak thoroughly

Video: Asian Lemon Cheesecake