Tajik Recipes

Tajik cooking is mountain food shaped by farming valleys and high pastures. Wheat bread, called non, appears at every meal, and many families still bake it in clay ovens. Lamb and beef are the main meats, but dairy does much of the work: strained yogurt called chakka, dried salted yogurt balls called qurut, and clotted cream called qaymoq. Noodle soups are everyday food, and plov is cooked for weddings and big gatherings. Carrots, tomatoes, onions and pumpkin, along with chickpeas and mung beans, fill the pot, and fresh dill, cilantro and green onion are used generously. Qurutob, flatbread soaked in a sour yogurt dressing and topped with onions and vegetables, is the dish most people call national. Green tea comes first and last, served with dried fruit, nuts and sweets such as halvaitar. In spring, Navruz tables carry wheat sprouts and sweet treats.

Staple ingredients

• wheat flour and non bread
• lamb and beef
• chakka and qurut (yogurt products)
• carrots
• onions
• chickpeas
• dill and cilantro
• green tea

• Breakfast 1
• Appetizers 1
• Soups 2
• Main Dishes 1
• Breads 1
• Desserts 1
• Snacks 1

Breakfast

• Shirguruch (Tajik Rice and Milk Porridge)TJ55 minEasy

Appetizers

• Chakka (Tajik Strained Yogurt with Garlic and Herbs)TJ10 minEasy

Soups

• Oshi Burida (Tajik Herb and Chickpea Noodle Soup)TJ1 h 15 minEasy
• Ugro (Tajik Hand-Cut Noodle Soup with Lamb)TJ1 h 55 minEasy

Main Dishes

• Qurutob (Tajik Flatbread with Sour Yogurt Dressing)TJ55 minEasy

Breads

• Fatir (Tajik Flaky Butter Flatbread)TJ1 h 15 minMedium

Desserts

• Halvaitar (Tajik Toasted Flour Halva)TJ45 minMedium

Snacks

• Sambusa (Tajik Pumpkin and Onion Pastries)TJ1 h 20 minMedium