Well…. I’ve been wanting to write this for a long while now. Sometimes sitting down and focusing on a more daunting task takes longer than you initially believe it will.
Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan’s culture and food is very similar with a few small differences, so I thought it would be simpler to write about them together.
Coming to these countries reminds me of my time in Mongolia. As these people were Nomad Merchants, horses play an important role in their culture. Horses were their mode of transportation and even food when needed. It is not surprising to find horse meat and horse milk are traditional foods here. One of the most traditional dishes and the one I was encouraged to try the most is a dish called Besbarmak. It is made up of hand made noodles, horse meat, sweet peppers, and seasonings. I had the chance to try horse meat on one occasion, and it was pretty good. It reminded me of venison. Horse lovers please don’t hate me. I was informed a certain type of horse is bread for meat apart from the ones ridden often in the country sides. Turning leftover milk into yogurt and then candy happens here as well. Similar to back in Mongolia where they would make horse milk candy here they turn it into small white pellets they call Kurt. I believe they even use sheep’s milk occasionally as well to make Kurt. It is chalky and very sour, not really a delicately I would recommend. Another great traditional dish that I would recommend is Plov. Made up of rice, beef, sweet peppers, tomatoes, and spices, it is delicious and a definite staple for Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan families alike.
Noodles you can buy to make traditional dishes
Hospitality is huge here! It is so important that the symbol for hospitality, a circle with two pairs of intersecting lines which comes from the center of their traditional tents known as Yurts, is found on both Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan’s flags. When visitors come they are given tea and a variety of cookies, candies, and fresh fruit to enjoy while they chat. The traditional tea cups have no handles and the lady of the house is in charge of pouring. She will warm up your cups by pouring some hot water in them then dumping it out before pouring the tea. If she desires you to stay long, then she will fill your cup half full. If she desires for a short visit or is ready for you to leave after staying awhile, she will fill your cup completely full. This means that is your last cup of tea and when you finish it you best start making your good byes. Each time you finish your cup of tea you will pass it to your hostess and she will give you a fresh warmed up cup. While not every Kazi or Kyrgy practices this strict tea ceremony every time they invite guests over, their generosity and warmth towards their guests is always present.
Let’s talk about street food!
Fast food? Yes! Never fear! If you ever desire KFC or McDonalds you can find it in the big cities. The most popular on the go street food has to be samsa and piroshki though. Samsa are triangle shaped palm sized pockets of goodness! They are usually a flaky dough wrapped around a filling of chicken or beef and baked to golden brown perfection. Piroshki are a fluffy fried dough filled with potato and sometimes a mixture of shredded cabbage and carrots. Costing only 40 som each (approximately $ 0.57 cents) they are a great snack or quick lunch. Another favorite on the go lunch is Donners. Meat is roasted on a spit (depending on the stall making them it can be chicken, lamb meatloaf, or beef meatloaf) similar to the meat roasted for gyros. It is sliced off into thin strips and wrapped up inside of flat bread with sliced tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, shaved onion, French fries, ketchup, and mayo. Last the ultimate sandwich is pressed on a panini press for a nice crispiness and to ensure your massive wrap doesn’t fall apart on you. Finish one of those bad boys and you will be able to take on whatever comes your way in the afternoon.
OH Let’s Go to the Bizarre!
Here a bizarre is a crazy maze of stores and stalls selling anything you could possibly want or need. I love them so much! Bread, fruit, cookies, cakes, candy, dried fruit, nuts, pickled vegetables, spices, hats, coats, shoes, kitchen gadgets, plumbing equipment, you name it you can most likely find it. Every town has one. The one we would shop at when we stayed in Karakol for a week was made out of the metal shipping containers you usually see being loaded on and off of ships. I thought it was very ingenious of them to utilize the old containers that way.
Now the one difference I could really see during time spent in both countries was the way Kyrgyzstan views their bread. Unlike what I experienced in Kazakhstan, in Kyrgyzstan bread is considered sacred. Round loaves baked in a tandir oven are at the center of the table for almost every meal. They are torn apart by hand and passed around to share and eat. Any left over bread is never to be wasted. it will be saved or taken home by someone if they were eating out. It is even frowned upon to throw away the crumbs on the table because the crumbs can be given to the birds. This mind set comes from remembering times in their past when food availability was low and they relied on bread to sustain them. Honestly I like this view. I myself have always been enamored with bread. Jesus broke bread at passover to represent the breaking of his body. We are to repeat this in remembrance of His sacrifice, so yes I certainly believe there is a certain amount of sacredness held in bread.
Recipe
Russian Pancakes
This was a treat we enjoyed as a snack, for dessert, or even for breakfast in both Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Some students we befriend and invited over taught us to make this. The nice thing about it is you can make these sweet or savory. I have had them usually with fruit or jam, but these would be equally as good with something like a spinach, artichoke, and cream cheese filling. Once when we were served them for a snack, they also came with a mixture of half sour cream and half condensed milk to dip or spread over our pancakes.
Ingredients
4 1/2 cups of milk
5 eggs
1/3 teaspoons of salt
2 Tablespoons of sugar
1/2 baking soda
4 cups All-purpose flour
3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup boiling water
2/3 cups of butter, divided
Directions
- Beat together milk and eggs. Stir in salt and sugar. Stir in baking soda and mix well.
- Blend in the flour. Stir in the vegetable oil and slowly pour in the boiling water, stirring constantly. The batter should be very thin, almost watery. Let the batter sit of 20 minutes.
- Melt a tablespoon of butter in a small frying pan over medium-high heat. Pick the pan up off the heat. Pour in a ladle full of batter (about 1/4 cups worth) into the pan while rotating the pan in a circular motion. The batter should make a circle and coat the bottom of the pan. The pancake should be very thin.
- Return the pan to the heat and cook for 90 seconds. Lift up the edge of the pancake to see if it is done. It should be golden brown on the edges and there should be brown spots of the underside.
- Carefully flip the pancake over with a spatula and cook the other side for 1 minute.
- Transfer the pancake over to a plate lined with a clean kitchen towel. Continue cooking pancakes till all the batter is used up. Use the kitchen towel to cover the cooked ones and keep them warm.
- To serve put your desired filling in the center of a pancake and fold over twice to make a triangle shape. Have fun with it and enjoy!
This is a picture taken when they were showing us how to make the pancakes. The filling was made from what they refer to as cottage cheese, but it was closer to a sweet cream cheese than our American cottage cheese. The jam is raspberry!
