Azerbaijani dishes most often have Turkic names, but in terms of cooking method and taste, they are more similar to Iranian cuisine. After all, back in the 3-4 century BC. Azerbaijan was conquered by the Sassanids, who founded the strongest state of Iran. The formation of culture and feudal relations in these countries occurred simultaneously. Although later Azerbaijan survived the Arab conquest in the 8th century, the establishment of Islam, the attack of the Turks in the 11th-12th centuries and the Mongol invasion, but this did not affect Azerbaijani culture, which preserved Iranian traditions. In addition, in the 16-18 centuries, Azerbaijan was part of Iran - this again increased Persian influence.
The fact that Azerbaijan disintegrated from the 18th century to the middle of the 19th century into many small principalities - khanates - this contributed to the consolidation of some regional traditions in the cuisine, which have survived to this day.
In the Lankaran-Talysh region, in South Azerbaijan, a distinctive feature of Azerbaijani cuisine is game stuffed with fruits on an open fire, as well as fish baked in tyndyr with a nut-fruit filling. In northern Azerbaijan, where the Turkic influence is stronger, the main dish is khinkal. In large cities, such as Baku, Shemakha, Ganja, they prepare dushbara, kutaby, shakerbura, baklava, Turkish delight.
Lamb is the main meat in Azerbaijani cuisine, especially the meat of young lambs. But lamb in Azerbaijan does not occupy such a dominant place as in Uzbekistan. In addition to lamb, veal, beef and poultry are often used, which is a feature of Azerbaijani cuisine and distinguishes it from other Caucasian cuisines. Young meat is cooked on an open fire, usually with sour fruits - pomegranates, cherry plum and dogwood. Chopped meat dishes were widely used.
A large place in Azerbaijani cuisine is occupied by the preparation of fish, which is also its distinctive feature. Fresh fish is cooked like lamb skewers over an open fire, seasoned with fruits and nuts.
Fruits, vegetables and, most importantly, spicy greens and herbs are used in the diet even more often than in Georgian and Armenian cuisines, but in fresh. If they are cooked with eggs or meat, then even more greens are obtained (kyukyu, ajabsandal).
From vegetables in Azerbaijani cuisine today you can often see potatoes (piti). However, potatoes were not used in Azerbaijani cuisine before. It was replaced with chestnuts. Indeed, natural seasonings for meat are best combined with chestnuts - mountain, sumac, nar.
In general, above-ground vegetables are used in Azerbaijani cuisine - eggplants, tomatoes, sweet peppers. Very rarely use radish, carrots, beets. But herbs and green vegetables (asparagus, artichoke, chickpeas, peas) are widely used. Nuts and fruits are used as often as vegetables.
Green onions are used in Azerbaijani cuisine more than onions, as an appetizer for dishes. Also not used spicy garlic and served with onions. Many different spices are used in Azerbaijani cuisine, but saffron is considered the most important and favorite. After all, it was saffron that was revered in ancient Media and Persia.
From aromatic plants, rose petals are used. This, like the use of chestnuts, distinguishes Azerbaijani cuisine from others. Jam is made from roses, syrup is infused, sherbets are made.
Main Feature Azerbaijani cuisine is a combination of fresh products (rice, chestnut, knotweed) with sour and dairy products - a contrast of fresh and sour (dovga) is obtained.
Many Azerbaijani dishes are similar to those of other countries (barbecue, pilaf, dolma), but their cooking technology is different.
Azerbaijani national plov has its own characteristics. It belongs to the Iranian type. Rice for pilaf is prepared and served on the table separately from other components of pilaf and is not even mixed during meals. The taste of pilaf depends on the quality of rice preparation, because rice makes up more than half of the volume of the entire dish. When cooking, rice should not boil, stick together, but should turn out so that each rice is whole.
Rice should be served slightly warm. Separately, but simultaneously with rice, meat and herbs are served separately. Thus, it turns out that rice consists of three parts that make up one dish.
They like to drink tea in Azerbaijan very much. Drink only black long leaf tea and they use, as in Iran, a special narrow pear-shaped cup.
Eating a lot of greens, fruits and juices, young meat and fermented milk products, makes Azerbaijani cuisine very useful and healthy.
The cuisine of Azerbaijan is famous for its high nutritional and taste qualities. Many restaurants around the world serve such dishes as dovga (sour-milk soup with herbs), kyufta-bozbash (broth with meatballs), piti soup, and, of course, kebab and pilaf.
Features of Azerbaijani cuisine
Pilaf is a traditional holiday dish among Azerbaijanis. It is made from rice and can be served with meat, fish, vegetables and even fruits. A variety of seasonings and spices are widespread in Azerbaijani cuisine: cloves, cinnamon, parsley, basil, vazari, saffron, cilantro and others.
Very popular with tourists and travelers around the world are Azerbaijani barbecue and other dishes in tandir. Usage lamb in various dishes — distinguishing feature cuisines of this people. Beef, fish or poultry are used by Azerbaijanis to a much lesser extent.
In the cuisine of Azerbaijan, you cannot find pork dishes or drinks containing alcohol. This is due to the influence of Islam on the cuisine of this country. Another one distinguishing feature — unique aroma and spicy taste of dishes.
Some dishes in Azerbaijan are usually cooked in special dishes. For example, pilaf is usually cooked in a cauldron, piti soup - in a pit. For cooking Lula kebab uses different skewers.
This unique taste of Azerbaijani pilaf…
Pilaf is one of the most famous dishes national cuisine Azerbaijan. This dish is presented in several varieties:
- kaurma - pilaf with lamb;
- tyarchilo - with chicken or hen;
- tursu govurma - with lamb meat and sour fruits;
- fisinjan - with game, sour fruits, nuts and cinnamon.
Unlike other oriental options, Azerbaijani pilaf involves a separate preparation of g ara (meat component) and cereal part. Experts say that this option is more ancient than the others.
- Gara is usually prepared using fruits - cherry plums, plums, pomegranates.
- For rice, one of four cooking options is usually chosen, the most exotic of which is cooking on a ghazmag.
- Gazmag - flatbread unleavened dough, it is lined with the bottom of the dishes in which pilaf is cooked.
- No option is complete without the use of fats. As a rule, it is melted or butter.
Gara and rice are cooked separately, and only when served are combined, but not mixed. In this version, it is customary to serve pilaf with spicy herbs (tarragon, basil or green onions), as well as gasmag. Usually such pilaf is washed down with cool, sour sherbet. Moreover, unlike other variants of Asian pilaf, this one is served not hot, but slightly warm, the main thing is that the oil does not freeze.
This dish is very popular in Azerbaijan, there is even a saying: "If I am destined to die, let my death come from pilaf."
Without dessert - nowhere!
The national cuisine of Azerbaijan suggests a large number of sweet dishes and all kinds of desserts. Sweets are usually divided into three groups: floury, candy-like and caramel-like. As a rule, they all contain many spices and various additives: poppy, almond, sesame, nuts, ginger, vanillin and others.
National flour sweets include more than thirty items. Most Popular - baklava, shekerbura, kurabye, mutaki.
In the spring of 2009, Ganja confectioners prepared a wonderful baklava in honor of the Novruz holiday. The length of the product was 12 meters, the width was 4 meters, and the weight of the sweet was almost 3 tons. Thus, the Azerbaijani baklava set a record and entered the CIS Book of Records.
deserve special attention. Unlike Central Asian dishes with this name (which are sweet foods), here it is a soft drink with a sour taste, which is usually taken with pilaf. In addition to berry and fruit juices, sherbet is based on infusions of various buds or seeds.
Every tourist should try this
Traditional Azerbaijani the first dish - kelle-pacha - is prepared from lamb's head and legs. The name of the liquid hot soup is translated from Turkish: "kelle" - head, "pacha" - legs. Processed lamb legs, head and scar should be washed well and boiled over medium heat. Cook these ingredients for 6-7 hours, periodically removing the foam. Then the meat must be removed, large bones separated, the flesh cut into small pieces and sent back to boil in the same broth. When serving with a dish, it is recommended to serve crushed garlic and vinegar separately. Some soup options involve adding tomato paste and olive oil.
Dolma is a kind of Russian cabbage rolls, only the leaves are used not cabbage, but grape. In some regions of Azerbaijan, culinary specialists also use the leaves of quince, figs and other trees that grow here. In the process of cooking, these leaves turn into an appetizing, tender and crispy crust. Stuffing for dolma, except for meat and vegetable mince, can serve fish and even fruits. It is customary to serve sour-milk drinks with or without the addition of garlic to all types of dolma, except for fish.
Doshab
Of the drinks in Azerbaijan, doshab enjoys special honor - concentrated, boiled fruit juice . It can be made from mulberry, apricot or grape juice without added sugar. The consistency of the doshab resembles thick sauce. Used as a condiment for meat dishes, salads, and is also used for medicinal purposes.
Azerbaijani cuisine can be found in many restaurants around the world. Be sure to try some traditional national delicacy and you will immediately feel the unique aroma of the East. It is not surprising that there are so many admirers of Azerbaijani dishes among gourmets.
The peculiarity of Azerbaijani cuisine lies in the fact that, having some similarities with other Transcaucasian cuisines - the presence of the same type of hearth (tyndyr), kitchen utensils and food raw materials - she created a slightly different menu and a generally different taste range on this basis. . Therefore, the main composition of national Azerbaijani dishes is distinctive, although many dishes borrowed, for example, from Armenian cuisine (dolma) are included in the daily menu of a modern Azerbaijani.
Azerbaijani dishes, which overwhelmingly have Turkic names, are often very similar in name to the dishes of the Turkic-speaking peoples of the Middle East and Central Asia, but in essence, cooking features and taste are much closer to Iranian cuisine.
The fact is that even in the VI-IV centuries. BC e. part of the territory of modern Azerbaijan passed into the hands of the ancient Persian dynasty of the Achaemenids. And starting from the III-IV centuries. n. e. the territory of present-day Azerbaijan was seized by the Sassanids, who founded a strong state in Iran, therefore the formation of feudal relations in Iran and Azerbaijan, and at the same time the main features of the material culture that had existed for many centuries in these countries, occurred simultaneously. Although then Azerbaijan experienced the Arab conquest in the VIII century. and the introduction of Islam, the invasion of the Seljuk Turks in the XI-XII centuries. and the Mongol invasions of the 13th-14th centuries, however, all this, having influenced the ethnic composition, to a lesser extent affected the already established material culture, which retained Iranian features. In addition, just during the XVI-XVIII centuries. Azerbaijan was part of Iran - and again the Persian influence in everyday life increased significantly. It not only survived until the entry of Azerbaijan into Russia in the first third of the 19th century, but also affected later, during the final formation of the Azerbaijani nation at the end of the 19th century.
The fact that partly during the period of Persian rule and especially from the second half of the 18th century. until the middle of the 19th century. Azerbaijan broke up into almost a dozen feudal principalities-khanates, and contributed to the consolidation of some regional features in Azerbaijani cuisine, which are still manifested today.
In South Azerbaijan, in the Lankaran-Talysh district, a local feature is the preparation of game stuffed with fruits (mainly pheasants) and other poultry on an open fire, as well as fish baked in tyndyr with a nut-fruit filling; in Northern Azerbaijan, close to Dagestan, where Turkic influences are stronger, the main dish is meat and dough khinkal. In large cities - Baku, Shamakhi (the ancient capital of Shirvan), Kirovabad (Ganja - in the past) - traditional cooking meat-dough and pie products: dushbars, kutabs, as well as Iranian sweets - shakerbura, kurabye, baklava, halva and sherbets, Turkish delight.
The selection of food raw materials made by Azerbaijani cuisine over a long history differs in some essential details from Georgian and Armenian.
The main meat in Azerbaijani cuisine is lamb, and the meat of young lambs is preferred. However, lamb does not occupy such an exclusive position here as in Uzbekistan. Along with lamb, veal is also often used, and in the old Azerbaijani cuisine, game (pheasants, francolins, partridges, quails) also occupied a prominent place. poultry(hens, guinea fowls, primarily chickens). The desire to use young meat is explained by the fact that, as a rule, it is cooked on an open fire (old meat, especially beef, is unsuitable for this). The meat is usually cooked with sour fruits - dogwood, cherry plum and pomegranates, and dogwood is more often combined with veal, cherry plum with lamb, and pomegranate juice- with game.
Much more than in other Transcaucasian cuisines, the place is occupied in Azerbaijani cuisine by fish, which is cooked according to a technology developed for the main food raw materials - meat and fruits. So, fish is grilled like lamb on an open fire of a brazier, that is, it is cooked like a barbecue, combined with fruits and nuts (almonds), baked in a tyndyr and smoked. Special is the preparation of fish according to the method steam bath(not to be confused with a water bath!).
All this is largely due to the fact that red fish (sturgeon, kutum) is traditional in Azerbaijani cuisine, which, due to its merits, makes it possible to use this technology.
Vegetables, fruits, and especially spicy greens and edible herbs are used in the diet just as widely and sometimes even more widely than in the Armenian and Georgian cuisines, but mostly fresh, not boiled or fried. If it is cooked with meat or eggs, then the greens sometimes account for almost half the volume of the dish (chuchu, azhabsanda). At the same time, the meat is very boiled soft, so meat and vegetable dishes are often green porridge with meat sauce(sabza-govurma).
Potatoes are often found among vegetables in modern Azerbaijani cuisine: for example, they are added to piti soup. However, the classical Azerbaijani cuisine, of course, did not know the potato and could not use it. The use of potatoes began relatively recently - already during the years of Soviet power. Prior to that, its place was occupied by chestnuts. It is with chestnuts that Azerbaijani sour natural (fruit) seasonings for meat are best combined - gora (unripe grapes), abgora (juice of unripe grapes after a short fermentation), nar and narsharab (pomegranate and its condensed juice), sumakh (barberry), akhta ( dogwood), dried and fresh cherry plum. That is why, in order to obtain a characteristic Azerbaijani flavor range, it is better to use chestnuts in meat and meat and vegetable dishes, rather than potatoes.
Azerbaijani cuisine is generally characterized by the use of mostly above-ground vegetables. Very few root crops are used - beets, carrots, radishes. But all sorts of herbs (spicy, aromatic, neutral), greens, vegetables (artichokes, asparagus, the so-called Derbent lettuce with small heads of conical shape, chickpeas, green bean). Fruits and nuts (chestnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, hazel, walnut) is also preferred, and they are consumed along with vegetables. So, in Azerbaijani cuisine, fruits are fried in butter, especially kaisu (dried apricots), cherry plums, peaches.
Green onions in Azerbaijani cuisine are used more often than onions, and in very large quantities, usually as an appetizer for all fried meat dishes. In the same way, garlic is used, the local varieties of which are not particularly pungent and are eaten along with a green feather. Of the other herbs, the most common are watercress (meadow and mountain), leek, parsley, tarragon, curly and apple mint, lemon balm, coriander (cilantro), a little less often - thyme and even less often - dill and azhgon (zira). At the same time, the use classic spices in Azerbaijani cuisine is relatively limited: for meat, fish and vegetable dishes, black pepper is used, for sweet and confectionery dishes - cinnamon, cardamom, and for plov, fish and sherbets - real saffron, called Iranian saffron*, in contrast to the Imeretian saffron used in Georgia ( cardobenedict). It is saffron, so revered in ancient Media and Persia, that is considered the Azerbaijani national spice. Red pepper and hot spicy combinations in general are rarely used in Azerbaijani cuisine, with the exception of the regions adjacent to Georgia and Dagestan.
From aromatic plants, rose petals are used for food, which, like the use of chestnuts, distinguishes Azerbaijani cuisine from neighboring Transcaucasian ones. Syrups are insisted on roses, jam is made from them, rose oil is used in sherbets.
Of the neutral wild herbs, which are used as a green boiled mass for meat dishes and pilafs, they prefer knotweed, called in Azerbaijani kyrpygyn **.
In general, the main feature of Azerbaijani cuisine should be considered a combination of fresh, neutral in taste food products, for example boiled rice, chestnuts or knotweed, unsalted young meat, eggs or fish with pronounced sour vegetable and dairy products - the result is, on the one hand, a contrast of fresh and sour, on the other, a softening of a sharply sour taste to moderately sour, pleasant. This is confirmed by such dishes as dovga, the use of pomegranate and cherry plum in meat and fish dishes and even the preparation of apricots and peaches, not apricots, and even more so not whispers (especially sweet apricots), as in Central Asia, but mainly kaisa (dried apricots), which has a sour taste.
Many dishes of Azerbaijani cuisine are also available in the cuisines of other peoples (kebab, dolma, chanakhi, pilaf, dumplings). However, they sometimes differ in technology. For example, three types of Azerbaijani dumplings - dushbara, kurze and giimya-khinkal - differ from each other in their overall size and shape, the composition of the dough and the filling and the way they are arranged (for more details, see the description of recipes for meat and dough dishes).
Azerbaijani pilaf, a ceremonial national dish, has its own characteristics. Unlike Uzbek, it belongs to the Iranian, and not to the Central Asian type. Rice for pilaf is prepared and served completely separately from the rest of the ingredients (meat, game, fish, eggs or fruits and herbs, collectively called gara), without mixing with them even on a dish during meals. Since rice is the basis and more than half of the volume of pilaf, the taste of the whole dish largely depends on the quality of its preparation. The art lies in the fact that rice does not crack during boiling, does not boil and does not become sticky - each rice should remain intact, only slightly and evenly swell during cooking. Only in this case, the rice is tasty on its own, although it seems that it remains neutral in taste. To do this, rice is boiled mainly by steaming in metal tyndyrchiks or using other traditional ways cooking (see recipes) and, in addition, they take for pilaf not any, but special, often local varieties of rice.
Serving and eating Azerbaijani plov also has its own traditions. Rice is never served completely hot, but warm enough to keep the butter warm. At the same time, meat or meat-fruit part of pilaf and spicy herbs are served on a separate dish. Thus, Azerbaijani plov consists of three separate parts, which together make up one dish. The meat is eaten with rice (or rice wrapped in pita bread) and after that spicy herb. Only those pilafs, the meat part of which is replaced by the egg part, are served to the table differently - first, rice is put on the dish in an even layer, egg-vegetable seasoning is put on it, which they try to take from the dish so that both are equally in the spoon.
The classic Azerbaijani lunch lasts, like all oriental dinners, for a long time - about three hours, and sometimes more. It usually starts with snacks - smoked sturgeon balyk with green onions, leeks, radishes, fresh cucumbers or watercress, which are eaten with churek and washed down with ayran. At the same time, vegetables and herbs are not cut, but are always served whole and each separately. This is followed by sour fried fruits - most often cherry plum, sometimes half with peaches. After that, one of the soups is served - piti, dovga or kyufta-bozbash. After dovgi, mutton govurma may follow; after piti, which includes lamb, galya (veal with dogwood) or dolma can be served, but most often chicken or pheasant fried on a spit. All these main courses are abundantly accompanied by spicy greens - watercress, cilantro, garlic, stragon, mint. And only then follows the central dish - pilaf, which simultaneously acts as a transitional dish from the second to the third. The nature of pilaf is also determined depending on the previous dishes. If they already included lamb, then pilaf will be with game or poultry. If the game was served before pilaf, and the first course included lamb (piti), then pilaf is made with eggs, herbs (kyrpygyn) or fruits. When the preliminary second contains eggs, greens or veal (chugu, galya), then pilaf is made with lamb.
After pilaf, as a transitional dish for dessert, a thick sauce of dried apricots, raisins, almonds and pomegranate juice can follow. Dessert is always extremely varied and, in addition to the indispensable finely chopped sugar, consists of various jams, bekmes, sherbets, halva, cookies and kaymak with honey, which are served with the final dish - tea.
In Azerbaijan, tea is drunk willingly, in large quantities, and not only at lunch, but also outside of lunch or any other meal. They drink only black long leaf tea, which is quite strong, and, as in Iran, they do not use porcelain dishes (bowls or cups) for drinking, but special narrow pear-shaped vessels resembling miniature vases - the so-called armuds.
The use of a large amount of fresh spicy herbs, fruits and sour juices for almost all year round, young meat and game, as well as sour milk and green dishes, makes Azerbaijani cuisine healthy and healthy.
The limited use of salt in Azerbaijani cuisine is indicative. Azerbaijanis even prefer meat either completely unsalted (one of the main national dishes - kebab - is not salted at all), or it is given a sour taste with the help of fruit juices - pomegranate, cherry plum, narsharaba.
* Although this saffron is produced in Azerbaijan itself, which is the center for growing saffron in the USSR.
** The Asian type of knotweed differs from the European one in its size, more juicy and tender leaves.
Azerbaijanis love and know how to cook delicious food, but strict religious norms impose certain restrictions on Muslims. Islam left an imprint on National dishes Azerbaijan. Recipes, for example, suggest any meat other than pork.
Azerbaijani cuisine
A characteristic feature of Azerbaijani cuisine, unlike Russian, is that here in every kitchen there is always a strong aroma of spices. Azerbaijan is usually supplemented with a generous set of spices. fragrant herbs are used in large quantities. These are such well-known plants as basil, mint, dill, parsley, as well as sumac, saffron, cumin, fennel, different kinds pepper, cinnamon, cloves and many others.
The national dishes of Azerbaijan include all kinds of vegetables and fruits. Even in soups and hot meat snacks add fresh and dried cherry plums, grapes, figs, apples, apricots, plums, barberries, pomegranates, citrus fruits, etc.
Azerbaijani chefs know a lot about making desserts. Various dried fruits and nuts are crushed, and together with cinnamon, honey, saffron and mint they improve the taste of original sweets - nougat, Turkish delight, firni, baklava, kurabye, halva. They are also used for stuffing shor-kogal, shakerbura, zeyran, mutaki, kyata and many other sweet products made from dough and without it.
For cooking, housewives take special containers - cauldrons, pits, saji, tandoors and others, but this is not a mandatory requirement, they are just very convenient and, as a rule, have thick walls and special cavities for hot coals or electric heaters.
Baku pilaf
Azerbaijani pilaf with dried fruits and meat - complex dish, which is prepared in several stages.
Rice is cooked separately - 1 kg of cereal should be poured into a cauldron with large quantity cold water and put on fire. When it boils, add 2 tbsp. spoons of salt. Boil the rice until half cooked, then rinse hot water and throw it in a colander.
5-6 tablespoons are poured into the bottom of the cauldron ghee, a cake is placed on the oil, and prepared rice is poured onto it. Half a glass of saffron infusion is added, covered with a lid and simmered over low heat for about an hour.
Nar guvruma is prepared separately - this is usually lamb, but chicken can also be used. For the dish, you need to cut 1 kg of meat into pieces, salt, pepper, sprinkle with cumin and put in a roasting pan with melted butter. Fry over high heat. At the end, add two heads of finely chopped onions and dried fruits (apricots, figs, prunes, sultanas and barberries). Stir and pour hot water with half a glass of saffron infusion. Simmer until meat is cooked.
During the table setting, lay out the rice with the Gazmakh broken into pieces on big dish, beautifully distribute Nar guvruma and sprinkle with pomegranate seeds.
Azerbaijani pilaf with dried fruits and meat can also be made in a slow cooker. In this case, the cooking time will be significantly reduced.
Dish of lamb giblets
This dish is called jiz-byz. For it, intestines, heart, lungs, testicles, kidneys, liver and fat tail fat of a young ram, as well as 2 onions, potatoes and spices (pepper, sumac, zira, salt) are used.
Jiz-byz, like many national dishes of Azerbaijan, is cooked in a special cauldron.
In a cauldron, it is melted, washed and cut into small pieces of offal, spices and chopped onions are placed in it. Everything is fried over high heat, then potatoes are placed in a cauldron and hot water is added. Everything is stewed for about 40 minutes. Served sprinkled with cilantro, basil, dill and other herbs.
Hamrashi soup
Azerbaijani hamrashi soup is prepared just before serving, as noodles are added to it, which loses water from a long stay in the broth. palatability. As for the beans, it is better to cook them in advance or soak them overnight.
The national dishes of Azerbaijan are often prepared from young lamb with the addition of legumes. Hamrashi is no exception. For him, the meat should be scrolled through a meat grinder and combined with salt and pepper. In a pot with boiled beans add salt and spices. Bring to a boil, form large meatballs from minced meat, put them in a saucepan and leave to cook.
cook unleavened dough from flour and water, roll into a very thin layer and cut into small strips. Send the resulting noodles to the pan with beans and meatballs. Bring to a boil and turn off the heat.
Serve sprinkled generously with chopped cilantro, basil, mint, coriander and parsley.
Azerbaijani okroshka ovdukh
Okroshka in Azerbaijani is made not on kvass, but on sour-milk drink matsoni. The composition of the ovdukh includes boiled eggs, fresh cucumbers, green onion, cilantro, dill and garlic, mashed with salt. All of the above components must be cut, put on a plate and pour matsoni. The ingredients are combined just before serving, and before that they are stored separately in the refrigerator.
Sometimes pieces of boiled lean beef are added to the okroshka.
Chagyrtma
The national dishes of Azerbaijan rarely leave anyone indifferent. This also applies to chagyrtma. The composition of the tasty and nutritious food includes a lot of onions, chicken meat with bones, eggs, butter, bell pepper, fresh tomatoes, aromatic herbs and dry spices.
The chicken must be cut into small pieces, 60 grams each, salt, sprinkle with spices, pour a small amount grape vinegar and leave to marinate.
Dip 1 kg of tomatoes in boiling water and peel.
Finely chop one to one and a half kilograms of onions, salt, add pepper, cumin, saffron infusion and simmer in a cauldron until soft, puree-like. To prevent the onion from burning, add a little hot water, but not oil.
Butter, 200 grams, mixed with onions, 45 minutes after the start of stewing.
After another 5 minutes, put the chicken pieces in the onion and simmer everything together for about 30 minutes.
Break 8-10 eggs into a bowl and beat lightly with a whisk to get a homogeneous cream-colored mass. Pour it into the cauldron, stirring constantly.
Cut the tomatoes right after. small pieces and send to the cauldron. Chop the bell pepper and greens there. Bring to a boil and turn off. Serve hot on separate serving bowls.
Lula kebab
Lyulya kebab - a kind To cook it, you need to get special flat skewers.
Minced meat is traditionally made from fatty lamb, onion, cilantro, basil, parsley, salt and ground spices - pepper, sumac and cumin.
Short thick sausages are formed from minced meat and strung on skewers, and then fried on the grill. To make the minced meat viscous, it is passed through a meat grinder twice or kneaded for a long time in an electric combine with knives. After that, the minced meat is beaten on the table and placed for 30 minutes in a cold place. Even without eggs, after such preparation, it clings very tightly to the skewer without losing its shape. Ready sausages are placed on thin lavash and eat with warm matsoni.
Lavash is made from unleavened dough consisting of flour, water and salt. So that when folding the kebab, cracks do not appear on it, it should turn out to be thin and plastic, therefore, Azerbaijani lavash is not fried in oil, but baked in a tandoor and used for kebab not immediately, but after it rests and becomes soft . Since not everyone has a tandoor, it is successfully replaced Cast-iron pan with a thick bottom.
Dolma
Dolma - very small cabbage rolls that are wrapped not in cabbage, but in grape leaves.
Minced meat is made from lamb, boiled rice, pea puree, onions, salt, pepper and cilantro, basil, parsley and celery. Rice and peas take half as much as meat. Spicy leaves are chopped very finely, and the meat, along with onions, is passed through a meat grinder. All ingredients are thoroughly mixed and put with a teaspoon on grape leaves scalded with boiling water. The leaves are wrapped and dipped in salted boiling water. Cooking time - 30-40 minutes. Dolma is eaten hot, seasoned with matsoni.
Khinkali
Khinkali in Azerbaijani - products made from unleavened dough, reminiscent of noodles, only more coarsely chopped. Nothing is added to the dough except water and wheat flour. In the cuisines of other peoples, khinkali is a cross between dumplings and manti, that is, stuffed. Khinkali in Azerbaijani - simple flat squares of dough. They are added to a variety of first and second courses. Khinkali is also served separately, with some kind of sauce, for example, garuda sauce and guimya meat.
For guilleme chopped meat stewed with spices and grape vinegar until soft.
Garoud is a sauce made from matsoni and garlic mashed with salt.
Khinkali boiled in salt water are placed on a plate, guima is placed on them, garuda is poured on top and sprinkled with chopped herbs.
Kutaby
To make Azerbaijani-style kutabs with meat, you need to prepare the dough and minced meat.
The dough requires wheat flour, a little salt and water. It is kneaded quite coolly so that you can roll out a thin cake, from which cut out circles with a diameter of 17-19 cm. Put the minced meat in the middle, fold the dough in half, like on pasties, close the edges tightly. Fry in a pan with oil.
Azerbaijani-style kutabs with meat are prepared from lamb, so they should be eaten hot, sprinkled with sour sumac. Added to mince onion, pieces of sour cake made from dried apricots and other fruits, pomegranate juice, salt and pepper.
Shaker-churek
This is a traditional sweet dish served with tea. It is very easy to prepare it. From 1 kg of wheat flour, two whipped proteins, half a kilogram of butter and the same amount of powdered sugar, you need to knead the dough and roll it into balls. Dip each ball in egg yolk and place on a baking sheet lined with Teflon paper. bake in hot oven until golden. Put the finished balls of shaker-churek on a dish and sprinkle powdered sugar mixed with vanilla or cinnamon.
Firni
Firni is another dessert dish, very reminiscent of thick jelly or milk porridge. It is not much more difficult to make it than a shaker-churek, but unusual taste and consistency will surprise those who are not familiar with Azerbaijani cuisine. For firni, you need rice flour (100 g), half a liter of milk, a tablespoon of melted butter, the same amount of sugar, a little salt and ground cinnamon.
If there is no rice flour, then use ordinary white rice, grinding it in a coffee grinder. Rice flour is poured into boiling milk in a thin stream, sugar and salt are added and boiled over low heat, making sure that it does not burn. At the very end, pour in the butter and mix thoroughly. Serve to guests, pouring into cups and sprinkled with cinnamon on top.
I don’t even know where to start the story about the month I spent in Azerbaijan. The scenery is simply magnificent, the cities are charming, and the people are insanely friendly. The holiday was full of adventures, and everything was not at all what I expected. So where would you start?
I'm still a little confused and trying to digest everything. (Process photos, damn it, I took more than 2000 photos)
So, I’ll start, perhaps, with this ... when I found out that I was going to, I was haunted by only one question: “I wonder what kind of cuisine is there?”:
Food in Azerbaijan
Instead of jumping right into the top 5 dishes I've tried, as I usually do, today I'm going to take a little digression.
First of all, I must say that I was in Azerbaijan for work.
And when I wasn't eating breakfast, lunch and dinner at the hotel buffet, I used to dine at the stadium, which meant eating a tiny muffin and drinking a bottle of water, if I was lucky I could eat beetroot salad and cold pizza. (But I'm not complaining by any means: many sporting events don't provide free food for the media at all - in London they charged £1.05 for a bottle of water. I was grateful for the free snacks).
I want to say that my understanding of Azerbaijani cuisine is limited. However, I did manage to try a few dishes outside the hotel and get a glimpse of Azerbaijani culture in the process.
What is Azerbaijani cuisine like?
If I were asked to describe Azerbaijani food in four words, I would say: pickles, herbs, lamb and sodium.
Each meal begins with a plate of appetizers, which are eaten with warm naan-like flatbread. Appetizer includes: fresh herbs, cheeses, olives, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and assorted pickles: pickled onions, pickled cabbage, pickled olives. At one restaurant, I even tried pickled mushrooms (It's a little funny that what I call pickled, they call white cucumber).
Herbs are highly valued here; sometimes they bring a whole plate with only herbs. They smell wonderful.
At least one of the main dishes comes with lamb meat. Even those dishes that do not contain it contain a large amount of sodium, which I have never tried before.
I don't like to complain about food. I can't stand doing it and I can't stand those who do it. But I admit that after a month in Azerbaijan, I needed a sodium break (And this happened to me, a man who repeatedly sat down to watch movies with a can of pickles and destroyed it at a time).
Dinner was usually accompanied by tea, an important part of Azerbaijani culture, and something else, which I will definitely write more about in another post.
So, now that you have an idea (or at least MY idea) about Azerbaijani cuisine, we can move on to the top 5 dishes I tried in Azerbaijan.
5 best dishes I tried in Azerbaijan
Drink soup from Sheki
Petey. God, drink! Undoubtedly, this is the best thing I have eaten in Azerbaijan. Piti is a soup that is cooked in an individual clay pot, which you 'disassemble' before eating. First, break the pieces of bread and throw them into the pot. Then slowly tilt the pot of piti so that the broth floods the bread; then add the rest of the ingredients to finish cooking - do each step very quickly and you'll be splashed with hot soup :).
The recipe itself is simple: lamb, chickpeas, chestnuts and potatoes. But as a result, you get a hearty and fragrant soup, one of the most fragrant soups in my life - most likely thanks to a large portion of cooked fat.
Badambura in Baku
Badambura is a well-known Azerbaijani pie. It comes in various forms, with fillings of sugar, cinnamon and finely chopped nuts. I first tried it in the tournament accreditation center. While waiting for my accreditation to be printed, I casually mentioned that I was hungry. The center volunteers immediately took badambur and juice from personal lunch bags and insisted that I eat. I don't know because of the hunger or their kindness, but no badambura was as magnificent as that first one.
Black tea and cherry jam in Baku
As with all the dishes on this list, this tea has a history that makes it unforgettable. But the tea itself was fantastic, which is not surprising, since tea occupies a huge place in Everyday life Azerbaijani; on the streets, I often saw men playing board games and sipping black tea from small mugs beautiful shape. There is even a special tradition - to drink it with jam, but I will talk about this in another post.
Sheki halva
We went to Sheki for one day, so the stop at the local sweet shop was no more than five minutes. But even in those few minutes, I saw just how popular this guy's halva was: the tiny shop was filled with locals pushing each other in hopes of buying the latest halva. The boxes disappeared as soon as some person filled them with freshly cut sweets.
By the way, halva is a dessert made from crushed nuts lying between layers of the thinnest fried dough with honey oozing from it is Sheka's specialty, so I think we bought the best of the best.
Fish of the Caspian Sea and smoked cheese in the city of Gabala
The fish was not so appetizing, perhaps due to the fact that I had to remove the heads first, then, when I greedily devoured small bodies, I had to remember about the bones.
And again, these dishes - memories of one night - I drank along with local Azerbaijanis who did not know Russian except for "Vodka!" - which is why I put this salty snack on my list (the salt content in it is above the norm, which I need to cope with vodka).
