Features of Uzbek cuisine
Of course, the national cuisine of any nation is based on its economy, on the availability of raw materials. Uzbekistan has rich opportunities. Livestock, poultry and beekeeping are widely developed here. Collective farmers get rich harvests of wheat, rice, corn, barley, legumes (mung bean, lovii, nuhata (peas) and soybeans). Every year, gardeners of the republic collect fruits of various varieties of apricots, apricots, plums, cherry plums, peaches, cherries, cherries, apples, pears, juda, persimmons. Lemons, oranges, quinces, figs, pomegranates, and nuts also bear fruit here. Viticulture is widely developed in Uzbekistan. There are up to 150 grape varieties here. Melons, watermelons, pumpkins, cucumbers, squash, and squash produce excellent yields in melon growing.
Vegetable growing is also well developed: they grow carrots, beets, radishes, radishes, turnips, onions, garlic, leeks, multi-tiered onions, white cabbage, red cabbage, cauliflower, petiole, tomatoes, Bulgarian sweet and chilli peppers, eggplants, various varieties of potatoes ... Strawberries, wild strawberries, black and red currants grow from berries. From greens, dill, parsley, cilantro, celery, garlic, green onions (feathers), sorrel, lettuce, spinach, basil, thyme, zhusai and much more.
As you know, cooking belongs to the branch of applied arts. Its origins go back centuries. Over a thousand-year history, Uzbek culinary has developed its own specific features, national flavor and original genres. Familiarization with these results of folk art is of great historical and cultural interest.
On the example of Uzbek cuisine, we observe such special genres as yakhnapaz (a genre and specialty of creating cold snacks); oshpaz (a genre and specialty for making soups, shurpa and various second courses); kabobaz (a genre and specialty in the preparation of kebab varieties); palovpaz (genre and specialty for cooking various types of pilaf); somsapaz (a genre and specialty for making samsa - various baked pies); nonpaz or nonvoy (a genre and specialty for baking various types of cakes); shakarpaz or kandolatchi (genre and specialty for making sweets), etc.
During its centuries-old history, our people have accumulated rich experience in processing various food products and preparing tens and hundreds of unique dishes and delicacies, the recipes of which have survived to this day.
Dishes were prepared from vegetables and fruits, fresh, fresh milk or with the addition of sour milk (katyk) and sour cream (kaymak), from eggs, meat of cattle and small livestock, poultry and game, from flour, rice, mung bean, nuhata ( peas) and other cereals. These are salads, and meat, vegetable cold snacks, and soups and thick dishes, and flour products, and sweets. Their recipe is sometimes simple, consisting of a combination of one or two products, and often very complex, combining and quite rationally combining a range of tastes, the aroma of a dozen or more food components, seasonings and spices.
For the preparation of delicious and aromatic dishes, it is important to use a variety of spices, spices and herbs. In Uzbek cuisine, such spices are used as zira (bunium peicum), zirk (barberry), paprika in fresh, dried and ground form, black pepper (ground and peas), coriander (cilantro seeds), bay leaf, cinnamon, star anise and others. From greens dill, parsley, celery, cilantro, green onions, greens of garlic, mint, branches and leaves of raikhan (garden basil), as well as zhambila (thyme).
From vegetables, garlic, onions, radishes and radishes are used as raw materials and as spices that provide pungency and aroma. The following fruits play the same role: quince, sour pomegranate grains, fresh and dried plums and cherry plums, and raisins.
The composition of herbs, spices and fruits contains aromatic substances, various vitamins, mineral salts, essential oils that promote appetite and increase the physiological value of ready-made meals. On the other hand, these auxiliary products diversify the taste of the same product, enrich the food with proteins and carbohydrates.
The piquancy of the dish depends on other important factors. Firstly, on the variety, chemical composition, degree of maturity and preservation of products. This is an objective factor. Secondly, the gustatory and aromatic qualities and usefulness of food depend on the skillful combination of dish components, that is, the creation of recipes. Thirdly, from the correct cold and heat treatment of products - the execution of the technological act. These latter factors are subjective. Consequently, the quality of food largely depends on the skill, experience and skill of the cook.
The originality and specific features of Uzbek cuisine are thus reduced to the following: a) climatic conditions of the region; b) the generosity of the Uzbek land, which gives a wide variety of food products; c) the originality of the centuries-old everyday traditions of the people; d) mutual enrichment and assimilation of the culinary achievements of different peoples living both in the territory of Uzbekistan and in its neighborhood; e) not only scientific, but also the empirical nature of cooking, based on the centuries-old experience of folk chefs, which was passed down from generation to generation. Gak, in Uzbek dishes the proportion of meat is 1/3 and 1/4 of the total amount of cereals, vegetables and other products. This fully meets modern scientific requirements for the organization of a balanced diet.
The specificity of the culinary art of Uzbekistan is visible from the very beginning of the cooking technology. So, the size of the sliced pieces of meat and vegetables must correspond to the norm and size of the main product from which the dish is prepared. Say, pea shurpa is being cooked, which means that carrots are cut into cubes as an auxiliary product, that is, peas; when preparing meat and vegetable broth, carrots, turnips and other vegetables are cooked whole or cut into large pieces and, in accordance with this, the meat should be cut into pieces of 100-150 g.
These features of the Uzbek cuisine by no means isolate it from the cuisines of other peoples, but, on the contrary, contribute to mutual penetration and mutual enrichment.
The processes of cold and heat treatment of food in our country, for example, are almost identical with the same processes in modern world cuisine. Cold processing of products consists of the following processes: sorting, washing, cleaning (stripping), sifting, bulkheading, plucking, dropping, gutting, deboning, cutting, shredding, mixing, soaking, molding, breading, etc. Then comes cutting - grinding ... There are ten types of cuts: slices, wedges, rings, straws, cubes, circles, sleepers, plastics, chopping and grating, that is, the same as in other kitchens.
As for the technology of cooking products, there are two main processes. The first process is cooking without the use of fire; it consists of salting, pickling, pickling, drying in the sun, drying in the shade, combining chopped vegetables and fruits (for example, preparing salads), etc. The second process is preparing dishes with the use of fire, that is, heat treatment, consists of six basic methods and many techniques.
I. Frying - kovurish. a) Open frying - ochik kovurish The products are strung on skewers and on skewers or placed on a metal mesh fixed on a tripod and fried over burning coals;
b) Frying with less fat is jazlash. In a boiler and in a frying pan, fat is poured in about 1/10 of the standard of the main product, and sauté over medium heat, stirring constantly until half cooked or until fully cooked;
in) Frying in a large amount of fat, that is, deep-fried - kup always kovurish. A cauldron with a spherical bottom is put on fire, heated, then put in fat, taken twice the amount of the fried product, and strongly, about up to. 160-180 degrees, overheated. When whitish smoke starts to stand out, a little salt is thrown into the cauldron, which causes a crackling sound. After that, reduce the heat and fry the food from all sides until a golden brown crust is formed. This is how pieces of meat for kovurdak, bogirsak, fried dumplings, brushwood, whitushki and other dough products are fried.
II. Cooking is kainatish. a) Boiling in water Rice and other cereals, meat, vegetables are placed in a saucepan with cold water and brought to readiness over very low heat, at the end of cooking they are seasoned with salt. Flour, pasta is dipped in lightly salted boiling water and boiled over medium heat. In this way, noodles, dumplings, meat and vegetables for soups are cooked without frying;
b) Boiling in milk.The process is basically the same as cooking in water, with the difference that harder cereals and firmer vegetables are first boiled in water until half cooked, then dipped in boiling milk and cooked until tender.
III. Steaming - buglash. For this purpose, use a special steam pan - a cascan, consisting of two compartments (upper and lower). Water is poured into the lower compartment to generate steam. And the upper compartment is a cylinder-rim with a tight-fitting lid, inside of which three, four or more removable tiers with holes are placed one on top of the other. Culinary products are placed on these pre-oiled tiers - lappaki and cooked to readiness in a water "bath". This is how manti, hunon, vegetables and steam barbecue are cooked.
IV. Quenching - dimlash. Appropriately chopped vegetables, meat and other products are mixed or laid in layers in a saucepan, seasoned with salt and spices, a little water is added, a lid is tightly closed, put on a very slow fire and simmered. Dishes are cooked under the influence of the steam generated from the poured liquid and the food's own juice. To prevent the water from completely evaporating, do not open the lid until the end of cooking.
V. Baking - tandirda pishirish. a) Baking in a horizontal tandoor. Tandoor is a special oven in which mainly flat cakes and baked pies - samsa, sometimes meat, fish, liver, cut into flat pieces are baked. Such a stove is made in a handicraft way in the form of a cylinder with a narrowed neck. It is very similar in shape to glass cans for canned food. The clay of mountain loess mixed with sheep's or camel's wool serves as the material for sculpting such a furnace. Tandoors of medium size are widespread: height up to 1.5 m, diameter in the middle part - up to 1 m, diameter of the neck, that is, the landing hole - 0.5-0.6 m, wall thickness - 0.02 m. The tandoor is dried in the sun for a week, then it is installed in the yard on a brick foundation so that the base touches the wall horizontally, with the neck facing outward at a height of 1.2-1.5 m from the floor, that is, at the level of the baker's chest. The outer part of the tandoor is lined with one row of bricks, smeared with clay. The inner part serves as a working chamber in which brushwood or cotton stalks are burned. Products are planted on the top and side walls. Raw materials are baked under the influence of heat, which is accumulated in the thickness of the red-hot walls and in the coals of the burnt fuel, which are collected in a slide in the lower part of the working chamber;
b) Baking in a vertical tandoor - Er tandirda pishirish. Such a tandoor is arranged in the courtyard, under a canopy, with the base down, with the neck up, and bricked on all sides in the form of a pedestal. A hole 12-15 cm in diameter is left in the bottom part to blow air into the working chamber. They put fuel from the neck, it serves as both a chimney and a landing hole. By heating the walls red-hot, the burned-out coals are collected in a hill in the middle of the bottom part and the products are planted (glued). In such tandoors in Uzbekistan, mainly samsa is baked. After planting the product, it is sprayed with water, when abundant steam forms, the neck is covered with a slipper and kept until the baked products are ready; c) Baking In the oven - pishirish oven. Baking baked goods and other products in wood-burning, electric and gas ovens is the same as in other kitchens.
Vi. A complex combination method of preparing bpyud - murakkab combined with usulda pishirish. For this method of cooking, a boiler (cast iron or aluminum) with a spherical bottom is required. It is put on a strong fire and heated to about 100 degrees. Then add fat and boil over medium heat until a dark smoke appears, reduce the heat and the smoke gradually becomes whitish. At this moment, a little coarse salt is thrown into the kettle, which bursts into oil and decomposes, sometimes a bare bone or a peeled onion is dipped into boiling oil.Salt, burnt pits or onions neutralize the bitter substances in the fat (for example, gossypol in cottonseed oil). Then they are thrown away. This method improves the properties of the fat, and the fried foods acquire a good taste and are better absorbed.
In this way, the preparation of pilaf and other fried dishes begins, therefore, overheating of fat is the first stage of a complex-combination method of heat treatment. This is followed by the process of frying products (onions, meat and carrots). The onions, chopped into rings, are fried until red and crisp. After that, put pieces of meat and fry until golden brown, then lay carrots chopped into strips and, depending on the type of pilaf, fry with the meat or stew. At the same time, they make sure that each product retains its characteristic type and shape of slicing.
Cooking zirvak, that is, pilaf gravy, is the third stage of a complex combination technology. Fried food is poured with water so that it slightly covers the contents of the kettle, and simmer over moderate heat. Season with salt and spices as it boils. The more and calmer the zirvak boils, the tastier the pilaf will be.
The fourth step in this cooking method is rice. Put pre-peeled and washed rice in an even layer on carrots and meat, pour water so that the liquid covers the rice layer at the level of the first joint of the index finger (about 2 cm). The heat is removed from under the boiler and finely chopped dry firewood is lit to form a strong flame. If pilaf is cooked on gas stoves, then it is necessary that the burner burns with a high flame. When all the moisture has evaporated and the rice swells and becomes soft but free-flowing, the pilaf is closed for management. This is the last - the fifth stage of the complex combination method. The rice layer is collected to the middle of the boiler with a slide and punctures are made in several places with a stick or the handle of a wooden spoon. Cover tightly with a bowl, completely remove the fire. If cooked on a gas stove, then the gas is reduced to candle combustion.
From here we see that Uzbek cuisine, on the one hand, has its own rules, specific features and national flavor, and on the other, there is a general manner of performance, characteristic of both Asian and European culinary. That is why Uzbek cuisine, despite its very rich arsenal of the menu, quickly assimilates and assimilates many delicacies and dishes of the peoples of the Soviet Union. For a long time we have been serving Russian, Ukrainian, Caucasian, Kazakh, Tatar, Tajik dishes and delicacies of other neighboring peoples. These are, for example, such dishes as roast, lula kebab, bugirsak, brushwood, dumplings, hunon, manti, lagman, etc. In turn, such primordial Uzbek dishes as many varieties of pilaf, dimlyama, buglama, shurpa, others decorate tables in many other parts of the world.
In Uzbekistan, as in many nations, the meal is three times a day: breakfast - nonushta, lunch - tushlik ovkat and dinner - kechki ovkat.
Nonushta literally means "breaking cakes" or "eating bread." We have preserved an ancient tradition of respecting bread. "Non rizki - ruzimiz" - "Our daily bread", "Nonsiz ovkat - ovkat emas" - "A meal without bread is not food", say folk sayings. In Uzbekistan, they like to visit each other and bring a variety of beautifully baked flat cakes. Cakes are baked with the obligatory application of various patterns on them, reminiscent of the ornaments of historical monuments. And their plate-like shape symbolizes the sun. The flatbreads have three purposes here. The first is bread, the second is thin in the middle and thick at the edges, they are used as plates, they put fruits, meat, pilaf, naryn and other main dishes in them, and third - they are works of art. You can often see patterned flat cakes on the walls of living rooms. Uzbek chefs and any hostess who host guests know how to serve them beautifully.Skillfully combining the natural color of vegetables and fruits, they beautifully decorate salads, cold snacks, soups, various second courses.
Melon and watermelon carbovka is widely used for wedding and holiday tables.
K. M. Makhmudov, Sh. G. Salikhov, "Dishes of Uzbek cuisine"
