The following highlights some of the popular Traditional Uzbekistani Foods. If you manage to be in an Uzbekistani restaurant or you are visiting Uzbekistan, I recommend the following:
1. Samsa
Samsas are Uzbek dumplings. It is a puff pastry dough with various fillings. The most common ones are filled with vegetables (pumpkin, onion and/or potatoes) or meat (lamb, chicken and beef). You can also find samsas in a sweet version, filled with fruit jams, and topped with sprinkled sugar and sesame seeds. Traditional Uzbek food samsas are baked in the same oven as bread (tandyr), with plenty of fat from the lamb’s tail. They are usually cooked in electric or gas ovens.
2. Shashlik
Also called kebab, the shashlik are skewered meat, usually lamb, but also chicken and beef. They are grilled, threaded on metal skewers. They are on the menus of many restaurants, which do not necessarily specialise in this type of cooking (they usually have small grills somewhere in the kitchen or outside).
3. Shivit Oshi
It is one of the most curious dishes and a must-eat dish in Uzbekistan. These green vermicelli made with dill are served with a stew of meat, potatoes and carrots, and served with sour sauce. It’s a traditional dish from the Khiva area, so you can’t miss it.
4. Achichuk
Like the salads found in North Africa and the Middle East, the main ingredients are raw tomatoes, cucumbers and garlic. Everything is seasoned with oil and the ever-present spices. For a richer version, it is sometimes served with chunks of low-fat cheese, similar to the first salt or feta cheese. A light, healthy and vegan option, but delicious.
5. Dimlama
A typical meal in the villages of Uzbekistan. It is a stew based on stewed vegetables (meat can also be added). The ingredients are layered in a cauldron (kazan) and simmered. Summer and autumn is when it is most delicious, due to the kind of vegetables that are grown during this season.
6. Lagman (Soup)
This dish consists of noodles, vegetables and meat, seasoned with different hot spices or sauces (soy or vinegar). And all this is served in a delicious broth. The noodles are boiled on one side and the vegetables (carrots, peppers, onions, tomatoes, aubergines, green radishes, white cabbage and potatoes) are stir-fried on the other. In Uzbek food, the preparation of noodles is an art and there are two types of noodles: short noodles, which are more common in Samarkand, Bukhara and the Fergana Valley, and long noodles, which are more common in the capital (Tashkent).
7. Plov
Plov is THE national dish. Not just of Uzbekistan, but of the whole of Central Asia, it’s impossible to spend a few days here and not eat it at least once. It’s a hearty dish of rice, carrots, sultanas and stewed meat, all cooked in sheep’s fat in a giant wok known as a kazan. Sometimes it also has ingredients such as potatoes, chickpeas, eggs and horse meat. Depending on the area, plov is cooked one way or another. So, during your stay, you can try a few of them.
8. Dolmas
It is a dish that is mostly prepared in spring, when the grape leaves are soft. These grape leaves are stuffed with minced meat, onion, herbs, spices and optionally rice and egg. They are rolled up and tied with threads so that they do not fall apart during cooking. Finally, they are served with sour cream.
9. Chalop
It is a cold soup made of chopped vegetables, similar to Russian okroshka and Ukrainian beetroot soup. But instead of meat, eggs and potatoes, this cold soup is filled with kefir or Greek yoghurt, cucumbers, radishes, shallots and vegetables. This makes the cold soups especially light, refreshing and delicious on a hot summer day.
10. Chuchvara
They are simply ravioli or stuffed dough. However, Uzbek chuchvara differs from Russian pelmeni in several important ways: chuchvara is much smaller; Chuchvara mince is made from minced meat, not mince or minced meat, and pork is never used. It is prepared in a broth with fried meat, beans and vegetables, making chuchvara a complete soup, almost “shurpa”.
If you found this list useful, here are some more Traditional Asian Foods to try out on my Pinterest channel.