The following highlights some of the popular Traditional Kazakhstani Foods. If you manage to be in an Kazakhstani restaurant or you are visiting Kazakhstan, I recommend the following:
1. Kuyrdak
This typical Kazakh food is based on roast meat, offal, fried onions and spices. The meat is usually lamb, but horse meat or beef can be substituted and served with potatoes, carrots or pumpkin. Kazakhs quietly enjoy this dish right after slaughtering sheep, or on the contrary, when they have guests who do not have much time to eat. This typical Kazakh dish is the predecessor of the main course. The aforementioned Beshbarmak.
2. Sorpa
Also known as Shorpo or Shurpa, it is a delicious broth made from the leftover meat of the national dish, beshbarmak, and is the most common soup in Kazakhstan. When the lamb is cooked, pour the broth into a large bowl and add the minced meat. Modern soup recipes often include potatoes and carrots.
3. Kazy
Kazy is a tender homemade horse meat sausage, which for centuries has been meticulously prepared according to family recipes. It has a prominent place in Kazakh cuisine and can be found at almost any celebration, typically cut into circle-shaped slices, which are served on top of beshbarmak. The meat is placed together with fat inside a washed intestine, which has been soaked for 2-3 hours. The stuffed intestine is then tied on both sides and cooked for at least 2 hours. It is customary to eat the kazy immediately after it has been prepared.
4. Beshbarmak
Beshbarmak is the national dish of Kazakhstan and the Turkic nomadic peoples of Central Asia. The term Beshbarmak means ‘five fingers’, because nomads used to eat this dish with their hands. The boiled meat is finely chopped with knives, mixed with boiled noodles and seasoned with onion sauce. It is usually served in a large round dish. Beshbarmak is usually served with mutton broth (called shorpo) in bowls called kese. Typically, shorpo is served as a first course, followed by the beshbarmak dish and a drink called ak-serke.
5. Kumys
It is a fermented milk product traditionally made from mare’s milk. The drink remains important for the peoples of the Central Asian steppes, of Hun-Bulgarian, Turkic and Mongol origin: Kazakhs, Bashkirs, Kalmyks, Kyrgyz, Mongols, and Yakuts. Kumis is a dairy product similar to kefir, but is produced from a liquid starter culture, in contrast to solid kefir “grains”. Because mare’s milk contains more sugars than cow’s or goat’s milk, when fermented, kumis has a higher, though still mild, alcohol content compared to kefir.
6. Kurt
Kurt is a small piece of dehydrated salty cheese. It is usually made by dehydrating sour cream and then forming it into a ball. The snack has its origins in Steppe sheep herders who carried the salty cheese balls as food during grazing. Kurt can be found in any typical supermarket for very little money (usually less than USD 1) and nowadays instead of being found in sheep herders’ canteens, people often keep it in their desks or briefcases for a midday snack.
7. Airan
It is one of the typical drinks in any region of Kazakhstan, most popular during the warmer months. It is a kind of milkshake made with yogurt and water, topped with lots of foam.
8. Baursak
This is a Kazakh national dish made from spherical or triangular pieces of dough and fried in oil. The dough consists of flour, yeast, milk, eggs, margarine, salt, sugar and fat. People vary the recipe depending on whether they want to make it sweet or not. It is traditionally baked for an important party, such as a wedding or even a memorial. People believe that the smell of the oil and fried baursak floats high in the sky so that their dead loved ones can feed on the aroma and enjoy them too.
9. Shelpek
Almost every civilization has its variant of a flatbread, and in and around Kazakhstan this bread is known as Shelpek. Shelpek is commonly found throughout Central Asia and is eaten almost everywhere as a staple of any dish. The dough is made of milk, flour, sugar, butter, baking soda, sour cream and salt, then shaped and fried until it reaches a golden brown color.
10. Shubat
Shawl or shubat is a bright white, sour-tasting fermented camel’s milk drink popular in Central Asia, especially in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. In Kazakhstan, the drink is known as shubat, and is a summer staple. Shubat is usually prepared by first souring camel’s milk in a skin bag or ceramic jar, adding previously soured milk. For 3-4 days, the fresh milk is mixed; the mature chalk will consist of one-third to one-fifth of the previously soured milk.
If you found this list useful, here are some more Traditional Asian Foods to try out on my Pinterest channel.
The following highlights some of the popular Traditional Kazakhstani Foods. If you manage to be in an Kazakhstani restaurant or you are visiting Kazakhstan, I recommend the following: