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Kyrgyz national cuisine.

5barmak
airan
kurut
lagman
pilav
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5barmak
airan
kurut
lagman
pilav
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Any nation  as well as Kyrgyz ethnic group has its own cuisine. Ancient traditions of preparing food are the most stable. Being created and worked out for ages variety of dishes and ways of their cooking are deeply distinctive and original.

One of the peculiarities of Kyrgyz national cuisine is that all products mainly preserve their natural look and taste. The main ingredients of Kyrgyz national cuisine are: meat, milk, vegetables and fruit, and also flour products are widely used.

 The most important Kyrgyz delicacy is meat, in its various combinations. The cold and warm meat collations like kazy sars, kerch, juchuk and kurdak, have a place of honour in /kyrgyz cuisine.

An honorable place on the festive table-cloth ” Dastorkon” is for Kuurdak made of boiled and fried cut meat, flavored with fruit, herbs and spice.

There is an original ceremony of serving meat to dastorkon – called “Ustukan” in which digfferent parts of the sheep are served in a strike succession according to the age and honour of the guest.

Besh Barmak” takes the most honorable place on the dastorkon. This is a dish from small chopped pieces of boiled meat with noodles, spice and sause.

Among the first course meal the mostly festive is “shorpo”. Meat is hardly boiled on the small fair until all its health giving components pass to broth, then it is added with vegetables, spice and flavors. Shorpo turns out very aromatic.

The compulsory component of the festive table is “Manty”.  It is the rolled out pastes with small pieces of meat, flavored with onions and spice. Manty are steamed in a special pot. 

There are many recipes for their preparation, but all of them are unusually delicious, sappy and aromatic.

Kyrgyz also cook “Chuchvara” Kyrgyz dumplings, which are filled with not only meat but also with different combination of green-stuff and fruits.

Lagman” is one of the most favorite dishes, which is popular in all Central Asia. Kyrgyz lagman differs by prevailing quantity of meat and abundance of fried vegetables.

Drinks made of milk and dairy products such as suzme and kurut, ayran and kaimaka are an important part of Kyrgyz national cuisine.

From ancient time as any other people the Kyrgyz consider bread as the most valuable product because it is life supporting. The most festive bread products are:

Kalama” is a traditionally widely spread type of flat bread made of unleavened dough, which is baked in a frying pan. It is often baked in yurt camps on summer pastures.

Kattama” is bread for guests and special occasions. It is made of unleavened dough. The past is rolled out thin and it is smeared with sour cream or butter. Then it is crooked and cut into pieces then each piece of dough is rolled out giving it a round shape. The bread is baked in a frying pan.

Boorsok” is the most honorable type of bread. There is no festive table without boorsok. Dough for borosocks is mixed on yeast, and then it is cut into rectangular pieces and fried in oil. 

From a mare’s milk the Kyrgyz make “Kymyz” which is famous for its exceptional taste and health giving qualities. Kymyz is a sour mare’s milk. This drink is made by chabans during summer season on summer pastures. For its preparing saba is used. Saba is a leather sack made of cows or horses skin. Milk is gathered in a saba and the milk is often beaten with a special stick “bishkek” during 20 minutes. 

It is no coincidence that the Kyrgyz people remarked: “ meat is a man’s soul and kymyz is a man’s blood”. 

Such drinks, as Jarma and Maksym and Bozo are popular too.

Jarma is a cold summer drink made of barley flour “ talkan”, water and salt. For fermentation they add yeast or already prepared frying.

Bozo is a strong national drink made of millet. Millet is boiled and yeast and ugut added for fermentation. Ugut is germinated wheat, minced through the meat-chopper then dried out.

  Welcoming guests in a Kyrgyz family starts with tea ceremony – it can be black or green tea, with milk or cream, with melted butter and honey, with easten sweets. Because, there exists a wise centuries-old tradition. A nomadic traveller, tired and burdened by the road, is thirsty above all else. And nothing like tea quenches his thirst from the road.

The Kyrgyz are considered the most hospitable people. And the  national cuisine is the most varied, tasty and natural.

And the most important thing is that in order to try something new, we invite you to try dishes and drinks of Kyrgyz national cuisine.