Uzbek natioanal cuisine Uzbek cuisine

Uzbek dishes

Palov

Palov was not available to the general population until the 1930s, the Soviet era. Traditionally only men cooked the dish, but when the Soviets took over control of the country, they liberated women, who were then also allowed to prepare it. Since then, however, according to food scholar Nancy Rosenberger (writing in 2012), "the pendulum was swinging back, if it had ever swung very far".
The basis is meat, usually mutton, with vegetables (carrots and onions), fried in qurdiuq (fat from the sheep's tail end). The mixture of onion and thinly cut carrot is called zirvak, and it is compared to European soffrito. Often garbanzos and raisins are added, and instead of mutton all kinds of other basic ingredients can be used, including stuffed grape leaves or poultry.
The meat is either boiled or fried with the zirvak. The rice is cooked by being soaked and then placed on top of the other ingredients, so it steams--in contrast to other popular ways of making pilaf, where rice is fried, and the other ingredients added, and then the entire dish being cooked in water.

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  Oshi toki - stuffed grape leaves, similar to dolma, usually served as a cold appetizer.
  

Breads

Traditional Uzbek bread, called generically noni or patyr, is baked in the form of circular flat loaves (lepyoshka in Russian) with a thin decorated depression at the center and a thicker rim all around. Nons are brought to the table with the decorated side up, then torn into irregular chunks which are stacked on the bread plate. Every region has different varieties of non, most prominent are:

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  Obi non is the staple bread of Uzbek cuisine. Obi nons are mentioned in one of the oldest written works, the Epic of Gilgamesh. Obi nons are baked in clay ovens called tandir.
  
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  Samarkand non. In different areas of Uzbekistan, obi non is baked in different ways. In Samarkand, small thick obi nons, the shirma nons are the most popular.
  
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  Bukhara obi non sprinkled with sesame or nigella, making a delicate aroma.
  
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  Wedding patir (flaky obi non) from Andijon and Qashqadaryo. According to ancient traditions, this aromatic bread prepared with cream and butter was served during matchmaking meetings.
  
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  Tashkent lochira, plate-formed obi non, baked from short pastry (milk, butter, and sugar). Jirish non is specially prepared bread from flour mixed with wheat. Nomadic tribes did not make tandirs because of their way of living, but cooked bread on butter in kazans (cauldrons), preparing the dough on a milk base.