Kyrgyz cuisine, many influences from elsewhere

As in most Central Asian countries, there is a fine line between starter and main course, in Kyrgyzstan the tables are often generously stocked with all kinds of dishes: soups, turnovers, rice, noodles, stews, grilled meats. There are several types of savoury pastries such as samsa, whose name is obviously a variation of the Indian word samoussa. They are triangular doughnuts filled with meat and cooked in earthenware ovens. They can be found everywhere in the bazaars of Central Asia, and are perfect as a snack for impromptu cravings. In Kyrgyzstan, they are available with cheese or vegetables (cabbage, onion, squash, potato), ideal if you are tired of meat.

Some dishes are of more Chinese inspiration, more or less resembling the steamed bites you can find on the other side of the border. This is notably the case of manti, also very popular with Kyrgyz people. These steamed ravioli (cooked in baskets called mantovarka) are stuffed with mutton and onions. They can sometimes be very fatty. Pelmeni are a variant served in soup, inherited from Russian gastronomy. In various places in Kyrgyzstan, they are also enjoyed fried with a spicy sauce. Unlike manti, pelmeni are shaped like a half-moon rather than a purse, and most importantly, they are cooked in simmering water rather than steamed. In both cases, they are often served with sour cream and sometimes with chilli powder. Finally, oromo are also large steamed ravioli rolled into rings and stuffed with meat and vegetables. They are then cut into slices.

The Kyrgyz national dish is plov (in Russian) or paloo (in Kyrgyz). This pilaf rice - cooked by absorption - can be garnished with countless vegetables, dried fruits, meats and herbs. The most common version in Kyrgyzstan is garnished with mutton or lamb meat and caramelized carrots. But it can also be accompanied by chickpeas (plov noute), raisins (plov baïram), stuffed vine leaves (plov kovatok), quince (plov chodibek) or simply garlic (plov sarimsok piezli). Plov can be found every day for lunch in the canteens of the bazaars, while in families it is cooked for every big occasion, such as a wedding and even for the end of Ramadan. Large dishes are brought to the table and eaten by hand. The beshbarmak could be considered the second national dish, it is in fact the traditional meal of the Kyrgyz and Kazakh nomads. Literally, it can be translated as "five fingers". It is a large dish of horse meat (sometimes replaced by beef or mutton) and onions on a bed of large pasta that looks a bit like lasagna. As the name suggests, this dish is traditionally eaten with the fingers. It is usually served at banquets, for parties or to honour a special guest.

There are also several soup specialities, some of which - based on noodles - are inspired by Chinese cuisine. The best known is laghman. It is one of the most popular dishes in the region, served on the go in all the country's bazaars. It consists of noodles, often served in a hot broth with vegetables and boiled pieces of meat. They are more rarely sautéed. Ashlyam-fu, on the other hand, is a spicy cold soup generously garnished with noodles, meat and chopped vegetables. It is said to be a natural remedy for hangovers. Another very popular soup is shorpa, made from boiled potatoes, carrots and mutton. Most sauce dishes in Kyrgyzstan are accompanied by bread called lepeshka, which has a unique circular shape, flat in the middle with a thick bulge at the edge.

A great place for meat

There are indeed many meat specialties in Kyrgyzstan. The term chachlik means "six pieces", referring to alternating pieces of meat and fat. You can choose between mutton - the most common -, beef or chicken. Chachliks can also be made from sheep liver, or from pieces of fat from the tail of the sheep, the noblest part for connoisseurs, but not always digestible for western stomachs. Chachliks are cooked exclusively by men, they are always accompanied by raw onions in vinegar, and sometimes with a good quantity of dill. We can also mention the kuurdak, based on mutton sautéed with a lot of onions. Close enough, the jarkop is made of meat (mutton, beef or poultry), sautéed with potatoes, tomatoes and onion. Or dimlama or dymdama, a stew made with various combinations of meat, vegetables and sometimes even fruit, simmered slowly. Vegetables for dimlama can include, in addition to potatoes and onions, carrots, cabbage, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, all flavoured with garlic, herbs and various spices. Dimlama is usually cooked in spring and summer when there is a wide selection of vegetables. It is served on a large plate and eaten with a spoon. Fruits and vegetables are mass-produced in the Ferghana Valley and flood the bazaars all over the country. The raw vegetables are limited to the endless cucumber and tomato salad with a large dose of coriander and onions. Fruits are rare in Kyrgyzstan and are mostly imported from Uzbekistan (watermelons, melons, dried apricots) or from Xinjiang in China (grapes in particular).

Some culinary curiosities

But the Kyrgyz cuisine is not without some gastronomic curiosities. One could quote, for example, the kourout. These small balls of dry cheese are made from curdled milk. There are different sizes of them. The taste is quite strong and guarantees you corrosive breath for a few days, but Kyrgyz people love them and some even consider them their most beautiful invention (Uzbeks also claim to have invented kourout

, but it would seem that the durable and easily transportable nature of this product corresponds more to the nomadic than the sedentary lifestyle).

If you are being offered a sheep's eye, no kidding, don't refuse it. It is an honour and a mark of great esteem. It will be cut into small pieces, but we recommend that you swallow it as it is, without chewing, and let the gastric juices deal with it. In Kyrgyzstan, it is always theaksakal

, the most respected old man of the family, who distributes the different parts of the sheep to the guests according to the personalities present around the meal. At least smart to eat the brains, to the one who has stomach problems, the intestines. The eye would give a glimpse of the world and usually falls to the distracted or distinguished guests! We also find the kurdyuk, which refers both to a breed of sheep, but also to the mass of fat that surrounds the tail of these very special sheep. This fat lump allows them to survive in case of severe droughts like the humps of camels. But kurdyuk is also a delicacy, and while sheep tail fat is generally used as a cooking fat, it is sometimes served raw as an appetizer.

Local drinks

Among the local drinks served with all these specialties are several fermented beverages that come directly from the nomadic lifestyle of the early Kyrgyz. Kumiss is made in spring and summer and consumed throughout the year. It is an alcohol made from fermented mare's milk. Kumiss is made by beating the milk poured into a sheepskin sack just after milking. This drink is supposed to have medical virtues. In any case, it is a fearsome drink for most western stomachs. Bozo is also very popular. This time it is millet grains that are crushed and fermented, which gives the drink a slight beer taste and a slight alcohol content. Like kumiss, it is usually made at home and circulates in plastic bottles that are collected right and left. Bozo is very thirst-quenching and is particularly appreciated in summer.

Russian beer such as Baltika (3, 5, 7 or 9 depending on the degree of alcohol) is very popular in Kyrgyzstan. But the country also has its own brands, the most popular of which is Sibirskaya. A very mild lager that can be found bottled in all the country's supermarkets and draught in the bars of Bishkek or Karakol. Vodka, brought by the Russians throughout the colonial period, has remained firmly rooted in the customs of the Kyrgyz. At banquets, birthdays, weddings, it flows with feverish toasts. In Kyrgyzstan, it can still be found in the form of "pods", plastic glasses closed with an aluminium foil. The quality is not often good and abuse can be devastating to health. Buy Russian brands instead.

The art of tea and chaikhana

Tea is the essential drink for any meal and hospitality event. It is sipped at any time, but remains surrounded by an unshakeable ceremony. One always takes the teapot and offers the cups with the right hand, sometimes with the left hand over the heart. Before being drunk, the tea is poured three times into a cup or mug and poured back into the teapot. The cups are never filled to the brim: this would be a sign that it is time for the guest to leave. In Kyrgyzstan, people drink mainly green tea, although some minorities such as Russians and Kazakhs prefer black tea, usually accompanied by a little milk.

Although it is drunk all day long, tea is also used to enjoy some desserts. There are relatively few sweets in Kyrgyzstan. It is often sipped with some dried fruits, especially apricots, which are very popular in the country. One can however mention çäkçäk, made of small pieces of fried dough that are agglomerated with honey caramel before cutting it into cubes. Simpler, boortsogs are diamond-shaped fritters that are served with jam or honey.

Tea in Kyrgyzstan is usually drunk in shaikhana (de çay/tea pronounced "chai"). These places, inseparable from tea cultivation in Central Asia, are usually associated with bazaars. The word shikhana means house or tea room. The tea ceremony occupies an important place in the daily life of the Eastern peoples. Of course tea is drunk here, but just like cafés in Europe, the shikhana in Kyrgyzstan is also a place of relaxation and social exchange. In these astonishing places, richly decorated with embroidered fabrics, multicoloured cushions and woodwork - for the most opulent - the peaceful atmosphere is interspersed with the discussions of customers and the discreet chirping of quails, the birds sometimes used for poultry fights, whose cages are often visible under the pergolas of vineyards or in orchards. These establishments often have a small garden or courtyard planted for shade in the summer, when temperatures in the area can be fierce.

For centuries, when newspapers did not yet exist, the shaykhana became the place where men came to get the news of the day, meet, discuss their plans, talk business, celebrate an event and so on. Traditionally, in the chaikhanas, only men met; access to women was strictly forbidden. Women were entitled to the gaps, where they could meet over a cup of tea and discuss as they wished.

The construction of chaikhanas in Central Asia probably began with the appearance of tea, caravanserais and bazaars. The accounts of travellers crossing Central Asia at the end of the 19th century, marked by the craze for orientalism, describe these tea houses located on every street corner, in caravanserais, along the roads linking towns and villages, and of course in bazaars. Musicians who came to perform in the most prestigious establishments, playing traditional instruments (rubab, dutar, chang) were also present.

As in Russia and the rest of Central Asia, the samovar is at the heart of the shikhana. This double kettle contains a main vat where the water is heated, crowned by a teapot where the tea, concentrated, infuses. The guest then serves the tea, which he dilutes with water to his liking before sitting comfortably on a topchan, a sort of large wooden bed, where one can lie down, or even just lie down, to sip his tea, and even eat there. It is normally obligatory to take off your shoes when entering a shishana. The floor was traditionally made of clay, covered with felt, and it is not uncommon to sit on the ground directly as a tailor on thick mattresses called kurpatcha, which surround a large tablecloth known as a dastarkhan in Kyrgyzstan, used as a table where a wide variety of sweet and savoury dishes are available.