Local Dishes

1. Қуырдақ

   Quyrdaq

   Quyrdaq (fried meat and offal)

   Usage

   Lungs, liver, heart, kidney and neck or breast meat chopped small and fried in rendered tail fat with onion and black pepper. Made from mutton, beef or horse; many restaurants add potato

2. Кеспе көже

   Kespe köje

   Hand-cut noodle soup

   Usage

   Dough rolled thin, cut into strips and boiled in the broth left after the meat is lifted out. Dough kneaded with milk and egg is considered richer

3. Нарын

   Naryn

   Naryn (chopped meat tossed with dough)

   Usage

   Cooked meat and dough chopped fine, mixed thoroughly and served with tuzdyq (fatty broth) poured over. Cut much finer than besbarmaq. The same spelling is also a Kyrgyz town and province, so Naryn on a map or timetable is not this dish

4. Мәнті

   Mänti

   Manti (steamed meat dumpling)

   Usage

   Thin dough wrapped around minced meat and onion, then steamed in a stacked steamer. Note: the standard Kazakh spelling is mänti, but menus print the Russian-style manty just as often

5. Самса

   Samsa

   Samsa (baked meat pastry)

   Usage

   Chopped mutton, garlic, black pepper and tail fat wrapped in dough and baked stuck to the inner wall of a tandyr oven, then brushed with fat. A standard street snack

6. Лағман

   Lağman

   Lagman (pulled noodles with meat and vegetables)

   Usage

   The noodles and the meat-and-vegetable vaji (kayla) are cooked separately and layered in a deep bowl. Uzbek, Tajik and Dungan versions exist; the Dungan one uses noodles that are pulled, never cut

7. Шұжық

   Shujyq

   Shuzhyq (cured sausage)

   Usage

   Fatty raw meat chopped, salted, peppered and packed into casings. The version made from horse ribs has its own name, qazy

8. Қазы-қарта

   Qazy-qarta

   Qazy and qarta (the most prized horse cuts)

   Usage

   The most honoured horse cuts, reserved for a guest's plate. If you do not eat horse, ask whether the dish is zhylqy eti (horse meat) before ordering

9. Жал-жая

   Jal-jaya

   Zhal and zhaya (horse crest fat and rump)

   Usage

   Prized horse cuts alongside qazy-qarta, usually sliced thin and served cold

10. Сүр ет

    Sür et

    Sur et (salted air-dried meat)

    Usage

    Meat from the winter slaughter, salted and hung to dry all winter. The early-spring version is what "sur et" properly names, and winter besbarmaq is made from it

11. Жаубүйрек

    Jaubüyrek

    Zhaubuirek (liver and fat grilled on a skewer)

    Usage

    Sheep liver and tail fat sliced thin, threaded alternately on a skewer, salted, peppered and grilled over the fire. Made at home on slaughter day and described as a kind of kebab

12. Тұздық

    Tūzdyq

    Tuzdyq (fatty broth poured over meat)

    Usage

    The fatty broth, usually simmered with onion, that is poured over chopped meat. Note that the same word also means concentrated brine, and in geology or food-processing texts that is the sense meant

13. Құрт

    Qūrt

    Qurt (dried sour-milk balls)

    Usage

    Strained sour milk (suzbe) salted, rolled into balls and sun-dried. Sold in heaps of white balls at markets; sharply salty and sour. Note that the same word also means worm or larva, so avoid it out of a food context

14. Сүзбе

    Süzbe

    Suzbe (strained sour milk)

    Usage

    Ayran hung in a cloth bag until the whey drains off, then lightly salted. Eaten as is, stirred into soup, or dried into qurt. Usually made in the cold season

15. Қаймақ

    Qaymaq

    Qaymaq (cream or milk skin)

    Usage

    Thick milk left in a cool place gives shiki qaymaq (raw cream); the skin off boiled milk is pisken qaymaq. Spread on fresh bread

16. Балқаймақ

    Balqaymaq

    Balqaymaq (cream simmered with honey)

    Usage

    Fresh thick cream thickened with a little flour and simmered with honey or sugar. Quick to make, so it is set before guests while the meat is still cooking

17. Бауырсақ

    Bauyrsaq

    Bauyrsaq (bite-sized fried dough)

    Usage

    Wheat dough cut into squares or rounds and deep-fried; obligatory on a celebration table and served alongside tea, qymyz or shubat. The standard spelling is bauyrsaq, with the y

18. Шелпек

    Shelpek

    Shelpek (thin round flatbread)

    Usage

    Dough rolled thin and round, then fried in oil or baked on a griddle or in a tandyr. Customarily baked on days of remembrance, but also an everyday bread

19. Қаттама

    Qattama

    Qattama (layered folded flatbread)

    Usage

    Stiff dough of milk, egg and butter rolled thin, brushed with fat, wound onto the rolling pin, cut, re-rolled and fried, so it comes out in many layers

20. Таба нан

    Taba nan

    Taba nan (bread baked in a heavy pan)

    Usage

    Dough put in one iron pan, covered with a second and buried in embers; an oven works too. The version with tail fat pressed into it is considered the richest

21. Тандыр нан

    Tandyr nan

    Tandyr nan (round bread baked in a clay oven)

    Usage

    Flattened dough stuck to the hot inner wall of the oven; the common bread of Central Asia. Sold hot from street ovens in the cities and best eaten with qaymaq or butter while still warm

22. Талқан

    Talqan

    Talqan (roasted grain meal)

    Usage

    Roasted wheat, barley or maize ground to a meal. Mixed with butter, cream or qaymaq, stirred into tea, or set out dry with sugar

23. Жент

    Jent

    Zhent (sweet pressed millet and cheese)

    Usage

    Ground millet mixed with clarified butter, sugar, powdered irimshik cheese and raisins, pressed into a dish and set in a cool place. A tea sweet that neither freezes in winter nor spoils in summer, so it also travelled well

24. Шәк-шәк

    Shäk-shäk

    Shak-shak (fried dough in honey)

    Usage

    Dough cut into short strips, deep-fried, tossed in melted honey and pressed into a shape. Shared by Kazakh, Tatar and Bashkir tables; the name means "in small pieces"

25. Наурыз көже

    Nauryz köje

    Nauryz kozhe (the seven-ingredient New Year soup)

    Usage

    The soup every household prepares for Nauryz in March. It is served only around the festival, so you will rarely see it on a menu at other times

Browse all TravelPhrases languages