Nomadism 101

Passport & Plate - Lagman

Kyrgyzstan | Thursday, March 13, 2014 | 1 photos

Ingredients
For handmade noodles:
0,5 kg flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 whole egg
Oil, for bowl, if needed

For soup:
500gr lamb or beef, including a couple of bones, cut into hazelnut sized pieces
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 large onions cut into thin rounds
2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and cubes (or 1 cup canned tomatoes)
1 celery stalk, sliced into thick pieces
1 red sweet pepper, cut into strips
1 bunch of Chinese chives cut into small pieces (can be substituted with leek, scallions, regular chives)
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced or mashed to paste
1 Chinese cabbage, slices intro average sized cubes
Spices:
1/2 teaspoon zeera/black cumin,
2-3 whole dried hot red peppers or to taste
black pepper
salt to taste

 

How to prepare this recipe
Noodles.
Making noodles may be time consuming due to lack of practice when cooked for the first time. As an option you can take Japanese udon noodles from the Asian grocery store.

If you decide to make noodles by hand, here’s instruction:
Mix the flour, salt, then add an egg and slowly pour 200 ml water until it becomes a consistent dough. Knead it thoroughly until it becomes soft. Then make a ball, wrap it into plastic wrap, and put in the fridge for an hour.

Prepare 200 ml of warm water with salt. Then carefully drench the dough into water. It will make the dough stretchy and softer. After that it’s time to start hand stretch. Roll the strands out about finger thick with your palms, trying to make it thinner and longer. After the dough has been rolled into 4-6 ropes, soak them into oil and continue stretching until it becomes thin enough for noodles.

Cook handmade noodles in boiling salty hot water for 10 minutes.

Soup (or syai)
Heat oil in a heavy pot and sauté onion till golden. Add meat pieces, bones and brown them well. Now add black cumin (or zeera), hot chilies and stir for a minute. Stir in the tomatoes and cook them down for 5 minutes. Pour in 2-3 quarts of water. Simmer for 40 minutes, removing scum as necessary. Then add celery and salt. Ten minutes later add red pepper strips. Then add Chinese cabbage. Finally, add Chinese chives and garlic. Correct spicing with salt, pepper and chili powder and remove from the heat. Turn off the heat, close the pot, and let it infuse for 10 minutes.

Serving: put noodles into deep plate and pour soup on top.

5 portions
Time: 2-3 hours.

 

The story behind this recipe
Throughout my life whenever I have told people I’m from Kyrgyzstan, I have encountered a mixed reaction of amusement and curiosity. Well, I guess for most people countries that end in –stan either connote Pakistan and Afghanistan only, or don’t elicit any associations at all. Meanwhile five –stans – Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan – make up the region of Central Asia. Its cuisine is completely different from food people generally consider to be Asian.

Italy has pasta. Japan has ramen. Central Asia has lagman.
I love pasta, and that's why for this competition I picked up a dish that can be called Central Asian pasta - lagman, which is commonly found in Kyrgyz, Kazakh, Uzbek, Turkmen, Uyghur, and Tatar cuisine, who altogether combine a large group of Turkic peoples. Turkic cuisine reflects the long and diverse history of the region.

For example, there is a genuinely nomadic dish beshbarmak – pieces of lamb mixed with dough and onions and served with meat broth (shorpo). It was eaten for centuries by Kazakh and Kyrgyz shepherds, who spent most of their time wandering in the mountains and had very little provisions; that’s why it’s a very simple, yet very delicious, dish.

Meanwhile lagman and another famous Central Asian rice dish, plov, have been cooked since the days when the Silk Road routes went through Fergana Valley. Tradespeople from Asia and Europe used to spend the night in caravan palaces, prototypes of modern hostels. Leading more a sedentary lifestyle and being exposed to various cultures, Uzbeks and Uyghurs added vegetables, rice, and spices to their food.

Lagman was brought to Central Asia by Chinese speaking Muslims, and thus shares many similarities with East Asian noodle soups.