Karabakh Cuisine
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Karabakh Tahir AMIRA SLANOV Doctor and Professor Karabakh cuisine continued from the previous issue IN THE KARABAKH ZONE, DAIRY CUISINE IS THE SAME AS IN OTHER REGIONS OF AZERBAIJAN. COW, SHEEP AND GOAT MILK IS USED. BUFFALO AND GOAT MILK IS CONSIDERED MEDICINAL. he first milk , which is r eceived ter 1.5-2 hours, it is taken out. A tasty they used the abomasum of newborn after the birth of a calf , is called cheese-like mass comes out. Some - lambs or g rass “dalama otu” (rennet T“agiz”. In the cooked form, it is a times “sulug” is placed in a lar ge caul- grass). But goat cheese was consid- tasty dish called k atamaz. As a r itual dron and boiled. Sulug is also made ered the most expensiv e, as w ell as meal, it is divided bet ween neigh- from normal milk, and it tur ns out medicinal cheese. Cheese fr om cow bors (usually 7 families). Sometimes very tasty like baked milk. milk is considered to be of lower qual- artificial katamaz is cooked, for which Katamaz and bulama in a cauldron ity than sheep cheese. one egg yolk is added to 1 liter of milk with the addition of flour and but - Cow and buffalo milk was used and cooked. If you put a ra w beaten ter is used t o make “gaymag chorak” mainly for cooking the f ermented egg wholly and car efully, so it does or “shan-shan” on a saj . The latter, in milk product “gatig” (yogurt). Buffalo not curdle, and boil it, adding honey , contrast to the “gaymag chorak”, has gatig was especially valued: it is dens- you will get a dr ink called “bulama” many “holes” - shana. er, fatter and tastier. (beestlings). Milk was also used as a standalone Gaymag (the fat part of the gatig - Milk produced during the first 2-5 drink, especially with fr esh bread, as thick cream) made from buffalo gatig days is also called “bulama”. In addi- the basis for cold (dogramaj - “okros- is denser and mor e delicious than tion, sulug was made fr om “agiz” and hka” (cold soup with chopped vegeta- that cow gatig. “bulama” milk. To this end, the mem- bles and meat)) and hot soups, and for Gaymag is made from milk. To do brane of the placenta is thor oughly making pastry and bakery products. this, it is pour ed with a thin la yer in washed, filled with milk , then bur - Sheep milk was mainly used f or a broad and shallow dish (sini (tra y), ied in war m ashes and k indled from making rennet cheese and was val- tapsi). A day later, a film (thick cream) above, or is placed in a hot tandir . Af- ued very highly. For fermentation, appears on the sur face – this is milk 22 www.irs-az.com gaymag. If milk is not boiled and is little bit to make shor - crumbly cheese. uct called suzma (condensed sour poured into the same dish imme - For storage and r ipening, the shor is milk), which is used as a separate dish diately after milking, you get “chiya”, placed in a motal - sheep winesk in. and for cooking some foods. i.e. “raw gaymag”. “Sud gaymag” (milk They also make motal pendir – cheese From suzma with salt, they get“gu- gaymag) was obtained fr om boiled in a motal . The cheese and cottage rut” - dried cheese balls or cones. Gu- milk in the same k ind of dish. “Gati cheese, which ripen in a motal, have a rut can be stored for several years and gaymag” (thick cr eam) was obtained special taste and are valued higher. is used as a base for sauces and khan- from evaporated milk. In Karabakh, The liquid remaining after cottage gal (made from thin slices of dough). such a product was also called “sud- cheese is called zar dab (whey) and If in Lankaran they mix fresh snow bashi”. Sometimes milk was boiled on after cheese – dalama (fr esh cheese). with bakmaz (boiled down juice of low heat in or der to make it, periodi- Both are used for making drinks and grapes, mulberry, etc.), families and cally adding raw milk. for baking bread. This bread lasts lon- shepherds of K arabakh, who climb Gatig is used as a separat e dish, ger and tast es better than the one mountains with flocks in summer , but they also pr epare various dishes made in water. If dalama is boiled , it mix a black sheep ’s fresh milk with (dovga, dogramaj, ovdug, shirin gatig) becomes “nor”. mountain snow and call this dish “gar and atlama (a sof t drink made of wa- The dish “lor” is prepared by mixing karamazi” (snow karamaz). Sometimes ter and sour clotted milk) from it. fresh cottage cheese with boiled milk dishes with gar karamaz are buried in Kasmik (cottage cheese) is made and salt. When milk is added to gatig, the snow or put on ice . The main dif- from ayran (liquid obtained by beat - a dish called “karamaz” comes out. ference from ice cream is that sugar is ing butter from gatig) sometimes from Straining gatig or ayran through a not added to the mixture. Interesting- gatig by boiling. It is salted and dried a cloth, they get a concentrat ed prod- ly, the “gar karamaz” is prepared only www.irs-az.com 23 Karabakh Dolma (meat rolled in vine leaves) from the milk of a black sheep. In Karabakh cuisine, meat, pref- erably lamb, is used more than any other ingredient. Local sheep ar e valued higher than other breeds. It is called “kasma goyun” (slaughtered sheep) or “atlik” (meat), i.e . “table or meat mutton”. If other br eeds yield “pure meat” - from 48 to 52 per cent, the Karabakh breed yields no less than 56 per cent. The Karabakh breed of sheep has a very large guyrug (rump). Some - times they have to place a trolley on wheels under the rump . In the ba- zaars of the Caucasus , experienced butchers preferred to buy K arabakh sheep as they were preferable to oth- ers. The meat of black animals was es- pecially valued. The lamb of the Karabakh breed is used to cook the best kebabs. Making a good kebab is a science, and kebab Atlama (greens sliced into ayran) is a separate culinary specialty. 24 www.irs-az.com For kebabs, what matt ers is not only what sheep it is cooked from, but also what side of the sheep the meat is taken from, as well as the sex, age , feeding conditions, what firewood or charcoal are used and how the animal was killed. Kebab is served with fresh herbs, sumakh, narsharab (boiled pomegranate juice), etc. The finished meat is r emoved from the ramr od with a piece of br ead, as if wrapping the finished dish it in. Yukha made on a saj and la vash from the tandir ar e more suitable for this. Kebab is sliced meat, while basdir ma is k ebab meat kept in onion, vinegar or lemon juice before cooking. One of its var ieties is lula kebab which is made of minced Lamb and vegetables cooked in saj meat strung on a ramr od in the form of “round cutlets”. Kebab and lula k e- bab are served with tomatoes, Bulgar- ian pepper, eggplants and potat oes baked over a fire on a ramrod. Lamb and beef ar e used t o make govurma (roast meat), sajustu doshama, jizbiz (roasted offals), gavli, dolma, yakhni, bagirbeyin, bozbash (dish made of chopped meat, pea and potatoes), khash (a dish cook ed from the hooves of the cattle), k alla-pacha (soup prepared from ram’s, lamb’s or sheep’s head and f eet) and var ious soups. Yakhni and govurma are men- tioned in the ancient Turkic monu- ment of Kitabi Dada Gorgud. Khash is mentioned in wr itten sources of the 11th-12th centuries. The meat serves as Lamb shish kebabs with vegetables a garnish (gara) in diff erent forms for pilaf and chilov. In Lachin District, one ayranli, yalanchi dolma, siyig, sud- berries, grapes) are served. large dolma meal in cabbage lea ves, lu siyig, yarma khashil, pilafs, chi- Excellent honey is made fr om weighing about 200-350 g rams, is lovs and many more. Legumes are Karabakh herbs. Children had honey, served at weddings and funerals. This also used in cuisine. fresh gaymag or butter for breakfast. custom is also widespr ead in Gabala As a dessert, they prepare various As the sauce, they used the boiled and Ismayilli districts of Azerbaijan. kinds of tar halvah and umaj halvah, thick pomegranate juice “narsharab”, Karabakh cuisine has a lot of shirin kata, koka, baklava, shakarbura, and pomegranate is also used t o vegetarian dishes: sik hma, suyug, guymag and govud for holidays and prepare the additiv e “nardacha”. This kata with herbs, etc. Flour is used rituals. Fruits are also ser ved on the was recorded by the Ger man trav- th to make khashil, khorra, sum-suma table. eler Adam Oleary in the 18 century: from grain - various kinds of hadik, As for drinks, a var iety of sor bets, “Wild grenades are all sour, and a lot govurga, govut, nukurd, gatmali, khoshabs and drinks prepared on the of them are near rivers in Karabakh. basis of bakmaz (boiled juice of mul- “Grains are removed from them, www.irs-az.com 25 Karabakh Cherry jam served with tea dried and sold in other places under the name of nardan (nar - pomegran- ate apple).