Loviya ho'rak (Meat and kidney bean salad)

"Loviya ho'rak" is one another variety of "No'hot ho'rak". It is very rich in protein, iron and minerals. Usually it is served with sliced onions.
Ingredients:
300 gr of meat, beef or lamb
200 gr of kidney beans
Salt to taste
1 tbsp of ground coriander
1 tsp of cumin
30 gr of butter
Put meat in a cold water about 1.5 liters and bring to boil. Scoop out all the foam that will float to the surface. Boil meat for 2 hours over medium heat with a half covered lid. Stir every half hour. At the end add in spices and salt.
Separately boil kidney beans with 1 liter of water over low heat with a closed lid. Add salt only after kidney beans are soft. If you put salt earlier beans will not soften.
Take out all the meat and cut in big chunks. Drain all the water from beans and put in all the butter. Mix well until butter will melt properly. Put beans on a plate, place meat over it and sprinkle with sliced onions. Onions must be sliced and mashed with 1 tsp of white vinegar.
Serve and enjoy this healthy and high in protein meal.
Yoqimli ishtaha!!!

Gu'shtli quymoq (Omlet with meat and vegetables)

"Gu'shtli quymoq" is very good for breakfast. It will keep you full until your lunch and it gives you enough strength to be cheerful all day long:) Besides it is prepared fast about in 20 min.
Ingredients:
50 gr of vegetable oil
200 gr of meat, cut in thin strips
1 medium sized onion, peeled and sliced
1 small eggplant, peeled and cut in small cubes
1 small zucchini (optional)cut in small cubes
2 medium sized tomato, chopped well
6 eggs, slightly beaten
1 bunch of fresh coriander leaves chopped
Salt to taste
Heat the oil and fry meat over medium heat with covered lid, until meat is nice golden color, add in tomatoes and onions, continue frying until vegetables are clear in color, add in eggplant and zucchini and fry until oil starts to separate out.

Beat eggs and add in chopped coriander, mix well.

Now set the fire on very low and pour egg mixture on to the fried meat and vegetables, sprinkle some salt,cover the lid and fry until egg is firm.

Serve as hot and enjoy your breakfast or lunch:)
Yoqimli ishtaha!!!

Baqlajon va pomidorli salat (Eggplant and tomato salad)

One of my favorite recipes, as I am mad about eggplant:) It's soft and tender, juicy and fresh salad. Try to select harder but dark red tomatoes for it.
Ingredients:
3 medium sized eggplants, sliced
3 medium sized tomatoes
2 eggs, slightly beaten with a pinch of salt
Oil for frying
1 tbsp od coriander or 1 bunch of fresh chopped coriander leaves
Slice eggplants in to the circles. Put the eggplant circles in to the salty cold water for 20 min. Drain well and put on to the paper towel. Fry all of the circles dipping them in to the egg mixture on a little oil, until nice golden color.

Then cut them in strips like this:

Now quarter the tomatoes and cut out seeds, and cut the rest in to the same strips as an eggplant.

Mix together tomato, eggplant, chopped coriander or just ground coriander and salt. Mix carefully, don't mash up tomatoes. Your tasty salad is ready! Serve and enjoy:)
Yoqimli ishtaha!!!

Sumalak

Finely today I am posting you the recipe of "Sumalak":)
This dish is always cooked for "Navruz" - our national holiday, when we celebrate the beginning of the new year and new life. It is belived that "Navruz" will bring happiness, luck and joy to our lives. Different dishes are made for this holiday as "Kuk somsa" "Kok chuchvara" and of course "Sumalak". "Sumalak" is our ancient and truly national dish. It is cooked for centuries and the recipes can vary region by region, but the ingredients are always the same: flour, wheat sprouts washed in water and oil. Nothing else. It is very strong remedy, it helps to strengthen immune system, it helps to clear the body of chemical waste, rejuvenates it and strengthen the body. It is believed that when you trying it for the first time, you should make a wish and it will surely come true! "Sumalak" must be cooked by nice and kind people, it is sacred and holy meal for Uzbeks. Usually it is cooked by old women and it is cooked all night long, and closed near to morning. We have believe that angels are also participate while cooking this holy meal. People mostly women sing songs, dance and have fun while cooking "Sumalak". We have different stories about the history of this meal, one of them tells that it is cooked by a woman named Fatima. Fatima had 2 sons and was very poor. Because she was a widow and very poor, they had very little to eat, and her sons always cried from hunger. One day, their mother became very tired of their crying, and sorrowful that she had no food to give them. That evening she was so desperate that she decided to cook a meal from some flour, wheat and water. She also put some stone in it and stir it long. After a while she fell asleep. When she awoke in the early hours of the morning, she saw 30 angels standing around the pot. She rubbed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she saw them licking their fingers. She woke up her sons. In their excitement they ran to the pot and found it filled with a most succulent porridge. From that time forth the boys were never hungry. The name of the meal was called "Sumalak" which, the Uzbek people say, means 30 angels.
Ingredients:
1300 gr wheat
4 kg of plain flour
1 liter of vegetable oil
A lot of drinking water about 18 liters
7 clean small stones:)
You have to prepare one week advance to cook this meal. First you have to clean wheat from foreign seeds and wash well. Put wheat in clean water and soak for 3 days. You have to change water every day. Just wash it and put another clean water.

On the third day drain all the water. Take small pieces of plywood, wash well.

Layer wheat on a plywood evenly. It must be thick, about 3 cm.

Put the plywoods in dark, warm room. Sprinkle water over it 3 times a day. Don't forget sprinkling water or it will dry up and won't rise. From third day sprinkle water for 2 times a day. Approximately on by the end of the third day your wheat will be ready. But it really depends on your wheat. Just depend on your eyes. it must be like this:

You can see that the color of the sprouts is light green. If your wheat's sprouts are like this than they're ready.
On back side you can see the roots, they must be white and thin.

Now, cut the all of the sprouts and grind them in food processor or in a meat chopper.

Pour 10 liters of water in a bucket or just any deep dish. Now place all of the ground wheat sprouts in this water. Wash them well in water, your water will be white as milk. Now pour this milky liquid through the sieve and two layers of the cheesecloth. Squeeze out all of the liquid from sprouts and again wash them in 4 liters of water (separately), again pour through sieve. Repeat this operation one more time. (3 times)You can see that second and the third time water will be not so milky, but slightly white.

Now take your biggest crock pot or pot with thick bottom and pour all of the oil, and pour the first 10 liter of milky liquid on it. Add in all the flour also.

Now mix all together until no crumbs will appear. I used hand mixer to mix it.

Now put your pot on a high heat. Put in stones now. Bring to boil, unceasingly stirring as crumbs will appear easily. After boiling stir 15 min more. You will see that now it is not thick and can boil without stirring. But check and stir every 10 min. I must say that when you first put it on fire, it will crumble a lot, so keep stirring until this crumbles will melt. Don't be afraid, as this was the first time I cooked "Sumalak" just all by myself I was afraid that crumbles kept appear:) They will surely melt don't worry!

Now it will boil and boil, and you will keep stirring and stirring it:) Approximately after 4-5 hours it will thicken and color will begin to get brown like this:

So it's time to pour the 4 liters of milky water (second water where you washed the ground sprouts). Add in and mix well, again stir while bring to boil. Again boil it until it will begin to thicken. After approximately 3-4 hours add in the third 4 liters of water. Again bring to boil and stir unceasingly. Now you will boil it a little longer until it will finely get thick and dark brown. At the end you have to stir vigorously as it can easily stick to the bottom, be careful! Be careful as it is very thick and it can throw out some hot drops, you should better wear some kitchen gloves to prevent burning. It will look like this:

Now, reduce the the heat on very very low, to almost no fire, close the lid and cover it with some towel and leave it for 3-4 hours. Don't open the lid and don't stir! After 3-4 hours (I made it in 3.5 hours)you can open the lead, switch off the fire. Once more mix well and ENJOY this delicious and healthy, tasty and heavenly sweet Uzbek chocolate:)

When you open the lid you can see that oil will come out to the surface.
We believe that before opening the lid you should pray and wish something and then open it and your dream will surely come true!
In Uzbekistan we first of all serve it to our eldest ones. It is served with fresh hot bread and some hot pot of tea. I also like enjoying it with strawberries:) But it is delicious just itself! Hope you will not be afraid to try to cook it. Me myself tried it for the first time and you can see the result! It turned out to be so sweet, that I couldn't stop eating it all day long!
Yoqimli ishtaha!!!

Gusht va ismaloqlik non (Meat pie with spinach)

I love spinach!!! It is very very useful and healthy. This pie is just amazing, it's crumbly, tasty flavorous pie! Your kitchen will smell heavenly while baking this pie.It's good for breakfast and for a quick snack. In Uzbekistan pies and "Somsa"s with spinach and with another greens are often baked in spring, as in spring our body is weak and needs vitamins.
Ingredients:
For dough:
130 gr butter
200 gr sour cream
2 eggs
Pinch of salt
2 tsp of baking powder
Plain flour as needed
For filling:
200 gr minced or finely chopped meat
1 big onion, peeled and chopped
300 gr of spinach, chopped
30 gr of butter, melted
1 tbsp of ground coriander
1 tsp of cumin seeds
1 small zucchini, cut in small cubes
Salt to taste
Prepare dough: grate hard butter, pour in sour cream and eggs, stir well, add in salt, baking powder and gradually start adding flour until you form a medium hard dough. It mustn't be soft. Cover it and let it rest in fridge for 20 min.
Mix together meat, chopped onion, spinach, zucchini salt and spices. Pour in melted butter and mix all together. Mix well until smooth.
Now take the dough divide in two equal pieces and roll them out. Put one piece on to the baking sheet and spread all of the filling on top. Cover it with the second rolled piece and carefully pinch the edges well. Bake in preheated oven until nice golden color. Take out, cut and serve as hot. You can also serve some sour cream with this pie. You can top your piece with cream and enjoy it!
Yoqimli ishtaha!!!

Tovuq tabaka (Chicken in the oven)

"Tabaka" is very famous meal that everyone loves:) There are many ways to cook it and they all taste different. Today I am giving you the recipe that is very simple to make and always turns out very good. It is very tender and juicy. You have to take bigger chicken for this kind of "tabaka". You will cook it on the oven and you don't have to watch after.
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
100 gr of butter
1 big onion, peeled and sliced
Salt to taste
1 tbsp of pepper
1.5 tbsp of coriander
1 tbsp of cumin seeds
5-6 tbsp of sour cream
Season chicken inside out with salt and spices and leave for 10 min

Take a big piece of foil and place chopped butter and sliced onions.

Now place chicken on to the onions. Top it with sour cream.

Close up the foil well around chicken. There must be no holes. Bake chicken in well preheated oven for 2 hours(more or less depends on your oven). At the end very carefully open up the foil and brown the chicken for 15 min or less. Be careful while opening the foil, steam is very hot! After chicken is ready, take it out and place on another dish. You will have a soup like liquid in the foil, make a gravy from that if you want, just fry 2 tbsp of plain flour on a very little oil and pour this liquid on to it. Boil for 10 min and then serve with chicken.

This chicken is very moist and juicy as it will keep it's juice within itself, surely try it, you will never be sorry. Besides it is a nice dinner when you have a lot of other things to do. You will finish your work and your dinner will wait for you in the oven:) Enjoy!
Yoqimli ishtaha!!!

"Shashlik"

This "Shashlik" is very tender to bite and good for children. I used yogurt for marination and I think this is the best thing for marination of meat as it will soften it well. You need just plain, not sweet yogurt.
Ingreidents:
1 kg of meat (lamb or beef)
250 gr yogurt
Salt to taste
1 tbsp of ground pepper
1 tbsp of coriander
1 tbsp of cumin seeds
Cut the meat in small pieces, place them on bowl, pour all the yogurt on to it and add salt and spices. Mash with hands or forks. Cover it with plate, put some weight on it and place it in the fridge for at least 6 hours or better for overnight.

The next day take out the meat and pinch them to a special sticks. Place some lamb's tail fat by turn.

Now cook them over heated coal until brown and then serve with some salad:)

Enjoy this delicious ever meat:)
Yoqimli ishtaha!!!