Nuhot sho'rva (Soup with yellow peas)

"Nuhot sho'rva" is made from yellow peas. Vegetarians can cook it without meat, as it is good source of protein. Use fresh meat, preferable meat with some bones, it will give special flavor and helps this soup to be thicker. I like it to make this soup thick, but if you like making it thinner then add not 140 grams but 100 grams of peas.
Ingredients:
60 gr of vegetable oil or 50 gr of lamb's tail fat
350 gr of meat
2 onions, peeled and sliced
1 carrot, peeled and cubed
1 small capsicum, seeded and cubed
1 turnip peeled and cubed (optional)
2 medium sized tomatoes, cubed well
140 grams of peas, washed well
1.5 liters of water
Salt to taste
1 tbsp of coriander
1 tsp of cumin seeds
Fresh coriander chopped
Heat oil well and brown meat on a high heat. Put in onions,spices and fry until onions are transparent and add in carrot and capsicum. Fry constantly stirring until carrots are half done. Add in tomato and turnip. Fry until oil starts to separate out. Add in peas and immediately add in water. Bring to boil, scoop out little foam and lower the heat. Half cover the lid and simmer until peas are soft. At the end add in salt. Serve in individual bowls sprinkling some coriander.
Yoqimli ishtaha!!!

Tovuq dolma (Stuffed whole chicken)

Usually this kind of dolma is made from whole chicken, stuffing just the empty space, but as usually, I like to make more generous filling, so I decided to debone a chicken. I involve my husband to this process, as I couldn't do it as well as he can. We bought fresh chicken from the market and as soon as we get home he started to deboning it:)
Meantime I prepared ingredients for stuffing. Our "Tovuq dolma" turned out to be so delicious! It was moist, juicy and mouthwatering tasty! I was telling my husband from now on we have to try different recipes for stuffing a chicken, I have lots of them!
Ingredients:
Whole fresh chicken 1.5 kg (or even bigger)
1 medium sized zucchini
1 egg
3/4 cup of rice
4-5 tbsp of clarified butter
Salt to taste
1 tsp of pepper
1 tsp of coriander
half a tsp of cumin seeds
1 big onion
2 potatoes
4-5 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp of mayonnaise
1 tbsp of mustard
1 tbsp of sour cream
Wash rice carefully and put in a boiling water. Stir immediately and cook until rice is done and soft, but don't overcook. Stir occasionally as it tends to stick to the bottom of a pan. When all the water evaporated and rice is done,add in salt and butter and stir well.Set aside.
Debone a chicken and put all the meat part (that's exactly two breast and some few meat out of the thights) in food processor. Grind chicken meat together with rice, egg and zucchini. Grind well until all the ingredients are finely blended. I am posting some pictures of how to debone a chicken, but if you couldn't understand, then, go to you tube and search videos on deboning a chicken, find one that you like and try to do that!
First of all break the middle bone:

Carefully cut out the spine bone with a sharp knife:




There it is:









Now carefully cut out breast bone, don't cut up the skin!


Carefully cut out chicken breast for filling.
Spread the leg in two parts and take out upper bone.

We got it, deboned chicken!

Stuff chicken with filling.

Sew the bottom and tie legs crosswise.


Sew up the top and tie wings.


Mix well mayonnaise, mustard and sour cream all together and rub it evenly all over the chicken.
Peel onion and potatoes and slice up thick circles. Chop up garlic. layer vegetables evenly in your baking dish and put chicken on top.

Pour 200 ml of water on the sides.
Bake in preheated oven until chicken is nicely golden in color about 1.5-2 hours. (Depends on the size of a chicken) Occasionally pour up the juicy water from the sides of the chicken on to the top of it with a spoon. That will make chicken moist and juicy.

Serve with fresh salad and enjoy!
Yoqimli ishtaha!!!

Moshli somsa (Samusa with mungbeans)

"Moshli somsa" is perfect for vegetarians as it is very good source of protein. But it is not recommended for those who suffer from high blood pressure (maybe you can eat only 1 if you have it).
For this type of somsa, you have to prepare 3 days ahead, so that your mungbeans will soak well and will double in size. Don't forget to change the water everyday.

Ingredients:
1,3 cup mungbeans
3 onions, peeled and sliced
50 gr of butter
Salt to taste
1 tsp of cumin
1 tsp of ground coriander
0.5 tsp of ground pepper
5-6 tbsp of milk

For dough:
200 gr of water
1 tsp of salt
150 gr of butter or margarine
1 cup of whole wheat flour
Plain flour as needed
First prepare dough. Mix water, salt and add in 1 cup of wheat flour, mix with a spoon. Start adding plain flour until you form medium hard dough. Cover and let it rest for 20 min. Then roll it up as thinly as you can and grease all of the surface with melted butter or margarine, let it stand for 10 min and start rolling it around itself forming a log. Now cover the dough and put in to the fridge for 1 hour. Prepare filling while dough is chilling in the fridge.
Take 1,3 cup of mungbeans and wash well. Layer evenly in dish and pour enough water to cover them.

Leave for the next day. Next day, drain well and pour fresh water to cover mungbeans. Repeat the next day. On the third day, mungbeans are ready to use.

Drain and wash mungbeans well, clean from hard seeds and set aside.
Melt butter in a pan and fry sliced onions until golden and transparent, add in spices and salt at the end.
Grind mungbeans and fried onions together, add in 5-6 tbsp of milk while grinding, as texture will be thick.

Now take the dough and cut the log in equal pieces, turn on to the flat side and roll each piece one by one. Put 1 tbsp of filling and pinch the edges well.

Brush all "somsa"s with egg yolk, sprinkle some seeds or pepper and bake in preheated oven until nice golden color. Serve as hot and enjoy!

Ho'l norin ("Norin" soup)

Ingredients:
"Norin"
Bouillon under air dried meat
Thinly sliced onions

“Norin” also can be served with bouillon under meat. It is served with sliced raw onions and slices of “Qazi”. Just serve some “Norin” in individual bowls and pour over meat bouillon.

Norin (Small noodles with horse meat sausages)

"Norin" is a famous meal in Uzbekistan and is made mostly in Tashkent. Winter is the perfect time for making "Norin", as meat must be air dried beforehand in cool temperatures. Usually horse meat is used, but it can be substituted with beef or lamb. Air dried meat will give special taste to "Norin", so, don't skip this part.

Ingredients:
1 kg of beef
A lot of coarse salt
1 tbsp of cumin
1 tsp of pepper
For the dough:
2 eggs
350 ml of water
1 flat tbsp of salt
Plain flour as needed
200 -250 ml of cottonseed oil/vegetable or olive oil
2 tbsp of ground coriander
1 stick of  "Qazi"  (optional)

A week or 5 days before you plan to cook "Norin", buy fresh meat and cut it in thin, flat pieces, just to make it easier to hang.Usually it is hanged over the rope, but I use my old oven rack for this purpose. Finely season meat with coarse salt and fresh ground pepper, rubbing them nicely all over each of meat piece.



Cover meat with clean cheese cloth.

Everyday turn meat on the other side, letting it dry evenly. Remember that temperature of the room must be cold enough. I usually open up my window slightly.
After 5-6 days meat will be ready, it will look like this:

Wash meat finely and put in a cold water enough to cover meat, about 2.5 liters. Bring water to boil, scoop out all the foam and let it simmer for about 2-2,5 hours. Take out all the meat. Usually meat is chopped or julienned thinly with a very sharp knife, but as a lazy lady who seeks easy ways, I prefer grinding it in food processor. I am thankful for my husband who gave me such a great idea!









Now prepare noodles. Slightly beat up eggs and mix well with water and salt. Gradually add in flour until you will form medium hard dough. (Not too soft and not too hard). Cover the dough and let it rest for 20 min. Divide the dough in two parts and roll out separately. Roll out the dough in 2.5- 3 mm thickness. (Meanwhile, put 3 liters of water to boil). Cut out approximately 7x7 inch squares. For making it easier, after you done with the rolling, fold the dough and horizontally cut out 7 inch pieces, then unfold this strips putting one piece on to another and again horizontally cut out 7 inch pieces.







Cook all of squares, putting 3-4 pieces in to the boiling water at a time. Cook for 3-4 min and then put them on to the clean, cotton tablecloth, just to get rid of that excess water.After some time,flip over, so that they can be dried properly.

When all these dough pieces dried well, gather them on a big flat plate, greasing each layer generously with oil.

Let it rest for 15 min, then start cutting. Take one square at a time and cut in 2 inch strips, put them one on top of another and cut as thinly as you can.








 When you done cutting all the pieces, sprinkle some fresh ground coriander and mix well with chopped meat.
Serve "Qazi" with thinly sliced horse meat sausages and enjoy!
Yoqimli ishtaha!!!

Erinchoq dolma "Lazy dolma"

"Erinchoq dolma" is new dish. It is almost like "Karam dolma" but easier as you don't have to roll out cabbage leaves with meat filling inside, but just julienne cabbage, make some meat balls and cook:)
Ingredients:
300 gr of minced meat (lamb or beef)
100 gr of short grain rice, washed
30 gr of butter, melted
1 very small egg
1 small onion peeled and well chopped
Salt to taste

100 gr of vegetable oil
2 medium sized onions, peeled and sliced
2 small tomatoes, well chopped
1 small cabbage, shred
3-4 medium sized potatoes, peeled and quartered
Salt to taste
1 tsp of cumin
1 tsp of ground pepper
2 tsp of ground coriander
Mix well meat, chopped onion, butter, egg, salt and rice all together. Form small balls with palms of your hand. Set aside.
In deep pan, heat oil well and put in onions. Fry onions on a high heat until light golden and transparent. Add in tomatoes and spices and fry until oil separates out. Set the heat on low.
Layer half of shred cabbage and put all the meat balls on it. Again layer shred cabbage on top of meat balls and place potatoes over cabbage. Sprinkle some coarse salt, pour in 100 ml of water. Set the heat on high and bring water to boil. Lower the heat, cover the lid and cook for about 30-40 min or until rice is soft and ready. At the end, check for saltiness and take from heat.
Serve sprinkling some fresh chopped greens and enjoy!
Yoqimli ishtaha!!!

My cakes!

I must say that nowadays cake business is well developed in Uzbekistan. Cake decoration is one kind of art today and I also tried to make some for my dear ones:) These cakes were baked and decorated by me and the ideas are also mine. All decoration in my cakes are eatable. I use special candy dough for making figurines.
This one was baked for my nephew for his first birthday party. I made fruits out of my marshmallow paste.:









This one was for my little one for her first birthday:

Next cake was baked for new year party:)







For my husband's birthday:

Another party cake "Pyanaya vishnya" Which is "Drunk cherry" cake:)










"Graffskiye razvalini" which means "Ruins of a duke" :)

"Ptichye moloko" cake which means "Milk of a bird":

My favorite cheese cake with strawberries:







Cake for my honey pie for her 5th birthday party. She loves "Finding Nemo" and watches it almost everyday:)

Cake for my party:

Hope you enjoyed my post:)