Currently viewing the category: "Silk Road Adventure"

Healthy Beef Börek

On April 1, 2018 · Leave a Comment

For the Filling

2 medium red onions

2 shallots

1 huge carrot or 2 large carrots

500 g or 1 lb. beef

½ cup chopped parsley

1 tablespoon oregano

1 turn of ground red pepper

Salt and pepper to taste

 

For the Wash

2 eggs

¾ cup of milk

3 tablespoons olive oil

[…]

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Tatar Meat Pie Zur Balish

On May 17, 2015 · Leave a Comment

Meat and potatoes, surrounded by a pastry shell, simmer in their own juices to create an all-in-one wonderpie. So filling. So satisfying. So comforting.

Zur Balish takes three hours to make. When I was living in Kazakhstan researching Silk Road dumplings, kind and generous Aijan, whose mother is Tatar, made this splendid dish, described in […]

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Kazakh Homestyle Manty Recipe

On April 8, 2015 · Leave a Comment

Kazakh Homestyle Manty Recipe

Bekasha says, “When you eat a manty, don’t break it up or you’ll lose the juice on the inside. Instead, pick it up with one hand and take a bite. Then pour Kobra Sauce inside and take the second and last bite.” The version below suggests an alternate garnish, but […]

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Mong – Tatars National Unity Through Song

On March 26, 2015 · Leave a Comment

The Cruise

On board a Turkish cultural cruise I took in July 2000 I met the much-loved Tatar singer Färidä Kudasheva, a small woman with a benevolent gaze, auburn hair, and the high cheekbones and round cheeks typical of Eurasian Turks. One evening after dinner Färidä apa – Auntie Farida, as she preferred […]

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Potato Manty

On March 8, 2015 · Leave a Comment

Manty are eaten in Turkey (as tiny lamb-filled purses – recipe coming soon), in Korea (called mandoo there), and in Silk Road locations across Central Asia. This recipe is Kazakh, but could just as easily come from Kyrgyzstan, Bosnia or Afghanistan.

 

Thanks to the wonderful Eric Johnson (authorericjohnson.com), who is a trained […]

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Tatar Beef Pelmeni

On February 22, 2015 · Leave a Comment

In Central Asia, every grocery store teems with frozen pelmeni.

They can’t compare with homemade, handcrafted little pockets bursty with juicy meaty goodness. Here is a recipe from Tatarstan, which lies on the Volga River in Central Russia.

Tatar Beef Pelmeni

Tatars are Muslims and not supposed to eat pork. Though this recipe only […]

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Contemporary Wall Art, Almaty, Kazakhstan

On November 18, 2013 · Leave a Comment

Until forced settlement in the 1920s by Soviet Union authorities, Kazakhs were traditionally nomadic people, and, as such, left little in the way of monuments as testaments to their civilization.

Since independence from the USSR a little over twenty years ago, some Kazakhs have pointed to the ancient history of their culture by publicizing the […]

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Camels!

On December 18, 2012 · Leave a Comment

Spurred by a conversation with a Kazakh architect here in Almaty who told me of the camel herd her great grandmother’s “white bone” – or aristocrat – family kept before the Bolsheviks took over in the 1920s, I started reading about camels online. I discovered, much to my surprise, that dromedaries and bactrians – one […]

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For the Love of Lagman

On November 2, 2012 · Leave a Comment

Helen’s three-year-old daughter, Bernadette, has an intense love of the Uighur/Uzbek noodle, meat and vegetable dish called lagman. Some say it’s a version of Chinese lo mein.

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Roksonaki in the Studio

On November 1, 2012 · Leave a Comment

As we speak Roksonaki are in the process of a groundbreaking adventure creating a new album that combines Americana with their trademarked shamanic lyrics. Beats provided by SuperProducer Bobbie Rae.

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