Samarkand plov
A layered plov in which nothing is stirred: the rice stays pale, and the carrots and meat are served on top of it.
Samarkand bread
A tandoor-baked round with a thin, stamped centre, a plump rim and a glossy crust — Samarkand’s signature taste and the classic gift to carry home.
© Benjamin Goetzinger, CC BY-SA 4.0
What it is
Samarkand non is a type of obi non, the round flatbread baked on the walls of a clay tandoor. Its centre is thin and pricked with a pattern, the rim thick and soft, the crust a lacquered reddish-gold. The pattern comes from a chekich, a wooden stamp set with pins, which also lets steam escape so the middle stays flat. Before the dough is slapped onto the oven wall its underside is sprinkled with salted water, and the top is moistened as it bakes — hence the shine.
Samarkand alone has dozens of named breads — noni osiyoyi, noni poʻlati, noni zargaroni, noni tafton, noni taroki and more. The dense dough travels well, which is why visitors leave Siyob Bazaar with bags of it.
The legend
Legend has it that a ruler of Bukhara, having tasted Samarkand bread, carried off the city’s best baker to his palace. In Bukhara, though, the bread was never the same. Flour was brought from Samarkand, then water, to no avail. At last the baker explained: ‘What the bread lacks is the air of Samarkand.’ The ruler let him go home and had his bread sent from Samarkand instead.
Bread etiquette
Bread is treated as sacred in Uzbek homes. It is never cut with a knife but torn by hand, and never placed upside down. A piece dropped on the ground is picked up and set somewhere high for the birds. Families still give a son leaving on a long journey a bite of non and keep the rest until he returns.
Cuisine
Cuisine
Tandoor samsa
Flaky pastries filled with lamb, onion and tail fat and baked on the wall of a tandoor — Samarkand’s favourite breakfast.
Kabob (shashlik)
Lamb, liver and minced-meat skewers grilled over charcoal and served with raw onion, vinegar and hot bread — the smoke that drifts down every Samarkand street.
Manti
Large steamed dumplings from a tiered steamer, filled with hand-chopped lamb, onion and tail fat — or with sweet pumpkin.
Shurpa
A hearty soup of mutton, carrots, potatoes and herbs, either simply boiled or browned first, served in a deep bowl with bread.
Norin
A cold dish of hair-fine, hand-cut noodles tossed with shredded horsemeat and qazi sausage — the refined starter of weddings and big feasts.
