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.
Tandoor samsa
Flaky pastries filled with lamb, onion and tail fat and baked on the wall of a tandoor — Samarkand’s favourite breakfast.
© Panpanchik, CC BY 4.0
Straight from the tandoor
Samsa is eaten all over Central Asia, but the Uzbek tandoor version owes its character to dough and fire. The pastry is rolled thin, brushed with fat and wound into layers; the filling is chopped — never minced — lamb with plenty of onion, a little tail fat, cumin and black pepper. The triangles or squares are sprinkled with sesame and pressed onto the walls of a blazing tandoor, then lifted out one by one with a long paddle.
A good samsa shatters when you bite it while the juices stay inside, which is why it is eaten hot, by hand, with green tea.
Seasons and habits
The filling follows the calendar. Spring brings koʻk somsa stuffed with wild greens; autumn, pumpkin samsa; there are also versions with liver, minced meat or potato. In Samarkand most samsa is baked in the morning, when the bazaars open, and the tandoors around Siyob Bazaar are busy from first light. In a teahouse it is one of the standard snacks served before the plov.
How to choose
Buy samsa at the oven, freshly peeled off the wall, when the hot pastry still opens in layers. A good samsa bakery gives itself away by its morning queue of locals. Meat samsa is filling — one or two make a breakfast — and it goes well with a fresh chilli or a tomato salad.
Cuisine
Cuisine
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.
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.
