Week 43 Slovakia and Tajikistan

Halusky seemed a nice sounding name for a dish; and as you know I like nice sounding names for dishes! In essence it is gnocchi, now I have made gnocchi before, and last week I mentioned that we were finding this a little challenging, so I opted for bought stuff. To be fair it was fresh and not frozen. I fried up some bacon and piled it on with the cheese, just as most of the recipes appeared to suggest was all that was needed. Now, I don't eat cheese and I think I missed out, as gnocchi and fried bacon isn't something that the Italians would ever write about! The boys liked it with the cheese and bacon, country done....

On the other hand the lamb dish from Tajikistan was similar to that which we should have had from Syria, Plov - pilaf - I cooked the diced lamb for an hour in the oven, in lamb stock  with cumin, garlic, carrots and onions. Then I added the rice and barberries (currants soaked in lemon) and cooked for another hour. I served it all up on a central plate and we all dived in! It was a lovely Sunday meal, lots of chatter and a clean plate! It may not have the approval of the oshpaz, but it had our approval. Simple, but very nice...

I found this on The Guradian website, which sums up Plov nicely:
"Though served all over central Asia, plov is a national obsession in Uzbekistan and across the border in neighbouring Tajikistan, where people pride themselves on their skill in preparing the tasty dish. The most skilled chefs – called oshpaz – can serve plov for up to 1,000 people from a single kazan (cauldron) at weddings and festivals. For Uzbeks, arguably the masters of plov, the dish represents hospitality, community and identity.

Travellers have long noted the qualities – and quantities – of this rice dish. Arminius Vámbéry, in his 1863 book Travels in Central Asia, wrote of a plov prepared in Samarkand: “The princely pilow [plov] … consisted of a sack of rice, three sheep chopped to pieces, a large pan of sheep’s fat (enough to make five pounds of candles) and a small sack of carrots …”"

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/jul/30/plov-rice-meat-dish-uzbekistan-national-dish-central-asia (Accessed Nov 2017)