Yesterday, on March 23, my friends from the FLEX program and I celebrated Navruz. It was the final day of what is usually a three-day holiday, and it merited a feast of five different dishes that we prepared all together. You can see what food we made in this post, and the recipes will be available on Universal Mixer shortly. Enjoy the sneak peek!
First, in the spirit of the Navruz holiday, we made the Central Asian plov. Zarrina, who is from Tajikistan, learned the secrets of making plov from her mother and grandmother. She used the super heavy, cast iron pot to fry beef chunks with carrots and onions first, before adding the basmati rice and special spices. It turned out just perfect!
We also made a large pot of borsch, a traditional soup of Russia and Ukraine, following my tried and trusted recipe from this blog. Borsch is best when served with sour cream and dark rye bread.
Much to my amazement, Raushan from Kyrgyzstan made us a very colorful dish - funchoza. Raushan explained that it's actually a Korean recipe that is popular in her country and throughout Central Asia. Funchoza is just an explosion of juiciness and freshness due to the combination of the soy sause and lemon juice and the chopped cilantro on top.
While we were busy with making the first three dishes, Sofia from Ukraine and Yelena from Russia whipped out the dough for vareniki. Vareniki are a type of dumplings that can be stuffed with mashed potatoes or berries, or anything really. We had two different kinds - with mashed potatoes and cherries, both topped with some sour cream and melted butter.
Finally, we had oladushki, or pancakes, for dessert. These were special oladushki made with sour cream instead of milk or kefir. We served them with the blueberry and strawberry jam. Simply delicious!
Zarrina also told us about the traditions of Navruz and showed the festive Tajik hats that girls usually wear for the holiday. She even gave me one for my collection of ethnic hats (more about that on Universal Mixer soon!). Thanks Zarrina!
It was a fun and abundant celebration, like a Navruz should be, and all I wish is that we had more leftovers :)
For more on Navruz, check out my last year's post Happy New Nowruz!
First, in the spirit of the Navruz holiday, we made the Central Asian plov. Zarrina, who is from Tajikistan, learned the secrets of making plov from her mother and grandmother. She used the super heavy, cast iron pot to fry beef chunks with carrots and onions first, before adding the basmati rice and special spices. It turned out just perfect!
We also made a large pot of borsch, a traditional soup of Russia and Ukraine, following my tried and trusted recipe from this blog. Borsch is best when served with sour cream and dark rye bread.
Much to my amazement, Raushan from Kyrgyzstan made us a very colorful dish - funchoza. Raushan explained that it's actually a Korean recipe that is popular in her country and throughout Central Asia. Funchoza is just an explosion of juiciness and freshness due to the combination of the soy sause and lemon juice and the chopped cilantro on top.
While we were busy with making the first three dishes, Sofia from Ukraine and Yelena from Russia whipped out the dough for vareniki. Vareniki are a type of dumplings that can be stuffed with mashed potatoes or berries, or anything really. We had two different kinds - with mashed potatoes and cherries, both topped with some sour cream and melted butter.
Finally, we had oladushki, or pancakes, for dessert. These were special oladushki made with sour cream instead of milk or kefir. We served them with the blueberry and strawberry jam. Simply delicious!
Zarrina also told us about the traditions of Navruz and showed the festive Tajik hats that girls usually wear for the holiday. She even gave me one for my collection of ethnic hats (more about that on Universal Mixer soon!). Thanks Zarrina!
It was a fun and abundant celebration, like a Navruz should be, and all I wish is that we had more leftovers :)
For more on Navruz, check out my last year's post Happy New Nowruz!
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