Winter in Azerbaijan is not as cold as it is in Alaska nor as mild as Spain. If you happen to be visiting during the winter months, however, brace yourself for possible blizzards and frost. Caspian News put together six of the best dishes Azerbaijan has to offer during the winter months, which will help you warm up and feel good on cold winter days.
1. Kufta
Kufta, or meatball, is prepared in all regions of Azerbaijan and cooked with lots of mint mixed into the ground beef – the core ingredient for making kufta – as well as rice, salt, and ground black pepper. Rolled and shaped into circles within the palm of one’s hand, the meatballs are boiled in a clear broth along with peas and herbs. After 30-35 minutes of cooking, kufta is ready to be served. The strained saffron sauce is an optional dressing to add some additional flavor. Bon appetite!
2. Khangal
Meeting with family or friends at parties on weekends in Azerbaijan are simply boring without khangal. Considered a national dish, khangal is made by rolling and cutting dough into thin, small squares, and then boiling them in a meat broth. Served hot and with ground lamb or chicken chops, the dish is accompanied with a garlic sauce and an authentic dressing known as qurut, dried yogurt that is dissolved in salty water. Dining etiquette for khangal includes eating with one’s hands from the large, oval-shaped serving tray instead of using forks and other dinnerware.
3. Dushbara
Dushbara is true winter dish, resembling Russian dumplings but much smaller in size – they say a good cook should fit 12 pieces of dushbara onto a tablespoon! Dushbara are tiny squares cut from thinly rolled dough and stuffed with small portions of meat filling. These mini-dumplings are boiled in water and served with dried mint or wine vinegar infused with garlic.
4. Bozbash
Bozbash is like a bucket of vitamins served in a single meal, as it is loaded with vegetables and herbs. The Azerbaijani dish in which these ingredients are served is inseparably linked to a mutton broth. The cooking process to make bozbash starts with putting two or three mutton chops into boiling water, along with yellow peas, and cooking them for about two hours. Peeled and sliced potatoes and fried tomato mash are added into the mutton broth before the pot is closed tightly for the final stages of cooking. Patience for another half an hour is rewarded with a unique hot and delicious soup that gets served with dried mint or chopped coriander.
5. Piti
If the cold winter air threatens you from your head to your toes, piti is a great way to break its hold. Piti is not for the rushed and hurried, however, since it takes between eight and 12 hours to cook. Famous in Azerbaijan’s northern Sheki region, this dish is cooked with lamb, potatoes, peas, onions, garlic, chestnuts and herbs. Ingredients are combined in a small clay pot filled with water and then placed in an oven for a slow cook.
6. Arishta
With arishta on the dinner table, you’ll forget all about the cold outside. Thinly rolled dough is cut into small narrow strips, placed into boiling water and cooked with small meatballs, fried salty onions and beans. The dish gets its unique flavor from dried greengage, which adds a slight sour taste that pairs nicely with the onions and beans. The final stage of cooking sees an egg broken into the boiling liquid, and dried mint sprinkled onto the ready meal.
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