Unknown Azerbaijan...Food...Plov...

Today I am writing about food…

It is a festive season and people in Azerbaijan who are very sensitive and attentive to subject of food will be even more engaged with this matter on New Year holidays. I must say that food is not something that is regarded not important in Azerbaijan…vice versa this is an essential part of culture.

Plov or aş (ash) is considered as “süfrənin şahı” meaning “shah (king) of local cuisine” in Azerbaijan. Plov is cooked for respected guests to show respect and high sympathy and during special occasions. Azerbaijan has many types of plov depending on its geographical regions. I am more acquainted with Sheki plovs :) which on its own has many types of plov depending on seasons of year…Currently in winter we have a season of chestnuts and nuts therefore plov is served with meat with chestnuts; or chicken. Last time we had plov at home we also stuffed chicken with nuts; this stuffing is traditional in south of Azerbaijan, Lenkoran area and stuffing is called “ləvəngi” (levengi). In my previous life I must have been from that part of Azerbaijan because I love “ləvəngi” :) Plovs also are supposed to have “qazmaq” that is a bottom crispy layer of the dish.

This is a very ignorant and hasty post about plov. I hope to be able to go back from time to time and elaborate on this subject :) In the meantime you can visit an excellent website on Azerbaijani cuisine and overall great food here and read more about plov and not only.

Plov...

Chichen stuffed with levengi...

Raisins and dried apricot served with plov as well...

Meat with chestnuts...

Plov covered with qazmaq

Have superb holidays!!!

End of Ramadan

Every year during 30 days Muslim people fast during the month of Ramadan. Each year the month of Ramadan is moving backwards. Fasting people wake up early in the morning until the Sun comes out and eat (this is called imsaq) and fast the whole day until its dark. When Moon comes out people break their fast (this is called iftar as mentioned in my yesterday’s post). When fast is open fasting people drink a bit of water, taste salt and eat dates first…In addition to fasting, fasting people can not/do not/should not drink, smoke, make love, gossip or behave badly during the month of Ramadan. Sorry for this dilettante way of Ramadan description. Thorough information can be found on sophisticated websites.

12 October, has been the end of Ramadan this year and public holidays continue in Azerbaijan until tomorrow. The tradition is that on Ramadan people go and visit as many fasting people they know as possible and congratulate them with the holiday. Fasting people receive presents and sweets and lots of attention. Many meals are prepared for dinner and guests come and go the whole day. The atmosphere is very festive. Women do a lot of cooking and get tired of course...Also one of the main and serious traditions is “fitra” – allocation of some sum of money which has to be equal number of members of the family multiplied by a certain sum of money per head (it can be also much more money of course than the formula gives :) depending on income and generosity of the family) and give it to poor so that they can prepare holiday dinner.

On holiday I visited my parents who fasted to congratulate them with their holiday and have dinner with them and pass small presents that we have prepared to them with my husband. We have already given out our “fitra”. This is a picture of "plov", so called "king of dishes" in Azerbaijan and its kind of dressings that my mom prepared. I will have separate post on plov one day.

Personally I have never fasted…initially I never thought about it, then I always had an excuse not to fast cause I thought that fasting and studying and working in parallel would be too hard. Ramadan is a psychologically hard month for non fasting people because they feel remorse each time they eat and drink while people around are fasting. There are many people around me who choose/are able to fast and I deeply respect their belief, discipline and strength of will. Therefore these days are their days. I can imagine the euphoria and pride they must feel for their belief, accomplishment, strength of will and discipline. Well done! Congratulations and respect!!

Love is in the air....

There comes time in one's life (hopefully sooner rather than later) when person starts to appreciate everything positive that is around him or her. And gratitude becomes a natural part of the person's existence. He or she does not have to make any effort and look for reasons since reasons are all around.

I can't remember since when but I know definitely that by this birthday I have become one of those grateful for anything and everything that is peaceful, sunny, healthy, delicious, friendly etc etc etc...the list is endless of course. Days when I am in a bad mood are not considered...

My birthday this year was family get together. I want to share with you some photos that are not professional but convey some of my thoughts today...Be well.

With all the great restaurants and cuisines available in our capital Baku the best plov is at my parents prepared by my mom, Güllər xanım. I took this photo in the kitchen, at making of stage. One can and I can never thank mom enough... 

You can read more about plov on my blog here.     

Its season of pomegranates in Azerbaijan now. Organic, healthy, beautiful and tasty pomegranates. My dad, Nadir muallim, always peels pomegranates for us his daughters and wife (yes, probably in this order). Nowadays he also has his grandsons queueing. God bless. Dad doesn't mind. Never. 

You can read more about pomegranates on this blog here.  

Now. One of the best parts of any gathering in Azerbaijan is tea session. Moms tea is always delicious. This time she also had delicious walnut preserve prepared by my cousin Səhər xanim. Walnut preserve is Sheki delicacy. It's prepared from walnuts that are not ready yet and green. The process is not easy and not everyone is the professional. Yes, the walnuts ín preserve come black in colour and yes, you would be surprised by its beautiful taste.

You can read more about tea sessions and preserves on this blog here.   



For more and details of Azerbaijani cuisine please visit http://www.azcookbook.com/.



March in Azerbaijan...

Dear readers, although its already April I still want to go back and write about March...

...

March is all about holidays in Azerbaijan. We are celebrating Women's Day and continuously welcoming :) Novruz i.e. spring. Novruz is a holiday when people are kind of uniting with nature...since spring is coming, nature is awakening and spring equinox is happening and people are only joining this celebration...no holiday could be more natural than Novruz...

Thus four weeks in advance of actual Novruz we celebrate Tuesdays of water, fire, wind and earth...then celebrate Novruz eve and Novruz day itself. People cook numerous Novruz deserts (March is period of vitamin deficiency thus Novruz pastries are all about butter, nuts, sugar and spices to keep people going (now...who can dispute wisdom of ancestors...)) Gogal, shekerbura and pakhlava are pastries that are found on every table, semeni (growing wheat) sign of Novruz and prosperity of coming year is also there. Everybody is visiting each other and there are many, many other traditions that I hope to mention next year :) But for this year I want to stop here, wish everyone happy spring and post some Novruz photos that I have been collecting to share with you :)

getting ready for festive dinner...spring ash (plov)...every season has its own plov in Sheki and each is delicious in its own way...

Novruz must haves: fried nuts and wheat...

Novruz must have: semeni - growing wheat, symbol of Novruz - sign of well-being;
that cake in a form of gazelle was quite popular in Sheki formerly, not the case nowadays but still very cute to have on the table...not easy to keep children off it though :)

Another symbol of Novruz, pastry called gogal (gogal means round, small bread) that also has spicy filling in this case, is perfect for breakfasts and not only...crispy and delicious...this photo I took on my mobile in my mom's kitchen...God bless her... My favourite pastry of Novruz, pakhlava, as you can see photo was taken after we tried pakhlava :)...mom couldn't convince us to wait until its properly cooled... Pastries of Novruz: shekerbura and pakhlava...
Novruz must-haves: nuts etc...
decorated semeni :)

Art of cooking (if I may say :)...

Some readers might get shocked that many older people in Sheki continue to think that lamb is the healthiest meat and that the most delicious meals are prepared using melted butter. Let my granny rest in peace but she and her sisters would never have a second opinion about the above…

In the age when eating less is becoming more and more popular what you eat and how you eat meaning what goes well with what is very important in Azerbaijan…

Spoiled with numerous kinds of fresh and delicious fruits, vegetables and other, backed up by rich traditions and culture, prepared with kind hands and warm hearts of our grannies and mothers Azerbaijan can boast to have one of the best cuisines in the world…and yes, I am making this statement confidently.

Just as one example…Sheki has plov or (ash as we call it in Sheki) for each season (rice prepared in a way that I can’t really describe…rice that you can “hear” from far away thanks to saffron and magic used during preparation).

Today my post is devoted to a good friend Farida Sadikhova Buyuran who not only cherishes and appreciates Azeri cuisine but what is even more important conveys it to a wider audience via her colorful and wonderful website, AZ Cookbook – Food from Azerbaijan & Beyond, and soon to be published in USA cookbook. I respect passion she puts into her work and perfectionism and seriousness with which she approaches this task. I am sure her sunny and happy personality will shine through her book as it does now when we visit her website. I wish her good luck with publishing her book and many exciting projects in the future. Sending her our support from Baku I hope that she will get the same support in USA and everywhere else her book reaches. I have put the link to her website on this post but you can also find the link on the right side of this blog. Good luck to you, Farida!! The book will be a success I am sure.

Met via blogging we met in person in summer when Farida was visiting Azerbaijan.

First I wanted to edit the photo so that you could see only Farida and I but then I left the picture as it is :)

Sooo many things to talk about :)

What do I treat Farida to? No let me be honest here...what do I ask my mom to prepare for us? (I did the cake though :) Let's go traditional...let's have dolma (stuffed grape leaves). Dolma goes well with yogurt, melon or cucumber (go for Sheki white cucumber:) and summer salad.