Dish · Bukhara
Bukhara plov and oshi sofi
Bukhara’s own plovs: oshi sofi, made with separately boiled and drained rice, and plov cooked with mung beans.
Dish · Bukhara
Gijduvan kebab
The famous minced-meat kebab of Gijduvan in Bukhara Region: the meat is minced twice, frozen, chopped and pressed onto skewers.
The recipe
Gijduvan sits northeast of Bukhara on the road towards Navoiy, and across Uzbekistan its name is synonymous with kebab. In the Gijduvan-style recipe published by the Gastronomic Association of Uzbekistan, beef is minced once with onion, salt and spices (cumin and ground coriander seed), frozen into a block, chopped with a cleaver and minced again. Each skewer takes 80–90 g of meat, shaped with hands dipped in cold water.
The kebabs are turned over hot embers and served on the skewer with rinsed sliced onion and black pepper.
Where to eat it
Gijduvan’s kebab houses are a traditional stop for anyone travelling between Bukhara and Navoiy. Restaurants named after the town exist elsewhere, but the original is best tasted in Gijduvan itself — and the town’s pottery workshops are close by.
Sources (2)
Dish · Nationwide
Plov (osh)
The centrepiece of any Uzbek meal: meat, onions and yellow carrots are cooked into a rich base in a kazan, then rice is steamed on top. UNESCO-listed since 2016.
Dish · Tashkent (city), Tashkent Region
Tashkent plov
The capital’s style of plov: everything is fried first and the rice is mixed into the base; wedding plov adds kazy sausage, chickpeas, raisins and sometimes quail eggs.
Dish · Samarkand
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.
Dish · Fergana, Andijan +1
Fergana plov
The dark plov of the Fergana Valley: a bone, meat, onions and carrots are fried long and hard until the zirvak turns deep brown.
Dish · Khorezm
Khorezm plov
Khorezm’s plov tradition, including suzma palov, in which the rice is boiled separately and drained before it meets the zirvak.
Dish · Nationwide
Samsa
Flaky pastries baked on the inner wall of a tandoor, filled with hand-chopped lamb, tail fat and onion — or wild greens in spring and pumpkin in autumn.
Dish · Jizzakh
Jizzakh samsa
Jizzakh’s culinary calling card: a large dome-shaped samsa made from three layers of dough, packed with lamb and tail fat and dipped in sunflower oil.
Dish · Nationwide
Kabob (shashlik)
Skewered meat grilled over embers — lamb, beef, meat with tail fat, liver, minced qiyma (lula) kabob — served with onion, vinegar and hot bread.
Dish · Kashkadarya, Surkhandarya +1
Tandir kabob (tandoor lamb)
The pride of Kashkadarya, Surkhandarya and Jizzakh: lamb slow-cooked for hours in a sealed tandoor with juniper branches.