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 · Samarkand
No‘xat sho‘rak (chickpea stew)
A thick stew of lamb and soaked chickpeas cooked in a kazan, best known in the Samarkand region.
How it is made
For no‘xat sho‘rak, sheep’s tail fat is rendered in a kazan and the cracklings removed; chunks of meat are browned in the fat, then carrots and onions go in and soften. Soaked chickpeas follow, with as much water as there are chickpeas. Once it boils, the scum is skimmed, the lid goes on and it cooks for 40–45 minutes until the chickpeas are tender, by which time the water has reduced to a thick sauce.
It is served garnished with herbs and onion.
On the Samarkand table
The Gastronomic Association of Uzbekistan describes no‘xat sho‘rak as a favourite national dish made mainly in the Samarkand region. Chickpeas have long been valued not only as food but in folk medicine. Ask for it at lunchtime in Samarkand’s national-food restaurants or family guesthouses.
Sources (2)
Dish · Samarkand
Samarkand non
A tandoor loaf with a thin stamped centre, a thick rim and a glossy crust — Samarkand’s best-known taste and the souvenir everyone takes home.
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 · 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 · 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.