NUR-SULTAN – Aigerim Musagazhinova, historian and ethnographer, restored more than 200 unknown recipes of Kazakh dishes in the new program “The secrets around us” of the First Channel, Eurasia TV Channel, reports zakon.kz.
In the past five years, she began to learn more deeply about Kazakh cuisine, more precisely food anthropology. Photo credit: newstime.kz
“The Secrets Around Us” is a program about the secrets and traditions of national cuisine, the origins of which go back centuries.
Currently, Musagazhinova, with the scientists of the Kazakhstan Academy of Nutrition, calculates calories, the percentage of proteins, fats and carbohydrates and considers Kazakh dishes to be absolutely healthy.
It has been dealing with the intangible cultural heritage of traditional culture, customs and national cuisine for 13 years. As she herself noted: People who believe in stereotypes such as “Kazakh dishes are poor” or “Kazakhs used to only eat meat dishes” are widespread, but still wrong.
“Our cuisine is varied and healthy. It always combines milk, meat and cereals. Fish was often used in the western and southern regions, and mushrooms, berries and herbs in the west. Herbs were actually one of the main ingredients in Kazakh cuisine, ”she says.
Nauryzkozhe (translated as Spring Festival) is a dish that is usually cooked during the Turkish Spring Festival from March 21st to 23rd. It contains seven ingredients: water, salt, flour, milk, meat, wheat and butter. Photo credit: Facebook
The ethnographer found dishes that are no longer cooked today. For example, there is a dish like Ukpe Sut in the northern region. It is cooked from the lungs of lamb or beef. The lungs should be properly washed, filled with milk, boiled, and then stewed.
“The Kazakhs also had ritual dishes that were cooked on special occasions. For example, when a mother sent her son on a long journey, she would cook zhauzhurek. It is a boiled liver wrapped in internal fat that is boiled in milk. Prepared in this way, the liver could be stored for up to seven days. So the mother was sure that her son hadn’t starved for seven days, ”she adds and emphasizes Dishes weren’t made for nothing – they have an interesting philosophy and history.
Zhauzhurek contains ingredients like sheep liver, belly fat around the stomach, and milk. Photo credit: rezept.kz
Musagazhinova has the recipe for the national drink kumys (fermented mare’s milk) was also restored in every region of the country. There are certain stages of its preparation and many technologies used. Today there are more than 30-40 types of kumys in Kazakh cuisine.
There were two basic factors that influenced the formation of the national cuisine. The first is nomadic culture, which meant the transition from one season to another and therefore some dishes were prepared in advance. The second is the natural and climatic conditions, which are different in each region of the country.
