My wife and I started something during Covid where we'd pick a random city in the world (there are websites that do this for you), look at the region's popular/common dishes and pick one to cook for the weekend. Most recent was Mirza Ghasemi: A smoked eggplant dish cooked with garlic, tomatoes, and eggs, from the Caspian Sea area.
We would also sometimes make flatbreads from the area but man is it messy to do in your own place with flour flying around everywhere. We do make the flatbreads sometimes but it's usually easier to just buy frozen paratha from the Indian store.
Biggest surprise - everything's stew.
> Mirza Ghasemi: A smoked eggplant dish cooked with garlic, tomatoes, and eggs, from the Caspian Sea area.
Eggplant is one of those incredible veggies that seemingly not a lot of people know what to do with. You can bake it on a grill or your cooktop stove to give it that amazing smokey taste. I often eat it as-is without adding anything else but pairing with eggs takes it to the next level. There is another dish from that same general region called Ajapsandali which is probably one of the tastiest breakfast meals you'll ever eat if you like eggplant.
While I don't care for eggplant, I used to make an exception for Moussaka Pizza (eggplant and meatballs) from Waterford Pizza in Waterford, CT. (I believe they're still there; but, it's been 40+ years.)
> Mirza Ghasemi: A smoked eggplant dish cooked with garlic, tomatoes, and eggs, from the Caspian Sea area.
That sounds good. Makes me think of hunkar begendi.
everything's stew. everything's a variation of the 4 easiest ingredients for humans to cultivate plus one or two local or regional specials
garlic/onions: aliums that thrive in most climates
rice: grass that can be drowned (to fuck off pests)
eggs: per day, one chicken produces enough binding enzymes to thicken and modify a meal for 5-8 people
veg/seed oils: cooking, flavor, etc
and since that's in the caspian sea area, they also have a ready supply of tomatoes and eggplant from centuries of trading with asia
I wonder how close that dish is to the Indian one Baingan Bharta (it lacks eggs).
It's similar but the egg almost makes it like custard and the spice is only turmeric and some red pepper and garlic. It's more subtle.
My wife and I own a restaurant. It's a tough business.
I feel like there must be more interest among native-born Americans in foreign food these days, based on the fact there's 3 Uzbek restaurants within a couple of neighboring cities (which are maybe 200k people total). There's apparently only ~2000 Uzbek-Americans in all of northern IL! And mostly concentrated over an hour's drive away from where these restaurants are.
That said, my wife and I were very interested to try the Tashkent bread. I think this article calls it out - it's better very fresh. It was really good, but not as amazing as we expected (maybe lunch is the time to dine at the Uzbek place closest to us).
I still find it amazing that even (probably) family-run restaurants for such a niche cuisine can make a go of it. I take it as a good sign about American dining preferences.
I guess if you're a migrant, an ethnic restaurant (is that term politically correct?) is one of the most obvious businesses you can start.
The Thai government used to sponsor (not sure if they still do) Thai diaspora who want to open a restaurant in a foreign country, it was their way to market the country and attract tourists.
Migrant is actually the wrong word entirely, I think.
Migrants move around to follow the work. (Think more like "Nomad") Immigrants resettle in new places.
I'm reading more about it, and probably these restaurants survive based on a combination of:
- Family run, keeping labor low (labor always number 1 cost)
- Central Asian and Muslim customers (much more than just Uzbeks)
- Setting up in low-rent locations like strip malls
So a few big nights a week can sustain the family business. I guess there's a way it adds up to a profitable business.
>Migrant is actually the wrong word entirely, I think.
immigrant, im- (variant of in-) ; migrant into your country
emigrant, ex- ; migrant out of your country
both are still migrants. there is no specific cause for migration required to be an migrant.
you just need to move somewhere new to live.
You are technically correct. The best kind of correct!
In terms of common usage though, it's as I said, especially in North America.
"There's apparently only ~2000 Uzbek-Americans in all of northern IL"
where did you get this number? does that include chicago, because i live in Chicago area ... seems low.
https://www.neilsberg.com/insights/lists/uzbek-population-in...
Figuring some fudge factor too. It could be low - it's hard to find numbers for nationality counts for central Asians broken down by state.
Much of the Uzbek and Central Asian community is largely located in the Bay, NYC, and DMV. There are around 3 Uzbek restaurants in SF alone.
Theres Sofia (ex-Uzbek) and uzbegim, what’s the third one?
There used to be a third one a couple blocks away from Sofiya/Halal Dastarkhan in Tenderloin, but I think that may have shut down.
There also used to be 2 actual ethnic Uyghur restaurants (not Chinese from Xinjiang) in SF but they shut down as well.
I went to an Uzbek restaurant in SF a couple weeks ago called Sofiya. Highly recommend. Food was so good that I want to visit the country now and probably will within the next year.
Uzbek food is very popular with all people from the former USSR. So there will be a lot more demand than just Uzbek-Americans.
Yay, an article about my country is on the HN frontpage!
It makes sense and is also a surprise to see that Aramco has a lifestyle publishing arm.
That aside, this was a great article. There are some great videos on yt as well showing the baking process. But what those videos don’t show that this article points to is the these Uzbek bakers use natural sour dough leavening. I wish this article also included a recipe for the dough.
Another thing this article does that I like is that it describes how to eat these loaves, because it’s hard to guess just by looking at them. Hoping I get a chance to try one of these loaves someday.
Surely "naan" would have been a way better transliteration choice than "non", right?
Probbly a deliberate choice to distinguish it from its Indian sibling?
Article gave me an idea that Indus Valley seals were baker's stamps - that's why the imprinted goods were never found (eaten!).
Seems they've got an IP block on Israel.
I could probably spend a whole month eating fresh bread there every day and enjoy it more than a Michelin starred restaurant.
I spent about a year of my life in Uzbekistan. Food there is pure heaven
I know someone who spent ~ a year in rural Kyrgyzstan, and found the food to be very meat-based, with little variety. Maybe different in the cities, since they enjoyed the trips to Bishkek, and possibly Tashkent, somewhat more.
Yes. It is.
And instead of trying to replicate that - it's a learning experience, you learn the world trying that - some advocate for hideous inductive panels. If I were somewhat religious I would say that this is a blasphemy. An unforgivable sin.
I did learn few things, everyone loves my Plov ;) No shortage of ingredients in Toronto and proper cookware.
Great article,