Food is one of my favorite reasons for traveling, but when traveling to Uzbekistan I really had no expectations. Thankfully I didn’t because I really didn’t even know what to try so I tried everything which was all delicious! There are so many dishes you should try but here is the traditional food in Uzbekistan to keep in mind for your visit.
Note that meat is very prominent in Uzbekistan foods, although there are vegetarian options available so I’ll make sure to note which ones can go either way.
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Now let’s get into the good stuff, the food!
Uzbekistan Foods
In Uzbekistan, dishes aren’t served individually but instead on large plates where everyone can grab what they’d like. I love this style of ordering because if you go with a couple people or a group then you can order a lot more dishes and try as much as possible.
Regardless of how much you may order, they tend to bring the salads and appetizer type foods first and bring the meat towards the end of the main part of the meal. Meals in Uzbekistan end with dessert and coffee.
Salads and Appetizers
There’s many types of salads that you can choose from including tomato ones, green leaf based, and varieties. There was one I particularly liked which included rolled fried eggplant with vegetables inside or meat. You can choose either option based on your preference.
Another one of my faves were Somsas, these pastries filled with meat or pumpkin. They even served these at breakfast! I loved the pumpkin ones for breakfast and the meat ones for lunch or dinner.
In Bukhara they have a specialty option called olot somsa which are baked instead of fried like the other ones.
Mantis are these dumpling-like balls that are filled with meat.
Chuchvara or barak are the mini dumpling or mini manti version and can be fried, boiled or steamed. Each option whether the small or large sized mantis is delicious! We had them at practically every meal.
When I first heard of potatoes in the village, I thought the way they prepared them would be rather unique. The plate that came out had potato wedges like fries. They were good, but definitely had better, more unique dishes while in Uzbekistan.
One of my faves was the grape leaf dolma. These little meat or vegetable wrapped bites are absolutely delicious! Another dish we had at each meal. It usually came with a tomato sauce to dip it into or my preference was a spicy sauce.
Main Dishes
I did not expect for any of the food in Uzbekistan to remind me of Peruvian food, but I was happily surprised. Lagman, this pasta with meat and tomato sauce, reminded me a lot of Lomo Saltado. Visually it only looks like it a bit due to the pasta instead of rice, but taste wise it was very similar!
Highly recommend trying it. There’s a fried version and the lagman uyghur which is a Mongolian soup.
I know I can’t say every dish was my favorite, but I did not expect to like Uzbeki food this much so bare with me. The lula kebab is like the kebab you know but just as a stick of meat. You can get beef or lamb and every time it did not disappoint. You may see it written as shaslik which is the Russian way, you’ll still get the kebab.
All you need is Plov and let me tell you it’s true! This dish isn’t an everyday dish because there is lots of preparation that goes into it and it also has quite a bit of oil. The way it’s prepared depends on the city that you have it.
In Samarkand, Tamerlane had said Plov needs to be layered with rice at the bottom followed by the yellow carrots and the meat on top. If it’s not served this way, he thought it wasn’t fresh and was this way because it was warmed up. In other cities they serve it all mixed.
During our tour, we actually had a chance to do a Plov cooking class to see the process behind the scenes which I definitely recommend!
Desserts
There is always space for dessert so let me tell you my favorite.
I’ve had baklava before but it was always Turkish. I always found it a bit too sweet for my taste, so at first I was a bit hesitant to try Uzbeki baklava thinking it would be just as sweet. Thankfully it wasn’t, meaning I would eat it every night at dinner. No regrets though!
Tell me in the comments, which Uzbekistan food are you most excited about trying first?!
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