Uzbek cuisine is one of the most colorful in Central Asia. Here dishes are prepared for real gourmets and connoisseurs of oriental hospitality. The culinary traditions of the settled and nomadic peoples of the region, gathered for centuries, are today assembled into a single and understandable recipe puzzle for all of us from delicious dishes of Uzbek cuisine.

Uzbek breakfast is nonushta. From time immemorial, Uzbeks have served fresh flatbread and kaimak for dastarkhan in the early morning. Hot cake from the tandoor with fresh cream, hot tea with honey or refined sugar, fruits or dried fruits are the basis of the morning meal in any Uzbek family. Uzbek breakfast is recognized as a gastronomic brand along with Italian, French or Turkish. Uzbek breakfast is distinguished not only by its taste, but also by its balance and useful properties. The traditional breakfast menu also includes national sweets, such as parvarda, halva, pashmak, khashtak, nishalda, brushwood, sherbet, urama, navat sugar, tulumba, baklava. From drinks for breakfast, green or black tea, as well as shircha, are traditionally preferred.

In summer and autumn, the main elements of breakfast are delicious fruits, which are consumed with hot cakes. The duet of grapes and cakes is especially popular. Thus, the Uzbek breakfast reflects the mentality and culture of the people, is part of the Uzbek dastarkhan.

Soups and broths occupy an important place in Uzbek cuisine. National soups are quite rich and thick. The main ingredients in soups are bapran or beef meat, vegetables - onions, potatoes, tomatoes, etc., and of course traditional spices - zira (barberry), red or black pepper, coriander, bay leaf, etc. Popular soups among Uzbeks are shurpa, mastava, mashkhurda and others. 

Everyone is familiar with the indescribable aroma of delicious grilled meat spreading along the street. Meat is very popular in Uzbekistan and a lot of it is prepared here. And everyone knows that the most delicious meat is shish kebabs, meat on skewers, well marinated and cooked on an open fire.

Uzbek kebabs are a unique chance to find out what exquisite and juicy meat means. Having tasted a melting piece of fragrant kebab at least once, it is already impossible to stop. In Uzbekistan, a huge number of various types of kebab are cooked. The classic Uzbek kebab is the most tender meat, properly marinated with spices and spices, skewered with small slices of dumba (lamb fat). This kebab is prepared, as a rule, from lamb. But there are also other types of kebab: Jigar kabob (beef liver kebab), Tovuk kebab (chicken), Beshpanja (formed on five skewers at once), Charvi kabob (meat covered with melted fat).

But the most common shish kebab and favorite of the locals is Kiyma shish kebab. This is ground lamb skewers. The meat melts in your mouth and leaves a pleasant aftertaste. Elastic meat in a piquantly fried crust flashes on the tongue, has an unsurpassed taste of baked dumba and an amazing bouquet of spices.

Palov is a traditional dish of Uzbekistan. This delicious dish is prepared from very simple ingredients: rice, meat, spices, carrots and onions. Palov is served as a daily and festive dish - especially for such events as a wedding, return from a pilgrimage, the birth of a child, an anniversary, a funeral, and also as a help to those in need. Uzbek palov is a dish of real gourmets and connoisseurs of oriental cuisine. There are more than 100 palov recipes in the world, and Uzbekistan boasts its own signature versions.

In each region of Uzbekistan, palov is prepared according to unique recipes. For example, in Tashkent they prepare the festive “Bayram osh” palov, in Andijan they like to add cabbage rolls from grape leaves to palov - “Kovatok palov”, in Khiva they prepare the most deistic version of the Khorezmian palov “Chalov”. The culture and tradition of cooking palov was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2016.

It is impossible to resist such a delicacy as Uzbek samsa. Samsa can be safely called the pride of the Uzbek people. Delicious, fragrant, hot, cooked with love - samsa occupies a special place on the Uzbek dastarkhan. There are several dozen varieties of samsa, differing from each other not only in the recipe and filling, but also in the characteristic cooking technology. Usually it is prepared with finely chopped meat or minced meat, but there are also such original options in which pumpkin, spinach, potatoes, chicken meat are used as fillings.

Samsa, like cakes, is baked in a special clay oven - tandoor. Such an oven gives flour products an inimitable taste and aroma, and also allows you to save all the useful properties. There are several types of tandoor, the most common are vertical and horizontal. The choice of shapes, sizes, types of dough for samsa is amazing. At such a moment, you realize how creative and skilled the Uzbek people are in gastronomic art. Here you can choose from hemispherical samsa, two-pair samsa, puff and fried samsa, baked samsa.

In each region of the country, samsa is baked in its own way with secret ingredients and special skill that requires great skill. For example, such samsa are famous as Jizzakh samsa - large, with meat filling; Bukhara samsa - baked and triangular; Alatskaya samsa - with the thinnest dough and juicy filling; Karshi samsa - finger-shaped and graceful in appearance; Khorezm samsa - fried, with minced meat, Kuk-samsa - with greens and spinach.

Each region of Uzbekistan is a unique corner, a unique land with marvelous and purest nature. The Uzbek fertile land, thanks to the efforts and careful care of the Uzbek farmers, gives unimaginable root crops, from which you can cook the most delicious and healthy salads. The variety of vegetables in Uzbekistan is amazing.

But, perhaps, the most beloved and well-known salad for everyone is a traditional salad of tomatoes and onions, to which a pod of bell and hot peppers is also added. In Uzbekistan, such a salad is called Achchik-chuchuk. Achchik-chuchuk salad is best served as a cold dish and served with hot pilaf or barbecue.

In the cold season, people in Uzbekistan like to cook salads from the Margilan radish. One of the most popular salads is radish salad with pomegranate seeds or Anor va turp salad. For salad, radish is cut into thin strips and pomegranate seeds are added. As a result, the salad is obtained with a pleasant astringency and with a slight sourness of the pomegranate. This salad is a real storehouse of useful vitamins and minerals. In early spring, people in Uzbekistan like to cook a salad of radishes and eggs - Radishes va tukhum saladi. As a rule, radishes of the Bolgarskaya variety, pink-red in color, are used for salad, as well as the Maiskaya variety - also great for salad. As a result, the salad is obtained from small pieces of radishes and eggs, sprinkled with herbs and seasoned with sour cream. Another vitamin salad is cabbage and bell pepper salad - Karam va kalampir salad. A mixture of chopped cabbage and bell pepper, drizzled with oil, becomes an excellent option as an addition to the main dish.

Of course, these are not all salads that are worth trying in Uzbekistan. Seemingly simple, salads have their own unique taste and aroma. And the thing is that vegetables in Uzbekistan are environmentally friendly products. Thanks to the climate, the composition of the soil and water, the fruits are so rich and tasty. And in Uzbekistan there is an ancient culture of consumption of spices. By adding spices and herbs, aromatic substances increase appetite and make dishes so appetizing.