Food, Glorious Food

Maybe this is just me being self-centered about people being interested in my daily life, food, and such things, but I thought it would be interesting to discuss and provide the recipes for some of my favorite foods here in Azerbaijan. My host mother here in Ismayilli is a very good cook, and we get lots of variety in our meals, and she seems to do a fair amount of experimenting, or at least, cooking things that don’t strictly have a name. They like spicy food, or some spicy food, as they have enjoyed the Jalapeno mustard I received in a package, which is odd for Azeris. One day we had what are basically healthy Hot Pockets, ground turkey meat in little dough pockets. When I asked what it was called, she listed the ingredients.

Azerbaijan has several national dishes, dolma, kifta, dushbera, and xash. Xash, of course, is the dreaded boiled cow head and feet, best served with a side of vodka shots (my host brother says it’s not real xash if it doesn’t come with vodka, mostly jokingly). Kifta is kind of boring, and is basically a meatball and potato soup. Dushbera is more interesting, and is kind of like a meat ravioli soup. Most soups here are oil-based, though we did have a sour cream/yogurt-based soup with onion, garlic, and herbs recently.

Dolma comes in two main varieties, Three Sisters Dolma or Cabbage Dolma.

For Three Sisters Dolma, you need:
1 kilo or pound or so of ground meat, usually beef or sheep
1 onion
6 tomatoes
6 small eggplants
6 green peppers
1 bunch of green beans
2-4 tablespoons basil
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter
½ cup of water
salt and pepper

Here people grind their own meat, so the onion and meat are ground up together. The meat is then browned, and covered while it is allowed to further brown. Butter can be added to reduce burning. Boil a large pot of water, to which the eggplants are added for about 5 minutes, or until soft. Then remove them and allow to cool. Once cool, rub eggplants between hands until soft and carefully remove the insides by cutting deep slits into them. Cut the tops off of the tomatoes and peppers, but keep the tomato innards (not the seedy pulp)and add to the meat mixture, along with the chopped basil. Add cinnamon and mix thoroughly. Stuff the three vegetables with the meat. Then steam the dolmas in a pot with water over a layer of green beans for about 20 minutes or until soft.

Cabbage dolma differs slightly in that it is usally done with a cup of rice, and chestnuts. And of course, cabbage leaves instead of the tomato/pepper/eggplant. Blanch the cabbage leaves and then wrap the meat mixture in the cabbage. A sauce can be made with a tomato, green pepper, ½ teaspoon tumeric, and some sour sauce, which is then poured over the dolma when they are almost completely cooked. And that’s dolma. There’s also a vegetarian variety, though I’ve never had it, with a ground walnut, rice, onion, and yogurt mixture.

So if you’ve got a free evening and feel experimental, try some Azeri cuisine. To be really authentic, you should have a pile of herbs that you should eat raw, and have lots of bread on the side to eat with your meal and wipe up the crumbs. After dinner, have a glass of tea and some sweets.