My Culinary Journey: Episode 2 - Turkmenistan

Here we go again. I tell you what, I had to really think hard about if I even knew where Turkmenistan was... I did not. I got the general map area correct, but that's about it. I'm pretty sure I only got that close because I just kind of selected the region where I remembered the "-stan" countries were. Thanks military. I also looked through my old war journal to see if I had made mention of anyone in my International Legion (Ukraine) unit that may have been from there... I had not. Le sigh. I suppose it's time to look it up.

As always, my primary focus with this journey (as it pertains to this blog specifically) was to find delicious cuisine from Turkmenistan to try to replicate. Dishes that I have never had, perhaps never even heard of. There certainly was no shortage of them to choose from either. Keeping in mind that I am inevitably serving these dishes as dinner to my family, I had to take their tastes into consideration as well. This really meant that lamb wasn't going to be my best option. Lamb really isn't going to be my best option ever. It's already a bit tricky to convince an individual to try foods they can't pronounce, from a country they've never heard of, without trying to convince them that it'll be good despite containing a protein they're not fond of. Beef it is. The 3 dishes selected: Ichlekli (Turkmen's Shepherd's Pie), Turkmen Plov (Pilaf), and Pishme (Turkmen snack-like doughnuts...?).

Both the shepherd's pie and the plov called for a similar cut of beef that you then dice. Although I did find recipes that used ground beef, it really sounded like it would be an exception to the recipe, and I wasn't really happy with that. I was already substituting the primarily used protein (lamb) for the secondary protein (beef), the least I thought I could do was do that "right". Looking up which cut of meat to use didn't give me a specific answer, but rather a general answer indicative of "use what you have". I went with an arm roast (a first for me) as my research indicated it would be a good fit for the use I had intended, and it was also very affordable ($3.99/lbs.) In the end I was very pleased with it. Thanks to my volunteer work at the food distribution, I had all the veggies on-hand.

Ichlekli (Turkmen's Shepherd's Pie)

Serving size: 1/4 pie

Servings: 4

Filling:

• 500g (1.1#) beef or lamb - diced

• 1 tomato - diced (consider reducing watery bits)

• 1 onion - finely chopped

• 1/2 bell pepper

• 1 Tsp salt

• 1/8 Tsp black pepper

• 1/8 Tsp red pepper flakes

• 8 Tbs water (maybe use less next time, depending on moisture content)

Dough:

• 50g (3.5 Tbs) butter - melted

• 1 Tsp salt

• 300 mLs water - tepid

• 500g (4 cups) flour - AP

1. Mix all of the filling ingredients into a bowl and set aside until needed.

2. Mix all of the dough ingredients into a different bowl and work into a dough. *

3. Divide the dough into 2 equal sized balls and cover with a towel and rest for 5-15 minutes.

4. On a lightly floured surface, roll the balls into 12" rounds. (perhaps try rolling it thinner next time, it just seemed thick)

5. On a baking tray (with parchment paper), set the 12" round and cover it with the filling mixture. Be sure to leave a 1/2-1" border that is free from fillings.

6. Cover the filling with the remaining 12" dough round and pinch the 1/2-1" border together to join the top and bottom layer (forming a pie).

7. For ventilation, cut a center hole about the size of your pinky fingertip. Lightly press the tips of a fork into the dough all around the top layer. (I'm told this is to help prevent the dough from cracking during the baking process.)

8. Bake for 20-30 minutes at 482F, or until golden brown.

*This is one of those experience points. I've come to find that "work into a dough" means (to me) that the mixture stops sticking to the sides of the bowl and begins to come away cleanly at some point during the mixing process. This is usually the point when the dough has technically formed, and you would transfer to a lightly floured surface and begin kneading.

Turkmen Shepherd's Pie - Filling ingredients

A bit of dicing and mixing later and we're here now. I never learned knife cuts, and I can't say I'm terribly concerned with uniformity at this point either. In time, I'm sure.

The filling was noticeably wet, more so than I thought necessary, and due to the liquid content of the ingredients already I contemplated not adding the full amount of water it called for. Trusting the process over my instincts, I added the water. With the filling mixture complete, I set it aside in the fridge while I prepared the dough (another first for me).

Turkmen's Shepherd's Pie - Dough ingredients

Some mixing and resting and all of that baking jazz later, and we're here now.

One dough ball for each piece (top and bottom) of the pie.

I found it to be rather challenging to get the dough rolled out to the correct size (recipe called for 12"), and actually have it stay that size. My dough would roll out to 12" but then shrink to around 10". I ended up having to roll it out to almost 14" in order to have it shrink to 12". The end product, although fully cooked and delicious, was still fairly thick. I'm not sure if it was supposed to be that thick, but if I ever make this again, I will roll the dough a bit thinner. I must make it a point to learn about dough.

Finally, a 12" pie round

As suspected, the filling leaked some of that "extra" liquid (pictured). I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. Oh man, did I ruin this already? I actually felt a bit discouraged, even this far along in the process. Well, even if I ruin it, at the very least I will learn how/why not to do things the way I did. Progress not perfection. In the oven with you!! The recipe calls for 482F, uhhh ok. Oh man, do I need to invest in one of those wired thermometers now?

Finished product. That actually worked out well. I imagine if I hadn't had so much liquid in the filling that it wouldn't have spent the entire time bubbling out of the central vent like "Old Faithful". A taste test should be the deciding factor of success/failure.

Ichlekli - Turkmen's Shepherd's Pie

Now to cut it open and see. Please, please be fully cooked.

Verdict - Success. The dough is a bit thick, but it works very well with the fillings. The flavors remind me equally of a pot pie (probably the crust and juices), and a cheesesteak (probably the beef and peppers). Honestly, besides rolling the dough thinner, I don't think I'd change anything. Oh, except I would like to try it with lamb. It was very hearty, and the recipe said this entire pie makes just 4 quartered slices, making this pretty filling. I can see why ground beef wouldn't be quite right for this. Even thinking about it, for a wandering shepherd to make this using hot embers in the sand... How would he grind the beef? Would it even be practical to grind the meat given the circumstances?

With one dish down, I still had a main and a desert left. I focused on the plov next. Time to gather ingredients. The other half of the arm roast will work perfectly.

Turkmen Plov (Pilaf):

• 500g (1.1#) beef - disced/chunks

• 2 cups rice - long grain is best

• 3 large carrots - julienned

• 2 large onions - thinly sliced

• 4 cloves garlic - minced

• 1 Tsp cumin

• 1 Tsp coriander

• 1 Tsp black pepper

• 1 Tsp salt

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil - for frying

• 3 cups boiling water (recommend boiling around 5 cups and using only what is needed)

1. Heat oil in a large pot - med heat

2. Brown the meat in the pot of oil and then remove from pot. Set aside.

3. Add onions to the same pot and cook until golden brown. Med heat

4. Stir in garlic, coriander, cumin and salt/pepper. Cook for 1-2 mins.

5. Add carrots to the pot, along with the meat once again. Cook until the carrots are soft.

6. Rinse and drain the rice and add to the pot.

7. Add the boiling water to the pot. Make sure to cover the rice entirely.

8. Cover and reduce to low heat. Simmer for 20-25 minutes, or until the liquid has been absorbed by the rice.

Turkmen's Plov (pilaf) ingredients

In my travels, and just for funsies (before), I had made 2 other versions of plov. I first encountered Ukrainian plov while serving on the front lines in Ukraine (July - December 2022) in the fight against Russia. Slava Ukraini!! Plov is a really simple dish to make even in the trenches, and the ingredients are generally easy to come by (with the exception of front-line proteins). When I came back to the US, I found a Ukrainian plov vendor at a farmers' market and fell in love all over again. I subsequently made a version of it for myself. From there I tried an Uzbek version. This is my 3rd version.

A side note: I'm not sure who Julienne (as in the process for cutting these carrots) was in history, but they must have royally fucked up in life to be named after such an infuriatingly menial task. If given the punishment choices of; turn 1,000 big rocks into 100,000 little rocks, or julienne 1,000 carrots... looks like we're getting a rock garden, babe.

Final step - Add the rice and simmer

Turkmen's Plov (beef)

This version was actually better than the 2 previous versions I had made. Maybe it was the cumin or the coriander, or even the cut of meat. I'm not really sure. My family enjoyed it as well, and it only lasted a few days in the fridge. With the 2 main dishes down, it was time to switch to desert. I chose pishme, which my research indicated was a fried snack that is often served at special occasions and gatherings (funerals, weddings etc.). More fun with dough.

Pishme (Turkmen fried snack - doughnuts):

• 1 Tsp salt

• 2 Tbs sugar (optional)

• 1 Tsp active dry yeast

• 300 mLs water/milk * - tepid

• 500g (3 1/3 cups) flour - AP

• Vegetable oil - for frying; about 2" deep

1. Mix salt, sugar, yeast and water together in a bowl. Add flour to the mix and work into a dough.

2. Cover dough with a rag and rest it for 20 minutes in a warm area (70-80F) for best results.

3. Divide dough into 2 balls and cover/rest once again for an additional 5 minutes.

4. Roll the dough balls out into 5mm thick rounds.

5. Cut the rounds into 2" wide strips.

6. Cut the 2" wide strips diagonally to form triangles. The size should be 1-2 bites. **

7. Fry in oil (medium heat) until golden brown on each side. ***

8. Coat with sugar/powdered sugar (optional). (I tried white sugar - WIN; Next time try powdered or even brown!! Honey?)

*Some recipes stated that you could achieve a lighter and softer snack if you used milk instead of water. We decided to go with milk. They were indeed light and airy although I don't have any knowledge of water-based ones, so I have no true comparison.

**This is one of those experience points. There is no true right or wrong here. While I did find immediate benefits in the shape and size for frying purposes, I didn't find a correlation between size and taste. I think the 1-2 bites guideline is to keep them light and snackable.

***Medium heat was plenty! This process was quick, so you must be as well. I tried too many pieces during one batch, and the first pieces were too dark by the time I even dropped the last pieces.

The ingredients were nothing worth noting or photographing. They were the same as the ichlekli dough, basically. I skipped ahead to after I cut the dough in various shapes. The recipe says to cut them in to diamonds, but I tried various shapes to see if there was a purpose to the diamond shape, or if it just happened to be the lucky chosen shape.

Bath time. It turns out that the diamond size and shape has some benefits over other shapes. Anything too long or cylindrical/rectangular would tend to refuse to flip to the other side after frying on the first side. If it did flip over, it continued back to the original side. This process resulted in frustration and increased frying times (due to struggling) which ultimately led to some slightly over-fried snacks. Likewise, anything too small would similarly misbehave. The recipe called for 2" wide pastry strips cut into "one to two bites in size" portions. This feels like a level of vagueness that only experience would truly decipher.

I found a few different options in the recipe that kept appearing in my searches. In the end I opted for milk instead of water (supposedly making for a softer snack) and added sugar to the dough for some sweetness. I also avalanched the end product in a shameful amount of sugar. You're welcome.

Pishme - Turkmen's Doughnuts (kinda)

These ended up being much better than I thought. I also hadn't realized they would be fluffy and airy pastry pockets. I thought they were going to be more like a hard cookie and was pleasantly surprised to find that I was wrong. They reminded me a bit of a snack I would get every week at the farmers' market in Belgium, "oliebollen - Netherlands". Light, sweet, addicting. I did make one mistake, and it was during the storing process. I didn't allow them to fully cool before storing in an air-tight container, and they sweated inside the container and were on the soggy side the next day. Luckily, I had eaten my weight in them the night prior.

Wow. Light, airy, fluffy. Like sweet little pastry pockets.

All in all, I found Turkmenistan cuisine to be pretty good. I honestly didn't have any complaints, but I can't say I discovered any truly unique flavor profiles either. I will make notes to revisit the ichlekli when I have the benefit of lamb meat. I will likely replace my current plov recipe with this one, and the pishme will likely make an appearance in some form at some point in my future. I enjoyed my culinary visit to Turkmenistan, but I don't think I'll be rushing back anytime soon. Thanks for having great food Turkmenistan.

Time to find out my next destination. For that, as always, we consult our local Master of Randomonies.

Central African Republic is the lucky winner. Ooooh this should be goooooooood!!! I can't wait for the flavors of Africa!!! Homework time.

Come along if you'd like.

Cheers.