Samsa — Самса

A piping-hot chicken samsa, fresh out of the tandoor oven.
At Osh Bazar, Bishkek.
Photo: Robert Henschel

As the name suggests, the Kyrgyz samsa is closely related to the Indian samosa, and is traditionally baked in a tandoor oven. Samsy (plural of 'samsa') are either triangular or circular, often made with flaky pastry (i.e. Blätterteig or слоеное тесто) and generally filled with a mixture of potatoes, onions, and either chicken or meat (i.e. lamb/beef/horse). A vegetarian option with significantly more potatoes in the place of meat is sometimes offered, and occasionally you will also see samsy with cheese – a grilled cheese sandwich taken to the next level. My absolute favourite is the chicken and cheese samsa I've found in two places in Bishkek; unfortunately, like most exceptional things, it is otherwise quite hard to find. A samsa is a cheap and filling meal, which, thanks to plentiful meat and onions, is quite nutritious as well. A good samsa off the street will generally cost 35 som (about 75 cents), which is quite reasonable by any standard.

One personal complaint is that the meat samsy are sometimes also filled with tripe; par for the course, as far as Kyrgyz beef dishes go, but not something I personally enjoy. Also inconvenient is that the cooks often seem to see no need to remove the bones from the chicken samsy, so take some care when biting into one.

A meat samsa from a stand near the
 intersection of Sovietskaya and
Gorky in Bishkek.
Photo: Robert Henschel

Variations of the samsa are found all throughout Central Asia and, like plov, are most likely originally from India or Persia. As with many other dishes, however, the Kyrgyz have made the samsa their own: a meat samsa, for example, tastes very much like Beshbermak, the Kyrgyz national dish (noodles, meat, fat, onions, spices, tripe optional). In this way, the samsa fits both the traditional and modern needs of the Kyrgyz. The ingredients are readily available: meat and fat from the nomads' animals, and potatoes, onions and flour for the dough from one of the many small villages scattered throughout the countryside or from trade at a local bazar. The meat and onions give nutritional value, the potatoes, dough and fat are filling and can keep you going for some time, whether on a long journey or a hard work day.

Samsy are my go-to food when I don't feel like making something for myself, but don't want to spend the time or money to go to a restaurant. A good samsa baked in a tandoor oven is hard to beat.

Plov — Плов

An excellent plov from restaurant
 Bukhara on Gorkii Street in Bishkek.
Photo: Savanna Willerton

Plov, also known as pilaw and pilaf, is ubiquitous throughout Central Asia, Russia, across the Middle East and in South Asia. While ingredients vary from place to place, plov is always rice-based, usually contains meat, some sort of vegetable and animal fat. Uzbek-style plov, also prominent in Kyrgyzstan, can be made by simmering rice in lamb fat and spices and then adding shredded carrots, raisins or pine nuts, and sometimes sautéed onions. Half of the lamb meat is then cut into cubes and mixed in, and the other half is served in strips on top of the rice; the plov depicted to the right also included a boiled egg. It is worth noting that there are dozens upon dozens of distinct types of plov. I recently came across a recipe book dedicated exclusively to plov of all sorts: it listed over 150 distinct recipes, as well as detailed instructions on what sort of rice to choose for which sorts of spices, which tea to serve, etc.

Plov is fervently claimed by many of the cultures in which it is represented, and with right, since each has a legitimate claim to their own version. In Kyrgyzstan, it is generally acknowledged to be an Uzbek dish, but it is often said that best plov comes from Osh, a Kyrgyz city, approximately half of whose population is ethnically Uzbek. While Kyrgyz and Uzbek people have long co-existed in places like Osh, there is tension simmering below the surface that occasionally erupts, as it did in 2010, when between 400 and 500 people were killed and between 70,000 and 90,000 were displaced, many permanently, almost all ethnically Uzbek.

Osh's bustling central market. Business is conducted
primarily in Kyrgyz and Uzbek. While still considered
Central Asia's largest market, it has never quite
recovered from the violence of 2010.
Photo: Robert Henschel 2013

Plov most likely came to Central Asia via the Persians, who passed on aspects of their culinary tradition to the sedentary Turkic peoples, like the Uzbek. It then spread north, east and west, initially to agricultural cultures which had the opportunity to cultivate rice. In the era of urbanization and international commerce, plov went on to become an important dish even in the formerly nomadic cultures, such as the Kyrgyz one. In this way, Kyrgyz plov is representative both of the cultural interaction with the Uzbek and the relatively recent urbanization and shift away from a nomadic economy and lifestyle.

You can buy plov at any restaurant or stolovaia (basically a cafeteria for everyone, i.e. a cheap restaurant with no waiters). It is one of the cheapest meal options on the menu, and while an excellent plov in Bishkek can be hard to find, it is difficult to go very wrong with plov.

Introduction

As far as I am concerned, food is undoubtedly one of the most important aspects of any trip. The cuisine of any given culture can say a lot about its past and present. Where did these dishes come from? Were they adapted from a different culture, and if so, how did they change? If they are native to the culture in question, what influenced their development? How do they look today, and how have they evolved over time? The answers to these questions reveal small parts a culture's fascinating whole.

As the blog's title suggests, I am spending time in Kyrgyzstan and Spain this summer (plov is an iconic Central Asian dish; paella an equally iconic Spanish one). While the focus of this blog is on local traditional food and what it has to say about culture, it is not limited to food. I will also comment on other aspects of local life and culture as they present themselves. Look forward to a new post every week! I discussed a number of aspects of life and culture in Kyrgyzstan in last summer's blog as well, available here.

A giant Kyrgyz flag painted on a hillside not far from Lake
Issyk-Kul. The writing underneath spells out "Кыргызстан",
the Cyrillic Kyrgyz spelling of "Kyrgyzstan".
Photo credit: Bente Lea Omdal 2013

Kyrgyzstan, officially known as the Kyrgyz Republic, lies in Central Asia, bordering Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and China. Formerly a part of the USSR, it gained its independence in 1991, and has a reasonably stable democratic government as of the time of writing. Unlike most other Central Asian countries, Kyrgyzstan enjoys considerable freedom of press and a not-entirely-corrupt police service. Official languages are Kyrgyz and Russian. Kyrgyz is a Turkic language, related to languages such as Turkish, Uzbek, Kazakh and Uyghur. Russian is spoken extensively in the north, especially in the country's capital, Bishkek, but becomes rarer the farther you go from Bishkek. Kyrgyz is spoken by the vast majority of the country as a whole, and Uzbek represents an important minority language in the south-east of Kyrgyzstan. I plan to divide my time in Kyrgyzstan between Bishkek and Karakol, a city just north of Yssyk-köl, the world's second-largest alpine lake, focusing mainly on improving my Russian. I also intend to spend some time improving my very limited Kyrgyz, which at times has come in very useful.

In Spain, I will be based in Sevilla (Seville), the capital of Andalucía and one of Europe's historically and culturally richest cities. Approximately 2,200 years old, Sevilla has been ruled by the Romans, the Moors and the Castilian kings, each of whom has left an imprint on the city, forming a rich tapestry of legacies. I plan to study Spanish intensively for about 2 months, making weekend trips out to the surrounding areas and finishing up with a more extensive tour of the rest of the country.