‘Red Sands’ cookbook: Recipes from lamb soup to non puju

Autumnal soup with rice, barley and lamb

In autumn, at almost any dastarkhan in Tajikistan, you will be served a thick, warming soup full of lamb and fresh vegetables, oen so hearty that it is the main event. This is a version of the soup I ate with Mirzoshah Akobirov at his apple orchard, sunshine warming our backs as we ate, snow-capped mountains hovering in the distance.

Serves 4

2 tsp olive oil

300g lamb neck fillet or lamb leg, trimmed of fat and cut into bite-size pieces

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

½ large onion, finely chopped

50g wholegrain or brown basmati rice, rinsed

50g pearl barley, rinsed

500g mixed root vegetables (I used swede and carrot as well as potatoes), peeled and cubed

½ tsp ground allspice

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

700ml lamb stock

1 fresh bay leaf

Handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped, to garnish

Non bread (below), to serve

Heat 1 tsp of the oil in a casserole or large saucepan. Season the lamb generously with salt and pepper, then fry over a high heat for a few minutes until browned. Add the other tsp of oil, along with the onion, rice and barley, then gently fry for 1 minute. Add the vegetables and spices, season, and cook for 2 more minutes, before adding the stock and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then simmer gently, with the lid on but stirring occasionally, for 40-50 minutes, or until the pearl barley is cooked but still has bite. Check the seasoning.

When it’s cooked, spoon about a quarter of the soup (but not the bay leaf) into a separate pan or bowl. Puree with a stick blender then stir it back into the rest of the soup. Again, check the seasoning. Ladle into bowls, scatter over the parsley and serve with warm non bread. 

Old Tashkent non bread with raisins and walnuts

Makes 1 large round of non bread

250g plain (all-purpose) flour

1 ½ tsp fasti-action yeast

½ tsp fine sea salt

½ tsp caster (superfine) sugar

180ml tepid water

2 tbsp sunflower oil, plus extra for greasing

Handful of raisins

Handful of walnuts, shelled and quartered

Ice cubes

1 tsp black or white sesame seeds

Put the flour into a large mixing bowl, then add the yeast to one side and the salt and sugar to the other, keeping them separate. Form a well in the middle of the flour and slowly pour in the water, mixing it all together with a wooden spoon. Lightly oil a work surface, turn out the dough and begin to knead. It will be very wet and sticky at this stage but persevere – it will come together. For best results, use a dough scraper to work the dough, moving it around as best you can until it has firmed up and is silky to the touch. The slap and fold kneading method is very helpful here.

After about 10 minutes, once the dough is firmer, smoother and less sticky, shape it into a ball. Clean the mixing bowl, grease it with a few drops of sunflower oil and set the dough back inside. Cover the bowl with a clean and damp tea towel and place it in the warmest spot of the kitchen. Leave it to rise for 2 hours, or until it has doubled in size.

Gently knock the air out by folding the dough in on itself a few times, and reshape it into a domed round. Cover a chopping board with parchment paper and dust with flour, placing the dough on top. Re-cover it with the tea towel and leave to rise again for 45 minutes; it should eventually puff up to a little dome about 17cm in width.

Preheat the oven to 240C/475F/gas mark 9 or to its highest temperature. Place a greased baking sheet or a pizza stone inside to heat up.

Once the dough has proved for a second time, make a depression, roughly 8cm, in the middle using the heel of your hand. Brush the depression with sunflower oil, then using the tines of a fork, or a chekich bread stamp, stamp holes in it (the idea is that it won’t rise). Then using a sharp knife, with the blade dipped in a little oil to stop it sticking, make 10 slashes in the fat ring around the depression and stuff, as deeply as possible without cutting all the way through, one raisin followed by one walnut, alternately. Get them buried or they will burn. Add 5–10 ice cubes to another baking tray – this tray will be going into the oven at the same time as the non, on the shelf underneath it, to create steam.

Liberally brush the whole non with the remaining sunflower oil then decorate with little clusters of sesame seeds. Slide it onto its warmed baking sheet or pizza stone and carefully whip away the parchment. Transfer to the oven along with the tray of ice placed on the shelf underneath. Bake for around 20 minutes until golden and the bottom is crusty. Eat on the same day or to bring back to life, simply spritz with some water and place under the grill for a few minutes

Grand Asia express samsa

Essentially triangular central Asian turnovers, samsa are eaten everywhere and are typically filled with lamb, potato or pumpkin. At Dordoi Bazaar, I had an unusual variation, a square chicken samsa that was light and flaky, its filling steaming and puffing as I bit into it. It is a perfect snack eaten on the spot.

Here’s a quick recipe named after the legions of trucks and truckers that arrive and depart from Dordoi Bazaar, picking up a samsa or two for their long bordercrossing journeys. The onion seeds make a nice addition but they are optional.

Makes 12 large samsa

400g chicken breasts

1 tsp olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 medium-size potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped

1 medium onion, roughly chopped

1 tsp ground cumin

1 x 500g packet of puff pastry

1 egg, beaten, for an egg wash

1 tbsp onion seeds (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Prepare a small roasting tin by lining it with tin foil. Put the chicken breasts in the tin, rub them with olive oil, and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Roast them in the oven for 25 minutes, or until cooked through. Set aside to cool, then roughly chop.

Bring a medium saucepan of salted water to a boil and cook the potatoes for 15 minutes, or until so. Drain and set aside to cool. Pulse the onion in a food processor until very fine, then add the cooled potatoes, and pulse again. Add the chicken, cumin, a good pinch of salt and pepper, and pulse again to bring the mixture together – you may need to scrape the sides of the bowl down as you go.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Line a large baking tray (or 2 smaller trays) with greaseproof paper. On a lightly floured surface, cut the pastry into quarters, then cut each quarter into thirds. Roll out each piece of pastry so that you have 12 rectangles, roughly 17 x 10cm. Drop 40g/2 tbsp of the mixture onto one end of each rectangle, leaving a border around the edge. Brush the edges of the pastry with a little of the egg, then fold the other half over the top, pressing the edges together to seal well. Repeat with the remaining pastry. Brush the top of each samsa with egg and scatter over the onion seeds, if using. Place the samsas on the tray and bake for around 25-30 minutes until cooked through and completely golden.

Non puju

Non bread is central Asian but the flavours of the beef stew here are Chinese and when put together they make up this unusual, rustic and full-flavoured Dungan dish. In the 19th century Muslim Dungans in China tried to establish an independent homeland but their attempts were quickly quashed. To escape persecution many tried to flee, with some crossing the Tian Shan Mountains and settling in central Asia, where many became esteemed farmers. A handful of Dungan-only villages are in existence in modern-day Kyrgyzstan today. One is Milyanfan, a village just outside Bishkek, where many city-dwellers go at the weekends just to eat ashlan-fu.

Serves 2 generously

450g lean beef steak, such as sirloin flank

1 tsp fine sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tbsp vegetable oil

¾ tbsp Chinese five-spice

½ fresh red chilli, finely chopped

½ fresh green chilli, finely chopped

2 tbsp tomato puree (paste)

1 tbsp soy sauce

150g canned chopped tomatoes

100 ml beef stock

Non Bread (recipe below), to serve

½ handful of coriander leaves, to garnish

1 tbsp sesame seeds, to garnish

Fresh red or green chilli, deseeded and sliced, to garnish (optional)

About 30 minutes before you start cooking, put the beef in the freezer. During this time, it won’t freeze, but it will firm up. Remove non the freezer (one at a time if using smaller steaks) and slice as thinly as you can using a sharp knife. Trim off the fat and discard. Put the sliced steak in a bowl and season with a tsp of fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste. Heat the oil in a frying pan over a high heat and add the five-spice and chillies, and cook for less than a minute, just to release the scent. Keeping the heat high, add the steak to the pan and flash fry for a few minutes until browned, adding a bit more oil if necessary. Scoop the steak out of the pan and into a bowl, and set aside.

Turn the heat down to medium, add the tomato puree, panfrying it for a minute or two. As the colour of the puree darkens and it starts to stick ever so slightly to the bottom of the pan, add the soy sauce, chopped tomatoes and beef stock. Cook for another 5-10 minutes until the mixture thickens and reduces slightly. Add the steak and any resting juices back into the pan and stir it around, coating it in the thick, glossy sauce. Taste and adjust the seasoning if it needs it.

Pile the saucy beef on top of the non bread, scattering over a few coriander leaves and sesame seeds. If you like heat, you could also top with a few more slices of fresh chilli. Slice the non puju as you would a pizza, take it to the table and let people help themselves.

Non bread

Makes 1 large round of non bread

250g plain (all-purpose) flour

1 ½ tsp fast-action yeast

½ tsp fine sea salt

½ tsp caster (superfine) sugar

180ml tepid water

2 tbsp sunflower oil, plus extra for greasing

Ice cubes

1 tsp black or white sesame seeds

Put the flour into a large mixing bowl, then add the yeast to one side and the salt and sugar to the other, keeping them separate. Form a well in the middle of the flour and slowly pour in the water, mixing it all together with a wooden spoon. Lightly oil a work surface, turn out the dough and begin to knead. It will be very wet and sticky at this stage but persevere – it will come together. For best results, use a dough scraper to work the dough, moving it around as best you can until it has firmed up and is silky to the touch. The slap and fold kneading method is very helpful here.

After about 10 minutes, once the dough is firmer, smoother and less sticky, shape it into a ball. Clean the mixing bowl, grease it with a few drops of sunflower oil and set the dough back inside. Cover the bowl with a clean and damp tea towel and place it in the warmest spot of the kitchen. Leave it to rise for 2 hours, or until it has doubled in size.

Gently knock the air out by folding the dough in on itself a few times, and reshape it into a domed round. Cover a chopping board with parchment paper and dust with flour, placing the dough on top. Re-cover it with the tea towel and leave to rise again for 45 minutes; it should eventually puff up to a little dome about 17cm in width.

Preheat the oven to 240C/475F/gas mark 9 or to its highest temperature. Place a greased baking sheet or a pizza stone inside to heat up.

open image in gallery

Once the dough has proved for a second time, make a depression, roughly 8cm, in the middle using the heel of your hand. Brush the depression with sunflower oil, then using the tines of a fork, or a chekich bread stamp, stamp holes in it (the idea is that it won’t rise).

Add 5-10 ice cubes to another baking tray – this tray will be going into the oven at the same time as the non, on the shelf underneath it, to create steam.

Liberally brush the whole non with the remaining sunflower oil then decorate with little clusters of sesame seeds. Slide it onto its warmed baking sheet or pizza stone and carefully whip away the parchment. Transfer to the oven along with the tray of ice placed on the shelf underneath. Bake for around 20 minutes until golden and the bottom is crusty. Eat on the same day or to bring back to life, simply spritz with some water and place under the grill for a few minutes.

Extracted from ‘Red Sands’ by Caroline Eden (Quadrille, £26) Photography © Ola O Smit