The first an easiest Uzbek meal we had was a bunch of salads, served up with a non-Uzbek pilaf. I had a HUGE list of salads to choose from – it seems that in Uzbekistan a meal often starts with several salad options.
In the end I chose salads including what seem to be the most common veggies used in Uzbek coking- carrots and radishes. I used recipes from the book The Art of Uzbek Cooking available at the Moreland Libraries.
First was the radish and almond salad. This was very simple, just grated daikon radish, mixed with a little vinegar, salt and pepper, and topped with toasted almonds and pomegranate seeds.
Again the Carrot and Radish salad was pretty easy going. Grated carrot and daikon radish, with some chopped, cooked potato, mixed with a little vegan mayo, salt and pepper.
The third dish I made was braised cauliflower. For the real recipe you’ll need to visit your library, but in brief it was chopped cauliflower, cooked in vegetable stock and margarine, with some onion.
Now I thought my salads looked fairly pretty, but little did I know. I’ve since seen pictures of actual Uzbek salads, and they are amazing! See:
Next time I’ll have to get into some serious salad decorating!
Around the World Vegan's Vegbox 