The last night of Uzbek attempts was another palov, this time with apples, another soup, and another salad.
Both the soup and the palov recipes came from this blog (http://uzbekcooking.blogspot.com.au/) although I tweaked them a little to be vegan friendly. The salad I just threw together, using ingredients that seem to repeat a lot in Uzbek recipes.
The soup was half fried cabbage soup. The name got my attention, because I love cabbage, I love fried things, and I had a glut of cabbages in my garden. To make it vegan I left out the chicken, and used vegan chicken stock powder to add the flavour.
Half-fried cabbage soup (please excuse my watch and panadol in the background)
The soup was glorious, and one I will be making again. I especially liked the effect of blending some of the potato with the water, to make the soup thicker without making the whole thing gluggy.
The apple palov was also pretty tasty, although I did have to use chunks of apple rather than whole ones, as I don’t have a corer. I also left the meat out, of course.
This was a tasty rice dish, and I enjoyed the apples. Mine got a little too cooked though, because I was reveling in the fabulous anti-stick qualities of my expensive new hard-anodised pan, and it turned out a bit like a cake.
Palov cake
The salad was your basic cabbage and carrot affair, with a little parsley, salt, pepper, oil and vinegar thrown in for good measure.
Cabbage and Carrot Salad
So, that’s it for my foray into the cuisine of Uzbekistan. It was tasty, and I always like the comfort-food element of cooked rice dishes. I was surprised to find a cuisine so dominated by carrots and radishes, but I think it worked out, and I’m sure our eyesight is better already!
new hard-anodised pan, oh my!
It is the best! I am sooo happy with it. It is almost indecent to enjoy a kitchen implement this much (with your clothes on).