Soups in Uzbek cuisine

Fertile land of Uzbekistan allowed settled people of this region to cultivate various vegetables, cereals and fruits since ancient times and had created conditions for appearance of several dishes. Soups take a special place in Uzbek cuisine. They are composed from several components, nutrient and tasty. Soups are made of big portions of meat and vegetables. Frequently used vegetables are onion, carrot, turnip, pepper, tomatoes. Cereals and legumes are commonly used as components. First, vegetable and meat are fried and then filled with boiled water. That’s why they are always potage and fatty and sometime replace second dishes.

Popular Uzbek soups are mastava – rice soup, mashkhurda- soup with rice and mung gram, lagman – soup with handmade noodles, shurpa - soup rich with lamb broth with big number of greens, manpar – soup with pieces of pastry and etc. Kefir, which promotes a better digestion, can be added to soup as ingredient before serve up.  First dishes are served in cups (kasa).

Spices used in Uzbek cuisine are caraway, barberries, coriander, sesame, dill and basil.