Beshbarmak
Pasta with Lamb and Onions
Boiled lamb and noodles. That's what beshmark, the
national dish of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and a favorite throughout Central Asia, amounts to. Boiled lamb and noodles. It sounded so unappetizing to me that I delayed making it until the end of my
visit to "K" cuisines. But I was still determined to make it because, not only is it a national dish of a cuisine without much variety, but I've learned that I can be totally wrong in my expectations. Part of the pleasure of this
project is to discover dishes that I never thought I'd want to eat. And this was indeed the case with bbeshbarmak. A day later, I'm still amazed at how simply delicious
this dish was. Beshbarmak is a dish born in the steppe and traditionally made with horse meat - though lamb and even beef have become more common lately. It means "five fingers," and was traditionally eaten by hand from
a communal plate. Often, it was served as part of ceremonies preceded by lamb broth and followed by lamb broth mixed with kumis (fermented mare or donkey milk). After I tasted the
broth from cooking the lamb and onions, I understood. I found a plethora of recipes for beshbarmak, most quite similar, and I basically took the steps that made the most sense to me. Browning the lamb before boiling it
does not seem to be traditional, but I knew it would add flavor and it was definitely the right call. Not all recipes call for caramelizing some of the onions and adding them, and you should feel free to skip this step. I don't
think it makes a huge difference. As this dish has 3 ingredients: lamb, onions and pasta, all of them are key - and this is where I failed myself. Beshbarmakrequires making pasta, rolling it very thin and cutting it
into squares. I do not make pasta. I have never made pasta - the closest I got was helping my grandmother when I was a kid -, and I can't imagine ever making pasta. It scares me. My original plan was to buy fresh pasta sheets and
cut them. If I make this dish again, I'd probably go with that. But I have to go to the next city over to buy them and I didn't have the time, so I went with the suggestion of using lasagna noodles instead. This wasn't a good
idea - they were just too thick and tough. In Central Asia, they do sell a dried pasta called zhaima to use for this dish, but I wasn't able to find it. The recipe below fed 2 of us with no leftovers.
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Beshbarmak
Ingredients
- 2 lbs lamb shoulder chops
- salt to taste
- 1 large onion, sliced into rings
- 8 oz pasta squares
Directions
Cut lamb chops into large chunks. Cut off some of the lamb fat and set aside.
Heat a saucepan over high heat. Add most of the lamb fat and render until you have a thin film of melted fat. Remove and discard fat chunks. Add the lamb pieces and brown on all sides. Add salt to taste. Add half the onion rings. Pour in enough water to cover the lamb by about 1 inch. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until the lamb is cooked through and very tender, about 1 to 2 hours.
Meanwhile, render the remaining lamb fat in a small saute pan. Discard the fat chunks, bring heat to medium and add the remaining onion rings. Stir, cover, reduce heat to medium-low and cook until soft. Uncover and cook, stirring frequently, until golden brown. Seat aside and keep warm.
Remove lamb from the pot, reserving the broth. Remove bones from the lamb and cut lamb into bite-size pieces. Keep lamb warm and discard bones.
Bring a pot of water to boil and add to it about 1 cup of the broth from the lamb. Add the pasta and cook until soft.
Place pasta squares on a plate. Cover with the lamb and caramelized onion rings. Serve reserved lamb-onion broth on the side. Pour it on your lamb and pasta before eating.
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Adapted from several recipes.
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