Category Archives: Central Asia/Uyghur food

Posts related to my experiences in Xinjiang.

Replicating a Uyghur tonur baking experience in an American oven

Posted on March 16, 2023 by David Dettmann

As you may know, over the past many years I have been experimenting with baking techniques that replicate the traditional Uyghur tonur oven. Those experiments tended to include the use of a broiler, and/or a super hot and dense cooking … Continue reading →

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Delicious grains: millets of China, Mongolia, and Central Asia

Posted on March 31, 2020 by David Dettmann

The millets of China, Mongolia, and Central Asia are hearty crops that can be sustained in very arid climates. For tens of thousands of years they have served as important staple crops for many of those region’s food cultures (especially … Continue reading →

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Dough covered meals of the Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and Mongols

Posted on February 20, 2019 by David Dettmann

Greetings after a long hiatus! Even though I haven’t been reporting here as much as I’d have liked, since my last post I have been continuing on my journey through culinary traditions on the frontiers of Turkic, Mongolian, and Tibetan … Continue reading →

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Some reflections on a recent food trip to Xinjiang, China

Posted on August 21, 2018 by David Dettmann

Great laghman (لەغمەن) is well worth obsessing over. Hand-pulled and perfectly chewy wheat noodles are boiled, drained, and then topped with a hot stir fry of fatty mutton, garlic, tomato, and peppers with any seasonal vegetables. Check out my 2015 … Continue reading →

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Savory Uyghur flatbread at the base of a stew

Posted on March 27, 2018 by David Dettmann

Travelers to Uyghur cultural zones of Xinjiang will be familiar with the Uyghur staple flatbread (aka nan) and its many uses at the table. It is served alongside tea, dried fruits and nuts for breakfast and afternoon tea. At kawap … Continue reading →

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A childhood comfort food memory via Kashgar flatbread and a savory mutton stew

Posted on March 26, 2017 by David Dettmann

Have you ever had that unexpected situation when you taste something that transports you back to your childhood–even though you happen to be thousands of miles from where you grew up? The subject of today’s post is exactly that, and … Continue reading →

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The pleasures of Bustleton Ave, or, “amazing Uzbek and Georgian food finds in Northeastern Philadelphia”

Posted on July 3, 2015 by David Dettmann

Today I have another travelogue for you. This time it is of several Russian markets and Uzbek restaurants of Northeastern Philadelphia. NE Philly, particularly the neighborhoods of Bustleton and Somerton, is home to a huge population of fairly recently arrived … Continue reading →

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Turpan raisins in Chinatown

Posted on May 17, 2015 by David Dettmann

We have yet another import from the Uyghur homeland of Xinjiang available here in Philadelphia. These are raisins from Turpan, a city particularly well known for its sweet fruit (including grapes and melons). I found these at the newly reborn … Continue reading →

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Uyghur meat pies cooked under the broiler

Posted on March 8, 2015 by David Dettmann

This weekend I made an exciting discovery. I found that I can use my gas oven’s broiler to replicate tonur-style Uyghur meat pies (a.k.a. samsa سامسا). Uyghur samsa are delicious. The filling is simply fatty mutton, finely-chopped onions, salt, cumin, … Continue reading →

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Uyghur meat bread

Posted on February 21, 2015 by David Dettmann

Today’s post is a long overdue return to the topic of Uyghur wood fire oven breads. Some day maybe I’ll have an opportunity to build my own tonur تونۇر (or as they are more commonly known in the US, tandoor–see … Continue reading →

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