Tag Archives: Uyghur

Replicating a Uyghur tonur baking experience in an American oven

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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Dough covered meals of the Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and Mongols

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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Savory Uyghur flatbread at the base of a stew

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

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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Turpan raisins in Chinatown

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

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

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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Uyghur home-style pulled noodles

For those of you who have experienced them, Uyghur pulled noodles–known as läghmän لەغمەن or längmän لەڭمەن in Uyghur and banmian 拌面 or latiaozi 拉条子 in Mandarin Chinese–are surely a special treat. Expats in China talk about this dish as … Continue reading

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Uyghur style rice pilaf with beef and yellow carrots

Happy Eid!  Over the weekend friends will be feasting around the world, and in Xinjiang no doubt people will be eating the dish I’ll describe below.  Half a world away in Philadelphia, the weather is changing from hot to quite … Continue reading

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Uyghur flatbreads, meat pies, and the tonur oven

I love looking at recipes and cookbooks–especially the kind that explain the unusual elements you are trying to replicate.  There are some gems out there for US cookbooks nowadays, with authors that do go through great lengths to explain culture … Continue reading

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