It is believed that the richer it will be celebrate more successful will be the year. How our ancestors usually treated guests?
Even if the guest came for a few minutes, the owner offered siy-ayak — a cup of tea. Also it was accompanied by oven-baked flatbread, dried fruit, butter, nuts and sweets. To treat guests is the ancient tradition of nomads for whom hospitality is the basis of their lifestyle.
The main dish of Nauryz was and kept till nowadays tradition cold sup called Nauryz kozhe, which was made of seven ingredients: meat, fat, kurt (dried dairy product rolled into balls), wheat, onions and salt.
Kazakh tradition of hospitality is similar with Chinese tea ceremony — everything was made according strict order and with special meaning while serving the dishes. In short, all meat dishes, which Kazakh cuisine has variety of them, called et (meat).
Besparmak ("five fingers") — was and remains one of the main and favorite dishes of Kazakhs. Usually it is made of mutton, but sometimes for special guests used foal’s meat. Boiled meat was served in a special plate called tabak. Tabak should be served very carefully and correctly — it is the whole art. And special person who cut the meat known as et turaushi knew masterly know this art. He knows which part and for whom it should be served, following tradition of hospitality.
Kuyrdak — the dish which often served in Kazakh family. It is traditional roast, made of liver, lungs, kidneys, heart and onions.
Besparmak is served with special sup, in which the meat was boiled, called sorpa. There are many types and names of such sup. Some people refer to type of meat, some to the taste and caloric value. For example, some people make sup from fresh meat and some from dried. Sup made of dried meat called bakyr, when meat cooked on temporary place of living, and usual sorpa cooked in boiler at home.
Kazy — is sausage, the Kazakh delicacy. It is usually cooked for festivals or any other special occasions. Kazy used in dishes like pilaf and naryn (dish made of meat and cut pasta) or simply sliced and served as snack.
Among fish dishes one of the famous is Koktal. It is a fish fried on coals on willow braches with vegetables. Usually fish served boiled and mainly due to lack of meat.
Traditional Kazakh bread is taba-nan, baked on coals between two frying pans. Baursak — round or square shaped fired dough. Shelpek — a thin fired flat bread and tandyr-nan — baked flat bread on inside of the special furnace (tandyr).
Chak- chak was and is one the poplar Kazakh desert. Another desert is shertpek, made of honey with horse fat, which is forgotten in Kazakhstan. It usually was served in bay’s (wealthy person) feasts.
Another famous desert-snack was talkan — thoroughly grinded and fried wheat, which is mixed with sugar before serving.
Main Kazakh drink was and remains tea. People of Kazakhstan drink it two times more than in India. Dastarkhan — traditional space where food is eaten, usually it refer to entire meal setting, so tea drinking took a main part.
The second popular drink is kumis (mare’s milk) and third one is shubat (camel’s milk). Kumis and shubat fermented and stored in special containers made of leather, wood and ceramic.
All Kazakh dishes were simple and fast in preparation. They are very nutritious; historically it is explained by their nomadic lifestyle. Kazakhs considered food as God’s blessing and this concept is linked with the concept "happiness", "abundance" and "wellbeing".
