Bukharan Jewish cuisine facts for kids

Bukharan Jewish cuisine is the special food and cooking style from the Bukharian Jewish people. They come from Central Asia, a region in the middle of Asia. Today, many Bukharan Jews live in Israel and the United States.

What is Bukharan Jewish Cuisine?

Central Asian-style soup called shurbo dushpera (left), and traditional bread called lepyoshka or non (right).

The food of Bukharan Jews is unique within Uzbekistan. It follows special rules called Jewish dietary laws. This means certain foods are allowed and prepared in a specific way.

One of the most famous Bukharan Jewish dishes is oshi sabo. People also call it osh savo or osovoh. It's like a "meal in a pot" that cooks slowly all night. It's eaten hot for lunch on Shabbat, which is the Jewish day of rest. Oshi sabo has meat, rice, vegetables, and sometimes fruit. The fruit gives it a special sweet and sour taste. Because it's a hot Shabbat meal cooked overnight with rice, meat, and veggies, oshi sabo is a Bukharan version of cholent.

Besides oshi sabo, there are many other real Bukharan Jewish dishes.

Delicious Meat Dishes

• Osh palov - This is a Bukharan Jewish version of palov (a rice dish). It's made for regular weekdays and includes both beef and chicken.
• Bakhsh - This dish is sometimes called "green palov." It's rice with meat or chicken and lots of green herbs like coriander, parsley, and dill. There are two ways to make it:
  • Bakhshi khaltagi: This is cooked Jewish-style in a small cloth bag. The bag is put into a pot with boiling water or soup. Because it's cooked this way, it can be prepared ahead of time and served on Shabbat.
  • Bakhshi degi: This is cooked like regular palov in a large cooking pot called a cauldron.
• Khalta savo - This is another dish cooked in a bag. It usually has rice and meat, and sometimes dried fruit is added.
• Osh savo - This rice dish is cooked with meat, red pepper, tomato, and zucchini. It's usually cooked in the oven from Friday night through Saturday morning.
• Yakhni - This dish has two kinds of boiled meat, usually beef and chicken. The meat is brought to the table whole and then sliced. It's served with a little broth and boiled vegetables. It's often a main course for Friday night dinner.
• Kov roghan - This dish has fried pieces of chicken with fried potatoes piled on top.

Tasty Rice Creations

• Serkaniz (or Sirkoniz) - This is a garlic rice dish, another type of palov.
• Oshi piyozi - This dish is made with stuffed onions.
• Shulah - This is a Bukharan-style dish similar to risotto, which is a creamy rice dish.

Fresh Vegetable Delights

• Boyjon - This is an eggplant puree mixed only with salt and garlic. It's a traditional starter for the Friday-night meal in Bukharan Jewish homes.
• Slotah Bukhori - This is a fresh salad. It's made with tomato, cucumber, green onion, and cilantro. It's seasoned with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Some people also add lettuce and chili pepper.

Amazing Breads

• Noni Toki - This is a crispy flat bread. It's baked on the back of a wok (a round-bottomed cooking pan). This special way of baking makes the bread shaped like a bowl.

Fantastic Fish Dishes

• Fried fish with garlic sauce (for Friday night dinner): On every Bukharan Sabbath, people enjoy fried fish covered with a sauce made from pounded garlic and cilantro. In the Bukharan language, this dish is called mai birion. The full name is mai birion ovi sir, where mai birion means fried fish and ovi sir means garlic sauce (which literally means "garlic water"). Sometimes, bread is fried and then dipped in the leftover garlic water. This is called noni-sir.