Tatar cuisine facts for kids
Tatar cuisine is the traditional food of the Volga Tatars. These people live in Tatarstan, a region in Russia, and nearby areas. Their food is known for being hearty and delicious!
Contents
History of Tatar Food
The food of the Volga Tatars comes from the Volga Bulgars. These people were once nomads, moving from place to place. But about 1500 years ago, they started farming. They settled down and mixed with other farming groups.
Tatar food was shaped by many neighbors. These included Russians, Mari, and Udmurts. People from Central Asia, especially Uzbeks, also had an impact. Dishes like pilaw (pilaf), xälwä (halvah), and şirbät (sherbet) became part of Tatar culture long ago. Tatars also learned many things from Russian cuisine. These influences made Tatar food more varied. But they did not change its main traditional style.
Geography also played a big role. Tatars lived where forests met steppes (grassy plains). They were also near the large Volga and Kama rivers. This location helped with trade. It brought new foods to their kitchens. Early on, Tatars learned about rice, tea, dried fruits, walnuts, and spices.
Tatar cooking uses a lot of local farm products. These include grains and livestock (farm animals). Fruits and vegetables were less common in the past. But potatoes became more important after the late 1800s. Local vegetables included onions, carrots, horseradish, turnips, pumpkins, and beets. Some cucumbers and cabbage were also grown. Fruits like apples, cherries, raspberries, and currants came from orchards. Forests gave them wild berries, walnuts, hops, and mint. Mushrooms were not common in old Tatar cooking. City people started using them more recently.
Cattle and sheep gave beef and mutton. Both meats were very popular. Horse meat was also eaten. It was boiled, salted, or cured. Milk was used for dairy products. These included curds and sour cream. Chickens and geese were common on farms. Eggs were a popular dish, cooked in many ways. Beekeeping was big in the forest-steppe areas. This meant lots of honey for food.
Popular Tatar Dishes
Tatar dishes can be put into different groups:
- Hot soups
- Main courses
- Baked items with savory fillings (can also be a main course)
- Dishes made with dough (like pasta)
- Sweet baked items and other sweets, often served with tea
Tasty Soups
Soups are often made with different broths (şulpa). These can be meat, chicken, fish, vegetable, or mushroom broths. Soups can be made thicker with noodles, grains, or vegetables. A very popular soup is noodle soup. It uses toqmaç (homemade noodles). Pieces of boiled meat or chicken are added to it.
Soups are often served with meatballs. Sometimes, they come with stuffed buns like öçpoçmaq, pärämäç, or bawırsaq. For special events, Tatars eat pilmän. This is a type of dumpling filled with meat. It is always served in a clear soup.
Main Courses to Enjoy
Main dishes usually have meat, grains, and potatoes. Meat or chicken is boiled in broth. Then it is cut into small pieces. It can be served as a main dish. Sometimes it's quickly fried with onions, carrots, and bell peppers. Boiled potatoes are a favorite side dish. They are often served with grated horseradish. A chicken stuffed with eggs in milk (tutırğan tawıq) is a special holiday dish.
Bäliş is a very old traditional dish. It mixes meat and grains. Pieces of fatty meat (like mutton, beef, or goose) are cooked with grains (like millet or spelt). This is baked in a crock. Tutırma is another dish with meat and grains. It's an intestine filled with chopped liver and millet or rice.
Pilaw (pilaf) is served at dinner parties, especially in cities. A local version is Kazan pilaw. It is made with boiled meat. Dishes that mix boiled meat with noodles include qullama or bişbarmaq. These are common for many Turkic peoples. Meat was stored frozen in winter. For spring and summer, it was salted or cured. Horse meat is used to make sausages (qazılıq). Cured goose and duck are special treats.
Poultry eggs, mostly from chickens, are very popular. They are eaten boiled, fried, and baked. Grains are used to make many types of porridge. These include millet, buckwheat, oatmeal, rice, and peas.
Delicious Baked Foods
Tatar food has many different dough dishes. Unleavened dough (without yeast) is used for buns, flatbreads, and biscuits. Leavened yeast dough is used for bread (ikmäk, ipi). Bread is always served with meals. Traditionally, bread was made from rye flour. Only rich people could afford wheat bread. Today, both types of bread are easy to find.
Qabartma is a type of yeast dough pancake. It can be baked in a pan or fried in oil. Qabartma is eaten hot with lots of butter.
Liquid batter is also used, with or without yeast. Pancakes (qoymaq) are made from unleavened wheat flour batter. Bliny-style pancakes are made from yeast batter. They use different flours like oats, peas, or wheat. Yeast-batter qoymaq is thicker than Russian bliny. It is usually eaten for breakfast with melted butter.
Many baked items with savory fillings are special to Tatar food. The oldest is qıstıbí, or küzikmäk. This is an unleavened pancake folded in half. It is filled with cooked millet. Since the late 1800s, qıstıbí has been made with mashed potatoes. Bäleş is made from unleavened or fermented dough. It is filled with fatty meat (like mutton or beef) mixed with grains or potatoes. Bäleş used to be made for special events. It was shaped like a low cone with an opening on top. Now, the name is used for pies with different fillings. These are similar to Russian pirogs.
Another traditional Tatar pie is öçpoçmaq. It is a triangular pastry. It was first filled with fatty meat and onions. Later, potato pieces were added. Pärämäç (peremech) is a round pie with minced meat. It is fried and served hot with melted butter. It is similar to the çibörek of the Crimean Tatars.
Bäkkän (or täkä) is popular in the countryside. It is an oval or crescent-shaped pie. It is filled with vegetables like pumpkin, carrots, or cabbage. Sumsa is a similar pie, usually with meat and rice. A special holiday dish for city Tatars is göbädiä. This is a tall, round pie with many layers of filling. It includes rice, dried fruits, and qort (a dried salty cheese).
Sweet Treats
Tatar food has many sweet baked goods. They are usually served with tea. These include çelpek (deep-fried pancakes) and qatlama (a baked roll with fillings like poppy seeds or nuts). Qoş tele ("bird's tongue") are deep-fried squares of unleavened dough. Lawaş are fried dumplings with raisins. Paştet are sweet pies with jam or dried fruits.
Çäkçäk (chakchak) is a famous sweet. It is a pile of honey-covered sweet pastry balls. It is common among all Turkic peoples. It used to be a special food for weddings. The bride would bring it to the groom's home. Today, it is a common sweet treat. Honey is very popular in baking and on its own with tea.
Refreshing Drinks
Äyrän (ayran) is a dairy drink. It is made by mixing qatıq (sour milk) with cold water. Quas (kvass) is a drink made from rye flour and malt. Tatars learned about it from the Russians. A kompot made from dried apricots is a popular dessert drink.
Another sweet drink is şirbät (sherbet), made from honey. In the 1800s and early 1900s, it was a special wedding drink. It was called "the bride's sherbet."
Tea is a very important drink for Tatars. They drink hot, strong tea, often with milk. Tea with baked sweets can sometimes replace breakfast.
How Tatar Food is Cooked
Traditional Tatar food is mainly prepared by boiling, frying, and baking. Frying is mostly used for dough dishes. Meat is usually boiled, except for pilaw, which needs quick frying. Both boiling and frying were done in a cast-iron cauldron. This cauldron was built into the side of a large kitchen stove. Baking was done in an oven. Cooking over an open fire was not common. It was used for making pancakes (täçe qoymaq) and fried eggs (täbä).
Cast-iron pots and crock pots were common in the oven. Large, deep cast-iron pans were used to bake bäleş and göbädiä. Wooden tools were used for many tasks. Bread dough was mixed in wooden troughs. It then rose in wooden or wicker bowls. Butter was made in wooden churns. Honey and qatiq were kept in wooden containers. Over time, metal and enameled pots, china, and glassware became more common.
Tea service has always been special for Tatars. Tea is drunk from small cups so it stays hot. Traditional Tatar cups are small and low, with a rounded bottom and a saucer. A samovar (a special hot water urn) is always part of a traditional Tatar tea set.
Today, modern gas stoves and microwave ovens are used. This has led to new cooking methods. Frying meat, fish, and vegetables has become more popular. Old cauldrons and wooden tools are used less now. Most families use aluminum and enameled cookware.
Modern Tatar Food
Tatar food still keeps its old traditions. But it has also changed a lot. New dishes have been added, making the food even richer. More fruits and vegetables are used now. Fish is more popular. Mushrooms, tomatoes, and pickles are common. Thanks to international trade, Tatars can now enjoy fruits and vegetables that were once rare. These include bananas, kiwi, mangoes, and eggplant.
Tatar Dish Names in English
- Äyrän – ayran
- Bäleş – belesh
- Bäkkän – bekken
- Bawırsaq – bavyrsak
- Börek – burek
- Çäkçäk – chakchak
- Chee-börek – chiburekki
- Göbädiä – gubadia
- Öçpoçmaq – echpochmak, ochpochmak
- Pärämäç – peremech
- Pilmän – pilmen
- Qıstıbí – kystybyi
- Şulpa – shulpa
- Toqmaç – tokmach
- Tutırğan tawıq – tutyrgan tavyk
- Tutırma – tutyrma
- Ulish – өлеш
Images for kids
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Qazılıq as part of a horsemeat platter (on the right)
See also
In Spanish: Gastronomía tártara para niños
