The harsh winter reality outside the window makes the Siberians forget about seafood and green salads and postpone calorie counting until the summer. It’s time to switch to real food, which will allow you to be full for a long time. Dishes of Central Asian cuisine – oily, meat and antidiotic – are very suitable for this occasion.
In Central Asia, they hardly know about separate food – proteins in the form of a large amount of meat always accompany carbohydrates in the form of even more rice, dough or noodles. Yes, this, of course, is not sushi. But in our city Asian cuisine is loved as much as Japanese. Lagman is one of the three leading favorites, yielding only to plov with manti. The correspondent of SE found out details of the preparation of this “winter” dish.
Lagman is a long noodle made from unleavened dough with a thick aromatic meat and vegetable sauce. There is no common opinion about the ancestors of the lagman. According to one version, these are the Dungans – the descendants of Chinese-speaking Muslims living in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
On the other – Uighurs, descendants of nomadic tribes of Eastern Turkestan. Although it is possible that lagman, like many other pastas, is the offspring of ancient Chinese chefs.
The name “lagman” is a variant of the Dungan “lumian”, which means a stretched dough. Dough for noodles is really stretched in a special way, amusingly banging off the table, resulting in a long thin thread. In addition to Uighurs and Dungan, lagman is loved by Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Tajiks and Chinese. Each of these peoples brings something of their own in the way of cooking and the composition of the dish. For example, the Uighur lagman contains a lot of noodles and a thick gravy and is more of a second dish than the first, and the Uzbek is more liquid and similar to soup;The Tajiks add sour milk to the plate, and Kazakhs are served with an omelet.
There are lagman and relatives. Chinese wheaten ramen noodles are very popular in Japan. Its name comes from two Chinese hieroglyphs “lamyan” (learn? ), In Japanese they are read as “ra” – pulling and “men” – noodles. From the lagman, ramen differs by the presence of sodium carbonate in the test, as well as by special components – instead of lamb there are pork, spinach and bamboo shoots. And the rest of the noodles are also stretched and ruthlessly beaten on the table. Another kind of noodles, beloved by the Japanese, is called udon, its roots also go to China. This dish quickly became a part of the Japanese and became as popular as the lagman of the Uzbeks.
They say that Uzbeks prepare a lagman for lunch or dinner every third day. And at the wedding, the Uzbek bride must prove her culinary abilities to the future husband by preparing the lagman.
Maybe this dish really has amazing properties that attract men? Try to cook! A man who came from the cold, probably appreciate it.
Cooking Lagman
Lagman, regardless of its origin, consists of two parts – noodles and a meat sauce waji, each of which is prepared separately and is joined only before serving. “The task of the waji,” writes the connoisseur of cooking, William Pokhlebkin, “is to give the lagman the basic flavor and aroma. ” “As for the noodles,” the author continues, “then its purpose is to give the lagman as a whole a more delicate texture. To do this, noodles should be rolled as thin as possible. ”
For noodles you will need:
500 g of flour,
1 egg,
0. 75 cups of water,
0. 5 tsp. salt
Knead the steep dough, form a ball from it and put it on a proofing for 15-20 minutes. Then again, mix it well, so that there are no lumps left in the test, otherwise the dough will tear when stretched. In order to check the readiness of the test, make a cut – there should be no spots on the cutting site. Next, cut the dough into pieces with the size of a walnut, each oil with vegetable oil and roll into a sausage 12 cm long. Fold the sausages on a table, grease with vegetable oil and cover with a damp cloth to prevent the dough withered. After 40 minutes, proceed to the most interesting, but the most time-consuming stage – stretching.
First, roll the sausage a little on the table – 3-4 times. Then stretch the noodles on two palms – remember how the grandmother reeled the yarn? Sway between the palms of the side lightly hit the table – noodles will stretch and become thinner.
Gradually, you evenly stretch the noodles, do the same with all the other sausages. Be careful: noodles can tear! If you are frightened by the description of the process, you can make it easier: roll the dough into a thin layer, roll it with rolls and cut into thin noodles. By the way, in his book William Pohlebkin gives a recipe for lagman with chopped noodles.
Regardless of which way you chose, the noodles must be cooked immediately after production in boiling water. Brew, stirring, 3-4 minutes. Then rinse with warm water, transfer to a colander and lightly pour with vegetable oil, so that the noodles do not fuse.
For waji, you will need:
500 g of meat,
200 g of vegetable oil or melted fatty fat
2 large potatoes
1 radish,
2 carrots
1 sweet bell pepper
4 onions
4 tomatoes
1 garlic head
1 glass of green cilantro,
1 tsp. red pepper
1 tspblack pepper
Vaju can be cooked until the dough “rest” under the napkin. Its components depend on the variety of lagman, as well as on your preferences. Tomatoes, Bulgarian pepper are the main ingredients. From meat use beef or mutton. Radish and carrots are not found in every lagman, radish can be replaced with radish or daikon. Potatoes are used in the Uzbek version, cabbage in the classical lagman – Uigur or Dungan – is absent, but it can be put in small quantities. As for the eggplant, there is no consensus – it’s all about their soft consistency, which can turn into a mushy, if overdone. From spices to the course are garlic, coriander, black pepper and red.
Potatoes, radish and tomatoes are cut into small cubes, carrots and cabbage – straws, onions and peppers – rings, garlic finely chopped. In a hot oil fry the small cubes of meat to crust, add onions, carrots, tomatoes, put out a little. Put the remaining vegetables, salt, add garlic and spices and pour boiling water or meat broth. Stew over low heat for 30 minutes. Spread the noodles into deep plates, fill with meat sauce and sprinkle with coriander greens.
In the institutions of Novosibirsk, it will not be difficult to find a lagman – in the cafe “Saffron” it will cost 160 rubles, in the restaurant “White Sun” – 183 rubles, and in “Aladdin” for 3 rubles more.
Nevertheless, true lovers assure that the most delicious lagman can be eaten in an institution called “Uyghur cuisine”. Although it is not in the DoubleGIS, but a good location (next to TSUM) and a good price (60 rubles), the Siberians are lining up to get a plate of homemade noodles with a thick aromatic sauce.
Bon Appetit!
