Azerbaijani Food Recipes

Azerbaijani Food Recipes and their Features

Azerbaijani food recipes and culinary traditions of Azerbaijan were formed under the influence of both Azerbaijani traditions in and the national cuisines of the countries with which Azerbaijan borders. Turkish cuisine has had a great influence on Azerbaijani recipes, but the influence of other Caucasian cuisines on Azerbaijani is quite large, despite religious and ethnic differences. Neighboring with so many countries, Azerbaijanis drew all the best, while not forgetting about their traditions, religion, habits and tastes. In addition, Azerbaijani food recipes owe their originality and unique taste to the variety of products available in Azerbaijan. The location of Azerbaijan and climatic conditions allow growing a wide variety of vegetables and fruits, and, being on the seashore, eat not only meat, but also fish. Of course, you might think, why not eat varied with such an assortment of products? But all this must also be combined correctly, and Azerbaijani food recipes are famous for just this.

Meat and Spices in Azerbaijani Cuisine Recipes

Of the meat in Azerbaijani cuisine recipes, mainly lamb is used, less often chicken or veal. Lamb is used to cook luxurious recipes for dishes, and not only shashlik, but also various frying for pilaf, as well as kebab, kyufta, dolma and other dishes. Usually, the presence of meat in a recipe for Azerbaijani cuisine is accompanied by a large amount of vegetables, herbs and fruits. Yes, it is fruit, because in Azerbaijan people are not too fond of salt, they prefer to add dried dogwood (sumac) or cherry plum to their dishes – natural fruit sourness does not spoil, but only emphasizes the taste of the product. Of all the countries of the Caucasus, it is Azerbaijani cuisine that uses spices and spices most of all in the cooking of various recipes for dishes. In the Azerbaijani cuisine recipes, you can find black and allspice, saffron, cardamom, nutmeg, tarragon, cumin, thyme, mint, fennel, and all of them are countless. But what is interesting is that hot red peppers have not really taken root in Azerbaijani food recipes. Here, preference is given to sweeter, with a slight sourness, tastes.

Azerbaijani Cuisine and Vegetables

Azerbaijani cuisine uses in its recipes, along with meat, a large amount of vegetables. Vegetables combined with meat – why not a healthy diet? In addition to the fact that when eating meat in Azerbaijani cuisine, a large amount of vegetables and greens is served, a different number of dishes are also cooked from the vegetables themselves. Take the dolma recipe, for example. Dolma is essentially minced meat that was placed somewhere. There are many types of dolma in Azerbaijani cuisine. It comes from grape leaves, nettle leaves, spinach, cabbage. Dolma is also made from eggplants, tomatoes, sweet peppers, apples, quince, and other vegetables and fruits. If dolma is made from eggplants, tomatoes and peppers, then it is best to combine these three types in one bowl, that is, stew together, so the juice from all vegetables will give an additional taste to the rest of the ingredients of the dish – vegetables and meat. There are a lot of vegetable salad recipes in Azerbaijani cuisine. Salads are prepared both from fresh vegetables – Sheki salad, Choban salad, and from baked vegetables – "Mangal" salad. Salads are also cooked from salted or pickled vegetables. Also, a number of snacks of Azerbaijani cuisine are prepared from vegetables – these are kukyu with herbs and other snacks.

Shish Kebab, Pilaf and other Traditional Azerbaijani Dishes

Traditional Azerbaijani dishes are shish kebab and pilaf. Shish kebab for Azerbaijanis is not only meat, but also fish. A very tender and tasty shish kebab seasoned with aromatic spices is prepared from fish. A lot of Azerbaijani dishes are cooked from fish. Not only appetizers or main dishes are cooked from fish, but also soups – fish kyufta and others. Pilaf in Azerbaijan is cooked in a completely different way than in other Caucasian countries. Pilaf is very different in the recipe for cooking and in serving the dish to the table. Azerbaijani pilaf, in fact, is well and deliciously cooked rice, and everything else is frying, and everything is cooked separately, without mixing. Pilaf (rice), so that it is crumbly and does not look like porridge, is cooked on a dough bed (kazmag). Pre-cooked rice is placed on kazmag, poured with melted butter and diluted saffron, covered with a tight lid and evaporated. Separately, fry is prepared for pilaf, which can be lamb, fish, chicken, veal or dried fruits – kuraga, raisins, dogwood, chestnuts, etc. Azerbaijani pilaf is also served separately, or they are laid out on a large dish – with a heap of pilaf, and fry is spread around. Kazmag is also served with pilaf, cut or broken, and decorate the dish with it. The preferred drink in Azerbaijan is tea, it is served with lumps of sugar or with sweets – baklava, shakerbura and many others. There is also another drink very popular in Azerbaijani cuisine – sherbet. Sherbet is made from rose petals, lemon, mint and more.

Azerbaijani Cuisine Recipes

Azerbaijani cuisine recipes are delicious and varied, and the dishes are distinguished by their original and refined taste. One can talk for a long time about recipes of Azerbaijani cuisine, and read without stopping, but it is better to taste and feel the taste and aroma of Caucasian cuisine. Our site contains Azerbaijani recipes that will largely help you get acquainted with the culinary traditions of Azerbaijan.