National cuisine of Azerbaijan and its famous recipes. Azerbaijani sweets: simple recipes Azerbaijani baking recipes

Azerbaijani cuisine is considered one of the most ancient in the world. The cuisine of Azerbaijan, which has quite a lot of traditions common to all Caucasian peoples, at the same time combines some features that give it a unique flavor.

Features of Azerbaijani cuisine

• Despite the abundance of different types of meat available, Azerbaijanis prefer to use lamb for preparing main dishes (for example, pilaf).
• The favorable sunny climate of Azerbaijan is also reflected in the cuisine of local peoples: vegetables, fruits and berries (pears, plums, cherry plums, eggplants, tomatoes, cucumbers, quinces, citrus fruits) are widely used in preparing dishes.
• The originality of Azerbaijani cuisine is in the types of utensils used by local people: pitishniki, cauldrons, saja frying pan, kassa cups and others.
• Azerbaijani dishes have a spicy, pungent taste, and their delicacies are truly sweet.
• Among the traditional recipes of Azerbaijani cuisine you will not find dishes with pork or recipes for alcoholic drinks, since the cuisine of this country is largely influenced by Islam.

Popular Azerbaijani dishes

It is impossible to talk about the cuisine of Azerbaijan without mentioning its famous pilaf. It is believed that the Azerbaijanis cook pilaf best in the Caucasus. They usually use lamb, but variations with beef and even fish are possible. Azerbaijani pilaf is flavored with a mixture of spices from saffron, cloves, cinnamon, cilantro and ground peppers. According to ancient Azerbaijani traditions, the rice part of the pilaf is served separately from the meat filling and herbs.

The second most popular Azerbaijani dish is rightfully considered lula kebab- minced meat cutlets, strung on thin wooden skewers and cooked over an open fire. Also, Azerbaijanis cannot imagine a summer feast without barbecue - they are real masters in preparing various marinades.

While in Azerbaijan, it is worth trying another traditional dish - dolma. This is a kind of analogue of Russian cabbage rolls, only smaller in size. The filling can be meat, fish or vegetable, and instead of cabbage leaves, grape or quince leaves are used.

A significant part of Azerbaijani national dishes is sweets and desserts, which can be divided into three groups depending on the method of preparation: dough products, caramel treats and candies. To enrich the taste of desserts, Azerbaijani chefs use sesame, cardamom, ginger, various types of nuts, and poppy seeds. The most popular Azerbaijani sweet is baklava, which is made from dough, honey, sugar, caramel and nuts.

Many Asian and Caucasian cuisines have in their arsenal such a delicacy as sherbet. In Azerbaijan, this is not the name for a sweet, but a soft drink based on berries and fruits with added sugar, which is usually served with pilaf and other main dishes. Another popular national drink of Azerbaijan is doshab, which is similar to sweet fruit puree.

The main drink in Azerbaijan is black tea. It is brewed strongly and then drunk from special small pear-shaped jugs called “ormud”.

People in Azerbaijan love and know how to cook, and therefore, to receive guests. Azerbaijanis love long feasts, during which they can try many traditional dishes. If you are lucky enough to visit Azerbaijan, do not look for a cafe where to have a snack - better go visit the locals: only after tasting home-cooked dishes will you be able to truly appreciate the culinary traditions of this country.

The Novruz holiday is approaching, which is loved from young to old in Azerbaijan. Housewives greet spring with the most delicious national sweets, and preparations for the holiday begin several weeks in advance.

As Day.Az reports, “Moscow-Baku” decided to compile a list of the most popular recipes for flour products that will certainly appear on every holiday table. In fact, preparing them is not that difficult, the main thing is to believe in your culinary abilities.

Shakerbura
This delicious delicacy is made from yeast dough filled with hazelnuts and sugar. The name comes from the Turkic “Sheker-borek”, which means “sweet pie”. The shape of the shakerbura resembles the moon and is decorated with a pattern in the form of ears of wheat using a special “maggash” tool.

Recipe:
1 kg of hazelnuts and granulated sugar, 2 kg of flour, 10 eggs, 800 g of sour cream, 750 g of butter, 1 glass of milk, 10 g of yeast, 8-10 pieces of cardamom.

Soak yeast in 1/3 cup milk, add 1 tbsp. pour a spoonful of granulated sugar into the flour, then add the remaining milk and softened butter. Knead the dough and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes. Grind nuts and cardamom, mix with granulated sugar. Make round cakes from the dough the size of a tea saucer, put the filling in them, make a curly seam, decorate the top with patterns, bake at 180°C for 30-40 minutes.

Baklava
The name of baklava is associated with its appearance - rhombuses, symbols of fire, which are called “bakhla” on Azerbaijani carpet patterns. Baklava is prepared in each region of Azerbaijan according to its own recipe and therefore there are various versions of it: Baku, Nakhchivan, Ganja, Sheki, Guba, etc. In addition, baklava has different fillings - walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts and peanuts.

Recipe:
1.5 kg of nuts and granulated sugar, 500 g of butter, 2 eggs, 800 g of flour,
2 g saffron, 600 g water.

Knead the dough from flour, eggs and butter, divide into 10 parts. Grind the nuts and mix with granulated sugar, divide the filling into 7 parts. Roll out one part of the dough into a thin layer, spread it over the entire bottom of the baking sheet, grease with oil, add a layer of nuts and repeat. Cut the compacted baklava into diamonds. Brush the entire surface with saffron infusion and press half a nut into the middle of each. Bake in the oven at 180°C for an hour. Prepare syrup from granulated sugar and water, boil it and immediately pour it over the finished baklava.

Shor gogal
Shor gogal is a round, bright yellow bun that resembles the sun. Gogal is baked with a savory filling consisting of various oriental spices. This salty, crumbly pastry is traditionally eaten with sweet tea.

Recipe:
Dough - 1.5 kg flour, 30 g yeast, 500 g milk, 100 g butter, 6 eggs, salt to taste. Filling - 500 g flour, 1 teaspoon each of anise, cumin, cinnamon, black pepper, turmeric and salt, 3 tablespoons of ghee. Separately - 1 kg of butter, 1 egg and 100 g of poppy seeds or caraway seeds.

Make a dough (dissolve yeast in warm milk and add flour), place in a warm place. As soon as the dough increases in size, add butter and the remaining flour. Mix well until smooth and place in a warm place for another hour. For the filling, crush the spices and add butter. Divide the risen dough into 10 parts, roll out each part thinly, generously grease with melted butter, and place on top of each other. Cut the multi-layer dough into strips 6-7 cm wide, then divide into parts of 10 cm. Twist each part into a spiral, flatten on both sides, make a funnel in the center, put 1 teaspoon of filling, seal the funnel, flatten again into a flat cake the size of your palm , brush with beaten egg and bake at 180°C for 30-40 minutes.

Mutaki
These cookies are shaped like regular bagels, but have a very special taste. It's all about the combination of a unique crumbly dough with oriental filling. By the way, in Baku these tubes are prepared with nut filling, and in Shamakhi - with apricot jam.

Recipe:
Dough - 500 g flour, 100 g butter, 2 eggs, 200 g milk, 10 g yeast. Filling - 200 g ground walnuts and 1 glass of sugar or apricot jam.

Dissolve the yeast in warm milk, beat in the egg, add salt, sugar, melted butter and mix. Add sifted flour to the mixture in parts and knead the dough. Cover the dough and place in a warm place for 1-1.5 hours. Prepare the filling: mix crushed nuts, sugar and cardamom or take apricot jam. Divide the risen dough into 4 parts, roll it out, cut it into squares, add the filling, and wrap it in the form of a roll. Bake at 180°C for 10 minutes.

Kurabye Baku
"Kurabiye Bakinskoye" was a popular cookie in the USSR, and its recipe has remained almost unchanged since then. The main thing when baking cookies is not to overcook them in the oven, they will be dry. The correct kurabye is golden yellow in color.

Recipe:
2 cups flour, 200 g butter, 1 egg white, powdered sugar, apricot jam.

Beat softened butter with powdered sugar and vanilla sugar until fluffy. Add protein, mix, add flour and knead into a homogeneous dough. Place the dough in a depositing bag and squeeze the cookies onto the baking sheet through a serrated tube. Bake cookies for 10-15 minutes at 200°C. When the cookies have cooled, put some jam in the middle.

Badambura
Badambura resembles a pie with nuts, but in a very beautiful puff shape, sprinkled with powdered sugar. This is a very delicate, soft pastry, with a nutty taste and an unforgettable note of cardamom.

Recipe:
Dough - 150 g butter, 1 glass of milk, half a tablespoon of yeast, 4 glasses of flour. Filling - 300 g chopped almonds, 250 g sugar.

Beat the yolks with a pinch of salt, add butter, yeast diluted in warm milk, flour and knead the dough. Send to a warm place for 30 minutes. While the dough is rising, prepare the filling: grind almonds with sugar and stir. Divide the dough into 10-12 equal parts, roll them into a thin layer, grease each of them with softened butter and stack them on top of each other. Roll into a roll and cut into pieces 3 cm thick. Press each piece with your fingers - you get something like a bowl. Place the filling in the cavity and pinch the edges well. Bake in the oven at 170°C for 25 minutes. Sprinkle the cooled badambura with powdered sugar.

Kyata Baku
Azerbaijani cuisine has several types of kyata, among them the most popular are Baku, Karabakh and Nakhchivan. They differ in their preparation recipe, shapes and soft filling that literally melts in your mouth.

Recipe:
Dough - 3 cups flour, 1 egg, 1 cup sour cream, 150 g butter, 1 tsp. yeast. Filling - 1 cup sugar, 0.5 cups flour and 100 g butter.

Knead the dough, cover it with cling film and leave it in the refrigerator for half an hour. During this time we prepare the filling. Grate the butter from the freezer, add flour and sugar here. Grind the mass into crumbs. Divide the dough into 3 parts, roll each into a layer onto which we spread the filling. Carefully roll it up and cut it into portions. Place everything on a baking sheet and brush the top of the kyata with yolk. Prepare in an oven preheated to 180°C for 30 minutes.

Sheker cherek
Sheker churek cookies occupy one of the honorable places in Azerbaijani cuisine. Easy to prepare, very tasty and tender cookies you just can’t help but like. Despite the fact that sheker churek translated from Azerbaijani means “sweet bread”, it is not bread at all, but a very tasty, crumbly cookie with the aroma of melted butter and very easy to prepare.

Recipe:
1 cup butter and sugar, 2 eggs, 4 cups flour.

Mix granulated sugar with lukewarm melted butter, add eggs, gradually add flour. Roll the dough into small balls, place them on a baking sheet, and press down slightly on top. Make a small depression in the middle of each cookie and brush it with yolk. The sheker churek is baked in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for 20 minutes.

Cookies "Fruits of Azerbaijan"
These are probably the most colorful cookies baked by Azerbaijani housewives. They are prepared in the form of apples, pears, and peaches, each “fruit” being colored yellow-red with natural dyes.

Recipe:
5 cups flour, 2 cups granulated sugar, 4 eggs, 200 g sour cream and butter, 1 tsp. soda For decoration - cloves, saffron, beets and granulated sugar.

Eggs are beaten with sugar and butter is added, while soda is mixed with sour cream and added to the whipped mass. Then add flour in small portions and mix the whole mass. The dough is made into round and egg-shaped balls of different sizes and baked at a temperature of 190-210°C for 10 minutes. Hot cookies are glued together in pairs using beaten egg whites, and the top is colored with saffron infusion (peaches and apricots), beet juice (plums and peaches) and breaded in granulated sugar. To form pear sepals, stick one clove at a time into the dough before baking. Pears are colored on one side with saffron infusion, and on the other with beet juice and breaded in granulated sugar.

Koke Nakhchivan
Keke is a delicious pie that is prepared for Novruz Bayram in Nakhchivan. It is not sweet at all, the filling looks like meat, but in fact it is onions prepared using a special technology.

Recipe:
Dough - 1 kg flour, 350 g butter, 2 eggs, 2 tsp. yeast and granulated sugar, 1.5 cups of milk, salt. Filling - 450 g walnuts, 2 onions, salt, pepper, turmeric.

Mix half a glass of warm milk with sugar and yeast, after 15 minutes add melted butter, eggs, remaining milk and flour. Knead the dough and leave it for 2 hours in a warm place. Meanwhile, prepare the filling - fry the onion in butter until golden brown, add turmeric, pepper, salt and nuts. Form the dough into 50 flatbreads, roll out, add filling to each and wrap in the shape of a Shakerbura. Bake at 200°C for 20 minutes.

Azerbaijani cuisine is one of the most original and unique cuisines in the world. Despite the fact that the life of Azerbaijanis is very closely connected with the life of neighboring peoples (Armenians, Georgians, Turks, Persians, Lezgins), the national cuisine of Azerbaijan still managed to maintain its originality and bright color, attracting the attention of millions of people from all over the world.

We will begin the description of Azerbaijani cuisine, perhaps, with local gastronomic taboos - pork and alcohol, which are not represented in any way in the recipes of traditional dishes, because almost the entire population of Azerbaijan considers themselves Muslims. Otherwise, there are no restrictions, so each of us will certainly be able to find something valuable, appetizing and tasty for ourselves here.

Meat dishes of Azerbaijani cuisine are prepared mainly from lamb. Poultry, fish and beef are also found here, but much less frequently than lamb. Moreover, most dishes have a very pronounced spicy taste, since Azerbaijanis highly respect spicy herbs and spices. Basil, saffron, cilantro, turmeric, various peppers, sumac, fennel, cumin, cumin - all this and much more is added to almost every meat dish (not at the same time, of course) and creates a truly magical taste and aroma. This is especially true for saffron, which is an integral part of such a dish as pilaf (the main dish of Azerbaijani cuisine), and sumac, which is added everywhere (where the main component is meat).

Vegetables and fruits are used as food here no less often, if not more often, than meat and cereals (especially in season). But the soups... There are about a dozen traditional soup recipes in Azerbaijan, which is quite good for the national cuisine of one people. In our area, for example, so many traditional soups may easily not be available (meaning Russian cuisine), even if you dig deep into the archives.

The national Azerbaijani cuisine is also rich in baking recipes - both sweet and savory; cold appetizers, several types of bread and even vegetarian dishes (albeit few in number) are prepared here. In general, if you want to get to know the national cuisine of Azerbaijan better, then feel free to start. It will be interesting! Well, we will help you with this.

In this collection, we have collected for you the best recipes for dishes of national Azerbaijani cuisine with step-by-step photographs and detailed instructions performed by our authors. Welcome to the culinary world of Azerbaijan!

We can say with confidence: everything that is prepared in Azerbaijan is incredibly tasty and satisfying. But I would especially like to mention national sweets.

Azerbaijani sweets on the festive table

These are not all the desserts that Azerbaijani cuisine can boast of. The sweets, the recipes for which are presented below, are the main ones. In this country, they are a must-have dish on every holiday table.

Sweet pie shekerbura

To prepare yeast dough, dissolve yeast (10 g) in a glass of milk, add 1 tbsp. spoon of sugar. Beat 10 eggs with a fork, add 750 g of sour cream, melt 700 g of butter, cool and pour all the ingredients along with milk into the flour (700-800 g). Knead the dough, which works best in a warm place for 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling. To do this, grind 1 kg of nuts (preferably hazelnuts, previously peeled) in a blend. Then combine it with sugar and ground cardamom (5 grains). Form the dough into a round cake, 10 cm in diameter. Place the filling inside it, shape the edges and cut out patterns. Bake for 40 minutes at 180 degrees.

Azerbaijani sweets Shakerbura are ready. You can pour tea and serve delicious pies to the table.

Shor gogal

The filling for this round pie can be salty. At the same time, such Azerbaijani delicacies are always served with sweet tea.

Preparation of yeast dough begins with dough. To do this, dissolve 30 g of live yeast in 500 ml of milk and add a little flour. After 30 minutes, add 100 g of butter, 6 eggs and a pinch of salt to the suitable dough. Knead the dough and let it rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

Prepare the filling from melted butter (50 g), flour and spicy spices (a teaspoon each). Traditionally, cumin, anise, cinnamon, and turmeric are used.

Divide the dough into 10-12 parts. Roll out each of them thinly and lay out one at a time. Generously grease the layers with butter (you will need about 1 kg in total). Cut the resulting puff pastry into 6 cm strips and then into squares. Place the filling in the center, twist into a spiral, seal the edges and form a round bun. Brush the top with egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds or poppy seeds.

Azerbaijani sweets shor gogal are baked for 40 minutes at a temperature of 180 degrees. Bon appetit!

Azerbaijani sweets: baklava recipes

There are several interesting recipes for making baklava yourself at home. But its basis is puff pastry, nuts and honey. In traditional baklava, all layers are prepared with your own hands. But when cooking at home, ready-made puff pastry is sometimes used.

According to the traditional recipe, Azerbaijani sweets (baklava) are prepared from flour, milk, eggs, and sour cream, dry yeast, sugar and spices. These ingredients will be needed for the dough. For the filling you need to prepare 500 g of walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds and candied fruits, 1 kg of sugar and spices (cardamom, coriander). Soak the baklava in melted butter and syrup of water and honey (the same amount of honey per 400 ml of water).

First, knead the dough from 800 g of flour with the addition of 250 g of butter, 2 eggs and 300 ml of milk, yeast (1 tablespoon), cardamom (5 ground grains), sour cream and sugar (3 tablespoons each). It should be soft, elastic, and not stick to your hands. Set the dough aside to rise for 1.5 hours.

Prepare the nuts. Dry the almonds and hazelnuts in the oven at 100 degrees and remove the husks. Grind all nuts and candied fruits in a blender until fine crumbs. Combine with sugar and cardamom.

Divide the dough in half. Then the first is often divided into another 17 “koloboks”, and the second into 2 large balls. Cover the dough with film to prevent it from drying out. Now form layers of baklava one by one. Large balls are rolled out for the bottom and top of the dessert, and inside there will be thin 17 layers filled with nut and sugar filling.

Bake baklava at 180 degrees for about an hour. After the first 15 minutes, cut the dried dough into diamonds and pour melted butter (250 g) over the dessert. After 25 minutes, repeat the procedure. At the very end of cooking, pour honey syrup over the baklava. Bon appetit!