Hot first courses

Shorpa: A nourishing meat broth with mutton, sometimes with rice, sometimes with baursaki. Shorpa Kozhe is thickened with cooked millet.

Kespe: Another meat broth with mutton, less often with poultry, with thin pasta noodles.

Salma: Meat broth with mutton or beef, with large square noodles.

Second courses

M yaso po-kazakhskiy (meat Kazakh-style): The classic Kazakh dish - a sumptuous meat repast of mutton, beef or horsemeat, with onions, herbs, large square noodles and in some cases potatoes, cooked into a stew and served on a platter. It is also called besparmak or beshparmak - meaning Five Fingers. This is because traditionally it is eaten with your hands: pick up a noodle, wrap a piece of meat in it and put it into your mouth, smacking your lips loudly to express your appreciation.

Ryba po-kazakhskiy (fish Kazakh-style): A rich fish dish, prepared in a similar way to meat beshparmak.

Kuyrdak: Also an original Kazakh dish, with internal organs such as liver, kidneys and part, fried in mutton fat, seasoned with salt, onions and pepper, and served with bread.

Meat Kuyrdak: Mutton, beef, horsemeat or game fried in fat and then braised and covered with sour cream, served with potatoes and vegetables. Can also be prepared with rabbit or chicken.

Basturma: Marinated sausages of mutton, tomato and onion pieces, grilled, and served with fresh vegetables.

Tostik: Breast of mutton grilled on skewers, cut into pieces and served with sauerkraut and tomatoes.

Beydene: Fried back of mutton sliced and served with rice, tomatoes, cucumbers and vegetables.

Zhambas: Leg of mutton, larded with mutton fat, braised with carrots, and served with potatoes, pickled cucumbers and tomatoes.

Stuffed zhauryn baglana: Roasted shoulder of mutton stuffed with vegetables (carrots, radish, pumpkin, onions) and minced meat.

M anty: Large, steamed pieces of pasta filled with soft, coarsely minced beef or mutton, onions and kumis thinly sliced pumpkin.

Shashlyk: Skewers of juicy mutton, sometimes supplemented with liver, barbecued over saksaul wood or coal.

Pelmeni: A dish of Siberian or Chinese origin, but also very popular in Kazakhstan. Small pieces of pasta are filled with mutton or beef with onions, boiled in salted water, and served with sour cream or brown butter. Fish, mushroom or potato can also be used for the filling.

Orama: Steamed rolls of pasta filled with coarsely minced mutton and onions.

Zhuta: Large, boiled rolls of pasta filled with thinly cut carrot or pumpkin, butter and a little sugar.

Lagman: A delicious Uygur dish consisting of boiled noodles which can be very long indeed, over which a sauce of thin pieces of fried meat and vegetables (garlic, potato, tomato, carrot, radish and cabbage) is poured.

K azakh plov: Pieces of mutton fried with onion rings and slices of carrot, then topped with rice and broth and simmered. There is a rich variety of plov, with all kinds of things added: boiled eggs, peas, raisins, diced dried fruit or pomegranate seeds. The richest variety is called festival plov. There is also a vegetarian sweet plov with dried fruits and almonds.