Español
  Français

Food, eating habits and cusine of Turkmenistan

You are here: Countries / Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan’s cuisine is very similar to that of other countries in Central Asia, especially Iran, which consists predominantly of rice, vegetables and various meats such as mutton, lamb, beef and poultry. The Turkmen’s national dish is called plov, that comprises of rice mixed with mutton, onions, carrots, spices, raisins and peas, and its local dish called gutap is a meat-filled pie with potatoes, spinach and pumpkin. The Turkmen common meal consists of two courses of a vriety of filled pies and fried dumplings and followed by a course of fresh fruits like grapes and melons. Together with international cuisine, these local recipes are offered in principal hotels, especially in Ashgabat. The other popular dishes in the country include gay-ysh, which is made of noodles with meat, potatoes, onions or dill on top, served with broth from the meat; grechka, which is buckwheat noodles, met and carrots; kohlbasa, a lunch food consisting of fried kielbasa with onions and hardboiled eggs; manty, consisting of steamed dumplings, served with yogurt and spicy sauce; prashka, which is made of deep-fried dough pockets with meat; sole, which is fried rice cooked with milk; and shashlyk, which consists of skewered chunks of mutton, pork, chicken or fish grilled over burning charcoal, garnished with raw sliced onions, and a special vinegar-based sauce. Another Turkmen meal called palaw, is made of fried rice with carrots and meat, and is also eaten during many celebrations in the country.

If you are fond of bread, you can find chorek, a traditional bread, which is buns of wheat baked and served hot from special wood ovens made by the Turkmen native himself. After your meal, you can have gok-chai, which is the Turkmen’s favorite drink of green tea with dried fruit.