Samarkand: Eleanor Ford on why she's co-written an Uzbek cookbook

Victoria Stewart meets the co-author of a new book of recipes and stories inspired by Central Asia and the Caucasus
Chistopher Herwig

I have never visited the Uzbek city Samarkand. Yet talking to Eleanor Ford, the co-author of a new cookbook ‘Samarkand: Recipes and Stories from Central Asia and the Caucasus’, I feel as if I have been instantly transported there, so rich is the tapestry of tales she and her childhood friend Caroline Eden have woven together.

The book is filled with introductions to the various culinary traditions of the area, interspersed with recipes like apricot and red lentil soup, Kazan kebabs, pilavs and plovs (a lamb and rice pilaf), to Kyrgyz swirled onion flatbread, mountain Jew omelette, kuksu noodle soup and tarragon soda. It is clearly a cookbook that will open up many eyes - as it has mine - to the varied and wide-ranging cooking styles that come out of this country’s city and its surrounding area, and indeed Ford says that at home in London, little is known about it:

“People are aware that it falls between Europe and Asia but I feel that many people don’t know much about this part of the world that actually has much of our early history - and they certainly don’t know much about the food.”

The cuisine is impossible to pigeonhole, so “when people ask me to define the food of central Asia, I tend to talk about the different regions that influenced it,” she says.

“If you think about it, geographically you’ve got China to the east, and with that comes certain flavours like ginger and vinegar and soy sauce. The noodle dish laghman has a very Chinese influence, with hand pulled noodles, but also the flavours of dill and lamb in it, removing it from China. In the south you’ve got Afghanistan, Pakistan and India and there you can see all the spices creeping in, except that they are used very delicately - not much chilli is used. Spices are just used to add an accent. To the west you’ve got Turkey and Iran and so much of a crossover particularly with foods like the pilafs, the barberries, the pomegranates, the quince, and the huge abundance of fresh herbs in the cooking. And then to the north, you’ve got Russia, and the Soviet history of the region means there is a huge amount of crossover of Russian food, so beetroot salad, and the use of dill in the cooking, is very familiar still.”

Chistopher Herwig

Ford emphasises that she and Eden, a travel writer, have “just touched on a few recipes - it is just a taster,” so while some of the recipes are completely authentic, she explains, “it is a very large region that we’re covering, so we’ve really tried to be inspired by the flavours there, but adapt them to make them accessible, and to make the ingredients accessible, to the western kitchen.

In some cases they have made the food lighter, so instead of using, say, “the fat of a fatty lamb’s tail, which punctuates the dishes, in the plov chapter I’ve used clarified butter as I found that to have the best balance of flavours - that rich meatiness, but also it’s a little lighter.”

2016 cookbooks

1/11

Family friends who “really share such a common passion for food and travel,” the pair began discussing the project three years ago, after Eden - an expert on the region - suggested that it was somewhere that her friend might be interested in exploring. Ford, meanwhile, has a background in cookery journalism and, after cookery school, began reviewing central Asian restaurants in London, as well as editing recipes for TV chefs. But it’s through her travels, she explains, that she has learnt to cook the most:

“I’ve been to 70 or 80 countries now, and I always make it my mission to try and learn as much as possible about the different foods that I’m eating… Now I try to get the magic of the flavours from abroad and also make [them] very approachable.”

Chistopher Herwig

Ford’s first trip to Uzbekistan was in 2014 when she, her husband and their tiny son went on a “culinary adventure around the country,” visiting people’s homes and kitchens.

“Some were wealthy families who had these amazing big courtyard homes, with different generations living there… but we were trying to eat as much of the food as possible. So we’d go to the market stalls and speak to traders, and I’d have a go folding things to go into their ovens; and we went to the chaikhanas, which are the tea houses, which is where men traditionally congregate to drink tea and then lie on the beds and eat little halva sweets.”

As there is not traditionally much of a restaurant culture in Uzbekistan, says Ford, “it’s at home where you get the very best food, and where the best cooking happens.”

Cucumber rose soup

Here are her stories connected to non and plov, two of the main dishes eaten there:

Uzbek bread

“There is similiarity between food from this region and the naan that is found in India and Pakistan, but this is spelled ‘non’ bread and it is found without doubt at every meal. It is stamped on the top with this beautiful intricate pattern before it goes into the oven, and the bread itself is always face up on the table - it can never be turned over. It can also never be cut with a knife; you tear it with your hands. There are several wonderful patterns, habits, and cultural superstitions about non, but it’s very much an everyday staple. You would normally go and buy it from the market rather than make it yourself at home, and the market traders push around these breads in old prams - fabulous to see.

A plov feast

It took me a long time to perfect the recipe at home. Without a tandoor oven it’s very different, so I tried to recreate the environment as much as possible, by putting in a pizza stone, and brushing the bread with oil, and scattering it with nigella seeds. But there are so many different designs and patterns, and every bakery and household does it a different way. Often in the market you will see these great coloured breads, painted with lots of pinks and yellows, as a real festival thing.”

Uzbek plov

“This is absolutely the defining dish of the region, and it is such an exciting experience going at lunchtime to one of the plov kitchens - bustling canteens where hundreds of people are served from this one vast kazan pan. One chef would be doing it, layering up meat and rice and vegetables with just a little bit of spice. That way everything is scented by the slow cooking meat which is at the bottom of the pan. Officially this is a lunchtime dish, or a dish served at weddings or celebrations.

It’s served upside down, so you’ll have the rice at the bottom of your platter, and then vegetables, and then the hunk of meat on top, and it’s decorated with quail eggs, or seasonal fruit and garlic, and you’ll just have that on the table, with lots of little side dishes - probably be a tomato and cheese salad, definitely the non bread, and some sort of fresh, tangy dairy product, as they’re very proud of their dairy there. So there’s always some sort of yoghurt, or drained yoghurt, on the table, maybe with some spring onions and herbs alongside it.”

Samarkand: Recipes and Stories from Central Asia and the Caucasus’ by Caroline Eden and Eleanor Ford is out now (Kyle Books, £25)

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT