Chechen cuisine
Chechen cuisine encompasses the traditional cooking styles and dishes of the Chechen people of Chechen [Republic of Ichkeria|Chechnya] and the Chechen diaspora. The mountainous geography of the region, as well as its history of warfare have had their influence on the traditional culinary practices of the Chechen people, as has a strong culture of hospitality.
The bases of Chechen cuisine are meat, leeks, cheese, pumpkin and corn. The main components of Chechen dishes include seasonings such as onion, wild garlic, pepper and thyme.
Chechen cuisine is known for having rich dishes, and is also typically simple to prepare and easily digestible. Many foods are boiled on an open stove, with boiled or steamed dumplings, called galnash, being a staple of Chechen cuisine.
Dishes
Main dishes
- ' - Mutton stomach stuffed with ground meat, similar to haggis.
- Chepalgash - Type of pie filled with cottage cheese and wild garlic.
- ' - filled with lard and wild garlic.
- ' - Smoked meat
- Khingalsh - Sort of half-round pie filled with pumpkin or sweet potato and butter or clarified butter. It is one of the most popular dishes of the Chechen cuisine.
- ' - Dumplings made from corn flour and filled with nettle.
- ' - Soup made of mutton or beef, tomatoes, potatoes, etc.
- Zhizhig-Galnash - with meat.
- ' - Cottage cheese with butter.
- ' - Fried meat with vegetables.
- ' - Porridge with cheese.
- ' - Traditional flatbread eaten throughout the Caucasus region.
- Kurzanesh - Steamed or boiled dumplings filled with minced lamb and eaten alone or with garlic and yoghurt sauce.
- Shashlik - Traditional kebab from the Caucasus region; they are consumed throughout Chechnya.
- ' - Fried cornbread.
- ' - Sauce made of sour cream and cottage cheese. Often accompanied with Chechen cornbread.
- ' - Sausage made of wheat flour, mutton, chicken fat and garlic.
Desserts
- ' - Helva made from corn flour.
- ' - Helva made from wheat flour.
- ' - Helva made from wheat flour in form of noodles.
- ' - Sort of pancakes with honey.
- Vieta is a Chechen national dish of flax seeds with a thick liquid mass of dark brown color obtained from chopped fried or simply dried flax seeds by grinding in millstones. It is used in the traditional cuisine of Chechens, like a nutritious sweet dish, mixing with sugar or honey and oil. Any can be added oil: vegetable or cream melted. Vieta - "Linum" has long been common among Chechens; an exquisite dish is prepared from its ground seeds - linum pasta - by frying linseed flour in boiling oil with sugar or honey. Chechens prepare a dish only from seeds linum.
Beverages
- Churychay - A bowl of hot tea and milk with salt, pepper, and butter added in place of sugar. This is enjoyed by dipping bread in the tea and drinking the remains.