Tatar cuisine: What to eat in Kazan - RUSSIA 2018
 |
| LOC |
FIFA.com continues its culinary journey around the Host Cities of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™. On the menu today are the things you will encounter in Kazan and Tatarstan cuisine.
Historically, the national cooking of Tartarstan has encompassed the traditions of many peoples, building up its own individual characteristics over the centuries. The essential quality of this cuisine is a full-bodied and unique taste, which any native will tell you is evidence of the kindliness and hospitality of the locals.
A distinguishing factor of Tatar food is a mindful attitude towards traditions. Recipes really are handed down in the family from generation to generation. Enter any Tatar home during a celebration and you will always find a minimum of one national dish on the table.
A fundamental part of cooking in this region are pastry foods. Baked creations made from leavened dough that have a thin layer of dough and a lot of filling are highly valued. Bread is considered a holy food and always has a place on the table.
The staples of a Tatar diet are echpochmak, gubadiya, vak-balish, zur-balish, chak-chak, peremechi, pirog smetannik and kystybyi. All of these are absolute must-tries if you are heading to Tatarstan.
Chak-chak, a must-try dish in Kazan
Chak-chak and talkish kaleve are sweet dishes traditionally eaten during celebrations. Only the most patient and skilled hosts are capable of making them. Chak-chak is an eastern-style dessert, made from light dough in a stick-shape and soaked in honey. In ancient times, this meal was prepared for weddings. It keeps well and does not lose its shape. Therefore it is rare that a visitor leaves Kazan without ample reserves of chak-chak with them and it is a favoured gift from Tatarstan. There is even a museum on chak-chak in Kazan, which should definitely be on the itinerary.
Talkish kaleve is another light and airy honey-based dessert with a characteristic shape.
In the Tatar language, echpochmak literally means 'triangle', yet the most important thing when cooking this baked dish is not its shape but the way you cook it. The filling, usually potatoes and lamb, must be placed raw into the echpochmak before going into the oven.
Gubadiya, on the other hand, is a closed, circular and multi-layered pie. Usually, it is a sweet dish but on rare occasions you can also find it with meat.
Continuing the pie theme, vak-balish is a pie filled with meat and potatoes, which means 'little pie' in Tatar. Accordingly, zur-balish is a 'big pie'.
Peremechi are smaller pastries filled with meat that is fried in butter. On the outside they look like ring doughnuts, only they are sure to have a filling on the inside.
Kystybyi is like a fried, unleavened scone but – you guessed it – with a filling, which can be a cereal-based porridge, typically from millet grain, or a meat sauce.
Kazy is a national sausage made from horse meat which is another typical edible souvenir.
Soups and meat dishes in general are a vital element of the cooking in this part of the world. The Tatars' favourite types of meat are lamb and local poultry. Many of the national dishes include duck and goose.
Drinks
The most important drink is tea. People from Tatarstan drink it a lot, often and for any reason. It is not just any tea, however; it must be Tatar tea with dried fruit and milk according to individual taste.
Where to eat?
If by some miracle you do not receive an invite into someone's home, where can you find traditional home cooking in Kazan that caters for tourists? In fact, the city has many Tatar restaurants and cafes. Take a stroll around the Staro-Tatarskaya Sloboda area and you can find them on every corner. The Tatar Village (called 'Tugan Avalym' by the locals, which means 'native village' in their language) is located next to the Puppet Theatre and is just the spot to find a wide range of national dishes.
Make sure you pop into the little cafes up and down the main pedestrian street in the city, Bauman Street. Even the ubiquitous fast-food offering in Kazan has its own particularities: many are made with traditional fillings and are always halal-friendly, i.e. food that Muslims are permitted to eat since Islam has been the main religion in this area since the tenth century.
People in Tatarstan traditionally have a reverential attitude towards food. National Cuisine Days have been going on in the republic for many years and offer both locals and guests in Kazan a chance to try cuisine from all the different nations living in Tatarstan, which number more than 170. These events are very popular and help everyone become more closely acquainted with the culture of their neighbours.