Saturday, September 22, 2018

Shelpek/Kazakhstan Flatbread

Kazhakhstan officially the Republic of Kazakhstan is a dominant nation of Central Asia. Kazakhstan is offically a democratic, unitary, secular, constitutioal republic with diverse cultural heritage. Kazakhstan share borders with Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Capsian sea.Kazakhstan has undoubtedly adopted some of the peculiarities found in the cuisines of neighboring countries like Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, even Russia and Iran. Yet Kazakhstani gastronomy has, at the same time, developed its own identity. Kazakh nomads have historically produced a range of foods centered on meat, including lamb, beef and camel. As a Muslim-majority country, Kazakhstanis do not eat pork, hence horsemeat when flavored with spices and sauces,  makes the main ingredient in many traditional dishes of this Caspian and Central Asian nation.Black tea,is considered as Kazakhstan’s most-consumed drink,this makes it one of the largest tea-consuming countries. . Here tea is served by mixing it with cream and milk, making it delicious. Shelpek is a very well known flatbread of Central Asian country and i grabbed this flatbread for this month"s blogging marathon as am running with A-Z International flatbreads as theme for this whole month.

Kazakh Shelpek, Shelpek

Shelpek is a traditional flatbread consumed throughout Central Asia. Flour, milk, sugar, butter, sour cream, baking soda, salt and vegetable oil are combined to form a dough that are cooked on a hot flat surface, like a frying pan, or in a tandoor,the cylindrical clay oven heated with hot coals. These tortilla like breads take on a special significance on Fridays, considered as the holiest day of the week for Muslims, and they are prepared to honor the memory of the deceased. Some versions of shelpek are made by frying dough balls as well.These Kazakh flatbreads are folded like a pancake, and served for tea: with sour cream, cheese or jam. And also shelpek, is an excellent substitute for bread to serve along with stews or curries, obviously you can serve them with broth or salads or else wrap them as sandwiches. Shelpek is typically prepared with baking soda but i replace baking soda with yeast as some of the Central Asian blogs suggested using yeast in Shelpek dough, trust me yeast makes this bread so light and super soft.

Shelpek, Kazakh Fried Flatbread

Recipe Source: Here
2cups All purpose flour
1/4tsp Instant yeast
1/2cup Milk/Water
1/2tsp Salt
Vegetable oil (for frying)

Take the flour, instant yeast, salt in a bowl, add luke warm milk and knead well.

Drop the dough on a floured surface and knead everything well until the dough turns soft and elastic.

Arrange dough in a greased bowl, wrap it and leave the dough for an hour.

Kazakh Shelpek

After an hour, punch the dough and divide the dough into 5-6 balls.

Dust the ball and roll as thin circle as possible.

Meanwhile heat oil for shallow frying in a frying pan.

Once the oil is hot, drop the rolled disc and fry on both sides until the shelpek gets cooked.

Continue the same process with the remaining dough.

Serve shelpek with herbed cream,jam or cheese.

Shelpek, Fried Kazakh Shelpek

BMLogo
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 92

12 comments:

vaishali sabnani said... Reply To This Comment

Deep fried bread ! Wow ! I must say this is a interesting recipe where you have used yeast and fried the bread . The bread looks awesome and I am
Wondering how am
I going to manage my bookmarks :))

Harini R said... Reply To This Comment

This sounds like the fried naan I made earlier in this series. But these are thinner and perfectly rolled than the fried naan :)

Sowmya :) said... Reply To This Comment

Such a soft and delicious bread! Have never tried frying yeast bread...with such a tempting prospect I got to try it asap!

code2cook said... Reply To This Comment

superb, as you say this bread can be used as tortilla makes it versatile. I think you should make a post for your knowledge about baking. cant feel that you are trying so many bread first time. such a perfect look.

Gayathri Kumar said... Reply To This Comment

These breads look fantastic Priya. Kneaded with milk, the texture would be really soft, right. With a spicy curry at the side, this would taste amazing..

Srivalli said... Reply To This Comment

I love the fact that this is deep fried. I am sure it made all the difference..:)..wonderful research work and getting us so many different flatbreads. Its awesome!

preeti garg said... Reply To This Comment

When we used yeast in dough and deep fry themm... result come out so well.. this bread looks so puffed and soft.

Mayuri Patel said... Reply To This Comment

What a wonderful find Priya. It seems that Central Asia is full of exotic breads. Shelpek looks so soft and would love to have it with some butter.

CookwithRenu said... Reply To This Comment

Wow they look so so soft and yum. A wonderful pick for the letter.

Sandhya Ramakrishnan said... Reply To This Comment

This sort of looks similar to the Indian fry bread. Love how soft this flatbread looks and it is so versatile. We can use it for so many recipes as a wrap.

Padmajha said... Reply To This Comment

Where do you find such awesome recipes Priya and researching the country and the dish is something you are so good at! Hat's off to your efforts. This fried bread is such a nice pick and am sure my kids will surely love it!

Ritu Tangri said... Reply To This Comment

Yeasted fried bread...Wow! Must be like bhatura. Love to have with some chana masala and aloo sabzi