Lagman - general principles and methods of preparation
Special noodles, seasoned with original deep-fried with a set of characteristic spices, are considered to be a Central Asian dish. Laghman stands apart among other dishes. After all, it is truly universal - this is the first and second course at the same time. The Uzbeks call him the chuzma-lagmon, from the Uzbek word meaning “pull”. Special noodles, which are prepared for the lagman, with special skill can reach a length of up to 5 meters. It is coated with oil, crushed in water and pulled.
The subtleties of preparing the sauce are subject to two goals - to get an elegant, flowery, truly oriental type of the finished dish and a taste accent. Remember what unsuccessfully cooked pilaf turns into? That's right, in the rice porridge with meat. In order for the dish not to become an ordinary noodle soup, the technology must be carried out, the spices and consistency should be chosen correctly. This dish is very fond of the Crimean Tatars, Uzbeks, Chinese and Japanese.
In the factory packages are sold long pasta, for example, in Uzbekistan, they are called “Lagmon”. Noodles are an important, but a minor component, the main thing in the lagman is still gravy. Spices for dishes are selected in a special way. There enters the star anise, cumin, black pepper and red powder, paprika, coriander, cumin. Well, if you can get dzhusay onions - it has a characteristic soft garlic taste. Sometimes it is replaced with feathers of garlic or wild garlic.
Lagman - product preparation
The real lagman involves cooking the noodles on your own. However, today a large number of factory-made options are sold, ranging from wide-cut Italian spaghetti to the true spiral-shaped lag noodles twisted into bundles. In principle, this is a democratic dish. Mutton or beef is used, as well as vegetables (carrots, onions, tomato, eggplant, black radish). In terms of cutting there are no special rules and regulations.
Lagman - the best recipes
Recipe 1: Noodles Lagman
We start cooking with noodles. Shopping noodles use as a last resort (the best to choose long egg varieties). Ingredients: flour (4 cups), egg (3 pieces), vegetable oil (100-150 ml.), Salt (half a teaspoon), a pinch of soda.
Method of preparation
We break an egg into a bowl, add salt, water, whisk thoroughly, whisk until a foam is obtained. Add flour, spread on the table. In a separate bowl, pour a glass of water and dissolve a pinch of soda and salt in it. We wet our hands with this water. The dough in this case should become more elastic, no longer stick to hands. Prepare the dough for a few minutes and leave to “ripen”. Then divide it into balls, you get about 20 pieces.
Roll the sausages out of the balls, stretch them with your fingers into a thin straw. Blanks can be 0.5 - 0.8 cm thick. Hands should be greased with vegetable oil and the sausages should be rolled out even thinner, placing them on a plate in one layer. Leave the dough in the refrigerator to rest. Then repeat the procedure. Boil it should be no more than 4 minutes. Especially thin long noodles before use, just scalded for 1 minute with boiling water.
Recipe 2: Uzbek Laghman
This is a very rich recipe; it includes a large amount of vegetables and spices.
Ingredients: beef (or lamb, 300-400 grams), spaghetti or noodles (500 grams), onions (2 pcs.), Carrots (2 pcs.), Potatoes (2 pcs.), Sweet pepper Bulgarian (1 pc.), chili pepper (2 small pods), garlic (2 cloves), green beans (100 grams), tomato (2 pcs), vegetable oil, salt, pepper, greens.
Method of preparation
Dice onion, turnip, carrot and radish into cubes (1.5 cm side). Scald tomatoes with boiling water and pour with cold water. The peel at the same time is easily removed, cut into cubes pulp. Sweet pepper cut into strips. Bean pods are cut into pieces of 3 cm, clean and cut the garlic, 1 chop the chilli pepper, put the second.
The flesh of the meat is cut into thin strips, we heat the oil in a cauldron and fry the bones on maximum heat. Then add the meat pieces. They should roast in their own juice until the fat is transparent. Add the onion and continue to fry. Add a turnip, carrot, beans in a cauldron. Stew all together, then add the tomatoes, the remaining pepper in the pod and garlic. Celery put the whole twigs. Add spices and sweet pepper. Another 2 minutes and pour in a little water. The liquid should cover the mixture in the cauldron. Another 10 minutes, add dzhusay and salt. After 2-3 minutes, remove from heat, leave to stand for 15 minutes. Boil noodles and store separately.
Recipe 3: Crimean-Tatar Lagman
Ingredients: lamb (400 g pulp), carrots (150 grams), potatoes (350 grams), Bulgarian pepper (150 grams), eggplant (150 grams), tomatoes, (100 grams, or tomato 30 grams), parsley, bay leaf, radish green (100 grams), fat (60 grams), broth, noodles, salt, sugar, ground pepper, oregano.
Method of preparation
Cut the meat into small pieces and fry it in a cauldron. After golden crust, pour the meat with broth and cook. Rinse the tomatoes with boiling water and peel, grate on a fine grater. Other vegetables cut into cubes, fry in vegetable oil and add to meat. Add potatoes immediately to the meat. Chop the garlic, put the tomatoes, pepper and salt. Boiled separately noodles lay out in a bowl, lay out the sauce on top, fall asleep with greens - and to the table! Wonderful Lagman in Tatar fill will feed a large family and a bunch of guests.
Recipe 4: Chuzma - Lagman in Chaikh’s Manners
This method is different from the other way of cooking meat, cut it into large pieces. When cooking a large number of dishes it is believed that this way you can keep the meat more juicy. Laghman consists of three components: noodles, wajja (pouring) and sauce (laza-chang).
Ingredients: lamb (half a kilo), onions (2-3 pieces), garlic (8-10 cloves), cabbage (150 grams), vegetable oil (50-70 grams), fat tail (50 grams ), dzhusay, or stalks of garlic, a pod of bitter pepper, star anise, ground coriander.
Method of preparation
1. Boil noodles.
2. Wajja. Cut the meat and fry it in large pieces on the fat tail along with the bones. Onion cut into thin rings and half rings, add to the meat and fry until deep color. Cut the carrots in the form of chips, cabbage and Bulgarian pepper strips. Add a pinch of sugar to finely chopped tomatoes, fold everything into meat and continue to fry. After waiting for the tomatoes to add juice, add spices (zira, pepper and salt). When the juice is half evaporated (do not miss!), Put the cabbage carrots and sweet peppers. Mix and pour broth or water from the noodles, so that the scoop is immersed in the liquid with a little effort. Put the hot pepper and adjust the very weak boil. Cook 40 minutes. 15 minutes before the end of cooking we put the star of a badian, turn off the fire and insist 15 minutes. Pieces of meat are separated and put in a plate, pour vaja. 3. Separately prepare the seasoning for the lagman (laza-chang). Mix a few cloves of garlic with a pinch of ground coriander. Add a teaspoon of ground pepper, skip the mixture for three to four minutes. Add 3-4 tablespoons of noodle broth. Add a pinch of salt, half a spoonful of wine vinegar and place in a jar, which should be kept closed.
Lagman - useful tips from experienced chefs
It would seem - there is nothing difficult to stretch the dough. In fact, you need to be an experienced lagman in order for the dough to stretch and stretch. Knead it and try to stretch it. Tap on the table, twist in your hands like a rope - if the dough breaks - it means that you are not ready yet. Take your time - as a rule, the dough is always not ready at first. Then reassemble it and pull it on the table. When the dough is stretched to the distance of the outstretched arms - pinch it into small pieces, no larger than a walnut. Chuzma should be about as a wire of a computer mouse, or even thinner. Fold it in half and pull it again. Cooked noodles will be hard and elastic, make sure that it does not digest.
