The Sunday Times Magazine - UK (2020-11-08)

44 • The Sunday Times Magazine

T

wo years ago Caroline Eden

published Black Sea, a lyrical,

mouthwatering odyssey around

that area, taking in Turkey,

Romania and Bulgaria. Now she’s

back with Red Sands, which carries

the subtitle Reportage and Recipes

Through Central Asia, from

Hinterland to Heartland. Her

restless energy took her on a

six-month journey through

Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,

Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Eden’s beautifully observed

travelogue includes essays on the

connections she made and

thorough examinations of the

food she tried. It is as much a book

for the bedside or coffee table as

the kitchen counter. She has

rightly won awards for her

remarkable talent for telling

stories that take the reader right to

the heart of her experiences.

The recipes Eden collected for

her book are, she says, “edible

snapshots” of what she found.

While many may be new and

unusual to those of us who haven’t

been to that part of the world, they

are all very tempting. They range

from hearty soups and breads to

delicate preserves and pastries,

and often reference people Eden

encountered over a meal or a drink.

Here we present a few dishes that

give an idea of the diverse treats

the “red sands” region contains.

“My mission for this book is

twofold,” Eden says. “Firstly, to

preserve on paper something of

these countries as they rapidly

develop and open up further to

the world. To record them before

further changes come and more

disappears for good via bulldozers,

the march of globalisation and

increased tourism.”

This year, more than

ever, when travel is

not possible for most

of us, taking a

journey into these

countries

vicariously via

their food

is a real

pleasure.

Lisa

Markwell

1

OLA O SMIT

Caroline Eden takes you on a flavour-filled tour of Central Asia

A taste of the Silk Road

The Dish

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Cheat’s laghman

Laghman is an Uighur noodle dish

topped with a mild stew of meat

and vegetables. Uighur cooks

rightly demand that the noodles

should be hand-pulled, but they’re

pros at the delicate art of pulling

and flinging noodles. If you’re not,

it is challenging, to put it mildly.

This version (reluctantly) cheats

on the noodles but brings you the

warming flavours of laghman,

which is served throughout Central

Asia and popular with everyone

from yesterday’s commissars to

today’s chess players.

SERVES

4 people

INGREDIENTS

275g thick egg noodles

2 tbsp sunflower oil

500g lamb leg steak, cut into

bite-size chunks

1 onion, diced

2-4 garlic cloves (dial up or down

depending on taste), peeled and

thinly sliced

1 tsp cumin seeds

150g Chinese (napa) cabbage,

chopped into bite-size pieces

1 red pepper, chopped into 2cm pieces

1 green pepper, chopped into

2cm pieces

1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and

sliced thinly

2 tbsp tomato purée

350ml beef stock

1 tbsp sesame seeds, to garnish

Chives, to garnish (optional)

01 Have all your ingredients

ready before you start, then

cook the noodles according

to the packet instructions.

Extracted from

Red Sands by

Caroline Eden,

published on Thursday

(Quadrille £26)

02 Add 1 tablespoon of oil to a

wok or large frying pan and place

over medium heat. Season the

lamb well with salt and freshly

ground black pepper before frying

it for 5 min — keep it moving

in the pan or else it will stick.

When almost cooked through,

remove and cover with foil to keep

it juicy.

03 Add another tablespoon of oil

and keep the wok or pan over

medium heat. Fry the onion with

the garlic and cumin seeds for a

few minutes, stirring all the time.

04 Add all the other vegetables

along with the tomato purée and

fry over a medium-high heat for

about 20 min, until the vegetables

have softened.

05 Add the stock and bring to a

boil, letting it bubble away for

another 10 min, so that it begins to

thicken. Add the lamb back to the

pan, along with its juices to warm

through, check the seasoning and

remove from the heat.

06 Serve the noodles in large

bowls with the stew on top,

sprinkling over some sesame

seeds and chives, if using.

2

Dushanbe

sambusa with

chickpea,

spinach and mint

Flaky, buttery samsa, Central Asia’s

beloved turnovers, are known in

Tajikistan as sambusa.