Dr. Yaşar Kalafat¹, who conducted participant observation among the Turkmen in Turkmenistan for a short period, writes:

In Turkmen weddings and other festive occasions, people carry two dishes rather than a single dish when serving food. If there is one dish, it is held in both hands. It expresses the idea, “may there be an abundance of weddings, more weddings to come.” When serving food at funeral ceremonies, the plates are carried in one hand, or carried singly. The message here is “let there be no more deaths, multiple deaths, or untimely deaths.”

At funerals, tea bowls are filled only halfway. Visitors coming to offer condolences are not greeted; the visitor takes a bit of salt, does not stay long, and goes straight home.

At festive meals, the prayer is recited before the dishes are collected after the meal. At mourning banquets, it is recited after the plates are collected.

When the bride arrives at her new house, they dip her right hand into yellow oil and her left hand into flour. This is believed to bring abundance to the bride’s new hearth.

As bread and salt are man’s daily sustenance, it is considered sinful to leave them on the floor or tread on them. When Turkmen move to a new house, the first thing to be taken there is salt.

The foods made for weddings, religious feasts and other special occasions include meat soup, pilaf, çörek and if in season, melon, watermelon and vegetable dishes.

Ceremonial dishes hold an important place within Turkmen cooking. The main celebrations are for births, the baby’s first hair cut, bridal ceremonies and weddings.

“Birth celebrations are generally more ostentatious for the birth of a male child. Popcorn, boiled wheat, nigella seed, and toy nanı(wedding/celebration bread) are set out. The bread is so that the child will have much bread – that his table will be abundant; the nigella so that his abundance will not be scattered, the popcorn so that his path may be white (clear, pure) and his future bright.”¹

As for the dishes prepared for the celebration, katıklaş, or simmered meat, is the main dish. The dish contains a small amount of rice. Çektirme is a type of pilaf generally prepared for guests. For kurma (kavurma), meat is cubed and cooked in its own fat; this is eaten with bread. The cooked kurma is stored either in a clay vessel or in a karın. The karın is a sheep’s stomach; the kavurma placed inside it can be kept without spoiling for long periods.

In order to store meat for long periods, it is sometimes salted as well. This is called kakmaç. To make kakmaç, the meat is removed from the bone, sliced very thin, salted and dried in the sun for storage. When çektirme or katıklaş is to be prepared, a few pieces of this are added.

 Turkmen cuisine includes several flour-based sweets. One of these is külçe, in which flour is mixed with milk and egg and kneaded into a dough and cooked in the tandır. A type of bread is baked from the same dough, this is called katlama. The katlama dough is opened with a long thin rolling pin called an oklav, layered with sugar and fried in butter. In another form, the katlama is rolled thinner, and called “ekmek.” A single katlama fried and sprinkled with sugar is called possuk. There is another type of flour-based sweet mostly baked for children, called pişme. These are walnut or hazelnut-sized pieces of dough which are fried in oil.

During the Turkmen’s 70 years as part of the USSR, they lost certain features of their original culture and were influenced by neighboring cultures, the Russians in particular. During this period, several new elements entered Turkmen cooking, especially in the area of technology.

The Turkmen also celebrate Nevruz, considered the beginning of the new year. A special dish called yedi taham is cooked for Nevruz. Other foods for the holiday include köçe (made of cracked wheat), and semeni (semenek) made from freshly sprouted wheat. People prepare sweets according to their means and take them to their neighbors.²

Examples of Turkmen Dishes

Kelleba Şayak Gaynatması (Boiled Head and Feet)

Ingredients:

1 sheep, goat, or cow’s head
4 feet
1 tripe
3 medium onions
5 medium tomatoes
Salt to taste

1. Clean and wash the head, feet and tripe very well.
2. Fill a large pot with water, and turn on the heat. When it begins to warm, put in the head, feet, and trip cut into large pieces. Bring to a boil and remove the scum.
3. Add the onions, either cut in half or whole. (If they are put in whole, they are easier to remove at the end of the cooking.)
4. Add the tomatoes whole.
5. Cook slowly on very low heat until the meats are all tender.
6. When nearly done, add salt to taste.

The broth and the meat are served separately.

Note: The remaining broth is boiled to thicken, and served with garlic, parsley and black pepper. It is recommended to eat this soup once per month to keep one’s bones strong.

Balık Tamdırlaması  (Tandır-Baked Fish)

Ingredients;

1 4-5 kg kepir (a fish from the Caspian Sea)
1 large potato
1 large onion
3 T raisins
5-6 dried apricots
Salt to taste
1 T black pepper

1. Split one kepir down the middle, keeping the head, and clean. Remove the gills and the ends of the fins. Leave the scales (if they are removed the inner meat may burn).
2. Cube the potato and chop the onion; mix with the raisins, apricots and black pepper, and fill the cavity of the fish. Sew the fish shut so that the stuffing will not spill out.
3. Pass a wire through the fish’s gills, and lay the fish on the coals in the tandır. After half an hour, turn the fish over, and cook 1 to 1 ½ hours more. Remove from the tandır and serve hot, with slices of onion.

If there is no tandır, a regular oven may be used.

Şişlik

Ingredients;

1 kg boneless beef
2 medium onions
1 head garlic
Salt to taste
1 t black pepper
1 t vinegar or pomegranate molasses
½ bunch parsley
½ bunch dill
10 scallions

1. Cut the meat into cubes.
2. Finely chop the onions and mix with crushed garlic, salt and black pepper. Add the vinegar or pomegranate molasses. Mix with the meat and allow to marinate in a cool place for 5-10 hours.
3. Place the meat onto skewers and cook over hot coals. Serve topped with finely chopped parsley, dill and scallions.

Note: This can be made with steaks as well.
Lemon juice may be substituted for pomegranate molasses.

Footnotes:

¹Yaşar Kalafat, Türkmenistan Halk Sufizmine Dair Notlar, Nevruz, 200 -202 s, Ankara, 1995,

² Orospolad Ekebaharlı, Eski ve Ortaçağlarda ve Günümüzde Nevruz, Nevruz, 215. s., Ankara, 1995.