Crimean Tatar cuisine

Crimean Tatar food stall on the beach in Koktebel: pilaw (pilaf), manty, shashlik.

Chiburekki

The Crimean Tatar cuisine is primarily the cuisine of the Crimean Tatars, who live on the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine.

The traditional cuisine of the Crimean Tatars derives basically from the same roots as the cuisine of the Volga Tatars, although unlike the Volga Tatars they do not eat horse meat and do not drink mare’s milk (kymyz). However, the Crimean Tatars adopted many Uzbek dishes during their exile in Central Asia since 1944, and these dishes have been absorbed into Crimean Tatar national cuisine after their return to Crimea. Uzbek samsa, laghman, and plov (pilaf) are sold in most Tatar roadside cafes in Crimea as national dishes. Uzbek flatbread, nan (or lepyoshka in Russian), is also a staple among Crimean Tatars.

Traditional dishes

• Chee-börek (or Chiburekki) is a fried turnover with a filling of ground or minced meat and onions. Similar to the peremech of the Volga Tatars, but made with one round piece of dough folded over the filling in a half-moon shape. A national dish of the Crimean Tatars, it is also popular in Crimean Tatar diasporas in Turkey, Romania, Russia, and Uzbekistan.
• Sarburma
• Yantik, a chee-börek that is grilled, not fried.
• Köbete, a traditional pie with a rice-and-chicken filling baked between two layers of dough. Served as a main course, köbete can be made with alternative fillings, such as rice and meat, meat with potatoes and onions, or even potatoes and cheese.
• Tabak börek, small dumplings with a meat filling cooked in a broth and served as a main dish or in a soup (kashik börek). Similar to the pilmän of the Volga Tatars, the Uzbek chuchvara, or the generic manty in Central Asian cuisines.
• Göbädiä (or gubadia), a wedding pie with layers of meat, rice, chopped eggs, raisins, and qurt (dry white cheese). The equivalent of the eponymous dish in the cuisine of Volga Tatars.
• Shurpa, a Central Asian meat soup with large pieces of beef and mutton, onion, carrots, and other vegetables.