How to make laghman at home
(a Kyrgyz laghman recipe)

This is the recipe for one of the most cooked dishes in Kyrgyzstan. It is called Laghman, it is a dish of hand-made noodles with meat and vegetables. We decided to participate in a workshop to learn how to prepare this dish, which included the preparation of the noodles as well. For all the ingredients and quantities, see below.

Do you want to learn how to make Laghman at home? Follow this Laghman recipe to learn how to make this dish, including the noodles!

• No one was allowed in the kitchen, without washing the hands outside, the traditional way, with a jar.

• Slice the meat in small pieces. In Kyrgyzstan, beef or lamb are widely used in this dish.

• Slice the onion in thin strips and chop the green peppers in small pieces.

• Wash and chop the green beans in small pieces, as well as onion and a herb for taste

• Heat up oil to fry the onion. And when the onion gets transparent add the meat. Cook until meat is browned.

• Add the peppers, the tomatoes and your preferred spices (pepper or chili-pepper).

• Let it fry for a couple of minutes and afterward add the rest of the sliced vegetables (the green beans, the garlic and your preferred herb).

• Let it cook without burning. While it cooks, you will get the time to prepare the noodles, out of the dough that you prepared at least two hours in advance.

• In a bowl, mix the flour and the water together. Knead it with the hands until it has the consistency of dough. Then let it rest for at least two hours.

• After the dough has had time to rest, the real work starts. Brush it with some oil, so that it helps when you are rolling it. Also, oil your hands before you start this procedure. Roll and stretch the dough with the hands and hit it against the work counter. If the noodles break when you are stretching them, that is a sign that you should have more oil on your hands or in the noodles.

• It was great to learn how to do it in a group, so while some took care of the noodles, others could keep an eye on the stew, stirring it once in a while. But everyone was excited about the noodles. Our Belgium friends were much better than we were with the noodles!

• After the noodles were a good size, they were ready to be boiled. We cooked them in a pot of boiling water, for two or three minutes only.  As soon as we took them out of the water we added some more oil to avoid them to stick.

Our chef served us a plate of noodles with a generous portion of stew on top of them. Afterwards we ate together and were served a delicious cup of tea to go with the meal. Simply delicious!

Ingredients for the dough:
4 cups of flour
1,5 cups of water
vegetable oil and salt

Ingredients for the stew:
400 grams of lamb or beef
2 onions
2 green peppers
2 tomatoes
400 grams of green beans
4 cloves garlic
Oil for frying
spices and herbs

Interested in gastronomy? Do you want to know what the food in Kyrgyzstan is like? Find out more about Kyrgyz dishes here.