Let’s Eat Sumalak

Central Asian cuisine is rich and varied, offering a wide array of different flavours and textures. Most national Central Asian dishes, including sumalak, are based on centuries-old recipes and traditions. Sumalak, the popular slow-cooked dish in Central Asia, is a favourite of the region's people.

Text by Malika Okhunjonova

Photos by Andrey Arakelyan

There is a legend from ancient times, that guides to the beginning of the sumalak existence among the nations of Central Asia. A poor woman created the dish; she needed to cook something to feed her children and family, so she found flour, wheat grains and oil. Then, she prepared all the ingredients and started to put them into the cauldron. Even angels helped her to stir the liquid in the cauldron. 

Traditionally, women of the house cook the sumalak. This tradition occupies a central position during the Navruz holiday. It is a "spring welcoming" festival celebrated on the vernal equinox day, the 21st of March. There is a belief that one can taste the love of the woman who cooks the sumalak. The taste of this dish will vary from place to place due to the soil and people from where it comes. 

Before cooking the sumalak, a group of women prepare all the ingredients and heat the huge wood-fired caldron. Small stones are laid to the bottom of the caldron to regulate the heating temperature and pour the oil out. The wheat sprouting begins after squeezing juice from the sprouted wheat grains and pouring it into a heated cauldron. The sprouting of the grain symbolises the start of a new life. 

The women continuously stir the dish. With every circle of stirring, the women bless the sumalak and wish the wheat to grow well in the homeland's soil. What is more interesting is that a mystical custom with stones brings enormous significance to the Uzbek people. 

 "If you catch a stone while trying to personally pored sumalak, you can make a wish and keep it as a talisman". 

Sharing the sumalak is a way of creating a solid bond between communities. People believe that the sumalak cooking event brings them closer to nature, makes them healthier, and encourages them to sing national songs and praise God with pure happiness in their hearts and joy in their souls.