This country’s national dish is fascinating … and challenging

The dish

Beshbarmak, Kazakhstan

Plate up

First thing you need to know about traditional Kazakh beshbarmak is the meaning of the name: it translates to “five fingers”, because those are the tools you will be utilising to eat it.

Beshbarmak – widely adopted as a national dish in Kazakhstan during the Soviet era.Credit: iStock

This is traditionally the food of nomadic tribes, the Kazakh and Kyrgyz people, and ain’t nobody travelling around with cutlery. So yes, you will be digging into this dish with your digits and what a fascinating and sometimes challenging dish it is.

Though a variety of meats are now used, the beshbarmak recipe traditionally calls for horse meat, which is boiled and then sliced thinly, served over a bed of thick, wide pasta sheets and drizzled with a sauce made from fat skimmed off the boiling meat, fried with onions. A separate bowl of the cooking liquid from the meat is served as a soup called shorpo. Beshbarmak is considered the national dish of Kazakhstan, though it’s eaten throughout Central Asia. It’s deeply cherished, and the source of much pride. Diss it at your peril (I learned the hard way).

First serve

As mentioned, this dish was developed by nomadic Kazakh and Kyrgyz people on the high plains of Central Asia, using the ingredients they had at their disposal: namely, the animals they were riding around on. Neigh. Beshbarmak was more widely adopted as a national dish in Kazakhstan during the Soviet era. A product of its history, beshbarmak is typically served banquet-style, on a huge dish that everyone digs into – with their fingers. The best cuts of meat are reserved for the oldest diners.

Order there

Though this is classically a food eaten at home with family, there are also plenty of restaurants in Kazakhstan serving beshbarmak. In Almaty, try Bes Kazan ([phone]) for a range of traditional local dishes in a pleasant setting.

Order here

We’ll be honest: there is not much Kazakh food in any city in Australia. In Sydney, there are a few Central Asian dishes at Silk Road Cuisine in Ashfield (silkroadcuisine.com.au). In Melbourne, try Pasta Khan Dolan Uyghur Cuisine (pastakhan.com) for a similar selection.

One more thing

Beshbarmak is sometimes served with another Kazakh specialty that visitors might find even more challenging: kumis, a drink of fermented horse milk.