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I’ve taken a ride on a carpet for today’s tomato dish. Not magic but hand woven silk from Uzbekistan, courtesy of Chris Alexander, author of A Carpet Ride to Khiva , Seven Years on the Silk Road.
Last week’s Guardian travel section ran an article featuring Chris’s description of hosting a tashkil – an Uzbek savings party. In shopping for the feast, tomatoes featured both in the text and in vivid red galore in a photo of the market. Curiosity and tomato envy aroused – I contacted Chris to see if he’d be kind enough to pass on a tomato recipe. He came back with his favourite; a Tajik dish called “krutob”.
Here’s Chris’s description:
Freshly-baked rounds of flaky-pastry are torn into chunks and placed in a large, flattish wooden bowl. Poured over this are reconstituted yoghurt balls ( it tastes nicer than it sounds), and slow-fried onions. This is topped with a generous amount of chopped tomatoes and cucumbers. The blend of the hot pastry and onions, with the cool yoghurt, tomatoes and cucumbers is part of its signature. You can eat it with a spoon or fork, but it’s really best eaten messily with fingers !
A few location tweaks were needed. I used Jus Rol puff pastry, and as yoghurt balls have yet to roll down the home counties supermarket aisles, I substituted plain natural yoghurt – which still blended very nicely with the hot onions.
I feel someone tucking into my version would perhaps look over at the hosting pot and wonder if they might’ve preferred to stay home and hang onto their cash instead – but perhaps if I’d served some grilled, spicy chicken on the side – they might’ve relented and thrown in their loose change on the way out!
With many thanks to Chris for the recipe.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
So, was it a tasty dish? Looks interesting but personally I’d like more yoghurt and onion and it might be nice to spice it up with some crushed cumin and coriander seeds and chilli or something. Love the photo of the women in Khiva at the tomato stall and will now have to add Chris’ book to my reading pile as it sounds really interesting.
The yoghurt and onions were lovely, the tomatoes and cucumber worked well. I am not so sure they sit quite right – both literally and metaphorically- on the puff pastry base. However I am going to take your suggestions and add a bit of spice and flavour. I’ve take the 2nd Jus Roll pastry sheet out of the freezer – so I would say I am all ready to roll… (except that of course I don’t need to)! … and will take two ! And let you know how I get on.
And am with you on the book – esp after the cabin fever that’s been induced by cancelled plans and travel arrangements recently – it’s good to be able to take great adventures from the sofa instead !
Great suggestions – I cooked up the onion with crushed coriander and cumin seeds, and a finely chopped red chilli – and then mixed it directly into the yoghurt. Yum! The tomato and cucumber are good with it. So I think it needs a something like a naan bread to scoop it up. Jus Rol puff pastry is clearly no substitute for what is undoubtedly home made pastry in the original recipe.