Today I'm going to do something I don't do often do on my blog, and discuss some exotics from a particular restaurant. As far as I can recall, I've only done this three times before, about the Bald Headed Bistro in Tennessee (see my post on October 16, 2012), Half Moon, located in Pennsylvania (February 9, 2013), and a Turkish Mediterranean restaurant (October 24, 2020). The eatery in question today is Silk Road Choyhona, out of Gaithersburg, Maryland. I was visiting a friend who lives in the Washington, D.C. area (Hi Dan!), and we both were eager to try some cuisine we'd never had before, from Uzbekistan.
The Silk Road Choyhona official website is sparse, so I can't cover the establishment's history. About all the site contained was a gallery of food photos, a "contact us" section, and the menu. I did, though, learn a little about the main course I had, plov. Plov, also known as palov, is the traditional, signature dish of Uzbekistan. It consists of a meat--often lamb or mutton, rice, carrots, and onions, and sometimes chickpeas, raisins, barberries, or other fruit are added. In general, Uzbek food is described as being "noodle-rich," as the country does a lot of grain farming, and thus, grain eating. Sheep herding is also common, therefore lamb (young sheep), and mutton (older sheep) are often the meat base for meals. Also, despite being majority Muslims (I saw estimates of between 88% to 96.5% of the population), the Uzbeks are more secular, as alcohol is made and consumed there--beer, wine, cognac, and especially vodka. (Maybe most to all of this is consumed by the non-Muslim minority, but the point is, it's legal.) Getting back to Silk Road Choyhona, the restaurant is well regarded online. I saw a 4.7 out of 5.0 rating on Facebook, and a 4.5 out of 5.0 on Yelp.
Tongue appetizer: This was meat, still in its tongue shape, with a horseradish paste to spread on it. I loved this. The horseradish was nicely spicy--not too bland, not too hot--and I love tongue in general. (Sorry to do this yet again, but my first ever post about exotic/disgusting foods was tongue, back on April 23, 2012.) Given the size of the tongues (about 3 inches by 1.5 inches, or about 8 cm. by 4 cm) these might have been sheep's tongues, but I couldn't find out exactly. Whatever animal they came from, these tongues were still very good. Chewy, juicy, and tender. So I really enjoyed this overall.
Plov: According to their menu, this was made with braised lamb, rice, roasted garlic, chili pepper, chickpeas, carrots, and raisins. At first I had serious misgivings, as there were many carrots mixed in with this, and it would have been hard to pick them all out. And as I've surely already mentioned, I despise carrots--they are one of my least favorite foods ever. I find them repulsive, both raw or cooked. But something wonderful happened. I tried some of them, mainly out of duty, and they were actually okay! They were oily, and spiced, and these somehow overcame the usual horrifically terrible carrot taste. I actually finished all the carrots, happily, which is somewhat of a miracle. The rest was good too--the rice was also nice and spicy, and the lamb was tasty as well. I usually enjoy lamb, so that's not a big surprise. Overall this dish wasn't awesomely great or anything, but more than solid. If I had one minor quibble, it would be that they could have included more meat in it. But especially given the carrots being magically made palatable, this was a pleasant surprise, and I'm glad I tried it.
Returning to the country of Uzbekistan, it was one of the former Central Asian Soviet Republics. Meaning it became independent in 1991. It's one of the most populous Central Asian nations, with a population estimated at over 32,000,000. As far as fun facts, Uzbekistan boasts the world's largest open pit gold mine, in Muruntau. One of its communities, Samarkand, is one of the oldest continuously occupied cities in the world, dating back to the 8th to 7th century B.C.E. Its traditional dish, plov, was reportedly invented by a cook serving Alexander the Great. And for those that enjoy geographical trivia, Uzbekistan is one of only two double landlocked countries in the world, meaning it has no ocean coastline, and is itself surrounded by landlocked countries. (Or, in other words, you'd have to cross over 2 countries to reach an ocean.) The tiny European nation of Liechtenstein is the other double.
As for famous people with Uzbekistan heritage, Ruslan Chagaev was an excellent boxer in the heavyweight division, as he held the WBA championship belt from 2007-09, and then again from 2014-16. His final pro record was 34-3-1. Moving to games, Rustam Kasimdzhanov is a chess grandmaster. Salizhan Sharipov, who's half Uzbek, and half Tajik, is a respected former cosmonaut and astronaut--among his other accomplishments, he performed two space walks. Uzbekistan's first Olympic gold medalist was won by Lina Cheryazova, in the freestyle skiing, women's aerials event in the 1994 winter games. In the world of acting, there's Rita Volk, born Margarita Volkovinskaya, who acted in such films as "Almost Friends" (2016), "Summer Days, Summer Nights" (2018) and "We Still Say Grace" (2020), and on television programs such as "Faking It" (2014-16) and "Condor" (2020-). She also appeared in a couple of music videos for horror maestro John Carpenter. But arguably the most recognizable person of Uzbek heritage in the U.S. is Milana Aleksandrovna Vayntrub. She was nearly ubiquitous as the character Lily Adams in AT&T television commercials in 2013-16, and 2020 on. She also appeared in such films as "Life Happens" (2011), "Ghostbusters" (2016), and "Werewolves Within" (2021), and on television shows such as "ER" (1995), "Other Space" (2015), and "This is Us" 2016-17.
No comments:
Post a Comment