Oshi siyoalaf

Ingredients

The noodles

• 400 gplain flour
• about 180 ml water
• 1 teaspoonsalt
• or 400 g ready noodles

The herbs

• 300 gsiyoalaf
• or a large bunch of mixed herbs
• wild greens, sorrel, mint, coriander
• washed and chopped

The pot

• 1onion, chopped
• 3 tablespoonsoil
• or rendered fat
• about 1.5 litres water
• salt

To finish

• 400 mlqurut or thick sour milk
• loosened with warm water
• or thick yoghurt
• black pepper

Directions

1. Take the pot off the heat first. Loosen the qurut with warm broth. Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Add all of the water gradually. Bring it together into a stiff dough. It should be firm and quite dry. Add the water rather sparingly. Knead it for about ten minutes. A stiff dough takes real effort.
2. Cover the dough and let it rest. Give it about thirty full minutes. Roll the dough out as thin as you can. Flour the whole surface generously. Roll it as thin as you can manage. Thick noodles come out doughy. Flour the sheet and roll it up. Slice across into thin strips.
3. Flour it generously before rolling. Shake all the cut noodles loose. Wash the herbs in several changes of water. Fill a bowl and lift them out. Repeat it until no grit settles. Chopping them is straightforward enough. Chop all the herbs up roughly. Discard any of the tough stems. Thick stems stay tough when cooked.
4. Discard anything at all woody. Heat the oil in a large deep pot. Add the chopped onion in to it. Cook it for a good eight minutes. Add all of the water to the pot. Season the water with plenty of salt. Bring the pot right up to a boil. Drop the noodles into the boiling water.
5. Stir them once to separate them. Cooking them takes a few minutes. Let them cook for about six minutes. Six minutes is usually enough. Taste one of the noodles to check. Add the chopped herbs to the pot. Let them cook for about five minutes. Herbs need only a short cooking.
6. Add them in near the very end. Judging the pot takes a careful look. Take the pot right off the heat. Let it stop bubbling entirely. Put the qurut or yoghurt in a bowl. Add warm broth from the pot gradually. Whisk it into a smooth thin cream. That stops it shocking and curdling. Add the broth a ladle at a time. Stir the loosened milk into the pot.
7. Stir it through the pot thoroughly. It should be smooth rather than grainy. Taste it and adjust the salt as needed. Grind black pepper over the top. Taste it before adding any more. Yoghurt needs more salt than qurut. Ladle it out into deep warm bowls. It keeps two days refrigerated.

Technique

• The sour milk goes in off the heat: take the pot right off, let it stop bubbling, then temper the qurut or yoghurt by whisking warm broth into it a ladle at a time before stirring it back. Boiling curdles it into grains and whey, and that is true when reheating too — a grainy soup curdled somewhere.
• Wild plants must be correctly identified: some are genuinely poisonous and some resemble edible ones closely. In the Pamirs children are shown the plants, places and seasons in the field, and that teaching is the real safeguard. Never gather what you cannot identify or rely on a book alone — a mix of garden herbs makes the dish honestly, with sorrel, mint, coriander and spinach.
• Siyoalaf is a local herb name covering particular mountain greens rather than one species, and the atlas does not identify it botanically — local names rarely map to a single plant and claiming certainty would be inventing.

Substitutions

• Thick yoghurt stands in for qurut, dried sour milk formed into hard balls that keep for months without refrigeration; qurut is much sharper and saltier, so yoghurt needs more salt added.
• Ready-made noodles stand in for hand-cut ones, though the noodles are cooked in the pot itself so their starch thickens the broth, which is wanted.

Variations

• Wild herbs come up as the snow goes and are the first fresh food after a long Pamir winter, which is genuinely part of what the dish means.
• Roll the noodle dough as thin as you can, since it swells considerably and thick noodles come out doughy; flour the sheet generously before rolling it up to cut.
• Add the herbs near the end and cook them only about five minutes, since long cooking dulls their colour and flavour.

History

Badakhshan dish using siyoalaf herbs foraged in the high Pamirs in spring.

Frequently asked questions

What is Oshi siyoalaf?

Oshi siyoalaf is a main from Tajikistan: pamiri noodles cooked with wild mountain herbs and sour milk. Badakhshan dish using siyoalaf herbs foraged in the high Pamirs in spring.

How long does Oshi siyoalaf take to make?

Oshi siyoalaf takes 40 minutes of preparation and 40 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Oshi siyoalaf?

Yes, within limits. Thick yoghurt stands in for qurut, dried sour milk formed into hard balls that keep for months without refrigeration; qurut is much sharper and saltier, so yoghurt needs more salt added. Ready-made noodles stand in for hand-cut ones, though the noodles are cooked in the pot itself so their starch thickens the broth, which is wanted.

What is the most important thing to get right in Oshi siyoalaf?

Cover the dough and let it rest. Give it about thirty full minutes. Roll the dough out as thin as you can. Flour the whole surface generously. Roll it as thin as you can manage. Thick noodles come out doughy. Flour the sheet and roll it up. Slice across into thin strips.