Chuchvara

Ingredients

Dough

• 500 gplain flour
• 1egg
• 200 mlwater
• 1 tspsalt

Filling

• 400 gminced lamb or beef, with some fat
• 2onions, very finely chopped
• 1 tspsalt
• 1 tspblack pepper
• 1 tspground cumin
• 2 tbspcold water

Broth

• 1.5 litreslamb or beef stock
• 1onion
• 1carrot
• 1bay leaf

To serve

• suzma or thick yoghurt
• vinegar
• chopped dill
• ground black pepper

Directions

1. Make a firm dough with the flour, egg, water and salt, knead it for 10 minutes, then rest it covered for 40 minutes.
2. Chop the onion as finely as you possibly can, almost to a paste. In a dumpling this small there is no room for a recognisable piece of onion and it should melt into the meat.
3. Mix the filling and beat in the cold water, which keeps it juicy inside the wrapper.
4. Roll the dough out extremely thin, to about 1 mm, and cut it into squares of 3 cm.
5. Three centimetres is not a rough guide. Chuchvara are meant to be tiny, a dozen or more to a spoonful, and the whole pleasure of them is that scale. Made pelmeni-sized they become an entirely different dish.
6. Put a very small amount of filling, no more than a quarter teaspoon, in the centre of each square.
7. Fold into a triangle, press the edges together, then bring the two base corners round to meet and pinch them.
8. Simmer the stock with the onion, carrot and bay leaf for 20 minutes, then strain it and return it to the pan.
9. Drop the chuchvara into the simmering broth and cook for 5 to 6 minutes from the moment they float to the surface.
10. Serve in bowls of the broth with a spoonful of suzma, plenty of black pepper and chopped dill.
11. Alternatively drain them and serve them with vinegar and suzma alongside, which is the other standard way in Uzbekistan.

Technique

• Tiny dumplings, very finely chopped onion, very thin dough. All three are about scale rather than technique.
• They freeze beautifully raw on a tray, then bagged, and cook from frozen in an extra two minutes.
• Make them with someone else. Folding several hundred is companionable work and miserable work alone.

Substitutions

• Wonton wrappers cut down to size, which is a genuine time-saver and close enough in thickness.
• Beef alone if lamb is unavailable, with a little extra fat.

Variations

• Kovurma chuchvara, fried rather than boiled.
• Served in a tomato broth.
• Dushbara in Azerbaijan and joshpara further west, both close relatives.

History

Tiny boiled dumplings served in broth or drained with vinegar and suzma.

Frequently asked questions

What is Chuchvara?

Chuchvara is a soup & stew from Uzbekistan: tiny boiled dumplings served in broth with suzma. Tiny boiled dumplings served in broth or drained with vinegar and suzma.

How long does Chuchvara take to make?

Chuchvara takes 1 hr 15 min of preparation and 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Chuchvara?

Yes, within limits. Wonton wrappers cut down to size, which is a genuine time-saver and close enough in thickness. Beef alone if lamb is unavailable, with a little extra fat.

What is the most important thing to get right in Chuchvara?

Three centimetres is not a rough guide. Chuchvara are meant to be tiny, a dozen or more to a spoonful, and the whole pleasure of them is that scale. Made pelmeni-sized they become an entirely different dish.