Kespe

Ingredients

Noodles

• 400 gplain flour
• 2eggs
• 120 mlwater
• 1 tspsalt

Soup

• 700 glamb or beef on the bone
• 2onions, chopped
• 3potatoes, diced
• 2carrots, diced
• 3 tbspmutton fat or oil
• 2 litreswater
• salt
• black pepper

To finish

• 1large bunch dill
• 3 clovesgarlic, crushed

To serve

• black pepper
• flatbread

Directions

1. Make a firm dough with the flour, eggs, water and salt, knead it 10 minutes, and rest it 30 minutes under a cloth.
2. Keep the dough firm. Kespe noodles are cut wide and they need to hold together in the broth rather than dissolve into it.
3. Brown the meat in the fat in a heavy pot, then add the onions and cook until golden.
4. Pour in the water, bring to a boil, skim thoroughly, and simmer for an hour until the meat is tender.
5. Skim it properly in the first ten minutes. An unskimmed lamb broth turns cloudy and greasy and stays that way.
6. Roll the rested dough out very thin into a large sheet and let it dry on the surface for 10 minutes.
7. That short drying is what stops the strips sticking to each other when you fold and cut.
8. Dust it with flour, fold it into a flat roll, and cut across into strips.
9. Cut them wider than for kesme, roughly a centimetre across, which is how Kazakh cooks distinguish the two.
10. Add the potato and carrot to the pot and cook 10 minutes.
11. Drop the noodles into the simmering broth and cook them 5 to 7 minutes.
12. Cook the noodles in the broth itself. The flour on them thickens it slightly, which is exactly what is wanted.
13. Take it off the heat and stir in a great deal of chopped dill and the crushed garlic.
14. Dill by the handful, added raw at the end. It is the defining flavour and cooked in it disappears entirely.
15. Serve very hot in deep bowls with plenty of black pepper.
16. If you are making it ahead, keep the noodles separate, because they swell and turn the broth to porridge if left sitting in it.
17. It is the Kazakh member of the same family as Kyrgyz kesme and the Uyghur suoman, and the three are close variations on one idea.

Technique

• The name comes from the verb to cut, which is the shared root across Central Asia.
• Mutton fat rather than oil is what makes it taste of the steppe.
• Leftover noodle dough is rolled, dried and stored, which is the traditional practice.

Substitutions

• Beef in place of lamb.
• Dried wide egg noodles, which is a real compromise.

Variations

• Kesme, the Kyrgyz version, with narrower noodles and more herbs.
• With tomato and sweet pepper, closer to the Uzbek style.
• Made thicker, closer to a stew.

History

Home noodle soup of the steppe kitchen, the dough rolled thin and sliced by hand.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kespe?

Kespe is a soup & stew from Kazakhstan: hand-cut noodle soup with lamb, potato and dill. Home noodle soup of the steppe kitchen, the dough rolled thin and sliced by hand.

How long does Kespe take to make?

Kespe takes 40 min plus 30 min resting of preparation and 1 hr 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Kespe?

Yes, within limits. Beef in place of lamb. Dried wide egg noodles, which is a real compromise.

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

Keep the dough firm. Kespe noodles are cut wide and they need to hold together in the broth rather than dissolve into it.