The term "oriental cuisine" refers to the traditional dishes of the peoples of the East, India, Asia and the Caucasus, as well as the Balkan Peninsula. This also includes dishes popular in China, Japan and Islamic states.

The characteristic features of oriental cuisine include the fact that the basis of many dishes is lamb and rice. Pork is unpopular in the east, as most of the peoples practice Islam. Fish, eggs and cheeses are also not in great demand here.

In addition to lamb, in the East they eat beef, chicken and turkey. But this does not apply to all nations. For example, in India, where a cow is considered a sacred animal, the indigenous people of the country do not eat its meat.

In addition, soups prepared in the traditions of the East have significant differences from similar European dishes. They are thick and rich, and the broth is more like gravy.

Another feature of oriental cuisine is the use of a large number of spices in the cooking process. Most of the dishes are distinguished by bright spicy aromas and pronounced taste.

Desserts in the East are fragrant, sugary-sweet and very satisfying. They add various spices, nuts, honey and molasses. The taste of these sweets is simply amazing, and their calorie content and nutritional value are very high.

The most popular dishes of the East

Many dishes of Oriental cuisine have gained immense popularity among European gourmets. Moreover, in their historical homeland, these dishes are not so in demand.

Most often, restaurants and cafes of oriental cuisine offer visitors the following dishes:

• Lagman (spicy noodles). This is the first dish containing a large amount of hot spices. Its basis is lagman noodles, which are prepared by hand, stretching the dough.
• Shurpa. This is a soup made from lamb or veal. The main ingredient is supplemented with vegetables, tomato and herbs.
• Pilaf. In the classic version, this dish is made on the basis of lamb and long-grain rice. It is prepared in large cauldrons on a fire.
• Dolma (tolma or sarma). This is the second dish, which is a mixture of minced meat and rice wrapped in grape leaves. The “relative” of this dish is the Kuban cabbage rolls, only the stuffing in them is wrapped with cabbage.
• Shawarma or shawarma. This dish is a roll of flat unleavened bread or lavash stuffed with meat, herbs and vegetables seasoned with spicy sauce.

The most popular oriental dishes served for dessert are baklava, halva, sherbet and Turkish delight. They are eaten in small portions, washed down with strong black coffee.

Let us consider in more detail the composition and methods of preparing dishes, which are the "calling card" of oriental cuisine.

Characteristics and recipes of first courses

As mentioned above, oriental soups are very thick, they contain very little liquid. Below are the recipes for the most famous first courses of the East - lagman and shurpa.

Lagman

The basis of this first course is noodles, which are easy to cook on your own. And for the broth, you can take lamb or beef pulp.

For cooking you will need:

• 450 g of meat;
• bulb;
• 5 - 7 garlic cloves;
• 1 radish;
• 2 - 3 tomatoes;
• a little vegetable oil;
• any greens;
• hot ground pepper;
• 450 g flour;
• 250 ml of water;
• salt.

Operating procedure:

1. Knead a stiff dough for noodles from flour and water, not forgetting to salt. Then leave it for a couple of hours, covered with a towel.
2. Roll out the workpiece with a layer no more than 5 mm thick and cut into wide strips, then grease them with oil and leave for a quarter of an hour.
3. Roll up “sausages” from the strips, stretch them, fold them in half and repeat the procedure until you get thin noodles.
4. Boil the products in salt water, then discard in a colander, rinse and add vegetable oil.
5. Cut the meat pulp into small pieces and place in a saucepan with thick walls, after pouring vegetable oil into it. Fry the meat until a crust forms.
6. Add chopped onion and chopped radish, continue cooking.
7. Add tomatoes, salt and fry for another quarter of an hour.
8. Pour the meat with vegetables with water and simmer under the lid for about an hour, then add greens, garlic and mix thoroughly.

Lagman noodles are served warm, poured with meat and vegetable sauce.

On a note. If you don’t want to spend time making noodles, you can purchase a ready-made version marked “for lagman” on the package.

Shurpa

Shurpa is a traditional Uzbek dish made from lamb and vegetables.

For work you will need:

• 350 - 400 g of lamb;
• several potato tubers;
• 2 carrots;
• 2 - 3 bulbs;
• a few juicy tomatoes;
• hot peppers;
• spices;
• salt;
• parsley.

Operating procedure:

1. Wash the lamb, separate the meat from the bones and cut into pieces of medium size.
2. Put the bone, chopped meat and a whole peeled onion into the pan, add water and salt, boil for 2 hours.
3. Peel the carrots, chop them coarsely and add to the pot. Send chopped potatoes there.
4. Cut the onion and hot pepper, and when the potatoes are half cooked, add them to the shurpa.
5. Season the soup with seasonings, herbs, finely chopped tomato pulp and then simmer on the fire for some more time.

Attention! After the container is removed from the heat, the dish will need to be insisted for at least an hour before serving.

Salads with oriental taste

Salads prepared according to oriental cuisine recipes will be a great addition to stew, barbecue or fish. Consider two simple and original recipes.

Pomegranate salad with onions and herbs

Despite the strange combination, such a salad perfectly complements the main dish and gives it a special piquancy.

For cooking you will need:

• pomegranate fruit;
• red onion;
• dill and parsley in equal proportions;
• hot pepper to taste;
• salt.

Operating procedure:

1. Disassemble the pomegranate fruit for seeds, remove the peel and partitions.
2. Cut the onion and hot pepper into half rings, then add the vegetables to the pomegranate and mix, pressing down the seeds a little.
3. Add salt, chopped herbs to the dish and serve.

The advantage of this salad is that it does not need dressing. The role of the sauce is performed by pomegranate juice.

Warm salad with chickpeas

Chickpea is a legume very popular in Asian countries. It is added not only to salads, but also to the first and second courses.

For cooking you will need:

• 250 g canned chickpeas;
• 1 onion;
• 1 carrot;
• a bunch of cilantro;
• salad oil (preferably olive);
• salt.

Operating procedure:

1. Finely chop the onion, chop the carrots on a coarse grater.
2. Fry the ingredients until soft in vegetable oil, then add the chickpeas, salt, mix and cover.
3. After 5 - 7 minutes, put the contents of the pan in a salad bowl and sprinkle with herbs.

On a note. If it is not possible to purchase chickpeas, you can replace them with fresh or canned green peas.

Traditional meat dishes

For the preparation of meat dishes in the East, lamb is most often used, but in Europe such dishes are often prepared with pork, beef and poultry. Consider the most common meat dishes - dolma and shawarma.

Dolma

To prepare this dish, you will need tender grape leaves in the number of servings.

Dolma is made from the following products:

• meat;
• grape leaves;
• greens;
• tomatoes;
• tomato paste;
• butter;
• seasonings;
• salt.

Work sequence:

1. Grind meat, onion and tomatoes in a meat grinder.
2. Add boiled cooled rice, chopped greens, butter, salt, seasonings to the minced meat and mix thoroughly.
3. Pour boiling water over grape leaves and leave for 5 minutes.
4. Place the filling in the center of each sheet and roll up. Then put the blanks in a saucepan, pour cold water, add tomato paste and simmer under the lid.

Serve with sour cream, mayonnaise or natural unsweetened yogurt.

Shawarma

Lavash roll with meat and herbs today can be bought at almost every fast food outlet, but it is better to make this dish at home.

For cooking you will need:

• thin Armenian lavash;
• grilled meat;
• cucumbers;
• tomatoes;
• lettuce leaves;
• onion;
• mayonnaise sauce.

Operating procedure:

1. Fry the meat with salt and spices, then cool.
2. Tear the lettuce leaves with your hands, chop the greens and onions, chop the tomato and cucumber into thin slices.
3. Spread pita bread, grease the third part of it with a thin layer of mayonnaise.
4. Proceed to the components tab. Meat comes first, followed by onions, cucumbers, lettuce, and tomatoes.
5. Sprinkle the workpiece with herbs, pour over the sauce and wrap, bending the edges.
6. Ready shawarma fry in a pan or heat in the microwave.

On a note. This dish should be eaten immediately, because as a result of storage, the pita bread will be saturated with sauce and soften.

Oriental pastries and oriental sweets

Sweets that do not need to be baked are very popular in the East, due to the hot climate. But there are also a lot of baked recipes in oriental cuisine. Consider the most famous oriental sweets - sherbet and baklava.

Sherbet

This sugary-sweet delicacy containing a large amount of nuts is popular not only in the east, but also in Europe.

For cooking you will need:

• 100 g of walnuts, pistachios and hazelnuts;
• a pack of butter;
• 500 g of sugar;
• 2 cans of condensed milk.

Operating procedure:

1. Peel the nuts, fry in a dry frying pan and cool.
2. Put half the sugar, butter, condensed milk in a heavy bottomed saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly.
3. When the mass becomes homogeneous, pour out the remaining sugar, add fire and as soon as the sand dissolves, remove the pan from the stove.
4. Without waiting for the sweet mixture to cool, add nuts and mix thoroughly.
5. Shape into portions, cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for 6-8 hours.

The sherbet will be ready to eat when it is completely dry.

Baklava

This pastry is popular not only in the East, but also among many peoples of the Caucasus.

For cooking you will need:

• 350 g nuts;
• 350 g of granulated sugar;
• 3 eggs;
• 600 g flour;
• 450 g butter;
• 10 g dry yeast;
• a teaspoon of milk;
• a pinch of saffron;
• 300 ml of sugar syrup.

Operating procedure:

1. Moisten dry yeast with milk and leave for a while.
2. Add 100 g of butter, 2 eggs and saffron to the sifted flour. Mix thoroughly, then add yeast.
3. Knead the dough, cover with a towel and put in heat for 3 hours.
4. Mix nuts with sugar, if desired, add cardamom.
5. Divide the dough into 10 parts so that two of them are larger than the others, they will make up the top and bottom layer.
6. Grease a baking sheet with vegetable oil and put a layer rolled out to a thickness of 5 mm on it, then sprinkle it with a filling of nuts. Repeat these manipulations with other parts. The last layer of dessert should consist of dough.
7. Lubricate the tops of the baklava with egg yolk and put in a preheated oven for 10 minutes, then remove and cut into diamonds.
8. Garnish each serving with a walnut, drizzle generously with melted butter and bake for an hour.
9. Season the finished baklava with syrup and leave to soak. The treat will be ready to eat in 2-3 hours.

You should not get carried away with oriental sweets, you need to use them in very small quantities, since they are very nutritious and high in calories. And if women of the East can enjoy baklava, kurabye or sherbet as much as they like, because in many countries magnificent ladies are considered beautiful, then Europeans have a slightly different point of view on female beauty.

Oriental cuisine always surprises with its unusual touch of taste.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with the recipes of popular oriental dishes and try to cook them.

Chebureki

Ingredients

Flour- 3.5 cups

Water- 350 milliliters

Egg - 1 piece

Melted butter- 1 tablespoon

Salt- 0.5 teaspoon

Ground meat- 700 grams

Onion- 350 grams

Water or kefir- 0.5 cups

Salt, pepper, spices- taste

Cooking method

Boil water with salt and oil (oil gives the finished chebureks a characteristic "bubbly").
Immediately brew 1/2 cup of flour in it, try to stir the lumps, and let it cool (brewing part of the flour makes the dough soft and plastic). If a few lumps remain, don't worry, they will disperse later.
Add egg and mix. Gradually add the rest of the flour, knead the dough. The dough should not stick to your hands, if sticky, then add a little more flour. Let it brew for at least 1 hour.
While the dough is resting, prepare the minced meat.
We add onion, water or kefir to the minced meat, which, in addition to flavoring, has a wonderful property to bind raw minced meat (minced meat does not spread) and release liquid into the finished product. We mix everything well.

We form pasties.
We cut the dough into balls the size of a table tennis ball, roll it into a cake 1 millimeter thick. We level the minced meat on one half of the cake, cover with the second half and press the edges. To make the edge beautiful, we roll along the edge with a special machine or the edge of a saucer, or a fork.
We start cooking chebureks.
Pour 2-3 cm of vegetable oil into the pan. We are waiting for the oil to heat up. Fry on both sides over medium heat, uncovered, until golden brown.

Lyulya - kebab

Ingredients

Mutton- 500 grams

Onion– 150-200 grams

Fat fat- taste

Salt- taste

dried basil- taste

Black pepper- taste

Cooking method

We pass lamb pulp together with onions through a meat grinder two or three times. If possible, we skip fat tail fat along with meat. Salt and season with spices. Stir the minced meat with your hands or beat it off (lift it up and throw it back into the bowl) until it stops cracking and becomes viscous.
We divide the mixed minced meat into pieces weighing 40-45 grams and with wet hands we form sausages about 3 centimeters thick and 15-20 cm long.
We string the resulting sausages on flat skewers (for cooking on charcoal) or on wooden skewers (for cooking in the oven). 2-3 sausages are strung on long skewers. The skewered kebabs can be additionally patted to make them stick better to the skewers. We fry the kebab over hot coals, periodically turning the skewers. When cooking at home, place the kebab on a baking sheet or on a wire rack (substituting a baking sheet down for dripping fat). We heat the oven to 250 ° C and fry for 15-18 minutes on one side and 5 minutes on the other.
When serving, remove the kebab from skewers, sprinkle with ground sumac (if desired and possible). It can also be wrapped in Armenian lavash cut into strips. A lot of greens (green onions, parsley, cilantro) and fried tomatoes are served with the kebab. As a sauce, you can serve narsharab (pomegranate juice boiled down to a third of the original volume).

Dolma (stuffed cabbage with grape leaves)

Ingredients

Mutton- 500 grams

Rice- 0.5 cups

Onion- 1 head

grape leaves- 400 grams

Oil- 1 tablespoon

Cooking method

We pass the lamb (pulp) through a meat grinder, add boiled rice, finely chopped onions and herbs, as well as pepper and salt to taste.

My grape leaves, remove the stem (hard) part, lay out the leaves on the table (1 - 2 sheets each), put the minced meat on them and wrap it in leaves in the form of ordinary cabbage rolls. We salt them and put them in a low saucepan in dense rows, pour over with oil, add a glass of broth cooked from lamb bones, cover the pan with a lid and simmer over low heat for about an hour.

When serving, transfer the dolma to a dish. Separately, we serve curdled milk with grated garlic and salt, as well as ground cinnamon mixed with powdered sugar.

Samsa

Ingredients

Water- 2 glasses

Salt- 2 teaspoons

Flour- 4-5 glasses

Meat- 200 grams

Kurdyuk- 50 grams

Onion- 1 kg

Potato- 200 grams

Black pepper, salt, cumin- taste

Vegetable oil- 2-3 tbsp. spoons

Cooking method

You can use ready-made puff pastry or make your own.

We knead unleavened dough from flour and warm water with salt.

Preparing the stuffing for samsa.

Meat, tail fat and potatoes are cut into small cubes, about 5 millimeters each.

Finely chop the onion, add spices, pepper, salt, mix everything.

Cut the dough for samsa into pieces.

We roll each piece into a circle, put the filling in the middle.

Then we close the filling with dough alternately from 3 sides with an overlap to make a triangle.

We pinch the corners of the samsa so that the juice does not flow out.

We put the samsa on a baking sheet, greased with oil.

We put it in the oven for 40-50 minutes until cooked.

Baklava

Ingredients

Flour- 500 grams

Egg- 2 pieces

Sour cream- 150 grams

Milk- 150 grams

Butter- 50 grams

Yeast- 1/2 pack dry (5-6 grams) or 15 grams fresh

Salt- pinch

Sugar- 1 teaspoon

Walnuts- 250 grams

Powdered sugar- 250 grams

Butter- 250 grams

Cardamom- 0.5 teaspoon

Cinnamon- 1 teaspoon

Egg- 1 piece

Walnuts (decoration)- halves

Honey- 150 grams

Hot water- 90-100 milliliters

Cooking method

Let's start preparing the dough for baklava. First, we heat the milk so that it is warm, add yeast and sugar there, stir and let the yeast “come to life” so that it rises with a cap.
In another bowl, mix flour, butter, eggs, sour cream and salt. Mix lightly.
Then we add our “revived” yeast to this mixture and stir well.
Now put this mass on a lightly floured table and knead the soft dough well.
Then put the dough in a cup and put it in heat for 1-1.5 hours (cover the dough with a towel).
The dough should rise well.
While the baklava dough is rising, make the filling.
The filling will be even tastier and the taste will be more intense if the nuts are roasted a little in the oven.
Pass nuts through a meat grinder or roll with a rolling pin.
Mix chopped nuts with vanilla and powdered sugar, add cardamom and cinnamon.
We divide the risen dough into 12 parts, one piece of which should be 2 times larger than the others.
Now we take this large piece and roll it out with an area such that it covers the bottom and sides of our form, and hangs a little more ...
The dough is soft, elastic and rolls out very well. And we will need to roll it out very thinly, about 1 millimeter thick or even thinner.
Now we wind the dough on a rolling pin and line our form with it.
Next, brush the dough with melted butter.
Now we roll out the next layer of the same thickness, but already to the size of the bottom of our form and cover the bottom.
We did not pour the filling on the first layer, since we should have 2 layers of dough without filling from the bottom and top (this is for strength, otherwise they may crumble after baking).
Lubricate the second layer of dough with a thin layer of butter and sprinkle with filling (pour enough filling to make 10 layers).
The tenth layer looks like this - smeared and sprinkled (that's it, there is no more filling, and the oil should remain about half or a little less, we will need it again later).
We cover the tenth layer with the eleventh piece of dough and grease with oil.
We cut the hanging edges of the dough with a knife, leaving about 1-2 centimeters. And brush them with beaten egg.
Now roll out the last twelfth piece of dough and cover it with the 11th layer. We grease the top with an already beaten egg so that the baklava is ruddy and beautiful.
And now we cut the baklava into traditional rhombuses. We do not cut to the end, otherwise everything will flow out to the bottom of the mold and will burn.
Then we put half a walnut in the middle of each rhombus, pressing it lightly.
Now we turn on the oven, put the form with baklava on the stove, cover it with a towel and leave to stand for 15 minutes.
We send the form to the oven preheated to 180 degrees and bake the baklava for 15 minutes. Then we take it out and pour the remaining butter on top. If the cuts stick together, you can cut them with a knife so that the oil gets in.
Almost before the readiness, pour the baklava with hot honey syrup (honey + hot water). Baklava can be baked to a beautiful reddish color and removed from the oven. Now we cover it with a towel and let it cool a little, up to 40-45 degrees C. Then we take it out of the mold, cut the diamonds to the end and dip each side in honey syrup for 3 seconds.
We put the finished baklava on a dish and let it stand for another 15-20 minutes (if you endure it), so that it is saturated with this syrup and finally cools down.

Fans of Oriental cuisine will certainly appreciate the gourmets of European cuisine. Under the name Oriental salad hides a lot of different recipes. These are Chinese salads with vegetables, a classic puff recipe with mayonnaise, spicy with sweet and sour sauce, spicy and sweet, in general, for every taste and with various ingredients.

Many recipes must include meat. After all, hardworking oriental men work hard, they definitely need to consume protein in large quantities. A special place is given to soy sauce. As a rule, it is not used in its pure form, but diluted with honey or vinegar. It gives the dish a unique taste and piquant aroma.

And of course, don't forget the spices. The most common are paprika, coriander, turmeric, ginger. But when adding them, you need to be careful, you should not overdo it either, otherwise you will clog the taste of the main products.

Vegetables and herbs are often used to prepare oriental salads. When buying, pay attention that they are fresh, do not have dents or dark spots, rot marks.

How to cook oriental salad - 15 varieties

Very easy recipe and budget friendly. The taste should please you.

For this recipe you need:

• Chicken hearts - 300 gr.
• Large green radish - 1 pc.
• Greens - dill, parsley.
• Onion - 1 pc.
• Feta cheese - 150 gr
• Garlic - 1 pc.
• Mayonnaise.

How to cook:

• We rub the radish on a Korean grater or cut into small strips, salt and pour boiling water, leaving for 1-2 minutes. Then drain the water and transfer the radish to a clean bowl.
• Cut the onion into thin half rings and immediately fry until golden brown.
• Boil the hearts and cut into small strips
• For dressing, you need to mix feta cheese, mayonnaise, herbs and garlic, to taste.

Feta cheese can be replaced with mozzarella.

• We dress the salad with sauce and we can serve it to the table.

This recipe will surely appeal to those who follow their figure.

What we need:

• Boiled (baked) meat - 200-300 gr.
• Medium tomatoes - 3 pcs.
• Fresh cucumbers - 2 pcs.
• A bunch of lettuce leaves or Beijing cabbage.
• A bunch of green onions.
• Soy sauce and vegetable oil - 3 tbsp each

How to cook:

1. We chop the meat into thin strips.
2. Cut tomatoes and cucumbers into cubes of the same size.
3. We tear lettuce leaves with our hands, and send our vegetables and meat to them.
4. Top with finely chopped green onions.
5. Drizzle salad with dressing of soy sauce and vegetable oil.
6. You can sprinkle sesame seeds on top.

Very tasty, spicy and unusual salad. In some recipes, it is called Chinese. The main feature of this salad is fried mushrooms.

Ingredients:

• Pulp of beef, you can also pork, -250-300 gr.;
• 2 juicy tomatoes;
• 2 medium cucumbers;
• mushrooms, which are available, in our case, these are champignons - 250-300 gr.;
• seasonings: salt, dried cilantro, or a set of seasonings for meat - to taste;
• garlic to taste, 2-3 cloves;
• soy sauce.

Cooking:

• A piece of beef, we clean it from the veins, cut it into strips, and then fry it over a fire until all the water boils away.

If the meat is tough, then it must first be cut into slices, beaten off, sprinkled with spices, pour soy sauce and let marinate for a day.

• In the meantime, wash the mushrooms, cut them into slices and fry them with meat. If desired, mushrooms can be replaced with red sweet bell pepper.
• Add soy sauce to the resulting mixture and simmer until all the liquid has evaporated.
• We cut cucumbers and tomatoes into cubes. And then in a separate bowl, mix them with meat and mushrooms.
• We cut the garlic, or pass it through a garlic press and add it to our salad.

It is best to let the salad brew for a day in the refrigerator, then it will be thoroughly saturated with soy sauce and acquire a unique taste.

A very tasty and classic oriental salad recipe with soy sauce dressing.

Salad Mass Ingredients:

• sesame seeds - 1 tsp;
• medium cucumbers - 3pcs;
• lettuce leaves - 1 bunch;
• boiled chicken breast - 350 gr.
• egg - 1 pc.;
• parsley - 1 bunch;

For refueling we need:

• sugar and salt 1 tsp each
• garlic - 1-3 cloves (to taste);
• soy sauce and vegetable oil - 3 tablespoons each;
• vinegar 6% - 1 tsp

Cooking steps:

1. Cut the chicken and cucumbers into strips.
2. We fill it with a mixture for dressing and let it brew for an hour.
3. Let's make an egg pancake. To do this, break the egg, throw finely chopped parsley into it, salt and fry on both sides.
4. In a deep bowl, lay lettuce leaves on the bottom. We spread seasoned cucumbers with chicken on them, decorate with sesame seeds and pancake straws on top.

If you do not have chicken, but have boiled beef, then you can use it.

You can make such a salad and not only for the New Year. Just a set of products that are necessary for its preparation, usually there is in every house for the New Year holidays.

What we need:

• Pastroma or balik - 250 gr;
• Eggs - 2 pcs.
• Salted or pickled cucumbers - 3 pcs.
• Green peas - 100 gr.
• Korean carrot - 150-200 gr.
• White bread croutons.
• Greens.
• Mayonnaise.

Cooking:

1. You need to make two egg pancakes. To do this, break one egg, beat it with salt and fry in a hot frying pan with butter, from 2 sides.
2. Cucumbers, smoked meat and an egg pancake are cut into thin strips, about the width of a Korean carrot.
3. Finely chop greens
4. In a separate bowl, mix the chopped ingredients and add the peas and carrots. Then dress the salad with mayonnaise.
5. We shift the salad into a salad bowl and decorate with croutons

For him it is necessary:

• iceberg lettuce - 1 bunch;
• half a jar of green peas
• one fresh cucumber;
• washed leaves;
• greens (parsley, dill);
• lemon juice and vegetable oil 1 tbsp.
• salt.

Recipe:

1. Tear lettuce leaves into large pieces.
2. Cucumber cut into thin strips and add to the leaves of the Iceberg.
3. We spread green peas to them.
4. Finely chop the mint and herbs and add to the salad.
5. We fill it with lemon juice and vegetable oil.

The salad turns out to be very satisfying, unusual and very satisfying.

Ingredients:

• Couscous - 200 gr.
• Tomato - 1 pc.
• Capers - 100 gr.
• Nuts (walnuts, pine nuts) - 50 gr.
• Greens (parsley, dill, cilantro)
• Pepper, salt
• Vegetable oil - 3 tbsp.

For cooking we need:

1. Prepare couscous. Fill it with boiling water, in a ratio of 1 to 1, add salt / pepper to taste and vegetable oil. We put on fire for 5-10 minutes, until the water evaporates. And then we transfer it to a convenient container.
2. Peel the tomato and cut into squares.
3. Finely chop the nuts and herbs.
4. Add capers, tomatoes, nuts and herbs to the couscous and season with vegetable oil.

This salad can be eaten both hot and cold.

This salad is a "lazy form" of the puff classic salad with sausage.

For him we need:

• smoked sausage or ham - 200 gr;
• tomatoes - 3 pcs.;
• hard cheese - 150 gr;
• garlic;
• mayonnaise and mustard;

Making it easy:

1. We rub the cheese on a grater.
2. We cut the sausage into strips.
3. Cut the tomatoes into cubes.
4. Grind the garlic in a garlic press.
5. We mix all the ingredients and season with mayonnaise, with the addition of mustard.

This is a classic oriental salad recipe. Making it is not difficult, but the whole family will surely appreciate its unusual taste.

Ingredients:

• Boiled smoked sausage - 200 gr.
• Tomatoes - 2 pcs.
• Garlic - to taste
• Boiled eggs - 3 pcs.
• Cheese - 100 gr.
• Mayonnaise

The salad does not need to be mixed, it is made puff.

You need to lay it out in layers in the following sequence:

1. sausage, grated or diced;
2. mayonnaise;
3. diced tomatoes;
4. grated garlic with mayonnaise;
5. boiled eggs, finely chopped;
6. mayonnaise;

At the end, you can sprinkle with grated cheese and decorate the salad with dill or parsley leaves.

According to this recipe, zucchini are very tender and spicy.

• zucchini - 0.5 kg;
• olive oil - 1 tbsp;
• liquid honey - 1 tsp;
• wine vinegar - ¼ tsp;
• garlic - 2 cloves;
• parsley and dill;
• salt or soy sauce.

The cooking process will take a minimum of time:

1. Peel the zucchini and cut into thin slices.
2. We make the sauce from a mixture of oil, honey, vinegar, chopped garlic and herbs.
3. Pour the resulting mixture of zucchini and marinate them for 6 hours in the refrigerator.

This salad is very common in the countries of Central Asia. You don't need expensive ingredients to make it, it's quick to make, and it's very satisfying.

We will need:

• chickpeas - 100 gr.;
• medium tomatoes - 2 pcs.;
• onion - 1 pc.;
• green cilantro;
• vegetable oil - 2 tbsp
• spices (turmeric, ground coriander, salt, paprika).

You need to prepare it like this:

1. Boil the chickpeas for an hour, then drain the water and put it in a salad bowl.
2. Cut the onion into half rings, and the tomatoes into slices.
3. We finely chop the greens.
4. Mix all vegetables with peas. For refueling we need a "special" oil. To do this, pour it into a hot pan, add spices and garlic, and after 3 minutes, you can season the salad with it.

A simple Chinese-style salad with a sweet and sour taste and a very attractive smell.

To prepare it, you need to purchase:

• Beijing cabbage - 3 leaves.
• Celery stalk - 3 pcs.
• Small red bell pepper - 1 pc.
• Onion - 1 pc.
• Sesame oil - 3 tbsp.
• Soy sauce - 3 tbsp
• Honey - 2 tsp
• sesame seed
• ¼ lemon.

Cooking method:

1. Shred cabbage and pepper into small strips.
2. Cut the celery stalks and onions into small half rings.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the ingredients for the sauce: sesame oil and seed, soy sauce, honey, lemon. Mix it all well and dress our salad. Enough 3-4 tablespoons.

Fish is the most common type of meat in the East, especially China. It is not only tasty, but also very useful.

To prepare a traditional oriental fish salad, we need:

• small tomatoes (you can cherry) - 8 pcs.;
• one medium cucumber;
• half a red bell pepper;
• fish or shrimp - 50 gr.;
• lettuce leaves.

For sauce:

• vegetable oil and soy sauce - 3 tbsp each
• juice of ¼ lemon.

Step-by-step instruction:

1. Lay the lettuce leaves on the bottom of the salad bowl.
2. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half, and the cucumber and pepper into strips. Transfer the vegetables to a salad bowl.
3. If you have salted fish, then we simply cut it into cubes, and if we boil the shrimp. Then put on top of the salad.
4. Dress the salad with a mixture of lemon juice, soy sauce and vegetable oil.

Such a recipe turns out to be spicy, spicy and exquisite in an oriental way. It meets all the canons of Eastern cuisine.

To prepare it, we need:

• Zucchini - 1 piece
• Radish - 200 gr.
• Small cobs of corn - 100 gr.
• Ginger - ¼ root
• Chili pepper - 1 piece
• Garlic to taste
• Shiitake mushrooms - 100 gr.
• Brussels sprouts - 100 gr.
• Pakchoi cabbage - 3 stalks
• Sesame oil and fish sauce - 2 tsp

Recipe:

• In a separate saucepan, boil the radishes and Brussels sprouts, literally 5 minutes, so that they become a little softer.
• Then we take a large frying pan, turn on the fire to the maximum, add sesame oil and throw in our vegetables in the following sequence:
  • coarsely chopped shiitake;
  • finely chopped ginger;
  • garlic, cut into rings;
  • zucchini, cut into long slices;
  • whole cobs of dwarf corn;
  • pakchoi cabbage
  • boiled radishes and Brussels sprouts;
• Pour all this with fish sauce and sprinkle with sesame seeds

To paraphrase the words of the hero of a famous film, we can say about oriental cuisine that this is a delicate matter. It is very different from what we are used to. Sometimes dishes contain very exotic ingredients, such as cobra fillet, antelope meat or grasshoppers. About what is oriental cuisine, about its some characteristic features and will be discussed in this article.

Eastern cuisine

Oriental cuisine is the common name for gastronomic traditions, which includes the cuisines of the peoples of Muslim, Asian, Arab countries, the states of the Balkan Peninsula and the Caucasus. This term is relative, because in addition to general trends, there are differences, sometimes very significant.
For example, in most countries in the region, lamb is preferred, while in China and Japan, the emphasis is on seafood and fish. Oriental cuisine has its own characteristics, the main of which are the following:

• from meat preference is given to lamb;
• their cereals - rice;
• there are no soups in the understanding of Europeans;
• mandatory presence of hot spices;
• among drinks, the most common are fermented milk products, oriental coffee, tea;
• the presence of a dessert based on nuts and dried fruits (baklava, sherbet, Turkish delight) and unleavened lavash bread.

Uncharacteristic for this type of cuisine (with some exceptions) are the following products:

• pork and beef,
• cheese and eggs
• fish and wine.

Oriental cuisine

Meat dishes, cereals, milk are very common in oriental cuisine. A special place is given to flour products, pastries with unsweetened fillings. These include:

• belyashi and samsa;
• echpochmaki and peremyachi,
• bekkens and kystybys.

The filling for them is meat, rice, vegetables. Shurpa is most often found as first courses in the menu of oriental cuisine. Meat cereal soups and noodles are also popular. In total, there are up to eighty types of soups. It is impossible not to recall our favorite pilaf (about a hundred varieties), shish kebab (about thirty) and kebab.
A special aroma and unique taste are given to dishes due to the abundance of seasonings and vegetables in them. There are dishes in oriental cuisine, the preparation of which is typical at a certain time of the year. For example, in spring, the menu includes:

• radish salad dressed with sour cream;
• samsa and sumalak with herbs;
• soup with mint.

In the summer, you can treat yourself to a shish kebab with tomatoes, seasoned with suzma salad, or sour milk soup generously sprinkled with herbs. Hearty pilafs, post-dumba, and fried soup are popular in winter.

Salads

A special place in the menu of oriental cuisine is given to various types of salads. They always add spices and spices that are characteristic of a particular area. They are usually seasoned with lemon juice and olive oil. In some areas, fermented milk products are added to them.
An interesting variety of food is oriental warm dishes, i.e. those salads that are served warm. They may well replace the side dish. Tabbouleh salad is very popular in Arab countries. It can be easily prepared in our conditions. For this you will need:

• bulgur or couscous (in extreme cases, they can be replaced with millet);
• tomatoes;
• parsley, green onions and fresh mint;
• freshly squeezed lemon juice;
• salt, ground pepper;
• olive oil.

You can find step-by-step instructions for its preparation on any culinary electronic resource. Serve it with a barbecue or as an independent dish.

Meat dishes

As mentioned above, one of the main features of the cuisine of the countries of the East is the use of a large number of hot seasonings and spices in cooking. To this list should also be added meat dishes, the preparation of which is carried out using an open fire. The peculiarities of the geographical position of the countries belonging to the eastern and Asian regions, due to the practical absence of seafood on their table.
The most common oriental dishes prepared from meat include:

• kebab,
• shawarma,
• lula kebab,
• dolma,
• manti.

For the preparation of oriental meat dishes, lamb is most often used, which gives them a special characteristic taste. Together with them, a lot of greens and a variety of vegetables are served, as well as corn (wheat) cakes or pita bread.