10 MAIN dishes of YAKUTIA (PHOTOS)
What is there to try in Russia's largest and coldest region? Yakut cuisine actually offers many interesting dishes made from northern fish, meat and milk. Spices and seasoning are rarely used there – just salt and pepper!
1. ‘Indigirka’ salad
One of the most famous dishes is a salad made from chopped fresh-frozen fish with onions, sunflower oil, salt and pepper. It’s named after the Indigirka River.
The key here is the fish. Typically, it’s broad whitefish (‘chir’) or muksun, which live in the Arctic waters of Yakutia. The salad is also often garnished with caviar or berries, such as cloudberries.
2. ‘Kyorchekh’
Whipped village-style heavy cream with frozen berries (such as lingonberries, blueberries and/or cranberries) and sugar. Sour cream can be used instead of cream – it's a matter of taste. Traditionally, ‘kyorchekh’ is whipped with a wooden whisk (called a ‘ytyk’), not a mixer.
3. ‘Stroganina’
This dish is composed of thinly sliced fresh-frozen fish. Usually, broad whitefish (‘chir’), nelma or muksun are preferred. It’s served as an appetizer with salt and pepper. ‘Stroganina’ can also be made out of meat – typically venison or foal (horse). However, it must be eaten immediately, so it doesn't have time to thaw.
4. ‘Tansyk’
Yakut cuisine has many recipes with foal meat, but perhaps one of the most unusual is ‘tansyk’. Frozen liver is cut into pieces and mixed with fat and onions.
5. ‘Khaan’
Yakut blood sausage is made from fresh horse or beef blood, milk and onions. This mixture is stuffed into intestines and boiled. ‘Khaan’ has a delicate, subtle flavor.
6. ‘Chokhoon’
Another popular Yakut dessert. ‘Chokhoon’ is a frozen custard made from butter whipped with milk and berries, typically lingonberries. It can be eaten on its own or with flatbread. Yakut butter is made from the milk of local breed cows and it’s distinguished by its high fat content, increased protein and vitamin levels.
7. ‘Is Miine’
A soup made from horse or beef offal, thickened with a flour-based dressing and served with green onions. One of the features of Yakut cuisine is that nothing goes to waste; everything from the animal is used, not just the meat.
8. Yakut pancakes
These small, thin pancakes are made out of dough with milk. They’re typically served with butter, sour cream or jam. Pancakes are one of the traditional dishes you can try during ‘Ysyakh’, the main Yakut holiday.
9. ‘Salamat’
This is a thick porridge based on milk, butter and flour. Sometimes herbs, mushrooms and meat are added. The taste is reminiscent of a thick gravy. ‘Salamat’ is considered by many a festive and ritual dish. A similar milk-and-flour porridge exists in Buryat cuisine, as well.
10. ‘Kumys’
This is a fermented dairy drink made from mare's milk. It has a refreshing, sweet-and-sour taste and a slight fizz. Unlike the kumys of other cultures, the Yakut version is less strong. Since mares are only milked in the summer, fresh kumys is a seasonal drink, also closely associated with the ‘Ysyakh’ festival.
