Uzbek Cooking with Damira: Taste of Workshop

Damira hails from Samarkand, the crossroads of East and West, and a city whose inhabitants are known for their warm and generous hospitality. You’ll appreciate this reputation as soon as Damira welcomes you into her home with a hot cup of green tea and an assortment of homemade traditional snacks, which could include pastries filled with meat and vegetables, freshly baked cinnamon or lemon cakes, and dried fruit from Uzbekistan. For Damira, food, family and culture are inseparable. She fell in love with cooking as a child on her grandmother’s farm, helping to prepare meals for her large family (including 33 grandchildren!).

Damira’s love of history and storytelling will shine as she teaches you to use traditional Uzbek cooking tools and explains the origins of her rustic, flavorful dishes. A retired cardiologist, Damira will also share the health benefits of the fresh herbs, vegetables and spices that color her cooking. An occasional numerologist and tarot card enthusiast, Damira might even tell your fortune. You’ll leave Damira’s home inspired to share her stories and cook her food, which we’ll make easy with a packet of recipes and a shopping guide to her favorite markets.

Menu

• Barak (Beef Dumplings)
• Delicate handmade dumplings (both fried and boiled) filled with a mixture of ground beef and onion and served with sour cream.
• Achik Chuchuk (Tomato and Red Onion Salad)
• A classic Uzbek salad of thinly sliced tomatoes and red onion with a dash of cayenne.
• Salat Bahor (Spring Salad)
• A fresh, crunchy salad of shredded cabbage, cucumbers, dill, and garlic, tossed with a gentle apple cider vinegar dressing.