Turkmenistan: Ishleki
Salam! To start this project, I am traveling (in my kitchen) to Turkmenistan.
Turkmenistan’s national dish, Ishleki (Ichleki), is a thin, round meat pie with a double crust. I found this recipe through Piquant Post; then, I found another version on Turkmen Kitchen that I will try next time.
Authentic Ishleki is baked while buried under hot sand. I found this wonderful video showing the process. It’s a shame there are no subtitles, but it’s still very lovely and informative to watch.
Instead of trying to roll dough into a perfect circle, I’ve learned it’s much easier to roll my dough out and then use a knife to clean up the edges and cut it into a circle shape. I thought this might be cheating, but that’s what the gentleman does in the video!
Changes I Made
I used ground turkey instead of beef or lamb.
I sprinkled it with parsley and served it with hummus and lemon wedges.
The dough was quite tough. Next time, I will knead it a little less, roll the dough out very thin, and trim the excess crust.
Making dough from scratch always makes a mess in the kitchen, but overall, I found this recipe surprisingly quick and easy. You would never know it, as the final presentation was pretty impressive. I was so excited to put this beauty in the oven:
