I come from Azerbaijan, an ancient nation on the fiery coasts of the Caspian Sea. The sea coast is literally fiery, boasting some serious crude oil and gas reserves, with the flames naturally bursting from under the ground in certain places. It is for this reason that Azerbaijan was once a center of Zoroastrianism, and the Zoroastrian legacy lives with us to this day through the spring holiday Novruz, or “New Year” in Persian, celebrated on the spring equinox.
While the nation is what you would describe as secular Muslim, this pre-Muslim holiday is still the highest holiday in the calendar, and is the equivalent of the Christian Easter in celebrating Nature’s rebirth.
Azerbaijanis celebrate it by decorating their homes with the platters of sprouted wheat seed (basically pet grass) and a luscious feast featuring some of the nations’ favorite staples – meaty saffron pilafs and delicious middle-Eastern-style sweets, making it a bit of a Mardi Gras as well.
Here is a list of posts I wrote about Azerbaijan, Novruz, and a couple of traditional dishes that accompany it:
Traditional Azerbaijani Fruit and Chicken Pilaf
Novruz Bayraminiz Mubarek! – Happy Spring!
Photo above by Seymur Seyidbeyli, used here by permission.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi, Sofya! I recently stumbled across the link to you and all of your amazing goodies, while I was searching for a good borscht recipe. Wow… what a treat! But first, let me say, your children are beautiful and it certainly looks like you all enjoy an amazing way of life! There is nothing like growing up on a farm… yes, living on a farm is hard work, but your children will reap the benefits for years and years to come. I grew up on a farm in the hills of upper east Tennessee and the memories I have of farm life are priceless! Little did I know how valuable my farming education would be in the years to come. Although the last few chapters of my life have taken me thousands of miles away the farm life I loved in Tennessee, the lessons I learned there have helped me adapt to places I never dreamed about. In the last several years, I have been blessed with the opportunity (and pleasure) to live in and travel to various countries across Europe and The Middle East and I have thoroughly enjoyed sampling the different cuisines along the way. In my search for a “good… real Russian Borscht” recipe, the photo of your borscht caught my eye… it reminded me of the borscht I had totally fallen in love with and enjoyed the five years we lived in Moscow. So, of course I followed the photo to the recipe and then thru the recipe, I found you and your wonderful web-site and blog. If your authentic Russian recipes weren’t enough, many of your other recipes have even more relevance to me now… we (my husband and two of our children) left Moscow in October 2008 and moved to your homeland in Baku, Azerbaijan. We are really enjoying our time in Baku but, I’m ashamed to admit, after four years I still do not know that much about the cuisine of Azerbaijan. Finding your recipes and commentaries of the traditional dishes has been the highlight of my day and probably many more days to follow! I have already started on a BIG pot of borscht, my beef shanks have been simmered and the pot is cooling on the back porch. (I’m currently in Tennessee visiting family and at 40* the back porch is perfect for cooling stock before putting it in the fridge!) I will get up early tomorrow and roast my beets and then assemble all of the other ingredients and wait anxiously while it all comes together. If I sound excited, I am! I love borscht… it is like a magic elixir than can take the chill off even the coldest of Moscow days and put a smile on your face at the same time! Thank you so much for sharing your life and recipes through your blog. I’m sure I will be dropping in quite often to see what is going on in your corner of the world. Happy Blessings to you and your family!
Hi Mikki, I am so glad you are enjoying the blog, and, more importantly, my hometown. If you haven’t had the chance to do it yet, the coolest food-related thing to do is to grab an Azeri-speaking companion (a native) and head to the Teze Bazar (the central “new” farmer’s market that’s near the US embassy there) and shop around. As a child, I especially enjoyed the following treats – turshu (I “think” that’s the name) – plum fruit leather, wonderfully tart (which may or may not appeal to an American child – I make a ton of fruit leather here in Wisconsin and it’s all sweetened with honey), churchkhella – sausage-shaped grape-juice taffy-type-thing with hazelnuts, roasted chestnuts (seriously, take advantage of those by buying them and slitting the tops and roasting them stirring constantly in a clean skillet), and those homemade, bright-red rooster-shaped suckers (lollipops meaning), which I *just* learned how to reproduce at home a few days ago – so much better than the stuff they give you at the bank. I also loved and adored doner-kebabs (although you can’t be sure where the meat’s coming from – but I’ve *never* gotten sick) – the ultimate street food – so if you trust the meat source, by all means have TONS. Kebabs are amazing too – especially sturgeon ones (to my palate), definitely take the advantage of caviar (I would only buy it sealed in a can, not in bulk on teze bazar), pilafs are outrageously good (I have an approximate recipe here), and the sweets – baklava especially (so very different from what we find here in the US) – I have a recipe for that too. Buy some shor – soft, spreadable sheep cheese grandmas sell – spread some inside lavash, roll it up, and it makes an amazing snack. All of the homemade yogurt at the market is also marvelous (not like store stuff at all), and dovga is easy to make (although again, it doesn’t always appeal to the American palate). Do you like the Russian potato salad, Olivier they call it? I’ve got a recipe for that too on this blog. Just talking about all that makes me ache!