Kuyrdak

Ingredients

• Tail fat150 g
• Mutton — diced400 g
• Liver300 g
• Heart300 g
• Kidneys200 g
• Onions4
• Potatoes600 g
• Garlic5 clove
• Cumin seed1 tsp
• Herbs30 g
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Soak the kidneys in cold water for an hour, changing it twice, and trim out every duct.

   20 min

2. 2

   Render the tail fat in the cauldron to cracklings and lift them out with a slotted spoon.

   12 min

3. 3

   Sear the mutton hard to a dark crust, five minutes.

   7 min

4. 4

   Add the heart and fry eight minutes more, stirring.

   10 min

5. 5

   Add the kidneys, then the liver three minutes later, and fry three more; the liver must not overcook.

   8 min

6. 6

   Add the diced onion and potato, season, add the cumin and cook covered for fifteen minutes.

   18 min

7. 7

   Stir in the garlic and herbs, take it off the heat and serve straight from the cauldron with flatbread.

   6 min

About the dish

Kuyrdak was made on slaughter day from what would not keep: liver, heart, lungs and kidneys. It is a dish of necessity that became festive.

The ingredients go in by cooking time: fat and meat first, then heart, then kidney, and liver last. Liver needs three minutes, so nothing can go in all at once.

No water is added. Kuyrdak is a fried dish rather than a stew, and liquid appearing means the cauldron is not hot enough.

Worth knowing

• — The kidneys must be soaked. Without it their smell runs through the whole dish and makes it uneatable.
• — The liver goes in last and fries three minutes. Overcooked it turns grainy and bitter, and there is no rescuing it.
• — The cauldron has to stay very hot throughout. If liquid appears, raise the heat and drive it off.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

720 kcal

Protein

48 g

Fat

44 g

Carbs

32 g

More from Kazakhstan

• Beshbarmak — Boiled meat on sheets of pasta with an onion broth called sorpa. The centrepiece of a Kazakh table.
• Baursak — Squares of yeast dough deep-fried into hollow puffs. The bread of the tea table and of every feast.
• Shelpek — Thin flatbreads fried in oil, the memorial bread of Kazakh tradition.