Mashkhurda

the mung and rice soup of Uzbekistan: mash simmered slow with mutton, onion, and cumin until the beans burst and thicken the pot, finished at the table with a spoonful of soured milk

Origin: Uzbekistan

From the journey of Mung Bean.

The mung bean travelled north-west out of India along the passes into Bactria and Sogdiana on the roads that carried everything else, and it kept a single name the whole way: mash, shared by Persian, Tajik, Uzbek, and the Turkic languages from the Indus to Anatolia, which is a fair sign that the bean made the journey once and settled. What is striking about this westward transmission is how little travelled with it. Neither sprouting nor starch extraction, the two Chinese techniques that define mung cookery to the east, has any traditional foothold anywhere between the Indus and the Caspian. From India to Uzbekistan the bean is simply boiled, and what Central Asia does with it is put it in the pot with rice and a great deal of fat-tailed sheep. Mashkhurda is the everyday winter food of the Uzbek and Tajik table, cooked in the same cast-iron kazan as plov and by much the same logic: meat and onion browned hard first, then the grain and pulse, then long slow cooking until everything collapses together. It is served thick, and the finishing spoonful of suzma or qatiq, the strained soured milk of the region, stirred in at the bowl, is not a garnish but a structural part of the dish, cutting the mutton fat with acidity.

Ingredients

Soup

250 g whole green mung beans (mash)
500 g lamb or mutton shoulder on the bone, cut into large pieces
3 tbsp rendered lamb fat or neutral oil
2 whole large onions, sliced
1 whole carrot, cut into thick batons
3 whole tomatoes, chopped, or 2 tbsp tomato purée
120 g short-grain rice, rinsed
2 litre water or light lamb stock

Spice

2 tsp cumin seeds, lightly crushed
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp sweet paprika
2 tsp fine salt, or to taste
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

To Serve

250 g suzma, qatiq, or thick strained yoghurt, to serve
1 handful dill and coriander, chopped, to serve

Method

Rinse the mung beans and soak them in cold water for 2 hours. Drain. Pat the lamb thoroughly dry.
Heat the fat in a heavy casserole or kazan until shimmering and brown the lamb hard in batches until deeply coloured on all sides. Lift out and set aside.
Lower the heat, add the onions to the same fat, and cook for 10 to 12 minutes until deep golden and collapsing. Add the carrot for 3 minutes, then the tomatoes, and cook until they break down.
Return the lamb, add the cumin, coriander, paprika, and black pepper and stir for a minute. Add the drained mung beans and the water, bring to the boil, skim, then simmer covered for 45 minutes.
Stir in the rinsed rice and the salt and simmer for a further 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding hot water as needed, until the beans have burst, the rice is soft, and the whole is thick. Serve in deep bowls with a large spoonful of soured milk stirred in at the table and a scattering of herbs.

Notes

Fat-tailed mutton is the authentic meat and gives the dish its characteristic richness; lamb shoulder is the practical substitute, and beef shin works though it needs a longer cook. Suzma is strained soured milk, close to a very thick yoghurt or a labneh, and is sold by Central Asian and Turkish grocers; thick Greek yoghurt let down with a little water is a fair stand-in, and it must be genuinely sour to do its job. The soup is markedly better on the second day and keeps four days refrigerated, thickening to near-solidity; let it down with hot water or stock. A drier version, cooked with less liquid until it is absorbed entirely, is mashkichiri, a mung pilaf eaten with the same soured milk. For a version without meat, use a well-flavoured vegetable stock and a good deal more cumin, and finish with a browned-butter or oil tempering.

The Gastrographer

Name: Mashkhurda
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Total time: 3 h 50 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Uzbekistan
Ingredients: 250 g whole green mung beans (mash); 500 g lamb or mutton shoulder on the bone, cut into large pieces; 3 tbsp rendered lamb fat or neutral oil; 2 whole large onions, sliced; 1 whole carrot, cut into thick batons; 3 whole tomatoes, chopped, or 2 tbsp tomato purée; 120 g short-grain rice, rinsed; 2 litre water or light lamb stock; 2 tsp cumin seeds, lightly crushed; 1 tsp ground coriander; 1 tsp sweet paprika; 2 tsp fine salt, or to taste; 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper; 250 g suzma, qatiq, or thick strained yoghurt, to serve; 1 handful dill and coriander, chopped, to serve

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control