Tatar cuisine
However, culinary influences and greater variety of products have not changed the basic ethnic features of Tatar cuisine but have instead made it more diverse.
The location of the Tatars at the border of two geographical zones—the northern forests and the southern steppe—and also in the basin of two large rivers—the Volga and the Kama—encouraged trade and considerably enriched the national cuisine.
Fruits and vegetables were much less developed in the region's agriculture, although the relative importance of the potato began to increase from the end of the 19th century.
Local vegetables included onions, carrot, horseradish, turnips, pumpkins, beets and, in small quantities, also cucumbers and cabbage.
Fruits were mainly grown in orchards on the right bank of the Volga, including local apple, cherries, raspberries, and currants.
A festive and to a certain extent ceremonial dish for the Tatar is pilmän (pelmeni in Russian), a kind of dumpling filled with meat and always served in a clear soup.
Meat or chicken boiled in the broth is cut into small pieces and served as a main course, sometimes quickly fried in oil with onions, carrots, and bell peppers.
Tutırma, an intestine filled with finely cut or chopped liver and millet or rice, is another combination of meat and grains.
Qabartma is a kind of yeast dough pancake that may be prepared in different ways: baked in a pan in front of an open oven fire, or fried in boiling oil in a cauldron.
Bliny-style pancakes are made from yeast batter using different types of flour (oats, peas, buckwheat, millet, wheat, or mixed).
Bäleş made from unleavened or fermented dough is filled with pieces of fatty meat (mutton, beef, goose, duck, etc.)
Another traditional Tatar pie is öçpoçmaq, a triangular shell originally filled with a mixture of fatty meat and onions.
Pärämäç (peremech) is a round-shaped minced meat pie, fried and served hot sprinkled with melted butter.
Bäkkän (or täkä), particularly widespread in rural areas, is an individual oval or crescent-shaped pie (like large pirozhki), filled with various vegetables (mainly pumpkin, also carrots or cabbage).
The Tatar cuisine offers a variety of baked sweets, usually served with tea: çelpek (deep-fried pancakes), qatlama (a baked roll with a variety of fillings – poppy seeds, sesame seeds, qort, nuts), qoş tele ("bird's tongue", deep-fried squares or diamonds of unleavened dough), lawaş (fried dumplings filled with raisins), paştet (sweet pies filled with jam or dried fruits) etc.
Çäkçäk (chakchak, chak-chak, or chek-chek) is a mound of honey-drenched sweet pastry balls, common among all Turkic peoples.
Äyrän (ayran) is a dairy drink made by diluting qatıq (katyk, sour milk) with cold water.
In the 19th and early 20th century it was a purely ceremonial drink, served to wedding guests as the "bride's sherbet" in the bridegroom's home.
Commercially manufactured kitchen utensils, including metallic and enameled pots and pans, china, and glassware, became increasingly accepted starting in the middle of the 19th century.
The introduction of modern gas stoves and microwave ovens has led to the adoption of new cooking techniques, mainly increasing the popularity of frying (meat, fish, vegetables).
The opening up of international trade has given access to fruits and vegetables that were previously regarded as exotic, including bananas, kiwi, mangoes, and eggplant.
