Turquoise domes of mosques, caravan – sarayas decorated with tiles and openwork walls: Samarkand resembles an open-air museum.
Thanks to the financial support from the City Hall of Tashkent, the group of young people of the “Polish Class” Association had the opportunity to learn about this great heritage of the East.
Listening to amazing stories about Samarkand, it seemed as if the images of events from distant years appeared before us: when the ruler of the great state was Amir Timur; when the army of Genghis Khan made its conquests; when people admired the beauty of the huge starry sky, thinking about the structure of the universe and making scientific discoveries; when the legends that survive to this day were created.
Here is one of them:
Before the next fight, Amir Timur called his cook and told him to come up with such a dish that the soldiers could satisfy their hunger with in just a small portion, and after a long time it would be possible for them to do without food and water.
The cook thought for a long time and came up with the idea of cooking rice with carrots and meat. They served this dish without stirring it, laying it on a large plate in layers: the first layer is rice, then carrots, and finally meat. Amir Timur liked the dish so much that he ordered it to be delivered to other cities. That dish was pilaf.
An interesting fact is that during the trip, the pilaf cooled down and in order to heat it up, it had to be mixed. That is why in other cities they have tried a thoroughly mixed pilaf, and there they believe that it should be so.
Therefore, the inhabitants of Samarkand will be offended if they are given a mixed pilaf – it means that it is not fresh.
We also learned that when welcoming guests, setting a rich table with various dishes, according to tradition, the latter serves pilaf, and it is the last dish of any feast. If the pilaf has been given, it means it is time to go home soon. And that's what happened: after trying a real Samarkand pilaf, we set off on our way back!
