A few years ago, Lilian met Celebrity Chef Yotam Ottolenghi at a lunch and showed him her collection of Bukharian recipes. He was so impressed and inspired, he wrote his take on her Pilav in the Guardian (On 20th February, Lilian is teaching this same recipe live.)
Lilian is singlehandedly working to preserve Bukharian recipes that have been tried and tested for generations now.
Bukharian Jews are descendants of Jewish communities from a region in Uzbekistan who now mostly reside in Israel.
Lilian’s story is the story of the community; her father was born in Samarkand, then moved from Russia to live in Israel. Her mother was born in Jerusalem, where Lilian’s family is from.
In the old days, before the Sabbath on Friday, the women collectively made the dough, put them in the communal oven, as families sat around chatting, gossiping and eating. This spirit of family and entertaining is what Bukharian cooking captures.
“We lived as a family of seven. I had three sisters, my mum, and dad, and we lived with my uncle and aunt. So it was very much my mother cooking for a large family.”
Lilian’s training in the cuisine comes from watching her mum in the kitchen from a distance—because kids weren’t allowed inside.
During that time, it was always a little bit of this, a little bit of that. I think the mothers wanted to protect it. They used to put memorial candles in a glass, and that was their measuring cup. They used to say a memorial glass of rice. Nobody measured anything. It was all by eye. I realised if the next generation is going to get that authentic recipe. They need to have the recipe that's tried and tested.
A few years ago, Lilian realised nobody had written her mother’s recipes. She tried to get them from her, but her mother was protecting these recipes. She wouldn’t give them away. With a lot of trying, and more trying, she collected these recipes and put them together in a book named after her mother: Miriam’s Table.
Lilian’s mother died six years ago. But she continues touching people’s lives through food, through her recipes.
These recipes now bring people together. Lilian found that even though Bukharian people are scattered over the world but they recognise these recipes, this food and its smells and tastes.
“We were all bought up with the same food. It was the trademark, the women knew of these foods because it was handed down from past generations. It's wonderful. And I want to have that every time I make a Bukharian dish, I want to have that as a memory.”
We asked Lilian what she’d recommend to give you a glimpse of Bukharian culture, and she curated this list:
Movie: There's a Soviet comedy from the 1940s called Nasreddin in Bukhara. More recently, there's also Joanna Lumley's Silk Road Adventure, part of which was filmed in Bukhara.
Music: The wonderful Oud player called Azamat Hasanov:
(P.S Lilian wanted to make sure you had a real Bukharian experience so she even got input from the Uzbek ambassador.)
She also recommends checking out work by Yotam Ottolenghi, a book called “The Silk Road” “and all the colour silks and blue tiles of Uzbekistan”.
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Ottolenghi once said to Lilian: “you've got to preserve these recipes”.
She continues to follow this advice, working tirelessly to preserve and share the treasures of Bukharian cuisine.
The recipe (takes 40 min, serves 4)
Lilian choose a Friday family favourite: yellow-coloured rice tinged with turmeric and cumin. It reminds her of the smell of garlic wafting from the mouths of elders in the family.
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium-size onion, chopped
200g carrots cut into small cubes
1 tbsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
500ml vegetable stock
250g of basmati rice washed and soaked overnight in hot water, salt, and a teaspoon of lemon juice
400g tin of chickpeas
Salt and pepper
6 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
125 ml olive oil
Chopped coriander
Lemon wedges
Steps:
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large heavy based saucepan and add the onion. Allow to cook until translucent, add the carrots, turmeric, and cumin and stir to combine.
Add the drained chickpeas with a small amount of the liquid of the chickpeas and allow to cook for a few minutes, stirring so as not burn the vegetables.
Drain the rice and add to the saucepan and mix. Add the vegetable stock, salt and pepper, making sure you have covered the rice and vegetables. Cook on a low heat until the rice is cooked (approx. 10 minutes) and gently lift the rice as it cooks to stop it from sticking to the bottom of the saucepan.
When the rice is cooked, place a tea towel over the saucepan, and cover with the lid and cook for further 10 minutes, then leave covered.
Place the crushed garlic in a small, heatproof jug. Add 125ml of olive oil and stand in a pan of hot water for 5 to 10 minutes.
Just before serving the rice, remove the jug from the pan and add the garlic oil to the rice. Fluff up rice and serve on a platter with chopped coriander.
Eat, enjoy and tag us @joindiaspo