In Tatar cuisine, you can find a wide variety of dishes. This is due to the fact that it is inextricably linked with the culture, traditions of the people and their way of life. Tatar dishes are hearty, built on an interesting combination of products. They are easy to make and delicious in taste. In this article, we will consider the best Tatar dishes (recipes with photos will be attached).
The formation of culinary in Tatarstan
Culinary traditions have evolved over centuries. Most of the dishes are borrowed from the nearest neighboring countries. As a legacy from the Turkic tribes, the Tatars inherited recipes for cooking dishes from flour and dairy products (for example, kabartma). Pilaf, sherbet, halva were borrowed from Uzbek cuisine; from Chinese - dumplings, as well as methods of brewing tea; from Tajik - baklava.
Tatars have long been engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry, which contributed to the predominance of flour, meat, dairy products, cereals, legumes and various cereals in national dishes.
Tatars have their own food prohibitions. For example, according to Sharia, it is forbidden to eat pork. The most used meat in cooking is lamb. You can also use young beef. Tatars are also engaged in horse breeding, not only for agricultural purposes, but also for the manufacture of sausages (kazylyk). Horse meat is used dried, boiled and salted.
The most common Tatar broths and soups (ashlar, shurpa), meat, lean and dairy dishes. Their names are determined by the name of the seasoned products (vegetables, flour products, cereals). 
Among the drinks, one can single out katyk, ayran and tea. In the national culture of the Tatars, there is the following tradition: when a person comes to visit, to show his respect, he is offered hot strong black tea with sweets and fresh pastries.
It is worth noting such a feature of this cuisine - all dishes can be divided into liquid hot and dough products and delicacies that are served with tea. Hot soups or broths are of paramount importance. They are an indispensable part of the meal in the house. Depending on the broth on which these Tatar dishes are cooked, soups are divided into meat, dairy and vegetarian, and according to the products they are seasoned with, into vegetable, flour, cereals.
Soup with flour dressing, namely noodles (tokmach), is very famous in Tatarstan.
Azu in Tatar
Ingredients:
Wash the beef and pat dry. Cut into sticks two centimeters wide and four centimeters long. Fry in a well-heated pan. Then put the meat in a saucepan, salt and pepper. Add fried onion and tomato paste (you can use fresh tomatoes). Pour in the broth and boil for thirty minutes. Cut potatoes into large chunks. Fry until half cooked. Put in a saucepan with meat, add finely chopped pickles. Simmer everything until it's ready. Serve this first course sprinkled with finely chopped garlic and fresh herbs.
Kazan pilaf
During dinner parties, this dish is served.
Ingredients:
Sort the rice, rinse several times with water. Pour into a saucepan and fill with tap water. Cook until half cooked. Melt the lard in a cauldron, put the boiled meat cut into small pieces. Use lamb, beef or young horse meat, as you wish. Then put the carrots cut into circles and the finely chopped onion on the meat. Put half-cooked rice on vegetables, add a little broth and, without stirring, put on low heat. Simmer no more than two hours. Before serving, add raisins to the pilaf, which must first be steamed in boiling water.
Tatar dishes from dough (cooking recipes)
Tatarstan is famous for baking from yeast, sweet, rich, sour). The most famous Tatar dishes are kystyby, balesh, echpochmak, gubadia, dumplings, baursak and much more. 
Not a single wedding, solemn reception and holiday among the Tatars is complete without a national delicacy called chak-chak. This sweet dish is made from small strips made from pastry. Blind them with honey. This dish is the "calling card" of Tatarstan.
Among the Tatars, bread is considered a sacred product; not a single festive or everyday meal can do without it.
Also on the table you can see a huge variety of products made from unleavened dough. They bake buns, cakes, pies, treats for tea and other Tatar dishes from it.
Kystyby - fragrant cakes
Ingredients:
Peel the potatoes well from the skin, cut into large sticks. Put in a saucepan, cover with water and salt. Boil until potatoes are fully cooked. Then drain the water and mash with a masher. Peel the onion, chop finely. Heat up the pan and fry the onion until golden brown. Add the hot milk, the remaining butter and the fried onion to the potatoes. Mix everything well.
Dust the table with flour and lay out the dough. Roll up the sausage and cut with a knife into thick slices, which are then rolled into large cakes. Fry them in a hot pan on both sides (about three minutes).
Put the potato filling on one half of the tortilla, cover with the other half. They should be filled while still hot. Be careful not to get burned! Before serving, brush the surface of the dish with butter.
Dough preparation
You will need:
- kefir - half a glass;
- salt - a pinch;
- baking powder - one tsp;
- margarine - 50 grams;
- sugar - one tsp;
- flour - five hundred grams.
Start kneading the dough. Mix all the ingredients listed above in a bowl, except for the flour. Sift it. Then add flour gradually. Knead the dough until it stops sticking to your hands. Cover with a towel and let stand for twenty minutes.
How to cook the oldest dish of Tatarstan - balish
The main ingredient is meat. As described above, Muslims do not add pork to Tatar dishes. Balish is cooked with lamb.
Ingredients:
Cooking method
First, knead the dough and separate the fourth part from it. Roll out the remaining piece (thickness - no more than five millimeters). Prepare the meat: rinse, remove the bone and cut into medium sticks. Peel the potatoes and cut into the same pieces. Mix meat with potatoes, add finely chopped onion, salt and pepper according to your taste. Put in the oil and mix everything. Transfer the prepared filling to the pan on top of the dough. Form a slide and gather the edges of the dough. Roll out a smaller piece of dough and cover the balish with it. Seal the edges, make a hole in the middle of the cake and plug it with a cork from the dough. Brush the top of the balish with oil. Put to bake for an hour and a half in a preheated oven. After the time has elapsed, remove the cake, open the cork, pour in the broth. Plug the cork and send the balish to the oven to bake for another half an hour. After the time has elapsed, pull out and serve with strong tea.
Treat yourself and loved ones with dishes of Tatar cuisine. Bon appetit!
