In any market in the East you can see women selling food. And this is not low-quality fast food, but homemade dishes: cakes, sweets, various snacks, samsa, and, of course, khanum. This is a masterpiece of oriental cooking, which is so easy to make that even an inexperienced housewife can cook it. At the same time, this tasty and interesting dish can perfectly decorate and complement your holiday table.
This dish belongs to the Uzbek national cuisine. There are many cooking options for this dish, as well as a host of alternative names: Hanum, Hanon, Hunan, Hanim, Hunan. In composition, it resembles the universally popular manti, with the only difference being that the khanum in its finished form resembles a roll, rather than molded pieces. How to cook Uzbek khan?
The legend of the khanum
There is a legend about the origin of this dish. This is more of a joke, but nonetheless. One Uzbek woman knew about the return of her husband from the war. However, her good mood gave way to anxiety and sadness, as her husband was very fond of manti.
Since the woman wanted to meet her husband with a pleasant surprise, but physically she could not have time to make manti, she simply rolled out the dough with a layer and filled it with filling. And so came the khanum, which became a popular national dish.
What is he like?
How to cook khanum? To do this, you need dough, filler and cooking utensils. Prepare it in a special mantovarka. If you don’t have one, you can use a double boiler. The dough is prepared in the same way as for dumplings or manti - flour, water, salt and an egg. It should be kneaded, covered with a napkin and left to stand for about an hour.
The filling for Hanuma is formed in the same way as for pizza - you can take everything that is in the refrigerator. The classic filling for this dish is meat with onions and potatoes. You can also put meat with cabbage and carrots, with onions, pumpkin, or just meat with pieces of fat. You can cook and vegetable khanum. The basic rule is finely chopped vegetables or grated.
As you might guess, everything is done at your discretion. The combinations can be very different: cabbage with onions and carrots, pumpkin, onions, potatoes, onions, cauliflower with herbs, bell peppers with eggplant and so on. Vegetable filling can be added both raw and be slightly fried in oil. You can cook khanum in a double boiler according to the recipe without filling. For this option, the dough is plentifully greased with sour cream and rolled into a roll.
To make meat filling, you can chop minced meat or cut the meat into small cubes. For juiciness, fat tail fat or fat is put in it. You can crank potatoes and onions through a meat grinder or grate. In some cases, potatoes are cut into small cubes. Remember to add salt, pepper and spices.
What is the main secret?
The dough is divided into pieces, and each of them is rolled into a thin layer. The thinner the dough, the better the khanum. The filling is laid out on the prepared layer, and the workpiece is wrapped in a roll. In turn, it is twisted into a ring, and then cooks for 45-60 minutes for a couple, it depends on the contents of the filling. Mantovarka or grid of a double boiler must be oiled, otherwise the roll will stick to the bottom. Its upper part is sprayed with water.
How to cook khanum, if there is no pressure cooker or double boiler? A simple pot and colander can help. In this case, put the khanum in a colander, put it in a pot of boiling water and close the lid.
The finished roll is usually cut into slices, spread on a dish, pour over the sauce and sprinkle with chopped herbs. As a rule, tomato or cream sauces are made for khanum. For the first option, fry onion and carrots until golden brown, put tomatoes (or tomato paste) and simmer for about 5-10 minutes. Peppers and mashed garlic are traditionally placed in a creamy sauce.
How to cook khanum: a classic recipe
As already noted, the Uzbek khanum in filling and culinary technology is very similar to the familiar manti. This is partly true, especially since the recipes for these dishes are somewhat similar. And some even call the Uzbek khanum "lazy manti." But this is not entirely true, because a too lazy person does not do khanum.
To prepare a classic khanum, you will need the following ingredients.
For the test:
- Wheat flour - 640-690 grams.
- Water - 225 ml.
- Refined vegetable oil - 110 grams.
- Salt - 10 grams.
For filler:
- Minced meat or meat - 1.2 kg.
- Onions - 650-800 grams.
- Fat or oil - 200 grams.
- Caraway seeds to taste.
- Ground black pepper to taste.
- Salt to taste.
- Refined vegetable oil.
How to prepare the dough?
It should be heated around a glass of water, dissolve salt in it, add vegetable oil. Then sift the flour, add it in small portions to the liquid mixture, constantly stirring. Initially, you need to do this with a spoon until the mass is thick. After that, put the dough on a surface covered with flour, and knead it with your hands, adding flour. You must achieve a dense and elastic consistency of the dough. You need to knead for a long time, and the whole process will take you at least twenty minutes. Then place the dough in a cold place for at least one hour, covering it with a clean towel.
It is very convenient to prepare such a dough in a baking machine, since all the ingredients will be mixed evenly and thoroughly without your participation.
Preparing the filling
While the dough is infused, prepare the filling. To do this, wash and dry the meat (lamb in the original). After that, you need to cut it into very small cubes with a sharp knife, or grind it into minced meat. Add pre-chopped onion, fat, or well-chilled butter to it. Put salt, ground black pepper, crushed caraway seeds to taste, mix everything very carefully.
Formation
How to cook khanum at home? Chilled dough should be cut into pieces (four items should be obtained from this quantity), and each of them is rolled on a flat surface to a thickness of about one millimeter. The thinner you make this layer, the tastier the finished dish will turn out.
The filling is visually divided by the number of blanks. Then it is laid out on the surface of each layer, slightly departing from the edges. Fold the dough with the filler in a roll, roll it into a ring and carefully seal the edges to prevent loss of juice during cooking. How to cook khanum in a mantovarka? The dish is steamed for forty-five minutes.
Serve the dish hot, pre-cut into slices and lay on the dish. Separately, you can serve the sauce of your choice. Enjoy your meal!
Advanced option
The above indicates how to cook the khanum with minced meat or meat in a classic form. In addition, the dish can be made original. The filling for the Uzbek khanum is different: vegetables or meat. There are also differences in cutting the filling. For example, in Tashkent, the filling for khanum is often cut into small strips, and in the Ferghana region, into cubes. In Tashkent, housewives also add grated carrots to the filling, making it brighter and more distinctive.
This Uzbek dish can be made in the form of pink flowers. It is called "gul-khanum", which is translated from the Uzbek "color khanum".
For one kilogram of dough, you should take approximately 350-400 grams of flour, salt (to taste), 1 egg, water, 1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil.
For the filling you need onions (about three medium heads), potatoes (two or three root crops), meat (500 - 600 grams), 45 grams of lamb fat (for juiciness), a little salt, black and red pepper to taste.
For the second type of filling, you will need onions (two small or one large onion), tomatoes (two, cut in half), aromatic herbs (dill, parsley, green onions to taste), garlic (two or three cloves). You can add coriander and apply another culinary secret: use cumin (zira) - a highlight of oriental dishes! How to cook this type of khanum?
Cooking color Hanuma
How to cook such a filling? You need a deep bowl in which you have to chop the onion, salt it and mix. Then put chopped potatoes, minced meat and mix again.
Then make a second filling. Fry the diced onions until almost ready, add the tomatoes and simmer for another 10 minutes. Shortly before cooking, add chopped green onions, dill and parsley. Do not forget also about coriander and caraway seeds.
The recipe for cooking this type of khanum does not differ from the classical one. Use dough pieces two for each type of filling. An Uzbek khanum of this type is cooked for 45-60 minutes in a manty bowl or in a double boiler. Cut the finished product into pieces and put on a dish, alternating between two types. It will look like flower petals.
Uzbeks are often asked not only about how to cook khanum, but also about how to eat it. True fans of this dish claim that when using knives and forks, the true taste is lost. Therefore, in Uzbekistan, khanum is traditionally eaten by hand.