The Uzbek salad with the name "Tashkent" fell in love with Russians back in the days of the USSR, when it actually ceased to be exotic and was especially widespread in the regions of the south of the country. The culinary experts are sure that this dish conveys all the flavor of the already foreign cuisine. By the way, “Tashkent” was included in the Soviet edition “Dish of Uzbek Cuisine”.
To prepare the Tashkent salad, you will need the following ingredients - 2 pieces of medium-sized green radish, 2 onions, 1 boiled chicken egg, 3-4 quail eggs, 150-200 g of boiled beef, mayonnaise or another favorite dressing, vegetable oil, salt and two types of ground pepper (black and red).
Rinse the radish well, peel it and chop it into very, very fine and thin strips. This method of cutting vegetables is considered traditional for "Tashkent", but the radish can also be grated on a coarse grater. Then rinse the vegetables well in cold water.
There is a little secret here, with which you can remove too intense smell and excessive bitterness from the radish. To do this, you need to place it in cool water for 12-15 minutes. Well, if you are not confused by these properties of the radish, leave it just grated.
Cut the onions into thin half rings, and in a frying pan heat a small (excess fat in this salad is not needed) amount of vegetable oil, in which sauté the vegetables. Cut the boiled beef or veal, which is also suitable for "Tashkent", into thin strips. Do the same with the chicken egg. After that, combine the onion, radish, beef and egg in a deep salad bowl, salt and pepper these ingredients, season with mayonnaise and mix well.
Again, you don't need a lot of mayonnaise. It can also be replaced with yogurt if you want a healthier, healthier meal.
After that, put the Tashkent salad in the dishes it will be in when serving, or in small bowls. Then decorate the finished dish with slices or halves of boiled quail eggs. This salad is served along with traditional Uzbek flat cakes or lavash.
If you don't have quail eggs at your disposal, just leave some chicken eggs to decorate the finished dish.
This recipe is traditional, but there are variations of it, depending on the taste preferences of the culinary specialist himself or his guests. So, beef can be replaced with chicken, and mayonnaise, if you are not afraid of excess calories, with sour cream. For decoration, it is also allowed to use a small amount of fresh herbs (dill, cilantro, green onions or beautiful curly parsley). But the combination of radish, eggs and meat, which is the real "salt" of the "Tashkent" salad, must be left unchanged.
Of course, it is difficult to judge whether its residents eat such a salad all the time or often in Tashkent itself, since it is quite possible that it is the fruit of the Soviet era. Then culinary books were compiled taking into account and striving for internationality in all spheres of life of Soviet citizens. But if you, in turn, want to try something new or surprise your guests with a rather unusual dish, then try to bring this recipe to life. The cooking time with already prepared ingredients of the Tashkent salad is about 20-30 minutes.
