Tajikistan | Mastava

(Also known as the time I tried to make Mastava and, accidentally, made some sort of beefy rice porridge instead.)

CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I USED

Tajikistan was somewhat difficult in that it doesn’t seem to have a distinct online presence when it comes to food. It also seems to share cuisine with Uzbekistan so most of my searches returned Uzbek recipes. I did find a few sites that stated Mastava is a traditional Tajik (and Uzbek) meal so I rolled with it.

Anyway, Mastava is supposed to be a soup/stew sort of dish. It contains beef, onions, carrots, red bell pepper, potatoes and rice.  If you’ve made soup or stew, you can make Mastava.

Just don’t fall asleep after you add the rice.

The rice is only supposed to be cooked until it is just soft and then it is done.  I sat down to read after adding the rice, thinking I could get in a chapter or two before the rice was done. I took an unplanned nap instead and, when I woke up, the rice had absorbed the liquid and turned into some sort of rice porridge (similar to congee).  At least, I woke up before it started to stick to the pot and burn!

There is no picture because it was an unappetizing glop that bore no resemblance to Mastava.

I did eat some of it. The flavor profile was nice. The rice porridge texture was not my favorite but I could see it as being something a person who recently had dental work might find easy to manage and very filling.

Will I make it again? Probably not. But that is not the fault of the recipe! I unintentionally ruined it for myself.

I’ve had difficulties with aspects of previous recipes but I’ve never screwed up quite this badly. I really just have to laugh at it. 1 colossal mess-up out of 172 meals ain’t bad!