The blender turns a heap of fresh dill and water into a liquid so green it looks lit from inside, and the kitchen fills with the smell of a summer garden. That liquid goes into the dough, and the noodles come out of the pot the same startling green. In Khiva and across the Khorezm region of Uzbekistan, those noodles go into a bowl, a beef stew cooked down with milk until it turns deep reddish-brown goes on top, and a spoonful of cool, sour white yogurt finishes it. Each forkful brings the herb, the slow, savoury meat and the sharp dairy together at once.
Khiva's Green Noodles
Shivit oshi is also written shivit osh, and it goes by a second name, Khorezm lagman. That name places it within the wider family of Uzbek noodle dishes while marking it as the one from the far west of the country, from the region around Khiva. Its colour sets it apart at a glance: the green comes from dill steeped in water and worked into the dough. It sits among the dishes Uzbekistan presents as its own, alongside plov, samsa, lagman and tukhum barak.
It is mainly a summer dish, the bowl people make when dill is at its best. The meat and vegetable topping is sometimes called vaju, and the white sour-milk layer on top matters as much as the noodles under it.
Where it began
Where shivit oshi was first made is not settled. In Khiva it is called an old local dish whose beginnings no one can trace. Another account says it appeared roughly 100 to 150 years ago, and that in the early twentieth century it was a dish for weddings and for honoured guests. A third story credits Rajab Sattarov, a cook from Khiva, with carrying it to Tashkent when he moved there in 1958 and making it known in the capital. None of these rules out the others, and the dish keeps its home address in Khorezm either way. For more of the country's food, see Uzbekistan.
What goes on top
In Khorezm the topping is katyk, a soured milk, or suzma, a thicker strained one. Both bring a cold, clean sourness against the hot stew. Households also differ on the dough: some knead chopped dill straight into the flour, others use dill water, and the number of eggs varies.
Katyk is spooned on cold, at the very end, and left sitting on the stew rather than stirred through. Each bite then carries the hot stew and the cool soured milk side by side, which is the whole contrast of the bowl.
Ingredients
This dish contains wheat (flour), egg (the dough) and milk (the milk in the stew, the yogurt, and ghee if you use it). Olive oil in place of ghee removes one dairy source, but the milk and yogurt remain.
Equipment
- Blender
- Fine strainer and a bowl
- Large lidded sauté pan
- Stand mixer with a dough hook
- Rolling pin or pasta machine
- Sharp knife
- Baking sheet for the cut noodles
- Large pot for boiling the noodles
- Slotted spoon or spider
- Skewer for testing the vegetables
Choosing and Substituting
Three things make this taste like Khorezm: the scent of dill in the noodles, the deep colour and richness the milk gives the stew, and the sourness of the topping. Hold on to those and the rest is flexible.
Dill is the shopping challenge. Seventy-five grams is far more than one small supermarket clamshell, so buy several, or look for large bunches at farmers' markets and Middle Eastern, Russian or Central Asian grocers, where dill is sold generously. Weigh it; the colour depends on the full amount.
Flour: ordinary plain or all-purpose flour works, and 00 flour is a good choice if you have it. Bread flour can make the noodles tougher, so leave it on the shelf.
Fat: ghee and olive oil both work. Ghee gives a rounder, buttery base; olive oil is lighter and easier to find.
Beef shank suits the long simmer and turns tender enough to fall apart.
Chilies: jalapeños or similar fresh hot chilies. Heat varies a lot between chilies, so adjust the number to the ones in your hand, or leave them out.
Potatoes: choose a waxy variety so the cubes stay whole after half an hour in the stew. Floury potatoes break down and cloud the sauce.
Yogurt: plain yogurt from the shop is the topping here. Katyk and suzma are Central Asian soured-milk products with their own tastes and textures, and ordinary or Greek-style yogurt is a different thing from either. If you find katyk at a Central Asian grocer, use it cold on top.
Method
Start with the dill water, since it needs at least an hour to steep. While it sits, sear the beef and build the stew; once the water goes in, the stew simmers for an hour and a half on its own. Use that time to mix the dough, rest it, then roll and cut the noodles. The stew then gets tomatoes for an hour and vegetables for half an hour, and the noodles boil at the last minute so they go straight from the pot into the bowls.
The beef simmers until it falls apart, and the egg noodles boil until tender all the way through. Do not serve either one underdone.
When It Goes Wrong
| What you see | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The stew is pale and tastes of milk | The water went in before the milk cooked off | Next time, cook the milk until it has almost completely cooked off and the stew is deep reddish-brown before adding water |
| The dough tears or springs back when rolled | It has not rested long enough | Cover it again and give it the rest of its hour before rolling |
| The noodles clump into a gummy mass | Too much loose flour on them, or too many in the pot at once | Shake off the excess flour and boil in batches in plenty of salted water |
| The potatoes turn to mush | Floury potatoes, or added too early | Use waxy potatoes and add them only for the final 30 minutes |
| The stew is too salty or greasy | The salt or fat went in twice | The 1 tsp salt goes on the beef and ½ tsp with the vegetables; 1 tbsp fat sears, 3 tbsp cook the onion. Measure each one only once |
| The noodles are pale with little dill scent | The dill was short of weight or steeped too briefly | Use the full 75 g and steep at least 1 hour before straining |
Serving and Variations
Serve shivit oshi the moment the noodles leave the water, while the stew is steaming and the yogurt is still cold. Put out a plate of extra fresh dill so everyone can add more, and bring the yogurt to the table so people can add another spoonful halfway through. This is a summer bowl, the dish to make when dill is in full season, and it is made for sharing from one pot.
Wide or thin noodles
Cut at 1 inch (2.5 cm), the noodles are broad and soft, and they carry big pieces of beef and vegetable on every forkful. Cut at ¼ inch (6 mm), they are closer to ordinary noodles and wind up easily in a spoon of sauce.
Ghee or olive oil
Ghee makes the stew rounder and richer, which suits the milk in the sauce. Olive oil gives a lighter, cleaner stew and lets the dill come forward.
Katyk instead of yogurt
If you can buy katyk, spoon it on cold and leave it sitting on top. Kept separate from the hot stew, it gives the contrast the dish is known for in Khorezm.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make the dough without egg?
There is an egg-free version in which chopped dill is kneaded straight into flour and water. It is a different dough with its own proportions and a flecked look rather than an even green. For noodles as smooth and evenly coloured as these, keep the egg and the dill water.
Why does a beef stew have milk in it?
The milk lifts the browned bits from the bottom of the pan after the beef is seared. Cooked down almost to nothing, it leaves behind the stew's deep reddish-brown colour and its rich, rounded body. That colour is one of the things that makes the stew taste of Khorezm, so keep the milk.
How spicy is shivit oshi?
It is gently spiced. The chilies are optional, and the smoked paprika can be hot or sweet, so you set the heat yourself. With no chilies and sweet paprika the stew is mild, smoky and savoury, and the cool yogurt takes the edge off whatever heat you add.
