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National dishes for the residents of Turkmenistan are part of a rich cultural heritage. The absolute majority of Turkmen housewives are sure to pamper their households with exquisite gastronomic creations, the recipes of which have reached our era almost unchanged.

By itself, Turkmen cuisine is characterized by high calorie content, which is largely due to the sharply continental climate and the need to maintain a balance of fats and various enzymes in the body. Take dograma, for example — a typical Turkmen national dish using bread, fatty meat and onions — everything that is at hand of any ordinary inhabitant of one of the ancient villages.

It is also noteworthy that the Turkmen population is mostly distinguished by slimness — fatty foods do not affect the figure of Turkmens. As the researchers say, it's all about genetics: Central Asian peoples have adapted to the sultry climate and fatty foods, and they assimilate it well enough.

But in the XXI century, when ordinary Turkmen citizens are in a hurry to conquer labor heights mainly with the help of intellectual work, and the love for national dishes has not disappeared, the question is brewing about how to make the diet more balanced? After all, an ordinary Turkmen family has pilaf on Thursdays and weekends, and a variety of flour products on weekdays: gutabs, meat pies, manti, dumplings, puff breads, etc.

Only a small amount of soups manage to seep into the daily diet. But even these soups are distinguished by the special value of fats, since the Turkmens from time immemorial alienated vegetarianism, which was unable to provide the population with all the necessary fats, carbohydrates and proteins. Here, dietetics comes to our aid — the science of proper nutrition.

Anyone who calls for refusing to accept Turkmen dishes completely is deeply mistaken. The national cuisine is rich in various vitamins and enzymes. And with small life hacks on how to make Turkmen dishes less caloric, you can generally acquire the health of a real horseman.

We reduce the caloric content of pilaf

Pilaf is a traditional dish of many Asian peoples, but it is made differently in every corner of this vast part of the world. For example, in Turkmenistan, they mainly make "white pilaf", which, by the way, is lower in calories than "brown". Traditionally, mutton is used, but under modern realities, taking into account the fat content of lamb meat, it is recommended to use beef or chicken. And it's even better to alternate meat, that is, you can't cook pilaf with only one variety of this product, since lamb, although fatty, is rich in vitamins and easily digested, because lambs eat mainly herbs, not hard-to-digest whole grains. Therefore, if today you decide to cook pilaf from beef, and next week from chicken, then do not deprive lamb!

The same applies to oil. It is much more useful to alternate the use of oil. Classic sunflower, cotton, and, of course, sesame, characterized by a wealth of a wide variety of compounds, can be used. True, the price of such oil is not small, which is why it is better to save it not only for the budget, but also for health, because pilaf should taste not oil, but fresh meat.

Making dograma less caloric

Dograma is considered a native Turkmen dish, which is famous for its satiety. To make it less caloric, it is not enough to manipulate the ingredients alone. The best way here is to do without fatty pieces of meat and add more vegetables.

In some regions of Turkmenistan, various vegetables and dried fruits are added to dograma, which not only gives the dish a spicy taste, but are also useful for digestion. Thanks to such a small "optimization", the intestinal-food tract does not experience such serious stress. It is also worth limiting the refueling of dograma with spices, which also have a sufficient number of calories that can lead to excessive fat deposits in the body.

We get rid of excessive calories in the chekdirme

The classic chekdirme is a calorie bomb. This is a dish that is most often prepared for traditional festivals, rituals and memorial dates using a large amount of meat, oil and salt. In some cases, the meat is cooked in its own fat. It is extremely difficult to "optimize" the recipe of this dish. However, it is quite realistic to do this — the secret is hidden in the recipes of a modern security company.

Modern versions of this dish are a kind of beta version of the classic chekdirme. The need to add more and more new ingredients to it is caused by the need to reduce excessive calorie content. So, tomatoes, onions, potatoes appeared in the chekdirme, which turn this food into something similar to "batyrma" - another popular Turkmen dish.

The classic chekdirme is useful for a weakened body: it enriches with nutritious fats and cholesterol, which is involved in the synthesis of vitamin D, insulin, and maintaining muscle tone. Frequent use of this dish is not recommended, and if you still want to treat yourself to it, then turn to modern recipes that replace fat masses with vegetables.

Remove excess calories from gutabs

The country—famous pies in the shape of a crescent — gutabs are one of the most popular flour dishes. There are a lot of points of sale of similar products, such as fitch and soames, in Turkmenistan. Commercial bakeries are available in almost every residential quarter, and at home these flour products are made at least once a week.

The use of flour and diet are incompatible things, but if your body requires flour, but not critically dangerous for weight, then you should give up fried in oil and salty versions of these dishes. They can be slowly fried in a dry frying pan and add vegetables. Potatoes or pumpkin with a small amount of greens are best suited for meat gutabs.

Conclusion

We conclude: more vegetables, less oil and spices. Of course, we could completely make these dishes dietary, abandoning frying, oil, spices and meat and resorting only to steamed and vegetable. But then the dishes would become ordinary and devoid of color. And our goal — to optimize the national cuisine for the modern inhabitant of the metropolis — has been successfully achieved.

Arslan MAMEDOV

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