Azerbaijan

Whole aubergines hollowed and stuffed with spiced minced lamb and herbs, then braised — one of the trio in Azerbaijan's classic üç bacı (three-sisters) dolma.

An Azerbaijani tea ritual in which intensely brewed black tea is served piping-hot in a waisted armudu glass and drunk alongside — not stirred with — a spoonful of fruit preserves held in the mouth as a natural sweetener.

A saffron-gilded Azerbaijani braise of lamb or chicken slow-cooked with onions and tart dried fruits — cornelian cherry, unripe plum, or dried apricot — in a spare, fragrant broth built almost entirely from the meat's own juices.

A hearty Azerbaijani lamb soup built on a pale, slow-simmered bone broth enriched with chickpeas, chestnuts, and sour plums (alucha) that deliver a defining sweet-tart depth.

A filling of spiced minced lamb and raw rice tightly rolled inside blanched grape leaves and braised in an acidic broth — sour cherry, pomegranate, lemon, or tomato — until the rice swells and the leaf becomes completely tender.

An Azerbaijani cooked yogurt soup in which full-fat yogurt is stabilized with beaten egg, then simmered with rice, chickpeas, and a lavish quantity of fresh herbs to produce a silky, tangy broth served hot or cold.

A traditional Azerbaijani soup of coin-small lamb-filled dumplings simmered and served in a clear, mildly sour lamb broth finished with dried mint and vinegar.

A paper-thin, unleavened half-moon flatbread folded over a filling of spiced minced lamb or fresh herbs, then cooked dry on a convex iron saj until blistered and crisp.

A thick Azerbaijani baked or pan-cooked omelette densely packed with fresh herbs and often walnuts and barberries, where the greens dominate the egg.

An Azerbaijani whole fish stuffed with a sweet-sour paste of ground walnuts, fried onions, and tart fruit leather (alycha), then baked or grilled — a signature dish of the Caspian Lankaran region.

Levengi is an Azerbaijani dish of whole fish or chicken stuffed with a paste of ground walnuts, fried onion, and sour fruit (such as sour plum or pomegranate), then baked.

A grilled kebab of hand-kneaded minced lamb blended with raw onion and fat tail fat, shaped directly onto flat metal skewers and cooked over live charcoal until the exterior chars while the interior stays succulent.

Narsharab is an Azerbaijani condiment of pure pomegranate juice slowly reduced to a thick, intensely tart-sweet syrup, used as a table sauce and marinade.

A cold Azerbaijani summer soup of diluted yogurt with cucumber, fresh herbs, garlic and hard-boiled egg, served chilled.

A Caucasian layered pastry of thin dough sheets packed with ground walnuts or almonds, baked and saturated with honey or sugar syrup.

A slow-braised, single-portion Azerbaijani stew of bone-in lamb, chickpeas, kurdyuk (lamb tail fat), and saffron, sealed and cooked for hours in an individual clay pot then brought to the table intact for a two-stage eating ritual.

A fat-enriched long-grain rice dish of the Turkic and Persian world, prepared either as saffron-gilded rice steamed on a kazmag dough crust with braised toppings presented separately at service (Azerbaijani tradition), or as a single-pot qazan dish where lamb, yellow carrot, and onion are braised into a zirvak before rice is layered atop and steamed to absorption (Central Asian tradition).

An Azerbaijani celebratory rice dish in which saffron-tinted, separately steamed basmati or sella rice is served alongside a meat-and-dried-fruit braise of lamb, chestnuts, apricots, prunes and other dried fruits.

An Azerbaijani pilaf in which rice is darkened and flavored by deeply caramelized onions and rendered lamb fat, served with a meat-and-onion topping.

A thin Azerbaijani crescent of unleavened dough folded over a filling of chopped fresh herbs and griddle-fried until blistered.

An Azerbaijani dish of lamb and vegetables quickly stir-fried together over fire on a convex iron saj griddle.

An Azerbaijani festive pilaf baked inside a crown-shaped shell of thin flatbread, filled with saffron rice, meat, and dried fruit, then turned out and cut at the table.

A crescent-shaped Azerbaijani filled pastry of thin dough enclosing a sweet cardamom-scented ground nut filling, made for Novruz.

A round, flaky layered Azerbaijani pastry filled with a savory-spiced blend of turmeric, anise, fennel and pepper, made for Novruz.

A large leavened wheat flatbread baked by being slapped onto the hot inner clay wall of a tandir (tandoor) oven.