Kazakh shelpek with kefir. Kazakh flatbreads helpek: cooking recipe How to make Kazakh flatbreads

With special dishes and different ways their preparations. Any Kazakh woman knows the recipe for shelpek since childhood. These flatbreads are always in the main place in every home.

National traditions

Kazakhs are very proud of their national culture. It's not just costumes, dances or some rituals. They consider their real source of pride national cuisine. Among the huge variety of dishes, bread, of course, occupies a special place. For a flatbread with a rather unusual name. The recipe for shelpek has been familiar to all housewives since childhood. They are prepared on weekdays and holidays. The famous oriental flatbreads are used to greet guests and see off friends on a long journey. You can prepare this bread with water, milk or kefir. The simplest shelpek recipe includes three main components: for 3 cups of flour you will need a teaspoon of salt and a glass of water.

Preparing flatbreads is not difficult at all:

1. First, you need to combine all the products together and knead them into a fairly thick dough.
2. Using a knife, divide the semi-finished product into several parts.
3. Roll out each piece with a rolling pin into a pancake 2-3 millimeters thick.
4. Place the frying pan on the fire and heat the vegetable oil in it.
5. Now the pieces need to be placed one by one in boiling fat and fried for 3 seconds on each side. For better frying of the cakes, move them around the pan with a fork, rotating them in a circle.

All you have to do is put the finished products on a napkin to leave excess fat on it, and then carry it to the table.

Complex composition

If you use dairy products instead of water, the taste of the cakes will be more pronounced. Take, for example, the recipe for shelpek with milk. To do this you will need: for 400 grams of flour, a glass of milk, 5 grams of salt and baking soda, a tablespoon of granulated sugar, 400 milliliters of vegetable oil and a teaspoon of table vinegar.

The cooking process follows these steps:

1. Mix the heated milk with sugar, salt and three tablespoons of vegetable oil.
2. Add baking soda slaked with vinegar.
3. Gradually adding flour, gently knead the dough. Then cover it with a towel and leave for 15-20 minutes.
4. From ready dough tear off a piece and roll it into a flat cake 1-2 millimeters thick.
5. Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan and fry the shelpek in it. Fluffy flatbreads are deep-fried. They should just float in the fat.

Before serving, you can wrap any filling you like in them. This could be specially prepared meat or a mixture of vegetables.

Different opinions

Some people believe that the dough for helppek must be dense and thick. But this is not true. Eat different variants its preparations, from which an excellent Kazakh-style shelpek can be obtained. The recipe, which uses yeast, is very similar to another local cuisine called baursaki. The composition of the ingredients is almost the same: for a glass of milk - 5 glasses of flour, 25 grams of pressed yeast, 2 tablespoons of sour cream and baked milk butter, 10 grams of sugar, half a glass of water and a couple of glasses of vegetable oil.

In this case, the process will go as follows:

1. To prepare the dough, you first need to heat water and dissolve salt and sugar in it.
2. Dissolve yeast in milk. To make them start working faster, you can add a little sugar.
3. Enter and then combine the solutions.
4. Adding flour in parts, knead the dough. Cover it with a lid or cloth and leave it to proof for about an hour.
5. Now, in the usual way, divide the dough into pieces, roll each of them into a thin layer, and then fry in boiling oil.

Shelpeks prepared in this way are more tender and flavorful.

Kefir flatbreads

If, for example, there is no milk in the house, then the helpek can be slightly adjusted. In this case, the set of products will change slightly. For baking you will need: per kilogram of flour - a liter of kefir, 50 grams of sugar, a pinch of salt, half a teaspoon of soda and 150 grams of sour cream.

Cooking method:

1. First, in a separate bowl, you need to mix kefir, soda and sour cream.
2. Then, gradually adding flour and other ingredients in small portions, knead a soft, plastic dough.
3. Now the mass must be divided into 2 parts, each of which should be rolled into a rope.
4. Cut the dough pieces into equal pieces and sprinkle them with flour.
5. Roll the resulting semi-finished products into flat cakes with a rolling pin, and then fry them alternately in oil on both sides.

Carefully remove the finished shelpeks from the pan using two forks and stack them on a plate. Excess oil can be removed by placing paper napkins between them. A little later they should be thrown away.

A real helper traditional recipe from the photo it is a round flat cake. These flour products are national dish Kazakh cuisine. Typically, the tortillas are fried in a frying pan in a large amount of oil. The dough can be anything: fresh, yeast, puff pastry. It’s interesting that almost every nation has such flatbreads, but they are called differently, although the idea is the same.

Sunny cakes: how to cook shelpek in Kazakh style?

Ingredients

Flour 400 grams

• Number of servings: 2
• Cooking time: 5 minutes

Shelpek: ingredients

The tradition of baking these products dates back to the times when people deified the sun. In his honor, women always baked flat cakes that were round and shining like the sun during the holidays. Ancient beliefs are a thing of the past, but we have inherited delicious traditional dishes.

Such products can be prepared even if there is almost nothing at home. For the housewife, this condition may seem like a disaster, but it’s not a problem. The main thing is to have flour and sunflower oil in stock. Required Products:

• flour – 400-500 g;
• water – 250 ml;
• a teaspoon of salt;
• vegetable oil for frying (how long will it take).

There should be enough oil. If you don't add enough oil to the pan, the tortillas won't bubble well. Sometimes milk is used instead of water.

How to cook shelpek in Kazakh style?

So, how to cook shelpek in Kazakh style? The cooking process is quite simple:

1. Mix flour, water and salt. The dough should be quite stiff. Set the dough aside.
2. After some time, divide the dough into 7 or 9 parts in the form of a ball.
3. Roll out the balls into thin pancakes. Their thickness should not exceed 2 mm.
4. Fry the pancakes in a large amount of hot oil.

Frying occurs very quickly, 4-5 seconds on each side. While frying, the cakes need to be turned with a slotted spoon or fork. The products should bubble well. As soon as the cake puffs up, it must be immediately turned over to the other side. If you skip this moment and fry it too much, the finished product will turn out too hard and tough. Since the cakes are very greasy, they are blotted with napkins to remove excess oil. In order not to bother with this matter for a long time, the products are laid out in a stack, one after another with napkins. Then the stack is gently pressed down with your hand.

Shelpek is eaten as independent dish It can be used as an additive to tea, but it is much tastier to use it with filling. The culinary imagination is not limited to anything in this: you can put vegetables, meat, cheese, and mushrooms inside. If you wish, you can also add spicy soy sauce to the flatbreads.

Each nationality has its own pride: costumes, songs, traditions and, of course, cuisine. Bread certainly occupies the most honorable place in the kitchen of every nation. For some it is just food, for others it is an object of worship, a symbol of fertility and wealth. Among the Kazakhs, this symbol is shelpek - a thin flatbread fried in a large amount of oil.

What is helpek?

This is the name for flat cakes made from various types of dough, fried in a large amount of fat in a frying pan, which replace bread. Shelpek in Kazakh is soft and rich yeast dough, and it can also be unleavened, with a crispy crust, made from water and flour. In different culinary traditions there are similar flatbreads around the world: in Russia - “khvorost” because of the crispy dough cut into strips, in Ukraine - “ushki”, so called because of the softness of the finished product made from yeast dough, krupuk - in Indonesia, chalpak - in Uzbekistan, Langos - among the Hungarians.

But Kazakh flatbreads have a peculiarity - they are fried only on special days, on major religious holidays or funerals, so the recipe for helppek is jealously passed down in the family as a family heirloom. Each kitchen owner has her own twist in cooking.

Recipe with milk

Shelpek prepared in this way is considered one of the cheapest. This is unless you count the recipe on water.

To prepare seven flat cakes in a frying pan, you need to take half a liter of warm milk, dissolve a pinch of salt and a large spoonful of sugar in it, add three tablespoons sunflower oil and soda on the tip of a spoon, quenched with vinegar, you can also use crystals citric acid on the tip of the knife. Stir the mass until smooth and add flour little by little, knead an elastic, tight dough, roll it into a ball and leave it warm for half an hour.

The dough is divided into seven equal parts, from which round cakes are rolled out, no more than 6-7 mm thick. Fry in a frying pan in boiling oil until the help is golden brown. It is important to ensure that they do not burn, as they bake almost instantly, so it is better to reduce the heat on the stove.

For the Kazakhs, baking shelpeks is a whole ritual with songs and prayers for health, for which the whole large family gathers: some prepare the dough, others roll it out, and the youngest stand at the stove, rotating the shelpek frying in oil with a fork.

On kefir

For preparation you will need the following ingredients:

• 500 grams of wheat flour;
• 1 glass of kefir;
• 100 grams of water;
• 1 tbsp. spoon of granulated sugar;
• 1 tbsp. a spoonful of refined sunflower oil;
• 1 tbsp. spoon of dry yeast;
• a pinch of salt and vegetable oil for frying.

As is clear from necessary products, this recipe for helppek is yeast-based, but it is not prepared in the usual way: the dry and liquid ingredients are mixed separately, and then simply mixed in one bowl until a lump of dough is kneaded, which is placed in a sealed container in a warm place for one and a half to two hours to work yeast.

After the dough has grown impressively in size, roll it into a rope and divide it into 8-10 parts, each of which is turned into a thin (5 mm) round layer using a rolling pin. If the edges cannot be formed evenly, you can use a large pan lid or plate, place it on the dough and draw a circle with a knife.

Prick each helpek in several places or cut slightly with a knife. Fry the tortillas in a frying pan in boiling oil, placing them on paper towels to absorb excess fat.

Kattama - Shelpek's full sister

Flatbreads prepared in the same way, but made from puff pastry, are called kattama-shelpek. The recipe is quite simple, as for a “puff pastry”: mix half a glass of water and milk, add a pinch of salt and a tablespoon of sugar. Knead the dough, adding flour until elastic (about 700 grams), let it rest for ten minutes and then roll it out as thin as possible into a large layer, grease with margarine. By the way, Kazakhs use fat tail fat when ritually baking shelpeks.

Fold the layer in four, roll out and repeat this process at least three times. Then roll the rolled out layer, wrap it in a circle with polyethylene and refrigerate for at least five hours.

Next is ready puff pastry Divide into small parts, from which roll out thin cakes no more than two to three millimeters thick. Make small cuts along the surface of the flatbread with a knife: this is necessary so that the flatbread does not swell too much when frying, although sometimes you have to additionally pierce the dough bubbles when they inflate, as the flatbread loses its shape.

While still warm, fold the kattams into a high pile and serve: the crispy puff pastry is somewhat reminiscent of Turkish honey baklava, only not so cloying.

Vegan version of Kazakh flatbreads

Knead a stiff dough from a glass of water, a pinch of salt and three glasses of flour, kneading it with your hands for a long time. Let it lie in a warm place for about fifteen minutes and then divide it into small pieces, roll each one with a rolling pin into a thin layer no more than three millimeters thick. It is advisable not to get carried away with flour when rolling, as it will settle during frying, and the oil will begin to smoke and quickly become rancid, which will affect the taste.

The flatbreads are fried very quickly, literally in a few seconds on each side, while the Kazakhs do this by rotating the dough in the pan with a fork and placing it on paper so that the dough does not absorb oil. This recipe for helppek is often used by vegans and people who observe Christian fasts.

What do you eat with Kazakh flatbreads?

If we turn to the origins of the Kazakh tradition, then shelpeks were eaten by themselves, as part of a religious belief: eating a piece of flatbread, symbolizing the sun and life, was considered a good sign. They are not eaten like the Slavs, dipping them in honey or jam, or like the Mexicans, wrapping vegetables, meat or fish in a soft piece of dough. By eating pure shelpek and saying a prayer for health, every Kazakh thus supports an ancient tradition that comes from time immemorial.

If cooking shelpeks and religion have nothing in common - I just liked it unusual recipe, then Kazakh flatbreads can be eaten with anything, as they are neutral in taste, like bread: from sweet sauces, jams and creams to salty, hot and spicy dishes.

Shelpeks or shelpek are airy Kazakh flatbreads fried in boiling oil in a few seconds. Like the round sun, shelpeks are considered to be a national dish.

Shelpek (bread) is prepared in Kazakh style for religious holidays, but if you decide to bake these quick sun-shaped flatbreads just as a dish, then it’s okay. There are several variations in the preparation of Kazakh shelpek.

Shelpek dough can be either unleavened or rich. Our version is unleavened milk dough with the addition of butter.

Wheat flour is air-sifted.

Flour is mixed with slaked soda apple cider vinegar.

The dough for unsweetened shelpek must be lightly salted.

The butter must first be melted. After which the butter is mixed with milk.

After that, warm milk and butter are carefully poured into the bowl of flour.

The dough for shelpek is first kneaded with a spoon or spatula.

Then with your hands - until an elastic bun forms.

The bun is covered with a plastic bag or cling film. After 15-20 minutes the dough is ready to use.

The finished dough is rolled out into a thick rope and then cut into seven and sometimes nine identical pieces.

Each piece is formed into a ball. Then the palm is pressed in the shape of a circle onto the work surface. Using a rolling pin, the circles are rolled out into thin shelpeks. This uses a small amount of flour.

Shelpek is fried in hot deep fat quite quickly. Therefore, the dough needs to be rolled out all at once, and not during the cooking process. Uncooked tortillas transferred with paper napkins. This will prevent weathering and sticking.

Sunflower oil heats up well in a cast iron skillet or in a tall pan with thick walls. The readiness of the oil is checked with a small ball of dough. If the ball immediately floats to the surface and begins to “hiss” characteristically, you can begin the main frying.

The flatbread is carefully placed on the surface of the hot oil. The frying process begins immediately, accompanied by loud crackling and hissing sounds. Using a fork or spatula, twist the shelpek clockwise for just a few seconds, then turn it over and continue frying. The main thing here is not to overcook the baked goods in the cauldron.

The finished shelpek has an airy structure and a light golden hue. When removing the cake from the cauldron, bend it in two, allowing the oil to drain, and then place it on a paper napkin and straighten it.

To remove excess oil, cover all fried shelpek with paper napkins.

Airy, crispy and tasty Kazakh flatbreads are ready!

There is an option when the silkpek is sprinkled powdered sugar and served with tea. You can try sweetening the shelpeks.

Kazakhs attach special, sacred significance to the preparation of shelpeks - they are prepared during Ait, when they commemorate departed relatives, and on Fridays.

Shelpek- this is the Kazakh national flour product round shape, one of the varieties of bread. Usually shelpeks are baked in a deep frying pan. They can be prepared from different test: with milk, puff pastry (kattama), unleavened or yeast, but always in a large amount of butter.

Shelpeks with milk (straight method)

• Milk – 0.5 liters
• Vegetable oil – 3 tbsp. spoons
• Sugar – 1 tbsp. spoon
• Salt - to taste
• Baking soda – 0.5 teaspoon.

Dissolve salt, sugar and vegetable oil in warm milk. Mix well. Add baking soda slaked with apple cider vinegar (a few drops) or boiling water. Knead soft dough and put in a warm place. Leave for 15-20 minutes (longer possible). The dough must be divided into seven pieces, from which roll into balls with a diameter of 8-10 cm. Each ball is rolled out 0.7 cm thick. Fry in hot vegetable oil until golden brown.

Shelpeks made from puff pastry (kattama)

• Milk 3% – 100 ml
• Water – 100 ml
• Flour – 700 gr
• Salt, sugar - to taste
• Margarine or fat tail lard

Knead the dough from milk, water, flour in a container. Salt and add a little sugar. The dough should be tight. Roll it out into one large sheet, grease it with margarine or fat tail lard. Then we fold everything into four and roll it out again. Repeat this procedure 3-4 times. We form a thick rope and twist it into a roll. We put it in the refrigerator for four hours to form stickiness and elasticity. Then we twist the dough into one “sausage” and cut it into several small pieces. We roll out each part thinly to make a circle no more than 2 mm thick. Fry the shelpek flatbreads in a hot frying pan for 3-4 seconds on each side. You can make cuts on the flatbread or pierce it with a fork in several places so that it does not swell too much when frying. After cooking, put them in a pile and serve.

Shelpeks made from yeast dough (sponge method)

• Sunflower oil – 400 ml
• Wheat flour – 400 g
• Milk – 200 ml
• Sugar – 1 tbsp. spoon
• Yeast – 10 g
• Salt – 0.5 teaspoon
• Vinegar – 5 ml

Warm the milk a little. Pour salt and sugar into it. Add 3 tablespoons of sunflower oil and mix. Quench soda with vinegar orlemon juice and add to milk. Mix again. Fresh yeast dilute in warm milk with sugar, leave for 10 minutes in a warm place and pour into the dough. Add sifted flour in portions, stirring the dough after each portion. The result should be a soft dough. Cover the dough with a towel and leave for 40 minutes. When it rises, divide it into pieces and form them into balls with a diameter of about 8 cm. On a table sprinkled with flour, roll them into thin cakes. Fry them in heated vegetable oil until they turn golden on both sides. Remove the tortillas and blot off excess fat with a paper towel.

Shelpeks made from unleavened dough

• Water – 1 glass
• Flour – 2 cups
• Salt – 1 teaspoon
• Vegetable oil

To prepare, you need to mix water, flour, salt in a cup and knead the dough. The dough should be quite tight. It should be put in a cool place for four hours. Next, roll the dough into a thick rope, divide into seven parts and roll each into a thin cake. Then you need to heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan. Fry the shelpek flatbread on each side for about 3-4 seconds. One important point: when the tortilla is fried, you need to swirl it with a fork or slotted spoon. Shelpek will bubble, this is such a feature of the flatbread. You can pierce it with a fork or make cuts. After swelling, you must immediately turn the cake over, otherwise it may overcook. Shelpeks should not turn out crispy, otherwise after cooling they will simply harden.