Chuvash cuisine

The traditional cuisine basically consists of agricultural and cattle-breeding products. Porridge (pătă), oat flour (tinkele), flour kissel (kĕsĕl, nimĕr), fish or meat soup (yaşka, şurpe) with cereals, vegetables and greens dressing. Soup with dumplings (salma yashki, śămah yaşki), sheep stomach sausage stuffed with meat and lard (shărttan) and boiled sausage with cereals, chopped meat or animal blood (tultarmăş, sukta) stuffing were popular among the Chuvash.  Among dairy products there was whole (set) and sour (turăh) milk, buttermilk (uyran), cream (hăyma) and cottage cheese (chăkăt). Bashkir and Orenburg Chuvash produced koumiss (kămăs) as well. Pastry was also diverse: rye bread (śăkăr), very often with malt additive, as a festive meal Chuvash women baked hăpartu –  fluffy white bread, pie (kukăl), “huplu” – a big round pie with meat and cereals stuffing, pancakes (pĕlĕm) and fritters (śatma ikerçĕ), round cakes (paşalu, yusman, surhuri, ikerçĕ, vĕtü), curd-tarts with potato or cottage stuffing (püremeç, tăpărçă, ikerçi), small (3-5 cm) rolls (yăva) made of wheat flour, “huran kukli” (cauldron pies) – small pasties like Russian varenniks or Ukrainian galushkas (they were boiled in a cauldron).

Chuvash cuisine was traditionally presented by honey (pyl). Barley or rye malt beer (săra), mead or home-made beer (sim-pıl, kărçama) were favourite Chuvash beverages.