Schizo: A Movie Review

I've finally figured out how to squeeze in time to watch movies, and have at last watched Schizo, the only Region 1, English-subtitled Kazakhstani film I know of (Nomad: The Warrior is scheduled for DVD release in July). I’ve had it around for over a year, but was somewhat hesitant to watch it because of the publicized “Fight Club” aspects (I don’t do blood well). So now I’ve seen it, and I’m glad I did. It’s sticking with me, and making me wonder and think -- and not about the bloody (icky) parts.

Basic plotline -- a 14-year-old boy in rural KZ gets kicked out of school and works for/with Saukura, his mother’s boyfriend, finding men to participate in bare-knuckle fights against trained boxers. One of the recruits gets mortally beaten, and with his dying breath asks Mustafa (called Schizo, as in schizophrenic, by himself and others) to take the advance money to his girlfriend and his son, who live at the edge of town. Schizo goes back to this house again and again, bringing gifts and money, advocates for the boy’s welfare, finds enjoyment in the woman’s company and eventually makes love for the first time with her. These three form an odd, tenuous sort of family, but with no cementing bond. Schizo gets deeper into the sordid doings of the fist-fight gang, gets double-crossed, and apparently gives himself up for the wellbeing of Zina and Sanzhik.

Yes, I got queasy at the fight scenes (full disclosure: I also can’t make it through a First Aid training film without hyperventilating and dizziness), but the majority of the violence (and all the sex) in Schizo is implied, off-screen. What we see is the aftermath, the emotions (or lack thereof). For me, Schizo remains an enigma. He’s the age of your average American 9th grader. What goes on in his head is a mystery. I read several other reviews stating that Schizo “falls in love” with Zina, but I’m not sure I entirely believe that. He is drawn to this odd couple, the sort-of-widow stuck with an orphaned child (hmm, does he see his mother in Zina, and himself in Sanzhik?) He does what he can do to make sure the boy is cared for. He sleeps with Zina -- “becoming a man.” There is something there for him that endures and sustains him. Sometimes that’s the best any life can offer.

What I do know is that for me, Schizo is a beautiful, haunting film. The landscape is both lush and barren. It’s set somewhere in the southeast steppe but away from the mountains, on a waterfront big enough for something that looks like a fishing industry (Lake Balkash?). The post-Soviet bleakness is apparent, and as the director, Guka Omarova, states in the interview extras, not too different from contemporary rural life and opportunities. The ethnic diversity of Kazakhstan is well portrayed, as are the inter-ethnic relationships - both Zina and Sakura are Russian, while Schizo and his mother Kulgash are Kazakh. I’d say that the description of Olga Landina (Zina), as a “Slavic Sissy Spacek,” is right on.

It’s very interesting to me that both Olzhas Nussuppaev (Schizo) and Kanagat Nurkay (Sanzhik) were “unknowns," “discovered” in orphanages. It’s interesting that the director went looking and held auditions in orphanages to begin with. In the interview extras, Nussuppaev seems only slightly more animated that he does in the film, with the same engaging crooked smile. Was he really only playing himself? I can only imagine the surreal aspects of going from Internat to Almaty to New York, with little-to-no life preparation for any of it. He says he hopes to act again. I hope he makes it.

The original US release plans included multiple cities across the country, but lackluster box office takes made them pull it after a few weeks. It’s a shame. It’s no worse and a lot better than many of the foreign ‘art films’ I’ve seen, and it might have found a following if marketed as such. I wouldn’t take anybody younger than 14 or 15 to see if, but whomever you see it with, I’d predict lots of questions and things to talk about afterward.

What others have written about Schizo:
New York Times
San Francisco Chronicle
ReelTalkMovie Reviews
Emanuel Levy

Manti, Kaz-Am Style

This was not exactly a new "Kazakh Cooking Experiment", but more of a repeat with slightly different variables. Like Tex-Mex cooking is basically Mexican, but varied and adapted by influences on the American side of the border, the manti I made tonight are basically Central Asian, but adapted to American ingredients and speed-of life.

• Instead of handmaking the dough, I used the biggest packaged wonton wrappers I could find (about 3” across);

• I halved the amount of meat -- only 1/2 lb of a medium-fat (not lean) coarsely ground beef (I can hear the wolves howling in despair already!)

• I wanted to make manti with pumpkin this time, but since it’s practically impossible to find fresh pumpkin when it’s not Halloween, I substituted a medium-sized butternut squash, cut into small dice. Mixed this with the meat and one large onion, also diced small, and salt & pepper.

The rest is the same. Place filling in the center of a wrapper, moisten the edges of the dough, fold over and pinch edges together. Steam for maybe 15 minutes, and serve. I did try greasing the steamer basket this time, but I don’t know that it made much difference -- they stick together if they don’t stick to the basket. Steaming fewer at a time would probably solve that, but it already takes 3 batches to get them all done.

Oh well. The don’t even look ‘authentic’, but this family of 3 devoured all 50 manti in one sitting; I’m counting it as a success. And the whole process was complete in just over an hour. A group assembly effort could probably get dinner ready and on the table in under an hour, making it possible to have manti any day of the week, not just on weekends.

Thanks are due to Kelly, a member of the Kazakhstan_Recipes Yahoo group for sharing this quick manti method.

Images of Kazakhstan

The Land is inside Me, a "creative documentary," is a montage of images from everyday Kazakhstan. From skiing in the Tien Shan mountains to worship at the Mausoleum of Khja Ahmed Yasavi in Turkestan, urban street singers and window cleaners to valenki-wearing horsemen herding sheep. The filmmaker, Jürg Da Vaz, is a Swiss artist who has made several other films in and about Kazakhstan. This one, from 2003, is just under 10 minutes long. Check out the mass manti (?) production at about 2:30 mins.

Last winter, Ben at neweurasia.net posted an artist's view, a profile of Da Vaz and commentary on one of his longer films on Kazkhstan, Born to Move: Kazakhstan Unlimited. YouTube fans won't find these through casual surfing; Da Vaz has uploaded his films only to GoogleVideo and his own website.

Kazakh Cooking Experiment #2 - Lagman

A few weeks ago a friend asked if I could find information about some sort of Kazakh stew that a young KZ adoptee was missing but didn’t remember much about. The question was never answered entirely, but the two best possibilities seemed to be lagman and zharkoe. Lagman is a thickish soup with noodles, zharkoe is more stew-like.

And so, the recipe explorations began. Oh my, the variations seem endless. However, I had it on good authority (thank you, W & A) that neither lagman nor zharkoe have one proper way to make them (like a Mama's spaghetti sauce), but that lagman should have homemade noodles, small pieces of meat, tomatoes, pepper and paprika. What the heck -- it was the first day of spring!

A word to the wise -- don’t try this on a weeknight (I did), especially if you are making noodles without a pasta machine (I gave mine away after owning it for 10 years without using it once. Aargh). Dinnertime could be quite late (it was).

The recipe below is a combination of noodles from one site, the soup/stew from Please to the Table & Restaurant.ru , and personal preference. The Restaurant.ru page has pictures of the noodle-making process, which is very helpful. Kazakh.ru has pictures of many favorite Kazakh dishes, including lagman (recipes in Kazakh and Russian). My noodles were a bit chubbier than theirs, but delicious. And yes, it’s true! Homemade makes all the difference.

When Kazakhs celebrate Nauryz, presence of the number 7 is essential - it embodies seven days of the week – the time units of universal eternity. One traditional Nauryz dish includes seven different kinds of meat. Happy wolves! I used only chuck roast, but I accidentally ended up with seven different kinds of vegetable in this lagman. Could this be why we had great spring weather that week?

From “I remember this!” to “Can we have it for lunch tomorrow?”, this cook was pleased by the family’s verdict. We’ll have it again -- on a weekend, minus the red bell peppers, and possibly with the addition of some marjoram and/or mint.

All notes, variations and additions are welcome. Please comment! After all, there’s here’s no one proper way to make lagman.

Lagman

I'm giving the soup part first, because, if you're pressed for time, the most important part to make on serving day is the noodles. You can make the lagman "soup" the day before (flavours meld in the fridge overnight anyway). Reheat it to serve over the homemade noodles. Make sure there's plenty of broth -- add more if needed.

For maximum effect, play Kazakhstani tunes (download here or here) in the kitchen while cooking :-)

1/4 c. olive oil
1 lb. chuck roast (or any meat you like), cut into small pieces or strips
2 onions, cut in half across the rings, then thinly sliced
1 Japanese eggplant, diced
3 or 4 carrots, sliced
2-3 large tomatoes (peeled, seeded & chopped - see end for tomato peeling info)
1 sweet red pepper, chopped
2 large potatoes, peeled & diced
3-4 cans beef broth (or 6-7 cups homemade beef stock if you have the time)
large dash paprika (1 Tbs., maybe more)
2 bay leaves
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs. vinegar (apple cider, balsamic, or red wine)

In a large pot (at least 4 qt.) heat olive oil over medium heat until hazy. Add meat, cook until all sides are browned. Remove and set aside.

Add onions, eggplant and carrots to pot, and saute 7-8 minutes, or until soft. Add tomatoes and peppers, and continue to cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes, until all ingredients are 'well colored' (whatever that means) or they look right to you.

Add potatoes, cook 5 minutes or so. Season with salt & pepper, cook for 2 minutes. Return meat to pot, stir to combine with vegetables, then add broth (3 cans or 5 cups). Cover, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 45 minutes or so, until meat is tender. Taste & adjust seasoning. Add vinegar & garlic, remove bay leaves. Remove from heat, & let sit at least 10 minutes before serving, or, cool, place soup in refrigerator & reheat later. Add extra broth if too thick. Lagman should be more like soup and less like stew when served.

Noodles

If you're making soup and noodles all in one day, begin with the noodles. Start the soup while the dough rests.

4 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup water (add more by Tbs if dough seems too dry)

To make the dough, stir together the flour and salt, then make a well in the center. Whisk together the water and eggs, then pour this into the center of the flour. Stir the dough until a thick mass is formed, then turn out onto a smooth surface and knead for about 10 minutes until the dough becomes smooth and pliable. Divide the dough into two pieces, then cover one of the pieces while you work with the other.

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Roll out the dough to 1/4" thickness, then cut into thin strips. Boil the noodles for two minutes, then transfer them from the water to a colander. Rinse the noodles with cold water and allow them to drain while you prepare the soup.

To Serve

Place a handful (or so) of noodles in a serving bowl. Ladle soup over the noodles. Enjoy.

=======

To peel tomatoes (a mother's wisdom) -- boil a pot of water and prepare a bowl of ice water. Place whole tomatoes in boiling water for maybe 30 seconds, then put tomatoes in ice water for a minute or so. It's amazing -- the peels practically slide right off the tomatoes. Then scoop out the seeds with your fingers, and chop, and you're good to go.

Cookbooks for a Cause, Or, Hot Stoves for Warm Hands

Many of my Central Asian cooking adventures have started with a recipe from Please to the Table: The Russian Cookbook, which covers all the republics of the USSR, not just Russia. One really nice thing about this cookbook, in addition to the recipes, is that almost every one has some sort of history or commentary preceding it, and there are longer sections on cooking in the varied Soviet regions (including Central Asia). Even if you never make a thing, you'll enjoy reading the book from cover to cover.

If you've ever considered buying your own copy of Please to the Table, here's an opportunity to help kids in Kazakhstan while cooking up some tasty Central Asian treats in your own kitchen. For every copy purchased through Mittens for Akkol, $10 goes to pay for shipping handknit woollies to an orphanage in northeastern KZ.

In the pre-Borat era, many (if not most) Americans who could find Kazakhstan on the map, or had even heard of it, were adoptive parents of KZ children. Because of the country’s adoption laws, hopeful parents are required to travel to Kazakhstan and spend at least two weeks of daily visits with a child in the orphanage, before petitioning the regional court to adopt. If the court approves, the child wins a loving family, but his friends are left behind. The majority will remain in state care until at 16 (or after 9th grade) they age out of the system and are on their own.

In 2003, a Cincinnati, Ohio couple adopted two teenagers, aged 12 & 14, from the orphanage in Akkol, a small town about an hour (on a good day) north of Astana. Akkol is unusual in that it cares for children ages from 3-16 years old (most regions have separate orphanages for pre-schoolers, aged 3-7, and school-aged children, aged 8+). In 2004, they travelled to Akkol again, to adopt their son’s 14-year-old best friend. Both times they lived in the orphanage during the visiting period, got to know the directors, the staff, and the children well, and developed the highest regard for the care and commitment the children receive (this is generally true throughout Kazakhstan; if you have to live in an orphanage, your odds are better in RK than in other post-Soviet countries).

How to do something meaningful for the 250 children remaining? As Astana area readers well know, this area is in the windiest, most miserably cold part of the Kazakh steppe. Mittens for Akkol was created to connect knitters to a need -- in the past couple of years, hundreds of pairs of handknit woolen mittens have made their way to the older kids at Akkol, and the project has expanded to socks, vests and other warm woollies. Knitters can join the Mittens for Akkol Yahoo!Group to find out how to participate. Cooks should click on over to the Helping Others: Mittens for Akkol fundraiser page for information on purchasing Please to the Table to help those mittens make the journey from the US to KZ.

And stay tuned to this site for the next installment of Kazakh Cooking Experiments: Lagman for Nauryz (from a Please to the Table recipe, of course).

A Soundtrack for Your Nauryz Party (March 21,2007)

First I discovered Project Playlist and started playing with adding tracks from Kazakhstan. Then I made myself a CD mix of Kazakhstani music just for the fun of it. And then, might as well package it up to share. So, just in time for Nauryz 2007 . . .

The complete playlist includes 20 good, banal (but good for dancing), and "on principle" tracks (as in, SuperStar KZ winner Almas Kishkenbayev), mostly sung in Kazakh. Of course there are a couple of energetic dance sets, plus traditional dombra and qobyz pieces, a sampling of contemporary pop, and the new (2006) National Anthem.

Hear some of the tracks below. If you want more (including Adai, by contemporary dombra dude Aselbek Ensepov), download the .zip file (70-something MB) here. EDIT - link updated 2/19/08)

Nauryz Kuttuh Bolsyn!

The Kazakh Aul of the U.S. has an informative 3-page Nauryz article (PDF) here.

Musicola: Between Almaty and Moscow

Since exploring the nifty online jukebox of KZ music, I’ve been listening to Musicola, a smooth jazz-influenced pop duo from Almaty. Since their first single & album (Girl in a White Dress / Dyevochka v platitsye byelom) debuted in 1996, Musicola has stayed on pop charts in the CIS; I realized that one of my favorite songs on a Moscow-produced “greatest hits of the year” CDs is a Musicola track. In 2005, they released a Kazakh-language album Arman Zholdar (Road of Dreams); other albums are in Russian.

Musicola is Karina Abdullina, 32, vocalist and songwriter, and Bulat Sazdykov, 51, arranger and guitarist. Karina was born in Almaty into a family of professional musicians, and began singing at age four. Her mother, Olga Lviv is a classical pianist, her father, an operatic baritone. Karina’s grandfather and his twin brother, Rishat and Muslim Abdullin, were stars in the Soviet classical constellation of the 1940s-1970s. Karina’s family name is pronounced “ab-DOOL-in-a.”

Bulat Sazdykov is originally from Karaganda. His family wanted him to be a doctor, but at 14 he took a course in jazz guitar, and has been a musician ever since (even during his obligatory two years in the military). Before Musicola he was in successful bands in the 1980s, worked as a session musician for top artists in Moscow, and now is also a producer for young musicians in his own studio. In the “small world” category, Gulnara met Bulat in Almaty a few years ago; they have friends in common.

It's practically impossible to buy Musicola in the US, and I've even had a hard time finding their music on Russian sites (which all got shut down in February anyway) . Most of their CDs/albums are out of print. But never fear! The band's official website has downloadable MP3s of all the albums, with lyrics (in Russian). Listen to Dyevochka, Won't Forget You (great dance tune) or Arman Zholdar, and see if the jazzy, haunting melodies don't follow you around (in a good way).

If you've been captured by the Musicola sound, right here on News from the Caravan, you can download the 2006 Best of Musicola CD (71 MB zip file) for your very own. (EDIT - link updated 2/19/2008) It's all freely available on the band's website, but I've packaged the lyrics (I can't predict whether the Cyrillic will display properly, though), artwork and all 18 songs together. Enjoy!

Cheerfully Heretical Borshch

First, the heresy -- there’s no meat in this soup (except for the broth, which only counts if you’re a vegetarian), and it's not chunky. I’ve been told more than once that proper borshch has to have meat; the more the better. Given the joke about the Kazakhs ranking second only to wolves as the world’s biggest meat eaters, I can forgive the funny face Gulnara made when I told her how I make it. But I’ve been making it like this for years, the family recognized it right away, and it’s cheap and delicious. What’s not to like?

The cheerful part? The gorgeous ruby claret color, which turns to a creamy raspberry after swirling the required dollop of sour cream. If it ain’t got beets, it’s just cabbage soup.

As it turns out, my recipe isn’t all that different from her Moscow mother’s “frugal vegetarian recipe” described by Anya von Bremzen in Please to the Table and The Greatest Dishes! (I love cookbooks with commentary as interesting as the recipes). And, again because I like it this way, I whiz it all in the food processor before serving for a smoother texture. A thick slice of dark pumpernickel (hold the caraway) and you’ve got a wonderful winter meal.

Nyura’s Cheerfully Heretical Borshch
8-10 servings

1 large onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 large potato, peeled & chopped into chunks
1 smallish head of green cabbage (about 4 cups chopped)
------
1 - 1 1/2 lbs. beets, peeled & shredded (about 4+ cups)
2 14 oz. cans chicken or beef broth
3 c. water
2 tbs. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp.dried dill, or 1 tbs. chopped fresh dill
2 tsp. salt or to taste
--------
Sour cream (NOT optional)

Heat a couple of tablespoons of cooking oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Saute the onion, carrot, potato & cabbage 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally Add remaining ingredients beets through salt, cover & heat to boiling. Turn the heat down and simmer a while (until you feel like it’s done, 20-40 minutes), stirring occasionally. Cool somewhat, then whiz in the food processor in batches. Return to pot and heat through. Or better yet, put in the refrigerator for a day, then reheat and serve.

Sour cream container goes on the table with a spoon, for each person to plop and swirl into his or her own bowl. Mmmm-mmmm-good.

Serzhan Bashirov in America

Arts professor and master silversmith Serzhan Bashirov, whose work inspired the start of this blog, is in the United States this month. He exhibited his work at the Pueblo Gem & Mineral Show in Tucson, and is now in town visiting Gulnara and exploring local galleries. Handmade jewelry from Kazakhstan is rarely found outside Central Asia because not enough is made for large-scale export.The opportunity to see an artist's collection here in the US is a rare treat.

On Saturday Gulnara hosted a private reception to showcase Serzhan's work. Yes, I came away with a pair of modest but beautiful silver earrings, with Serzhan's signature spiral motif. But what really struck me is how the photographs just don't do justice to his work. The bone incorporated into several pieces is brighter and creamier than the pictures show, and the silverwork is both sturdier and finer. He also had many newer pieces not shown in the store; one large filigree pendant, with green and blue gemstones, is just stunning.

Serzhan is currently Professor of Applied Arts at the State University of Almaty. He has been working metal by hand for most of his life, beginning as a child watching his father work in their home workshop. In his studio now, Serzhan works alone, using the old simple tools employed for generations by Kazakh craftsmen. His contemporary jewelry is firmly rooted in historic Kazakh traditions, often using signs of the four elements -- sun, fire, water, & earth.

Fire and the sun are both enduring, radiant, pure and life sustaining for the artist; the cross and spiral are their symbols. A spiral symbolizes eternal life and spiritual growth; Serzhan's spiral is always clockwise, following the sun's movement. Ancient Kazakhs went round their yurts only with the path of the sun; otherwise, chaos.

A cross with four equal points represents the 4 directions: south, west, east, north. The four elements enclosed by a circle represent the sun. Other motifs often found into Serzhan's work are the ram's horns (richness & fertility), and the shanyrak (the crown of a yurt, and symbolic center of the family).

Serzhan is married and has 2 daughters. His hobby is collecting antique rugs. In 2004 Serzhan's "Umai" silver jewelry was the first from Kazakhstan to be awarded a UNESCO Seal of Excellence; in December 2006 he won the award again for a silver bracelet. His art is in museum collections in Astana, Moscow and Warsaw. Serzhan showcases his art at a gallery/shop in a yurta in downtown Almaty.


More information on Serzhan and his work:
West-East Dialogues
Bio at Karavan-Art
Review of Gallery Opening ("interestingly" translated)
Artist Info at the Tumar Art Group site (Kyrgystan)
Photo of a piece shown in Tucscon
Description of a 2005 joint Navajo-Kazakh exhibit in Almaty

Explore Kazakh Music Online

Somebody somewhere has created this nifty little Shockwave Flash jukebox, loaded with 32 random selections of Kazakh music. Some of it is more traditional, some of it is contemporary pop. I'm not quite sure who the author of the site it; clues make me think it might be a project of a Kazakh-language student (learning Kazakh is on the to-do list for my next lifetime) In any case, check it out (click on the image for the link).

Below are links to more, including music videos on YouTube, articles and mp3 files. Explore!

• Yulduz Usmanova - (she's actually Uzbeki) Official homepage (in Uzbek, click on MYCIKA for mp3s; Wikipedia entry; and Best of album at Amazon.com
• Musicola - Arman Zholdar, Girl in a White Dress (sung in Russian), on YouTube
• Tolkin Zabirova - official homepage (English version) and video on YouTube
• Rakhat Turlikanov - video of Bir Tamshi Zhas
• Nurlan Onerbaev - downloadable mp3 Kustar Ani
• Garifulla Kurmanbayev (or Kurmangaliyev) - CD, mp3s and info at AsylMura: Musical Heritage of Kazakhstan
• Canar Aycanova - downloadable zip file of entire album

Kazakh Cooking Experiment #1 : Manti

It seems that few of the dishes that I consider to be traditionally Kazakh aren’t also claimed as national dishes of other Central Asian peoples; the only one I can think of is beshbarmak. Something about the other ‘Stans has grabbed global imagination more so than Kazakhstan has -- there's plenty on oil, politics, and adoption, but comparatively little depth of research and information available on Kazakh culture, as opposed to the music, history and lore of Uzbekistan, for instance.

My hypothesis is that three factors are in play here -- 1) Kazakh culture was nomadic and orally transmitted (the old “moving target” research problem, with no ancient texts or libraries to consult); 2) most of the Kazakh territory is north of the traditional Silk Road routes, not directly involved in the cultural exchanges related to trade of that time, and mostly overlooked in contemporary “Silk Road revival” events; and 3) fully one-fourth of the ethnic Kazakh population died of starvation in the middle of the 20th century, thanks to poorly executed Soviet agricultural collectivization programs. With them perished a quarter of the cultural memory of the people.

All this to say that when I went to make manti this evening, the recipe (in Please to the Table, p. 409) is titled “Uzbek Steamed Lamb Dumplings.” (I’ve also seem them described as Turkish, Tatar, and Caucasian.) This was a pretty successful attempt, more or less resembling the manti the kids and I remember eating in KZ, so I’ll pass what I did and what I Iearned.

Since I don’t like lamb (neither does Gulnara, so I don’t feel terribly inauthentic here), I substituted ground beef. It works just as well. You need some sort of steamer basket arrangement -- I used the fan-folding veggie steamer basket in a soup/dutch oven pot. It cooked about 9-10 at a time.

Making manti wasn’t as hard as I thought, so it will definitely get a second go. Gulnara spent New Year’s Eve with other KZ friends who were making manti, and that Yuri is some kind of cook! Next time I hope to benefit from from his expertise.

Manti
(makes 24; takes about an hour to get at least 1 batch ready to eat)

Dough
Whiz 2 cups unbleached flour and 1/2 tsp salt in the bowl of a food processor. With the motor running, add 2 egg yolks and 1 TBS. oil through the feed tube, then pour in approx. 1/2 cup water in a slow steady stream, until the dough clumps up around the blade. Plop the dough ball onto a floured surface (I use the Formica-topped counter cutout from when I got a got a new sink as my breadboard) and knead until smooth ( a couple of minutes at most). Cover with a smooth dishcloth and let rest for 30 minutes.

Meat Filling
Mix 1 to 1.5 lb.. very coarsely ground meat (hand chopped lamb is specified, ground sirloin worked for me) with 2 finely chopped onions, 1/3 cup stock (lamb or beef), black pepper & salt to taste. The recipe also calls for cilantro, but it just seems too “southern” (remember the cumin in the Uzbek plov?) and I didn’t remember it anyway, so I left it out.

Assembly
On the floured surface with a floured rolling pin, roll 1/2 the dough into a thin sheet about 1/16” thick (I think I got close). Cut 4” rounds with a cookie cutter (if you have one. I don’t do rolled dough, and haven’t used my rolling pin in years until I started these Central Asian/Caucasus cooking experiments. I used the 3.5” top to an old peanut butter jar for size, and finished the job with a knife). Cut as many as possible (I got 8 the first try) then roll out the dough scraps again and make as many more as you can. Then do it all over again with the other half of the dough. If you go thin enough, you will get 24.

Get your steaming contraption ready, with 1-2 inches of water or as high as the basket will allow (you’ll need enough to last for 15-20 minutes of steaming). I didn’t grease the steamer basket, and the manti survived, but I think it would have worked better had I followed the recipe and greased it somehow. A few did stick enough to tear.

Mound 1-2 TBS. of the filling in the middle of each dough round (the recipe says to top each mound with a piece of butter, but I couldn’t do it. The fat thing, you know. Maybe next time). Then pull the sides up to the top, dip your fingers into cold water and pinch the sides together together. I made a puffy arch of a dumpling, like a big gyoza or a little pasty (or fried peach pie) instead of the more rounded peak in the pictures, because they look like that in my (possibly faulty) memory. The wet fingers help the dough edges stick to each other better, and not stick to your fingers at all.

Cooking
When the water is boiling, place as many manti in the basket as will fit without touching (or take your chances on them sticking together. They still taste good). Steam for at least 15 minutes, maybe 20, depending on how big you made them. If you’re lucky enough to have a multilevel steaming contraption, switch the levels halfway for even cooking.

Then eat! The cookbook recommends serving with a yogurt-garlic sauce (sounds ‘southern’ again), but these got gobbled up plain and seconds were demanded (and gotten), so sauce is definitely optional.

I've heard of, but not yet eaten, a variation with pumpkin filling. That's next on the "to try" list.

Nomad Misses the Shortlist

It was a long shot anyway -- Kazakhstan's first official entry in the Oscar race did not make the first short list of nominated films (in the Foreign Language category). Naturally, I can't find my reference for this info, but the final nominations are to be announced tomorrow (January 22) so more should be forthcoming.

I hope this doesn't affect the Weinsteins' plans to show the film in markets around the US.

Nomad Arrives on January 26 March 9?

(02/16/07) Updated information via Nathan at Registan.net
According to a news bulletin from the Kazakhstani Embassy in Washington -- at last, a (somewhat) nationwide release date for Nomad, the epic film of ancient Kazakh history, is set for January 26, 2007. postponed to March 9 As far as I can tell so far, it's really only going to be shown in theatres in the Los Angeles area and in New York City, but that's progress for the film, which began production in 2003 (while Sascha Baron Cohen was still doing Ali G). The trailer (above) has been on YouTube for almost a year but apparently there's newer English one for the American market.

KZBlog has a detailed entry on the film, the book it's based on (The Nomads, by Ilyas Yesenberlin), and the local KZ reactions to the film, written after opening night in Astana. I've got a download of the novel in English (thanks for the link, KZBlogger), and am working my way through it. The translation can be, shall we say, humorous in places, but it paints a vast canvas of life on the pre-Russian steppe. At least I now know who my street in Almaty was named after.

The main storyline is of the rise of a boy named Mansur, who becomes the warrior leader Ablai Khan. Ablai Khan unites the three bickering hordes (Greater, Middle and Lesser) of the steppe into a single Kazakh people, to defend Taraz against the invading Dzhungars (or Jungars, kin to contemporary Uighurs of northwest China).

The story of the making of the film is almost as epic, with starts, stoppages, changes of producers & directors, & financial woes. It was purchased for US distribution after last year's Cannes festival, but nothing happened for ages. And, I can't help but feel the irony in a film heralded as a monument to Kazakh national pride that stars Mexican, Hawaiian-American, and Mexican-American actors.

Still, the majority of players in the film are Kazakh, and the steppe scenery is bound to be stunning as well. Nomad is Kazakhstan's first ever entry for the Academy Award, in the Foreign Language Film category. Maybe it's not the most accurate rendition of Kazakhstan's history, but dubious historical accuracy never stopped anyone from seeing Gone With The Wind or Ben Hur . . .

I hope Nomad comes to a theatre near me very soon.

ps -- lots of "behind-the-scenes" photos are online. See some here.

(2/16/07) Based on early US viewer reviews (here and here), I'm betting that if you're not in New York or LA, you'll be looking for this film on DVD by the end of the summer. Schizo went the same way a couple of years ago -- audience response was so lackluster that the distributor withdrew it, and went to DVD release.

Steppe: A Central Asian Panorama has arrived!

On day 19 of the 7-21 day mailing period, the inaugural issue of Steppe finally appeared in the mailbox. It was well worth the wait.

An amalgam of high-end travel magazine, coffee-table art book, and National Geographic, the writing is intelligent and informed, and the photographs are a mix of art and information. Covering six of the seven ‘Stans (Pakistan properly falls into South Asia, I think) plus the Xianxang Uighur Autonomous Region of China, the articles include an overview of the region by historian Hugh Pope (author of Sons of the Conquerers: The Rise of the Turkic World), book and music reviews, interviews, photoessays, and even Central Asian recipes. The plov recipe is quite tasty (even when made non-vegetarian), though the addition of cumin seeds is very different from Gulnara’s wonderful plov. There is also a recipe for Korean carrot salad, of the type available in Kazakstani markets and enjoyed by many a visitor to the RK.

So, what is Kazakhstan-specific in this issue?

• The cover photo, for starters, is of a “little house on the steppe” in SE Kazakhstan, in the middle of the the flat flowering plain with low blue mountains off in the distance.

• An article on the detailed golden ornament of Scytho-Siberian animal art, currently on display in the Of Gold and Grass: Nomads of Kazakhstan” exhibit at the Mingei International Museum in San Diego.

• A review of The Silent Steppe: The Story of a Kazakh Nomad Under Stalin by Mukhamet Shayakhmetov (currently only in print in the UK), one of the only published first-hand accounts of the 1932-1934 famine. Caused by forced collectivization of the nomadic population, 1.7 million Kazakhs (one-fourth of the entire population) died of starvation during this time.

• Five of the “Top Ten Bus Stops” of Central Asia are in Kazakhstan,including a yurta and a mini-mausoleum.

• A multi-page feature on the Arasan Public Baths in Almaty. Sigh. Oh to be there . . .

• A short review of The Story of the Apple, the history of which would be utterly incomplete without its birthplace in the orchards of SE Kazakhstan.

• And, for sporting folk, a ski guide to Central Asia, with downhill (Chimbulak near Almaty), cross country (everywhere,including along Astana’s River Ishim) and (gulp) heli-skiing in the Tian Shan. Kazakhstan’s got a lot going for it in its bid for an upcoming Winter Olympics, including the gi-normous skating rink at Medeo (on the way to Chimbulak).

And of course, much more. My only vested interest in Steppe is wanting enough subscribers to keep the magazine afloat, since it’s the only publication even remotely of its kind. I am waiting for a feature story on the valenki factory near Semey/Semipalatinsk (hint hint) - aren’t they just gorgeous?

Find out about the rest of Steppe, and how to subscribe, at their website. My subcription is a $43 indulgence I’m completely satisfied with.

С Новым годом!
Happy New Year!

1/8/2007 - A review of Steppe was posted today at EurasiaNet, whose writers know a lot more than I. They like it too.

Wind Rider: Horses and History in Kazakhstan

Several weeks ago, archaeologists published findings of what is believed to be a prehistoric corral, at the Botai settlement of Krasny Yar in Northern Kazakhstan (articles at LiveScience.com and Scientific American.com). Since the only animals in the southern steppe that might have needed a corral would be horses, this discovery is seen as further evidence that the Botai people domesticated and possibly even learned to ride horses as early as 3500 BC.

Though research shows the Botai to have been a completely new kind of civilization from previous steppe peoples, interest and research has been concentrated on their relationship to the wild horses of the steppe, and on what light their civilization can shed on the history of equine domestication. Archeological sites in Ukraine have some evidence of earlier horse domestication (breeding them in captivity as opposed to taming wild horses), ca.5,000 BC, so the question of “who rode first” is a hotly debated topic in contemporary archeology.

The domestication of the horse was a watershed moment in human history -- with a year-round source of meat and milk (as cattle have been in the West), nutrition and migratory patterns of the nomads would have been drastically affected. Once horses were used as tools, for carrying loads, and for travelling long distances when migrating and hunting, the possibilities for human development increased dramatically. Until recently, the Botai have been considered to be Caucasoid/European, but other researchers have used computer modeling to reconstruct a Botai skull, the results of which resemble a modern Kazakh male (the image actually looks a lot like a young Kazakh grad student I know).

Kazakhstan.neweurasia.net has an entry on the recent discoveries, with lots of links to great background research.

With synchronicity factor in full gear, I soon stumbled across a recently published young adult novel called Wind Rider. The author, Susan Williams, has written a richly-imagined tale of the first person, a teenage girl, ever to tame and ride a wild horse in the Central Asian steppe. Young Fern, daughter of a family of hunting and gathering Earth People, finds more comfort in her animal friends than with humans, and is not looking forward to the limited life destined for her as a woman. The five families of her clan travel together during the warm months, and live with other clans in a protected settlement of pit houses during the storms of winter.

One spring, Fern saves the life of an orphaned filly, which she names Thunder. Secretly keeping Thunder in a makeshift corral to protect her from being killed for food, Fern tames the filly and learns to use the young horse’s strength to assist her and her people. In dreams, she has seen herself flying on the back of a horse, and eventually Fern learns to ride Thunder, inventing a leather bridle, bone bits, felt blankets and other riding tools.

This imagined scenario is entirely plausible, and the details are well-researched (as described in the author’s note at the end). For example, the Earth People (Botai?) respect and pay tribute to the life spirits inherent in all things, a possible precursor to the animistic beliefs of pre-Islamic Kazakh nomads. They fear the Night People, a harsh, cruel tribe who worship the god White Horse as master and creator. Night People keep a captured white stallion as the incarnation of White Horse, and to this horse they give ritual sacrifices; there is archaeological and anthropological evidence of horse-worship among the pre-Botai cultures on the steppe.

The novel is well crafted, though the basic story isn’t wildly original. For readers looking for a strong female coming-of-age tale, for all horse-lovers, and anyone interested in Kazakh prehistory, this is a solid recommended read.

For middle graders & up.

---

More About the Book
• Author Interview with Susan Williams
• Author's Website
• Chapter One Excerpt

More About the Botai Culture
• Prehstory of Kazakhstan at the Carnegie Mellon Museum
• Botai Discovery page (in progress)

An Old Father’s Wisdom : A Kazakh Tale

There was once a very wise old man, who was also very poor. When it came time for his only son to make his way in the world, the old man had nothing to give him but advice.

“Never make friends with clever people, don’t borrow money from the newly rich, and never tell a secret to anyone, not even your wife,” he said. The young man took these words to heart, left his father and was on his way. As time passed, the young man made a good life, married, and was happy. He considered his father’s advice often, remained curious, and decided to put it to the test.

He struck up a friendship with the cleverest man in the village. Not long after, he borrowed a sum of money from a neighbor who had recently become wealthy. A short time later, he went into his herd and slaughtered a sheep, being sure to cover his clothing with blood.

Back at his home, he asked his wife to clean the bloody garments. “I will tell no one but you,” he said. “I have killed a man. I will be done for if anyone else finds out. Keep this secret between us.” His wife cleaned the clothing and for a while told no one what her husband had done. Then one day they had a terrible argument. The wife went directly to the village elders and reported all that her husband had told her. He was immediately arrested, and was being taken to be judged as a murderer.

The young man saw his friend along the way, and asked for his testimony of innocence. But the clever man, though he knew full well that only a sheep had been killed, did not want to get risk himself by getting involved, and said “I am sorry, I cannot help you. I wish you good luck.” The neighbor who had loaned money heard of the trouble, and began to worry that he would never be repaid if the young man were punished for the crime. He demanded the return of the entire sum immediately.

Eventually, the young man was taken to the khan for judgment. “I have killed no man,” he said, “only a sheep. My only crime is to doubt my father’s advice.” And the young man told the khan everything, and how his father’s words had proven true. Upon hearing the tale, the khan decided that the old man must indeed be the wisest man in the world, and the son a man of good sense. He brought both the father and son into his court, and benefited from their advice for many years to come.

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This tale is a retelling of “The Poor Man and the King” , collected in The Spring of Butterflies and other folktales of China's minority peoples translated by He Liyi (check your public library, where I found the book, or buy used from Amazon.com).

Insulated from Soviet Russification by national borders, and from Chinese Communism by sheer distance (Xinjiang is around 1,500 miles from Beijing), the ethnic Kazakhs who fled over the mountains to northwestern China maintain a strong tradition of Kazakh language and and culture.

Central Asian glossy launched

Just heard today about a brand new photojournal magazine, covering all of Central Asia (including the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in China, home to some million or so ethnic Kazakhs). Steppe magazine comes from the UK, and will be published twice a year (October and April). The premiere issue includes an article about the Arasan Public Baths in Almaty, and one about the Akhol Teke, a Turkomen horse breed once exclusively ridden by the Kazakhstani national equestrian team.

The magazine's website has information about the all the articles in the premiere issue, as well as subscription information. I couldn't resist, and have subscribed. I hope I don't regret the impulse-- at approximately $43USD for two issues, if I weren't me I'd wait for a first-hand review. I'll post one as soon as mine arrives.

Update 11/6/2006 -- Steppe has the official stamp of approval from the Embassy of Kazakhstan; the magazine's press release was forwarded to Embassy newsletter subscribers by Roman Vassilenko, Embassy Press Secretary. According to the release, the first issue also includes a feature on how to cook plov, and the top ski spots in Central Asia. Shell Oil is one of the sponsors of this issue. It's coming out with a big splash - keep your fingers crossed that it's going to be a source of real cultural information, and not just an expensive, pretty hotel-room publication.

Who Lives in Kazakhstan?

While other sources (including US government estimates) have stated the population to be just over 16 million, according to Kazakhstan’s Statistics Agency, the population was just over 15 million people as of January 2006, and represented over 120 different “nationalities” (ethnic and language groups).

At the time of independence in 1991, four-fifths of all Kazakhstanis were either Kazakh (42%) or Russian (37%). This demographic has shifted substantially in 15 years, primarily through immigration and emigration, and the overall population figure has decreased. Large numbers of European Kazakhstanis emigrated to the coutries of their forebears, especially the Russians and Volga Germans, while the government has encouraged expatriated ethnic Kazakhs in other countries to return (900,000 lived in Uzbekistan alone; 1 million Kazakhs live in Xinxiang in Western China, and another million or so in other Central Asian countries & Russia). This movement, combined with a higher birthrate among the Kazakh population, has dramatically changed the ethnic balance over the past 15 years and given Kazakhs a clear majority. In 2006, the population is 58.6% Kazakh (almost 9 million people) while the percentage of Russians has dropped to 26.1% (just under 4 million).

A list of ethnic groups making up the remaining 15.3% of the population includes Ukranians, Uzbeks, Germans, Poles, Uighurs, Tatars, Koreans, Chechens, Turks, Jews, Azeris, Ingush, Kyrgiz, & Karakalpaks, just for starters. Given Stalin’s penchant for shipping annoying people to party exile and/or gulags on the steppe, pretty much any nationality that was ever under Soviet rule can still be found in Kazakhstan.

Who Lives Where?

Concentrations of nationalities are where you might expect them to be. Russians/Europeans/Slavs live mostly in northeastern Kazakhstan, in East Kazakhstan, Karaganda, Pavlodar, Kostanai, and Akmola, nearer Russia. More Kazakhs live in the south (and more Kazakhs who speak Kazakh); Uzbeks live in South Kazakhstan & Zambyl regions (bordering Uzbekistan). Every nationality is found in Almaty and its surrounds. In the official report (at least as published by Kazinform in May), there is no mention of any nationalities in the northwest or west. Everybody in Uralsk, Aktau & Atyrau, not to mention the thousands of foreign oil company managers and workers in the regions, must commute from Astana!

Semantics; or, Citizen of Kazakhstan ≠ Kazakh

In the United States, there is an understanding of the “hyphenated American,” as in Japanese-American, Afghan-American, Irish-American (as well as Native American), to describe the ethnic or national heritage of a United States citizen. The citizenship itself is simply “American.”

In Kazakhstan, the citizenship is “Kazakhstani” (Kazaxstanski), no matter the nationality/ethnicity. You’ve got Tatar-Kazakhstanis, Russian-Kazakhstanis and Kazakh-Kazakhstanis, but not the hyphenated system; it’s just Tatars, Russians and Kazakhs, all of whom are Kazakhstanis.

We English-speakers love to abbreviate, but “Kazakh” isn’t a short way of saying “citizen of Kazakhstan” -- and it’s not nearly as funny as the time President Kennedy declared he was a pastry (by mispronouncing “Berliner” in Berlin).