An Introduction to Tatar Cuisine

kruszyniany_forum.jpg, default, Kruszyniany, photo: Anatol Chomicz / Forum

For 600 years, the Podlasie region in north-eastern Poland – on the present-day border with Belarus and Lithuania – has been home to the Lipka Tatars, one of the oldest continuously existing Muslim communities in Europe. One of the best forms of cross-cultural communication has always been food – what are the highlights of Tatar cuisine?

A brief history of Poland’s Tatar community

The Tatars arrived in what is now Poland in two main waves.

The first members of the community settled in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 14th century, after the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Vytautas, offered them asylum and estates for their efforts fighting the Teutonic Knights. Tatars are often referred to as Lipka Tatars, a name deriving from the old Crimean Tatar name for Lithuania.

In subsequent years, further Tatar exiles settled in the region – and by the 16th century, according to estimates, the Tatar population was in the hundreds of thousands. Tatar light cavalry regiments fought alongside Poles at the Battle of Grunwald, as well as in other major Polish and Lithuanian military campaigns.

The second wave of migration occurred in the 17th century, following a Tatar rebellion over overdue pay and restrictions on rights and religious freedoms. In 1679, King John III Sobieski restored Tatar privileges and granted the community holdings in eastern Poland. One village gifted to the Tatars was Kruszyniany – now a hub of Tatar life, with its renowned green-coloured mosque. In the following centuries, the Tatars fought at the Battle of Vienna, as well as supported efforts to regain Polish and Lithuanian independence.

However, after World War II, many Tatars were unable to return to their ancestral homes, with communities settling across Poland, including in Gdańsk, Wrocław and Szczecin. According to recent estimates, there are between a few hundred and a couple of thousand Tatars in Poland, around half of whom live in the Białystok region.

The Tatar version of Islam is derived from Sunni Islam, although some customs vary. Whilst Tatars have gradually assimilated into Polish culture through the centuries – adopting Christian traditions including pilgrimages and Christmas trees, as well as speaking Polish as their native language – the community has also retained many of their traditions. Their heritage has also been vibrantly influenced by Islamic and Asian culture, as well as by the movements of the Tatars over the centuries.

Tatar cuisine: regional tradition, cultural borrowing

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Manty dumplings, photo: Lisovskaya Natalia / GettyImages

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But it’s Tatar food that epitomises the multi-cultural traditions and history of the community, with many dishes rooted in centuries-old customs. Influences from Russian and Central Asian cuisines are prominent, but the agriculture of different geographical regions also had a significant impact – many dishes rely on cereals, flour, livestock and dairy, which were adopted from the southern steppe. As the Tatars often needed rich, filling dishes, which could be prepared easily and without many ingredients, many dishes are also stew-based, consisting of fatty and spicy flavours. Alcohol and pork are never used in Tatar foods, following Islamic tradition.

Many elements of Tatar cuisine reflect the original nomadic roots of the Tatar people, who traditionally ate raw meat – or meats including goat and horse – and cooked dishes on an open fire. Due to the lack of access to more varied vegetables, recipes are dominated by potatoes, onions, carrots and cabbage. As the Tatars settled in Poland, they eliminated horse meat, and adopted traditions from Asia and China, as well as new foodstuffs, like cooked buckwheat, which arrived in Poland in the 13th century (Tatarka is a frequently-used name for buckwheat), and from Eastern European customs. Tatars also tried to use as much leftover food as possible, borrowing meat preservation methods from Ottoman culture, with goose and beef often salted and smoked outside rural buildings.

Traditional foods are prepared regularly in Tatar households, with religious and cultural events often ending with dishes being tasted.

Below are the histories of some of the most prominent Tatar dishes, still enjoyed today.

Kołduny

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Kołduny, photo: Marcin Kaminski / East News

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Kołduny – a dumpling stuffed with meat – is a national dish of the Tatars, with a wide-ranging influence on Polish and Lithuanian culture. The dumplings were initially adopted from Chinese tradition, although they bear similarities to other national dumpling dishes – including, of course, pierogi. However, kołduny are made from unleavened dough and cooked in a meat broth, which is then served with the dumplings. Savoury fillings include beef, mutton, veal and fish. The dish is a staple of festive dinners, served as a main course, with the dumplings designed to be small enough to fit in the mouth whole.

But kołduny are not the only famous Tatar dumplings. Other versions include: roasted dumplings (kibiny, cebulniki, and jeczpoczmaki); fried dumplings (pieremiacze and czebureki); and boiled dumplings (manty – which originate from Turkey, and are popular among Central Eastern European communities; and katroflaniki – made from a potato dough, and with a melted butter interior rather than a meat filling).

And in keeping with attempts to use leftover foodstuffs, the dough from kołduny can also be turned into other products, including lawasz flatbread or dżajma pancakes.

Pierekaczewnik

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Pierekaczewnik, Kruszyniany, photo: Piotr Mecik/Forum

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A six-layered pastry, stuffing-filled and with a golden crust, pierekaczewnik is probably the ultimate comfort food.

Dough is hand-kneaded and rolled into thin, almost transparent, sheets which are then greased with butter or goose fat, and loaded up with sweet (cottage cheese, raisins, or other fruits) or savoury (meat-based) fillings. The sheets are then rolled into a shape resembling a snail shell – which is around 20cm large, and weighs 3kg – and baked in a round pan for two hours. It can be served either hot or cold.

There are two other stuffed dishes similar to pierekaczewnik, bielusz and katlama, which are also popular among the Tatar community.

Bielusz is a rolled yeast dough, similar in appearance to a large dumpling, which is traditionally filled with goose and pumpkin, and served during colder seasons. In the interwar period, bielusz was often served on Fridays.

Meanwhile katlama is a Tatar roulade, made from unleavened dough and filled with meat – beef or lamb – as well as onions, salt and pepper.

Pilaf

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Pilaf, photo: Mcherevan/East News

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Tatar pilaf is part of a wider family-tree of classic rice dishes popular across Central Eastern Europe and Asia – from plov to biryani, paella to pilau. The Tatar version is often cooked with spiced rice and meat, and was traditionally prepared by men.

Babka ziemniaczana

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Babka ziemniaczana, photo: Anatol Chomicz /Forum

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A popular dish among the Tatars of Kruszyniany, babka ziemniaczana, or potato cake consists of meat, expertly blended with eggs, grated potatoes, onions and flour. Baked in a crock pot and served with sour cream or garlic sauce, the potato cake is a simple dish to make – but perfect winter fare. A similar dish is trybuszok, consisting of a sheep’s stomach stuffed with potato and other meats.

Kryszonka

Kryszonka – a stew made with meat and vegetables, including potatoes, carrots, onion and peppers – is one of the oldest Tatar dishes. Formerly cooked on an open fire, the dish is now heated in an oven – but its roots are just the same having been made by the Tatars of old. The stew is often served with sauerkraut.

Another famous Tatar stew is shavla, consisting of veal, seasonal vegetables and buckwheat, which is served all year round.

Desserts

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Czak-czak, photo: lvenks/GettyImages

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And if the savoury dishes haven’t satiated you enough, Tatar cuisine also includes a variety of desserts and sweet treats.

One of the most well-known is czak czak, pieces of fried dough, which are moulded and covered in hot honey-sugar syrup, and decorated with nuts and raisins. The dish is popular at Tatar weddings – and traditionally, different women took different roles in preparing the food, with married women frying the dough, and widows boiling the topping.

Some Tatar dumplings can also be served with sweet fillings. Kołduny sometimes feature berries or dried fruits – and manty are served alongside stewed strawberries and cream.

Tatar sweets also include candied fruits, often eaten following religious rituals. Syta is one of the most popular Tatar drinks – a simple beverage, made with honey and water, and occasionally lemon.

And a not-so Tatar dish: steak tatare

Steak tatare is a bit of a misnomer. There are claims that the dish originated from the Tatars – according to legend, Tatar horsemen ate the chopped-beef appetiser because they had no time to cook meals, so they tenderised the meat under their saddles. However, historians note that the dish bears little similarities to other known Tatar dishes, or Asian cuisine – and, in fact, similar dishes crop up across Europe, from Italy to France. Indeed, recipes for the dish also only appeared in Poland in the early 20th century, in recipe books about French fare. It is possible that the Tatar name was added in reference to the use of breadcrumbs in Tatar cuisine.

But regardless of the provenance of steak tatare, Tatar cuisine is packed with delicious and unique dishes with fascinating backgrounds – which offer a glimpse of the history and multi-cultural heritage of one of Poland’s key ethnic minorities.

Written by Juliette Bretan, Sept 2021

_{^{Sources: annatoannatamto.pl; kruszyniany.pl; magazyn-kuchnia.pl; vice.com.}}

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