Gosh Feel (Elephant Ear Pastries)

Ingredients
2 eggs

2 ts caster sugar
1/4 ts salt
1/2 c milk
4 ts oil
2 1/2 c plain flour
1/4 c plain flour for kneading
1/2 ts Ground cardamom
oil for deep-frying
1 c Icing (confectioners') Sugar
1/2 ts Ground cardamom (optional)
1/2 c Finely chopped pistachios
Directions
1. Beat eggs until frothy, beat in Sugar and salt. Stir in milk and oil. Sift flour, add half to egg mixture and blend in with wooden spoon. Gradually stir in remainder of flour, holding back about 1/2 cup. Turn onto floured board and dust with some of reserved flour. Knead for 10 minutes until smooth and glossy, using more flour as required. Dough will still be slightly sticky. Cover with plastic wrap and rest for 2 hours.
2. Take a piece of dough about the size of a large hazelnut and roll out on a floured board to a circle about 8-10 cm (3-4 inches) in diameter. Gather up dough on one side and pinch, forming a shape resembling an elephant ear. Place on a cloth and cover. Repeat with remaining dough.
3. Deep fry one at a time in oil, heated to 190 C (375 F) turning to cook evenly. Fry until golden, do not over-brown. As dough is rather elastic, the pastry tends to contract with handling, so just before dropping pastry into hot oil, pull out lightly with fingers to enlarge.
4. Drain pastries on paper towels. Sift icing sugar with cardamom if used and dust pastries with mixture. Sprinkle with nuts and serve warm or cold. Store in a sealed container.
5. Alternative topping: Make a syrup with 1 cup Sugar and 1/2 cup water. Bring to the boil when Sugar is dissolved and boil for 5 minutes. Dribble syrup onto warm pastries and sprinkle with cardamom and nuts.

Oshi Palov (Tajik national meal)

Ingredients
•Rice 0.3 kg,
•Oil 200 gr
•Meat 1 kg (lamb or beef)
•Onion (1/1)
•Carrots (potatoes optional)
•Eggs 4 pc
•Quince 2 pc
•Garlic 2 pc
•Salt 0,20 pc
•Water 600
Lettuce, radish, cucumber for the salad

Instructions
First clean the rice, prepare carrots, by cutting them like McDonald’s fries.
Use a whole garlic head, do not peel
Pour oil in a large pan (wok would work best) and fry the onions, add the meat, carrots, salt, quince and garlic and cook. When all becomes red dark take out garlic, potatoes (if used) and quince and put them on a plate.Then add water. After that wash rice carefully, put it into the pan and boil it 10-20 minutes. The rice must be covered with water and must be boiled until all water is absorbed (do not stir). Add back quince and potatoes and cover the pan. Simmer for about 10 minutes (up to 20 minutes) Make sure the contents does not stick to the bottom of the pan. You should not stir Oshi Palov during cooking.
Boil the eggs, quarter them and serve them on top of the Oshi Palov on a large shallow dish
The dish is usually served with green salad containing radish and cucumber dressed by some vegetable oil.

Manti

500 g or 3 3/4 cups flour
1 kg mutton or beef
100 g (3-4 oz.) mutton fat (lard is an alternative)
500 g (18 oz.) onions
1 egg
Sour cream
salt
black pepper.

Finely chop meat and onions, mix well, and add salt and spices. Make stiff dough out of flour, eggs, salt , and water, let stand for 10 min. Roll out dough into flat layer about 1-2 mm (1/20 in.) and cut into 10x10 cm (4x4 in.) squares. Place a tablespoon of filling and a piece of chopped fat in the center of each square, pinch edges up around the filling forming rectangular or triangular dumplings. Place manti on greased layer of steamer, and steam 45 min. Serve in bowls, top sour cream and sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper.