Dimlama: The Slow-Cooked Uzbek Stew
Meat and vegetables layered in a sealed pot and left alone for two hours. What goes in, why the order matters and where to find a good one.
Plov is the dish Uzbekistan performs for guests. Dimlama is what it cooks for itself.
It is a stew, though the word undersells it: meat and vegetables layered in a heavy pot, sealed, and left over a low flame for a couple of hours with no liquid added at all. The vegetables release their own water and everything steams in it.
The principle
The name comes from a verb meaning to steam or to smother. That is the whole technique: no browning beyond a first sear, no stock, no stirring, and a lid that stays shut.
The order of the layers is the recipe. From the bottom:
- Fat and meat. Lamb or beef with some fat, often seared briefly first, at the bottom where the heat is.
- Onions in thick rings, in quantity. They melt and become the liquid.
- Carrots, cut into large pieces so they hold their shape.
- Potatoes, whole or halved.
- Tomatoes and peppers, which add acidity and more water.
- Cabbage leaves over the top, used as a lid inside the lid to trap the steam.
Seasoning is restrained: salt, black pepper, cumin, sometimes a little coriander, sometimes garlic cloves tucked between layers. Some cooks seal the pot with a rope of dough so that no steam escapes at all.
Two hours later the lid comes off, the pot is inverted onto a platter or the layers are lifted out in order, and it is served with bread and a bowl of the juices.
Why it tastes different from a European stew
Because nothing is diluted. A stew made with stock or water tastes of stock and water; dimlama tastes of concentrated onion, tomato and lamb fat, and the vegetables keep their own flavour instead of surrendering it to a broth.
The texture is different too. Potatoes steamed in fat and vegetable juice go silky rather than mealy, carrots stay sweet and firm, and the cabbage on top ends up as a soft, savoury layer that is the best part of the dish for many people.
When to eat it
Dimlama is seasonal in a way most restaurant food is not. It is at its best in late summer and autumn, when tomatoes, peppers, cabbage and new potatoes are all in the bazaars at once, and it appears on more menus then.
It is also weekend food and family food. The long cooking time suits a household with something else to do for two hours, which is why the best version you will eat in Uzbekistan is likely to be in a guesthouse rather than a restaurant.
Ask your hosts the day before. Guesthouses will usually cook it on request, it is cheaper than restaurant dinners, and it feeds a table.
Regional and seasonal versions
There is no single correct dimlama, and the variations follow what is growing.
In spring, quince and green beans turn up in the layers, and the dish is lighter. High summer brings aubergine and more tomato. Autumn is the classic version, with cabbage, peppers and potatoes at their best. In winter, cooks fall back on root vegetables and the stew gets heavier and fattier, which is the point at that time of year.
Regionally, the Fergana Valley tends towards more vegetables and a sweeter result, helped by the quality of the produce there. Khorezm versions lean on more fat and fewer vegetables. In the south you will find chilli in it, which is unusual for Uzbek cooking generally.
Some households add quince specifically for its perfume, some tuck whole heads of garlic between the layers to soften into paste, and a few finish the pot with a handful of herbs thrown on at the end. None of this is wrong. The only fixed rules are the layers, the sealed lid and the absence of added liquid.
Where to find a good one
- Guesthouses and homestays. The best option by a wide margin. Ask in the morning for the evening.
- Neighbourhood chaikhanas. Many cook one pot a day and serve until it runs out, usually at lunchtime.
- Restaurants. Common on menus in Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara; reliable, rarely memorable. Our Tashkent eating guide covers the better places.
- Bazaar kitchens. Occasionally, in autumn. Follow the queue.
Vegetarians should ask specifically: a meatless dimlama is straightforward to make and genuinely good, but the default has lamb fat at the bottom. Our vegetarian guide has the phrases.
Making it at home
This travels better than most Uzbek dishes because it needs no special equipment beyond a heavy pot with a tight lid.
Use around 500g of lamb shoulder or beef shin per two or three people, with a little of its fat. Sear it briefly in the bottom of the pot, then turn the heat down and build the layers in the order above, salting lightly as you go. Use at least as much onion by weight as meat.
Add no liquid. This is the instruction everybody disobeys and it is the one that matters. If you are nervous, a splash of water is forgivable at the very start, but the onions will do the work.
Cover with cabbage leaves, put the lid on, and cook on the lowest heat for two hours without lifting it. Serve from the pot with plenty of bread, and a bowl of the juice alongside.
Where it sits on the menu
If you are working through Uzbek food, dimlama belongs in the same family as the other slow, one-pot dishes: plov in the cauldron, shurpa on the stove, and the steamed manti above it.
What distinguishes it is that it is the least ceremonial of them. Nobody serves dimlama at a wedding. It is the dish a family makes when there are vegetables to use and time to spare, which is exactly why it is worth going out of your way for.
Our Uzbek food guide covers the rest of the menu and the order to work through it in.
Featured image: mismailovs (CC BY 2.0) via Wikimedia Commons.