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Kesme (Kyrgyz Hand-Cut Noodle Soup)
A lamb broth with strips of meat fried in tomato paste, radish, carrot, sweet pepper and onion, and thin egg noodles cut by hand, finished with raw garlic and chives.
Kyrgyz · medium · serves 6
prep 40 min · cook 110 min
~659 cal · 51g protein · 40g carbs · 32g fat · 3g fiber · 4g sugars · 14g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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AI-generated illustration
Kesme takes its name from the Turkic verb for "to cut": the noodles are made by rolling an egg dough into a large thin sheet, folding it over on itself and slicing it into strips with a knife. It is a home dish, cooked in family kitchens and rarely found on restaurant menus.
The broth is lamb, usually made from bones, with strips of lamb and a little fat-tail fried in tomato paste and simmered with radish, carrot, sweet pepper and onion. What gives kesme its character is the radish and the garlic: green or white radish is to soften its bite, and crushed raw garlic and chopped jusai, the local wild chive, go in right at the end.
Kyrgyz cooks distinguish kainatma kesme, with the noodles boiled in the broth as here, from kuurma kesme, with the noodles fried. Rolled and cut noodles can also be dried and stored, as families across Central Asia have long done.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
- 600 g lamb bones or lamb neck on the bone (for the broth)
- 2.5 litres water
- 400 g boneless lamb shoulder or leg, cut into thin strips
- 3 tbsp or rendered lamb fat
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 large onion, thinly sliced
- 200 g green radish or daikon, cut into matchsticks
- 1 large carrot, cut into matchsticks
- 1 red sweet pepper, cut into strips
- 1/2 tsp each ground black pepper and red pepper
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 2 tsp salt, or to taste
- 250 g all-purpose flour (for the noodles)
- 2 eggs (for the noodles)
- 2 to 3 tbsp water (for the noodles)
- 1/2 tsp salt (for the noodles)
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 small bunch chives or spring onion greens, chopped
Instructions
- 1Put the bones in the water, bring to a boil and skim, then simmer gently, partly covered, for 1 hour. Strain the broth; you should have about 2 litres.
- 2Meanwhile make the noodles: mix the flour, eggs, salt and just enough water to form a stiff dough, knead for 5 minutes until smooth, cover and rest for 30 minutes. Roll it out on a floured surface into a large sheet about 1 mm thick and leave it to dry for 15 minutes.✎ Chef’s noteA slightly dried sheet cuts cleanly and the noodles do not stick together.
- 3Dust the sheet with flour, fold it over several times like an accordion and cut it into thin strips with a sharp knife. Shake them loose and spread them out on a floured tray.
- 4Blanch the radish in boiling water for 3 minutes and drain; this takes away its harshness.
- 5Heat the oil in a large pot and fry the lamb strips over high heat for 5 minutes until browned. Stir in the tomato paste and fry for 2 minutes, then add the onion, radish, carrot and pepper and cook for 5 minutes more.
- 6Pour in the broth, add the spices and salt, and simmer for 30 minutes until the lamb is tender.
- 7Bring the soup to a rolling boil, drop in the noodles and cook for 3 to 5 minutes until tender. Stir in the garlic and half the chives, taste for salt, and serve in deep bowls with the rest of the chives on top.
Kyrgyz home tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Bishkek. The pantry came off the back of a horse. Mutton and horse meat, milk soured and fermented into kymyz, hard dried curd that keeps for months, and boorsok, small diamonds of dough fried and heaped into a bowl for tea. Vegetables arrived later, with settlement, and are still not the point of a meal.
🗺️
Kyrgyzstan. Beshbarmak means five fingers and is shared with Kazakhstan, so the honest framing is that it belongs to the steppe. Lagman, the hand-pulled noodle dish eaten everywhere here, is Uyghur and Dungan in origin rather than a Kyrgyz invention, and Karakol on the eastern lake shore is the town most associated with the Dungan version.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Kyrgyzstan
LagmanHand-pulled noodles topped with a stir-fried stew of beef, peppers, and tomatoes in a savory sauce.
KattamaA flaky, spiral pan-fried bread layered with onion, torn and eaten with tea or broth.
OromoA rolled, spiraled steamed dumpling of thin dough layered with meat, potato, and pumpkin, a hearty Kyrgyz favorite.
Browse all Kyrgyzstan recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Soup keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and freezes well. Reheat gently and loosen with a little water or stock if needed.
Make it a Kyrgyzstan meal
Maksym (Kyrgyz Fermented Grain Drink)Drink
Zhansak (Walnut and Honey Candy)Dessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Kesme (Kyrgyz Hand-Cut Noodle Soup)?
A lamb broth with strips of meat fried in tomato paste, radish, carrot, sweet pepper and onion, and thin egg noodles cut by hand, finished with raw garlic and chives.
Where does Kesme (Kyrgyz Hand-Cut Noodle Soup) come from?
Kesme (Kyrgyz Hand-Cut Noodle Soup) is a Kyrgyz dish from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
Can Kesme (Kyrgyz Hand-Cut Noodle Soup) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Kesme (Kyrgyz Hand-Cut Noodle Soup) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Kesme (Kyrgyz Hand-Cut Noodle Soup) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Kesme (Kyrgyz Hand-Cut Noodle Soup) take to make?
About 150 minutes total (40 minutes prep, 110 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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