Tajikistan's national dish: flaky fatir bread torn into a tangy qurut yogurt sauce, topped with onions and herbs.

Where does Qurutob come from?

Qurutob is a Tajik dish from Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

Can Qurutob be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?

Yes. This Qurutob recipe includes ingredient substitutions to make it vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, or egg-free — including several of those at once, such as gluten-free and dairy-free together.

How long does Qurutob take to make?

About 50 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 4.

Qurutob — a Dushanbe, Tajikistan recipe

Name: Qurutob
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Tajik
Ingredients: 2 large fatir (flaky oil flatbread), torn; 2 cups qurut (or thick strained yogurt + a pinch of salt); 2 onions, sliced and fried; 1 + 1 tomato and cucumber, diced; a handful cilantro; a handful dill; 3 tbsp oil

Asia → 🇹🇯 Tajikistan → Dushanbe

Qurutob

Tajik · medium · serves 4

prep 30 min · cook 20 min

~206 cal · 5g protein · 16g carbs · 14g fat (estimated, per serving)

🍽️

Torn flaky bread soaked in white yogurt sauce with onions and herbs

🇹🇯 Dushanbe

Qurutob takes its name from qurut, the dried salty yogurt balls of Central Asia, dissolved into a warm sauce. In Tajikistan the flaky oil bread fatir is torn into a communal wooden bowl called a tabak, drenched in the tangy sauce, and topped with fried onions and herbs — no utensils, all hands.

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Make it yours

Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.

🥕 Vegetarian

🌱 Vegan

🌾 Gluten-Free

🥛 Dairy-Free

🥜 Nut-Free

🥚 Egg-Free

Ingredients

Serves 4 —

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2 large fatir (flaky oil flatbread), torn

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2 cups qurut (or thick strained yogurt + a pinch of salt)

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2 onions, sliced and fried

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1 + 1 tomato and cucumber, diced

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a handful cilantro

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a handful dill

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3 tbsp oil

Instructions

1

Whisk the qurut (or salted yogurt) with a little warm water into a pourable tangy sauce.

2

Fry the onions in the oil until deep gold and sweet.

3

Tear the warm fatir into bite-size pieces and spread across a wide platter.

4

Pour the yogurt sauce over the bread so it soaks in.

5

Top with the fried onions, tomato, cucumber, and herbs, and eat together from the shared plate.

Dushanbe tradition.

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🌏 While it simmers — know your destination

📍

Dushanbe. A Pamir-foothill capital of bread torn into tangy qurut.

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Tajikistan. Pamir mountain country of bread torn into yogurt.

🌍

Asia. From street-cart woks to slow monastery kitchens.

The story behind this dish is up top — worth a read while the pot works.

👩‍🍳

Richard Moore & Kelsey Tucker

Recipes cooked, tested, and researched by the creators of Spin the Globe. How we build our recipes →