Recipe

Asia🇹🇯 TajikistanDushanbe
Shirchoy
Tajik · easy · serves 4
prep 5 min · cook 15 min
~165 cal · 6g protein · 9g carbs · 11g fat (estimated, per serving)
🍽️
Milk tea poured over torn bread with butter
🇹🇯 Dushanbe
Shirchoy — literally "milk tea" — is a humble, warming Tajik breakfast where green tea is simmered with milk, salt, and a little butter, then poured over pieces of torn flatbread (non) to soak. Nourishing and fortifying against the cold Pamir mornings, it is the kind of breakfast that costs little and comforts much.
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Ingredients
Serves 4
2 tbsp leaves green tea
3 cups milk
2 rounds flatbread (non), torn
2 tbsp + 1/2 tsp butter and salt
Instructions
1
Brew the green tea in 1 cup water until strong, then strain.
2
Add the milk (or plant milk) and salt and bring to a gentle simmer.
3
Put the torn bread in bowls.
4
Pour the hot milk tea over the bread to soak.
5
Top each with a knob of butter and serve warm.
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.
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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 →
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