Asia → Turkmenistan → Ashgabat
🍰 DESSERT
Pishme (Turkmen Fried Dough Diamonds)
Turkmenistan's celebration sweet: little diamonds of light yeasted dough fried until puffed and golden, then dusted with sugar.
Turkmen · medium · serves 8
prep 90 min · cook 20 min
~186 cal · 5g protein · 39g carbs · 0g fat · 1g fiber · 3g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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AI-generated illustration
Pishme are the fried dough diamonds of Turkmenistan, a sweet that appears at every wedding, naming day and celebration table.
A soft yeasted dough is rolled thin, cut into diamonds and shallow-fried, where it puffs up dramatically into light, airy pillows that are dusted with sugar while still warm.
Once made plainly without sugar, pishme are now firmly a sweet, piled high on plates and handed round with green tea whenever Turkmen families gather to mark something.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and dairy-, nut-, egg- 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 8
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp instant yeast
- 2 tbsp sugar, plus more for dusting
- 1 cup warm water
- 1/2 tsp salt
- for frying , for deep-frying
Instructions
- 1Mix the flour, yeast, sugar and salt, then stir in the warm water to make a soft dough.
- 2Knead the dough until smooth, then cover and leave it to rise until doubled, about an hour.
- 3Roll the risen dough out about half a centimeter thick and cut it into diamond shapes.
- 4Fry the diamonds in hot oil, turning once, until they puff up and turn golden on both sides.
- 5Lift them out and drain briefly on paper.
- 6Dust the warm pishme generously with sugar and serve with tea.
Turkmen celebration sweet.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Ashgabat. Dograma is named for the tearing. Dogramak means to cut into pieces, and the flatbread, baked fresh in a tamdyr clay oven, is pulled apart by hand rather than cut, then mixed with shredded boiled mutton and onion. Hot broth goes over it and the bowl is covered so the bread drinks it in.
🗺️
Turkmenistan. Turkmen cooking is nomadic and Central Asian, built on plov, dograma (a bread-and-meat dish), and grilled lamb. Melons, flatbread, and fermented camel's milk reflect a desert-and-oasis heritage.
🌍
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 Turkmenistan
DogramaHand-crumbled flatbread and boiled meat with onion, moistened with rich broth, Turkmenistan's dish of celebration.
ChorekRound tamdyr-baked bread with a crisp crust and soft crumb, torn warm with tea and butter.
IchlekliA large baked pastry pie filled with spiced meat, onion, and potato, a rustic Turkmen specialty for gatherings.
Browse all Turkmenistan recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
Make it a Turkmenistan meal
DogramaDinner
Gök Çay (Turkmen Green Tea)Drink
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Themes
Frequently asked questions
What is Pishme (Turkmen Fried Dough Diamonds)?
Turkmenistan's celebration sweet: little diamonds of light yeasted dough fried until puffed and golden, then dusted with sugar.
Where does Pishme (Turkmen Fried Dough Diamonds) come from?
Pishme (Turkmen Fried Dough Diamonds) is a Turkmen dish from Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.
Can Pishme (Turkmen Fried Dough Diamonds) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Pishme (Turkmen Fried Dough Diamonds) 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 Pishme (Turkmen Fried Dough Diamonds) 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 Pishme (Turkmen Fried Dough Diamonds) take to make?
About 110 minutes total (90 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 8.
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