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Nauryz in the steppe
The spring new year of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, with nauryz kozhe and bowls of salty dried qurut for guests.
Cheeses for Nauryz in the steppe
Nauryz, the spring equinox new year, is a three-day public holiday in Kazakhstan from 21 March and is also kept in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The dish of the day is nauryz kozhe, a soup of seven ingredients that often includes milk or soured milk. Hosts lay a dastarkhan, a cloth of dishes, for visitors, and bowls of qurut, small balls of salted, dried curd, are on it, along with baursak and dried fruit. Qurut comes from herding life: dried in the sun, it keeps for months and was the travelling food of nomads. It is still sold in every bazaar.
Also part of it, and being written: Qurut (Dried, salted curd balls of the nomad kitchen.).
Written by the EveryCheese desk with AI assistance. Background: "Nauryz kozhe" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.