Asian Siblings

The sambusak of Central & West Asia reappears in Armenia as the boerag--a fried pastry turnover with a cheese filling.

The qutab in Azerbaijan is a fried flour pancake that is semicircular in shape. Traditional qutab stuffing is either forcemeat, stewed pumpkin with pomegranate grains, lamb stomach or verdure.

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Azerbaijan

The Georgian delicacy known as chinkali/khinkali is essentially a boiled meat dumpling, very similar to the Russian pelmeni. These dumplings are made with a variety of fillings; in the mountains it's usually lamb, and in the rest of Georgia it's often beef or pork, or a mixture of the two. Chinkali are always served hot, with no garnish other than coarsely ground black pepper.

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