Oshisavo (or Yoshi save or Âsh-i Sabbâh, according to Max Malkiel, an expert on Jewish cuisine of this region) is a Shabbat overnight dish of rice and meat from Bukhara (a historic city that’s in today’s Uzbekistan.)
Oshisevo is part of the family of Shabbat dishes from around the Jewish diaspora that intended to solve the issue of serving a hot meal on Shabbat, a day when no cooking is allowed according the kashrut laws. Just like hamin, cholent, tbeet, adafina and more, Oshisevo is cooked overnight, starting on Friday afternoon, at a very low temperature and is served for lunch on Shabbat.
What’s interesting about this dish is the sauce that’s incorporated into the dish. The sauce is made of cooked onion, tomato, shredded green apples, carrots, and sometimes dried fruit. The original dried fruit used are dried Uzbeki apricots, that are sour and sweet and seriously delicious. I could not find them in the US, although they are very popular in Israel right now, but I did find “golden sour prunes” that are similar in flavor and work their magic on the dish. They are available at most Middle Eastern supermarkets and online too, so please make the effort to find them, because they do make the dish special (you can also use regular dried apricots.)
Bukharian rice, meat and dried fruit stew for Shabbat (Oshisavo)
Course: Main courseCuisine: Uzbeki, Jewish, Israeli, BukharianDifficulty: Medium8
servings40
minutes10
hoursOshisavo is a Shabbat overnight dish of rice and meat from Bukhara (a historic city that’s in today’s Uzbekistan.)
Note: The unique and wonderful flavor of oshisevo comes from a combination of long cooking, meat, and a sauce of tomato, apples and dried fruit. Originally, the recipe calls for dried Uzbeki apricots, that are sour and sweet and seriously delicious. I could not find them in the US, although they are very popular in Israel right now, but I did find “golden sour prunes” that are similar in flavor and work their magic on the dish. They are available at most Middle Eastern supermarkets and online too, so please make the effort to find them, because they do make the dish special (you can also use regular dried apricots.)
INGREDIENTS
2 carrots
2 green apples
2 yellow onions
1 cup dried Uzbeki apricots, yellow sour prunes or regular dried apricots (see note above)
3 lb. bone-in short ribs (or 2 lb. beef chuck for stew and 1 lb. marrow bones)
Kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
¾ cup corn, avocado or safflower oil
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 small can (14 oz.) whole tomatoes
4 cups Jasmine or round (sushi) rice, washed in cold water
4 golden potatoes, peeled and quartered lengthwise
4-8 eggs (optional)
2-3 quince (optional)
DIRECTIONS
- Prepare the sauce ingredients first: Peel carrots and grate on the large hole of a box grater. Transfer to a large bowl. Grate the apples the same way (no need to peel.) Peel, half and thinly slice onions. Cut dried apricots to half. If you’re using sour prunes, they come with the pit in, so remove the pit first! Add everything to the bowl with the carrots and set aside.
- Put meat and bones, if using, on a large tray. If you’re using chuck, cut it to 1 inch cubes. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper and massage the meat.
- Put a large heavy-boot oven-proof pot on a medium-high heat. Add oil, and when the oil is hot add the meat in one layer and fry until golden brown on all sides. Transfer meat back to tray.
- Add tomato paste to the oil in the pot and mix while cooking and stirring for about 1 minute. Add just the tomatoes (not the liquid) from the can together with the grated carrots, apples, onion and dried apricot. Mix and cook, while breaking the tomatoes, for about 5 minutes. Add 4 teaspoons Kosher salt and mix. Remove from heat.
- Arrange the meat and bones back in the pot on top of the sauce, then pour washed rice on top to cover. Sprinkle 2 more teaspoons salt on top of the rice. At this point you can add potato slices on top of the rice, as well as eggs and peeled and quartered quince.
- Pour 5½ cups water at room temperature on top of the rice and bring to boil over medium-high heat. When water are boiling, reduce heat to low, cover pot and cook for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 225 F degrees.
- After 30 minutes on low simmer, transfer pot to oven and cook overnight or for 8 hours or more. If you suspect that your pot is not sealed enough, cover the pot with a couple of layers of aluminum foil to keep the steam inside during the night.
- Remove pot from oven. Let stand for 20 minutes before serving.
