![]() Piti soup | |
Type | Soup |
---|---|
Serving temperature | Hot |
Main ingredients | Mutton, vegetables (tomatoes, potatoes, chickpeas) |
Piti is a soup eaten in the South Caucasus and nearby and in Central Asia. It is cooked in the oven in individual glazed pots. They are called piti in Turkic languages. The soup is made with mutton and vegetables (tomatoes, potatoes, chickpeas) in saffron water to add flavour and colour. It is covered by a lump of fat, and cooked in a sealed pot. Piti is served in the pot, usually with another plate for eating the meat apart from the liquid. They may be eaten separately as a first course (soup with veg.) and second (meat) course.
Piti is a kind of abgoosht, popular in Iran.[1] In Armenia it is called putuk, the Armenian word for pot.
The main ingredients of piti are mutton, tail fat, chickpeas, potato, onions, dried alycha or other kinds of cherry plum and saffron. Meat is simmered with soaked chickpeas in piti-pots. Potatoes, onions, alycha and saffron infusion are added 30 minutes before the meal is ready. Sumac powder is also served separately.[2][3][4]
In Armenia, putuk (Armenian word for pot[5]) is served in the clay pot in which it was cooked. The soup is often served with an Armenian leavened bread called matnakash. The bread can be dipped into the broth. In some regions, the soup is eaten in two steps. First, the broth is served with the bread, and then the meat gets added to the broth and the side dish gets served. The main ingredients include lamb meat, mutton, tail fat chickpeas, potatoes, onions, dried alycha and saffron.[6][7]
In Azerbaijan, piti is eaten in two steps. Firstly, bread is crumpled on a plate and spiced. Then the broth is poured over it. Secondly, more crumpled bread is added to the plate and the rest of the mutton fat, meat and vegetables are poured over it, mixed together, and eaten.[8][9][10][11]
Shaki piti uses boiled chestnuts.[2] It is cooked in an pot.[12] Firstly, chickpeas, mutton and tail fat are put in the pots. Then water is added and the dish gets cooked.[9][11]