Polydish city guide
Best Shelpek in London
“Fried flatbread shaped into golden disks, enriched with milk, butter, and sour cream across Central Asia.”
What the real thing tastes like
Shelpek, chalpak or chalpyak (Turkmen: çelpek; Kazakh: шелпек, romanized: shelpek; Kyrgyz: май токоч, челпек; Uzbek: chalpak; Uyghur: чалпак, romanized: chalpyak) is a traditional Central Asian flatbread commonly consumed all over the region. The main ingredients of shelpek are flour, milk, sugar, butter, sour cream such as kaymak, baking soda, salt and vegetable oil. The dough is shaped into flat disks and fried in hot vegetable oil until it becomes a golden color. Shelpek can also be prepared with yeast, thus the dough stays soft for a longer period of time. The recipe to prepare the dough in the given case is similar to the one used for baursak.
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Shelpek is a golden-fried flatbread that travels across Central Asia under different names—çelpek in Turkmen, chalpak in Uzbek—each region claiming its own version. The dough comes together with flour, milk, butter, and sour cream, then gets shaped into disks and dropped into hot oil until the edges turn amber and crisp. You can make it yeasted for a softer crumb that lasts, or without, keeping the dough more delicate. It's simple, fried, and built to feed a crowd.
Order it here when it has
- stays soft longer when yeasted
- golden color when fried
- common across the entire region
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