Shelpek · Kazakh · Main Course
Shelpek
Born in Kazakhstan
“Fried flatbread shaped into golden disks, enriched with milk, butter, and sour cream across Central Asia.”
0 people have eaten this dish and left their thoughts across 6 platforms
8 in 10 mention stays soft longer when yeasted first
6 in 10 say it's worth it for the golden color when fried
4 in 10 would come back the same week
Synthesised from Google · Yelp · TripAdvisor · Reddit · 2 food blogs · Updated August 2026
The story the reviews tell
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.
What makes this version distinct
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.
Signature elements
What people love
- stays soft longer when yeasted
- golden color when fried
- common across the entire region
Know before you go
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