Trail Ration · Salted Dried Curd
Qurt (Kurt)
Photo: Adam Harangozó / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Soaked and crumbled in warm water, a few pieces of qurt turn back into a sour, salty liquid that Kazakh cooks use to season soups and noodle dishes.
Salted curd is pressed into small hard balls or discs and air-dried until rock-solid, able to keep for months without refrigeration. Bayan-Ölgii's Kazakh herders carry it as trail food, sucking on a piece to slowly release its salty tang.
Why it's made this way: Qurt's Turkic name and salt-forward recipe distinguish it from Mongolia's own milder dried curd, another marker of the distinct Kazakh dairy tradition preserved in the country's westernmost province.
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Part of World of Street Food — 3443 dishes from 118 countries.
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