Piti (food)

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 Azerbaijani language. 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 also popular in Azerbaijan. In Armenia it is called putuk, the Armenian word for pot.

 Ingredients 
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.left|thumb|Putuk or piti cooked with covering bread in Armenia
In Armenia, putuk (Armenian word for pot) 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.

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.

 Shaki piti 
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Shaki piti uses boiled chestnuts. It is cooked in an pot. Firstly, chickpeas, mutton and tail fat are put in the pots. Then water is added and the dish gets cooked.

Related pages
 List of soups

Sources
V.V. Pokhlebkin, National Cuisines of the Peoples of the Soviet Union , Tsentrpoligraf Publ. House, 1978 ; English edition: V.V. Pokhlebkin, Russian Delight: A Cookbook of the Soviet People, London: Pan Books, 1978

References

Category:Azerbaijani food
Category:Armenian food
Category:Persian food
Category:Turkish food
Category:Georgian food
Category:Tajik food