oromo — Kyrgyzstan

Oromo is a large steamed dumpling from Central Asia, known among Kyrgyz cooks as oromo and among Kazakh cooks as orama. Both names come from the verb "to roll," describing how the dish is made: a filling is spread over a sheet of dough, which is then rolled up before cooking, rather than pinched into small individual dumplings. It is common in Kyrgyzstan as a filling meal cooked at home, often for a gathering, since one large steamed roll can be sliced to serve several people at once. It sits alongside other steamed and boiled dough dishes in the everyday cooking of the region. A simple dough of flour, water and salt is rolled out thin, then spread with a filling — commonly mashed potato, pumpkin or minced meat with onion — and rolled up into a long log. The log is coiled into a spiral, placed in a steamer basket, and steamed until the dough is cooked through and the filling is hot. The filling is the main point of variation between households — potato and onion for a plain version, minced lamb or beef for a heartier one, pumpkin for a sweeter take — while the rolling and coiling technique that gives the dish its name and its spiral shape stays the same across these versions.