In the project “Cudablin” we We send completely different people on trips at our expense! Marcel Sharipov visited Dagestan: he learned to cook the traditional dish Chokhsky Botischal, met the sunrise in the mountains and climbed to the ancient village of Gamsutl, abandoned by the last resident in 2015. More details in his report!
My subscribers seemed to have conspired and unanimously voted for option number 3, sending me to Makhachkala for 3 days. I decided to break the conditions of the trip and went to complete all 4 tasks of this trip, instead of 1.
Task No. 1. Visit the ancient village of Gamsutl
The route from Makhachkala to Gamsutl is a little more than 160 km and 3 hours of breathtaking mountain scenery from the car window. There is no direct road to the village and therefore you can only get to it on foot along the slope of Mount Gamsutlmeer. Some few kilometers to an altitude of 1500 km, and in front of you is the central gate. Only the rocks and stone walls of the houses preserve the memory of the Khan who gave birth to this place, laying an impregnable fortress here. And now Gamsutl is a ghost village.
The last resident left this place in 2015, exchanging life in an open-air museum for the benefits of civilization. So, time has stopped here forever! But it’s worth closing your eyes for a minute and imagining pictures from the rich history of these places: how for centuries houses with massive wooden doors, windows, verandas and galleries grew as if from rocks, how fearless residents fought off annoying invaders and how in the mid-19th century Imam Shamil met them fully armed Russian troops who wanted to conquer the freedom-loving highlanders. You open your eyes and in front of you is abandoned Gamsutl, crystal silence, from which your ears ring, and only eagles silently cutting through the sky in search of prey and still the same abandoned Gamsutl.
Task No. 2. Solemnly close the swimming season in the Caspian Sea
I decided to make slight adjustments to task number 2 and close the swimming season not in the Caspian Sea, but in the Irganay Reservoir. This is a young reservoir, created in 2008 during the completion of the construction of the Irganai hydroelectric power station on the Avarskoe Koisu River. The water of incredible purity forms a mirror surface, in which, in clear weather, majestic mountain ranges and forests are reflected, and in the depths, the houses and gardens of local residents remain forever, which in the construction rush did not have time to either demolish or cut down.
Swimming in a mountain reservoir at the end of September is, of course, a risky undertaking, but very invigorating!
Task No. 3. Find out the recipe and learn how to cook the locals’ favorite dish
Through a survey, it was found that the favorite dish of local residents is pies made from thin dough. I went to Aunt Raziyat in the mountain village of Chokh for the recipe. What awaited me was an improvised kitchen on the terrace of the Ethnohouse with the best view of the mountains, pottery, a stove with an open fire and good advice on how to cook real Chokh botishtal.
Chokhsky booted:
- Homemade non-acidic dry cottage cheese – 500 g;
- Soda – ½ pinch;
- Wheat flour – 500 g;
- Water for dough – 200-250 ml;
- Salt – 1 pinch;
- Soda – ½ pinch;
- Water for dough – 200-250 ml;
- Butter;
- Oatmeal.
- Mash the cottage cheese thoroughly until smooth, adding 1/2 pinch of soda. Divide into 5 parts and roll out each part into a log.
- Replace the dough using water, flour and salt.
- Let the dough rest for 15 minutes, covered with a towel.
- Divide the dough into 5 parts, roll out small flat cakes from each part, slightly larger than cottage cheese balls.
- Carefully wrap the cottage cheese bun with a flatbread of dough.
- Roll out the wrapped bun into a flat cake.
- Fry the flatbread on each side until golden brown in a hot frying pan without oil.
- Sprinkle the finished flatbread with oatmeal and generously grease with butter. Be sure to eat it hot.
In my travels, I am ready to give up visiting restaurants in favor of the opportunity to visit the home kitchens of local residents. And all because home cooking, of course, is closer and dearer to me in format. Secondly, these are always good traditions, new discoveries and secret recipes. Thirdly, it is always tasty, understandable and especially soulful. This is exactly what happened in Aunt Raziyat’s kitchen, and for this I am deeply grateful to her. If you are in Chokha, be sure to stop by and visit her. Delight from hospitality is guaranteed to you!
Task No. 4. Spend the night in a tent and watch the sunrise on the Avar Koisu River
I can safely admit that I decided to complete this task only to see the sunrise in the mountains. And I didn’t regret it at all!
The village of Upper Batlukh was chosen for an overnight stay, but not in a tent because it was successfully forgotten in the hotel, but in a house where shepherds now stay when moving sheep from one pasture to other.
A small house with a low ceiling, lack of electricity and living conditions, crystal silence in which the noise of the mountain river Avar Koisu is so clearly heard, and such a clear starry sky, after a few hours changing its color to purple-scarlet the first rays of the sun rising over the mountain ranges, add to this a fresh wind with the easily detectable aroma of mountain herbs and morning dew, and you will roughly feel what it’s like to greet the sunrise in the mountains.
Now no one can say how many times the sun has risen over these mountains, but one thing is for sure – the sunrise here is a special delight, causing goosebumps to run down the spine and sincere tears for no reason.
And then there was a breakfast of corn cakes with homemade cheese, tea from spring water and mountain thyme, a handful of which I collected right there nearby, and an amazing view. This breakfast will forever be in my memory and in my personal collection of the best travel breakfasts.
Afterword. I guess I’m not the only one who is skeptical about traveling in Russia, but a trip to Dagestan changed everything. 3 days, 600 km by car, 60 km on foot, new places, new discoveries, new impressions, cool photos, hospitable people and all this in the country in which I live.
Text and photo by: Marcel Sharipov (@marselsharipov)
Preview photo: Unsplash.com
