25 FEBRUARY 2020 Y.
Long ago, when people saw a supernatural in fire and believed in Zarathustra, there was a severe winter. The people had nothing left but a handful of wheat grains left for sowing. Those seeds sprouted ahead of time. Then community gathered together with scanty foodstuffs: wheat, a little flour, and a bowl of butter were all they had to hold on until the earth awoke from its winter slumber.
The people have grinded sprouted mass, put it in a large cauldron, filled it with water and began to cook. It took a long time to prepare the brew. Community did not leave cauldron even for a moment. As soon as they moved away, thick mass began to burn again and again.
One by one, women kept watching around the fire, passing ladle from hand to hand. The fact that in a difficult moment of hunger, everyone gathered together, came to all the feeling that everything will be fine. And exhausted but still hopeful, they began to sing, keeping the fire burning & stirring brew, for a long day & night. Only then did the miracle happen - it turned out to sumalyak! The color – as Uzbek land, taste - sweet like honey.
Each man was given a little of magic potion. The one who was weak-has become strong, who was sick-has been cured. Mysterious things happened to the girls & young women. Every girl who stirred the brew in a cauldron - got married this spring. Young women who held the ladle gave birth to very beautiful children that year. More than two thousand years have passed.
Zarathustra's name became a legend. Severe winters do not frighten the modern inhabitants of an ancient land. But every spring, people invariably gather in communities and cook magic sumalak from sprouted wheat. Sumalak cannot be prepared alone, it is very difficult to prepare it in one house.
Gather with neighbors, streets. First, buy 20-25 kg of the best wheat & flour. At sunrise, the grain is scattered on cotton cloths. For several days it's plentifully watered.
Wheat sprouts.
Believed that if the lower part is thicker than the upper, you will get a very tasty sumalak. A huge layer of sprouted wheat is divided into pieces. Each piece will be grinded in a mortar and pressed through a cloth into a separate dish.
Grinded sprouts will be drenched three times, and three times will be pressed. The liquid accumulated after pressing is the main sumalyak’s component. In a giant cauldron, the flour will be sprinkled in the heated oil. It will be continuously stirred, rubbing lumps.
Each of the three wheat cake pressings is sent in turn to the flour & oil mixture. There is a waiting for the boiling moments. Carefully washed stones will be added to the thick mass. They simplify the mixing process.
Then everything happens as it did 2000 years ago. During the day & night, women replace each other at the cauldron, tirelessly stirring the magic sumalak. Music, songs, and laughter sound. Because sumalyak will absorb everything:
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music harmony
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the beauty of women's voices
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joy & fun.
The miracle will happen again.
In the cauldron, you will get a thick sumalak. Science has proven that a spoonful of sumalyak contains the same amount of vitamins and minerals as two kilograms of fresh fruit. And its effect on the body comparable to the sustenance of the ginseng's root. Yet sumalyak is not only a physical medicine, but it is also a medicine for human souls, it is an inoculation against loneliness.