Ugro is the Tajik noodle soup — small home-cut noodles (ugro) cooked in a clear lamb broth with chickpeas, potato, and a generous handful of fresh herbs. Simpler than laghmon (no hand-pulling, just rolled and cut), it is the everyday family soup, served with a spoonful of chakka (soured yogurt) on top.
Ugro (the Tajik word for the small home-cut noodle, and for the soup made with it) is the everyday family soup of Tajikistan, simpler and humbler than laghmon. The ugro noodles are cut (not pulled): a flour-water-salt dough is rolled thin and sliced into short fine strips, then dried briefly. The soup is a clear lamb broth (sometimes with chickpeas for substance), and the noodles cook directly in it, releasing their starch to slightly thicken the broth. The dish is finished with a spoonful of chakka (strained soured yogurt) and fresh herbs — a distinctly Tajik touch.
A bowl of clear, golden broth with small noodles, soft chickpeas, a chunk of potato, flecks of herbs. The noodles are tender and slightly chewy; the broth is savory and light. A spoonful of tangy chakka melts on top, giving each spoonful a creamy-sour edge. Eat it for lunch, with non bread, the way Tajik families do.
The ugro noodles are thin and cut (not pulled), so they cook quickly (5-7 minutes) and release some starch to thicken the broth slightly. The dough should be firm enough to roll thin and cut into clean strips; resting it relaxes the gluten so it doesn't shrink back. The chickpeas must be pre-soaked and pre-cooked (or canned); the broth is a basic shurbo base. The chakka is stirred in at the table, not during cooking (it would curdle at a boil).
Variations
Some use beef; some add red beans; some include tomato; the herb mix varies (dill, cilantro, basil).
On the Palate
Where Ugro sits in the Tajik flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
8 steps · 35 min active + 40 min waiting
- 132 min
Make ugro noodles: knead 250 g flour, 1 egg, 100 ml water, 1 tsp salt to a firm dough; rest 30 minutes.
- 28 min
Roll the dough paper-thin; cut into 3-cm-long, 2-mm-wide strips; let dry 15 minutes.
Watch outRoll the dough paper-thin and let the cut strips dry a bit — thin, firm noodles cook fast and clean; thick or damp ones go gummy and clump in the broth.
- 35 min
In a pot, brown 400 g lamb chunks; add 2 diced onions; cook 5 minutes.
- 440 min
Add 1 cup cooked chickpeas, 3 diced potatoes, 2 liters water; simmer 40 minutes.
- 56 min
Drop the ugro noodles into the simmering broth; cook 6 minutes.
Watch outDrop the noodles into simmering broth and pull them at a tender bite — a few minutes is enough; they keep softening in the hot soup.
- 62 min
Season with salt and 1 tsp cumin.
- 71 min
Off the heat, stir in a handful of chopped cilantro and dill.
- 81 min
Ladle into bowls; top each with a spoonful of chakka.
Watch outStir the chakka in off the heat at the table — spoon it into a boiling pot and the yogurt splits into curds.
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