Beet leaves (բազուկի տերևներ)

Here is how we eat beet leaves in Armenia. We boil them slightly, very slightly with little water and then fry with onion, oil and fresh herbs (coriander for example). You can then add fresh yogurt and enjoy it.

Another option is to make pickles. For a small bowl you will need one pack of leaves, 05 l water, 1 table spoon salt, garlic, black pepper, 1 table spoon vinegar. Boil water, add salt. Put the leaves in a small bowl (so that there is no free space), add garlic, pepper, vinegar. Put the bown in a cold place (or simply in the fridge) for a couple of days.

DDMO MSHOSH - Դդմո մշոշ (ddum - pumpkin)

This is a garnish recipe, borrowed from Sonia Taschyan's book. An old Armenian dish comprised of pumpkin, dried apricots and lentil. I boiled the lentil with apricots, fried (boiled) pumpkin with oil and butter and the mixed everything. This was an unusual, but very interesting addition to meat. I had 1 full cup lentil, a big slice of pumpkin and 15 dried apricots. Do not forget about the salt and red pepper.

KHARAGYOZ (ղարագյոզ)

I am not really sure where the recipe comes from. My mother says this dish (or salad) is more typical for Kharabagh. Anyway, it tastes unusual. Those who like lentil, will love this recipe.

All you need to do is:
1. to leave the lentil in water overnight, cook it
2. cut lavash into small pieces and fry it in oil
3. fry onion (the more the better)
4. add garlic into natural yogurt (matsoni)
5. first put lentil on the plate, then fried onion, then add lentil and then the yogurt+garlic sauce.

Bon appetit!!!

Tanov Apur or Spas

Here is a recipe for my favorite soup with natural yogurt and sour cream. There are many ways to cook it and after many experiments I chose the following one:
wash and boil a cup of dzavar (and I really do not know how to call it in English..some Armenians call it korkot)
then add 1 egg and 1 spoon of flour and mix all together
add 1 bottle of yogurt and half bottle of sour cream and again mix it well
finally add water (double the content)
wait until this boils and then add salt, 1 onion, a slice of butter and coriander

Recipes for this soup also vary. Instead of coriander, you can add mint and this will make a totally different flavor. Though the original recipe says there should also be meatballs with bulgur.

You are welcome to enjoy this soup hot and cold. This is an ideal option for hot summer days.

The Story about Tolma

This is a very interesting article on origin of Tolma. The point here is not claiming tolma to be Armenian, but going deeper with linguistic analysis of words, culture and traditions.

Armenian name Tolma is associated with Toli (in Armenian a grape leave). Toli – as a grape leave was recorded in the  inscriptions of Van Kingdom (Urartian). Initially , in Grabar , before the Seljuk Turks ever tasted Tolma the dish was called Tolimis – “meat in grape leaf”. Over time , as often it happens with the Indo – European (IE) endings , and in particular in Armenian language , which saves on vowel sounds , Tolimis turned into Tolim , followed by Tolima , and finally Tolma . Let’s compare Russian, which is also an IE language , where people , thanking someone would say ” Spasi tebya Bog-God save you” , then ” Spasi Bog-God Save ” and finally now ” Spasibo – Thank you.”

http://narinnamkn.wordpress.com/2014/01/08/677/

Here is also a photo report from annual Tbilisi Tolma Festival

GARNI ARAKH

Here is the recipe for one of my favorite summer dishes. You have to fry eggplants and peppers and do not forget to make small holes in eggplants with a fork. This make them fry better. Fry onions and cook the meat with herbs and garlic (minced, of course). I usually prepare 0,5 kg meat for some 5-6 egg plants and 5-6 middle size peppers. Then, insert the meat into the vegetables, you can add 1-2 fresh tomatoes (if there is enough meat). Let all this stay in the oven for half an hour. Then, it all your decision: you can add cheese, herbs (of course), slices of fresh tomatoes....and keep the dish in the oven for 10 more minutes.

DANDOOR

DANDOOR
Call it a salad or an appetizer, I am not sure which one suits this better. Dandoor is an excellent refreshing salad for summer dinners. All you have to do is to boil it for 10-15 minutes not more, squeeze it, add vinegar, salt and garlic.

MANDAK!!!

This is one of my favorite herbs, growing in Armenia. Here Vahe Martirosyan writes about more than 250 kinds of herbs, that we eat  in Armenia  http://vahemart.livejournal.com/192727.html
You can buy Mandak in every corner here. Wash it, boil it in water, then fry it with eggs, add salt and pepper.

Pasuc Tolma!!!

Well, there is a variety of recipes for fasting tolma (which should, of course, be without meat). This tolma was made by my mother, but I also cook it myself. It is a good dish to be served both hot and cold.

The recipe is really easy. Fry 2 middle size or one big onion in the oil, add rice and grey lentil (keep lentil in cold water for at least half  day or better full night), add 2 spoons of tomato paste, salt and pepper, herbs that you prefer (dried rehan is a good choice). Fry all this for a 5 minutes while, then wrap into grape leaves and cook as usual. It is amazingly tasty.

Krchik - soup from Northern Armenia

Here is the promised post about Krchik Քրճիկ: a pickle soup popular in Northern Armenia.
The ingredients are a few: cabbage, pickle cabbage/carrot mix, tomato paste, onions, potatoes and hachar, which I do not really know how to translate in English (հաճար).

So, wash the vegetables and cut them, fry the onion, then add the potatoes, tomato paste and pickle mix. And then, finally, add hachar. I will take quite a time for the soup to be ready, cause hachar needs pretty much time to boil.
One important reminder: wash the hachar in advance.

To be frank, my husband was not very happy about this soup, but I love anything, which has pickles inside.
This is how Wikipedia defines the soup
Krchik – soup made from sauerkraut, hulled wheat, potatoes, and tomato purée.^[19]
When making the soup, I understood there is something common with Russian Shchi (simply because of too much cabbage in both) and when googling it here is what I saw: http://gotovlyu.com/en/recept/krchik.html
So, bon appetit!!!

Chalkashovi (rice and lentil garnish)

I promised to follow-up my last post with Krchik soup, but it a garnish called Chalkashovi appears to be presented in this post. This is a rice and lentil garnish "quite" popular in Armenia. I remember my grand mother making it quite often. This is rather easy-to-do dish for a new housewife. 

Several simple steps:

1. you cook rice and lentil separately. BUT keep in mind, these products should not be well cooked/boiled.

2. fry onions in oil, add the rice and the lentil together and add a little bit water, so that it covers the content of the pot.

You can escape step 2, by the way. I do that usually.

One important note: this garnish should be cooked with brown lentil and not red.

Here is a photo.

Gapama!!!

My first post!!!

This is my first post, so I will tell why I decided to run this blog. It is also important to say who and what motivated me:)
My inspiration was a small group in Facebook, where people share "forgotten", "unappreciated" or "not appreciated enough" recipes. The members of this group share mainly Armenian recipes. So I decided to cook different things myself and share it online through this blog.  I really do not like that people associate Armenia with barbecue or kebabs, while there are many other things, which are truly sophisticated (at least to me).
I was also inspired by my Georgian friend Nino (I still do not know how to tag her here), who decided to write 5 things she loves about Georgia. Cuisine was among those top 5 Nino indicated. Another Georgian colleague of mine made Gapama for New Year party and I felt really pleased and proud:)

So here I start with Gapama (pumpkin with rise inside), which is to me "not appreciated enough".
This is an extremely easy recipe. All you need is a nice pumpkin, long rice, dried apricot, dried plum, walnuts and raising.
Step 1: cut the pumpkin, so you can then add rice inside.
Step 2: cook the rice for some 15 minutes. it should not be well cooked, when it goes inside the pumpkin.
Step 3: fry the dried fruits, walnuts and raisin with butter and then mix it with rice.
Step 4: put all this inside the pumpkin.
It needs 1,5 or 2 hours to stay in the oven.
Yes!!! And don't forget to put slices of butter over the rice, before you put the pumpkin in the oven.

Enjoy guys!!! Next dish is Krchik - a soup from Northern Armenia.