Elite life
Armenia (Armenian Recipes)
As a tourist, you will have limited opportunities to enjoy dinners at home, but if you are invited, by all means go! You'll wonder what happened between the home hearth and restaurants forever thereafter. For Armenian cuisine--developed over thousands of years of multi-ethnic recipes--has somehow been reduced to grilled meat and vegetables at almost very venue in the country. Most visitors rave about the succulent grilled pork, beef and chicken--until they have had the same menu every day they are here. Expats most often complain about the same ole same ole, one even calling the food bland (This from someone whose national cuisine is meat loaf).
These same folks also rave about the incredibly fresh and tasty fruits and vegetables grown in Armenia. The variety is astonishing, beginning with apricots and peaches, both of which originated in Armenia, through cherries, apples, grapes, figs, pomegranates, pears, quince, plums, oranges, lemons, an incredible variety of melons, squash, eggplants, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, cabbage, onions, potatoes, carrots, peas, beans, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts---the list is almost endless, and each region has it's own special variety and type which are mouthwatering just to look at.
Herbs and spices include cinnamon, cardamom, clove, cumin, nutmeg, garlic, thyme, rosemary, parsley, sage, as well as wild salad herbs (called greens), that include water cress, lettuce and spinach. Wild rice and wheat still grow much as they did 15,000 years ago, when mankind first began to cultivate them.
It does take some knowledge of Armenian food to enjoy the full variety, and you need to understand that recipes are prepared seasonally, using the freshest meats, vegetables, fruits, herbs and spices available.
Ingredients:
500 g eggplant
500 g potato
4 ea onion
100 g oil
4 ea tomato
1 c green beans
1 c spices (basil, thyme, cilantro, parsley)
1 ea garlic head
1 ts ground black pepper
1/2 ts ground red pepper
Salt
4 ea sweet red peppers
Cooking Instructions:
Slice eggs plant finely, salt and leave for 15 minutes, then squeeze extra juice.Slice finely other vegetables and mice spices.Put in a deep pan in layers, beginning from eggplant, sprinkle every layer with spices and a bit if salt. Pour over oil and 1/2 c water, cover tightly with a plate and then with the cover. Stew on low heat until done.
Anoushabour (christmas pudding)
Ingredients:
1 c pearl barley
Cold water
1 sm piece cinnamon bark
1 c granulated sugar
Ground cinnamon
Blanched almonds
Blanched hazelnuts
Chopped walnuts
Sultanas (white raisins)
Rose water (optional)
Cooking Instructions:
Wash barley well, place in a bowl and cover with 4 cups cold water.
Soak overnight. Next day put barley, soaking water and cinnamon bark
into a heavy pan and bring to the boil. Boil gently, uncovered, until
barley is very soft and porridge-like in consistency - about 2 hours.
Remove cinnamon bark. Stir in sugar and cook for further 10 minutes.
Turn into individual bowls and sprinkle with ground cinnamon. Decorate
with nuts and sultanas. Serve warm or chilled with additional nuts and
sultanas, and rose water for adding to individual taste if desired.
Ingredients:
2 lb Kadayif dough(Shredded Filo)
1 1/2 c Butter, melted
1 qt Half and half cream
1 qt Heavy cream
3/4 c Cornstarch
3/4 c Milk
4 c Sugar
3 c Water
Few drop fresh Lemon Juice
Cooking Instructions:
Cut and fluff 1 lb of Kadayif dough in bowl with hands. Add half melted butter and mix until strands are evenly coated. Spread evenly in lightly buttered 17x13-inch baking pan. Combine half and half and heavy cream in large saucepan. Bring to slow boil over low heat.
3.Combine cornstarch and milk, stirring until cornstarch is dissolved. Slowly add to cream mixture, stirring constantly, until mixture returns to slow boil. Spread hot cream filling over kadayif in pan. Cut and fluff remaining 1 lb. of kadayif in bowl. Add remaining melted butter and mix with hands until strands are evenly coated. Spread over top of cream layer, pressing down firmly to form an even surface. Place on lowest oven rack and bake at 450 degrees F. until golden brown, about 20-25 minutes. If not golden, move pan to top rack and bake 5 to 10 minutes longer. Meanwhile, prepare syrup. Combine sugar and water in saucepan and boil 5 to 10 minutes. Add lemon juice. Cool. Pour cold syrup evenly over kadayif as soon as it is removed from the oven. Cut into squares to serve.
Ingredients:
1 pk Dry yeast
1 1/2 c Warm water
1 t Salt
2 c All-purpose flour
2 c Whole wheat flour
Toasted sesame seeds
Cooking Instructions:
Sprinkle yeast into warm water in large bowl and stir until dissolved. Add salt. Combine all-purpose and whole wheat flours and add enough to yeast mixture to make stiff dough. Turn out on floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes. Shape into ball. Place in greased bowl and turn to grease top. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch down and let rise again until doubled, about 30 minutes. Divide dough into 8 pieces and roll each out on lightly floured surface to very thin circle about 9 inches in diameter. Place, one at a time, on baking sheet and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake at 400F 5 to 6 minutes, or until bread appears dry, lightly browned and blistered. Run palest side under hot broiler until lightly browned. Cool and store in dry place.
Ingredients:
4 md White potatoes
1 t Salt
1 tb Dried mint
1/2 lg Purple onion, sliced
1/4 c Salad oil
1/4 c Fresh lemon juice
Cooking Instructions:
Boil potatoes. Slice when cool. Add all the ingredients. Toss and chill.
Ingredients:
Dough:
200 g flour
1 ea egg
2 tb water
Filling:
300 g minced beef
100 g onion
1 ts ground black pepper
3 tb allspices
salt
150 g oil
1 c broth
Cooking Instructions:
Knead stiff dough, roll it out finely 3 mm thick and cut out squares.Make filling on combining all the ingredients, fry it for while, put in the center of every square and shape cylinders so that the filling doesn`t reach 1 cm of an open top.Put boraki tightly in a pan tops up and pour over broth. Cover and stew until half done on very low heat. Take them out and fry in preheated oil until light golden.
Ingredients:
1 kg fish fillet
5 ea onion
100 g butter
4 ea tomato
4 ea sweet red pepper
1/2 c white grape wine
10 ea black pepper pea
1/2 ts ground red pepper
3 tb tarragon
2 ts salt
dough for the cover
Cooking Instructions:
Grease the pot with butter. Put the following layers on the bottom: sliced onion, diced tomatoes and pepper. Then season with all peppers, put fish slices and cover with the layers of vegetables. Season with other spices and pour over wine. Make stiff dough from flour and water and shape a cover for the pot. Cover tightly and bake in a preheated oven for 30-40 minutes.
Kadin budu kufta (breaded meat ovals)
Ingredients:
1 lbs. lamb, ground twice
4 oz. dry sherry
parsley, minced
2 tbsp. short-grain rice
1 lge. onion, chopped
salt, pepper to taste
2 beef bouillon cubes
2 tbsp. lemon juice
3 eggs, beaten
bread crumbs
4 tbsp. butter
Cooking Instructions:
Combine lamb, sherry, parsley, rice, onion, salt and pepper, and mix
well. Shape into slightly flattened ovals. In saucepan, put 4 cups
salted water, bouillon cubes and lemon juice. Bring to boil. Put kuftas
in pan and simmer for 20 minutes. Take kuftas out and drain well. Roll
in beaten eggs and bread crumbs and fry in butter over low heat in
skillet until well browned.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 kg trout
100 g butter
1/2 c raisins
1/2 tb parsley green
1/2 ts ginger
Salt
1/2 c rice
Cooking Instructions:
Clean fish, grease with salt. Stuff in a small cut of the stomach with rice filling. For the filling, combine cooked rice with raisins, butter, chopped parsley, and ginger.Put on a well-greased baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven until down and light brown.
Ingredients:
1 lb. ground lamb or beef or mixture of both
2 lge. onions, finely chopped
1 cup minced parsley
Salt, pepper to taste
1 lb. box of shell macaroni
Cooking Instructions:
Combine first four ingredients and saute in skillet. Cook shell macaroni as directed. Drain. Combine with meat mixture. Serve in individual bowls topped with yogurt. Crushed garlic or garlic salt may be mixed with yogurt, if desired. Well-browned melted butter may be poured over yogurt, if desired.
Ingredients:
1 sm Onion, chopped
1/4 c Butter
2 3/4 c Sauerkraut
1/4 c Tomato puree
1 lg Russet potato, diced
1/2 c Bulgur, fine grade
2 qt Rich chicken or veal stock
Salt
Pepper
Sliced green pepper
Parsley
Cooking Instructions:
In 5-quart pot, saute onion in butter until golden. In bowl, soak sauerkraut in water, drain and chop. Add to onions and cook until done, adding water if mixture gets too dry. Add tomato puree. Saute 5-7 minutes. Add potatoes, bulgur and stock and cook 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with slight green pepper and parsley.
Ingredients:
Noodles:
450 g starch
450 g wheat flour
1 l sour milk "matzun"
1/2 l milk
3 ea eggs
3 ts salt
Broth:
1 c tarkhana
2 l water
1 ea chicken
1 ea carrot
3 ea onion
50 g butter
4 tb mint
1 tb savory green
Salt
Cooking Instructions:
Combine two kinds of flour and pour over it boiling milk and stir thoroughly. Beat eggs with sour milk "matzun" and pour in flour slowly. Knead dough and leave it over a night. Pinch small pieces and run them through the sieve.Cook a chicken with a carrot and an onion until done. Take it out and use as needed. Discard vegetables. Add tarkhana to the broth. 5 minutes before finishing add fried finely chopped onion, chopped mint and savory.
