Armenian kitchen

[Tjanaparh]

Spas(pronounced S@pas - similar to the sound in the word WROR after the W) - Sourmilsoup

Grind flour and eggs. Mix sourmilk with water at the rate of 1:1. Mix both carefully and put them on a low fire mixing constantly. When it boils add halfcooked rice or halfcooked crashed wheat and fried onions and salt. Continue mixing well some minutes. At the end add a peace of butter and well cut corander leafs.
Proportions:
2,5-3 glases of sourmilk(yoghourt), 3 tablespoons of raw rice or wheat, 1 tbs. flour, 1 egg, 2,5-3 glases of water, 20 g. corianderleaves , 2 tbs. butter, salt, eventually you can use some mint leaves too

[Nora]

complicated recipe

[Tjanaparh]

Ghapama

Take a big pumpkin, cut carefully the upper part, remouve the seeds, take a big spoon and try carefully to remoove some flesh(we need ca. 1 kg) - if the pumpkin has already thin walls it is better to take on smaller pumpkin for the flesh.
Take some dry fruit(the best is apricots, cornelians, persimons, tut, unab, grapes, apples and so on) and cut them in peaces and soak them a bit in water. Crush some nuts, almonds, clean the pumpkin seed if you can...
Cut the pumpkinflesh in pieces and fry them a bit in butter.
mix the pumpkinflesh with nuts, dry fruits half cooked rice, honey and hel or cinnamon(or both if you like).
Fill the pumpkin with this mass, close it, oil it a bit from outside and bake it in aluminium paper 1,5 hours , remove the aluminium and bake some other 30 minutes.
open the gozrd and put some butter, cut it in peaces and serve.

You need: 1kg.gourdflesh, 200 - 300 gr. dryfruits, 100gr honey, 70-100gr rice, butter, salt, hel, cinnamon


PS: better if you have a tonir(its a kind of oven in the earth where you make bread too - i'm not sure about how You call it, we call it t'onir) - there it'll be much tastier to cook it.

[Tjanaparh]

Soup from Aveluk and chikpeas:
Wash the dried Aveluk in warm water, cut it in big pieces and boil it in salted water untill it becomes soft. Add pre-cooked chickpeas, potato cubes, onions fried with flour, spices(not too many). Cook untill it's ready. Serve with concentrated sourmilk.

You need per portion:
~75 gr. dry aveluk(in english it is called sorrel - the scientific name is Rumex acetosa- I addet some pictures of the fresh and dry form), 20 gr. chickpeas, 100 gr. poptatoes, 5 gr. flour, 25 gr. onion, a spoon of oil, salt, spices.

[Tjanaparh]

One recepy for lonely shepherd in late autumn eves.
You are passing the montains, and the sun is going down, you are so far, the animals want to rest and you have to make a stop at your point on the mointains. you make a fire.
Take your small pot put some crafied butter you have and frie an onion and garlic together with some aromatic seeds (cumin and fenell do the best), drop water over the pried onion and while youre waiting that it boils make some pastry from flour, salt and water, form sauagelike forms and cut them into cubes. Mke balls of the cubes.
when the water is hot , put the cubes in the water and boil them for some minutes, drop wellcut pices of dry yoghrt in the water and some cut dry tomatoes.
the soup should we milky and the balls should swim on the watersurface.
now collect some adible herbs arround and drop them cutted in the soup 1 minute before taking it away from fire.
Enjoy....
Perhaps the easiest recepy we used to eat

[MohannaD]

Ghapama
Looks very new to me , would like to try it !

Tonir , is Tannour in Arabic , In Urdo it's Tandoor. It's actually a Clay Oven .

Thank you so much

[Tjanaparh]

Ghapama
Looks very new to me , would like to try it !

Tonir , is Tannour in Arabic , In Urdo it's Tandoor. It's actually a Clay Oven .

Thank you so much

Its thatone we use here:

[graveyardofempires]

^
that tanoor looks almost identical to those in Afghanistan

[graveyardofempires]

not just the tanoor but also the rapida(the pillow where she has laid down the bread ready to be put in the oven).

[Karachi]

do Armenians eat a lot veggie or meat?

[Tjanaparh]

Good question dear Karachi! Most Armenians today are meateaters and it same food as whole middle east , Qabab, Shawrma, Gharsi xorovats(big peaces of meat grilled), Lahmajun and so on. But those are not our traditional dishes.
Traditionally in ancient times we were more veggies as our lifestile was known as the one who cultivates fruit and vegetables. For example the Kurds call us Flè, which means agriculturist. As Kurd in many languages here is synonim for shepherd. For this reason Armenians from their roots were veggies, and some like me still are! :D

[MohannaD]

I have a question about the Ghapama , when it's cooked does is it become like one piece , i.e. you can cut it into slices ? Or you use a spoon to take out the filling ?

[MohannaD]

From wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghapama

[Tjanaparh]

Dear Mohannad, Ghap'ama should be cutted but easy dividable abterwards, simply at the begining the ricecons will adhere one to the other, but on your dish they should simply divide.
When the pumpkin is ready you cut the whole pumpkin in pieces like a cake.
The wiki article is exactly about that :D

[Toramana]

Its thatone we use here:

Hay Arav, is it Armenia...I thought it is our area...We make bread exactly like this...