Armenian Food

[Takoush]

Now Maral wants to know if anybody could bake it for me, I mean her.

Sweets, if I could come to your house and bake it for you two I would gladly.

[Maral]

first of all I don't do grams

second of all thank you for the translations.

what a cute idea.

now you know I'll be up most of tonight looking at recipes on youtube,never thought to do that before.

and I have a choreg recipe that is sooooooooooooo good...I had it posted on that Armenian cookbook sight,if it's still there,give it a try...it really is perfect.

 

[Maral]

now that the weather is bearable I so want to cook all the time....I especially love to cook on cold,cloudy,stormy days and it is raining..well watch out...I go nuts in the kitchen...is anyone else like that?Or is just my 'issue'?

I love cooking Armenian,Middle Eastern stuff...but I really do get bored with it quick...I love trying new recipes....

you know what I always found funny...let's say my family has family visiting from the old country,which ever old country,why in the world do we want to serve them the same food they had at home? I've found it so odd....once again is it my 'issue' again?

[Takoush]

first of all I don't do grams

second of all thank you for the translations.

what a cute idea.

now you know I'll be up most of tonight looking at recipes on youtube,never thought to do that before.

and I have a choreg recipe that is sooooooooooooo good...I had it posted on that Armenian cookbook sight,if it's still there,give it a try...it really is perfect.

You are welcomed Maral jan. And don't worry I had fun translating it.

 

I will look into your own Cheoreg recepe and thanks for sharing.

 

 

 

 

 

[Azat]

would anyone know how to make Ishli Kufta? I promissed to make it for a lady but I have never done it

[Arpa]

would anyone know how to make Ishli Kufta? I promissed to make it for a lady but I have never done it

Azat. What is the matter with you? Did you forget to speak Armenian? Don't you know that "ichli" is the Turkish for "mijoukov"?

[Azat]

Arpa, you are the best man. As I was writing the above post I knew you would reply but not because you knew the recipe.

[Arpa]

Azat. What is the matter with you? Did you forget to speak Armenian? Don't you know that "ichli" is the Turkish for "mijoukov"?

I do know the recipe, but, then again, you the perennially sworn vegan, how would you you prepare the basic ingredient of "hum kufta" made of ground red meat/qashats mis and tsavar?

Edited October 9, 2007 by Arpa

[Azat]

I actually have no problem cooking with meat. in fact last weekend i made a batch of Georgian xinkali which is pork & beef dumpling

[Azat]

Maral, its groud meet that is friend and stuffed in meet and tsavar combination. it is then boiled in water and sometimes fried. some people eat it with lemon juice

 

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1124/1305212835_603244ed5c_o.jpg

[Anoushik]

I actually have no problem cooking with meat. in fact last weekend i made a batch of Georgian xinkali which is pork & beef dumpling

Yumm! That must've been delicious! I love xinkali

 

It takes a long time to male though...

[Anoushik]

Azat. What is the matter with you? Did you forget to speak Armenian? Don't you know that "ichli" is the Turkish for "mijoukov"?

What about "kufta"? In which language is that?

[Arpa]

What about "kufta"? In which language is that?

Kufta seems to be Persian as the dictionary does not qualify it to be from another language.

It defines the word as bruised, pounded, exhausted, tired out and ... eventually- meatball.

The word is used in Arabic as well, although it is pronounced as "kafta", once again to mean meat patt, meatball.

What we call kufta is known as kibbe in Arabic.

You can search and see many sites respond to one or all the other spellings.

 

BTW Soukiasian dict. lists քուֆթա , but it refers us to կոլոլակ kololak , which lietarlly means small ball, marble/ գնդիկ

Edited October 9, 2007 by Arpa

[Azat]

Yumm! That must've been delicious! I love xinkali

 

It takes a long time to male though...

not that bad. I made it for 6 people for a small party and it only took 2.5 hours. But I was also making bunch of other dishes like ceviche and akroshka and lavash chips with Parmesan cheese and salsa and guacamole and veggie dolma. started at 6:45 by going to the supermarket for groceries and finished cooking by about 5PM.

[Anoushik]

Wow, I wish I could become like you in a couple of years as far as cooking is concerned

[Anoushik]

BTW Soukiasian dict. lists քուֆթա , but it refers us to կոլոլակ kololak , which lietarlly means small ball, marble/ գնդիկ

Well, that's what we mean by "kufta" usually, right? It's the same as kololak if I'm not mistaken.

[Arpa]

Well, that's what we mean by "kufta" usually, right? It's the same as kololak if I'm not mistaken.

Ye, but not quite. As we saw above most other people, Arabs, Persians etc. refer to balls of plain ground lean (spiced as desired) meat, maybe in Armenia too, which is not much different from what we call losh khorovats, but in the diaspora kufta is usually meant ground meat mixed and kneaded with tsavar (cracked wheat) and they have a variety of them, like hum (raw) kufta, mijukov, where the ball or the oval shaped ones are stuffed with a variety of fillings in the center, all the way from fat(jarp), to nuts and more ground meat, a variety of vegetables, they are either stewed in chicken, meat broth or even matsun, they may be fried or baked, then there is the flat kind, which is called pan (tapak/տապակ) kufta, which also usually has a filling between two layers, it is usually baked and cut in diamond shape, like tertoush/թերթուշ(baklava).

BTW. Kololak is a variation of the word klorak.

Edited October 9, 2007 by Arpa

[Azat]

Wow, I wish I could become like you in a couple of years as far as cooking is concerned

its the only thing that keeps me sane in life

[Takoush]

Azat jan I found this one for you!

 

ORANGE LIQUEUR

 

5 med. naval oranges, washed & dried

1-3/4 c. sugar

1-1/2 qt. vodka

Zest of 1 lemmon

1 (6-inch) cinnamon stick

12 whole cloves

2 allspice berries

 

With a wooden skewer, poke holes all over each orange. Place the oranges in a clean wide mouth gallon-size jar and add the sugar and vodka. Cap the jar and shake well to dissolve the sugar. Add all the remaining ingredients and shake the jar again. Store in a cool place, shaking the jar every few weeks, for at least 8 months or up to 1 year. When ready to use, pour the liqueur into a cheesecloth-lined strainer set over a deep bowl. Squeeze each whole orange over the strainer. Discard the oranges, cinnamon stick, lemmon zest, cloves and allspice. Pour liqueur into decorative bottles and cap them.

 

Substitution: 8 lemmons for oranges to make lemmon liqueur.

 

 

[Arpa]

Ye, but not quite. As we saw above most other people, Arabs, Persians etc. refer to balls of plain ground lean (spiced as desired) meat, maybe in Armenia too, which is not much different from what we call losh khorovats, but in the diaspora kufta is usually meant ground meat mixed and kneaded with tsavar (cracked wheat) and they have a variety of them, like hum (raw) kufta, mijukov, where the ball or the oval shaped ones are stuffed with a variety of fillings in the center, all the way from fat(jarp), to nuts and more ground meat, a variety of vegetables, they are either stewed in chicken, meat broth or even matsun, they may be fried or baked, then there is the flat kind, which is called pan (tapak/տապակ) kufta, which also usually has a filling between two layers, it is usually baked and cut in diamond shape, like tertoush/թերթուշ(baklava).

BTW. Kololak is a variation of the word klorak.

It is a well known fact that Syria in general and Aleppo in particular excels in Middle Eastern cuisine. Everything aside, pastries, baklavas made by the likes Mousaddat and Mahrousseh are world renowned and are shipped all over the world.

What is interesting too, no surprises, that the people mentioned below seem to be Christians. Also note what they call that delicacy that we call “hum kufta”, “raw kubbeh”, in fact, in their language they call it “kubbeh nayyeh/raw/hum”, while ome of us still insist to call it by its disgusting turdish name.. It would not too farfetched to assume that we , as well as some of neighbors learned the art from them, except that we still call them by those disgusting names. “disgusting”? Can I use such words when taking about food?

ANCIENT ALEPPO CUISINE TASTES OF CONQUEST AND TRADE

by Khaled Yacoub Oweis

 

Reuters, UK

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMo...450249520071024

Oct 24 2007

 

ALEPPO, Syria (Reuters Life!) - Chef Yann Ghazal minces onion, bulgur,

lamb and sun-dried chili paste according to an ancient recipe for

quince kubbeh, a sweet and sour delicacy influenced by Aleppo's trade

with China.

 

The blend is shaped into an oval and filled with meat, nuts and

onions. A sauce of quince pieces, garlic, pomegranate molasses and

mint distinguishes the dish from 40 kubbeh varieties still made in

homes across one of the oldest inhabited cities on the planet.

 

"If you mince the raw kubbeh too much you lose the crunchy taste. The

meat is young lamb that is grazed on nothing but wild pastures,"

Ghazal said, while mincing by hand and adding water to the mixture

in a clay bowl.

 

"All ingredients are organic and most are grown around Aleppo. There is

good appreciation of taste here," said the 25-year-old chef who trained

at the Pourcel Brothers in France before returning to his home city.

 

With silk road fame and cosmopolitan prosperity, today's Syrian city

of Aleppo was the culinary capital of the Middle East before cultural

and commercial decline took its toll.

 

Syria is opening up its economy in the last few years after decades

of nationalization and state control and reviving interest in the

city's cuisine.

 

A recipe for quince kubbeh was found documented in an 800-year-old

book on Aleppan cooking. The cuisine traces its origins to various

invaders who coveted the great city, from Seljuks, Mamluks, Ottomans

as well as Armenian and Circassian refugees. Recipes have even come

from Africa through Yemen.

 

Aleppo shares with the Iraqi city of Mosul a specialty for rice

kubbeh, which does without the traditional bulgur, a crushed and

partially boiled cereal mix. The two cities have ancient family and

trading links.

 

Thousands of Iraqis refugees fled to Aleppo after the 2003 U.S.

 

invasion of Iraq and a lot of Iraqi dishes are being incorporated

into menus at food stalls which dot the streets.

 

But Abu Nabhan, an Aleppo institution in the Khan al-Wazeer district,

still does brisk business only selling grilled or fried liver,

called melak mutajan, the same phrase used to describe an overbearing

person. A street in Bab Jenin district is dominated by shops selling

zatar, a thyme mix.

 

Unlike a number of Aleppo restaurants, Ghazal does not use copious

amounts of fat and has built upon his French training to develop

dishes he first learnt from his mother.

 

Now Ghazal serves ice-cream with mamounieh, the simpler of usually

sophisticated Aleppan desserts. Mamounieh is made from water, sugar,

ghee butter and semolina. Ghazal has also created a dish of humus

mousse cake wrapped in a layer of dried meat as part of a buffet he

oversees at Aleppo's Mirage Hotel.

 

"Chefs in France have started mixing Aleppan and European food and

customers like it," Ghazal said.

 

ACADEMY

 

The young chef was lured back to Syria by Nauman Wannes, a founding

member of the Syrian Academy of Gastronomy, which started a few years

ago in Aleppo to preserve and develop the city's culinary tradition.

 

The international Academy of Gastronomy in Paris has awarded Aleppo a

cultural gastronomy prize and a delegation from the Istanbul branch

lately visited Aleppo, which has dishes similar to ones known in

Turkey.

 

"Aleppo's location has been key. There are also dishes that are not

found even just outside city limits," said Wannes, whose upbringing

reflects the turbulence, tolerance and cultures that crossed Aleppo

and influenced its cuisine.

 

Wannes' father Najdat studied pharmacy during the Ottoman Empire in

Istanbul, where he met his Austrian wife. He returned to Syria and

became a leading opponent of the 1920-1946 French occupation but

still sent his son to study medicine in France.

 

Academy member Aida Gorani said Turkey's influence could be mostly

seen in Aleppan pastries and vegetarian dishes.

 

"It's still common to find Aleppans who speak Turkish or have a Turkish

aunt or grandparent," said Gorani while sampling an aubergine filled

with chickpeas and bulgur.

 

A lunch organized by the academy showcased salads, appetizers and main

courses from daily Aleppan home cuisines that take hours to prepare.

 

Thyme leafs decorate olive salad, another salad combines pickles

and vegetables, parsley omelettes have no milk and served cold,

yogurt sauce covers a zucchini (courgette) dish and green peppers

are stuffed with frikeh, or roasted green wheat.

 

"I live between France, Egypt and Lebanon, but this food is unavailable

anywhere," said Abboud Ghantous, a Syrian who runs a steel trading

conglomerate.

 

Majd Hinedi, another expatriate businessman who is planning to settle

back in the city, said they were still families in Aleppo who guard

famous dishes they have been exclusively making for centuries.

 

"Get a few Aleppans together and the conversation naturally turns

toward food," Hinedi said. "In Aleppo, cuisine is the equivalent

of art."