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Chicken meat salad with pomegranate
emointhekitchen As I mentioned in the section About me, I like different types of ethnic cuisine. Traditional recipes refer to the fact that our ancestors knew about healthy nutrition, life in harmony with nature and different seasons more than we do. In a way, I fell in love with Armenian cuisine. Armenia has been involuntarily and many times in history affected by many different nations and probably because of that its cuisine has assumed a lot of foreign elements. In the difficult times of Armenian history, it was also important to get out with simple ingredients. This led to great modesty and at the same time extraordinary creativity. Although this…
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Garni Yarakh
emointhekitchen In summer, barbecue season occurs in many countries, which is not, according to Chinese Medicine, the most ideal way of preparing meat. It greatly strengthens the Yang element of the fire, and we, together with the food, only supply excess heat to the body, which we would rather get rid of on hot summer days. If we want to avoid unnecessary overheating, we should mainly grill vegetables of a cold or cooling nature. If we prepare meat in this way, we should consume it carefully and in combination with a salad of rocket, chicory or similar bitter leafy vegetables, which are refreshing and help to balance the hotness. The…
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Armenia Lahmacun
emointhekitchen Think of Lahmacun, a distinctive Lahamajoun, like a super-thin crispy Turkish dough (or Armenian), complemented by a mixture of ground meat with peppers, tomatoes, fresh herbs and earthy spices. Comes from the Arabic “lahma bi’ajeen”, which literally means “dough with meat”. Lahmacun has two different components. Dough and meat icing. Traditionally, Turkish lahmacun is made with minced lamb, but you can also use lean ground beef. What makes the topping special is the combination of flavours. In this lahmacun recipe, I use a food processor to create the topping. Ground lamb (or beef), mixed with sweet red peppers, shallots, garlic, tomato paste, fresh herbs, allspice, cumin, a dash of…
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Armenian Borsch
emointhekitchen Borsch is usually beet-root based a slightly sour soup popular in Eastern European cuisines. There is an awful lot of ways to cook it. Recipes differ considerably from one another. In every country, borsch is a bit different. Some countries even have several variants of this soup. Here I am mentioning one of the Armenian recipes, which in my opinion is of the most balanced composition. I will not deal with individual ingredients as in most of my other recipes, because this soup is simply an example of combining different kinds of vegetables and meat into one harmonic whole. According to the traditional Chinese medicine approach, I would say that this soup…
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Beetroot Salad
emointhekitchen Honestly, like a child, but in fact until my twenty-five, I hated red beet from the bottom of my heart. I had it connected to the school canteen. It was always cooked, diced and marinated in a kind of odd salty-sweet and sour marinade. I always felt like I was forced to eat clay…Fortunately, these reminiscences have disappeared over time. You will need: 1 large beet (cooked or raw according to taste) 50 g of walnuts (pre-soaked, chopped) approx. 200 g sour cream (or Greek-type yoghurt) salt, pepper, parsley Grate the beetroot coarsely, add chopped nuts, salt, pepper, parsley, and sour cream and mix gently. Serve garnished for example…
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Armenian Tabouleh
emointhekitchen This Armenian bulgur salad is called eech and it is very similar to tabouleh. However, while most ingredients in tabouleh remain in raw form, eech is, on the contrary, more or less cooked food. I prefer this Armenian version for its better digestibility. You will need: 1 chopped onion 4 crushed cloves of garlic 2 cups of chopped tomatoes pinch of black pepper pinch of chilli powder 1 cup of hot water 2 cups grade #1 bulgur lemon juice or apple vinegar chopped scallions and parsley arugula leaves (rocket ) extra virgin olive oil Procedure: In a pan or pot sauté the onions and the garlic until the onion…
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Bozbash (Slightly sour Armenian soup)
emointhekitchen The name of this dish was first mentioned in 1883 by Mirza ‘Ali Akbar Khan Aashpazbashi the head cook at the Persian court of Naser-al-din Shah in his cookbook Sofreh At’ameh’. Different variants of this thick and hearty soup can be found in Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Armenia. While my Armenian version is rather cooler in nature and therefore fits into summer or Indian summer, the Iranian version Abgousht Bozbash, on the other hand, fits on very cold days since it contains many warming ingredients: lamb, turmeric, cinnamon etc. For Armenian Bozbash you will need: 500 g of diced beef 1 chopped onion 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive…
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Finikia – Greek Pastries
emointhekitchen Finikia is a type of Greek cookie. This is the Armenian variant that I learned from a friend from Yerevan. Greece and Armenia have always had a very friendly relationship, which is reflected also in the mutual exchange of recipes. In Armenia and I guess also in Greece, these pastries are usually served at Christmas. These are the healthier variant of sometimes too-fatty and too-sweet pastries served in festive times. There is no need to use butter, eggs or milk so you don’t compromise your diet that much and don’t have to live on baking soda to regain normal digestion. I kept the recipe in its original form. I…
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Spas (Armenian Yoghurt Soup)
emointhekitchen Because of the significantly cold properties of yoghurt, this soup is particularly suited to hot summer weather. We can serve it cold as gazpacho or hot if you need to reduce its coldness. Also, the choice of the kind of broth affects the final properties of the food. If you choose a vegetable broth, it will have a cooler character than the chicken broth. Although wheat is more traditional in Armenian cuisine, if you suffer from weakened digestion, rice should be your first choice. Spas (Armenian Yoghurt Soup) You will need: 1/2 cup peeled wheat or rice 2 tablespoons flour 4 cups white greek type yoghurt 1 beaten egg…
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Baba Ghanoush
emointhekitchen Baba Ghanoush is a dish of mashed baked eggplant mixed with tahini (sesame paste), olive or sesame oil, and various kinds of spices. Slightly differing versions of this dish can be found in the traditional cuisines of Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Armenia, Greece and even Iraq. It is served either alone as a starter with pita bread, in Armenia with their traditional Lavash or as a side dish to accompany various vegetables and the like. This eggplant dip was one of the first dishes that I prepared for my husband. By then, his diet consisted of bread with mustard, sausages and other culinary specialities of a single man. It has…
