Armenian cuisine has a very long history. She began to form more than 2.5 thousand years ago. During this time, its own culinary traditions have developed in it, completely devoid of foreign influence. A special place in the menu of the local population is given to Armenian snacks, the recipes of which will be presented in today's article.
General principles
Appetizers related to the national cuisine of Armenia are quite specific. Almost all of them are very satisfying, quite spicy and incredibly tasty. As a rule, they are prepared on the basis of meat, poultry, fish or vegetables with the addition of a large amount of garlic and spices.
An integral component of such dishes is considered greens. Most often, tarragon, green onions, basil, parsley or dill are added to salads and cold snacks. As for spices, caraway seeds, marjoram, black and red peppers are especially popular among local culinary specialists. Often, nuts, vinegar, sour cream and matsun are added to Armenian snacks. All of them give the finished dishes a unique flavor and pungency.
Meatloaf
Almost no festive feast is complete without this fragrant snack. It is prepared on the basis of beef with the addition of a small amount of fat tail fat. To create such a roll you will need:
- 450 grams of beef;
- 3 eggs;
- 60 grams of tomato paste and fat tail;
- salt, garlic, herbs, red and black pepper.
Washed beef is stripped of fat and tendons, and then thoroughly beaten with a kitchen hammer. Meat prepared in this way is salted and seasoned with two types of pepper. Then it is again beaten off until a homogeneous viscous mass is obtained and laid out on the board with a two-centimeter layer. Slices of garlic, pieces of fat tail fat and half boiled eggs are distributed on top. All this is seasoned with salt and spices, and then twisted into a roll and tied with thin twine.
The resulting workpiece is laid out on a baking sheet, slightly greased with butter. A thin layer of tomato paste is applied on top and sent to bake. To obtain a uniformly prepared roll, it is turned over every fifteen minutes and watered with broth. This Armenian appetizer is served chilled, after being sliced โโand garnished with greens.
Baked vegetable salad
In the original, this tasty and healthy dish is prepared on the grill. But in our conditions it can be done on a regular stove. To create it you will need:
- 5 eggplants;
- a pair of cloves of garlic;
- 5 bell peppers;
- red onion;
- whole lemon;
- a bunch of cilantro;
- vegetable oil, salt and aromatic spices.
An Armenian eggplant appetizer is prepared so simply that any newcomer will cope with this task. Washed vegetables (blue and peppers) are placed on the burners and turned over as the skin is charred. As soon as they are completely ready, they are literally immersed for a minute in cold salted water and cleaned of skins, seeds and stalks.
After that, the vegetables are cut into large pieces and put in a deep bowl. Chopped cilantro, onion and garlic are added there. A cooked Armenian eggplant appetizer is seasoned with a mixture of vegetable oil and freshly squeezed lemon juice. Serve her to a barbecue.
Zhengyalov haz
This dish with an interesting name is a cake made from unleavened dough stuffed with any edible greens. Moreover, not only traditional herbs, such as basil, cilantro, dill or parsley, are used as a filler, but also such rare components as quinoa or shepherdโs bag. To prepare such an Armenian snack you will need:
- 600 grams of flour;
- 350 milliliters of water;
- a teaspoon of salt;
- a bunch of sorrel, green onions, parsley, dill and jusai;
- a couple of large spoons of vegetable oil.
First of all, you need to knead a dense, but not too cool dough from flour, water and salt. Then it is wrapped in polyethylene and left for half an hour. Thirty minutes later, small pieces are nibbled from it and rolled into thick neat cakes. In the center of each billet lay a filling made of chopped greens of salt and vegetable oil, and carefully fasten the edges. Finished products flatten, giving them the shape of cakes, and fry in a pan.
Armenian eggplant
This dish does not contain animal fats, so it will interest those who adhere to a vegetarian diet. To prepare this savory Armenian snack you will need:
- 3 small eggplants;
- 50 milliliters of vegetable oil;
- 3 ripe, large tomatoes;
- clove of garlic;
- salt, spices, dill and cilantro.
Washed eggplant is freed from the stalks and cut from the side so that the two halves are interconnected. Then the pulp is carefully cleaned from the blue ones, placed in a suitable container and filled with warm salted water.
The core removed from the eggplant is ground with a sharp knife and fried in vegetable oil. Then it is mixed with crushed garlic, chopped herbs and spices. The little blue ones themselves are extracted from the water, slightly squeezed out and filled with the resulting fried mass. After that, they are placed in a heat-resistant form and stuffed with tomato slices, previously peeled from the skin. Those tomatoes that did not fit inside the eggplant are laid out side by side. All this is filled in with 60 ml of warm water, covered with a lid and stewed on the smallest fire for about a quarter of an hour.
Canned eggplant
Using the technology described below, you can relatively quickly and without any particular hassle prepare a sharp Armenian snack for the winter. It consists of simple and readily available ingredients sold in any vegetable market. In this case, you will need:
- 60 grams of chopped garlic;
- a kilo of onions;
- 3.5 kg of eggplant;
- salt and sunli hops.
Washed blue ones are cut into strips and put in a bulky container. Then the vegetables are salted, placed under oppression and left overnight. In the morning they are fried in small portions in an oiled pan and combined with browned chopped onions. All this is sprinkled with chopped garlic and sunnel hops, and then stewed over low heat for half an hour. The finished appetizer is laid out in clean glass containers, sterilized for thirty minutes and rolled up with lids.
Armenian ec
This dish can be used not only as a snack, but also as a simple and hearty breakfast. It is prepared on the basis of thin pita bread filled with any available cheese and sausages. This time you will need:
- 30 grams of ham;
- sheet of thin pita bread;
- 50 grams of Adyghe cheese;
- a raw egg;
- a tablespoon of fresh sour cream;
- salt and greens (cilantro, parsley or dill).
Pita bread is laid out in a dry cold frying pan and smeared with sour cream. from above, evenly distribute the filling made from grated Adygei cheese, raw eggs, chopped herbs and chopped ham. Immediately after this, the edges of the pita are folded so that an envelope is obtained. The future Armenian ecu is fried over moderate heat for several minutes on each side.
Hot lavash appetizer
This easy-to-prepare dish goes well with almost any drink. It is served exclusively in hot form and is equally suitable for both adult and baby food. To create it, you will need:
- foxes of thin Armenian lavash;
- packaging of crab sticks;
- 200 grams of soft cream cheese;
- 4 eggs;
- 4 cloves of garlic;
- a bunch of dill;
- salt, flour and vegetable oil.
You need to start cooking appetizers from Armenian pita bread by cutting the sheet into four equal parts. Each of the resulting pieces is greased with cheese, mixed with chopped garlic, sprinkled with chopped herbs and chopped crab sticks. Then the pieces are stacked on top of each other so that the top is dry pita bread. The resulting multilayer product is cut in batch pieces, dipped in batter, consisting of flour, eggs and salt, and fried in an oiled pan.
Red Bean Pate
This Armenian cuisine appetizer is prepared on the basis of legumes with the addition of walnuts. Therefore, it has a pleasant, slightly sweet taste and spicy aroma. To make a similar paste you will need:
- 300 grams of red beans;
- a couple of large spoons of vegetable oil;
- 70 grams of toasted nuts and butter;
- ยฝ teaspoon of red and black pepper;
- 3 cloves of garlic;
- a teaspoon of ground nutmeg;
- 50 grams of fresh cilantro;
- a tablespoon of sunnel hops;
- salt (to taste).
The washed beans are poured with cold water and brought to a boil. Vegetable oil is added to the bubbling liquid and the fire is reduced. Ten minutes before the end of cooking, the beans are slightly salted. Warm finished product is laid out in a food processor and chopped together with pre-toasted nuts. The resulting mass is seasoned with butter, and then mixed with crushed garlic and spices. There, they add a little liquid in which the beans were cooked. Once again, they pass through the combine and combine with chopped greens.
Armenian pepper
This spectacular appetizer goes well with meat dishes. It has a spicy, moderately pungent taste and rich aroma. To prepare it you will need:
- 700 grams of bell pepper;
- 8 cloves of garlic;
- ยผ cup of sunflower oil;
- a pair of ripe tomatoes;
- a bunch of cilantro and parsley;
- a large spoon of crystalline salt;
- ยฝ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice;
- a couple of large spoons of sugar;
- ground black pepper (to taste).
Washed and dried peppers are completely fried in an oiled pan and put in a deep bowl.
In a separate bowl mixed chopped herbs, crushed garlic, lemon juice, salt, sugar and spices. There they put peeled tomatoes and grated tomatoes and oil, in which peppers were fried. All mix well.
The resulting marinade is poured into the future pepper in Armenian, covered with a plate and pressed with a two-kilogram oppression. All this is placed in the refrigerator for at least a couple of hours.