A large number of people simply adore Armenian cuisine due to the abundant use of various spices and herbs. It uses a large number of different vegetables, from meat products in priority - lamb. Another distinctive feature is spiciness, all dishes have a pronounced pungent taste. Only the best recipes of Armenian cuisine that have proven themselves over the years will be presented here.
Ailazan
For the first time, people learned about this dish in the 19th century, since then it has become incredibly popular in Armenia. Today it is one of the most famous national dishes in this country. By and large, ailazan is a vegetable stew, only with the addition of real Armenian spices.
To prepare this dish, you should prepare a fairly large set of products:
- several medium potatoes;
- 2-3 eggplant;
- two medium onions;
- two fleshy bell peppers;
- 150 g of green beans;
- 300 g of tomatoes.
Dishes of Armenian cuisine specialize in the use of a large number of different herbs, in this dish you should use: basil, cilantro, parsley, oregano. There are not so many spices used here: citron, several types of pepper, turmeric.
Cooking method
To make cooking simple and fast, it is recommended to follow the step-by-step instructions:
- Rinse the eggplants and scald with boiling water, in which case they will cease to be bitter and the skin will be softer. After that, cut them into fairly thin rings - approximately 0.7 centimeters thick. Put them in a bowl, pour cold water and set aside for 10 minutes. After that, get the vegetable and squeeze out the excess liquid from it, put it on the bottom of the cauldron and add vegetable oil.
- Peel, rinse and cut the potatoes with medium cubes, put on the eggplant.
- Peel the onion and bell pepper, remove the seeds, after which both vegetables should be cut into half rings. Then put these two vegetables in a cauldron.
- The next layer is green beans. Lay slices of tomatoes on it, and throw quite large branches of the necessary greens on top.
- Pour in about 150 ml of water, cover the cauldron with a lid, make a small fire and cook vegetables for one hour.
Note! Each layer of vegetables needs a little salt, add pepper and all the necessary spices. At the end of cooking, put the dish on portioned plates and sprinkle generously with chopped cilantro.
Baked eggplant with cheese and garlic
Well, what kind of Middle Eastern cuisine without eggplant dishes, here they are used almost everywhere. This vegetable is the favorite food of the local population. This recipe by and large does not stand out by any originality, all in the best traditions of Armenian national cuisine.
Product List
First of all, you should collect all the products. And only after that you can start cooking. To create this dish you should take:
- three medium eggplant;
- 300 g of hard cheese;
- 6 eggs;
- 5 cloves of garlic;
- cilantro and parsley.
Of the spices, it is recommended to use basil, turmeric, oregano and coriander.
How to cook
The first step is to put water in the pan. Boil eggs until fully cooked. In the meantime, take the eggplants, cut them in half, and gently pull out most of the pulp with a spoon. Put in a pan with water and boil for 5 minutes.
Now you can start preparing the filling. To do this, grate the cheese on a fine grater, transfer to a bowl, add 5 cloves of garlic, which was squeezed through the garlic, to the same place. If it is absent, then the product should be finely chopped. In the same bowl, put finely chopped boiled eggs, season everything with salt, pepper and necessary spices. The taste of the filling should be quite spicy and spicy.
Remove the prepared eggplant from the pan, squeeze out excess liquid. Put the filling in the center of the vegetable, put on a baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes at a temperature of 160 degrees. When serving, sprinkle the dish with plenty of chopped parsley and cilantro. Eggplant cooked according to this recipe is recommended to be served with matzo. If you could not find it, then you can replace it with ordinary yogurt, which is also sometimes used in Armenian cuisine. In the photo below you can see the final result.
Halamsha
Another original Armenian dish that has been served on the territory of this country for many years. In restaurants of Armenian cuisine, halamshu is customary to cook with lamb. But if you do not like this type of meat, or simply it is not in the refrigerator at the moment, then you can take beef or pork, but you must use a full set of spices. Otherwise, it will be a hot, vegetable stew with meat, but not halam.
What products are needed
To prepare this dish for four people, you need to take:
- 800 g of mutton meat;
- 300 g of potatoes (meaning peeled);
- 1 large bell pepper;
- 1-2 chilli peppers;
- 8 medium tomatoes;
- onion.
You also need to get fresh basil, parsley and cilantro. Of spices, you must use caraway, cumin, tarragon, black and red pepper.
Cooking process
First of all, it is necessary to clean the meat well, it should not have streaks, films and other inclusions. Then cut into medium cubes and rinse, put it in a pan with water and put to boil. Cook the product for half an hour over medium heat, after which you can begin to prepare the remaining ingredients.
Peel the potatoes and cut into large enough pieces. If the vegetable is small or medium in size, then it will be enough to cut into 4 parts, put in a pan. Peppers and seeds are washed and rinsed, and then chopped into large pieces as well, the hot pepper needs to be chopped well, and tossed into a pan.
Cut onions into medium cubes, fry a little in a pan with vegetable oil and put to the rest of the products. Cut medium-sized tomatoes in half, add to the pan and simmer all the ingredients until they are ready. 10 minutes before the end of the heat treatment, add chopped herbs, all spices and herbs.
Armenian lavash
Pita bread can hardly be called an independent dish, but it is an indispensable supplement when eating almost all of the national food. In addition, it can be the basis for most other dishes. Therefore, it is extremely important to know the recipe for making pita bread at home.
For cooking, you should take 3 cups of flour, 1 cup of water, 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil, a teaspoon of salt. To make pita bread more spicy and have an unusual aroma, you can add dried basil, marjoram or oregano.
Kneading the dough and frying
Take a deep bowl, pour the necessary amount of sifted flour into it. Add salt, vegetable oil and, optionally, various herbs. Strongly heat the water, its temperature should be about 80 degrees. Knead the dough, then cover it with cling film and set aside for 20 minutes.
Divide the dough into several parts and roll it very thinly. Put a frying pan on the fire without pouring any fat or oil into it and heat it well. Fry rolled dough on both sides until cooked. This completes the process of making pita bread.
If you want to make a big pita bread, in this case you need to take a baking sheet and put it on 2 rings. When it warms up, fry the thinly rolled dough.
Lavash shawarma
There are a large number of different recipes for this oriental dish. This option can be called the closest to Armenian recipes. To prepare you need to take:
- 2 large pita breads;
- 200 g of turkey or chicken fillet;
- 100 g of cabbage and 50 g of carrots;
- 100 g of fried potatoes;
- 40 g of processed cheese;
- 50 g of mayonnaise and ketchup chili.
First you need to make a cabbage salad. To do this, finely chop the vegetable, grate the carrots on a coarse grater, add a little vegetable oil, vinegar, salt and sugar. To mix everything.
Cut the meat into small cubes and fry in a pan with the addition of curry, turmeric and caraway seeds. Peel the potatoes, cut into cubes and fry in a large amount of oil. The cheese should be cut into strips.
Put the pita bread on the table, pour out the required amount of ketchup, put the cabbage salad, on top - meat, potatoes and cheese. Pour everything with ketchup. If desired, you can add red pepper. Roll the shawarma and fry in a grill pan. If this is not available, then you can use an ordinary pan with a thick bottom.
All of the above dishes are served in various cafes of Armenian cuisine, so it’s not necessary to go anywhere to try these aromatic dishes.