Armenia

 

This mountainous country is nestled in the Caucasus region between Asia and Europe. Armenian culture has been recorded for at least 3000 years. The country has a long and tumultuous history with many invasions and wars. In the early 20^th century, Armenia was part of the Ottoman Empire. A political group that was part of the Young Turks movement came to power and became intolerant of non-Turk citizens, particularly the Armenians for being Christian versus Muslim. As WWI broke out so did increasing hatred of the Armenians. Between 1915 and 1918, it is estimated that over 1,000,000 Armenians were massacred.

 

Armenia was briefly independent from 1918-1920. Communism rose to power and the Soviet Union was in power until 1991. Currently, the country has what’s called a semi-presidential republic. Now, enough geo-politics, what about the food?!

I settled on five recipes: Lavash (Armenian flat bread), Torshi (pickled vegetables), Lamb Shish Kebab, Armenian Eech (a spicy tabouleh) and Armenian Baklava Rolls.

I started with the Torshi due to the fact it needs to sit for 4 weeks to pickle. Pickled vegetables are common throughout the Middle East, Central Asia and Balkans. But then what culture doesn’t pickle something?

Recipe: Traditional Armenian Pickles A.k.a Mayris Tourshu : 5 Steps - Instructables

The Lavash was somewhat intimidating. Lavash is traditional cooked in a clay oven called a Tonir, not unlike an Indian Tandoor used to cook Naan. Done “properly” the bread is quite large and very thin but not crunchy. 

So given the fact I don’t have a Tonir nor an extremely large grill pan, mine is not huge. Recipe: Lavash recipe | Epicurious.com

The Eech or Etch or Eetch is a bulgar dish that is a cousin of Tabbouleh. It has spice from red pepper and no cucumber. I went lite on the heat using Kashmiri red pepper. It’s Very good. Recipe: Traditional Armenian Pickles A.k.a Mayris Tourshu : 5 Steps - Instructables

 

Lamb Kebob is easy. The lamb is marinated and grilled. The spice that stands out is allspice. Both the Eech and lamb marinade include allspice. It’s a warm, sweet spice similar to cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and pepper all mixed up. Many years ago, there was a Persian shop in Eugene. I ended up purchasing “authentic” kebab skewers. There’s a whole story as to why that I will not get into now. So, the kebabs, including some onion & bell pepper, cooked nicely on the grill were very good. 

Recipe: ARMENIAN RECIPES - Armeniafest

And here's dinner! Now dessert!

I always associated baklava with Greek food. As I searched for an Armenian dessert, baklava kept appearing in the list. As I dug deeper baklava has its origins in Ottoman cuisine. I found a website (heghineh.com) with a wonderful video on how to make Armenian Baklava Rolls. Baklava Rolls Recipe - Փախլավա - Heghineh.com

Making the baklava was not super difficult just messy. Keeping the filo dough damp was the biggest challenge. Spritzing it now and then with water tended to make it stick together and a damp towel didn't seem to be enough. But it turned out awesome. So sweet, buttery and nutty.