Landing on Ararat : Recipe Collection Celebrates Armenian Heritage

Hermig Janoyan held up a plate of confections as pale as snow, as chewy and nutty as nougat. Embedded with sesame seeds, the candy came in two shapes: flat squares and rolls stuffed with walnuts.

This, Janoyan said, is the special halvah for the feast day of St. Sarkis. It was her contribution to an Armenian luncheon that just happened to take place on the saint’s day, Jan. 31.

And so we nibbled on the luscious halvah, along with pastries called kadayif and incredibly creamy gatnabour (rice pudding). All this on top of a hefty lunch of kuefta (ground meat croquettes with a bulgur wheat crust), chicken kebabs, bulgur pilaf, peda bread, salad and the diluted yogurt drink tahn.

Lunch took place at Ararat Home, an Armenian retirement home, convalescent facility and community center in Mission Hills. The women assembled there were leaders of guilds that support the home, and much of their conversation was about the cookbook “Reflections of an Armenian Kitchen,� in which members have revealed prized family recipes.

The book is selling rapidly because collections of heritage recipes like these are rare. It was printed in Fresno, which has a large Armenian community, and the first printing of 1,000 copies is already gone.

The St. Sarkis halvah recipe is in the book, contributed by Vanda Mazmanian, who specifies that the sugar be measured in Armenian coffee cups. Janoyan, who researched the chapter on Armenian feast days, explains that engaged girls and brides fast for a couple of days at this time, then are honored at a feast at which the halvah is presented on a tray along with fruit that conceals a gift of gold jewelry.

Listening to these women talk whets your appetite to try their recipes. Manoush Simonian said proudly that she has contributed an authentic recipe for kebabs. The skewered meats are so important to Armenians that the retirement home kitchen is equipped with a large grill just for them.

Mary Zoryan described how she stacks burner plates and hot pads to keep a potful of rice pudding from burning during the hours it takes to cook to the right consistency.

Dolores Samuelian, cookbook committee head, recalled how her mother collected sumac seeds from plants growing wild in her Chicago neighborhood. From these, she ground the maroon powder Armenians sprinkle over such dishes as fattoosh, a salad that contains toasted peda bread, and manti, meat dumplings served in broth with a spoonful of yogurt.

The book contains six versions of manti and three of fattoosh, just as there are eight styles of kebab, eight recipes for yalanji sarma (rice-stuffed grape leaves), 11 variations on the bread known as choereg and four versions of kadayif. The idea is not to repeat but to show the variations from household to household and place to place.

Ararat Home’s Armenian chef, Arut Durgaryan, contributed a recipe for cabbage sarma (meat and rice-stuffed cabbage leaves), and the residents provided inspiration and information for the book.

“Many of these recipes live only in the minds and memories of these people,� the dedication states.

The book, illustrated with photographs and drawings of Armenian artifacts, is enclosed in a sturdy cover that allows it to stand upright. It contains more than 500 recipes, mostly Armenian, and a few American favorites.

* To order a copy, send a check for $24.50, which includes postage and handling, to Ararat Home of Los Angeles, Attention Cookbook Committee, 15105 Mission Road, Mission Hills, CA 91345. Make checks payable to the Ararat Home Cookbook Committee. Allow four to six weeks for delivery.

MANOUSH SIMONIAN’S SHISH KEBAB

2 pounds boneless leg of lamb

5 large onions

1/4 cup chopped parsley

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons cider vinegar

1 teaspoon ground cumin, optional

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 green bell peppers

10 plum tomatoes

Cooked rice, optional

Remove all visible fat and gristle from lamb and cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes.

Thinly slice 1 onion. Combine sliced onion, parsley, olive oil, vinegar, cumin, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Mix well. Add lamb and stir to coat evenly. Cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Cut remaining 4 onions in quarters. Cut bell peppers into 2-inch pieces.

Thread lamb cubes onto skewers. Thread tomatoes, onions and bell peppers onto separate skewers to allow for individual cooking times. Grill lamb kebabs over hot coals, turning occasionally to cook lamb evenly, about 15 minutes. Then place vegetables over coals and cook until tender, about 5 to 10 minutes. Serve skewers over bed of rice.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Each of 6 servings, without rice, contains about:

387 calories; 265 mg sodium; 109 mg cholesterol; 18 grams fat; 18 grams carbohydrates; 38 grams protein; 1.47 grams fiber.

DOLORES SAMUELIAN’S CHEOREG

Samuelian has lowered the cholesterol in this rich bread by using nonfat milk, substituting oil for butter and giving egg whites as an option to whole eggs. As a variation, she suggests using half whole-wheat flour and kneading in 1/2 cup raisins.

3 (1 1/4-ounce) packages dry yeast

2/3 cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 cup warm water

3 eggs or 6 egg whites, beaten, plus extra beaten egg for glaze

1 cup nonfat milk

2/3 cup safflower or canola oil

2 1/2 pounds flour (about 10 cups)

Sprinkle yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar over warm water and stir. Let stand 5 minutes, or until foamy. Combine eggs, milk, oil and remaining 2/3 cup sugar in large bowl. Stir in yeast mixture and mix until well combined. Sift enough flour into mixture to make dough that is sticky but not wet. (Oil hands if necessary to facilitate kneading.) Form dough into ball, cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about 2 hours.

Punch dough down. Place on floured surface and shape into long narrow cylinder about size of baguette. Cut crosswise into pieces 1 1/2 inches long. Roll each into rope. Tie into knot. Place on greased or foil-covered baking sheets. Brush tops with extra beaten egg. Let rise in warm place 30 to 40 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Makes about 25 cheoreg.

Each cheoreg contains about:

253 calories; 15 mg sodium; 51 mg cholesterol; 7 grams fat; 41 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams protein; 0.14 gram fiber.

FAMOUS ARARAT HOME KADAYIF

Susan Jabejian gets the credit for this recipe, served at an annual picnic at the home. The vermicelli-like kadayif dough (also known as shredded filo) is available at markets that sell Middle Eastern products.

2 pounds kadayif dough

1 1/2 cups butter, melted

1 quart half and half

1 quart whipping cream

3/4 cup cornstarch

3/4 cup milk

4 cups sugar

3 cups water

Few drops lemon juice

Cut and fluff 1 pound kadayif dough in bowl with hands. Add half melted butter and mix until strands are evenly coated. Spread evenly in lightly buttered 17x13-inch baking pan.

Combine half and half and cream in large saucepan. Bring to slow boil over low heat.

Combine cornstarch and milk, stirring until cornstarch is dissolved. Slowly add to cream mixture, stirring constantly, until mixture returns to slow boil. Spread hot cream filling over kadayif in pan.

Cut and fluff remaining 1 pound kadayif in bowl. Add remaining melted butter and mix with hands until strands are evenly coated. Spread over top of cream layer, pressing down firmly to form even surface. Place on lowest oven rack and bake at 450 degrees until golden, about 20 to 25 minutes. If not golden, move pan to top rack and bake 5 to 10 minutes longer.

Meanwhile, prepare syrup. Combine sugar and water in pan and boil 5 to 10 minutes. Add lemon juice. Cool. Pour cold syrup evenly over kadayif as soon as it is removed from oven. Cut into squares to serve.

Makes 24 to 30 servings.

Each of 30 servings contains about:

458 calories; 163 mg sodium; 81 mg cholesterol; 25 grams fat; 56 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams protein; 0 fiber.

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Kitchen Tip

Katayif (kadayif, kataifi)--also called knafeh--is a traditional Near Eastern pastry dough that looks like angel hair pasta when raw and Shredded Wheat when cooked. It’s made by dribbling a thin batter through tiny holes onto a warmed griddle, where it dries enough to be handled. You can buy it ready-made at almost any store that sells Near Eastern products. (Hardly anybody makes it at home, even in the Near East.)

Although it’s sometimes called shredded filo dough, katayif really has nothing to do with filo except that it’s used in the same sorts of pastry. The threads of dough, rubbed with butter so they won’t stick in baking, are usually rolled into tubes around a filling or layered with a filling in a baking pan, baklava-fashion.