Category:Armenian recipes
Armenian recipes in English
In this category you will find Armenian recipes in English.
About Armenian recipes
Armenian cuisine includes the foods and cooking techniques of the Armenian people and the Armenian diaspora. The cuisine reflects the history and geography where Armenians have lived as well as incorporating outside influences. The cuisine also reflects the traditional crops and animals raised in areas populated by Armenians. Armenian food is festive and it has influenced other Mediterranean cuisine. Regional influences include the Mediterranean, the Caucasus, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and to a certain extent also influences from the Balkans. Armenian cuisine and traditions in turn have influenced the culinary traditions of nearby countries and cities such as Aleppo. The preparation of meat, fish, and vegetable dishes in an Armenian kitchen requires stuffing, frothing, and puréeing. Lamb, aubergine, yoghurt, and bread (lavash) are basic features of Armenian cuisine. Armenians use burghul wheat in preference to the cornand rice popular among its Caucasian neighbours (Georgia and Azerbaijan).
Armenian cuisine distinguishes itself from other regional cuisines in the following ways:
- Simplicity: The flavour of the food relies on the quality and freshness of the ingredients rather than on spices.
- The extensive use of fruits and nuts in savoury dishes. Of primary use are: dried apricots, fresh quince, fresh apples, pomegranate seeds, walnuts, almonds, pistachios, pine nuts (the latter mostly in Cilicia).
- The use of pickles and pickled vegetables in savoury foods.
- The extensive use of stuffed items. In addition to vine leaves, Armenians also stuff cabbage leaves, Swiss chard leaves, aubergines, courgettes or squash, tomatoes, peppers, onions, potatoes, various meats (particularly offal), whole fish, apples, quince, and even melon.
The primary sauces in Armenian cuisine are:
- Tomato sauce. This must be a later addition, following the introduction of tomato in the region in the early 19th Century.
- Yoghurt sauce.
- Tahini (crushed sesame seed) sauce. This sauce is frequently substituted for yoghurt sauce in Lenten dishes.
Unlike French sauces, Armenian sauces are cooked right with the food, creating a dish that combines elements of a stew and a soup.
Armenian cuisine uses spices sparingly. The primary spices used in Armenian cuisine are:
- Garlic
- Red pepper (particularly Aleppo pepper, which is a spicier variety of paprika)
- Mint (in Western Armenia)
- Dill (in Eastern Armenia)
- Parsley
- Tarragon
- Cumin
- Coriander
- Sumac
- Cinnamon
- Cloves
- Mahlab
- Rose water
- Orange flower water
- Basil and bay leaves are used in certain dishes
Many regional recipes include additional local herbs whose use is almost completely forgotten today in the Diaspora.
Armenian foods include small appetizers called mezze, grain and herb salads, phyllo pastries called boeregs, grilled meats and skewers, a large variety of soups, stews, flat breads such as lavash, and a thin crust pizza variant called lahmajoun. Lahmajoun comes in many types. Unlike traditional pizza, it is meat based and contains other spices and herbs. There is also a vegetarian style to lahmajoun that uses a spicy tomato base. Lahmajoun is mostly found in Cilicia, in those areas close to Syria and Lebanon.
Pages in category ‘Armenian recipes’
The following 12 pages are in this category, out of 12 total.