1997_12 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper December 1997

              December 1997
Hye Sharzhoom
5
Armenian Cooking and Family Ties
Matthew Maroot
Staff Writer
Yalanchi, Kufta, Paklava... as
Armenians we are
all familiar with
these culinary delights, however, not
too many college
students spend as
much time preparing these dishes as
they do enjoying
them.
But this was not
the case on the
weekend of October
17th and 18th, 1997
as a group of 20 students gathered to
take part in Armenian Studies 120T:
Armenian Cooking.
Someone passing through the
Family & Food Sciences Building
who caught the delightful scents
wafting into the hallway probably
would have never guessed that a
group of CSUF students were responsible for such creations. Under the instruction of Professor
Barlow Der Mugrdechian and Mrs.
Norma Der Mugrdechian, students
had an excellent opportunity to
hone their kitchen skills in time for
the holiday season.
Armenian cooking class
preparing to eat their dinner.
While the weekend consisted
largely of the preparation of various Armenian dishes, Professor Der
Mugrdechian also included a discussion on the history and tradition
that go along with these delicacies.
It is no secret that Armenians have
enjoyed their traditional foods for
centuries, indeed, food has long
been an important part of the Armenian culture. In the 5th Century
B.C., theGreekhistorianXenophon
included in
his work Anabasis, a description of
the abundance of food
he encountered during
his travels
through Armenia. As
well, even
the 8th Century A.D. Armenian Folk
hero David
of Sassoun
grew strong
on healthy servings of Herisah.
Beginning with Chorag on Friday evening, students dove right
into the art of Armenian cooking.
By the end of the night they had
successfully made and quickly consumed Valley Wraps, Cheese
Borag, Kurabia and Yalanchi. Saturday morning brought the oppor-
Armenian Traditions and Food
By Michael Kazarian
As an assignment for Armenian
Studies 120T-Armenian Cooking
Most people in the world,
who have been exposed
to an Armenian community or are themselves Armenian,
know that food is a very central part
of the Armenian culture and tradition. My family is typical of the
"traditional" Armenian family
whose home life revolves around
•food—the preparation of food, and
the family coming together to share
a meal. V
On a daily basis I eat the'deli-
cious ethnic foods of my heritage.
Many of the common dishes consumed by Armenians everyday are
not known to exist by people outside the Armenian community.
Armenians like any nationality or
ethnic group, whose recipes date
back thousands of years, depend on
their religious holidays and season
of the year to perpetuate their culture through food. Perhaps the
reason traditional recipes evolved
is because centuries ago man did
not have the ability to ship fruits
and vegetables around the world,
therefore, certain foods could only
be made seasonally.
Rojeeg is an Armenian dessert
that is made in the fall season* This
is because Rojeeg is make with
walnuts and grape juice and the
walnuts come into season around
October. The Muscat grape is used
for making Rojeeg. Muscats come
into season in mid September and
are still good by the time walnuts
are ready to harvest. The reason
why Muscat juice is preferred in
the making of Rojeeg is because
the Muscat is very sweet with a
high sugar content. The preparation and making of Rojeeg is a very
long and tedious process. First, the
grapes are juiced and the syrup is
made in a large barrel or vat. Second, the walnuts are carefully
shelled. Special care is taken not to
break the walnut meat. Once the
walnuts are shelled, a long string
with needle on one end is used to
string the walnuts, which end up
resembling a walnut necklace. Each
string of walnuts should be about
twelve inches long. At the top of
each string a hook is placed so that
it may be hung to dry during the
dipping process. The dipping process takes a great deal of time because when the walnut strings are
completed they are dipped in the
juice vat and each dip must dry
completely before the walnut necklace can be dipped again. The
dipping process is coating the walnuts with the sweet grape juice.
This process of dipping and drying
is done a number of times, until the
walnut necklace looks like a long
sausage. Once these sausage-like
strings, known as jots(in Armenian) have dried they are rolled in
powdered sugar. The traditional
way to serve Rojeeg is to cut them
up like cucumber rings and set them
on the holiday table for a sweet
treat. Rojeeg can be found on the
table of many Armenian homes
during the fall and winter holidays.
There are many "special" holiday foods Armenians prepare and
enjoy. During the Easter holiday
many dishes are made which are
not normally made any other time
of the year. Due to the Armenian
belief and observation of Lent,
many give up eating meat for the
forty-day period. One popular food
during the period of Lent is vospov
kheyma. Kheyma is a dish that
consists of ground meat, bulgur
and seasoning. During the obser
vation of Lent the ground meat, in
this dish, is substituted with lentil
beans or vosp, in Armenian. Personally I do not care for vospov
kheyma as much as beef kheyma.
Armenians also bring entertaining pastimes into their traditional dishes. Just like the American tradition of boiling and coloring Easter eggs, Armenians also
have this tradition. The Easter
eggs are called Garmeer havgeed
(in Armenian) which means "red
eggs". The eggs have this name
because the shells are dyed dark
red. The peels of the purple onion
are boiled with the eggs resulting
in the eggshell turning a dark red
color and hard boiling the eggs.
Before the eggs are eaten, it is the
tradition to have an egg fight. This
is not the type of fight that may
come to mind, with eggs being
thrown at everyone. The way you
egg fight is that one person holds
his or her egg while the other person tries to break it by hitting it
with his egg. In the years past,
churches put on egg fights at Easter time and the festivities were
enjoyed by all. My grandfather
told me stories of people sucking
out the egg filling with a needle
and injecting it with epoxy, so that
no matter what their egg was hit
with, it would not crack.
These recipes are only a few
ofthe seasonal and traditional foods
that Armenians have and they represent my families personal favorites. The Armenian people are a
very old culture and have maintained their sense of family, heritage and traditions through very
adverse times in history. I believe
much of the Armenian culture is
passed down from generation to
generation through the traditions
associated with food.
tunity to make Kadaif, Kufta,
Dolma, Pilaf, Tabbuli and Bourma.
Many students felt more comfortable rolling Yalanchi and Bourma
away from the watchful eye of their
grandmothers. Some students had
more Armenian food in the course
of these two days than they will
have all year. But no one was
complaining.
In fact mealtime seemed to
be the quietest
time of all
throughout the
weekend.
While the
preparation of
these traditional Armenian dishes was
the primary focus of this
made food such an integral part of
the Armenian culture. From grape
leave-picking outings to Dolma-
stuffing gatherings, Armenians
(particularly Armenian women)
have kept these customs alive and
have kept us well fed.
Everyone who was enrolled in
this exciting course had the oppor
Preparing cheese borag
course, Professor Der Mugrdechian
and Mrs. Norma Der Mugrdechian
did an excellent job of providing
extensive background knowledge
on all of the recipes prepared
throughout the course. They presented us with a tremendous insight into the traditions that have
tunity to gain hands-on experience
in the preparation of Armenian recipes. Those in attendance would
agree, this fun and food-filled
course presented students with the
tastiest unit they will ever earn here
at California State University,
Fresno.
Armenian Recipes
Tourshee
Cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, and celery
2 quarts water
1 quart vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
273 cup salt
garlic cloves, pickling spice, 2-3 red hot chili peppers
prepare irr gallon jars--~boil solution, add to layered vegetables in jar-
pack in tight.
Dolma
1 pound ground sirloin
2/3 cup rice
2 tablespoons large bulgur
1 chopped onion
1 bunch chopped parsley
1/2 chopped bell pepper
1 small can tomato sauce
1/2 cup pace-picante salsa
Lawry salt, Wack pepper, paprika, garlic salt, dash of allspice, sweet
basil. Mix ingredients by hand, stuff vegetables, place in roaster pan*
cover with 1 small can of tomato sauce, half cup lemon juice and 1
small can of water, bake in oven 350 degrees 1 hour or until rice is
cooked.
Recipes contributed by Jason A hronian
Easy Braided Cheoreg
Mix together 6 cups flour, lteaspoon salt, 1/2 T. Sev gundig. Set
aside.
Mix together: 2 pkg. Yeast, 1/2 cup warm water, add to flour.
Add flour mixture to 1 cube margarine, 1 cube butter, and 1 cup milk.
Melt butter, margarine, and milk together. Cool to 110 degrees.
Mix with a spoon. Let set 1-2 hours. Punch down. Set 1-2 more
ours.
Divide into separate little balls. Let it set again so it won't be sticky.
Shape into braids, baste with beaten egg. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Bake 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Makes about 40.
Recipe by Jeanine Emerzian