Armenian Manti

ARMENIAN MANTI ~ serves 4 to 6 ~ DOUGH DIRECTIONS: • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed • Fill a large mixing bowl with the flour and make a well in the • 2 large eggs center. Beat together the eggs, salt, water, and olive oil. Add the • 1 teaspoon kosher salt wet ingredients to the well. Slowly incorporate the flour into the wet ingredients until a ball of dough is formed. The dough will be • ¾ cup water somewhat sticky, so add a bit of flour as needed and gently knead • 1 tablespoon olive oil the dough until smooth, like you would a pasta, not a bread. Cover the dough with a tea towel or plastic wrap and set aside for FILLING at least 30 minutes. • ½ pound ground lamb • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 2 (13” x 9”) baking pans • ½ pound ground beef with butter and set aside. • 1 small onion, minced very finely (about ¹⁄ cup) • Mix together the meat, onion, parsley, mint, garlic, allspice, and ³ paprika until well incorporated. Refrigerate until needed. • ¹⁄ cup finely chopped parsley ³ • Using a pasta roller or rolling pin, in batches, roll out the dough • 1 tablespoon finely chopped mint (or more if you want) until very thin, dusting the dough with flour as needed. Cut each • 2 teaspoons kosher salt strip of dough into 1 ¼ inch squares. Place a marble-sized pinch of • ½ teaspoon ground black pepper meat filling into the center of each square, and pinch two • a couple shakes of white pepper opposite sides with your fingers to form a canoe-shaped • 1 teaspoon paprika dumpling. Make sure they are pinched securely or they will pop open in the oven. • 3 minced garlic cloves • Repeat with the remaining dough and meat filling. Arrange the • ½ teaspoon allspice manti close together in the buttered pans. Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. • Butter for greasing pans • Put the chicken broth in a saucepan and season with salt, pepper, • 1 quart (4 cups) chicken broth and summer savory. Bring to a simmer. • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper • When the manti are golden brown, put them into a new saucepan • Optional dried summer savory and ladle some broth mixture over them until covered. Simmer for a few minutes until soft. • Strained plain yogurt • OR: remove the pans from the oven, and ladle some broth over • Sumac, for serving as garnish the manti. The broth should fill the pan about ¾ of the way up the manti. Reserve the rest of the broth. Return the pans to the oven and bake for about 10 minutes longer or until most of the broth is absorbed into the manti, and about ¼ inch of broth remains on the bottom. They will have a firmer than al dente texture with a slight crunch at the ends, but you can bake them longer or use the saucepan method if you want a slightly softer texture. • Remove the pans from the oven and serve manti in individual wide bowls, ladling some more of the hot broth over it. Top with yogurt and sumac. You can also sprinkle some chopped parsley for a pretty garnish. BULGUR PILAF (EETCH) ~ serves 4 ~ INGREDIENTS • 1 - 1 ½ cups bulgur (I like coarse grind #2 for pilaf, but pick your favorite) • 1 tablespoon butter (sub for oil if vegan) • Hot water for wetting bulgur (same amount as blugur) • 1 tablespoon olive oil • 1 medium sized onion, finely chopped • 5-6 tablespoons (or 2 oz) crushed or pureed tomato, or unseasoned tomato sauce • ½ teaspoon ground cumin • ½ teaspoon ground black pepper • 1 teaspoon paprika • ½ teaspoon aleppo pepper (or any ground spicy pepper) • 2 tablespoons dry mint or fresh mint, chopped, to taste • Salt to taste • 1 lemon, you’ll need all the zest and juice of half the lemon (more to taste) • 1 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped • ½ cup fresh green onions, chopped • ½ cup fresh red or green mild pepper (like bell) or roasted red pepper, chopped into small chunks • Optional: 1 can garbanzo beans DIRECTIONS: • In a large skillet, heat the butter (or oil) and toast the bulgar until it browns a little and has a nutty smell. Do not burn, watch it carefully. Remove, add hot water to it, and set aside. • In the same skillet, heat oil, add chopped onions, and saute until golden color. • Add the pureed tomato, mix, and cook for 1-2 minutes. • Drain the bulgur and add to cooked onions and tomato sauce. • Add dry mint, cumin, black pepper, other spice peppers, and salt. • Mix and cook over medium heat for another 1-2 minutes. • Heat garbanzos, add some spices to them if you would like (I often toss on a little of the same spices plus allspice and sometimes fenugreek). When heated, mix in with the rest of the dish. • Remove from the heat and allow to cool in fridge or freezer (if desired, some people like it hot) while you chop the fresh greens. • Add lemon juice, the zest, parsley, green onion, fresh mint, and fresh mild pepper. • Serve warm or cold! YAPRAKH (DOLMA) PREPARE THE VEGETABLES TRADITIONAL MEAT FILLING • Blanch grape leaves - place in a bowl and cover them with boiling • 2 lbs coarse ground sirloin or coarse ground round (I use stir fry water. Let sit for 3-5 min. meat from PFC) • Or, if you are getting your grape leaves out of a jar, rinse them • 2 cups rice (I use basmati) and shake out excess liquid. • 14 oz can tomatoes or 1 ½ cups chopped fresh tomatoes • Cut a slice from top and base of each onion. Slice the onion • 7 oz can/jar tomato paste lengthwise just to its center. Steam in a small amount of water • 1 onion, chopped until layers are soft and separate easily. (5-15 min, depending on • 2 tablespoons salt size) • 1 tablespoon pepper • Core cabbage, then steam in a small amount of water until the leaves separate easily. Pull leaves apart to ready for stuffing. (If you have a pot big enough, you can steam the cabbage and VEGETARIAN/VEGAN FILLING onions together.) • 2 cups rice • Hollow out peppers, squash, eggplant, and tomatoes • 15 oz can chickpeas or 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas • 14 oz can tomatoes or 1 ½ cups chopped fresh tomatoes Mix filling ingredients and roll in any vegetables you’d like. • 7 oz can/jar tomato paste • 1 onion, chopped Assemble in 8 qt pot. If you don’t know how to do that, go ask your mom. Just kidding. I’ll tell you how. If you use cabbage, use some of • 2-3 carrots, chopped the pieces that are too small to roll, or that broke when peeling off • 1 head garlic, chopped or minced (more or less to taste) the first layers to cover the bottom of the pan. That way, if you acci- dentally cook it too long, and it burns a bit at the bottom, you won’t OPTIONAL FILLING ADD-INS lose any of your precious grape leaves. And if you don’t cook it too • 1 ½ teaspoons baharat (allspice) - cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, long, you’ll get to eat some lemony butter cabbage. You can also use rosebud powder, and black pepper pieces of onion that are too small or too fragile to be filled. • ½ - 1 bunch chopped fresh parsley (Hether always adds parsley if she has it around) Stuff grape leaves by laying each leaf, shiny side down, veins facing • 1 tablespoon dry mint (the fresh stuff turns black) up, on the table or plate. Place a tablespoon of filling at the bottom • 1 head garlic, chopped or minced (more or less to taste) center of the leaf by the stem. Fold bottom of leaf up to cover the stuffing. Fold in the sides and fold up in cylinder fashion, firmly but • 2 jalapenos, chopped not too tight, as to allow rice in filling to expand during cooking. • 1 can chopped green chilis (Judy always adds these) Likewise, rolling too loosely will cause grape leaves to fall apart • Any good bits of veggies you scooped out to be filled - peppers, during cooking. squash, eggplant, etc. • Any veggies that sound good to you - I’ve even used a frozen Layer a large (8 qt) pot with a layer of stuffed grape leaves, alternating carrot/pea mix with layers of other vegetables. • Mushrooms (usually used in the vegetarian version) Once the pot is assembled, add 2 cups water, 1 ½ cups lemon juice SAUCE/COOKING LIQUID (or less if you don’t want it so sour) and half a stick of butter (or olive oil). Low boil for 20 minutes, then simmer for 30+ minutes until most • 2 cups water of the liquid is absorbed and rice is cooked. Remove from heat. Let • 1 ½ cups lemon juice* (less or more to taste) stand 10 minutes. Place a large platter on top of the pot and, using • ¼ - ½ cup butter or olive oil oven mitts, flip dolma onto platter. Arrange, serve, and enjoy! *1 ½ tablespoons citric acid (lemon doozy crystals) can be substituted for the lemon juice. If you want to try more Chaldean recipes, you might like a copy of the Ma Baseema cookbook. VEGETABLES YOU CAN STUFF* • Grape leaves, onions, cabbage, peppers (sweet and spicy), http://calconline.org/ma-baseema-cookbook/ squash, eggplant, swiss chard, tomatoes (Romas/paste tomatoes tend to hold up best) *tip: stuff vegetables to allow for rise to expand while cooking. Ex: fill peppers and squash about ½ full SENIAT LAHMEH INGREDIENTS • 2 lbs ground lamb • 4 bunches flat leaf parsley • 4 medium size yellow or white onions • 2 big ripe tomatoes • 10-12 small Roma tomatoes • 1 tablespoon plus ½ teaspoon of salt • ½ tablespoon black pepper • 1 teaspoon white pepper DIRECTIONS: • Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F • Blend onions in food processor until finely chopped.

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