Favorite Armenian Dishes ...

[Baron Dants]

Are any here familiar with eech (or Ich)? It is somewhat like tabolee but tomato (sauce) infused and less liquidy. To my knowledge this dish/variation is particular to Armenians (and from only a particular area in Anatolia - though i don't know where - my guess would be in the Cililcia region. It is a personal favorite that we often make here by the bucketload where we can munch on it - sometimes 3 meals a day until we get tired of it and it runs out...then we get a craving for it all over again and make up another batch. Best with fresh parsely and tomatos of course....I do a version with about 6-7 different kind of peppers in it - ussually i make it with whatever I have on hand from our garden or that I pick up at the local farmers market...(mostly sweet or just mildly hot..I'd love to do a really spicy version sometime though - but never have...)..

Best food EVER! I can eat that everyday for the rest of my life.

[TomServo]

Hate it.

[Baron Dants]

Your mom doesn't know how to make it.

[winoman]

Eech was never something I was familiar with growing up - though we always had taboule (made with fresh parsely & onion & tomato from our garden) and/or a mixed bean and cabbage salad (with olive oil & lemon...not sure if its Armenian or what it might be called - - either one of these two could almost always be found in our fridge and expected to be served at nearly every meal (more so late Spring to fall then winter...but even then...). But once I discovered eech i was hooked and I had to get the recepie (which I first obtained from a priests wife who made it - then later found in at least two Armenian cookbooks). So a question for eech lovers - fine or coarse bulger - does it matter? Preferences? I can't decide myself - like it made both ways...

A funny Dolma story - well I used to hate it...but I only had tried my mothers (and she in general was/is a fantastic cook....however...)...her dolma was always dry. Well - once i tried my grandmothers! then an Aunts...and anothers...well I loved it! Moist with lots of tomato sauce - yum yum - thats the way!

I mentioned earlier that I had a story about Choreg...its a very personal one for me and I'm not even sure I can tell it without tearing up - but here goes anyway...well choreg is and has always been an all time favorite of mine and it was a food I normally only ate on special occasions - family get togethers - my mother rarely made it. Well (as a child) - I got the reputation of hanging about the kitchen whenever my Grandmother and/or Aunts were preparing and baking it and I always had to have some imediatly when it was ready - weather it was time to eat or not. Well everyone in the family knew that if chreg was being made it was my obsession. Anyway (a great many years later - though probably at least 15 and perhaps 20 years ago now) - I was visiting relatives accross country and at the same time one of my Aunts who by that time had a serious case of Altheimers disease was visiting with her husband (my Uncle) at the same time. I hadn't seen her in years and she could not remember my name nor did she seem to really know who I was...but she insisted that she had to make something for me - insisted on it...and she made me choreg! ...and I'm crying now...she's been dead many years now...

[1womanARMY]

So a question for eech lovers - fine or coarse bulger - does it matter? Preferences? I can't decide myself - like it made both ways.

Fine of course!

[TomServo]

Your mom doesn't know how to make it.

Still hate it.

[winoman]

Fine of course!

Yeah - that seems to be the traditional way (and what is called for in the recepies) - but when I have only had the coarse bulghar I made it with such and liked it (with the greater body and chewyness) - so I'm torn - I like it both ways...

[Lamb Boy]

Yeah - that seems to be the traditional way (and what is called for in the recepies) - but when I have only had the coarse bulghar I made it with such and liked it (with the greater body and chewyness) - so I'm torn - I like it both ways...

Sorry about your Aunt Wino. I know how bad alzheimer's can affect ppl. Like my step moms mother, and my girlfriends dad who may or may not have it but is leaning towards having. Watching the onset is kinda scary...

Choereg? I obviously must be confused as that pulls up a coffee roll recipe! I guess there's a difference b/w choereg and choreg ... it's the extra "E"

Mmmm Bulghar coffee rolls!

Siamanto, I wonder if you caould add some ingredient descriptions for Djidabour, Dzadzig/Djadj@kh, and etc etc ... that last one sounds the best!

I want some marinade ideas for the shish ... My grandfather would get a leg of lamb and cut it up. His recipe/marinade was simple, I'm pretty sure just red wine onions (white) and olive oil. The flavor was outta control though for such a simple marinade. It was probably the quality of the lamb. I'm sure it wasn't Australian as he went to a specific Middle Eastern deli in Queens. Wish I knew which type of red wine ... he'd also grill all the veggies and tomatos ... Mmmmm grilled tomatos and pilaf!!

I'll post my "fast" vegetarian recipe for mante/monte next ... g2g

[winoman]

I'm not so sure the type of wine matters much - but my most recent used a nice aged 97 cab Franc from washington state that still had great vibrant fruit (and was not overlly acidic [sour] nor tannic [bitter...not exactly but sort of...]) and really seemd to show the lamb well. I like the cab franc for its sweetness and nice body (and of course I like to sip a bit while I marinate! ). I too use lots of (ussually very high grade Spanish unfiltered virgin) Olive oil (along with lots of red wine! - of course...) and white onions (though I used some sweet Italian purple onions the last go round and they were incredible!). I also add some Oregano and cumin to mine (though not too too much)...and I always roast peppers on the side - both sweet and spicy hot!

Yeah I can't type or spell - what can I say...choreg then - I don't know...

[Sip]

Damn that makes my mouth waters flow just thinking about it!!!!!

Talking of pomagranate, one of my absolute favorite dishes is fesenjan. It's mainly an Iranian dish but at the same time, quite popular with Iranian Armenians as well.