community-based tourism in the regions outside of Yerevan. The ‘My Armenia’ program, in partnership with United States Agency for International Development (USAID), seeks to share
stories of Armenian cultural heritage with international audiences so as to increase awareness of the great complexity and diversity of Armenian culture.”
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| Freshly baked lavash (Photo by Sossi Madzounian, Smithsonian) |
During her research on lavash, Rebecca discovered The Armenian Kitchen – and – us. She had read our post about lavash, the national bread of Armenia, and wished to question us about it noting that she was working on a very strict deadline.
We were thrilled to participate; however, her request couldn’t have come at a worse time, at
least for me. I was about to have knee-replacement surgery, so all of her research inquiries fell on Doug’s shoulders, and he handled it brilliantly!
their website last April.
Please click here to read it.
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| Aveluk soup from Our Village restaurant, Yerevan |
This article quickly brought to mind our incredible journey to Armenia in 2015 when we tasted so many tantalizing and unique dishes, including aveluk soup. I ordered it at ‘Our Village’ restaurant in Yerevan; the article featured Dolmama restaurant’s aveluk soup. We were surprised to learn that few restaurants feature this signature Armenian dish.
Since aveluk, which has a somewhat acidic – sour taste is unavailable in the US, and wild sorrel is hard to come by, suitable substitutes may include kale, collard greens, Swiss chard, or spinach.
It’s in Armenian, but there are English subtitles!
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| Sonia Tashjian’s Aveluk Soup |
Aveluk Soup, courtesy of Sonia Tashjian
sour cream, if desired.
Some fry the onion separately and mix it into the soup, but the busy cook would
add all of the ingredients to the soup and cook it slowly.
Hi Robyn, you may be thrilled to learn that aveluk is in fact available in the U.S. in died form, as long braided strings. It is quite common here in Glendale. You may have to hunt around in Florida. Also of note: Armenians have a tendency to use many types of wild herbs in their food, from mallow to nettles. See for example this book on Amazon (From Meadows to Kitchen – Grandma's Secrets: Armenian Recipes https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00R8PLIA6/ref=cm_sw_r_taa_562eybWF820FK). I think the only reason we don't use them do much in the Diaspora is because our grandmothers couldn't find them and learned to substitute. Though, I have to say, my first taste of nettle salad left me rather unmoved.
That's great to know, Ara; thanks! I should have known Glendale would carry aveluk. I'm going to look into the book you mentioned also. Maybe Santa will get me a copy for Christmas. 🙂
Ara jan, in reality, aveluk must be used when it is dried already. at summer time the villagers gather the leaves of aveluk, kneed them & hang in a windy & shadow place to dry.
I am looking for a soup recipe my grandmother made that was a favorite of mine. We called it Beans-leaf soup. The soup was chicken stock with onion and yogurt and prunes. The beans leaves were wrapped around farina-like dumplings that were about the size of a woman's small finger. That's all I can remember. Does anyone have the recipe? Thank you!
Hi Linda, I'll look into this to see what I can find. If I come up empty, I'll post your recipe request. Sometimes readers come through!
Linda, I've been inquiring about this recipe, but the lack of information is impeding the search. Do you happen to know what region your grandmother – or her family – is from? That might help a bit. If you can provide any more info, please email it to me: robyn@thearmeniankitchen.com. Thanks!