Roasted chicken…boring.
Roasted chicken with Armenian Stuffing…something special.
Don’t get me wrong, I love roasted chicken. My mother made the best! First she’d parboil the chicken to extract broth for making pilaf and Armenian chicken soup. Then the chicken would go into the oven for the final “roast,” to complete the cooking and crisp the skin.
The aroma was sensational!
When I was dating Doug, his mother served roasted chicken with a stuffing I’d never had before. I have to say, the flavors tickled my taste buds. I’ve been making this stuffing ever since, and not just for chicken; it makes a dandy stuffing for turkey, too.
Armenian Stuffing
Ingredients:
½ lb. ground lamb, beef or turkey
1½ cups rice
Salt, pepper, and allspice, to taste
3 cups warm water or broth
2 Tbsp. butter
Directions:
1. Brown the meat in a large pot with a little salt, pepper and one tablespoon of water. Drain off any grease.
2. Add the rice, hot liquid, and butter. Cook, covered, until liquid is absorbed, and rice is tender.
3. Add the allspice, and more salt and pepper, if desired.
NOTE: This recipe is used as a stuffing, but it makes a delicious side dish, as well.
Make your next chicken crispy outside — and Armenian inside
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Similar recipe: When you buy the chicken, make sure it comes with the giblets, liver, etc. Also take a little bit of lamb or beef. Cut everything into small dice (about 1/2 inch) and season with salt, black pepper, allspice, cinnamon, and clove ("baharat").
Heat butter in a small frying pan and fry some slivered almonds, pine nuts, boiled chestnuts, peeled pistachios… Remove the nuts and add the meat. After it is browned, add water and cook.
Make the rice separately, again adding the baharat. Mix the two and stuff the chicken.
In "ghoozoo ichi", you do the same thing but keep the meat in large, flat slices. I think you can also add dried apricots, raisins, a little sugar. The mixture then goes on top of the rice. Alternatively, you take a whole suckling lamb and stuff with the rice/nut mixture. When the lamb is cooked (I guess in the oven or on a barbecue), you just put it on a large platter with the stuffing artistically pouring out of the cavity.
This is amazing.. roasted chicken with surprise stuffing inside.. and I love lamb too 🙂 thank you for sharing this unique meal. We call roasted chicken as lechon manok in Philippines