Armenians treat household chores and decorating the festive table with great trepidation, be it New Year, wedding or just a family feast. Tables are usually full of a variety of dishes, homemade sweets and delicious drinks.

Despite all the innovations and fashionable kitchen trends, there are dishes in the Armenian culinary tradition that must be present on the New Year's table. We conducted a small survey among Armenian housewives and compiled a top list of dishes that are prepared for this holiday.

Ham (Խոզի բուդ ) - a dish that is prepared almost everywhere. Despite the fact that the ham is not traditional Armenian dish, they approach its preparation with all responsibility. It should be noted that it appeared on our tables not so long ago, the "fashion" for it began in Soviet time... Before that, it was customary to apply for New Year's table whole roasted pig, it was considered a symbol of well-being. And even before the pig, festive table decorated with chicken or turkey, as well as various hot and cold dishes made from their meat. For example, it was once one of the main dishes on the New Year's table. Armenians continue to cook it almost all year round, but now she is rarely seen on a holiday.

As for the preparation of pork ham, this is a rather long and entertaining process. Meat is bought in a week. It is kept in salted water for several days, then a couple more - in marinade. Here everyone has their own choice, someone uses the old grandma's recipe someone is new. Usually, cuts are made in the ham, stuffed with salt, carrots, garlic, and various fragrant herbs and spices.

And only after that they are wrapped in foil and placed in the oven. By the way, they say that how many kilograms the meat weighs, how many hours it must be in the oven.

Tolma from grape leaves (Թփով տոլմա)- second in the list of popular New Year's dishes... Even in early autumn, housewives close grape leaves in jars. The most delicate leaves are chosen and the filling is wrapped in them. Traditionally, the filling consists of three types of meat - beef, pork and lamb. However, now the housewives mostly use one of them, mostly beef.

Cooking tolma is no less painstaking work. Having prepared minced meat from meat, onions, rice, herbs, tomato paste and spices, wrap it in leaves, put it in a saucepan, add a little water, butter, press on top with an inverted plate and boil. Dolma is usually served with garlic and sauce.

Another type of tolma - Pasuts (lean) tolma(Պասուց տոլմա ). In addition to being very tasty, this one also has many useful properties... Despite the fact that in ancient times it was prepared only during fasting, today it is one of the main decorations of the festive table.

The hostesses also prepare for the preparation of pasuts tolma in advance - after all, they do not use ordinary cabbage, but sauerkraut. It is in it that the filling of pre-cooked wheat, blgur, beans, lentils, chickpeas, peas, salt, dried herbs and olive oil... Tolma is laid out on a saucepan and boiled in a diluted tomato paste water, using the same technology as ordinary tolma.

We went kyufta (Իշլի քյուֆթա ) - Armenian housewives practically do not cook this dish at normal times. Therefore, many associate it with the New Year holidays.

The recipe for this dish is slightly different for each housewife. Someone prepares the stuffing of minced veal, someone beef. In general, the process is as follows: first, onions are fried in oil, minced meat is added to it, walnuts, salt, pepper and various spices. But for example, the Syrian Armenians are very fond of adding bahar (բահար) to the filling.

To prepare the outer layer of the kyufta, beaten up to homogeneous mass meat and bulgur. Grind the mixture, season with salt and pepper. Then the fun begins - the filling is taken and wrapped in a mixture, forming a spindle shape. Before serving, the prepared ishli kyufta is boiled in salted water for 10-15 minutes, and in another version it is fried in a pan. Serve it up exquisite dish watering with freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Another feature of the kyufta is that a coin must be placed in the filling of one of them. It is believed that whoever gets a coin will have great luck in the new year.

In addition to all the listed dishes, on New Year's Armenian table many more different dishes, salads and snacks are served. The holiday is not complete without dried fruits, sweet sujukh, gata, baklava and many other delicacies cooked with your own hands melting in your mouth.

No matter how your New Year's table looks, remember thata real holiday is not on the table, but in your soul! Holiday greetings!

Remember ice cream "Lakomka" from the 90s? In my childhood, it was delicious! If you loved it too, you'll love this recipe 100%! ;)

Someone will say that now "Lakomka" is on sale. I myself see her constantly in the bannets of the same "Magnet". I even took it more than once. But I was disappointed. This is not at all the same ice cream in chocolate. The taste is different, not natural, vegetable ((

The dessert, which I want to tell you about today, I decided to cook because of the fact that I love to create various dishes from cottage cheese. Then I didn’t think about ice cream “Lakomka” at all. This association came later. Now I will write about everything in detail.

For the "Curd House" you will need the following products:

12 regular biscuit cookies rectangular

a handful of raisins

2 tbsp Sahara

Preparation:

I took the oil out of the refrigerator beforehand. Combined 230 g with cocoa and sugar.

Stir with a spoon into a homogeneous mass.

She laid it out on a sheet of parchment paper and smoothed it out. The length and width of this layer is determined by the size of the cookie. This needs to be thought over and estimated in advance.

Cookies need to be laid out in a rectangle 3 x 4 pcs. The length of the chocolate layer should coincide with the edges of the cookie, and the width should be more than 2 centimeters on each edge.

For the filling "Domika" combined cottage cheese and the remaining 70 g of butter.

Poured in washed raisins. You can add sugar to taste if desired. Stirred with a spoon.

I put the filling on the middle row of cookies. I tried to do it so that in the section curd was approximately similar to a triangle. This ensures that no voids are formed at the top of the House when folded.

I got down to the most crucial moment. Gently took parchment paper and joined the edges so that the cookies form a "House".

At the same time, I made sure that the top of the resulting triangle was all closed. chocolate icing.

If at the initial stage you applied the mass correctly to the parchment paper, there will be no problems. You can play it safe and leave a couple of spoons of glaze in case of "plastering" the top.

Wrapped the edges of the paper on top.

I sent it to the refrigerator. At least "House" must stand there for 6 hours. I cooked in the evening, and I had it there all night and until noon.

She took it out of the fridge and neatly unrolled the paper.

Cut into slices about 2-2.5 cm wide.

Returning to the discussion about ice cream. The taste of the glaze on "Curd House" is exactly like the chocolate that was on "Lakomka" from childhood!

At the same time, vegetable fats and all kinds of rubbish were not so actively used in dairy products. And now ... if you want real taste - cook it yourself! As a bonus - a pleasant nostalgic excursion into your life in the most carefree and happiest years ... :)

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