From the preparation of pies and salad, I was left with the lower part of the pumpkin - a small even “pot”, just begging to be stuffed. I decided to cook hapama, which is adored by the female half of my family.

Ghapama - Armenian dish. I cooked a small ghapama, and in Armenian families this dish is prepared for a noisy festive feast, so they take a large pumpkin so that there is enough for everyone. There is even a song about this dish: “Hey, Jan, Ghapama!!! What a smell, what a taste!

Pumpkin was traditionally stuffed with rice mixed with raisins, dried cherry plum, dried apricots, apple or quince was added, seasoned with sugar and cinnamon. Now, when ghapama is prepared not only in Armenia, any dried and dried fruits and berries are added to it, fresh apples, quince, nuts. It is important that the filling contains both sweet and sour additives.

For some reason, it’s hard for me to guess every time with the amount of filling, there is always more of it, but if it remains, I cook another dessert as a bonus.

Somehow I suddenly had a burning desire to cook Ghapama. Moreover, this is the most autumn festive dish. And why not arrange a little holiday for yourself and your loved ones!

Ghapama is an Armenian dish. It is a pumpkin stuffed with rice and dried fruits, flavored with butter and honey and baked in the oven. Try it, I assure you, it is very, very tasty!

So, let's begin.

By the way, the house turned out to have a pumpkin (thanks to the mother-in-law!). After the question ... not Google, no ... Yandex (I like it better), got stuck that way for 40 minutes in contemplation of mouth-watering pictures. When I realized that I no longer had the strength to endure this punishment, I settled on the following recipe.

Ghapama - the easiest recipe

INGREDIENTS

• sweet pumpkin (preferably nutmeg) - small, 1.5 kg.
• round-grain rice - 0.5 cup
• apples - sour 2 pcs. (if large, one apple is enough)
• raisins - 100 g.
• flower honey - 3 tbsp. l.
• granulated sugar - to taste
• butter - 100 g.
• ground cinnamon - 1 tsp
• salt - 1 tsp
• olive or sunflower oil - 2 tbsp. l.

How to cook Ghapama, aka HOLIDAY:

Step one:

Wash the pumpkin thoroughly, carefully cut off the top with a sharp knife (do not throw it away, it will come in handy). Scoop out all the seeds with a spoon. Rinse the pumpkin again.

step two

Wash the apples, cut them in half, remove the core, cut the apples into small cubes.

Step Three

Rinse raisins well in boiled water, spread out to dry.

Step Four

Rinse the rice and boil it in a large amount of salted water until half cooked, put it on a sieve, let it cool.

Step Five

In a bowl corresponding to the volume of ingredients, mix the cooled rice, apples, raisins, sugar, cinnamon (I still would not recommend cinnamon, for an amateur, and the color of the rice spoils ... but I took a chance).

Step Six

Fill the pumpkin with the resulting prepared mixture with 100 ml. hot water. Put a piece of butter on top.

step seven

Cover the stuffed pumpkin with a cut top (if the top could not be neatly cut off, you can cover it with foil). Grease the sides of the pumpkin with olive oil or any vegetable oil(although it's overkill for me).

Put the pumpkin in a suitable heat-resistant form.

Step eight

Bake the pumpkin at 170`C for about an hour and a half. You can make sure the pumpkin is ready with a knife. If it easily enters the pulp from the outside, then our ghapama is ready!

Step nine... and the last!

Transfer, carefully, the pumpkin to a dish and serve warm. If someone finds sweetness not enough, you can prepare honey water. To do this, we take our honey, dissolve it in a small amount of warm, boiled water.

Let's start the holiday! Bon appetit!

Ghapama, a traditional autumn dish of pumpkin stuffed to the brim with rice, nuts, raisins, dried apricots (dried apricots) and other seasonings depending on personal preference, is very Armenian. It's so Armenian that Harut Pambukchian, an Armenian-American singer who is such a transnational treasure that we would keep it in gold and cast its profile on coins if we could, dedicated a song to this dish called "Hey , jan, hapama".

The whole song is all about an amazing pumpkin, detailing bringing a ripe pumpkin home, slicing the ingredients and putting it in the oven and having 100 people including various relatives being taken out to be eaten by sisters-in-law (that's how good it is). So, if you speak Armenian, listening to this song will practically give you the recipe. The problem is that, in general terms, this song is played towards the middle or end of weddings or other mass events, when alcohol and sweets have flowed profusely for hours, giving you the fullness of joy and complete freedom from any kind of proper coordination. Everyone knows the chorus. If you are that lucky person, you would also sing about the stuffed gourd.

The process of making ghapama is quite simple and makes a colorful and unique addition to any Thanksgiving fall table. The beauty of this exceptional dish, prepared during October or November, lies not only in its warmth (particularly useful considering how cold the seasons are in Armenia for autumn and winter), but also in the fact that the brightness of its colors never overwhelms. , but honors others with every bite.

However, it is very difficult to go wrong with dried fruits, butter, cinnamon and honey mixed with white parboiled rice. This is a very versatile dish. You can use other gourds if you like, swapping rice for cranberries, for example, or adding pecans instead of walnuts.

If you keep with tradition and use pumpkin, go for sugar gourd (used for pumpkin pie). She has a lovely, comfortable size; and since it is used for baking, you are guaranteed to get your hands on a good quality hapama.

If you leave out the stem/tail of the pumpkin when serving, the view will be magnificent as you present your hungry family of 100 who will of course vie for this majestic Armenian delicacy. Harut Pambukchyan says so.

Whether you're celebrating Thanksgiving or looking to add a twist to your table during the colder months, it doesn't matter where you're from, ghapama is the perfect app to take you from wherever you are to covered snow-covered village where foreigners (strangers), especially the frozen ones, are family.

Armenian ghapama
This recipe comes from an already stained, very old piece of paper, written in Armenia, purchased by my mother (and stolen by me!) many, many years ago.

Ingredients
1 cup white, short-grain rice (you can substitute brown, increase or decrease depending on the size of your pumpkin)
½ cup raisins
½ cup dried apricots
½ cup walnuts
½ pack butter (room temperature)
6 tbsp honey (reduce or increase depending on taste) + 2 tbsp to line pumpkin walls
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Cooking method:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit
Wash the pumpkin and cut off the top of the head in a circle, paying attention to the symmetry throughout the circle from beginning to end.
Use a spoon to free from the pulp, including the seeds. Pro tip: save the seeds for roasting later.
Coat the sides of the gourd with 2 tablespoons of honey, brushing as it should, thoroughly.
Boil the rice, paying attention to the fact that it should be half cooked so that the rest of the cooking takes place inside the pumpkin. Put it in a separate bowl.
Cut the butter into pieces and add to the rice.
Stir in dry ingredients including rice, dried apricots, walnuts and cinnamon, in another bowl.
Pour the rice along with the melted butter into the dry ingredients mixture, being careful to mix well.
Add the remaining 6 tablespoons of honey to the mixture of rice, nuts and dried fruit.
Fill the pumpkin to the brim with the mixture, trying to fill it tightly.
Brush the outside of your pumpkin with oil [optional - the pumpkin in the recipe above had no oil, but it does come out of the oven with a delicious brown color].
Place the top of the pumpkin on top and place your pumpkin on a flat baking dish.
Cook for an hour at 450 degrees Fahrenheit [you'll know it's done when you touch the pumpkin and it's soft; your finger will leave an imprint]
Let cool before slicing, which you can do in succession along the backs of the pumpkin to produce a stunning dish while still providing everyone with one more slice.
While eating, listen to the song "Hey jan, ghapama" (Alcohol is required)

All photos: © Ianyanmag

2016-11-03

Date: 03 11 2016

Tags:

Hi all! Today there are two people on duty in the kitchen - me and Vera Ramazova. I give her the floor. My dears, it is with special pleasure and mood that I want to present you a dish of Armenian cuisine that is very popular and beloved by my people. Ghapama, in national traditions, was served at the wedding table and was considered a symbol of abundance, thereby wishing the young a rich, sweet, happy and bright life, like pilaf baked in a pumpkin. There is no Armenian who, having pronounced the name of this dish, would not smile and sing an old song about this dish in his mind. I really want you to listen to it and smile at the unpretentious content and cheerful melody. So, today we are waiting for the recipe for ghapama.

The text of the song about the most delicious and fragrant ghapama translates something like this:

"Pumpkin ripened in the garden
cut and brought home
Stuffed pumpkin with sweets
And hung in a tondoor.
invited guests,
Here is dad with mom and her sister,
Here is the mother-in-law and the father-in-law with their sister,
Here is a brother with a sister and a brother-in-law with his wife,
Here is mother-in-law, father-in-law, matchmaker and matchmaker,
Uncles, aunts and a crowd of children,
Friends and girlfriends with wives and husbands
With children and godfathers...
Uh-hey jan, hey jan, hey jan...
Of course, the owner happily greets everyone and everyone sings about Ghapama and dances.

Even Nadezhda Babkina sang this song. We will listen to the song about hapama at the end of our meeting.

Since Vera and I are releasing together today, I want to inform you that I have finally collected my pumpkins in the garden. There was no time for everything, and then November crept up unnoticed, and weather forecasters frighten with frosts and other autumn troubles. True, my pumpkins are not round, but with a “waist”, but I will think of something and will certainly adapt them for making ghapama. I really want to recreate the taste of Armenian food from childhood.

- I cook all these Armenian dishes again, thanks to Vera. But, back to the recipe - I'm sure that ghapama will appeal to all pumpkin lovers.

Ghapama - Armenian recipe with photo

Ingredients

• 1 pumpkin (about 1 kg without "insides")
• 200 g of rice.
• 100 g raisins.
• 100 g dried apricots.
• 100 g prunes.
• 100 g honey.
• 100 g walnuts.
• 50-70 g butter.
• 1-2 tablespoons of sugar.
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

How to cook

Recipe Author's Notes

• Please note, this is my pumpkin weighing 1 kg. cooked for 30 minutes, and a pumpkin weighing 2 or 2.5 kg. will cook 1 or 1.5 hours.
• The readiness of the hapama can be checked with a skewer, toothpick or thin knife.
• None of my words can convey the taste and aroma of Ghapama! You have to cook it yourself to feel the beauty of this dish. Of course, ghapama is prepared not only for a wedding, but also for holidays and just to gather the whole family.

Blog author's notes

• I am sure that the reviews of your family and friends will be the most enthusiastic. After all, a pumpkin is simply created in order to put something tasty in it and bake it. Such a natural edible "pot" is very beautiful and tasty. Even those who do not like pumpkin are often forced to admit that it is excellent in the form of a ghapama.
• Ghapama is served cut into slices.

I thank Verochka from the bottom of my heart for the excellent recipe of the traditional Armenian dish and the most appetizing photos!

This is a song dedicated to Ghapama stuck in my head)))
On the first day of the New Year, we prepared it.
A wonderful, Armenian pumpkin dish. Very festive, elegant, tasty and healthy.
I'm posting the recipe here. Since I promised to collect everything here interesting recipes, in which I used what is grown in our garden and vegetable garden.
The main thing in Ghapama is pumpkin. And it was grown in the summer in my garden.

Ghapama, a very elegant dish. It fits wonderfully festive table. If the family is large, or there are many guests, then bake a big beautiful pumpkin, the contents of which are enough for everyone, the most - the most suitable action.
But we have prepared for ourselves, portioned small pumpkins. I thought that I would no longer grow this little thing ... But it turned out to be so convenient, both for juices and for ghapama.
I took three pumpkins.

I removed the tops, making a beautiful natural pot out of a pumpkin. With a spoon, remove the pulp inside a little, which, then add to delicious stuffing. And the walls of the pumpkin can be smeared with honey.

Rice, wash, boil a little. I regretted that I boiled it just a little bit, believing that in an hour in the oven, it would definitely boil. No, he was raw. and I had to steam the pumpkin in the oven. Keep in mind, if you cook, cook the rice, almost until done. In Armenia, I like to buy Thai Better rice. Of all the things I've tried here, this is the best rice. For my taste.

Dried apricots, prunes, raisins (in my case, a little bit three different raisins) - wash well, cut prunes and dried apricots into small pieces. Dried cherry plum is also added there, or any dried fruit with sourness, but I didn’t have it.

I also cut an apple and some quince. All mixed up.

Add more nuts. Any. But, I didn't do it.
Add cinnamon to taste. If you love. You can sweeten granulated sugar. But, of course, we added honey from the heart. And according to the recipe, I think it’s right to cook it with honey.
Spoon the filling into the prepared pumpkin.
From above, put pieces of butter.
I line a baking sheet with foil. But once a pumpkin was baked in a tonyr. I don't have a toner yet. And there is a simple electric oven. In which I baked a pumpkin. Close pumpkins with lids. And in the oven, at a temperature of 170 gr. somewhere around 50 minutes. Depends of course on the size of the pumpkin.

Everything, our festive dish is ready.

I’ll put another video for you here, it’s in Armenian, but everything is visible and understandable there. Just so you can hear a little of this song and imagine life in an Armenian village. The woman in it, somehow cooks it with soul. I like it.

But in another video, everything is just well shown how Ghapama is prepared. Fast and easy.
Well, the song sounds))) The guests sing in anticipation)) "Hey, Jan, Ghapama! What a smell, what a taste!" “Honey inside, Ghapama” And there, according to the text, guests flock like bees to honey - “Here is dad with mom and her sister, Here is mother-in-law and father-in-law with his sister, Here is brother and sister and brother-in-law with wife matchmaker, Uncles and aunts and a crowd of children, Friends and girlfriends with wives and husbands, With children and godfathers...

Good holidays and year to you. welcome guests. And excellent, tasty and healthy food, not only for the holidays, but for the whole year!
I hope it will be fruitful for everyone. And we will have pumpkins for everything, and for Ghapama too.