Ghapama: Armenian thanksgiving dish. Ghapama: traditional Armenian wedding recipe How to cook pumpkin ghapama

1) Wash the pumpkin, dry it and cut off the top. The top should not be cut off with a straight cut, but by sticking a knife at an angle so that a low cone is obtained on the cut. This method will securely hold the “lid” on our pumpkin “pot” when baking.

Take out the seeds and fibers with a spoon, take out part of the pulp with a knife and a spoon, making the walls 10-13 mm thick.

3) Prepare sweet additives for rice. Traditionally, dried fruits are added to the ghapama: dried apricots, raisins and cherry plums and fresh fruits: apples or quince.

Since the dish has spread widely not only in oriental cuisine, but also in European cuisine, any dried fruits and nuts of the hostess' choice began to be put into the ghapama.

In this recipe, dried fruits are used: raisins, dried apricots, prunes and dates. Quantity - according to your taste. All these ingredients need to be washed, dried and cut into small pieces (raisins, of course, do not need to be cut). If these components are too dry, they should be pre-soaked. Just chop nuts.

9) Put the pumpkin in a baking dish. I took silicone, nothing sticks to it, in other forms it is better to lay 2-3 layers of baking paper. Cover the pumpkin with the cut top and place in the oven to bake.

Due to the different volumes of pumpkins and the characteristics of the oven, the cooking time may vary. On average, it takes 40 minutes - 1.5 hours at a temperature of 180 degrees.

10) The rice inside is rotten, soaked with the aromas of fruits and the pumpkin itself - you can get it out. Usually the pumpkin is cut like a watermelon, from top to bottom in slices.

Melted butter and honey can be served with the ghapama, as well as washed dried fruits if they are soft and plastic. It turns out a very tasty dish.

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 all the interesting recipes here, in which I used what was grown in our garden.
The main thing in Ghapama is pumpkin. And it was grown in the summer in my garden.

Ghapama, a very elegant dish. It is perfect for the holiday 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 you then add to the delicious filling. 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. Out of everything 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 with 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.

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 is an 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, fresh apples, quinces, nuts are added to it. 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.

2016-11-03

Date: 03 11 2016

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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!