Week 3 - Armenia and Bangladesh

Well, my nine year old son picked an Armenian recipe out of a cook book we had. It was fiddly to do, but he loved it - as did the rest of us. I served it usually with the Bangladesh dish 'dolma' and it worked, in a strange way...

He also liked the fact that it had never frozen in Bangladesh, due to its low laying and tropical terrain and its national animal is a tiger! Apparently all children in Armenia are taught chess at school - that's pretty interesting and they are passionate about wine and apricots; not a bad combo. It sounds an amazing country, and one that will go on my bucket list.

Armenia - Manti
Bangladesh - Dolma
Bangladesh - Balushahi (a cross between a welsh cake and doughnut!)

Armenia - Manti

I made a pasta dough, but other recipes used an egg.
1 1/2  cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tablespoon oil
1/4 cup water

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FILLING:
1/2 pound ground lamb (or beef or both)
1 small onion, shredded or grated
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp red pepper powder or paprika
pinch black pepper
2 Tablespoons finely chopped parsley
1/4 cup oil or melted butter to brush on the mantis

INGREDIENTS FOR THE SAUCE:
2 cups water or beef broth
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon red pepper paste (can use a few drops of tabasco sauce instead or red chili sauce)
pinch of salt and black pepper and paprika
2 cups yogurt
1/2 tsp garlic paste with salt
1 tablespoon red pepper powder (Aleppo pepper) or sumac or a few drops of chili sauce


1. Combine the meat with the spices and grated onion and parsley; set aside in a bowl covered in the fridge.
2. Make the manti dough; place in a mixer bowl the flour, salt, spices and add the water and oil mix until the dough is smooth, moist but firm. Roll it up in plastic wrap, set it aside for one hour or two. When ready to make the manti, roll it out as thin as possible and cut it into small squares, about 3-4 cm in size. According to some website you can get special rolling pins. I just rolled out the pastry, thinly and cut it to size. It took some time, but I had the radio on, so it was good time!
3. Place a small amount of meat filling on each square and pinch both ends simultaneously so that the dumpling looks like a tiny boat. Grease a pan and place each manti side by side on the pan. Gently brush the top of the manti with the melted butter or oil (or spray oil on the surface)
4. Preheat the oven to 350F and roast the mantis until they take on a golden color.

NB I didn't do the rest of this, as I served it with something else. However, I have included the full recipe:
5. Meanwhile, heat the water, red pepper paste and tomato paste which will be used to baste the manti, making sure the mixture is almost boiling; pour the sauce all over the manti and reinsert in the oven. Leave in the oven for about 10 minutes or so or until the manti have absorbed the sauce almost entirely. Meanwhile, whip the yogurt and garlic with a fork till smooth and pour into a saucer to serve alongside. 
6. Serve with yogurt and a dash of red pepper powder or sumac or a few drops of chili sauce on top of the yogurt sauce.
The sauce etc is from: http://www.tasteofbeirut.com/manti/ (accessed 03FEB2017)


Bangladesh - Dolma
Source: https://www.banglarecipes.com.au/tomato-dolma-tomator-dolma/ (accessed 27JAN2017)

400 grams mince meat

6-8 tomatoes(small size preferable)

1 and ½ tbsp. finely chopped onion

1/4 cup onion paste

2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

1 tbsp ginger paste

1 tsp garlic paste

½ tsp chilli powder or to taste

½ tsp black pepper powder(optional)

2-3 green chilli chopped

1 bay leaf

2 cardamom pods

½” cinnamon stick

2 tbsp breadcrumbs

½ cup milk

1 tsp sugar

3 tbsp oil

Salt to taste

This is the recipe from the web, however I cooked my tomatoes in the oven and then made a separate tomato sauce with a tin of toms, and the spices cooked it down for about 40mins, then added some milk and continued cooking. The tomatoes took about 30mins in a medium oven to cook; as I didn't want all the fat from the meat in the dish. It was delicious....

1. Use a sharp knife to slice the top off each tomato. Use a teaspoon to scoop out seeds and flesh and set aside.
2. Mix mince, chopped onion, chopped green chilli, ½ tsp ginger paste, coriander leaf, bread crumbs and ½ tsp salt together; stuff each tomato and make kofta(meat ball) with rest mince mixture.
3. Heat the oil and add bay leaf, cardamom, cinnamon stick.
4. After a minute add onion paste and sauté 2 minutes.
5. Add ginger, garlic, chilli powder and salt; cook till oil is separated. Add milk and bring to boiling point.
6. Add sugar and pepper; give a stir and stuffed tomato and meat ball in the gravy.
7. Cook in under closed lid 6-8 minutes or till you get your preferable gravy consistency.
8. Serve Tomato Dolma / Tomator Dolma with rice, polau or even with paratha / roti.

Bangladesh - Balushahi

Source: https://www.banglarecipes.com.au/balushahi-2/ (accessed 27JAN2017)

Ingredients

Flour(maida) – 1 and 1/2 cup)

Ghee – 1/3 cup

Baking soda – 1/2 tsp

Greek yogurt – 1/3 cup

Sugar – 2 cups

Mace – 1 flake (optional)

Oil – for fry

Mawa for garnishing

1. Make sugar syrup with sugar, ¾ cup water and mace and keep aside.
2. Sift flour and soda bicarbonate into a large bowl
3. Add ghee to flour mixture and crumble it.
4. Add the beaten yogurt and knead into a soft dough (use as much yogurt you need to make soft and pliable dough. Don’t make smooth dough). Cover the dough with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and allow it to rest for at least half an hour.
5. Divide the dough into 18-20 equal portions. Make the dough balls, balls will not be smooth and will have cracks all around; make a deep dent in the centre of the balls.(check the picture)
6. Heat enough oil on medium heat. Gently slide in the prepared dough balls (don’t overcrowd as Balushahi will expend to about 1-1/2 time and they should not overlap.) and deep-fry on low heat. Frying in low heat is very important; otherwise it will not be cook inside.
7. Turn them over twice and fry till they turn golden. Take out fried Balushahi’s over layered of paper towel so it can absorb the extra oil.. It will take about 10-12 minutes to fry each batch.
8. Soak Balushahi in the syrup all around for 5 minutes and remove them. Garnish them with mawa and Mouthwatering flaky Balushahis are ready (though I will prefer to wait 2 hours before serve Ballshahi).