Quarantine and tradiotional cuisine #1

Hello, our lovely readers and listeners. You couldn‘t imagine how much we miss you. As we are all locked in our houses we suggest  to improve our cooking skills ( when you gonna do that, if not now?). So, we will share with you super tradiotional recipes from our countries- Armenia, Azerbaijan, Austria.

Today we will start from Armenia and the queen of armenian table gorgeous Ghapama (Armenian: ղափամա), which is a pumpkin dish. Yes, pumpkins are not only for Halloween. The all you need is to choose the most beautiful pumpkin from the shop. Don‘t hurry, take your time, remember that you are choosing the Queen. You will also need rice, nuts, almonds, hazelnuts, dried fruits (plums, abricots), raisins, butter, honey and cinnamon.

There are a lot of recipes on the internet, but I will share with you the secret, which will help you. First you will need to remove the guts of the pumpkin and put in the oven. (usually it takes 1 hour to cook). Meanwile boil rice and in another pan start to fry all nuts and dried fruits with butter. (You can improvise and add your favourite nuts and dried fruits also).  Then mix rice with them, add cinnamon and honey. When pumpkin is ready refill it with the mixed rice. Decorate your pumpkin with some shapes you want with the knife. It can become a work of art. Serve it with love and pride, that you did it. My armenian relatives are proud of you :D