We’ve been looking forward to making manti again (okay, I’ve been looking forward to Lisa making manti again), and the first day of fall sounded like a perfect excuse to make this Armenian favorite: Crispy little canoe-shaped dumplings stuffed with ground beef, onion, and allspice, in a bowl of chicken broth, topped with a dollop of garlic-yogurt.

Chris says:

Holy mackeral, I love this stuff. My favorite part is taking some of the leftover manti and just dipping it right into the garlic-yogurt. I could eat that every day and never tire of it. And I like that new side dish with the swiss chard. I’m glad we’re finding more things to do with the bulgur in the pantry.

Lisa says:

I love it too, but how about next time you spend an hour putting the manti together, and I’ll play on the computer. Also, that side dish ruled, but needed more garlic.

Chris says:

I don’t want to ruin perfection, so I think you should continue to be the designated manti-maker. Hey, haven’t we already featured this on the blog?

Lisa says:

Yeah, the very first post — but that’s back when you were lazy and weren’t listing the recipes. Besides, we made a new side dish with it, and have this picture of the manti before it went in the oven. I want to show off my hard work.

Manti
(from The Complete Armenian Cookbook)
—–
1 lb ground beef
1 small onion, minced
salt, pepper, and allspice to taste
won ton wrappers
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups plain yogurt
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp butter
sumac

To prepare the filling, combine the ground beef, onion, salt, pepper, and allspice in a large bowl and mix well. Set aside. Cut each sheet of won ton wrappers into four squares. Place a teaspoon of the filling in the center of each square. Pinch the two ends with your fingers to form a canoe-shaped pastry. Arrange the manti close together, meat-side up, in a well-buttered pan. Dot each with a bit of the butter. Bake at 350 degrees about 20-30 minute, or until the manti are golden brown. Keep warm. Heat the chicken broth. Combine the yogurt and garlic in a mixing bowl. To serve, place the manti into individual bowls, add the hot chicken broth and the garlic-yogurt. Sprinkle with the sumac, and serve.

4 Servings

Swiss Chard with Bulgur
(from Secrets of Healthy Middle Eastern Cuisine)
———————–
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, mashed
1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb Swiss chard, chopped into small pieces
1/2 cup #3 bulgur
1 cup water
pepper

Saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil until translucent. Add the swiss chard to the onion and let them cook, over medium heat, for 6 to 10 minutes or until the Swiss chard has reduced in bulk. Make a hole in the center of the Swiss chard, add the bulgur, then cover it with the chard. Cook for 5 more minutes. Season with pepper. Add water and cook over low heat until the water has evaporated.

Serves 4

The temperatures in Seattle have finally cooled a bit, but inside the house it’s still pretty warm — so we’re still on a “how can we cook without heating up the kitchen” kick. Tonight we made fattoush, a Lebanese/Syrian salad that features a variety of veggies and toasted pita bread — but with a twist. We started with the basic recipe found in Secrets of Healthy Middle Eastern Cuisine, but in order to make it more of a main course rather than a side dish, we tossed it with chopped grilled lemon-pepper shrimp. It worked quite well with the lemon-sumac-herb dressing; that entire bowl was gone in just a few minutes!

Fattoush with Grilled Shrimp
—————————-
2 large arabic pitas
8 large romaine leaves
1 cup chopped parsley
1 small green pepper, chopped
1 cucumber, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch slices, halved
3 medium tomatoes, cubed
4 green onions, cut into 1/4 inch slices
1 small onion, sliced, halved
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp sumac
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp mint
1 tbsp olive oil
3/4 cup lemon juice
1 lb medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
lemon-pepper seasoning

In a large salad bowl, tear lettuce into small pieces. Add the choppeed parsley, green pepper, cucumber, tomatoes, and onion. Toss.
To prepare the dressing, whisk together the garlic, sumac, oregano, mint, olive oil, and lemon juice in a small bowl. Set aside.
Prepare grill on high heat. Arrange shrimp on a grill rack or broiler pan and shake lemon-pepper seasoning over the shrimp. Spray with cooking spray. Place the shrimp on the grill and cook for 4-5 minutes or until done. Lower grill to a low flame and toast pita bread until it is crispy. Remove from grill and break the pita into 1-2 inch pieces.
To assemble the salad, roughly chop the warm shrimp, reserving 3 or 4 whole for garnish. Add the chopped shrimp to the salad, then toss with the dressing. Finally, add the broken pita bread and toss once more. Top with the reserved whole shrimp. Serve immediately.

Makes 2-3 very generous portions.

This parsley and bulgur salad is a great summer side dish. Unlike Americanized versions that contain mostly bulgur, this traditional recipe from The Complete Armenian Cookbook focuses more on the parsley and other vegetables (tomatoes, onions, cucumbers) present.

Tabbouleh
———
3/8 cup fine (#1) bulgur
3 ripe tomatoes, minced
1/2 small onion, minced
3 green onions, minced
2 bunches parsley, minced
1/4 bunch mint, minced
1 large cucumber, diced

Dressing:
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup lemon juice
salt and hot red pepper to taste
pinch of black pepper

Romaine lettuce leaves for garnish

In a mixing bowl combine the bulgur and the tomatoes with their juice. Let it sit at room temperature for 30-60 minutes, until the bulgur is soft and all the liquid from the tomatoes is absorbed. Add the other vegetables and mix thoroughly. Combine the dressing ingredients in a separate bowl and start pouring over the bulgur mixture, stirring as you pour. Stop when the vegetables are well coated (you don’t want it swimming in dressing!) Chill. Surround with Romaine lettuce leaves for garnish… and scooping!

Makes 6 side-dish servings.

If you’re a fan of caramelized onions, here’s a dish for you. Mujadara is a rice and lentil dish that’s heavily flavored with onions. We love how sweet the onions turn after slowly browning. The rice and lentils are cooked with vegetable broth, garlic, more onions, allspice, cumin, and cinnamon. It’s a very fragrant dish that makes the kitchen smell wonderful. Top it with a dollop of yogurt and some chopped mint, along with a side of cucumbers and tomatoes. Tonight we served it with some chicken skewers that had been marinating in yogurt, feta, fresh rosemary, and oregano. Divine!

Both recipes came from RecipeZaar — the mujadara recipe can be found here, and the marinade here.

Lisa made this delicious dish tonight.
Grape leaves, zucchini, and squash stuffed with a mixture of ground beef, rice, and various spices, a garlic and yogurt dipping sauce, and fattoush, a Lebanese bread salad with a lemon and olive oil dressing.

She based it primarily on a family recipe, with a few modifications from the wonderful Complete Armenian Cookbook and Secrets of Healthy Middle Eastern Cuisine.