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  • An Easter Meal From Armenia

    AN EASTER MEAL FROM ARMENIA
    By Patrice Stewart

    The Decatur Daily
    March 31 2010

    Anoush Place cooks with beets, cauliflower, pomegranates, fish,
    rice and, of course, eggs

    Pomegranates, beets, cauliflower, rice and golden raisins and tilapia
    flavored with rosemary were part of a pre-Easter meal prepared last
    week by Anoush Place.

    Her mother, Yelena Hovhannisyan of Armenia, is visiting Anoush and
    Tom Place and their two daughters in Decatur. His mother, Marjorie
    Alexander of Decatur, joined Yelena and Anoush for this lunchtime
    feast.

    Anoush, who learned a lot about cooking from her mom while growing
    up in Armenia, emphasizes healthy dishes at her table.

    "These fish and rice dishes are part of a typical Easter meal in
    Armenia, but we cook the fish in different ways, depending on what
    people want," she said.

    Anoush grew up with the Apostolic Orthodox faith.

    "I come from a country that was the first to adopt Christianity as
    its religion," she said, acknowledging that there were some strict
    rules about food. In Decatur, she attends First United Methodist
    Church with her family.

    Their daughters are now 12 and 14, but when they were younger, she
    carried on the Armenian tradition of having an "egg fight." Each would
    hold an egg in their hand and try to hit and break the other's egg.

    Whoever's egg broke first was the loser.

    "We also hard-boiled eggs and dyed them different colors and ate
    them with the Easter meal," she said, in following an Armenian custom
    similar to those here.

    Anoush likes to use pomegranates, so she is pleased that others are
    becoming more familiar with them.

    Popular pomegranates

    "Right now, pomegranate is a popular food in America," she said,
    "because people finally realized how healthy it is."

    She buys pomegranates when they are in season in December and other
    winter months and stores them whole in the refrigerator to use
    all year.

    "They stay pretty good for a while," she said.

    She stockpiles many basics for her type of healthy cooking. That way,
    she can use the red-colored pomegranate fruit to blend with beets
    for an unusual salad that includes chopped nuts and sour cream.

    "Not many people know about this salad," Anoush said.

    Her pomegranate and beet salad was adorned with a hard-boiled egg
    wearing a radish-top hat and served on a bed of lettuce leaves.

    While the beets were used to create the salad, she removed the leaves
    from the tops of the beets, cooked them and added some sautéed onion
    to make another deep-color dish for her table.

    "I'm 85 and have eaten in every state in this union, but I have never
    tasted the tops of beets before," said her mother-in-law.

    When she is cooking beets for her dishes, Anoush saves the water they
    are cooked in for its nutritional value.

    "The water from the beets is very healthy because of the antioxidants,
    so we usually drink that plain, or mix it with other juices," she said.

    She also makes a cool summer tea with mint from her yard, sugar
    and water.

    She has a favorite store in California that carries a pomegranate
    sauce she likes, and other sauces are available on the Internet and
    at specialty stores.

    "I use a lot of pomegranate sauce," said Anoush.

    Armenians use this sauce for fish and barbecue, she explained. For her
    fish entrée, she covered whole tilapia with olive oil and added some
    rosemary from her garden, along with the purchased pomegranate sauce,
    and baked it in foil.

    "My horoscope sign is Pisces," Anoush said, so the tilapia with
    pomegranate sauce and rosemary seems a logical -- and healthy --
    way to eat.

    She also had one traditional way to eat pomegranate, because she kept
    a bowl of chocolate-covered pomegranate candy on her dining table,
    which was dressed for the Easter season with spring flowers and
    decorated eggs. Pistachios adorned her fish dish.

    Getting plenty of veggies and fruits is important to Anoush, so she
    often prepares cauliflower dishes and works golden raisins into her
    rice pilaf, along with using pomegranates and beets.

    "Nobody cooks cauliflower in America; they just steam it. So I'm
    introducing you to a new way to cook this," she said.

    Her technique is to dip pieces in egg before frying it in oil. She
    also likes to add a bit of cilantro to this and other dishes.

    While she often bakes her own breads, for this meal she served German
    whole rye bread she found at Aldi.

    Here are directions for preparing some of Anoush's favorite Easter
    season dishes:

    Beet leaves with onions

    Wash the beets and leaves and cut the top leafy part off; save the
    beets for another use. In a skillet, put just a little water (because
    beets already have a lot of water in them) and cook them for about
    20 minutes. Then sauté onion in olive oil and add it to the beets.

    To make a sauce to serve in a dish to top the beet leaves and onions,
    she uses homemade yogurt with a little garlic.

    Beet-pomegranate salad

    Cook the bottom part of the beets (one bunch may be enough, but it
    depends on the size of the beets and how many you want to feed) in
    a pot on top of stove in water for 30 to 40 minutes. If you slice
    them, they will cook even faster. Then dice the beets with a knife
    and mix them with the pomegranate, chopped pecans or walnuts, sour
    cream and salt.

    Most people buy beets in cans, Anoush said, so you can estimate the
    amounts needed that way: 1 can beets, 1 regular size pomegranate and
    1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts. Mix that with a little salt and
    sour cream.

    Cauliflower with egg

    Cut cauliflower into pieces that will lay as flat as possible for
    cooking. Dip them in beaten egg and fry in a hot skillet in cooking
    oil for about two minutes on each side, or until cauliflower turns
    golden yellow shade. Place cauliflower on a serving platter and cover
    with cilantro type parsley and a bit of garlic.

    Pilaf with golden raisins

    This simple dish can be made with rice cooked either in a rice cooker
    or on the stovetop.

    Use regular rice, not the Minute variety. Put some butter in a pan
    and when it melts, add golden raisins. Let them plump up for a couple
    of minutes and then add them to the rice and serve.

    Tilapia with pomegranate sauce and rosemary

    Purchase fresh tilapia at a supermarket fish counter. Use the whole
    fish, covering it with olive oil, sprigs of fresh rosemary and a
    pomegranate sauce (available in some specialty stores and via the
    Internet). Wrap fish in foil and bake about 40 minutes.

    http://www.decaturdaily.com/detail/56884 .html
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