Armenian Ajapsandal

Ajapsandal is a stewed vegetables dish popular in several Caucasian countries. The authorship of this unique dish is disputed by Armenians, Georgians, Azerbaijanis, Abkhazians. To establish which of them it belongs to is now impossible. However, it must be admitted that every nation brought something different to the recipe. Ajapsandal in Armenian has much in common with Adjapsandal in Georgian or Azeri, but at the same time differs from them. For example, Armenians choose their own set of spices for this dish, they often include potatoes or carrots in their composition, they cook ajapsandal so liquid that it is somewhat like soup, although in fact it is the second dish. Armenian adzhapsandal turns out tasty, fragrant and very useful, as it is prepared from juicy and ripe vegetables, rich in all sorts of vitamins.

Cooking Features

By itself, ajapsandal is prepared according to certain rules that do not even depend on the recipe. However, the technology of making ajapsandal in Armenian has its own characteristics. If you want to cook this dish of Armenian cuisine, you need to follow a number of rules, then the finished dish will be identical in taste and appearance to the traditional one.

Mandatory ingredient, without which adzhapsandal immediately turn into vegetable stew, are eggplants. These vegetables need preliminary preparation, otherwise solanine will remain in them, which will give the dish an unpleasant bitter taste. In order to get rid of solanine, eggplants are soaked in brine for 20-30 minutes, for the preparation of which 10 g of salt is added to each liter of water. You can just salt the eggplants, and then rinse. It is necessary to wash the vegetables, otherwise they will be over-salty and spoil the taste of the whole dish.
The second necessary ingredient for adjapsandal in Armenian is sweet pepper. Preference is given to its varieties that are green. Let them not look so beautiful in the finished dish, but they have a richer taste.
Potatoes are often included in the Armenian Ajapsandal. Its cooking time is slightly longer than other vegetables. For this reason, it is recommended to fry it slightly before putting it into the dish.
Vegetables for ajapsandal can be not fried, in this case it will be dietary. However, more often they are still fried before stewing. Due to this, they acquire other flavors and retain their shape better when stewing.
If you are cooking adzhapsandal in Armenian, use butter for roasting vegetables. The use of vegetable oil instead of butter is possible, but in this case the taste of the dish will be less delicate than that of traditional Armenian ajapsandal.
Ajapsandal is cooked in a bowl with a thick bottom and thick walls. Thanks to this, the vegetables are soaked with the juices and flavors of each other and the ingredients that make up the spices, so that the dish turns out very tasty.
Traditional Armenian Ajapsandal is made from some vegetables, but Ajapsandal with meat is also considered a classic. The main thing is that there should not be too much meat in it, vegetables should dominate.

Ajapsandal is served both as a side dish for meat, and as an independent dish. It is nourishing enough to not need any supplement.

Armenian Ajapsandal with carrots

Composition:

eggplants - 0.5 kg;
sweet pepper - 0, 5 kg;
carrots - 0, 5 kg;
onions - 100 g;
garlic - 4 cloves;
hot chilli pepper - 1 pc .;
fresh coriander - 20 g;
fresh parsley - 20 g;
fresh basil - 20 g;
butter - 150 g;
tomatoes - 1 kg;
salt, hop-suneli - to taste.

Preparation Method:

Eggplants wash and cut in half lengthwise, without removing the tails. Cut each half along, only a couple of centimeters or less without reaching the tails. Pat and leave for 15 minutes. After the indicated time, rinse well in running water and pat dry with paper towels.
Put half of the butter in the pan, put it on fire. When the butter is melted, fry the eggplants on all sides without separating the oblong pieces from the base.
Peel the carrots and cut them into strips or thin cubes.
Remove peel from onion, cut it into thin quarters of rings.
Finely chop the garlic.
Wash the peppers, cut off the stem. Each pepper cut lengthwise into 4 parts. Cut into quarters about 3-4 mm thick rings.
In the pan where the eggplants were roasted, add the remaining butter.
Put onion and carrot into melted butter, fry them for 10 minutes. Add pepper and garlic, continue frying for another 5 minutes.
Chop hot pepper into small rings. Remove the seeds from them, so they have an excessively pungent taste.
Fold in a cauldron a mixture of onions, carrots, pepper and garlic, adding to it rings of hot pepper. If the pan is deep, the vegetables can not shift, and put them in it.
Slice the washed tomatoes, spread them on top. Salt and season the dish.
Cover all the eggplant strips, cutting them off the base.
Cover the pan or cauldron with a lid, put on a weak fire. Simmer ajapsandal for about half an hour.

Before spreading ajapsandal on plates, it must be mixed and sprinkled with chopped greens.

Ajapsandal prepared according to this recipe has a sharp taste. If you do not belong to the lovers of burning dishes, you can pick up another recipe for Ajapsandal in Armenian, which will have a milder taste, or exclude hot peppers from the recipe (the amount of garlic can be left unchanged).

Armenian Ajapsandal with meat and potatoes

Composition:

lamb or pork - 1 kg;
eggplants - 0, 7 kg;
tomatoes - 0.5 kg;
sweet pepper - 0, 7 kg;
potatoes - 0, 7 kg;
onions - 0, 25 kg;
dried basil - 10 g;
dried rosemary - 5 g;
bay leaf - 3 pcs .;
ghee - 50 g;
salt, pepper - to taste;
water - as needed.

Preparation Method:

Wash the meat, dry it with a kitchen towel, cut into medium-sized pieces (about two 2 cm each).
Wash and clean the eggplants. Cut them into large cubes, slightly smaller than pieces of meat.
Dip the eggplants in salted water, dissolving in it before that salt in the ratio of 10 g of salt to 1 liter of water. Leave for half an hour, then rinse and let dry.
Dip the tomatoes with boiling water and remove the skin from them. Peeling tomatoes will be even easier if you do not just pour them with hot water, but immerse them in boiling water for a couple of minutes before making a cross-shaped incision on the skin.
Cut the peeled tomatoes into circles.
Peel the potatoes. Cut it into the same slices as eggplants.
Wash the peppers. Cut off areas with a stem. Cut each pepper lengthwise and remove the seeds. Cut the pepper into not too thin half rings.
Peeled peeled onions cut into thin halves of the rings.
Heat ghee in a thick-bottomed saucepan. Fry in it until golden brown onions.
Put the meat in the pan and fry it with the onion until golden brown.
Fill the meat with water so that it is completely covered with liquid. Wait until the water boils, add salt, spices, bay leaf and boil the meat for 10 minutes.
Dip the eggplant slices into the pan, after 5 minutes, send the potatoes there and wait another 5 minutes. Lay the pepper, cover all with circles of tomatoes.
Stew vegetables with meat in broth for 40 minutes. Cover the pot for this time with a lid, make the fire small.

When serving, add chopped greens to each plate on the table. You can also add green beans in ajapsandal. For a specified number of ingredients will be enough 200-300 g.

The Armenian Ajapsandal will successfully replace both the first and the second dish, which is able to satiate a person who has an abundant appetite.

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