Ghapama (roasted pumpkin stuffed with rice and dried fruit)

Ghapama is the festive Armenian Christmas and New Year dish: a whole roasted pumpkin stuffed with sweet, buttery rice and dried fruit. There's even a folk song about it.

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Method

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1. Parboil the rice in salted water for 8 minutes until half-cooked, then drain. ⏱ Timer: 8 min
2. Cut the top off the pumpkin like a lid, and scoop out the seeds and fibrous flesh.
3. Mix the rice with the dried fruit, walnuts, cinnamon, salt, two-thirds of the butter, and two-thirds of the honey.
4. Fill the pumpkin with the rice mixture, pour the remaining butter and honey over the top, and put the lid back on.
5. Place in a baking dish, pour 1 cm of water underneath, and bake at 180 °C for 1 hr 15 min to 1.5 hours until tender (a knife should easily pierce the skin). ⏱ Timer: 1 h
6. Slice the pumpkin at the table and serve the slices together with the filling.

A Receptnaptár original recipe. Calories and protein are estimated.

Tips

• You can use hulled wheat or bulgur instead of rice.
• Can also be made as individual portions in small pumpkins, baked for 45-50 minutes.

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More middle east & caucasus ideas

• Freekeh salad (smoky green wheat salad with roasted vegetables)
• Kabak tatlısı (pumpkin candied in sugar with walnuts and tahini)
• İskender kebap (thinly sliced meat on fried pita, with tomato butter and yoghurt)
• Hünkâr beğendi (lamb stew on smoky aubergine purée)
• Tantuni (spicy finely chopped beef wrapped in lavash)
• Sulu köfte (meatballs in a tomato-vegetable broth, with rice)
• İçli köfte (bulgur-shelled, spiced meat-stuffed dumplings)

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