Ask a connoisseur, and they’ll tell you that tabbouleh uses uncooked ingredients, whereas eech ingredients are cooked.
Frankly, it doesn't matter to me one way or the other; they use similar ingredients and taste great. What else do you need to know?
(For the record, I grew up eating the uncooked -sarma gurgood- version.)
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| Nanny's Sarma Gurgood |
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| Nanny's Banerov Hatz |
When I spoke at St. David Women’s Guild last November, I served the members my maternal grandmother’s sarma gurgood and banerov hatz recipes. A few days later, guild member Lucy Hamalian, emailed me two recipes from her friend Helene Der Aprahamian – tabbouleh and eech. Helene is originally from Syria, as were my maternal grandparents – even so, their tabbouleh recipes are different.
Since my grandmother never made eech, I wanted to test Helene’s recipe, which was modified by Lucy.
(See my notes and evaluation at the end.)
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| Eech |
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion, chopped (cook half of it in oil and save the other half to mix with parsley for topping)
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 bunch parsley, chopped (use 3/4 of it in mixture and save 1/4 to mix with onion for topping)
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| Eech Ingredients |
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons crushed dried mint
1/2 teaspoon crushed dried basil
Pepper to taste
1 cup fine (#1) bulgur
Directions:
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| Step 1-sauteed veggies |
2. Add bulgur, stirring well. Stir in 3/4 of the parsley.
3. When cool enough to handle, scoop up a handful and shape into oval rolls until mixture is all used up (or I like to use a 1/3 cup measuring cup for a uniform shape and look when it is inverted. Sprinkle the top with reserved mixture of onion and parsley mixture.
(Makes 8 rolls for entree size, or 16 rolls for appetizers.)
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| Step 2-Sauce with bulgur |
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| Step 2-parsley added |
Robyn’s Notes:
1. I used:
• a mixture of miniature red, yellow and orange peppers instead of green peppers.
• red pepper paste in addition to tomato paste to create the 8 oz. of sauce.
2. The bulgur softens nicely in the hot mixture, and holds its shape well for the presentation.3. Since I used the 1/3 cup measure as Lucy suggested for equal portions, my recipe yielded 10 (1/3 cup) servings.
4. You can add seasonings of your choice including salt, which Helene’s recipe does not mention.Evaluation:
Needless to say, we enjoyed it very much, but I’ll stick to the uncooked tabbouleh; there are fewer things to wash at the end!
Posts
I love eetch so much! My mum makes the best eetch with the right amount of ingredients :) She's always said its like a poor version of tabbouleh salad because the less amount of parsley and burgurl. My mum is from a Lebanese/Armenian background but all of her cooking is mostly Armenian influenced.
ReplyDeleteTabbouleh and eech are similar. However, there are some significant differences: Tabbouleh uses a lot more parsley and mint; hence it looks green whereas eech is mostly bulghur. Also, some Lebanese versions use sumac and even cumin, which are absent from eech.
ReplyDeleteOf course, there is the Aleppo version of tabbouleh, which uses much less parsley. And there are different variants of eech, as you pointed out, and some use cooked ingredients and some use raw.
As long as it tastes good, who cares?
My feelings exactly!
DeleteHmmm, I grew up with Eetch, but it was never cooked (until I made a quinoa version). I always thought Tabbouleh was more about the parsley and fresh chunky tomatoes, where Eetch used tomato sauce. Strangely, I never encountered "regular" Tabbouleh until I was probably in college, so I always knew Eetch as Tabbouleh. To make it less confusing for others, I usually refer to it as the Red Tabbouleh. Either way, I never understood the cooking at all??? Then I've also never seen it as you have it presented above. That does actually make more sense though since it's Mock Kheyma, which would be shaped that way. I'm confusing myself even more now, since other people refer to Vospov Kufte as Mock Kheyma. As my Odar grandfather would say ... "it all goes in the same spot," so it really doesn't matter. It does get very confusing though - imagine my surprise when I started hearing about Harissa everywhere I went, only to realize they were talking about the chile paste. ;)
ReplyDeleteThe folks from Marash call it Garmir Kufte, as it looks like raw kufte; (we use tomato paste & boulghour, fried onions, etc. etc.) and is NOTHING like tabouleh -- doesn't look like it, doesn't taste like it. And no, we don't cook the boulghour!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Marash Girl...Tabuleh and eech are completely different.
ReplyDeleteNext time you make eech, try adding in a good cup of sun dried tomatoes, I chop them up and toss them in the pan the last 10 minutes of sauteeing the onion... then, mix in some edemame at the end, it give the eech a new dimension and a great crunch :)
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ReplyDeleteThere's a restaurant in LA called Mezze. It is run by a white guy (aka "foreigner/odar", non-Armenian LOL) but they have updated versions of Lebanese and Armenian dishes. Their tabbuleh includes fava beans, peas, almonds, and bacon. It's supposed to be very good. Check out their dinner menu: http://www.mezzela.com/dinner-menu.php
ReplyDeleteI love Armenian cuisine! However, it would never occur to me to compare tabbouleh and eech; I love eech, I just think the two are so different! Tabbouleh is ALL about the fresh silky-soft parsley, bulgur is barely there. Unlike eech which is the best salad for showcasing bulgur (in my humble opinion).
ReplyDeleteWell done, eech...or, 'ich', is an amazing dish. Try adding a bit of allspice and/or cayenne to up the flavor punch. The best thing about it (as opposed to tabuleh), is that once you make it, the result will never go stale. Use the best extra virgin olive oil and you will have a true masterpiece.
ReplyDeleteI would like to add a description. the traditional EACH or GRGUDAG or KIMA has a lot of variations. instead of lemon, you can find recipes with AZOKH(which is the juice of unripe grape)or NRAN SHARAP (nran doshap, which is the juice of pomegranate). there are two main ways to prepare. with fresh tomato or tomato+pepper pasta.
ReplyDeletei make eech often with red and green peppers. to me, it's very different from tabouleh, but they're both great. i'm not Armenian, so i discovered these as adult, and it never occurred to me that they might be considered the same, despite the bulghur in both.
ReplyDelete