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| Fresh Aveluk (Internet photo) |
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| Dried Aveluk (Internet photo) |
According to Sonia Tashjian, my friend and personal tour
guide in Armenia, villagers gather aveluk in the spring – its peak season. It
is then braided and sold either in the fresh or dried form. To dry
aveluk, villagers hang the braids from the roof in a shadowy, windy place,
until it is dry. Dried aveluk keeps well and is used in recipes throughout the
year.
Armenia’s aveluk is unique in that it isn’t as sour as
sorrel which grows wild throughout Asia, Europe and North America. Sorrel’s
flavor has a natural acidic sourness due to oxalic acid. As sorrel matures, the
flavor becomes even more sour. If you can’t find aveluk or sorrel, a suitable
substitute would be spinach combined with a touch of lemon juice.
In the US, we’re not likely to find aveluk, but might find
sorrel at a farmer’s market. Some specialty shops might sell cooked sorrel in
jars or cans. If you’re really lucky, you might find dried, braided aveluk in a
well-stocked Middle Eastern store.
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| Sonia Tashjian's Aveluk Soup |
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| Aveluk Soup I ordered at Our Village, Yerevan |
Aveluk
Soup, courtesy of Sonia Tashjian
Serves 4 to 5
Ingredients:
6 ounces (about 4 cups) dried aveluk (See preparation of
aveluk below)
6 to 8 cups of water (See step #3)
2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup coarse bulgur
1 onion, chopped
1 potato, peeled and chopped
dried plums,
pitted and chopped (amount depends on how sour the aveluk is)
Aleppo red pepper
& black pepper, to taste
2 Tbsp. flour, or some cut pieces of lavash, optional
a little bunch of fresh coriander, chopped
1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced
DIRECTIONS:
Prepare the aveluk:
Place the dried aveluk in a large bowl of hot water. Let
it sit for several minutes. Drain the water. Do this procedure two more times.
Prepare Aveluk Soup:
1. Add 6 cups of water to a large pot; bring to a boil
and add 2 tsp salt. To the pot of boiling water, add the bulgur, onion &
potato. Reduce heat and continue to cook, stirring occasionally. (NOTE: Lentils
may be substituted for the bulgur.)
2. Next, add the pre-soaked & drained aveluk, the
dried plum pieces, and the red and black pepper.
3. Cook until the potatoes and bulgur are soft. (NOTE:
The starch from the potato helps make the soup creamy. If you wish, you may add
2 Tbsp. flour or lavash pieces to the soup at this point, if desired.) Add the additional 2 cups of water if soup is becoming too thick. Just before the soup is done cooking, add
the garlic and the coriander. Remove from heat. Serve with sour cream, if
desired.
Aveluk Soup Variations:
Sonia notes that in different regions of Armenia there
are many variations of aveluk soup. For example, some places add tomato paste;
some do not add potato. Some use lentils instead of bulgur. Some add chopped
walnuts to the soup, while others only use walnuts in Aveluk Salad. Another
variation: some fry the onion separately and mix it into the soup, but the busy
cook would add all of the ingredients to the soup and cook it slowly.
