The Syrian refugee restaurateurs spicing up Armenian cuisine

At his lahmajoon bistro in the centre of Yerevan, 28-year-old Gaidzak Jabakhtchurian is adding a layer of spiced meat paste to a dough base. Four years ago, Jabakhtchurian and his family left their two bakeries in Aleppo, home to many of Syria’s ethnic Armenians, and moved here to escape the fighting.

The Jabakhtchurians are among thousands of Syrian refugees in Armenia, bringing with them new flavours and cooking styles to a country more accustomed to milder cuisine.

Lahmajoon (thin crust pizza with ground beef or lamb), spicy muhammara (hot pepper dip), fattoush (a green salad topped with pieces of pita bread), falafel and other Middle Eastern dishes are becoming increasingly popular, although they are often adapted to suit local tastes.

“We made our most famous lahmajoon less spicy,” said Jabakhtchurian. “We use our eight types of spices … but in Armenia we are quite mild.”

One lahmajoon, big on the beef, is named after the capital, Yerevan. Another, made with onions and lots of parsley, after the northern city of Gyumri. The bistro’s menu also features a yogurt soup based on one served by Jabakhtchurian’s grandmother at the start and end of winter.

“That brings back very warm memories to me,” he said.

Although lahmajoon is not new to Armenia, locals note a clear difference to the Aleppo variety.

“It was not until I ate a Syrian-Armenian lahmajoon that I first understood what that dish was supposed to be,” says Yerevan resident Gayane Bilbulian. “It is a really crazy mix of flavours.” The UN’s Yerevan-based refugees coordinator, Anahit Hayrapetian, said the number of Middle Eastern restaurants in Armenia had increased significantly since the war started in 2011. Where once there was a only handful of establishments serving Middle Eastern food, now there are more than 50 in the capital.

“Syrian-Armenians [have been] encouraged by the fact that locals warmly welcomed the tastes and the smells [of their cuisine],” said Hayrapetian.

Kiosks across the city have also started offering Middle Eastern specialities, with some butchers now also selling halal meat prepared according to Islamic law. Chef Manushak Kirizian, a native of Aleppo, initially imported the spices necessary to season her traditional dishes from Syria. But as the war dragged on, she was forced to turn to Lebanon.

The chef then decided to set up her own restaurant in Yerevan’s downtown – something she says that, as a woman, she would never have been allowed to do in Aleppo.

Kirizian is now the head of a family-owned restaurant, called Liban. “It is a very unusual thing for our community, but we also are trying to overcome the difficulties and move forward step by step,” she said.

With multicoloured hookahs (smoking pipes) in the windows and Arabic music playing in the lobby, Liban – named after Lebanon – serves dishes such as kebab with cherry sauce, fusing the family’s traditional Syrian recipes with local ingredients.

For Kirizian, the restaurant allows her family to maintain a link with its past yet equips them all for the future. “We lost everything, and now we are trying to bring our life back on its feet from nothing,” she said. “Today, Armenia is our home and we feel safe here.”

Syrian-Armenian lahmajoon recipe

For the dough

Two cups of warm water

One tablespoon of dry instant active yeast

Half a tablespoon of sugar

Two tablespoons of olive oil

Four cups of wheat flour

For the topping

600-700g of ground beef (preferably halal)

Can of diced tomatoes with juice

1 large onion, chopped

5 garlic cloves, minced

1 full tablespoon of tomato paste

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 teaspoon of paprika

Half a teaspoon of black pepper

Salt, according to taste

Parsley, according to taste

Chilli, cumin and baharat, according to taste (optional)

Mint, according to taste (optional)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 230C. (Or to 200C for a slightly softer crust.)

Combine yeast and warm water and let stand for several minutes until frothy. Add to the flour, oil and sugar and combine to form a dough. It should have an elastic consistency. Moisten the dough with extra olive oil and cover. Let the dough rise for 40 minutes to one hour until it has doubled in size.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse briefly until a paste has formed. Alternatively, add the beef to the remaining ingredients in a bowl and combine by hand.

Punch the dough down, and separate into about 20 fist-sized portions. Keep under a damp cloth.

Roll out one lump of dough into a small, thin circle. 

Apply a thin layer of the topping to the edges of the dough. Place on a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes.

Serve folded over or face-up, topped with juice from a slice of lemon.