Pasuts tolma

Ingredients

• Soured cabbage leaves800 g
• Red beans — soaked overnight150 g
• Lentils150 g
• Chickpeas — soaked overnight100 g
• Cracked wheat100 g
• Rice100 g
• Onions4
• Tomato paste3 tbsp
• Vegetable oil120 ml
• Paprika1 tbsp
• Coriander40 g
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Boil the beans, chickpeas and lentils separately until soft; each takes its own time.

   70 min

2. 2

   Parboil the cracked wheat and the rice and drain them.

   20 min

3. 3

   Fry the chopped onion in oil until golden and add the tomato paste and paprika.

   15 min

4. 4

   Combine all the grains and pulses with the onion, season, and stir in the coriander.

   10 min

5. 5

   Rinse the cabbage leaves of excess brine and pare down the thick ribs.

   15 min

6. 6

   Roll the filling in the leaves into tight parcels, packing them in layers in a pot.

   35 min

7. 7

   Add water to the level of the top layer, cover with a weighted plate and cook an hour on a low heat. Cool it completely.

   70 min

About the dish

The filling is entirely lenten: red beans, lentils, chickpeas, cracked wheat and rice. Pasuts tolma is eaten during Lent and contains no meat by definition.

The leaves come from whole soured cabbages rather than fresh ones. Their acidity is part of the flavour, and swapping in fresh leaves makes a different dish.

It is eaten cold. Warm pasuts tolma reads as unfinished: a night in the cold marries the flavours, and that is a required stage rather than storage.

Worth knowing

• — The grains and pulses go in half-cooked. Fully cooked they collapse into porridge over an hour in the pot.
• — The weight is not optional. Without it the top parcels unroll and the filling ends up in the broth.
• — Pasuts tolma is made in large batches and keeps a week in the cold. It improves with every day.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

420 kcal

Protein

16 g

Fat

14 g

Carbs

58 g

More from Armenia

• Ghapama — A whole pumpkin baked with rice, dried fruit and nuts. A festive dish, cut open at the table.
• Spas — A soup of matsun and wheat groats. The whole difficulty is keeping the yoghurt base from splitting.
• Gata — A layered sweet bread with khoriz, a dry filling of flour, butter and sugar.