Zhingyalov hats (, also zhengyalav hatz, zhangyalov hats, or jingalov hats) is a type of

flatbread A flatbread is bread made usually with flour; water, milk, yogurt, or other liquid; and salt, and then thoroughly rolled into flattened dough. Many flatbreads are Unleavened bread, unleavened, although some are leavened, such as pita bread. A Se ...

stuffed with finely diced

herb Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typically distingu ...

s and green vegetables. It is a traditional dish of Armenians from Artsakh and Syunik and has traditionally been a staple in times of scarcity, such as famine and war.

Preparation

Unleavened

dough Dough is a malleable, sometimes elastic paste made from flour (which itself is made from grains or from leguminous or chestnut crops). Dough is typically made by mixing flour with a small amount of water or other liquid and sometimes includes ...

is rolled out until it becomes paper-thin, then it is filled with a stuffing that consists of 10 to 20 types of diced and oiled wild and cultivated herbs. One of the most important steps in preparing a good zhingyalov hats is the greens' composition. Tasteless leaf vegetables and herbs with less pronounced taste make up the base of the stuffing: examples include

lettuce Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae mostly grown as a leaf vegetable. The leaves are most often used raw in Green salad, green salads, although lettuce is also seen in other kinds of food, such as sandwiche ...

spinach Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to Central Asia, Central and Western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common vegetable consumed eit ...

atriplex ''Atriplex'' () is a plant genus of about 250 species, known by the common names of saltbush and orache (; also spelled orach). It belongs to the subfamily Chenopodioideae of the family Amaranthaceae ''s.l.''. The genus is quite variable and ...

, beet greens,

chickweed ''Stellaria media'', chickweed, is an annual flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae. It is native to Eurasia and naturalized throughout the world, where it is a weed of waste ground, farmland and gardens. It is sometimes grown as a salad ...

, shepherd's-purse,

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

leaves and similar plants. Herbs with distinctive tastes ( chervil,

urtica ''Urtica'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Urticaceae. Many species have stinging hairs and may be called nettles or stinging nettles (the latter name applying particularly to ''Urtica dioica, U. dioica''). The generic name ''Urtica' ...

allium ''Allium'' is a large genus of monocotyledonous flowering plants with around 1000 accepted species, making ''Allium'' the largest genus in the family Amaryllidaceae and among the largest plant genera in the world. Many of the species are edible, ...

), sour ( rumex) or spicy ( laserpitium) ones are needed in smaller quantities; bitter-tasting greens as

taraxacum ''Taraxacum'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, which consists of species commonly known as dandelions. The scientific and hobby study of the genus is known as taraxacology. The genus has a near-cosmopolitan distribu ...

should be sparse. Additionally the stuffing might contain bryndza and fried

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classifie ...

s. After stuffing, zhingyalov hats are fried for around 10 minutes on a special griddle called "saj" or "sajin" (), or in a tonir for a couple of minutes. The finished dish is consumed with

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

, doogh, or

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

. Zhingyalov hats is especially popular during the

Great Lent Great Lent, or the Great Fast (Greek language, Greek: Μεγάλη Τεσσαρακοστή, ''Megali Tessarakosti'' or Μεγάλη Νηστεία, ''Megali Nisteia'', meaning "Great 40 Days", and "Great Fast", respectively), is the most impor ...

References

External links

Zhingyalov hats is cooked
on a

Stepanakert Stepanakert officially Khankendi is a city in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. It was the capital city of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh prior to the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in ...

market.
Qutab with herbs (zhingyalov hats)
recipe {{Armenian cuisine Flatbread dishes Armenian breads Stuffed dishes

Preparation

See also

References

External links