1) Wash the pumpkin, dry it and cut off the top. The top must be cut off not with a straight cut, but by sticking a knife at an angle so that a low cone is obtained on the cut. This method will securely hold the "lid" on our pumpkin "pot" when baking.

Take out the seeds and fibers with a spoon, take out part of the pulp with a knife and spoon, making the walls 10-13 mm thick.

3) Prepare sweet rice additives. Traditionally, dried fruits are added to ghapama: dried apricots, raisins and cherry plums and fresh fruits: abloki or quince.

Since the dish was widespread not only in Eastern cuisine, but also in European cuisine, they began to put any dried fruits and nuts of the hostess' choice in the ghapama.

This recipe uses dried fruits: raisins, dried apricots, prunes and dates. The quantity is according to your taste. All these ingredients need to be washed, dried and cut into small pieces (raisins, of course, do not need to be cut). If these components are excessively dry, they should be pre-soaked. Just chop the nuts.

9) Place the pumpkin in a baking dish. I took a silicone one, nothing sticks to it, it is better to cover 2-3 layers of baking paper in other forms. Cover the pumpkin with the cut top and bake in the oven.

Due to the different sizes of pumpkins and the characteristics of the oven, cooking times may vary. On average, it takes 40 minutes - 1.5 hours at a temperature of 180 degrees.

10) The rice is upril inside, saturated with the aromas of fruits and the pumpkin itself - you can get it. Usually the pumpkin is cut like a watermelon, from top to bottom in slices.

You can serve melted butter and honey with the ghapam, as well as washed dried fruits, if they are soft and plastic. It turns out to be a very tasty dish.

From the preparation of pies and salad, I still have the lower part of the pumpkin - a small, even "pot", so it begs to be stuffed. I decided to cook a ghapama, which the female half of my family adores.

Hapama is an Armenian dish. I cooked a small hapama, and in Armenian families this dish is prepared for a noisy festive feast, so they take a large pumpkin so that there is enough for everyone. There is even a song about this dish: “Hey, jan, Hapama !!! What a smell, what a taste! "

Pumpkin was traditionally stuffed with rice mixed with raisins, dried cherry plum, dried apricots, an apple or quince was added, and it was seasoned with sugar and cinnamon. Now, when hapama is cooked not only in Armenia, any dried and dried fruits and berries, fresh apples, quince, and nuts available at hand are added to it. It is important that the filling contains both sweet and sour additives.

For some reason, it is difficult for me to guess every time with the amount of filling, there is always more of it, but if it remains, I prepare another dessert as a bonus.

Hey Jan, Hapama!

A song dedicated to Hapama stuck in my head)))
On the first day of the New Year, we prepared it.
A wonderful Armenian pumpkin dish. Very festive, smart, tasty and healthy.
I am writing down the recipe here. Since she promised to collect all interesting recipes here, in which she used what was grown in our garden and vegetable garden.
The main thing in Hapam is pumpkin. And it was grown in the summer in my garden.

Hapama, a very elegant dish. It goes well with the festive table. If the family is large, or there are many guests, then bake a large beautiful pumpkin, the contents of which will be enough for everyone, is the most suitable action.
But we have prepared for ourselves, portioned small pumpkins. I just thought that I would no longer grow this little thing ... But it turned out to be so convenient both for juices and for grabs.
I took three pumpkins.

She took off the tops, making a beautiful natural pot out of pumpkin. With a spoon, slightly remove the pulp inside, which, then add to the delicious filling. And the walls of the pumpkin can be smeared with honey.

Rice, rinse, boil a little. I regretted that I boiled just a little, considering that in an hour in the oven, it would surely boil down. No, he was damp. and I had to darken the pumpkin in the oven. Consider, if you cook, cook the rice, almost until cooked. In Armenia, I love buying Thai Better rice. Out of everything I've tried here, this is the best rice. For my taste.

Dried apricots, prunes, raisins (in my case, a little bit three different raisins) - rinse well, cut prunes and dried apricots into small pieces. There is also added dried cherry plum, or any dried fruit with sourness, but I did not have it.

I also cut an apple and some quince. Mixed everything up.

More nuts are added. Any. But, I didn't do it.
Add cinnamon to taste. If you love. You can sweeten it with granulated sugar. But, of course, we added honey from the heart. And according to the recipe, I think it is right to cook with honey.
Place the filling into the prepared pumpkin.
On top, put pieces of butter.
I line the baking sheet with foil. But once the pumpkin was baked in a tonyr. I don't have a tonyr yet. And there is a simple electric oven. In which I baked the pumpkin. Cover the pumpkins with lids. And in the oven, at a temperature of 170 gr. somewhere 50 minutes. Depends of course on the size of the pumpkin.

Everything, our festive dish is ready.

I'll put you another video here, it's in Armenian, but everything is clear and clear there. Just so that you can hear a little of this song and imagine life in an Armenian village. The woman in it, somehow prepares it with a soul. I like it.

But in another video, everything is just well shown how Hapama is being prepared. Quick and easy.
Well, the song sounds))) The guests are singing in anticipation)) "Hey, Jan, Hapama! What a smell, what a taste!" "Honey inside, Hapama" And there, according to the text, guests flock like bees to honey - "Here is dad with mom and her sister, Here is the mother-in-law and father-in-law with his sister, Here is the brother with sister and brother-in-law with his wife Here is the mother-in-law, father-in-law, matchmaker and matchmaker, Uncles and aunts and a crowd of children, Friends and girlfriends with wives and husbands, With children and godfathers ... Eeeee-hey hey jan, hey jan, hey jan ... Hapama)))

Good holidays and years to you. Welcome guests. And excellent, tasty and healthy food, not only for the holidays, but for the whole year!
I hope it will be fruitful for everyone. And we will have pumpkins for everything, and for Hapama too.

Pumpkin, having a special shape of a natural pot, is often used for cooking directly in it. In Russian cuisine, millet porridge with pumpkin is cooked in this way, and in Armenian - sweet pilaf, or hapama.

It seemed, well, what such tasty and interesting can be prepared from this ordinary vegetable - pumpkin? These questions will disappear on their own if you cook pumpkin according to this wonderful recipe, which rightfully belongs to the Armenian cuisine.

For ghapama, you need a pumpkin. The top of the pumpkin is cut off to form a pumpkin pot. Peel pumpkin seeds with a spoon. A little of the pulp is set aside for the filling.

Rice Amber after boiling is cooked for about five minutes.

Dried apricots, raisins, prunes are thoroughly washed.

The apple is cut into thin cubes.

In Armenia, onions are not added to ghapama, but I decided that it would not spoil the taste in the least. Finely chop half of the onion.

There is even a song in Armenia praising the pumpkin. I will translate an Armenian song, while describing the preparation of ghapama.

Imagine the head of an Armenian family chanting in anticipation, or rather in anticipation of Hapama, who languishes for two hours in the oven: "Hey, Jan, Hapama! What a smell, what a taste !!!" - the owner happily sings, and to pass the time, he says: "How we went to the garden-vegetable garden (melon), how we looked for and found an excellent pumpkin, how they brought home" - smacking his lips with pleasure and does not forget to hum: "Hey, dzhan, Hapama !!! What a smell, what a taste! ", And then begins to enumerate with delight - what is put in a pumpkin (after thoroughly cleaning it; Rice (already almost cooked) raisins, dried apricots, prunes.

The pumpkin is lubricated with butter inside, rice, onions, dried apricots, prunes, apples, pumpkin pulp, cinnamon, black pepper, slightly cooked in salted water, are placed in it. Everything gets mixed up. Put butter on top. The filling in the pumpkin is not laid out to the very top, because it will increase even more.

The pumpkin is closed with a cut lid. Wrapped in foil and sent to the oven for 2 hours (200 degrees.)

Here the forces leave the owner-singer and the hostess enters in tenor, noticing in horror how relatives gather at the smell - like bees to honey ... She almost crying, she sings that a hundred people have come and a friendly enumeration begins: "Here is dad with mom and her sister, Here is the mother-in-law and father-in-law with her sister, Here is the brother and sister and brother-in-law with his wife Here is the mother-in-law, father-in-law, matchmaker and matchmaker, Uncles and aunts and a crowd of children, Friends and girlfriends with wives and husbands, With children and godfathers .. .. Eeeee-hey hey jan, hey jan, hey jan ... "Of course, the owner happily greets everyone and everyone sings hosanna to Hapame and dances ...

And the aroma is actually very, very, the appetite is played out.

Hapama is a dish designed for a large noisy feast - it is customary to cut a pumpkin at a round table; when collecting at least the whole family, everyone will get a piece.

Hapama is ready, come dear guests, eat our pumpkin.