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Ghapama

Name: Ghapama
Total time: 120 min
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: Armenia
Ingredients: 1 (small, whole) Pumpkin; 1 cup Raw rice; 60g Dried Apricots; 40g Raisins; 50g Walnuts; 3 tbsp Honey; 1 tsp Cinnamon powder; 50g Butter; A pinch Salt

Main Dish

⏱ 120 min

👥 Serves 6

Difficulty ⭐⭐

A hollowed pumpkin stuffed with rice, dried fruit, and nuts, drizzled with honey, and baked — an Armenian celebration dish.

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📖 The Story Behind This Dish

Ghapama is a whole pumpkin stuffed with rice, dried apricots, raisins, walnuts, honey, cinnamon, and butter and baked. It's made especially for New Year and Christmas (January 6), and is so beloved in Armenia that there's even a folk song about it. The highlight is cutting the baked pumpkin open at the table like flower petals.

🌆 Where it's eaten: On a celebration night in January, the baked pumpkin is set in the center of the table, and when it's cut open sweet-scented rice spills out with the steam.

🥕 Ingredients (serves 6)

Pumpkin 1 (small, whole)
Raw rice 1 cup
Dried Apricots 60g
Raisins 40g
Walnuts 50g
Honey 3 tbsp
Cinnamon powder 1 tsp
Butter 50g
Salt A pinch

👩‍🍳 Instructions

Cut off the top of the pumpkin like a lid and scoop out the seeds and pulp with a spoon.
Boil the rice for 5 minutes and drain.
Mix the rice with the chopped dried apricots, raisins, crushed walnuts, honey, cinnamon, melted butter, and salt.
Stuff into the pumpkin, add 3 tbsp water, and replace the lid.
Bake at 180°C for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until a skewer slides easily into the pumpkin.
Cut into wedges at the table and drizzle with a little honey.

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