Recipe Corner: Easter Choreg

Preparation:

Melt the butter and margarine in a pan, add the milk let it rest until slightly above room temperature.

Place sugar, mahleb, salt and half the flour in a large bowl, making a hole in the center. Beat the 5 eggs into the warm (not hot) milk and butter and pour into the center with the yeast. Beat with a wooden spoon (or on your KitchenAid or Kenwood!) until well mixed.

Add flour and continue stirring with spoon. You will have to leave the spoon aside eventually and mix with your hands. The dough should be soft but not very sticky.

Dust the counter top with flour and place the dough on it. Knead about 10 minutes, adding flour as needed. It should remain a soft dough but not sticking to your hands. Let the dough rise until doubled in a warm place, covered with a clean dish cloth. When it has risen, divide the dough into as many loaves as you wish to make. Knead each of these balls to remove the air bubbles.

Divide each ball of dough into 3. With your hands, roll each small ball into a rope, starting with both hands at the middle and rolling outwards. Place the 3 strands side-by-side and braid them. Place on greased baking sheet.

When all loaves are finished, cover with a dish cloth and let rise until double again.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Beat the egg and brush loaves with it, sprinkling them with sesame or nigella seeds. Some people like slivered almonds on top.

Bake approximately 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the size of your loaves – they should be golden and toasty brown when finished (check the bottoms too).

Contributed by Susan Pattie.

Go to: https://www.armenianinstitute.org.uk/food/choreg

My Grandmother: An Armenian-Turkish Memoir Paperback – July 4, 2012

by Fethiye Cetin (Author), Maureen Freely (Translator)

To purchase, go to: https://www.amazon.com/My-Grandmother-Armenian-Turkish-Fethiye-Cetin/dp/1844678679

“Growing up in the small town of Maden in Turkey, Fethiye Çetin knew her grandmother as a happy and respected Muslim housewife called Seher. Only decades later did she discover the truth. Her grandmother’s name was not Seher but Heranus. She was born a Christian Armenian. Most of the men in her village had been slaughtered in 1915. A Turkish gendarme had stolen her from her mother and adopted her. Çetin’s family history tied her directly to the terrible origins of modern Turkey and the organized denial of its Ottoman past as the shared home of many faiths and ways of life. A deeply affecting memoir, My Grandmother is also a step towards another kind of Turkey, one that is finally at peace with its past. Beyond its historical importance, My Grandmother is a deeply human book. It reminds us of the resilience of survivors, the complexities of identity, and the importance of preserving memory. Çetin’s prose is simple but evocative, and her grandmother’s voice resonates with dignity and grace.”