An RSM Thanksgiving Feast: FINAL ROUND

We hope everyone had a Thanksgiving full with family, food, and merriment. Our RSM Thanksgiving Feast deadline has passed, and the votes have been tallied…but we have a TIE!

Currently, the place for first is between Amy Avetisyan’s Gata, Gohar Hakobyan’s Ghapama, and Priyanka Patel’s Masala Dosa. The three recipes and their pictures are below, and we need all our staff and teachers to vote on which of the three they like most in the comments (one more time)!

The winner of this Final Round will receive the $200 gift card to Self Up Boston.

RSM is so grateful to have such an involved community of individuals who work together and share these aspects of their lives.

Happy Thanksgiving, and let’s see whose recipe ends up on top!

1. Amy Avetisyan’s Gata
   
   In a mixing bowl, combine the yeast with 1 cup sour cream; set aside for 10 minutes. Add butter and mix well. Add the egg, oil, and vinegar and mix well. Add the sifted flour gradually and continue mixing. Knead dough for about 15 minutes until smooth and firm so that it does not stick to your hands. Gather dough into a ball and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough overnight. To make the filling, mix together 1 cup of the melted butter and 2 cups flour. Add 1-1/4 cups sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla; stir constantly for 1 minute, so that the mixture does not stick to your hands and becomes smooth and even. Set aside.
   
   Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove dough from the refrigerator; divide it into 8 equal balls. Place each ball on a lightly floured board. Roll each ball out to a rectangle measuring 10-by-6 inches, or as thin as possible with the aid of rolling pin. Paint each rectangle with melted butter. Spread 1/4 cup filling into the center of each rectangle and roll out the filling over it with the aid of a rolling pin. Fold in about 1/2 inch of the rectangle on each side. Roll up dough into a cylinder. Place rolling pin on pastry roll and flatten slightly lengthwise. Cut the roll diagonally with a sharp knife or serrated knife into 2-inch equal slices. Place pastry about 2 inches apart on a lightly floured baking pan. (Be careful not to spill out any filling.)
   
   Paint the surface of each pastry with the glaze (mixture of beaten egg and brown). Place baking pan in the oven and bake for 15 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove the baking pan from oven and allow the pastries to cool.
   
   —

2. Gohar Hakobyan’s Ghapama
   
   (Pumpkin stuffed with rice, fruits, nuts and spices) 
   I am thrilled to present an Armenian traditional dish – GHAPAMA Usually Armenians make it for big family gatherings. Adjusting it for Thanksgiving is my Armenian way of celebrating Thanksgiving, adding a bit of Armenian flavor to the traditional American holiday of expressing gratitude to people around you- family, friends and colleagues. It has a very practical ground as well:) Everyone has 1-2 lovely, round fat pumpkins left from Halloween at home:)
   
   Ingredients:
   – A pretty pumpkin, preferably round 
   – Long rice
   – Honey
   – Butter
   – Any nuts
   – Dried prunes, apricots, cherries
   – Raisins, Quince, apples
   — Spices- White pepper, cinnamon, carnation, cardamon, nutmeg
   
   Process:
   
   Cut out the top of the pumpkin as if you were to make a jack-o-lantern, clean out the seeds and everything else that’s inside. If the walls of the pumpkin are too thick, shave off some of it. Spread honey on the walls of the pumpkin from the inside and sprinkle cinnamon.
   
   Filling: Boil the rice until it’s half made, cool it and mix with nuts, raisins, spices, quince, apples and pieces of pumpkin
   
   Fill up the pumpkin with the filling, put butter into the filling, add honey (to your preference), a few sticks of cinnamon. Close the top, spread butter on the outside and close with aluminum foil.
   
   Usually the amount of hours it has to bake is equal to how much the pumpkin weighs. For the last half-hour open the aluminum foil to give the pumpkin a little blush.
   
   Goes perfectly with home-made Gluhwein  and will warm you up during Christmas holidays!
   
   Let’s add some Pumpkin-Apricot flavor to Turkey! Happy thanksgiving to my lovely RSM family jan!
   
   Enjoy Armenian Folk song Ghapama https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KliGvu8Tjbw
   
   —

3. Priyanka Patel’s Masala Dosa (Indian Crepe)
   
   For the batter
   
   You will need Urad dal and Rice from 1 to 3 ratio.
   Soak it overnight, wash and blend in smooth paste/batter.
   Add salt to the batter and let it ferment at room temperature (70-75 degrees in fahrenheit).
   Make pancake type of batter by adding water and on a hot non stick pan make crepes.
   You can add veggies as a filling, cooked chicken, noodles, rice, beans, potatoes. Traditionally, we add boiled potato filling.
   
   For the Filling
   
   Boil about 5 to 6 potatoes, mash it.
   In a separate pan, add 2-3 table spoons of oil, once oil heats up, add fresh curry leaves, tea spoon of urad dal, one medium size sliced onion, turmeric.
   At the end add mashed potatoes, salt and lemon juice.
   Mix it well and add to the crepe.
   To close the dish, enjoy with Sambhar (Lentil Soup)
   
   Lentil Soup
   Boil Dry, oil free Tuvar Dal (Tuvar Lentil) – 3 cups
   While the Lentil boils, on a side heat up oil (3-4 table spoons), add Mustard seeds(1 tea spoon), fresh curry leaves(8-10), Urad dal(1 Table spoon) Dry red chili (About 2-3 pieces), and Veggies (small potato, small onion, 1 carrot, drumsticks).
   Sauté all that once cooked add salt and add Sambhar Masala (MTR Best Brand)
   Once oil separates, add lentil, add water as needed and enjoy wonderful Masala Dosa.
   
   —