Topik (Armenian Chickpea and Potato Dumplings) Recipe

Some recipes discover you, others it’s important to search. This recipe is the results of my quest to be taught the artwork of topik, a basic Armenian Lenten dish of chickpea and potato dumplings full of onions, currants, and heat spices. I grew up listening to about them from my father, who says my grandmother made them typically, and I used to be enticed by his description that solid them as each scrumptious, if considerably uncommon. Topik by some means handle to be each candy and deeply savory on the similar time, with a wealthy, velvety texture paying homage to paté. Served chilled or at room temperature, the dumplings are sometimes loved as an appetizer or a meatless entrée. 

After a newer dialog with my father about them, I resolved to discover ways to make them: I went on a deep dive into their various varieties and preparations, and immersed myself in recipes on-line and in my stack of Armenian cookbooks. I additionally paid particular consideration to the recipes in spiral-bound church cookbooks; they’re a useful useful resource for researching Armenian recipes, since they virtually all the time include a handful of various variations of every dish. 

I discovered that almost all topik recipes embody potatoes and chickpeas within the dough, normally in roughly equal quantities. Some recipes—my grandmother’s included—use one other starch like bulgur, semolina, or farina instead of potatoes. Others could embody chickpeas, potatoes, and a milled grain. The chickpeas are normally, although not all the time, skinned earlier than mashing, a considerably tedious course of that ends in a smoother-textured dumpling. 

Tahini is commonly used to taste each the dough and filling, although peanut butter—an ingredient that isn’t classically Armenian—makes a shocking look every so often in recipes revealed in the US, both instead of the tahini or along with it. (My guess is that when many Armenians first got here to the States within the first half of the twentieth century, they reached for peanut butter instead of tahini, which was possible laborious to return by on the time.) Walnuts are the standard nut of selection for the filling, although pine nuts are used often.

Most topik have one other uncommon characteristic: The dumplings are made by wrapping a small quantity of filling inside a mound of dough after which enclosing the ball inside a cheesecloth bag tied with twine. The dumplings are then poached in boiling water till they take in moisture and plump up; this two-stage hydration methodology permits you to form and stuff the dumpling with a dough that’s comparatively dry, however as soon as cooked, the topik turn into extremely moist and tender. The cheesecloth bag each helps to type and retain the dumpling’s form and makes it straightforward to take away the fragile spheres from the tub with out damaging them.

Via loads of analysis and trial and error, I got here up with a topik recipe that I feel would make my grandmother proud.

Keys for Making Nice Topik

It’s Value Skinning Your Chickpeas

Many cookbook recipes name for peeling chickpeas, a tedious job that includes pinching chickpeas one after the other to slide their skins off, one thing I’ve neither time nor endurance to do. Chickpea skins, nonetheless, are principally cellulose, a fibrous materials that doesn’t break down even after prolonged mixing in a food processor. Leaving them on gave the dough a grainy texture, and I most well-liked the velvety-smooth texture of topik with out them. 

Thankfully, you don’t must peel chickpeas one-by-one. There’s a far simpler methodology: Simmering already-cooked chickpeas in water and a bit baking soda for ten minutes or so. (I exploit chickpeas I’ve cooked from scratch, however it’s also possible to use canned chickpeas.) The delicate alkalinity helps denature the cellulose in order that the skins slip off simply once you swish the chickpeas underneath cool water. The buoyant skins float freely, and to separate them, you simply pour off the water. It takes about three or 4 adjustments of water to get most of them eliminated. You then let the chickpeas drain in a colander to take away any extra moisture earlier than blitzing them to a {smooth} paste in a meals processor.

Mash Your Potatoes

A good variety of topik recipes have you ever blitz the potatoes to a paste in a meals processor as properly, however I actually, actually—and I can’t stress this sufficient—don’t suggest this. The sharp blades burst the potato’s cells large open, releasing starch and water. This not solely offers the topik dough an disagreeable stickiness, however it additionally makes it too moist to deal with. The higher strategy is to move the spuds by way of a ricer or to mash them with a potato masher. (By the way, if in case you have a ricer, you should use it to mash the chickpeas to a tremendous paste too, eliminating the necessity to soiled your meals processor.)

Do not Overlook the Tahini

Making the topik dough is so simple as combining the mashed chickpeas and potatoes in a bowl, including a bit salt, some tahini, and gently folding all of it collectively. The tahini offers the dough a wealthy nuttiness, however it additionally has a purposeful objective: Its starches take in a few of the extra moisture within the dough, firming it up in order that it’s straightforward to form. You don’t wish to use an excessive amount of right here, because the dough will turn into dry and crumbly. In my testing, I discovered {that a} quarter cup was the proper quantity when mixed with eight ounces of potatoes and two cups of cooked chickpeas.

Getting the Filling Proper

The onions within the filling for topik needs to be delicate and candy, however not moist. Just a few of the recipes I discovered instruct readers to caramelize them slowly, however most name for merely cooking them with a bit water till tender and totally softened. To take away extra water, many simmer the onions with salt and water, then use a colander to pressure out any remaining liquid. I discovered this step wholly pointless. As an alternative, I gently simmer the alliums with a small quantity of water, dried currants, olive oil, garlic, and salt for ten minutes or so, which softens them and attracts out a lot of their inside moisture.

I then take away the lid and crank the warmth, which drives off any remaining moisture and softens the onions additional. The oil helps forestall the onions from scorching—they’ll begin to sizzle as soon as the water has evaporated—and helps extract flavors from the allspice, cinnamon, and pepper, which I add in the direction of the top. As soon as the filling is cooked, I stir in some chopped walnuts and tahini, then let it quiet down.

Form the Dumplings, Then Wrap With Cheesecloth

As I discussed above, the cheesecloth helps the topik retain their form and makes it simpler to take away the tender dumplings from the cooking water with out damaging them. As intricate as wrapping dough with cheesecloth would possibly look, assembling topik is fairly fast and simple so long as you may have your cheesecloth and wire lower and able to go. You type the dough into balls, then make a deep despair into the middle of every ball, scoop just a few tablespoons of filling into it, and gently shut the dough up and across the filling. You then press the topik right into a {smooth}, spherical patty, set it onto one of many cheesecloth squares, and tie it up right into a bundle with a bit of twine. You don’t must stress an excessive amount of about getting the topik completely formed, supplied you retain the submitting contained, for the reason that poaching step will {smooth} out any tough edges.

As soon as they’re all assembled, you drop them right into a pot of simmering water and allow them to poach for about ten minutes. They’ll plump up a bit as soon as they’re finished, and although they’re very delicate at this level, the cheesecloth bag helps preserve them contained. You allow them to drain on a rack and funky to room temperature for a half hour or so, then set them within the fridge to relax. Because the starches within the dough cools, the dumplings will agency up.

Let Them Come to Room Temperature Earlier than Serving

At this level, all that continues to be is eradicating the topik from the fridge and permitting them to return as much as room temperature, untying the bundles, and serving the topik with a beneficiant drizzle of olive oil, a sprinkle of floor cinnamon, and a handful of chopped walnuts. (You may serve the topik straight from the fridge, however they’re greatest when allowed to return to room temperature first, for the reason that taste is extra pronounced and their texture extra tender.)

Although my topik differ significantly from my grandmother’s—those my dad grew up consuming—he’s a fan, and I’m guessing you’ll be, too.