Cook the rice in a usual way and pile up. Put baked apples and quinces around it. Starting from the bottom and up to the top of the rice "mountain" decorate with raisins, dried apricots, plums and pomegranates. Pour some spirit on the apples and burn it before serving. Switch off the lights of the room. It looks great!

My mother cooks many tasty meals, but among them my favorite one is pilaf "Ararat", which is a tradition in our family. It is also related to the historic Ararat mountain. My mother mainly cooks this pilaf on holidays, as it looks very nice and festive, and it is tasty. Like many other Armenian traditional meals "Ararat" pilaf also consists of fruits.

Beets grown in Babylonian times for their leaves (chard), were then cultivated for their edible roots and eventually in the 18th century for their sugar content.

Take the mutton, cut it small and fry till it is half ready. Add salt and pepper according to taste and continue to fry it. Then add onion, cut in circles, and continue to fry for 5 minutes more. Then add the pomegranate and serve it.

Khorovats is one of the best dishes in Armenian cuisine. There is no holiday table without khorovats. I think that khorovats is a pure Armenian dish, as it has been passed down to us from ancient times.

Chop all the vegetables. Fry in oil the onion, then add carrot and beetroot. Then add cabbage. Boil separately the meat, the add the fried vegetables and potato. Leave it to boil for 20-25 minutes as well and serve it with sour cream.

Borsh is very popular in Armenian families, though it comes from Russian cuisine. Our family is no exception! It consists of vegetables and is very tasty. We most often cook borsh in winter as our food lacks vitamins during these months. Borsh is very rich in vitamins and it is very healthy. I like the smell of it. In cold winters, like other soups, it warms your body inside and makes you feel much better.

Almost everybody cooks borsh in his or her own way, but I have a favorite way. Guess? Of course it is the one cooked by my mother! I wish I could treat all of you with this special soup!

Cut the beef into thin slices. Put into a pan, add chopped cheese and herbs and cover all this with the sour cream. Put everything into an oven. Let it cook, and serve.

My family likes this meal very much as it has a special taste. due to the combination of meat and dairy products. Besides being very tasty this dish looks special; it also contains many vitamins and proteins necessary for human beings. This food also reminds me of some sweet memories of my childhood. It reminds me of the same smell I used to enjoy as a child.

Mince the meat three times and mix it well with wheat. Cut the onion, add pepper, salt and herbs and fry it in butter. Take with wet hands a little of this mass and make small balls. Make a hole in that ball and put the fried onion into it, then close the hole and again make a ball. After you have finished making all the balls, boil them in water for 20 minutes and then serve with ketchup or some tomato sauce.

In Armenia, so-called "Bitlis Qyufta" is a very special and respected meal. When Armenian have big celebrations they very often treat the guests with this dish, which also shows that the guest is honored. We really like to surprise the people, especially if we have guests from other countries. And we really sometimes succeed in it! And they try this food with pleasure.

Armenian String cheese has a mild taste and is pure white in color. This cheese is used as a table cheese and also for cooking.