Ժինգյալով հաց (Zhingyalov Hats) Recipe
Recipe time: 70min (40min prep, 30min cooking)
Serves 5.
Zhingyalov Hats is a traditional dish from Artsakh, and if you have ever visited the region you will have undoubtedly been served this flatbread brimming with herbs and flavour!
I do not have the privilege of having an Artsakh herb patch in my garden, and also did not find leaves like atriplex, chickweed, or shepherd’s-purse at the supermarket aisle. However you can still do a very authentic job with what is available.
The key here is to have a balance of filler herbs (such as spinach), earthy flavours (such as watercress or rocket), and stronger flavours such as coriander or mint. You can find the combination I used below, but please feel free to experiment your own mix!
Ingredients
For the Herb mix (seven herbs, approx. 500g total):
- Spinach (160g)
- Coriander (100g)
- Watercress (100g)
- Lamb’s lettuce / red lettuce (100g)
- Dill (20g)
- Mint (20g)
- Salt / olive oil for seasoning
For the bread (remember, it is unleavened, so no yeast/self-raising):
- 500g strong white flour, and extra for flour dusting
- 1 1/2 tsp sea salt
- Warm water (usually I do 1 part boiling to 2 parts cold)
- Optional: add greek yoghurt to the dough for a sour touch
To cook the bread you will need a long flat or griddle pan
Method
- Wash and chop the herbs coarsely, putting into a big mixing bowl. Drizzle the mixture generously with oil and season well with salt. Once seasoned, try mix to see if happy with overall flavour.
2. Prepare the dough mixture, by adding the flour, sugar, salt and oil into a bowl. Adding water, the resultant dough should be elastic, not too wet/dry. Let it rest for 15–20min. Split the dough into 5 equal balls.
3. Flouring your work surface, roll out each ball to a large rectangular shape using a rolling pin. The dough should be rolled out very thin. A useful tactic (to avoid dough sticking to surface) is to roll, pick up the dough, reflour surface, flip dough to other side and roll again.
4. Add herb mixture to the dough as seen in image below, leaving space at edges. If you have 500g herb mixture, that means 100g per dough ball.
5. Fold the sides together. This video shows a genuine Artsakhtsi doing it and it very helpful to watch. What I did was fold tops in making a boat-like shape (a la Khatchapuri!) and then work my way up to the centre, pressing with my fingers. Once the dough is totally folded, I seal further by rolling the edges using a rolling pin.
6. Typically Zhingyalov hats is fried on a “sajin” (Armenian: սաջին), but like me, I doubt you have one of these knocking about in the kitchen! Instead I used a griddle pan large enough to fit the bread in. Put pan on medium/high, and brushed lightly with olive oil.
I recommend turning extractor on or opening a window as cooking bread can get smoky. Place bread flat on one side, and fry until you start only just smelling the bread toasting. Brush the side not cooking lightly with oil/salt. Then flip using a slotted turner, and fry the other side. It should take 5–7mins total per hats.
And that’s it! Enjoy, and let me know if you recommend any other herb combos!
