Dancing With the Ghapama
Ghapama (pronounced xapʻama) is a pumpkin dish from my homeland of Armenia. My grandmother taught me how to make it when I was a teenager, showing me how to stuff a pumpkin with rice, nuts, dried fruits, honey, cinnamon, and butter. At the time, I had been trying so hard to assimilate into American culture that I was disconnected from my own traditions, so every new thing I learned about Armenian culture felt like a gift.
I was instantly drawn by the ritual and community that came with ghapama. It is a celebratory dish, and you dance with it to bring it to the table—how many dishes involve a song and dance?! It even has its own theme song, popularized by the biggest pop star in Armenian culture (imagine if Mariah Carey made a song about a food!). It’s called “Hey Jan Ghapama” which means “hey, dear ghapama,” and it describes a family cooking a ghapama—including the recipe. The entire extended family smells the pumpkin baking and comes over, wanting a piece, but the narrator is concerned that there may not be enough pumpkin to go around. This joyous party song perfectly captures the feeling of making, presenting, and eating ghapama—which, depending on who you ask, can be enjoyed as a main dish, a side dish, or a dessert.
I’ve been thrilled to see that in the last few years, there have been a ton of Armenians making ghapama, sharing tutorial videos, posting about it on their social media, and giving it the pomp and circumstance that it deserves. But for a long time, ghapama was a bit “underground” in the diaspora. To this day, you still can’t find it in restaurants; it is only available at home gatherings, made with love by someone’s mom, grandma, or auntie.
Ever since I emigrated from Armenia as a child, I’ve taken on the role of a culture bearer in my own small way, bringing Armenian traditions that are unexpected or forgotten into the diasporic space. For more than two decades, sharing my beloved ghapama has helped me connect with my community and bask in a quirky part of our shared culture. I’ve brought it to parties, taught ghapama cooking classes, given private tutorials to friends, made tiny personal-sized ones for kids, and even visited a renowned Armenian nursing home in L.A. to cook it for Armenian elders (and yes, I danced with them, as well!).
This year, I created a glucose-friendly version of ghapama, to make it more accessible for anyone with health considerations, such as having Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes or a lactose intolerance. I have observed that the world of food is sometimes not accessible or equitable for people with certain health needs. For example, many of us may take for granted that we can safely eat foods like rice, sugar, nuts, dairy, and dried fruits, but there are multiple health conditions that preclude this. Because I see food accessibility as a social justice issue, it was important to me to explore how to make ghapama in a way that maintains its tradition, while allowing more people to enjoy it. Fortunately, the best part of the ghapama classic recipe is that anyone can make it their own, by substituting or adding more or less of any ingredient.
I hope that whether you make it the diabetes-friendly or the classic way, this dish inhabits a new, ghapama-sized space in your heart.
Ghapama
L.A. Home: Glendale
Roots: Armenia
Ingredients for traditional ghapama
- 1 large orange pumpkin (you can also use any other round squash-type pumpkin or gourd)
- 1 ½ cups basmati rice (to be cooked in 3 cups of water)
- 1 stick butter, room temperature
- 1.5 cups each of 2-3 coarsely chopped dried fruits (apricots, raisins, cranberries, prunes, cherries)
- 1.5 cups each of 2-3 coarsely chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds)
- 2 tbsp. ground cinnamon
- 4 tbsp. honey
- Dash of salt
- Additional fruits, nuts, and cinnamon sticks for garnish.
Notes about the ingredients:
- This can be made in any type of pumpkin (not just orange ones) and in any size, including in those tiny, tabletop decorative pumpkins, which are known to be safe to eat (but please double-check, of course!).
- If you can’t find a pumpkin in stores, ask around—many people keep their uncarved Halloween pumpkins or fall gourds throughout the winter and are happy to give them away.
- These quantities are always guestimated based on the size of the pumpkin, so please adjust relative to the size of your own pumpkin. It is better to have too much filling than too little, so the pumpkin doesn’t collapse while baking. If you’ve got an overflow, you can always make a sweet pilaf dish for later.
- This recipe is highly customizable. If you prefer different types or quantities of dried fruits or nuts, feel free to make it your own. Please consider eaters’ food allergies around nuts or fruits.
- For butter, I recommend salted butter, because it has a nice salty/sweet flavor profile, but you can use unsalted butter or dairy-free, plant-based butter alternatives.
Ingredients for diabetes-friendly ghapama
- 1 large pumpkin
- 3 total cups of quinoa, barley, millet or any other low glycemic grain. (You can use just one or a combination of any two, just be mindful to customize the quantity and make enough to fill the pumpkin)
- 1 stick of butter
- 1.5 cups each of either fresh fruits or no-sugar-added dried fruits of your choice. (The best fresh fruit options are cranberries, peeled apples, peeled quince, and pomegranate seeds)
- 1.5 cups each of your choice of 2-3 chopped nuts (such as walnuts, almonds, pecans, chestnuts)
- 2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons of allulose or a sugar substitute of your choice
- Dash of salt
- Additional fruits, nuts, and cinnamon sticks for garnish
Notes about this version:
The purpose of this version is to reduce the glucose spikes of this dish, which is an essential food habit for anyone with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes. However, this is useful information for anybody who wants to eat healthy. In addition to a modified recipe, glucose spikes can also be reduced by:
- eating food in a specific order (starting with fibrous vegetables, leafy greens, proteins, and fats before eating any carbohydrates or sugars)
- eating a smaller serving size
- drinking a glass of water with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar mixed in
- going for a walk after eating
For diabetics, a serving size of this ghapama version can be about a 1-inch wedge: Be mindful to keep this relative to your total carbohydrate count for the meal.
Steps:
- Wash and dry exterior of pumpkin. Carefully cut off the top in a circle or starburst shape, to later use as a lid.
- Scrape out the fibers and seeds like you would with a jack-o-lantern. (I recommend to later roast the seeds and make soup from the fibers.)
- Rinse the inside of the pumpkin and pat dry. Lightly score the inside walls, coat with honey and butter, and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a medium-sized pot, bring water to a boil. Add rice, stir, cover the pot and reduce heat to low. Cook rice for about 10 to 15 minutes, al dente. Rice should not be completely cooked because it will finish cooking inside the pumpkin later. Drain any excess liquid.
- In a bowl, mix together the rice, chopped, dried fruit, melted butter, salt, cinnamon, honey, and nuts.
- Transfer the mixture to a flat pan and sauté everything lightly in butter.
- Scoop in the mixture to fill the entire pumpkin, adding small chunks of butter throughout. Don’t press down too much or pack the rice tightly, so it can remain fluffy.
- Put the pumpkin lid back on.
- Coat the outside of the pumpkin with butter and spread it evenly with your hands – this gives it a nice shine while cooking.
- Place pumpkin on a baking sheet with lid closed.
- Bake at 350°F for about 1-½ to 2 hours or until soft. Insert a toothpick or knife tip into the pumpkin to determine tenderness. Try to poke in discreet spots, as the holes will look unsightly in the finished product.
- Let it cool for 10 minutes then transfer to a decorative plate and garnish with more fruits and nuts on the side. Be careful of the steam while opening the lid to check if it’s done.
- Play the ghapama song and ceremoniously dance the pumpkin to the table and have a mini dance party with your guests.
- Cut into 1- to 2-inch wedges and serve with the help of a spatula and spoon.
- Make sure guests know to eat the pumpkin “meat” as well as the filling.
Marina Terteryan is an immigrant Armenian American innovation industry leader, community organizer, and writer. A torch bearer for the stories of immigrant elders, her first book is titled Sh!t My Armenian Grandma Says.
