Ա ր ի շ տ ա
traditional dried flour noodles
On a dead-end street in the village of Argel, clotheslines filled with what looks like pasta hang in front of nearly every house. This is arishta, a simple noodle made from a dough that resembles salty lavash. Manoush Avedisyan, a longtime resident, invited us into her arishta workspace to demonstrate how she makes the noodles. The first step is making a firm dough, which she kneads by placing it between two plastic sheets and walking over it several times. She leaves the dough to relax before rolling it out into sheets with a rolling pin. She then switches to a rolling pin with grooves, which cuts the dough into noodles.
After they are cut, the noodles are hung out to dry overnight. In her house, stacks of dried arishta rest in bundles in a spare bedroom, and when orders come in, she toasts the strands to a golden color in an old Soviet toaster oven. We snacked on a couple of the strands, remarking how much they tasted like salty crackers. In Yerevan, arishta has become trendy, often served with wild mushrooms or cooked like a pilaf. But Manoush likes hers as simple as it gets: with butter on top and pickles on the side.
This is a project recipe, though it’s a forgiving one. Make the dough and noodles the first day, then toast the noodles the second. At this point, you can store them, though they do tend to break into short sticks. See the Arishta with Mushrooms headnote (page 80) for how to cook the noodles.
Makes about 1 lb [455 g] pasta (serves 4 to 6)
3 cups [420 g] all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 Tbsp kosher salt
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp [210 ml] water, at room temperature
DAY ONE To make the dough, in a large bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Pour in the water and squish the flour and water together with your hands to form a shaggy dough. There will still be bits of flour at the bottom, and the dough will feel dry. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let it rest for 20 minutes.
Uncover the bowl and check the consistency of the dough. It should feel softer and not quite as dry. At this point, either knead the dough in a stand mixer with a dough hook until it is smooth to the touch but not sticky, about 4 minutes, or knead it by hand until it reaches the same consistency, about 8 minutes. Let the dough rest for at least 1 hour or up to 2 hours.
To roll and cut the dough, clear off a large counter area and dust it with flour. Have a rolling pin and a few clean clothes hangers ready.
Uncover the dough, cut it into quarters, and pat each quarter into a rectangle. Working with one quarter at a time, roll the dough out until it’s roughly 14 in [35.5 cm] long and 8 in [25 cm] wide. If the dough springs back and resists being rolled out, let it rest and start working on a different piece.
Once the piece has been rolled out, dust it generously with flour. Starting at a narrow end, roll up the dough into a cylinder. With a sharp knife, cut the cylinder crosswise into strips 1/2 in [1 cm] wide. Unroll the strips quickly to keep them from sticking together. Shake off any excess flour and, one at a time, drape the noodles over the clothes hanger. The noodles will stretch a bit as they hang, but if some ends look too thick, trim them with scissors. Repeat with the remaining dough.
To dry the arishta, hang the noodles in a dry area overnight, putting a sheet pan underneath to catch any fallen strands.
DAY TWO To toast the arishta, preheat the oven to 350°F [180°C]. Break the noodles off the hangers (the noodles will be brittle, making it hard to remove them in one piece; it’s okay if some pieces are smaller than others). Divide them between two half-sheet pans and bake until the noodles are golden and slightly toasted around the edges, about 12 minutes. Let cool completely on the pans.
The noodles can be stored for a month in a sealed container in the pantry, though they are fragile. To cook, boil the noodles in unsalted water, stirring often, for 4 minutes or until cooked through.
