- [Julianne] Today, I'm going to learn yalanchi, a quintessential Armenian appetizer of stuffed grape leaves at the home of local culinary goddess, Mary Ekmalian.

She's a devoted member of the Holy Trinity Church Ladies' Guild here in Fresno, and she'll be showing me her family's Yalanchi recipe, which is super exciting because I haven't quite been able to master this dish.

Mary's also the secretary and newsletter editor at Armenian Cultural Conservancy, a fantastic organization that you're going to learn more about today because we're going on a field trip.

Do you remember field trip days as a child?

That feeling of sheer excitement to go somewhere new and learn things you didn't know about?

Well, I've got that childhood excitement today because I'm also going to visit the gallery of the Armenian Cultural Conservancy where Van Der Mugrdechian, who's my friend and cultural advisor for the show, is gonna teach us all about the history of Armenians in the Central Valley.

We've got a lot of ground to cover, so we better get started.

Hi, I'm Julianne, but you can call me Jul, and this is "Jul's Armenian Kitchen."

The recipes of my childhood are beginning to fade with time so I'm on a mission to learn the secrets and stories behind great Armenian home cooking, the way it's always been passed down in family kitchens right here in the Central Valley.

I'll learn how these proud Armenian families built their version of the American dream in ways you won't find written down anywhere else.

And I'll be stepping right into their kitchens to see how its really done.

Therell be great food and a few unexpected moments along the way Were going to have a delicious time!

- [Announcer] Production funding for "Jul's Armenian Kitchen" is provided by Fowler Packing Company.

Three generations of family farming in California Central Valley, bringing Peelz citrus and Samsons grapes to families nationwide.

More information at fowlerpacking.com.

Ohanyan's of Fresno.

For more than 40 years, Ohanyan's has preserved Armenian culinary traditions through handcrafted products rooted in heritage, quality, and craftsmanship.

What began in the Central Valley is now shared nationwide.

For more information, visit ohanyans.com.

(door rapping) - [Mary] Hello.

Welcome, Julianne.

- Mary!

- Hi.

These are for you.

- [Mary] Oh, thank you.

- Also these flowers.

- [Mary] Oh, and what a beautiful apron.

- Today, I finally get to learn the proper way to make yalanchi.

It's an Armenian dish consisting of rice, onions, and spices wrapped into grape leaves.

The word yalanchi actually translates as lie and the lie is that there's no meat inside.

So it's a vegetarian dish, but that hasn't made it any easier for me to manage, let me tell you.

Every time I attempt to make it, something goes wrong.

But today, all of that changes with the help of Mary.

Mary, thank you again for having me, you sweet lady.

You know, I think we've talked about this, but I have some issues with my yalanchi.

No one ever taught me how to make it.

So I'm self-taught.

I used the "Harvest" cookbook.

And my leaves always burn.

That's the first issue.

And then they kind of come undone.

I don't think I'm wrapping them tightly enough.

So I'm hoping that you can help me with both of those issues today.

- Well, I think we can solve those issues.

So basically, it's three pounds of finely chopped onions.

- [Julianne] Okay.

- And then we're gonna add a cup of finely chopped red pepper.

Or you could do green pepper, whatever you like.

And a half a cup of chopped celery.

So that's all going in here.

And then we're gonna add... Now my grandmother and her generation used Mazola corn oil for everything, but I'm a little more healthy conscious, so I use light olive oil.

So I'm gonna add the three quarters cup oil, and we saute this for about 10, 15 minutes.

- How many people does this serve?

- This one is gonna serve... Well, it makes about... It's two cups of rice so it's gonna make about 80 grape leaves.

You don't want it to burn and you don't want it to brown.

You just wanna wilt it.

So I'm gonna close the lid and just let it do its thing and steam.

After that cooks for 20 minutes.

- So she really does have it on fairly low.

Interesting.

- [Mary] Medium, yeah, just to... - Okay.

- [Mary] I don't like things to burn.

- Okay.

- [Mary] So I like to be able to control everything.

- Well, we are talking about avoiding burning today, so, I guess it starts at the beginning.

While our onions cook, we'll take this time to prepare our pan for the yalanchi.

And like so many guests on the show, Mary is not one to waste ingredients.

- Okay, so every time I clean parsley, I save the stems and freeze it because we can always use it for something and the basic thing is lining yalanchi pans.

- Interesting.

- And if I don't use it, I take it to church and we use it there.

So we just... And it adds flavor to the- - [Julianne] Interesting.

- The grape leaves.

And that's gonna thaw out and get flat.

- Interesting.

- But now when we're done, this is gonna be a mess to take off the grape leaves so we end up lining one layer of old grape leaves.

- What's an old one?

- An old one is if I've opened a jar and I'm not finished with it.

- Oh.

- And like I have a jar of small, tiny grape leaves that I wasn't happy with.

So now I'm gonna use that to line the bottom of the pan.

- Now, when it comes to grape leaves, the very best option is to pick your own, which I've actually been lucky enough to do.

But the reality is most people don't have access to fresh grape leaves like those of us in the Central Valley.

So Mary explained that the second best option are canned or jarred grape leaves.

And it's important though to look for a label that says large or else the leaves won't be big enough to roll out our yalanchi.

And since the grape leaves do come in salt, we have to rinse them off.

While Mary does that, I'm onion duty.

I got a job.

(laughs) Yeah, you know, when I lived on the East Coast, I was always so disappointed 'cause all I could get were these little tiny leaves and I was like, "What is this?"

I mean, it made a yalanchi like the size of like half your thumb.

So disappointed.

- These leaves, a lot of people just put them in a pan of water and wash them, but I just kind of rinse them.

I don't think it's necessary to take them all apart because they're kind of fragile anyway.

- Yeah.

So you don't actually rinse each individual leaf?

- [Mary] No.

No.

- Okay.

All right.

Well, that's good to know.

You know, I picked once, I picked at Richard Hagopian's farm.

And it was such a fun day.

Richard taught us all about being careful to pick grape leaves with no splits for better yalanchi.

He also taught me how to preserve the leaves.

And you can find his tutorial on my socials if you want in on some of the secrets.

And sneak peek.

Richard's actually going to be joining us this season, so stay tuned.

- So then we're just gonna take them apart and then just line this pan like this too again.

Just cover.

- You want me to help you?

- Yes, please.

- Okay.

- Also, there's a right and a wrong side of a leaf.

- Ooh.

- We'll get to that when we wrap.

- Oh, okay.

- So the inside is the part that... The shiny side is the outside.

The inside is where the veins stick out, and that's what you want to have always in the inside of the grape leaf when you make it.

- And are you supposed to cut the stem out?

- If they're long.

Now this to me is not a long stem.

Some of them are really long so you're supposed to snip the stem.

- Okay.

- So I think this is fine.

Some people say, "Nope, you gotta cut it."

- Interesting.

Okay.

- I don't cut it.

- Is that look okay?

- That's ready to go.

- It's just one layer.

- Yeah.

That's enough.

- All right, so the pan's ready.

- 'Cause mine burn when I do just do one layer, but we're gonna... - Well, we're gonna bake it too, so it shouldn't burn.

- Okay.

(laughs) I'm very excited to see this.

- So once this is wilted down, you're gonna add eight ounces of tomato sauce.

This isn't quite ready to add all this, so we'll prepare the rice.

And for yalanchi, you can use regular parboiled rice, or Calrose, which this is traditional, that's what I grew up on and it takes less time to cook.

If you use regular rice, it takes a little longer to cook.

So we're gonna do two cups of rice.

- [Julianne] Okay, so you were named after your grandma.

Was she the big cook or was it your mom?

- No, my grandmother was the cook.

My mom, she made yalanchi.

She made meat sarma, grape leaves with meat.

She made a wonderful, she was known for her persimmon cookies.

- [Julianne] Ooh, I love those.

- And German chocolate cake, she taught me how to make.

And so those were the things.

My mom worked, so she usually cooked just to feed the family.

- [Julianne] And your auntie?

- And my aunt, on the other hand, my mom's youngest sister, we used to watch cooking shows together in the '60s.

- If you love good food, but you work all day, get a chicken breast and make chicken Kiev.

- And she'd say, "You know, we're gourmet cooks too."

And I go, "What do you mean?"

She says, "Well, Armenian food is very complicated.

It's all fresh ingredients and it takes skill to make.

We're gourmet chefs also."

So I thought, "Oh, okay."

You know, so, you know, you just think, "Oh, you're just making your family food and- - Yes.

- And so she got me to respect what we make.

- Now that's a lesson every cook should learn, to respect the food you make, and I would add, honor the effort you put into making it, even if no one else does.

Okay.

Coming off my soapbox now, as we've got to add our sauces and seasonings to the onions, starting with eight ounces of tomato sauce, half a cup of lemon juice, dill, parsley, salt, pepper, allspice, and cayenne if you're feeling hot, hot, hot.

So you have to refrigerate it first.

- [Mary] Oh, yeah.

It's better to serve it cold, wrap it cold.

- Interesting.

- [Mary] Plus, once you keep it in the refrigerator for a day or two, the flavors meld.

- So that's must be one of my problems is 'cause I'm wrapping them warm.

- Oh, yes.

- Womp womp!

- [Mary] There we go.

- We're discovering the issues.

- It's like detective work.

- Problem solved.

- Okay, you're the best.

You know that?

You're the absolute best.

- [Mary] Oh no.

- I think you are.

Okay.

At this point, we have to leave our filling to cool overnight before rolling it into our grape leaves.

Mary took this time to tell me about a very special someone, her mother, Arpeni Mirigian.

She was a dedicated, fun-loving mother who lived a secret life throughout World War II.

From 1943 to 1945, she served in the US Navy WAVES, which was the women's branch of the United States Naval Reserve.

There, she became an intercept operator where she would transcribe Japanese morse code for intelligence purposes.

After the war, she lived a quiet life as an English teacher at Edison High School in Fresno, California, keeping her story untold until the government declassified her role in the 1980s.

She began sharing her story and was featured in a chapter of "The Faces of Courage" by Richard Demirjian.

It's evident to me that Mary's mother's influence is still very much alive within her and her cooking.

So let's take Mary and her mother back into the kitchen with us.

- Okay.

Now we're gonna wrap grape leaves.

- Okay, okay.

All right.

- You can make these as large or as small as you want.

This is kind of like a tablespoon, I guess.

- Okay.

- I use a teaspoon, but it's, you know... - You feel it good.

- You feel it.

- Okay.

- Okay, so now, you wanna just kinda shape it into what you want it to end up looking like.

Excellent.

Now, there's two ways of wrapping.

This is the way I was taught and it's the only way I can do it.

- Okay.

All right.

- You put the top ends over first.

- Okay.

- And then you give it a little squeeze to make sure it's tight.

Then you fold one side over and then the other side over, and then you're gonna tightly roll it.

- Oh yeah, it is much tighter.

It's much tighter.

- And then, just start lining the pan.

- Okay.

- I start from the outside and work in.

- And you go around like that?

- Yes.

- Okay.

Interesting.

- A lot of these recipes, the recipe isn't gonna always have everything in it.

- Exactly.

- So that's why you need to do... Most of my stuff I've learned, I've gone to the person's house and watched them do it and I go, "Oh, the recipe didn't say that."

- Exactly.

This is the biggest theme so far of season one of "Jul's Armenian Kitchen."

The recipe does not say it.

And that's exactly why we do "Jul's Armenian Kitchen", to find cooks like Mary to pass down these family recipes that could otherwise be lost forever.

- I had an aunt that wouldn't share her recipes.

And she made pakhlava and she'd say, "I'll make it for you anytime you want."

I go, "But auntie, you're not gonna be here always.

Don't you wanna teach somebody?"

"Don't worry.

I'll make it for you anytime you want."

And I got upset at her and I said, "Auntie Virginia!"

I said, "I'm not gonna feel guilty when you die.

I'm not gonna say, 'Oh, my auntie Virginia, she was the only one that made such great pakhlava.'

I'm never gonna say that to anybody."

She just looks at me, and then a week later, she calls me and says, "If you wanna learn, you come right now and I'm gonna teach you."

So I dropped everything and I went and I learned.

- Especially with these complicated Armenian recipes, sometimes the only way to truly learn is to have someone show you.

After all, I never knew how to properly wrap yalanchi until Mary just showed me today.

So for those of you at home, let's go over it one more time.

We start by tucking in the top and squeezing it into our filling for a tight fit.

Then we fold the two sides over and we roll it together like a tight little grape leaf burrito.

Then we just take our finished rolls and we put them in a pot in a circular pattern until we fill it up.

How is that?

Does it look okay?

To me, it looks pretty good.

It looks pretty darn.

- The other thing is... Yeah, you want to pack them tight, so make them touch.

- Okay, pack them tight.

Okay, I'll make them tight.

- Just make them touch.

- They have to touch.

- Yeah, they can be snug.

- Okay.

Right, 'cause when you flip it, they do need to be snug when you flip it.

- And you don't have to flip it, but also if you pack it too loose and you have a lot of water in it, they float up to the top and they'll open up.

- Interesting.

- And some of the recipes say put a dish on it to weight it down.

But when you put a dish on it- - They squash.

- They squash.

- That's my issue.

- So actually just pack them tight and just cook it a little longer.

- And so, you know, if we were to do, let's say we were to do all the leaves.

Basically would we go around in a circle like this or would you start going like this and this?

- I keep going in a circle until I get to where you can't do it.

Then I go however, it's like a jigsaw puzzle.

I just pack it in however.

- [Julianne] However you can.

- [Mary] Just the outside can be a circle.

- [Julianne] Okay.

- And then just pack it in however.

- So that they're touching.

- No open spaces.

- No open spaces.

And then, would you do another layer of leaves or no?

- No.

- You just do another layer of- - Three layers of the grape leaves.

- Okay.

- Usually three is about all you should do.

- I really appreciate you taking the time to show me this.

This is great.

So after we, let's say we get it all, and then you cover it with three layers of leaves.

- Then we add the... - Then what do you do?

- The juice to it, lemon juice, whatever the recipe says.

Water, lemon juice, and oil again.

- Okay.

- And that's the liquid that- - And that's the liquid.

- You pour it on top.

- Just pour it over on top.

- Okay.

- And then seal it really good with foil or the lid because if it evaporates the water, then it dries out.

- Interesting.

Okay.

- So you want it to bake.

And some people do stove top.

In the old days, they all did it stove top.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- I don't know when we started baking it, but it was just, it cooked more evenly.

- I do bake mine.

I do that.

I do.

- And at church, we bake it because it cooks evenly.

- So maybe I need to cover it with foil because I think if probably could evaporate a little bit from my lid.

- It came from the lid.

That's why I put foil on that and I put the lid on too.

So you want it to be tight.

- [Julianne] Very good.

- And then you put it on 350 in a preheated oven for an hour and a half for sure.

- Wow, that's longer than I go.

I don't go an hour and a half.

- Well, what I do is for an hour, and then I pull it out just to see how, and then I peek at it because it has to be bubbling kind of.

The leaves are kind of bubbling.

- Okay.

- And the leaves should be starting to burn on the edge.

And after an hour, they're not, so I shoved it back in for another half hour.

It's usually an hour and a half.

And then when I open it up and I look at it, it seems okay, but I turn the oven off and I keep it in the oven just like that for another half hour.

- Interesting.

- It still continues to bake, but it's not burning, it's not cooking.

- Understood.

Okay, great.

Mary's gonna go ahead and put that batch in the oven.

So while that bakes, we're going to take out a batch she's already prepared for us.

Do the all important flip and then enjoy our yalanchi.

It's time!

We're gonna try it.

Okay, Mary.

Serve it up.

Oh, thank you.

Smells divine.

(Julianne moans) Perfect.

- It's lemony.

- Oh, it's so lemony and so good.

It's actually just the flavor profile that I associate with it.

- And you know what?

It's not too hot.

I was worried.

- It's not too hot, but the dill and the mint, I think they add such a nice aspect to it.

(Julianne moans) - I think we need to pass it to our audience too.

- Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

What a perfect day.

Troubleshooting my yalanchi with the kind, generous and lovely Mary Ekmalian.

And now we're gonna continue our field trip.

I'm headed over to the Armenian Cultural Conservancy Gallery to meet my dear friend, teacher, and advisor, Van.

(upbeat music) The Armenian Cultural Conservancy Gallery located here in Fresno has an extensive collection of photos, artifacts, art, music, and so much more.

Their mission is to gather, preserve, and perpetuate the rich history of Armenian Americans in Fresno in the Central Valley.

And from the moment I walked in, Van was already hitting me with information about Fresno Armenians that I'd never heard before.

- So the original Armenian Town is not where Holy Trinity is located today.

That's the second iteration of Armenian Town.

- [Julianne] Oh, I didn't know that.

Okay.

- And that's displayed here in this map that was done in the late '20s showing Holy Trinity and all the Armenians that moved there.

But the original Armenian Town was where the current Poverello House and Fresno Mission are located on G Street.

- [Julianne] Interesting.

Okay.

- And that's where the original Armenian Holy Trinity Church was also located.

- Oh.

- So that original Armenian Town lasted for about 10 years until the church burned down in 1910 and they rebuilt it here in this location in 1913.

This is the parish priest of Holy Trinity Church baptizing Armenians in the San Joaquin River.

- [Julianne] Oh, how interesting.

- Yes.

And that's what the notes say down there.

And I was able to find in "The Fresno Bee" an article, in the July 30th, 1912 issue, saying, "Members of ancient Christian church baptized in rivers."

So we have an we have an article that matches the picture and I thought that's sort of interesting.

So we have again, this is the story of Fresno.

We have another picture.

The choir director at Holy Trinity was a very famous Armenian.

His name was Proff Kalfayan.

He was so well known and loved that at this gathering, he's in the center.

My dad, who was born in 1920, is a young child here sitting on my grandfather's lap.

- [Julianne] Oh!

- Among other people, there's a lot of other people that are in here.

- [Julianne] The amount of information at the Armenian Cultural Conservancy is almost overwhelming.

I mean, isn't it impressive how much of that information lives in Van's head?

He's almost like a walking AI service, but I'm not talking about artificial intelligence.

This is Armenian intelligence all the way, baby!

- All right.

Well, over there, we saw the story of the Armenians in Fresno as seen by other people.

Here, in our genealogy section, we have the story of Armenians about Fresno from the perspective of the Armenians themselves.

- If you've wondered about your family history, how and when they came to the Central Valley, what their occupations were, well, Van can find out.

He goes through articles upon articles to find this information.

All you have to do is ask and Van will deliver.

So what you're saying is this is a service that's free to the public and it's okay if I send people to you?

- Yes, you may.

Yes, you may.

- 'Cause people often say, "Oh, I'd love to learn more about my family."

And I know... - Yeah.

So you just shoot them over our way.

We'll take care of them for you.

- What's this?

- This is something that actually Mary gave to us that her family had, and she believes that it was a spelling contraption that was used with English letters, but someone turned it into an Armenian one so you can put words together.

- [Julianne] Oh, God.

- And that, honestly, that's all I really know about it as far as the background.

- And you know I get an F on that, so let's put that one down.

(Van and Julianne laughing) Yeah, I might have struggled juggling Armenia lessons, a sick mom, a young child, and a job, but in my defense, I'm not giving up.

I mean, here I am learning words each week and sharing them with all of you.

But let's get back to the Armenian Cultural Conservancy, which has big plans for the near future.

Located between the Fresno Mission and Poverello House stands the Vartanian home.

It's one of the oldest buildings still standing from the era of Fresno's old Armenia Town.

And while the Fresno Mission currently oversees the property, there are hopeful talks underway to relocate the building to the current Armenia Town.

Oh, is this where it's gonna be?

- Yes, here's the Holy Trinity Church currently.

This is M Street.

There's an empty lot right here.

- [Julianne] Okay.

- And we're hoping that this will be the spot of the new location for the house and the barn and the water tank and then we'll be in it with all the treasures that we have.

I'm convinced I can spend days here and still not cover everything.

Just as I was about to leave, Van surprised me with an artifact relevant to the show's theme.

He brought out a cookbook from 1912, and it's written in Armenian.

Isn't that awesome?

- So what I think is sort of cute and I enjoyed going through it was- - Oh, there's oatmeal.

- Yes.

Was how she describes in Armenian... (Van speaking in Armenian) Put a deep pan filled with water.

She's explaining things that, you know, we say in English, but she's saying it in Armenian.

You don't always hear that.

- Yes.

- You know, you're not always standing next to grandma.

She's not saying, "I'm gonna take a deep pot and put water in it and take a pinch of this or that."

So all these recipes, it's just- - This is so cool.

- When did you get this?

- Well, wherever I found it online.

- Oh, you found this online?

- In my spare time.

- Van, you're amazing.

Wow!

- [Van] So she's got all kinds of- - [Julianne] Oh, vermicelli soup, right?

That's gonna be... - But again, you know, it says- - Ooh, scalloped oyster.

Okay.

(Van speaking in Armenian) - Pour a cup of cold water on top of the oysters.

So it's just... - So sweet.

- It is.

And so you're getting a flavor of the cook, the Armenian cook describing, you know, how her recipe in Armenian.

So I thought you might get a kick out of it.

- I love this.

This is such a treasure.

- It might be another series that you can put in.

(both laughing) - What an amazing field trip to the Armenian Cultural Conservancy.

Getting to hang out with my friend Van is always a time of making connections old and new.

Whether that be him trying to teach me Armenian words or giving me a full on history lesson, we connect on many, many dimensions.

And the Conservancy is a place I would love to visit again, hopefully next time in its forever home in downtown Fresno.

But that's not all we did on this field trip.

Oh, no.

First, we visited Mary Ekmalian, who graciously showed us her family's yalanchi recipe while at the same time, solving all of the problems I've ever had while making this dish myself.

Today was a learning experience I'll never forget, from learning how to properly roll my yalanchi to preserving the history of Armenians at the ACC.

I think it's safe to say that this field trip was one for the books.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Production funding for "Jul's Armenian Kitchen" is provided by Fowler Packing Company.

Three generations of family farming in California Central Valley, bringing Peelz citrus and Samsons grapes to families nationwide.

More information at fowlerpacking.com.

Ohanyan's of Fresno.

For more than 40 years, Ohanyan's has preserved Armenian culinary traditions through handcrafted products rooted in heritage, quality, and craftsmanship.

What began in the Central Valley is now shared nationwide.

For more information, visit ohanyans.com.