- You're here.

Welcome to my home.

Come on in.

Well, friends, we've come to the end of season one of "Jul's Armenian Kitchen," and we've spent the season visiting family kitchens across the Central Valley.

So we thought it was only fitting to invite you into my home to meet one of my older brothers, Eddie Marashian, and cover an ingredient that hasn't had much airtime so far.

And that ingredient is rice.

So as Eddie makes the drive to Fresno from LA to teach our family's rice pudding and rice pilaf recipes, I am preparing to surprise him with some new revelations about our family history.

This is the season finale after all, so we better make it good.

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 it's really done.

There'll be great food and a few unexpected moments along the way.

We're gonna have a delicious time.

Production funding for "Jul's Armenian Kitchen" is provided by Fowler Packing Company, three generations of family farming in California's 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.

Rice is a staple food across the globe, of course.

Its preparation has been shaped by generations of war, peace, migration, and human collaboration to build all sorts of different recipes across cultures.

And Armenian food has a strong foundation in rice with as many preparations as there are cooks to proclaim that their way is the best way to prepare it.

And my brother Eddie is no exception.

That's why I'm super excited for him to join us today for two different yet equally delicious and classic Armenian rice recipes.

I think he's here.

Oh yeah, there he is.

Oh boy.

- Hi.

- Hi.

- Oh god, good to see you.

- Oh, hi, honey.

- How you doing?

- I'm so good.

- Good, I'm excited to be here.

Thank you.

- You know, I though before we start, you wear the apron.

- What?

Grandma Sadie's apron?

- I think so.

- Well, she had a little bit fuller in the chest, huh?

(Jul laughs) Okay, I'll do it for you.

- Okay, thank you.

- Oh boy.

- So something you have to know is that Eddie and I, we've always done impersonations and now we're doing them of our aunties and our grandmas.

Perfect.

Look how cute.

- All right.

- All right.

- I've got my apron.

So let's get started, huh?

- All right, let's get started.

As I mentioned earlier, today's a special day because Eddie's gonna be showing us two recipes, starting with our grandma Sadie Alexander's rice pudding, and then later with our late mom's rice pilaf that let me tell you is the bomb.

- That's right.

- [Jul] But let's get started on the rice pudding.

I'll let Eddie take the wheel from here.

- So you need a nice sized pot like this.

- Okay.

- And so for this, I always use just a long grain white rice.

- Okay.

- Sometimes people use Arborio and other things like that, but I just always use long grain white rice.

- Okay, what else?

- And then we need milk.

You need a half gallon and it has to be whole milk.

- Well, my family liked non-fat.

- No, you can't use it, honey.

- Why not?

(laughs) - No, it doesn't work.

Truly, people, non-fat, 2%, it doesn't work.

It has to be whole, it has to be whole milk because it's the fat in the milk that is gonna help make it thick.

Again, sometimes people make rice pudding with half and half and whole milk, but we just do whole milk.

- And did you know the difference between what makes Armenian rice pudding and other rice puddings?

- The love that goes in it.

- Oh.

(laughs) Well, of course love is the special ingredient, but the real differentiator for Armenian rice pudding is the lack of eggs.

So it comes out less custardy than most other variations.

- Okay, so I'm gonna put it on high.

I just started with a half gallon of the milk and one cup of the long grain rice.

Now the only reason that it's on high right now is so that I can kind of get it up to temperature quickly.

What you do have to watch out for though is that it doesn't get into a really crazy rolling boil right off the bat.

Once it gets up and it starts to simmer, that's when we're gonna turn it down to like a medium low.

It's all gonna depend on your stove and how hot it is, but you'll figure it out.

So I've got the cup of rice in there and now I'm gonna add one cup of sugar.

So now I've got the rice and the sugar and that's the ingredients, rice, sugar, milk.

And we're gonna just stir it a little bit to get started and then we pretty much wait for it to come to a boil.

One of the main things to be aware of is that it will start to stick.

And it's got to be constantly agitated or stirred.

So just be aware of that, but I'm gonna show you more as we go along with it.

Right now I'm kind of just letting it come up to temperature, but even as it's doing that, I'm gonna be stirring it.

- As Eddie said, it's important to keep a close eye on our mixture to make sure it doesn't get to a rolling boil.

So while Eddie tends to the pot, I have a little surprise for him.

My friend Van, who you'll remember from an earlier episode this season, did our roots, AKA, got our genealogy done for our mother's Armenian side, learning the full life stories of our Grandpa Alexander and Grandma Sadie.

I wanted to start with a brief story about our Grandpa Alexander and his ever-changing name because I understand name changes as our Armenian ancestors came to America were fairly common as a result of translation issues, misspellings by census officials, and the drive to assimilate.

- I don't even know his name about Jordan Alexander because our grandfather ended up being Alexander Alexander.

- So let's clear this up.

Eddie mentioned our grandpa's name was shortened.

His original name was Alexander Avedaghaian.

Then Avedaghaian was simplified to Avedian.

Later, he changed the order of his name to Avedian Alexander.

And the reason he did that was because he wanted to assimilate.

He was a dentist and he wanted people to understand his name and be able to come and see him and feel comfortable with that.

So that's what he did.

By the 1940 census, his official name was Avedian Marker Alexander.

However, Marker was a misspelling of Markar, a name meaning biblical prophet, which was his father's name that he assumed at the time of his departure for America.

We have more stories to cover, but our mixture is finally reaching the perfect simmer and we need to leave it simmering here for a while longer.

So while the stove does its job, it's time for some coffee.

In my family's tradition, the young woman serving the coffee did a good job if every guest got foam.

The foam or crema signaled a good future wife candidate.

No foam signified a potentially lazy wife, but Chef Vatche showed us how the saying was actually a metaphor for making better Armenian coffee.

- So every time you pull it off and put it back on, you're developing more flavor into that coffee.

So you're extracting as much flavor out of those ground beans as you can.

- Well, despite Vatche's advice, today I might be a lazy wife.

All right, so we're gonna have some coffee.

I have to put these on 'cause I'm getting old.

All right, so first of all, this was Grandma Sadie and this was Auntie Nuwey, Nuvert.

And Grandma Sadie's name was Satanek.

- [Eddie] Yeah, I know that.

- [Jul] Okay.

- Oh my god, Nuvert.

- Isn't that great?

- Never heard that one.

- Yeah, so that's, and they were engaged at the same time.

So that's a little picture to get you started.

- Oh, really?

- Yes.

So Grandma Sadie's father was Garabed or Charles Girazian.

Now, Garabed was born in 1871 in Harpoot, Turkey, where he would get married to Miriam Agrippia Yalian in 1898 before having Grandma Sadie in 1902.

In 1904, he applied for citizenship.

Once he got it, he immediately went back to bring more family members back to America.

Then finally, between 1908 and '09, they moved to California.

What's interesting is that he went from being a fruit peddler, and I guess he realized at one point, you know what, why am I peddling fruit when I could just grow it?

He must have heard there was opportunity because the next thing, look, now he's a rancher in Fowler.

So they get to Fresno and that's when Grandma Sadie meets Grandpa Alexander.

- Do you know how he got to Fresno?

- Let's go to his side and let's see if it's in there.

Grandpa Alexander's story starts in Van, Turkey in 1896.

He first immigrated to America in 1913 aboard the Ivernia coming from Austria.

Alexander wasn't wired like most people.

He was deeply motivated to pursue his advanced studies and would graduate from USC in 1920 before moving to Fresno to practice dentistry as Fresno's first Armenian dentist.

This is where he would meet our grandma Sadie.

And then, oh, he got in trouble for speeding all the time.

- Oh, really?

- This is just one of them.

Yeah, look, he was arrested.

- [Eddie] Oh, charged with speed, arrested?

- For speeding.

He was a man who was on the moon.

(Eddie and Jul laugh) Tell me, you know, any reflections from hearing all of that?

- I think it's wonderful.

I mean, yeah, it's great.

I mean, I knew nothing about them.

I didn't know what he did for work.

I didn't know any of that stuff when they got here.

You know, one of the funny things to me is that where I live in Los Angeles is where they lived.

Apparently at some point, Grandma Sadie's father and mother must have moved back to Los Angeles.

- They did, they did.

- And that house that they lived at is like two or three streets away from where I live right now.

Like I could walk there in 10 minutes.

And that's where mom and auntie used to go as kids when they would go visit their grandparents.

- Yes, yes.

- But the real irony, I don't know if you know this, is that on dad's side, his grandmother lived right down the street from my old place.

- Wow.

- So I live like a couple blocks away from both of my great-grandparents' house and it was just random coincidence.

Like I could walk to both of them.

- I don't think it is random.

I don't, no.

That's what I say.

I really think they're with us and we don't even, it's like we're not even aware, you know?

But it's like they're with us.

Here I go again philosophizing.

But I can really feel their presence in the kitchen, especially when making family recipes like we are today.

And now that we finished our coffees, it's time to do something my dad's mom taught me to do, read our fortunes.

So in reading them, the first thing that you want to do is see if it sticks.

Do you remember that?

- Oh yeah, grandma used to say, if it sticks, what happens if it sticks?

- If it sticks, it's the ultimate good fortune and you don't actually read the cup.

Okay, let's see.

Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

Didn't happen.

Okay, the other thing that's noteworthy is here, and I'm sorry to say you don't have that situation.

If there were an open space there, it would either signify that some kind of money was coming or a trip.

- It's open there.

- Well, I mean, it's not really, but a little bit of money.

(laughs) - Little money.

- A little bit of money.

- I can see grandma's finger.

- Yeah, I know.

(laughs) That's right.

She would kind of go like this with her finger, and she would say- - To point it out.

- And here's what she would say about your cup, honestly, honey.

She would say, "Look how clean that is."

Do you remember?

Do you look how clean that is?

She would say, "Your life is completely clean."

It's interesting.

What I see here though, I do see a bit of a mountain.

- [Eddie] Uh-huh.

- And I don't know if there's some kind of a challenge in your life right now that you're trying to overcome.

- [Eddie] Okay.

- But it does look like you're gonna be scaling a mountain at some point.

But then you see one on the other side of it and here's the finger.

It's just clean.

You've got smooth sailing, you've got beautiful things ahead of you.

You don't have any dramas.

- Okay, just one mountain to climb.

- You do have a mountain ahead of you and I don't know what that means, but.

(laughs) Eddie has since expanded his business, so that must have been the mountain.

Anytime you start a new venture, you're gonna have mountains to scale, and we wish him so much success.

So now we know that Eddie's future is looking very promising, but what about that rice pudding?

Well, that's also looking promising as it approaches the final stage.

Okay, so we're now at the final stage, the last minute or two.

And this is where, again, you want to pay attention, but I also want to show you what the signs look like that you're basically done.

- [Jul] You'll know that your mixture is ready once you see it look like this.

You'll feel the spoon almost leave a trail behind when you stir through the thick liquid.

Then all that's left to do is throw in some vanilla and syrup.

- And this is also key if you don't want it to form a skin on top.

So we're gonna put the plastic wrap like this, but it has to actually- - [Jul] Touch?

- Touch it.

And that prevents it from forming.

- Yeah, mom's always had a skin.

- A skin, yeah.

- Well, you've really upgraded the recipe.

- Upgraded the recipe.

Learned it from mom, but you know.

- That's great.

- Yeah, there we go.

Okay, and then it just can sit, you know, anywhere.

I don't know where you'd like it, but- - How about right where it is, yeah.

- Can just sit here and it will cool down.

It's gonna take, I wouldn't eat it for probably two hours.

- Oh, no.

That's unacceptable.

- But we just might have a swab.

- Oh boy.

- Okay, you ready to taste?

- I'm ready.

- You ready?

Okay.

You see it?

It looks nice and good.

No skin on it.

Now it is very, very white, but you know, we put a little cinnamon on it and get you a nice scoop there.

So you can see this, it's pretty thick.

- Yes, it is.

That's how I like it.

- Okay, if that's how you like it, perfect.

If you want it a little looser or a little warm, then you just can add it to- - The microwave?

- The microwave.

And we have some cinnamon here if you want to sprinkle.

If you like cinnamon on top.

- Of course I do.

- [Eddie] Hold on, I'm gonna get the taste here.

Just a little bit right now.

- Okay.

Cheers.

- Okay, cheers.

Mm.

- Mm, mm.

It's a memory of childhood there.

- Yeah.

- Super creamy.

- Oh, yeah.

- Nice and cinnamony.

All right honey, you want me to show you how I make pilaf?

- I mean, do you have time before you have to get back on the road?

- Yeah, I know it's a little out of order.

We've already had our dessert.

- Life is short, honey.

We have dessert first.

- Honey, you're doing that.

- Mm.

- Mm.

Okay, well, you ate your whole thing, right?

- Mm-hmm, I did.

- But let's get down to pilaf.

I'm gonna show you how to do it.

- Okay.

- Okay, so here's your ingredients.

We've got rice and this is important for my recipe.

It's parboiled rice, okay?

So this is different than the long grain rice that we used for the rice pudding.

Parboiled rice is gonna help it so that it doesn't get sticky.

And then of course you've got vermicelli here, which you can get the Armenian market, but if you don't want to use vermicelli, you could even use angel hair pasta and just break it into little tiny pieces.

And then chicken broth, really you can use any brand of chicken broth.

My preference, and I think really the secret to my pilaf is Swanson's chicken broth.

- Salted or unsalted?

- Salted, regular, non-organic.

I know I'm an organic person, but if you want it to taste right, that's what I use.

- Okay.

- And then butter and I use salted butter.

So if you have a broth that has enough salt in it and you use salted butter, then add any salt to the recipe.

So it's very easy.

The ratio is all you really need to know.

You can expand it, you can make it smaller.

So the ratio is one to two.

So for one vermicelli, there's two rice.

So for instance, this is half a cup of vermicelli to one cup of rice.

And that's good for about a three-quart sauce pan, okay?

So it's one to two.

And then to get your proportion of broth, you add them together.

One half cup, one cup.

Add It together, multiply it by two.

So one and a half times two is three cups.

It's really, really easy.

What I need in the beginning is my vermicelli and my butter.

Now, we're gonna start to brown the vermicelli in butter.

You can be generous here, okay?

Don't worry about the waste.

No, be generous with your butter.

So I'm gonna use like maybe about, let's say, a tablespoon and a half, two tablespoons of butter.

It's dissolved by eye.

And then it goes into your pan and now I'm just gonna let it get... I'm just going to let it warm up, okay?

Okay, so now we've pretty much got it there.

We don't want to turn it into brown butter.

We're just getting it melted.

- Okay.

- And then immediately we're gonna get our vermicelli into it.

- Okay, just so you know, my high is really, really high so you may want to just... I mean, I know it's your recipe, but- - This is just to get it started.

This is just to get it started.

It doesn't matter.

- Okay.

- So we're just gonna let it keep going, stirring, stirring, stirring the whole time.

And then it's gonna start to brown.

And if you feel like, oh, it's too hot, just get it off the heat for a second.

- Oh, wow.

I would have though that was already there.

- No, no.

- No, no.

(laughs) Wow, okay.

You continue to saute the vermicelli until it has all reached a brown color, then add in the rice.

Now the key to Eddie's pilaf is to make sure to coat every rice kernel in butter.

After that's done, we add our chicken broth into the mix.

And once that reaches a simmer, we put the lid on and let it go for 20 minutes.

- It kind of depends on your temperature, but it's generally about 20 minutes.

- Right.

- But I'll check at about 18 to see how my water's evaporating and it should pretty much be gone.

Sometimes if you're doing like a larger pot for, you know- - Yeah, more people.

- More people, it might be 25 minutes.

'Cause you've got more liquid that's got to come off it.

- Oh, okay, that's what happens to me.

- Both of these recipes, rice pudding and this are not... They're both, again, based on feel rather than this temperature and this much time.

- Okay.

- So you've got to learn to read the signs and the only way to do that is to practice.

(Jul laughs) - Making pilaf can be a real lightning rod for Armenians.

Let me tell you.

Everyone I've ever talked to makes it slightly differently and stands by their process vehemently.

It's such a phenomenon that when my parents got their premarital guidance from their (speaks in Armenian) or pastor, he used making pilaf as a metaphor for overcoming differences on a shared path as husband and wife.

He said, "You're coming from one family that makes pilaf one way, and you're coming from another family that makes pilaf another way.

And the key to a successful marriage is to remember that there's more than one way to make pilaf."

It was a metaphor, obviously, for, you know, we all do things a little differently, but you're feeling, I know real strongly about your pilaf.

- Yeah, my way is the right way to make pilaf, okay?

But you know.

- Even though Eddie may not agree, it's true that there are many delicious ways to make pilaf.

And these recipes emerge through the mixing of many peoples and cultures.

PBS host, Rick Bayless, explores this idea in his cookbook, "Mexican Every Day."

"The pilaf technique that came to Mexico via the Spaniards who learned it from the Arabs, who brought it from the cooks in the Mid-East."

Isn't that interesting?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- "All of which sort of begs the question of authenticity.

Except that centuries of Mexicans have claimed that this is their rice, mostly I'm sure, because it's so good and with so many of their dishes."

But I think that that's the interesting question, right, is, what is authentic, really?

I mean, we say, oh, it has to be this way or it has to be, this comes from us, this comes, did it really come from you?

Or was it brought, you know, as different cultures mixed, you know?

Like thinking about the Armenians, Armenia was called the crossroads of civilization.

And the reason it was called that is because explorers like Marco Polo, when they wanted to go to the far East, they had to cross through Armenia to get there 'cause it was right at the gateway.

So there was a lot of mixing that happened in terms of cultural practices, cooking practices, techniques, so that it kind of really begs the question of, are we so different or are we just a mix of all the influences, you know?

And I love that.

I don't feel good about, oh, you know, it's just this or it's just that or we're all different.

I feel good about thinking about how we're all connected.

Now that our rice has been cooking for about 20 minutes, the only things we have left to do are check that our broth has fully evaporated and add more butter if you'd like before fluffing our rice with a fork and serving.

Now, because Eddie is definitely in agreement with Joyce from episode two that more butter is better, we'll be adding butter here.

Finally, Eddie and I sat down and enjoyed the fruits of his labor.

Safe to say that pilaf was absolutely divine and let's not forget that rice pudding from earlier.

Both of which you can find the full recipes for at valleypbs.org/julsarmeniankitch.

But that's not all.

You can also find the recipes to every other dish we covered over the season and more.

We visited some amazing chefs and made some delicious foods, starting with Jamie in episode one where we made tourshi and Kaymak while making new memories with our dads.

In episode two, my cousin Steve Marashian joined as Joyce Kierejczyk showed us how to make her absolutely delicious kofta.

Episode three was special as well because we were invited to the Cracked Pepper Bistro where we shared paklava cups and coffee with Chef Vatche.

Then we met Azadig Bidanian, who shared her pearls of wisdom while teaching her recipe for village chorag.

Next, we met the president of Valley Lahvosh, Agnes Saghatelian, to learn the history of Valley Lahvosh and cabbage dolma.

In episode six, we talked with writer Mark Arax while grilling his famous lamb tri-tip.

Episode seven took us on a field trip to Mary Ekmalian's house to learn yalanchi.

Then we made our way over to the Armenian Cultural Conservancy with the dear Van Der Mugrdechian.

Finally, we met the famous Richard Hagopian for a special day with family and peda burgers before meeting with Eddie boy today for our family rice pilaf and rice pudding recipes.

It has been an absolutely wonderful season full of stories, laughs, and the sharing of our Armenian heritage.

Thank you all for watching and learning right along with me.

We've got big plans for season two and I can't wait to be back with you again soon.

Cooking and swapping stories right here at "Jul's Armenian Kitchen."

- Hi Jul.

Congratulations on making it to the end of your series.

I just want you to know that I could not be more proud of you, not only for what you've accomplished in terms of producing this show, creating this show, writing it, starring in it, but the entire 10-year journey that this has been and having been with you on it.

I'm just so incredibly proud of you.

You were a natural and a star from the beginning and I can't wait to see what comes.

- Congratulations, Julianne, for your venture.

It was nice working with you.

I wish you more success.

You can do it.

- Well, thanks Julianne for the opportunity to be a part of this wonderful series for PBS.

You are an amazing young woman who is on a mission to document our heritage and our culture and especially our foods, which we all love.

So best of luck to you.

You're the best and I love you.

- Julianne, dear, I want to thank you for being the daughter you are.

I'm so proud of you for completing now this first season of this lovely program.

It's beautiful.

I look forward to another season.

- Hi, mom.

I've seen all of your hard work this season and I'm so proud of you for finishing your first season and for completing it.

I love you so much.

- It meant so much to me to share that experience with you and not just because we were on TV, but because we got to create memories together with our dads.

I want to thank you for being such a wonderful friend and for making the whole experience so much fun.

I'm grateful that I got to be a part of it and everything we shared along the way.

- Hey Juls.

I just want to say thank you for letting me be on your show.

It was a pleasure.

I had such a great time recording that episode with you.

Can't wait to have another cup of coffee.

Talk to you soon.

- Hi Juli.

It's Agnes and Danielle, and we just wanted to say thank you so very much for including us in your amazing series.

You've created this beautiful series with all of these wonderful recipes.

So thank you again for including us.

We had the best time with you and we wish you nothing but the best in the future.

Thank you so much.

- Bye Juli, thank you.

- Bye.

- Hi, Julianne.

Congratulations.

You did it, girl.

The Armenian Conservancy is very honored to collaborate with you.

And as they say in English, congratulations, success.

In Armenian, we say, (speaks in Armenian).

- Hi, Julianne.

It has been a delightful blessing to have connected with the kindred spirit who loves collecting and sharing our Armenian culinary heritage.

I and the Armenian Cultural Conservancy thank you and Valley PBS for creating the opportunity to share a bit of our rich local culture and history.

You, Julianne, are amazing and we love you and we love Valley PBS.

(lips smack) - [Jul] 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.