Mshosh — Armenia

Mshosh is a dish built on cooked lentils or beans, mixed with sautéed onion, chopped walnuts and dried apricots for a sweet-savory balance. It can be served hot as a side dish or main course, or cold as a spread, often set out on flatbread such as lavash. The dish is reported from Armenia, and is closely linked to the Van region; it is counted among the older preparations of the Armenian repertoire, and its name is said to derive from a shortened form of the word for a type of wild apricot. To prepare it, lentils or beans are boiled until soft, while onion is sautéed until golden; the two are combined with chopped walnuts and diced dried apricots, seasoned, and either served warm as a side or main dish, or cooled and spread over lavash as an appetizer. Within the wider family of Armenian and Caucasian legume dishes, this version is set apart by its sweet-savory combination of walnut and dried apricot folded into the lentils or beans, a pairing less common in neighboring bean preparations built purely on herbs, garlic or tomato. Households vary the choice between lentils and beans and the proportion of apricot to walnut.