Georgian cuisine

Churchkhela Churchkhela is a traditional sausage-shaped candy made by repeatedly dipping a long string of nuts in tatara – a mixture of flour, sugar and Badagi (concentrated fresh grape juice). Georgians usually make Churchkhela in the Autumn when grapes and nuts are harvested. Churchkhela can also be made with dried fruit (such as peach, apple or plum) and pumpkin seeds.

In this recipe we show how to make churchkhela with walnuts and also with hazelnuts. The quantities of nuts are sufficient to make 4 churchkhelas with walnuts and 4 churchkhelas with hazelnuts. Ingredients: 50 walnuts, up to 100 hazelnuts, 1.5 liters of badagi (click here for a stepby-step recipe), 300 grams of flour and 3 tbs of sugar. The quantities for badagi, flour and sugar are enough for one coating of the nuts. The nuts will require at least two coatings (see note at the end of the recipe). You will also need a needle and thread.

Preparation (walnuts): Shell the walnuts. Add to a hot pan and heat on a low-medium heat for 23 minutes. Be careful not to burn them. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little and then separate them into halves. Churchkhela can also be made with walnut quarters or eighths (which is the most common).

Preparation (hazelnuts): Shell the hazelnuts. Add to a hot pan and heat on a low-medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Stir continuously with a wooden spoon to loosen the skins. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little. Remove the skins from the warm nuts with your fingers. Preparation (threading the walnuts – for churchkhela made with walnuts): Thread a needle with a 30-inch length of strong thread. With the flat side of the nuts facing up, thread 25 walnut halves onto the thread. Cut the thread from the needle and knot the ends. The walnut strands should be dried in

the sun before the next stage of the process to prevent the growth of mold.

Preparation (threading the hazelnuts – for churchkhela made with hazelnuts): Thread a needle with a 30-inch length of heavy-duty thread. Pierce the center of each hazelnut with the needle.

Continue until 25 have been threaded. Cut the thread from the needle and knot the ends. The threaded hazelnut strands should be dried in the sun before the next stage of the process to prevent the growth of mold. The pictures below show strands we prepared using walnut halves, quarters and eighths, and whole hazelnuts. Preparation (tatara): Add the flour and sugar to a bowl.

Gradually add up to 500 ml of Badagi and mix with a wooden spoon.

Once the flour, sugar and badagi have been mixed with a spoon, use an electric blender to ensure that the mixture is absolutely smooth. Add 1 liter of badagi to a deep cast iron pot and gradually add the flour/sugar/badagi mixture. Stir thoroughly. It should look like the picture below. Heat on a high temperature, vigorously stirring all of the time. Bring to the boil. Turn the heat down to a low temperature and continue to stir for 8-10 minutes. During that time it will thicken and you should test it to make sure that it does not taste of flour. The resulting mixture is called tatara and its consistency should look like the picture below. Keeping hold of one end of the thread, carefully place a strand of threaded nuts (walnuts or hazelnuts) into the tatara. Use a wooden spoon to cover the threaded nuts. Ensure that all of the nuts are coated with tatara. Remove the churchkhela from the tatara. If the tatara has been made correctly the churchkhela should not drip.

Immediately hang the churchkhela. A pole placed between two chairs is ideal. Repeat the coating process with each strand of threaded nuts.

Leave the churchkhela to dry in the sunshine for 3 to 4 days, until the strands are no longer sticky to the touch. After 3 to 4 days make more tatara and repeat the dipping process. Use the recipe above but increase the quantity of badagi from 1.5 to 2 liters. Leave the churchkhela to dry in the sunshine for 3 to 4 days. Repeat the coating process one or more times if you prefer thicker churchkhelas. The churchkhelas can be eaten once they are dry to the touch but can also be wrapped in towels in a wooden box and allowed to mature for 2 to 3 months. When stored, the churchkhelas will develop a thin layer of powdery sugar – this is normal.

Serving: Pull the string from the churchkhela, hold and nibble! https://georgianrecipes.net/2014/01/10/how-to-make-churchkhela/

Gozinaki Gozinaki is a traditional Georgian dessert made with nuts, eaten primarily around Christmas and New Year's - it's a must in Georgia during the holidays.

Ingredients •

200 g of walnuts, shelled

•

100 g of honey

•

10 g sugar

Instructions 1.

Place the walnuts on a pan and begin roasting on low fire; be careful not to burn.

2.

Remove from pan and set aside.

3.

Pour the honey into the pot and stir over low heat.

4.

After about 15 minutes, add sugar and boil for another 2-3 minutes.

5.

Remove and add mixture to bowl of walnuts.

6.

Roll the mass on a sheet or board which is wet with a roller until about 1 cm in thickness.

7.

Cut into squares and allow to cool.

https://www.everywherefare.com/2014/11/01/gozinaki/

Khinkali Khinkali is a very popular Georgian dumpling made of twisted knobs of dough, stuffed with meat and spices. It is considered to be one of the national dishes of Georgia.

Different regions of Georgia make khinkali with different fillings. The most popular filling is a pork/beef mix. In the mountains, khinkali is often made with a lamb filling. Fillings can also include Imeretian cheese mixed with cottage cheese; mushrooms; and mashed potato. City versions include kalakuri khinkali (with thinly chopped parsley) and khevsuruli khinkali (without parsley).

This is how to make them: Ingredients for 30 Khinkali: Dough – 1.4 kilo of flour (1.1 kilo for the dough and .3 kilo for dusting and kneading) , 2 eggs, 450 ml of warm water; Filling – 700 grams of ground beef and pork mix, salt, half tsp of dried red pepper, quarter tsp ground caraway seed, 2 small onions (optional) and 500 ml of water. Cooking – water and salt for the cooking pot. Preparation: Add 1.1 kilo of flour to a mixing bowl. Make a depression in the middle of the flour and add the eggs. Add 450 ml of warm water.

Mix the ingredients from the middle of the bowl until all of the flour is mixed. The dough should be formed into a ball. Divide the dough into two pieces. Sprinkle a work surface and one of the balls of dough with flour and knead (very firmly) and fold the dough. Continue kneading and folding until the dough is very firm. Roll out the dough until it is about 1/3 of an inch thick. Cut out circles of about 2.5 inches in diameter with a drinking glass. Carefully remove the excess dough. Use a rolling pin to roll each circle into a thin eight inch round. These rounds will be filled with a meat and spice mixture to make khinkali.

NOTE: Repeat the whole process of kneading, folding and cutting and rolling of rounds with the remaining ball of dough. You will then have enough rounds to make about 30 khinkali.

Preparation (the khinkali filling): Add the meat, spices, 2 finely chopped onions (optional – we didn’t use onions) and salt to a mixing bowl.

Mix the ingredients by hand and then add 25 ml of water and squash and squash the mixture.

Repeat this process 20 times until you have mixed at least 500 ml of water with the meat. This will ensure that your khinkali have lots of ‘juice’. The meat should look like this at the end of the process. Preparation (making the khinkali): Take one round of dough from your pile of rounds.

Add 1 heaped tbs of the meat mixture to the center of the round. Use your thumbs and index fingers to make an accordion type fold all around the outside. It will become easier with practice!

19 folds are considered to be ideal. When all pleats have been formed the khinkali should look like the one in the picture below. Roll the nubbin of the dumpling between your finger and thumb and pinch off extra dough. The khinkali should look like this.

Put each khinkali on a board or work surface that has been dusted with flour. Carefully place the dumplings into a deep pan of boiling salty water, about 10-15 at a time (depending on the size of your pan). Boil for 12 to 14 minutes. If the dough has been made properly the dumplings will not burst. Serving: Khinkali are served hot with no garnish other than black pepper.

Eating khinkali: There is an art to eating Khinkali. The doughy top, where the pleats all meet, is never eaten, but used as a handle for holding the hot dumplings and is left on the plate to show how many have been eaten. In Georgia, this top is called the “kudi” (Georgian ქუდი, hat) or “kuchi” (Georgian კუჭი, belly button).

https://georgianrecipes.net/2013/03/29/khinkali/

Lobiani Lobiani is enjoyed all year round and especially eaten on the Georgian holiday of Barbaroba, or St. Barbara’s Day (December 17). In this recipe we will show how to make this delicious beanfilled bread.

The main ingredient of Lobiani is kidney beans.Ingredients (for lobiani mixture): 500 grams of kidney beans, 100 grams of butter, 4 or 5 bay leaves, 2 cloves of garlic (optional) and salt. We boiled the beans .Ingredients (lobiani dough): 1 kilo of flour, 25 grams of dry active yeast, half tsp salt, 1 egg and 400 ml of warm water.

Preparation (lobiani mixture): Soak the beans overnight (at least 3 hours). This will soften them. Add beans to a pot of water and boil for 3-4 minutes. Empty the water, and add the beans, bay leaves, salt and garlic to a pressure cooker. Cover with water and seal the pressure cooker. Using a pressure cooker will reduce the cooking time.

Boil the beans in the pressure cooker for 1 hour. At this stage, it is advisable to begin preparation of the lobiani dough – see steps set out later in this recipe).

Remove the beans from the pressure cooker and add the beans (not the bay leaves, garlic or ham), together with salt (taste to see if necessary) and 70 grams of butter to a mixing bowl. If you did not use ham in the earlier stage you will need to use 100 grams of butter. Thoroughly mix the beans and butter until it has the consistency of mashed potato. Preparation (lobiani dough): Add 800 grams of flour, 25 grams of yeast, half tsp salt and 1 egg to a mixing bowl. Add 400 ml of warm water. Mix by hand until you have formed a ball of dough. Cover the dough and leave in a warm place for 1 hour to allow the dough to rise. Add 100 grams of flour and knead the dough until it is fairly firm. Dust a work surface with flour and divide the dough into 4 balls. Flatten each ball with your hands to make a 1 cm thick circular shape. Divide the lobiani mixture into 4 parts and add each part to the center of each of the 4 dough circles. Wrap the edges of the dough around the mixture to seal it in. Carefully flatten the dough, spreading the mixture to within 4-5 millimeters of the edge. Use a knife to carefully score lines in the dough. This will help to prevent the mixture ‘blowing out’ as it cooks. Bake in an oven on a low-medium heat for 15-20 minutes. An alternative is to cook the dough on a pan on a lowmedium heat for 7 minutes each side. Traditional lobiani is quite pale looking. Serving: Remove from the oven or pan and rub butter on the surface of the lobiani. This will give it some color but also prevent it from becoming hard. Serve hot.

https://georgianrecipes.net/2013/03/29/georgian-lobiani-bean-bread/

Megrelian khachapuri Ingredients: 1 kg flour 3 tablespoon baking powder 500 ml milk 5 tablespoon butter Salt 2 eggs 1 kg soft, milky, fatty sulguni or Imeruli cheese or their mixture Additional cheese and egg for pouring over khachapuri

Methods:

Pour warm milk into a bowl and add yeast. After 10-15 minutes add flour, salt and knead the mixture into dough. Then cover it with a cloth and put it in a warm place. Grate cheese and add the eggs. Split the filling into several parts, each being roughly 300g. Moisten your hands with oil and knead the dough again, this will make your Khachapuri extra plump. When the dough rises, put cheese in the middle (one 300g part of cheese per Khachapuri) and fold into ball. Put it face down on the table and roll it out lightly. Put the prepared Khachapuri on a baking tray, beat egg yolk with little bit of milk, brush khachapuri with mixture, sprinkle with grated sulguni cheese or place slices of cheese on top and let it bake in a well-heated oven for 20-25 minutes.

Sources https://www.google.ge/search?q=%E1%83%9B%E1%83%94%E1%83%92%E1%83%A0%E1%83%A 3%E1%83%9A%E1%83%98+%E1%83%AE%E1%83%90%E1%83%A9%E1%83%90%E1%83%9E%E1 %83%A3%E1%83%A0%E1%83%98&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjZjoPq67zQ AhWJXBoKHcnIDvoQ_AUICCgB&biw=1366&bih=662#imgrc=VLh8r-1WagCuQM%3A

https://www.google.ge/search?q=%E1%83%9B%E1%83%94%E1%83%92%E1%83%A0%E1%83%A 3%E1%83%9A%E1%83%98+%E1%83%AE%E1%83%90%E1%83%A9%E1%83%90%E1%83%9E%E1 %83%A3%E1%83%A0%E1%83%98&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjZjoPq67zQ AhWJXBoKHcnIDvoQ_AUICCgB&biw=1366&bih=662#imgrc=Fdp_4VnWaDFa3M%3A

Satsivi Satsivi is a thick paste made from walnuts and served cold (‘Tsivi’ means ‘cold’ in Georgian). It is used in a variety of meat (usually chicken and turkey), fish and vegetable dishes. Traditional Satsivi, eaten at Christmas and New Year, is made with turkey. At other times of the year it is usually made with chicken. In this recipe we show how to make Satsivi with chicken.

Ingredients: 1.5 kilo whole chicken (or turkey), 700 grams of walnuts, 5 medium sized onions, 4 cloves of garlic, 2 tbs of white wine vinegar, 1 tsp of dried coriander, 1 tsp of blue fenugreek, 1 heaped tsp of dried marigold, 1 heaped tsp of dried red pepper, half tsp of cinnamon, 5 crushed cloves and, salt (amount dependent upon personal preference). Preparation: Add 2 liters of water to a deep pot and add the chicken. Heat on a medium heat until parboiled. Remove the chicken from the pot and add to a roasting tray. Do not discard the water that the chicken was boiled in as this will be needed later.

Use some of the surface oil in the pot to baste the chicken. There should be no need for additional oil. Roast the chicken on 180 C heat until cooked. Cut the roasted chicken into medium sized pieces. Finely chop the onions and add to a pan with a little of the surface oil from the pot use to parboil the chicken. Fry for 6-7 minutes.

Add the fried onions to a mixing bowl and use a blender to make them smooth. Add the onions to the pot used to par boil the chicken. Grind the walnuts. We used a meat grinder. If the walnuts are not old, the grinding process will produce some walnut oil. Save this.

Re-grind the walnuts. Add 1 tsp of dried coriander, 1 tsp of blue fenugreek, 1 heaped tsp of dried marigold, half tsp of cinnamon, 5 crushed cloves. Mix by hand and use your hands to crush the mixture to extract any remaining oil from the walnuts. Save the oil.

Add 1 heaped tsp of dried red pepper, 4 cloves of garlic and salt (amount dependent upon personal preference) to a mortar and use a pestle to crush the ingredients. Add the crushed red pepper/garlic/salt mixture, together with 2 tbs of white wine vinegar, to the ground walnuts and mix thoroughly. Gradually add water to the nut mixture from the pot used to parboil the chicken, mixing as the water is added. Keep adding and mixing until the mixture has a smooth consistency, like in the picture below. Once mixed, hold a sieve over the pot used to parboil the chicken and pour the mixture into the pot. Discard any remaining large pieces left in the sieve.

Add the chicken pieces to the pot, bring to the boil and remove from the heat. Allow to completely cool before serving.

Serving: Serve cold. Any excess walnut oil that was extracted during preparation can be poured onto the dish. https://georgianrecipes.net/2014/01/02/satsivi/