Georgian cuisine is something that you need to try more than once. They combine Transcaucasian traditions, customs of the Black Sea region and Asia, have a bright taste and appetizing appearance.
Among the main features of Georgian cuisine are::
- Delicious meat without restrictions. When cooking, use both pork and lamb, as well as poultry, beef.
- Soups without vegetables. Instead, during cooking, raw egg, spices and flour sauce are added to the broth.
- An abundance of cheeses. Each region of Georgia produces a separate type of cheese.
- Sauces for every taste. They are served with all meals and are prepared only with fresh ingredients.
In order not to get lost among the huge number of dishes of national cuisine of Georgia, find out what you should definitely try during your vacation in this country.
Meat cuisine
Khinkali
Famous dish of Georgian cuisine, “culinary” business card of the country. Nutritious and juicy Georgian dumplings are made from pork, beef or veal, less often-from lamb with the addition of finely chopped onions. There is also a vegetarian option – boiled potatoes, mushrooms and cheese are used for the filling. From seasonings add salt, pepper and coriander, sometimes-other herbs. Try khinkali in different regions of Georgia is a must, because each region has its own recipe and cooking features.
An important feature of Georgian Khinkali is their shape. In the traditional version, there should be at least 18 folds at the base of the tail, and the tail itself should be dense, but small. The taste of juicy meat filling combined with tender dough justifies all the difficulties of cooking.
How to eat Khinkali correctly? It is necessary to take it by the root with your hand, bite off a little dough at the bottom and drink the broth. Then you need to finish the meat with the dough. The tail is usually left on a plate.
Georgians themselves usually sprinkle khinkali liberally with ground black pepper, but the sharpness is a feature of their cuisine. You don’t have to do this.
Chanakhi
A popular Georgian dish of meat and vegetables. Traditionally baked in clay pots. It is based on pork or lamb, from vegetables use potatoes, eggplant, onions, tomatoes, beans or pepper. The recipe must include tomato juice and adjika, a few cloves of garlic and various spices.
The dish is prepared in a certain sequence, creating each layer with a new ingredient. Meat and vegetables are cut into cubes, herbs and garlic are finely crumbled. First, the pot is filled with onions, then potatoes, eggplant, herbs, tomatoes, pepper and garlic. Each layer is smeared with adjika and sprinkled with spices.
To make the meat as tender and juicy as possible, it is put in pots last.
Next, the dish is filled with tomato juice and sent to the oven. During cooking, the ingredients are mixed to create a unique taste. The dish is rich and slightly spicy, has a pleasant aftertaste and is suitable for any meal at a Georgian feast.
Satsivi with chicken
The dish gives you the opportunity to enjoy the unique taste of baked poultry with a spicy sauce of Georgian cuisine made from walnuts. Usually the dish is served separately from the side dish, adding a little herbs, eaten with pita bread or tortillas. The main feature is that satsivi is eaten cold.
How is it cooked?
First, the chicken is boiled. The broth is filtered, left for further refueling of the dish. Then bake the chicken until a crisp crust forms. The bird is cut into pieces, separating the bones and meat.
To make the sauce, walnuts are crushed to a crumb state. Then they are mixed with spices, stewed onions and chopped cloves. The resulting mixture is poured with chicken broth, whipped in a blender, and pomegranate juice is added.
The consistency of the sauce is similar to sour cream.
At the end, the meat is put in a saucepan with sauce and put in the refrigerator.
Vegetarian options
Many national dishes of Georgian cuisine consist only of vegetables. Beans, eggplants, tomatoes, mushrooms and onions are most popular in sunny mountain Georgia.
Lobio
There are many options and features of cooking this dish, depending on the region of the country and the availability of necessary products in the hostess’s kitchen. But traditionally, onions, garlic, coriander and spices are added to the beans (the main ingredient), for example, cinnamon, adjika, coriander.
Before you start cooking, the beans are soaked in cold water for 8-12 hours. Then it is cooked, adding chopped onions. During cooking, the beans become soft, and get a piquant taste.
After making the fire a little quieter, the beans in the pan are partially kneaded so that one half of it is in the form of mush, and the other remains intact. While stirring, it is sprinkled with seasonings and salt. After that, the dish is sprinkled with chopped coriander and crushed garlic. After 15-20 minutes, lobio is removed from the heat and allowed to brew a little.
A healthy and unusual dish is served with corn porridge, called “gomi”in Georgian.
Lobio is one of the dishes of Georgian cuisine that you should definitely try.
Georgian soups
Kharcho
The most popular soup of national dishes of Georgia. The insular taste and unique spicy aroma will awaken the appetite of even the most demanding gourmet. You may decide that you have already tried kharcho before and should not spend money on it on vacation. Nevertheless, this soup is worth trying in Georgia, at least for comparison. Believe me, not everything is so clear.
Real kharcho can only be tasted in Georgia. After all, it is here that tklapi is added to it – plum puree dried in the warm sun. It gives an unusual sourness to the dish, enriching its taste qualities.
Traditionally, kharcho is made from beef. But cooks, both in the country and abroad, sometimes use chicken and lamb.
How is the national Georgian soup prepared?
First, the beef brisket is cut and boiled for 1.5-2 hours, while soaking the tklapi. Then rice is cooked in the resulting broth along with beef. Along the way, cut onions and hot peppers, pass nuts through a meat grinder.
After that, pepper, nuts and garlic should be mixed and added to the broth. There also fall asleep finely chopped greens. All these ingredients are sent to the pan with the meat, which is seasoned with the remaining spices and tklapi. After 15 minutes, the soup-kharcho is removed from the heat.
Hash
Soup made with almost no vegetables, this is its peculiarity. This is a fat beef broth with herbs, spices and, of course, garlic. In many Georgian families, this national dish is eaten for breakfast, delicious khashi energizes for the whole day. With such a composition-of course!
To prepare the dish, use beef legs, cut lengthwise into two parts. For one day, they are kept in the kitchen in cold water, then put in a large pot and cook without salt, removing the foam as it appears. When the meat is easily separated from the bones, proceed to the next stage.
The cooked beef is cut into several pieces, salted, the broth is filtered, and returned to a low heat. At this time, the garlic should be crushed, and the greens finely chopped. Then the ingredients are mixed with pieces of pita bread and added to the soup. In a few minutes, I can enjoy the delicious Georgian national dish khash.
National desserts
Churchkhela
National Georgian delicacy. To make this healthy and delicious sweet, different types of nuts and badagi – a special grape juice-are used.
Churchkhela comes in different colors and flavors, as each grape variety has its own characteristics. The delicacy is a little sticky, pleasantly sweet and very soft.
To prepare this dessert of Georgian cuisine, use:
- Grape juice
- Nuts (hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds)
- Wheat and corn flour
For a few minutes, the nuts are fried in a frying pan, then left to cool. After cleaning, they are strung on a thick thread and hung in a dry place where there is access to the sun.
To make grape jelly for this national delicacy, part of the juice is boiled over a low heat. At this time, the second (cooled) part is gradually poured with flour, stirring thoroughly, preventing the appearance of lumps. The resulting mixture is poured into the boiling juice and boiled until a gruel is formed.
Each thread with nuts is dipped in jelly and hung. In two days, the most delicious Georgian dessert is ready to eat.
Since the dish does not contain sugar and colorants, even small children can try churchkhela in Georgia.
What is kosher food, or what do Jews eat
Georgian pastries
Khachapuri
Insanely delicious and very popular tortillas with stringy cheese, which have spread far beyond the borders of Georgia. When preparing them, they use a special “young” cheese – Imereti. It differs from all other varieties by its unusual sour, but at the same time delicate taste.
Georgian khachapuri consists of:
- flour
- of cheese
- fermented milk
- sour cream
- salt and sugar
- butter and baking soda
Before cooking, the butter is left to melt, and the cheese is briefly left in water to make it less salty. Salt and sugar are added to the matzoni, mixed and melted butter is poured in. Gradually adding flour, knead the dough.
In khachapuri put crushed or grated cheese. Also in the recipe you will find sour cream, a little oil and salt. All ingredients are mixed. Tortillas are formed from the dough, inside of which a cheese filling is put. Then spread on a frying pan and fry until a crust forms.
Before serving, khachapuri is smeared with butter. They are eaten by hand, breaking off small pieces from the tortilla.
You can experience all the features of the amazing taste of khachapuri not only in cafes, but also just on the streets of sunny Georgia.
And be prepared for the fact that the portions in Georgia are very large – it is almost always enough to order one dish for two. So don’t try too much at one meal.
Appetizers of Georgian cuisine
Phali
This snack is based on vegetables. The most popular are phali made from mushrooms, beets, spinach and zucchini, green beans and cabbage. The consistency of the appetizer resembles pate, it takes pride of place on the festive table.
Phali is prepared in two stages:
- Vegetables are peeled and stewed until tender. Wait for them to cool down.
- Pass the vegetables through a meat grinder along with the rest of the ingredients: onions, coriander, garlic, walnuts and spices. Form meatballs, decorate.
To decorate phali, greens or pomegranates are often used. The soft and cooling appetizer is perfectly combined with lobio, hot tortillas and national Georgian wines.
Sauces
Bage
Georgians are masters in making sauces, which are an integral part of Georgian cuisine.
Baje is an incredibly soft, fragrant sauce that soaks meat and fish, significantly enriching their taste. It is made from nuts and served cold.
In Georgia, for the preparation of bage use:
- walnuts
- water
- coriander
- garlic
- hops-suneli
- vinegar
- spices (saffron, pepper)
First, the nuts are ground to form flour. Then add cold boiled water, salt, vinegar and spices to them. All the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, passed through a blender and put in the refrigerator.
Bazhe is a versatile sauce that is suitable for both vegetable and meat dishes, it gives them a spicy taste and aroma.
National dishes of Georgian cuisine are a true delight for gourmets. Have a delicious trip!