Welcome to Georgia! In looking up facts about Georgia, there are many fascinating facts, and the pictures are beautiful! Facts like it is home to the worlds deepest cave, Veryovkina Cave, which is over 7,000 feet deep! Handsome Husband wants to go into the cave...I do not... Georgia is said to be the second-oldest country to adopt Christianity as it's official religion, second to Armenia. According to Google, the population is 3.6 million people and the capital is Tbilisi. Their national dish is...
Khachapuri!
It is a cheese bread, served with an egg and butter on top. To go with the Khachapuri, I made Khinkali, which is a Georgian dumpling. This meal wasn't super difficult to make (OK, the dumplings were tricky...), but took a while. I had to figure out a different way to make the bread for the Khachapuri, so I went with pizza dough (that was the closest I could find to the ingredients in the original recipe). Here's what I did:
3 Eggs
- In a small bowl, mix together the yeast, sugar, and 160 g warm water. Set aside for 10-15 minutes, until frothy.
- In a small separate bowl, mix together the psyllium husk and 180g warm water until a gel is formed.
- In a large bowl, mix together the tapioca starch, millet flour, sorghum flour, and salt.
- Add the yeast mixture, psyllium gel, 1 tbsp avocado oil, and apple cider vinegar.
- Using a stand mixer with the dough hook, knead dough until smooth, about 10 minutes.
- Transfer the bread to a lightly oiled surface and form into a smooth ball.
- Rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
- Divide the risen dough into 2 pieces and shape into a tight ball.
- Place dough balls on a lightly millet-floured surface and cover with a tea towel and prove for 45 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
- In the meantime, combine the cheeses in a bowl and set aside.
- Roll the dough into an oval shape.
- Place 1/2 of the cheese in the center of each loaf, leaving about 1/2 inch around the outside.
- Pinch the ends together and fold the outside of the bread over, leaving the center exposed.
- Twist each end once.
- Whisk 1 egg, forming an egg wash. Brush the egg wash onto the dough around the edge of both loaves.
- Place the bread on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, crack an egg into the center of each loaf and bake for another 5 - 6 minutes. The white should be almost set and the yolk should be runny.
- Remove from the oven and top each loaf with 1 tablespoon of butter.
- Serve warm.
- To eat, mix the egg yolk into the cheese mixture, being sure to scoop some of the cheese from under the crust.
- Rip the bread into chunks and dip inside the cheese mixture. Enjoy!
(Source: Kahachapuri and Pizza Dough)
1/4 C onion, finely minced
1 garlic clove, minced into a paste with salt
1 tbsp fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
1 tbsp fresh parsley, roughly chopped
3/4 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp fenugreek
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp caraway seeds, chopped
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp cumin
2 tbsp butter, melted
3/4 C beef broth
Fresh pepper
- Combine all filling ingredients except the broth in a bowl.
- Add broth to the mixture a little at a time and mix with a fork to help it absorb. Set aside.
- Place the sour cream, egg, milk, and oil into a food processor and mix until completely smooth.
- Place all dry dumpling ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment.
- Run the mixer to combine the dry ingredients.
- With the mixer running on low, slowly add the wet ingredients until the dough has come together and is not too sticky.
- Place the dough on a large, lightly-floured piece of plastic wrap, and cover with a second piece of plastic wrap.
- Roll out the dough until it is about 1/4-inch thick.
- Using a round cutter, cut the dough into 2-1/2 inch circles.
- Roll each disc out into a larger circle, approximately 4 inches in diameter. Roll the edges of the dough to be a bit thinner than the center.
- Place a tablespoon of filling into the center of each piece of circle.
- Crimp or pleat the dough's edge and twist to create a stem to form a dumpling.
- Put each dumpling on a floured sheet pan and cover with a towel until ready to cook.
- When you're about to start your last batch, start boiling a large pot of water with the bay leaves.
- When the water is boiling and your dumplings are ready to go into the pot, salt the water generously.
- Gently lift each khinkali by their bottoms and put them in the boiling water.
- Cook your khinkali in batches of 6 or 9, depending on how large your pot is.
- After adding the dumplings to the boiling water, gently use a wooden spoon to ensure they're not sticking to the bottom of the pot.
- Cook each batch for 8 minutes. Adjust the heat if necessary to ensure a rolling, but not violent boil.
- Remove the dumplings and set on a plate.
- Serve with freshly cracked black pepper. If you want a little more heat, you can also serve with crushed red pepper flake. If you want even more deliciousness, serve with crème fraîche or sour cream.
- Enjoy!
(Source: Khinkali and Dumplings)
The verdict? The khachapuri was delicious. Handsome Husband described it as a cheese pizza with really good cheese. The egg was tricky to keep on the bread, which made for some laughs. The cheese was also not as melty as I thought it would be, so it was hard to dip the bread in. But the pieces that we had with the cheese and egg were delicious. The dumplings. Oh, the dumplings. I didn't get a picture of them, but you're not missing much. They reminded us greatly of pel meni's. There was so much dough and so little filling. I didn't get any "soup" in mine, which was a bit disappointing. But the filling was good, just LOTS left over! The recipe for the dumplings said it yielded 7 dumplings - haha! Needless to say, we have to find another use for the ground pork mixture - we're thinking stuffed peppers? But, overall, the taste was delicious for this meal overall.
