Georgian Cuisine
BAZHEGeorgian people are famous for their hospitality. They respect guests and are good at being friendly and generous while entertaining them, especially in their own home. They give parties in honor of certain respectable people, or for a special events like a wedding, a birthday, a housewarming, Christmas, Easter, etc. If you are invited to one of those parties try not to miss one as it is supposed to be a real performance put up by the toast master, or the " tamada. "
The tamada acts like a director of the party announcing traditional toasts to peace, health, happiness, well-being , etc. Tamadas can make exceptional toasts. Guests at the party are like actors responding to the toasts and often with their own interpretation.
So, a toast-master ought to be eloquent, intelligent, smart, sharp-witted and quick-thinking, with a good sense of humor because very often some of the guests might try to compete with him on the toast making.
Songs have always accompanied the Georgians in joy and sorrow, in battle and labor. Special drinking songs and wedding songs ( if it is a wedding party) as well as chants full of humor, sung by guests during the course of the party contest. It may sound strange but sometimes even events of social, economic and political significance are discussed during the table talks, and some problems are solved peacefully. The atmosphere at the Georgian table is so friendly and candid that even the enemies are likely to make up. If there is enough room at the party you make take part in folk dances. In these dances and at the table men outgh to be gentlemen and try to be very polite and respect the ladies. Most Georgians play piano and guitar. Most of them study it themselves at home. So, do not surprised if you see Georgian play musical instruments and know that he (she) had never go to musical school.
As for wine, it has been adored by the Georgians as a symbol of strength and beauty, keeping our spiritual balance and always filling us with stamina. Georgia is rich in wines and it has been the pride of Georgian people cultivating it for centuries and loving it as their own children. Most Georgians have their own wine at home.Do You Want to Know Where the Georgian Man Reveals Himself in All His Splendor? This is the Georgian Table !
Where do we come from? Georgian roots can be traced back before Christian period. There is much enigmatic and unidentified with us which is beyond conscious perception. And only intuition we feel that there is something sacred and cosmic in it. Such is the Georgian table. The whole ritual is submitted to the common rules. The word reigns over the Georgian table. At the beginning of the table a toast- master is appointed either by a host or by guests and almost in a few minutes he becomes a leader of the revelry. A toast-master should undoubtedly be an eloquent and intelligent person. He conducts the table according to the order set by the ancestors. First of all, he is to toast the hosts and wish them happiness, longevity, success and reproduction. High-flown and magic words seem to help a toast-master to establish contact with the Heaven. All wishes expressed in a toast are usually accompanied by direct appeal to God: God! help us in all our deeds.
One of the most important toasts is a toast devoted to the memory of deceased ancestors. having poured some wine on bread, a toast-master crosses himself and prays God to be merciful to the souls in the other world. But you shouldn't expect a toast to the deceased to grow into mysticism. Never. For Georgians consider this world and the other world to be an indivisible entity.
At the Georgian table a toast-master bridges the gap between past, present and then the future. It seems that not only the guests, but their ancestors and descendents are invisibly present at the table. A toast-master toasts them with the same love and devotion as the other members of the table.
When drinking some toasts all men have to stand up and drink wine in silence. A toast can be proposed only by a toast-master and the rest are to develop the idea. Everybody tries to say something more original and emotional than the previous speaker. The whole process grows into a sort of oratory contest.
A toast master arranges breaks from time to time. The thing is that there are special toasts which according to the ritual should be accompanied by a song or a verse. Almost everyone in Georgia has a good ear to music and good voice. Old Georgian drinking-songs are melodious, polyphonic and rather complicated. Some of them don't need any accompaniment. The choir of men creates musical background. Modern drinking-songs are usually performed to the accompaniment of the guitar or the piano.
The Georgian folk dances are rather common for the Georgian table. The Georgian dance is distinguished for its aristocratic restraint and steadiness: a man is a knight, a lady is as delicate and gracious as a fairy. Their restrained, smooth movements express flaming emotions. The toast-master has to propose a toast to every person at the Georgian table and so have the others. every speaker tries to distinguish the most interesting, original and praiseworthy features of a person toasted. But it should not be considered to be flattery. These are lessons of love and humanism. This tradition ennobles a person. When a person is told that he is kind and honest he will find it difficult to do evil. When he is told he is generous he will try not to be greedy. When he is told he is handsome and beautiful, there is less probability of developing the inferiority complex. What is it? May be it's a psychoanalytical method widely used in Georgia long before Zigmund Freud's Birth?
Love, life, friendship and other abstract notions are subjects of eloquent toasts at the Georgian table. Every speaker tries to express his personal understanding of these notions. When a person is toasting, the rest are listening to him with great attention and respect. The revelry never grows into an unrestrained drinking-bout.
The table has come to an end. A toast-master proposes a toast to the Saints patronizing the Georgian people. Finally, one of the men proposes a toast to a toast-master and thanks him on behalf of all guests. As a rule the table is full of dishes as the Georgian cuisine is diverse and delicious. On arrival to Georgia you will have a chance to try Georgian toasts and enjoy both wine and food!
KHINKALI
Ingredients:
- Pork-100 gr.
- Onions-3
- Flour-500 gr.
- Salt and pepper to taste
Cut the meat into pieces and mince with onions in a bowl. Season the minced meat with pepper and salt, adding 1/2 glass of warm water and mix thoroughly. Sift the wheat flour, heap it up and make a dip in the middle of the heap. Pour a glass of water into it , add some salt and knead the dough. Roll out the dough to a thin layer and cut out round pieces using a glass or a cup for a cutter. Put a spoon full of the meat mixture in the centre of the dough circle. Gather the edges together into a bunch and twist the top. Press on them slight to create a form similar to a bulb. Drop khinkali into boiling salt water. They tend to drop to the bottom and then rise to the top of the water. Stir occasionally to prevent from sticking. Allow to boil for a few minutes. Serve hot.
Ingredients:
Bazhe is a common dish of Western Georgia. Boil or fry a chicken. Cut it into pieces. Grind the walnuts. Take the garlic and pound it together with the salt. Sprinkle the ground walnut with saffron. Add the garlic and squeeze the mass so that the excess oil comes out. Then dilute the mixture with chilled broth. The sauce should have a thick consistence. Finally put the chicken pieces with the sauce and serve.
Ingredients:
Cut up a drawn and thoroughly washed turkey into medium-sliced pieces and put them in a saucepan. Cover it with water and boil. Remove the scum in the process of boiling . Remove the fat from the broth and stew finely chopped onions in it. Mince walnuts through a meat grinder 2 or 3 times. Ground garlic, fenugreek, coriander, red pepper, saffron and cinnamon; dilute with vinegar. Leave 2/3 of the broth in the pan, put the prepared mass and the stewed onions into the pan. Remove it from the stove in a bout 10 minutes.
Ingredients:
Chanaki is made in a clay pot ( it is desirable to prepare each serving separately in small pots). Put a layer of finely cut pieces of meat at the bottom of the pot. Then place a layer of eggplant, stuffed with slightly salted fat tail, garlic and finely chopped onions, parsley and basilic. Put on top 2 or 3 pieces of peeled tomatoes and 2 potatoes cut in half lengthwise. Sprinkle that with salt and put into the oven. Bake first with the pot cover closed and then remove the cover. Chanakhi will be ready in about 1 -1/2 hours.
Ingredients:
Sort and wash beans under running water. Put them into a saucepan and boil on a medium flame. And some water several times to prevent the beans from burning. When the beans are ready, pour the juice off into another bowl. Pound the walnuts and then garlic, fresh coriander, celery, and savory together. Add the dry coriander and spices, then dilute with the bean juice. Put this mix into the saucepan with the beans and carefully mix with a spoon. Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds for garnish. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Ingredients:
Wash and boil the red beet with leaves. While boiling add celery and parsley. Chill, strain and put this through the meat grinder or food processor. Then add minced walnut, garlic, new and dry coriander, salt, pepper and wine vinegar to taste. Mix the ingredients well and serve.
Ingredients:
Wash the small eggplants, cut them lengthwise, sprinkle with salt. After an hour squeeze and fry in vegetable oil. Allow the eggplant to cool. To prepare the stuffing: fry the minced walnuts with the chopped onion, garlic, saffron, celery, parsley, coriander, salt, pepper and wine vinegar to taste. After that spread the stuffing on each of the eggplants and fold over.
Ingredients:
Cut the cleaned fish into pieces, place in a saucepan and add just enough water to cover.
Put in the bay leaves and allspice and cook for 30-40 minutes. When tender arrange the
fish in a serving platter. Crush the walnuts or put them through the food grinder together
with garlic, the whole pepper and salt. Add the kindza seeds which have been crushed, mix
thoroughly, pour in the fish liquor and transfer the mixture to a clean saucepan. Add
finely chopped onion and cook for 10 minutes. Add the cinnamon, cloves and black pepper
which have been combined with vinegar. Continue to cook 10 minutes longer. Pour the hot
satsivi over the fish, cool and serve Pomegranate or sour grape juice may be substituted
for the vinger.
Ingredients:
Wash the mutton in cold water. Cut so as to have 3 or 4 pieces per plate. Bring to a boil
and skim. Remove the mutton when tender; strain the stock through a cheesecloth. Chop the
onion, saute in butter, sprinkle with flour and brown. Return the mutton to the stock,
thicken with browned flour and onion. Add saffron, salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a
ball. Separately boil the light grape vinegar, add it to the soup, bring to a boil again
and remove from heat. Beat the egg yolks, combine with a little of stock and then stir
into the soup; heat but do not bring to the boiling point otherwise the yolk will curdle.
Sprinkle with Kindza and serve immediately. Chicken maybe substituted for mutton.
Ingredients:
Wash and cut the meat so as to have 3 or 4 pieces per plate. Cover with cold water, bring
to boil and skim. Simmer for 1 ½ to 2 hours, add finely sliced onion, crushed garlic,
rice and plums. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 25 minutes. Saute tomatoes or
tomato puree in butter or drippings. Add to the kharcho and cook for another 5 to 10
minutes. Serve sprinkled with chopped coriander, parsley or dill.
Ingredients:
Wash and cut the mutton into 20 to 40 g pieces. Add water to cover the kettle with a lid
and simmer. Pick and wash the peas, add 2 or 3 cupful of cold water and bring to boil.
Cook over low heat for 1 to 1 ½ hours. Bone the mutton. Add the peas to the meat. Strain
and add the mutton broth, the finely sliced onion sauteed in butter, the potatoes and
apples cut into chunks and the tomato puree. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer
for 20 to 25 minutes. Serve sprinkled with the chopped parsley.
Ingredients:
Wash the meat and cut into pieces (2 or 3 per portion). If available, use a 2 or 3 litre
stoneware casserole. Add finely chopped onion, chunks of potatoes, tomatoes cut in half,
string beans from which the strings have been removed, diced eggplant, parsley greens or
kindza. Season with salt and pepper. Add two cupful of water. Cover with a lid and bake
for 1 ½ to 2 hours. Serve in the casserole.
Ingredients:
Chopped parsley wash the meat. Remove the tendons and cut into small pieces. Add finely cut onion and saute in butter. Transfer to a shallow saucepan. Add tomato puree, peeled and sliced pickled cucumbers, clove of garlic, salt , wine and two or three tablespoonful of meat stock. Cover with a lid and slimmer for 30 to 40 minutes. Serve sprinkled with the chopped parsley.
Ingredients:
Put the meat through the mincer, add the boiled rice, shopped onion and dill. Season with
salt and pepper. Wash the grape leaves (or a cabbage), cut off hard stems and spread the
leaves on the table in paires.
Put a bit of stuffing on the wide end of the leaves, fold the edges inward and roll into a
sausage shape. Sprinkle with salt and place the Tolmas in rows in a shallow casserole.
Pour over butter and the bone stock. Cover tightly and simmer over low heat for about an
hour. Serve the Tolma on a platter. Pass
Sour cream mixed with grated garlic and salt, or cinnamon mixed with powdered sugar.
Ingredients:
Cut the meat into pieces about 5 cm square and mix with salt, pepper, finely sliced onion and vinegar (or teaspoonful lemon juice). Cover with a lid and set aside in a cool place for 2 or 3 hours to marinate. About 15 to 20 minutes before serving, skewer the pieces of meat, alternating with sliced onion. Grill the shaslik over a charcoal fire turning frequently until tender. Take the meat off the skewer. Pour over butter and garnish with green onions, tomatoes and lemon slices. Pass ground dry barberries or pomegranate juice, and sour plum sauces.
Ingredients:
Trim the meat and cut into 40-50 g pieces. Marinate in a crockery basin. Dredge with salt
and pepper, pour over vinegar, add the finely chopped onion and mix. Cover and set aside
in a cool place for 2 to 3 hours. Skewer the meat and grill for 8 to 10 minutes turning
frequently. Remove the basturma from the skewer and serve on a hot platter garnished with
tomatoes, green onions and lemon slices.
Ingredients:
Clean, wash and cut the bird lengthwise along the breast. Spread out the bird and rub it
with crushed garlic and salt on both sides. Heat the butter in a skillet and when hot put
in the bird and cover with a flat lid. Put a heavy weight on the lid to keep the bird
pressed flat to the bottom of the skillet.
Fry until golden brown, turn it over and cook over medium heat for another 30 minutes.
This fried chicken may be served with or without a garnishing. If garnishing is desired,
serve fried potatoes, tomatoes, boiled rice, cucumbers, etc. Separately pass a tart tomato
or walnut sauce.
Choose a medium-sized chicken. Dredge with salt and pepper and skewer diagonally from leg to wing. Broil over hot charcoals for 20 to 30 minutes, turning and basting regularly with butter until evenly browned. Remove the chicken from the skewer and serve garnished with lettuce, fresh-salted cucumbers and tomatoes. Pass tkemali (tart plum) sauce (see below).
Ingredients:
Wash and stew the plums until soft. Remove the seeds and rub through a strainer. Add plum liquor until the paste is as thick as sour cream. Mix in the seasoning, bring to a boil and then cool. This sauce may also be served with shashlyk and other grilled meats.
Ingredients:
Prepare the chicken, wash and joint it into medium-size pieces, brown in hot butter in a shallow casserole. Add finely chopped onion, tomato puree, vinegar, wine, meat stock and seasoning. Cover the casserole with a lid and simmer for 1 ½ hours. Add sliced tomatoes and cock for another 5 to 7 minutes. Serve the chicken with a slice of lemon on each piece of chicken. Sprinkle with chopped greens.
LAMB CHAKHOKHBILI
Substitute 500 g lamb for the chicken in the above recipe. Cut the meat to have 3 or 4 pieces per portion.
Ingredients:
Prepare the plov as directed. Mix the honey with an equal amount of hot water and add the raisins. Pour this sauce over the plov and cook for 10 minutes.
Ingredients:
Wash and soak the beans in cold water for 3 or 4 hours. Drain, add cold water t cover and cook until tender; add the chopped onion and bring to boiling point. Add crushed walnuts to the beans. Season with salt and pepper. Mix with a wooden spoon. Serve hot or cold sprinkled with chopped greens.
Ingredients:
Wash Sulguni cheese if it's too salty. Cut the Sulguni lengthwise about 4 sm. thick, sprinkle with plain flour and fry in buttered pan. When both sides of the Sulguni are pink serve immediately and garnish with tomatoes.
Boil a hen. Detach the meat from the bones and cut it into small pieces, Prepare the
seasoning: pound walnuts, then garlic, saffron, pepper and salt together. Finely shred
dill, coriander, spring onion and salad leaves. Mix the mass, add pomegranate, vinegar and
some broth. Season the hen pieces with the ready seasoning.
Boil spinach or cabbage. Mince vegetables through a mincing machine, and continue as
above.
Break each pod of the french beans into 3-4 parts, put them into a sauce-pan, pour some water (the water should not cover the beans/ and boil. When the water boils away add shredded onions and butter. Stew on a slow fire. Add shredded greens) coriander, dill, celery and basil / to the well stewed beans. Pour over beaten up eggs and take the sauce-pan off the fire in 5 min without mixing the beans.
Beat 2 eggs add sour milk and salt and mix with plain flour to make a soft not sticky
dough. Divide it in four. Roll each quarter about half a finger thick. Make the filling by
crumbling the cheese and mixing it with egg and butter, Put ready cheese filling on each
quarter, twist them and press, rolling lightly. Fry ready Khachapuri in a heavy-bottomed
pan in butter top side down. When the underside is brown turn the pie. Brush on top with
butter and serve immediately.
Sort out and wash the beans with running water put it into a sauce-pan and boil on
medium fire. Add some boiled waterseveral times to prevent beans from burning. While
boiling put finely shredded onions as well as coriander. When the beans are boiled
approximately 2 hours soft, remove the roots of the greens and put pounded garlic,
coriander, parsley, savory, dill, basil and pepper. Smash the mass thoroughly with a
spoon. Add salt and vinegar to taste.
Ingredients:
Wash eggplant, peel the skin off, cut each eggplant into four parts lengthwise, and then each part in halves. Put the pieces into a bowl, sprinkle with salt and leave it for half an hour. Squeeze the pieces, avoiding crushing them. Fry finely shredded onions in on aluminum pan using oil. When the onions turn brown put the squeezed eggplants into the pan and stew. Put then a laurel-leaf and Bulgarian pepper cut lengthwise. Add shredded greens and garlic, salt and pepper to taste.
Ingredients:
Wash the eggplants, cut them lengthwise, sprinkle them with solt from inside and leave
them for an hour. Then squeeze and fry in olive oil in a pan with a closed cover. Put
ready eggplants on a tray and cool them. Prepare the stuffing: Pound walnuts, then
coriander seeds, garlic, saffron and salt and delute in vinegar. Add finely shredded
coriander. Fill the eggplants with the stuffing, arrange on a plate, allow it to settle
and then serve.
Ingredients:
Cut a thoroughly cleaned and washed hen into pieces, put into a sauce-pan and stew on a
small fire with the cover of' the pan closed. Add finely shredded onions and butter or
clarified butter and fry. Put in a laurel-leaf. Stir from time to time with a spoon till
the meat turns red. Pour 1 glass of boiled water over and put separately stewed peeled
tomatoes. Boil till the hen meat is ready. Add then ground pepper, finely shredded
coriander and basil. Pepper and salt to taste. In winter tomato paste can be used instead
of tomatoes.
Beat matsoni, water and wheat flour. Stew shredded onions in butter in a sauce-pan,
pour the beat mass over and boil for 15 min, stirring it frequently with a spoon. Then
still stirring slowly pour the beat egg, into the sauce-pan and without bringing it to the
boiling point remove the sauce-pan from the fire. Immediately add shredded coriander, dill
or estragon. Add salt to taste.
Ingredients:
Put a cleaned and thoroughly washed hen into a sauce-pan. Pour water over the hen to
cover it and place the pan on the fire. Remove scum before the water boils, Put the boiled
hen into a bowl and sprinkle it with salt. Remove fat from the broth, put it into the
frying-pan and stew finely shredded onions in it. Add 2 table-spoons of wheat flour and
pour this mass into the sauce-pan with the broth. Add lourel-leaf, a small bunch of
coriander tied with a white thread and boil. After brief boiling put the hen, cut into
pieces, into the broth, dress It with vinegar and salt and boil another 5 min. Beat the
yolk in a separate dish. Then gradually add some broth to it, mix it and pour into the
saucepan. Do not bring it to the boiling point. Sprinkle finely shredded estragon over it
before serving.
Ingredients:
Cut a cleaned, thoroughly washed hen into pieces, put it into a sauce-pan, add shredded
onions, close the cover and place the pan on fire. Stew till the onions turn brown, then
cover the pieces with boiling water and put peeled, finally shredded tomatoes. Mince
walnuts, garlic, dry and fresh coriander, pepper, saffron in a mortar and put them into a
small bowl. Gradually add broth using a table-spoon and thoroughly stir the mass. Pour the
mass into the pan and boil till the hen is ready. Add salt to taste.
Ingredients:
Spring onions and pomegranate to garnish.
Take an enamel dish, place chopped meat in it and cover with vinegar, black pepper, laurel
leaves and chopped onions. Leave for 24 hours in the refrigerator. Add salt to taste.
Thread marinated meat on skewers and cook over hot charcoal or grill for 15 minutes. Don't
overcook. Garnish with chopped spring onion and pomegranate.
Ingredients:
Put a drawn and thoroughly washed turkey into a saucepan. Cover it with water and
boil,removing scum during boiling process. Take the boiled turkey out of the pan and
spread salt over it. Remove the fat from the broth and stew finely shredded onions in it.
Mince walnuts through a mincing machine 2-5 times, Pound garlic, coriander,pepper, saffron
a cinnamon and delute them in vinegar. Leave 2/5 of the broth in the pan, put the prepared
mass and stewed onions into the pan. Boil for 8-10 min. Cut the turkey into mediumsized
pieces and put them into the pan.Remove it from the stove in about 10 min.
Ingredients:
Cut thoroughly washed chicken into small pieces put these in to an oiled pan. Cook till
the chicken
turns red. Pour the sauce in to the pan and boil for 2 minutes. Garnish with parsley.
For sauce: boil water, put chopped garlic, flour, butter and salt to taste.
Ingredients:
Cut the meat into pieces and mince it together with onions. Season the meat with pepper
and salt, add 1/2 glass of warm water and thoroughly mix. Sieve wheat flour, collect it
into a heap, make a dip in the middle of the heap, pour a glass of water into it, add some
salt and mix. Roll out the paste to a thin layer and cut out round pieces of a dessert
plate size. Put a tablespoonful of the meat on each paste piece /collect the edges to a
bunch/, twist them and slightly press,giving them the shape of a bulb. Put the khinkali
into a sauce-pan with salted boiling water and boil them. Stir carefully from time to time
preventing the khinkali from sticking to the sauce-pan bottom. When the khinkali are
afloat, they are ready and can be served.
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