Everyone decides for himself how and with what to eat khinkali, but their taste is truly revealed only in combination with a fragrant sauce or gravy with spices. Cooking this Georgian dish is not difficult, but for some reason few people know the recipes for khinkali sauces. The instructions below will help you prepare the necessary addition to the “Caucasian dumplings” from Georgia.
This sauce contains:
- 50 ml of broth;
- One small tomato;
- Art. l. tomato paste;
- Half a head of garlic;
- pepper, salt and sugar to taste;
- oil;
- fresh greens.
Step-by-step preparation is simple and clear, and the following photos will help you:
- Cut peeled garlic
- Hold the tomato for a few seconds in boiling water so that the skin can be easily removed from it.
- Cut the pulp and simmer in a pan until mashed, stirring and kneading the tomatoes.
- Saute the garlic in another pan with oil. It should be as fragrant as possible.
- Put the tomato paste in the second frying pan and leave for 2-3 minutes over low heat.
- Repeat the previous step, adding the tomatoes from the first pan.
- Remove from heat, add broth, spices, mix thoroughly. Serve with greens.
sour cream sauce
Option 1:
- A glass of sour cream;
- 4 tbsp. l. vinegar 6%;
- 2 tsp powdered sugar;
- ground black pepper
- salt.
All the ingredients need only be thoroughly mixed, and the khinkali sour cream sauce is ready.
Option 2:
- 1 cup sour cream (preferably fatter);
- 50 grams of horseradish;
- 50 grams of sweet and sour apples of any variety;
- Juice of half a lemon;
- Fresh greens;
- Salt;
Peeled and core apples grate with horseradish. Mix with lemon juice and sour cream. Serve the sauce with fresh herbs.
Garlic Sause
For this sauce you will need:
- Half a glass of tomato juice;
- a quarter cup of oil;
- a quarter cup of lemon juice;
- 4 cloves of garlic;
- 1.5 st. l. Sahara;
- salt.
Combine peeled and chopped garlic with spices. Add all liquid ingredients, beat thoroughly with a whisk.
Sauce is the easiest
- sprig of fresh basil or 1 tbsp. l. dried;
- 1 st. l. mustard;
- 3 art. l. Mayonnaise
- Soy sauce to taste.
Mix mayonnaise with soy sauce and mustard. Add chopped basil.
plum sauce
Below is a recipe for the traditional Georgian tkemali sauce, which is suitable for many national dishes, including khinkali.
- Half a kilo of cherry plum
- 1 st. l. Sahara
- fresh dill
- 1 tsp Khmeli-suneli
- 1 hot pepper
- 1 sprig mint
- 4 garlic cloves
- cilantro
Step by step recipe with photo:
Plums put in a pot of water and bring to a boil, cool.
Peel them from the seeds and peel by rubbing the pulp through a colander.
Pass garlic and pepper through a press.
Put the plum puree back on the fire, add the remaining ingredients, including garlic and pepper. Cook for 5-7 minutes.
Peanut sauce
- 1 st. l. walnut.
- 2 garlic cloves
- sprig of mint
- Half a hot pepper
- 1 st. l. coriander seed
- Juice of half a lemon
- Vegetable oil
Grind everything in a blender. If desired, add sour cream as a gravy or change the composition of spices.
There are also faster ways to serve khinkali. Often they are eaten with vinegar, melted butter, seasonings.
or roasted vegetables. Khinkali from Georgia are often filled with fragrant broth, so they are served at the table without any additives.
These recipes are classic for Georgian cuisine. If you forget about the canons of cooking, khinali can be served in the same way as dumplings or manti.
It is important to note that it is better not to prepare the sauce in advance. Hot khinkali is eaten with chilled sauce. We hope now you will not have a question with what to serve khinkali and what they are. Enjoy your meal.
How to cook and eat them...
May 26 was Independence Day and we planned to go for a walk around the city, but it started raining at night and in the morning, at the sight of streams of water flowing down our street (and our street is noticeably uphill), no one even thought to carry out their plan from the evening . Therefore, we decided to replace the walk with something tasty (quite, in my opinion, an adequate replacement). In the first half of the day they baked “Brownie” according to the recipe of Audrey Hepburn, and for the evening they planned khinkali, since there was some minced meat in the freezer, which, by the time the unhurried buildup was completed, defrosted in a natural way, avoiding the microwave.
Khinkali in Georgia is something like not the most important, but quite significant deity in the pantheon of food. Since technologies, and with them the awareness of the population of the Earth, are no longer the same as at least ten years ago, Georgians know that khinkali were not invented by them at all, that they eat similar food throughout Asia, the entire Caucasus, and you never know where else . But, nevertheless, our version still has its own characteristics.
Georgian khinkali comes from the mountains. In Tusheti, Pshavi and Mtiuleti (all of these are high mountainous regions), this is a completely ordinary, almost everyday meal. Both women and men prepare them there, the eye simply does not keep up with the movement of the hand twisting the circle of dough, and the beauty of the result is indescribable. No matter how hard I tried to learn, my khinkali is just a mockery of what any girl would do somewhere in a godforsaken high mountain village. Previously, when there was no such luxury as a meat grinder, they chopped meat into khinkali with a knife, or rather with a dagger, they didn’t add greens to minced meat (it seems to have been invented in Tbilisi, such khinkali are even called “Kalakuri”, i.e. urban), they put only onions and peppers, and they could also add something from spicy seeds or berries.
Quite often on the Internet there is a question: “And with what sauce do they eat khinkali?” With none. And this follows (in the literal and figurative sense) from another feature of the Georgian variety of minced meat in the dough. There must be a broth inside the khinkali. Therefore, minced meat is strongly diluted with water, which, when cooked, forms this broth. Based on this, another feature arises - khinkali is eaten only with hands! - so as not to spill this juice, puncture or cut the shell. And if there is broth, why the sauce? Nothing. Therefore, the maximum that khinkali requires is black pepper and a glass of beer. You can also wine, of course, but beer is also traditionally associated with khinkali. After all, grapes do not grow in the mountains, it makes no sense to plant them there, the fruits do not ripen, therefore, from time immemorial, beer was brewed in the mountains. And they drank khinkali to them.
This is a little about the features. Now the interesting little things.
It is believed that the most "correct" khinkali should have from 19 to 21 folds (in Georgian they are called "naochi" - a wrinkle). To be honest, for a simple city girl like me, the result is almost unattainable, my record is 14 folds. Water for cooking khinkali should be very salty. Khinkali should only be mixed with a wooden spoon, they can tear from a metal one. So that the khinkali do not fall apart during cooking, the one who lowers them should not talk, you must silently count them to yourself ... It does not always help
Before you get ready-made khinkali, they must be poured with cold water, while the boiling process stops and the khinkali, lying on a plate, will not stick to each other. Khinkali is eaten exclusively hot. The cold ones are no longer quite comme il faut, but there is a way of resuscitation, which consists in the fact that they are waited on high heat until crispy. This is also very tasty, and here you can already resort to any sauce, which one is a matter of taste, I personally prefer tkemali.
And the last. The outer part of khinkali - such a knot of dough - which in Georgian is called "kuchi", which translates as the stomach or navel, is usually not eaten. The dough in this part, as a rule, is not fully boiled and in general, it does not represent any taste value, so these navels are modestly folded on the edge of the plate, and at the same time they count how many khinkali have eaten.
Before I start modeling and cooking, I’ll add that I cook khinkali the way they are cooked in Mtiuleti (they have already begun to put greens there, so I don’t break any rules), and the peculiarity of Mtiul khinkali in spices is that they put cumin in minced meat ( cumin), which contributes to the easy digestion of such a heavy product, and sometimes dried barberry, its sourness very harmoniously emphasizes the taste of khinkali. Unfortunately, I did not have barberry this time.
So let's get started. Since I cooked spontaneously, from what was, the proportions will correspond to what was. And I had:
Minced meat mixed (pork and beef) - 300 gr.
So it took:
onion- 1 head
cilantro- half a bundle
Zira- 1 tsp without a slide
salt
Ground black pepper and chili- according to taste and desire
For test:
flour- 500 gr.
salt- 1 tsp
Water- 1.5 cups with a volume of 250 ml.
For cooking
- a large saucepan (at least 5 liters) and a lot of water
And let's go:
I left the bread machine to prepare the dough. She poured water, added salt and flour. They don’t put any eggs in khinkal dough and never did, all these are inventions of Internet culinary specialists. The dough should be tough and elastic. While the dough is kneading, I started minced meat. Prepared onions and cilantro:
I ground them in a blender. Can be cut by hand, but finely. I added to the minced meat, there was also zira, black pepper and chili:
It turned out such a tight ball of dough:
Divided it into two parts. One part was rolled out in a thick layer and cut out of it with a glass with thin edges (this is important, a thick-walled glass will not cut such a dough) blanks for cakes:
Here is such a thickness, it turned out 17 pieces:
Then she rolled all these blanks into thin cakes, 10-12 centimeters in diameter, it would be nice to have an assistant at the same time - one rolls out, the other sculpts and things are moving very quickly:
And now the hardest part begins. The difficulty is to prevent the water from spilling and to have time to collect the edges. While I was focusing, the broth spilled all over the dough and I collected this khinkali with difficulty, wiping the dough and sprinkling it with flour. You understand, there’s no way to sculpt and photograph at the same time, so family members had to be involved to capture further processes.
Assembly goes like this. With one hand we hold the edge of the dough, and with the other, creating folds, we collect the dough into a bag and at the end we squeeze all the folds together, forming a small knot. This, of course, requires a certain skill, which comes with practice, and is told much easier than done the first time, but the eyes are afraid, but the hands are doing.
In the end - here it is - khinkali!
Put the fashioned khinkali on a floured surface. In parallel with sculpting, we heat water:
When all the khinkali from the first half of the dough are stuck together, and the water has already boiled by that time, we salt it fairly, and one by one, silently (remember?), we begin to lower the khinkali. They immediately sink to the bottom. We lowered everything, now we take a wooden spoon and mix very carefully to unstick the khinkali from the bottom and from each other. Cover with a lid until boiling. When it boils, remove the lid. Khinkali are starting to rise, but they are not ready yet. After everything has risen to the surface, cook for another 5 minutes:
After five minutes, pour cold water over, one glass will be enough, and we take them out with a slotted spoon, put not a plate.
You need to know how to cook khinkali and you need to know how to eat it right
Many peoples in their national cuisine have a dish that is on a par with the Ural dumplings - in Asia it is manti, among the Buryats - poses, in Udmurtia - dumplings. In the Caucasus, these are khinkali - large dumplings stuffed with juicy meat. When this dish appeared in Caucasian cuisine, it is now difficult to establish. From time immemorial, the highlanders chopped sheep meat with daggers, turning it into minced meat, and cooked large, satisfying khinkali. They were made large so that it was convenient to eat with your hands, this tradition has been preserved to this day. The recipe changed, over time, the choice of meat was not so selective, the knives were replaced by a meat grinder, but even today khinkali is distinguished from other types of dumplings by a very thin shell of dough and a lot of juicy broth inside.
How khinkali is prepared
The process of making khinkali is quite complicated, and not everyone succeeds on the first try. Khinkali is never made in a hurry or hastily; this dish requires attention, time and some skill. The dough is kneaded in several steps, minced meat is prepared in proportion, khinkali is cooked in small batches. But it’s worth trying, even if you don’t get real khinkali - it will still be very tasty, fragrant and unusual.
You need to start cooking by sifting flour - this is a prerequisite, and you need to sift the flour two to three times. Then it will be enriched with oxygen, it will become airy, light. Take half a kilo of flour, half a glass of cold boiled water, one egg and a pinch of salt. The flour is divided in half. A slightly beaten egg and water with salt are introduced into one half, the dough is kneaded. Put it in a bowl, cover, and leave for 15 minutes. Then the dough is kneaded a second time, adding about a part of the remaining flour. Return to the bowl and leave again for 15 minutes. This is done two more times, each time letting the dough rest for 15 to 20 minutes.
Traditionally, minced meat for khinkali is prepared from lamb with fat, but since it is almost impossible to find lamb in a large city, you can deviate from the recipe and make minced pork or beef with pork. The proportions of mixed minced meat are 300 grams of beef and 200 grams of fatty pork.
500 grams of meat is taken, it is passed through a meat grinder or finely chopped with a knife almost to the state of a paste. Three large onions can be finely chopped or scrolled through a meat grinder. Minced meat and onions are thoroughly mixed, seasoning to taste with freshly ground black pepper and salt. Other spices are not added to khinkali so as not to interrupt the taste of meat. Occasionally, in some recipes, the addition of cumin and saffron may occur, while the taste of khinkali changes noticeably, but in any case they will be tasty, juicy and very satisfying. Cold boiled water is poured into the mixed minced meat at the rate of half a glass of liquid per 500 grams of meat (meat, not minced meat - do not confuse). Then a few finely chopped sprigs of greens are added to the minced meat, usually cilantro or basil. The filling is ready, by this moment the dough should also be completely kneaded and ready for cutting.
Small pieces are separated from the dough, they are made into balls (like pies) and each is rolled into a thin layer, the thickness should be no more than 2 - 3 mm. You need to try to roll out an even circle - then it will be more convenient to make khinkali. In the middle of the circle put a spoonful of minced meat and lift the edges of the dough, collecting at the top like a bag. The more thin folds are obtained in this case, the more skillful the hostess is. The finished bag is lifted and gently shaken so that it stretches under the weight of the minced meat. Then twist the top and tear off the thick edge. Khinkali is made large, two or three pieces are used per serving.
Khinkali is cooked in several pieces in a large amount of boiling salted water. They are lowered into the water very carefully, trying not to damage the thin dough. Do not stir, after the khinkali pop up, you need to cook for another 10 - 15 minutes. They also take it out very carefully, with a slotted spoon, onto a flat dish and serve immediately.
This is a traditional recipe for both dough and filling. Experiments with the dough are undesirable, but the filling may change. There are recipes for khinkali with meat and porcini mushrooms, with the addition of suluguni, potatoes, but connoisseurs of Caucasian cuisine, like the highlanders themselves, claim that they have not come up with anything tastier than traditional khinkali.
How to eat khinkali
Cooking khinkali correctly is another half of the success. You need to know how to eat them properly. They eat khinkali only when they are hot; when they cool down, they lose their original taste. The main advantage of this capricious dish is the meat juice inside a thin shell of dough - if a fragrant tasty liquid is poured out, khinkali loses its charm. Caucasian dumpling etiquette needs to be learned, and at first, a meal can seem like a serious test. The ability to eat khinkali lies in not spilling a single drop of the precious meat broth when biting through the dough and not getting burned or dirty. They eat khinkali only with their hands, without a fork and knife. Tear off the top of the dough bag and enjoy juicy meat, delicious juice and tender dough. No matter how the dumplings burn your fingers, in no case should you wait until they cool down or put the bitten khinkali on a plate - the juice will pour out and you will just eat boiled meat with dough.
It is customary to serve khinkali with a lot of greens, fresh vegetables and spicy sour cream sauce. And of course dry red wine.
On a note
In different establishments, khinkali is prepared in different sizes - from small ones, slightly larger than ordinary dumplings, to huge ones, almost the size of a soup plate. If you decide to have a bite to eat in a khinkali, find out what size khinkali will be served to you - otherwise you can get into a mess.
Khinkali is one of the traditional dishes of Georgian cuisine, a real visiting card of this hospitable country. Without this dish, it is impossible to imagine any Georgian feast. And not only Georgian - khinkali has many fans among people of different nationalities.
But before you try them for the first time, you should find out how to eat khinkali in a restaurant. After all, the history of this dish has many centuries, and the rules associated with it are no less.
Legend of Khinkali
In Georgia, there is a popular legend about the time of the invention of khinkali. This story tells about a long-standing war with the Persians, the main battles of which took place in the mountains. Naturally, food supplies were catastrophically small. For proper nutrition of the wounded, experienced housewives came up with a dish that combines nutritious broth, fresh meat, onions and delicious unleavened dough. This is how khinkali first appeared.
Of course, no one knows exactly how this amazing dish was invented. But over the centuries, many traditions and rules have appeared related to their preparation and how to eat khinkali correctly.
How are they prepared?
Cooking khinkali requires great skill from the hostess. Making the filling was not difficult; young lamb or beef was used for the dish. Finely chopped meat was mixed with plenty of onion and garlic. In traditional cuisine, greens were not added to the filling, because in the mountains there is practically none. In more modern recipes, the presence of herbs and favorite spices is allowed.
Minced meat for this recipe was necessarily diluted with a small amount of water, this made the filling more juicy and tasty.
The dough for khinkali was made unleavened, then it was thinly rolled out and cut into pieces of the desired size. The filling was placed in the middle of a piece of dough, and the most difficult began. The dough had to be folded in such a way as to form a bag with folds and a tight knot on top. The more folds in khinkali, the higher the culinary skills of the hostess. But the folds should not have been less than 15, otherwise it's not khinkali! It was also very important to wrap the bag with minced meat quite tightly so that the meat broth that appeared during boiling did not flow out.
According to tradition, cooked bags were boiled in a large cauldron, adding salt and spices to the water. It was necessary to ensure that the knots on top of the khinkali remained undercooked.
Dish Features
Many are sure that khinkali is not much different from the usual dumplings. Of course, outwardly, these dishes are similar: in a shell of unleavened dough. But there is a significant difference: in the Georgian recipe, the main emphasis is not on meat, but on the hot nutritious broth inside the dough. We can say that each khinkali is a portion of strong hot soup with meat, packed in dough.
It is this feature that must be taken into account when analyzing how to eat khinkali correctly. The broth inside is very hot, it is important to be careful not to get burned. But the cooled dish loses its peculiar taste. By the way, in Georgia, eating cold khinkali is considered bad form.
Only with hands
One of the basic rules of how to eat khinkali in a cafe is no cutlery. This delicious dish is eaten only with your hands!
Meat pouches are specially made quite large so that it is convenient to take them with your fingers. Eating khinkali is a whole art: you need to lift the bag, holding it by the knot on top, gently bite and immediately drink the fragrant broth. Sometimes it is advised to turn over the taken khinkali and only then start eating.
You need to try not to spill a single drop, because without the broth the taste of the dish loses all its charm.
Sometimes the waiter in the khinkal room still brings a fork and knife. Knowing how to eat khinkali in a restaurant, they are used to pick up all the smallest leftovers of the dish at the end of dinner, except for the ponytails.
Why do we need ponytails
As in any traditional dish, all the little things are thought out and perfected in khinkali. For example, the tail of this bag is planned to be left half-baked during cooking. This is done so that it is convenient to take the fragrant product with your fingers and not get burned.
Hard ponytails are not accepted, they must be carefully folded onto a plate. Of course, if you really want to, you can also try them, but they don’t correspond to this, because it’s not right to eat khinkali according to etiquette. And yes, they are tasteless.
In the homeland of meat sacks, there is a funny tradition of counting the ponytails left on the plate. So, at a friendly dinner, they determine the weakest or most well-fed eater. And, according to custom, it is he who will pay for all. Although, properly cooked khinkali is a very tasty dish, so it will be difficult to stop and eat a few juicy pouches.
no bread
Another nuance on how to eat khinkali in a restaurant is no additions. Khinkali is a self-sufficient dish, it does not require an additional piece of bread. To get enough, fragrant bags of dough will be enough. But the supply of fresh herbs and vegetables is quite acceptable.
And any, even spicy vegetable sauce, will only break the harmony of taste. In addition, in traditional Georgian cuisine, adding something to the taste of khinkali is considered indecent. The only exception is ground hot pepper, which can be generously sprinkled on served bags.
What to eat with?
Surprisingly, the traditional dish does not go well with wine. Knowing how to eat khinkali in a restaurant, you should order a glass of cold beer with them. Although traditionally served with strong Georgian vodka. At dinner, the guest drank a glass and only then bit off a piece of khinkali.
For those who do not really like the taste of alcohol, chilled mineral water is quite suitable.
Khinkali is a hearty dish, so there is a risk of not calculating the strength, and a few things will remain on the plate. You can ask the staff to fry the remaining bags. You will get a completely different taste, and it will be difficult to break away from the dish.
Before ordering, you should ask how exactly the minced meat is prepared for the filling. The fact is that only meat chopped with a knife retains the structure of the fibers. Due to this, a lot of fragrant juice is released from the meat during heat treatment. It is the use of chopped pulp that makes the taste of khinkali unique.
Despite the fact that the classic recipe involves filling only with fresh meat and herbs, many new versions of this dish have appeared. In modern khinkal restaurants, you can try bags stuffed with potatoes, mushrooms or cheese with vegetables. Masters change the traditional dish, creating, thanks to experiments, completely new, unique tastes. You should try them all and pick your favourites.
In order to enjoy this unusual dish, it is important not only to learn the correct recipe for its preparation. Knowing how to eat khinkali in a restaurant correctly, you can also enjoy observing ancient proven traditions.
Khinkali is a famous Georgian dish that has won love in many countries. In most cases, this dish is compared to Russian dumplings, but khinkali have a different shape and slightly larger size. In fact, dumplings and khinkali are united only by texture: both are made of dough and meat. However, they differ in their meaning, these are two different dishes that are prepared based on the ancient traditions of the peoples. Everyone knows that dumplings are quite easy and quick to stick, but khinkali have their own secrets, which is why not even every housewife from Georgia decides to cook them for her family. In this case, it is better to visit a real khinkal, where professional chefs will offer a truly delicious, traditional dish. What explains this? Everything is quite simple: in the preparation of this dish there are a large number of secrets and tricks that must be observed. Otherwise, khinkali will become ordinary meat wrapped in dough.
Khinkali are unusual for absolutely everyone, starting from the method of preparing meat filling and ending with an interesting ritual of modeling and eating. To understand what their originality is, let's go back a little to understand the history of this dish and the secrets of cooking.
The history of khinkali
There is a legend that this dish was first invented in Georgia during the battle with the Persians, the arena of which was the mountains. The wounded soldiers could not eat, as a result of which they could not fully restore their strength, for this reason the housewives decided to come up with a new dish. It was khinkali that became them, which were prepared from nutritious lamb, onion and garlic, and flour. Of particular importance in the dish was the broth, which had healing properties. Yes, and onions with garlic produced an antiseptic effect.
Georgian dish with amazing taste, unique smell and original shape
To prepare khinkali, the housewives chopped the lamb meat that grazed in the mountains into small pieces, mixed it with onions and garlic, and then boiled it all in a huge saucepan over an open fire. After some time, the dish was slightly changed, it became modern not only in the way of preparation, but also in serving. However, at the same time, khinkali did not lose their original nutritional and healing properties. After the dish appeared on the tables of ordinary people, another component was added to the recipe - greens, without which khinkali is not even perceived today.
Traditionally, the dough for khinkali was made unleavened. Then it was rolled out, cut into pieces, and the filling was placed in the middle. After that, it was necessary to wrap the khinkali. This process required special skill from the hostess, since wrapping was a real art. The more folds there were on khinkalia, the more experience and skills the hostess had. The end result was a bag of sorts.
The dish was boiled on a fire, after adding salt to the water. It seems to be pretty easy.
To date, they have learned to cook khinkali in almost all countries of the world, which is why the classic recipe has changed a bit. For example, instead of lamb, they began to use beef, which was mixed with pork, as a result of which the filling was distinguished by juiciness and delicacy.
Bags can be either very small or very large. Almost every cook with experience has a personal khinkali recipe in his arsenal and uses his little tricks in the cooking process.
delicious khinkali decorated with herbs and sprinkled with pepper
Khinkali cooking rules
Experts divide the whole process of preparing this dish into several main stages: preparation of the filling, preparation of the dough, direct boiling. Let's talk about each of the stages in more detail.
Filling preparation
Ingredients:
- 500 gr. meat, preferably pork mixed with beef;
- 1 PC. Luke;
- 50-100 gr. broth;
- a bunch of dill, a bunch of cilantro and a bunch of parsley;
- pepper and salt to taste.
minced meat for cooking khinkali
Cooking process:
- First of all, you need to make minced meat. You can of course use a meat grinder, but in the traditional recipe, the meat must be chopped with a knife.
It is a fact. By the way, Georgian cooks still cut meat for minced meat with two knives. They do not recognize either a meat grinder or ready-made minced meat. In addition, minced meat must be freshly prepared, otherwise khinkali lose their original, amazing taste.
- Therefore, take knives and chop the meat until minced meat with small pieces is formed. However, do not overdo it, because meat porridge is also not suitable.
- Then peel the onion and finely chop it. It is desirable to cut it into a state of porridge. Therefore, in this case, it is even recommended to use a meat grinder or blender. Add the onion mass to the chopped meat.
- Pour the preheated broth into the minced meat. Do not bring it to a boil, the main thing is that it becomes hot.
- Rinse the greens thoroughly, chop and send to a bowl with minced meat.
- Add salt and pepper to the meat, mix everything thoroughly and leave for 30-60 minutes. During this time, the meat will release the juice and be saturated with broth, due to which it will become soft and delicate. The filling for the dish is ready.
Dough preparation
The dough for the dish is prepared quickly and easily. Even the hostess, who has no experience with dough, can make it.
Ingredients:
- 500 gr. flour;
- 1-1.5 glasses of water;
- 2 eggs;
- a pinch of salt.
cooking khinkali
Cooking process:
- First of all, you need to sift the flour with a sieve. Thanks to this, lumps will not appear during kneading.
- Prepare a table for kneading the dough and sprinkle flour on it.
- Make a small indentation in a hill with flour, beat in one egg and pour water, add salt.
- Gently and slowly start kneading the dough. It is necessary to do this only manually, because in this way you transfer positive energy, warmth of hands and all your soul to the test.
- The dough is ready to use. Now it should be rolled out. The result should be a thin layer (but not much).
Boiling khinkali
The filling and dough are ready, now you need to start sculpting. Cut out circles on the dough using a glass. We roll each of them with a rolling pin to form a cake. Put the stuffing in the middle. After that, you should collect the dough to the top in the form of a knot and twist it to form folds. It is desirable that about 15 folds are obtained on khinkali.
It is important to ensure that there is enough space inside the bag for the broth. Do not make them too dense, because these are not dumplings.
khinkali molding process
Before boiling, put a large saucepan on the fire, salt the water. When it boils, proceed to place the khinkali in the water. However, this should not be done in the same way as when boiling dumplings - all at once. First, take a slotted spoon, put one khinkali on it and immerse it in water, hold for a few seconds, and then release. This must be done with each bag, otherwise they will simply stick to the pan, and the dough will tear.
Boil the dish until done. This is determined simply: as soon as the khinkali pop up, then it's time to pull them out. In general, the cooking process takes 5-10 minutes. Of course, it is necessary to take into account the size of the khinkali.
Some housewives do not boil the dish, but cook khinkali in a double boiler. Just spread them out at an acceptable distance from each other, set the time - about 40 minutes and wait.
Serving the dish to the table
Khinkali belongs to the dishes that must be eaten fresh and hot. Therefore, immediately after boiling, arrange the bags on plates. You can decorate the dish with herbs and pepper
How to eat khinkali?
If you went to a khinkalny, you can eat here according to the rules and do not be shy: you will hear smacking, gurgling sounds of the absorption of the broth. In addition, you will not be served cutlery here, since the dish is eaten with your hands, which is very unusual for those who claim that in society it is necessary to use only a fork and knife.
Khinkali must be eaten with hands and without cutlery, leaving only the tail on the plate
Why can't cutlery be used for the dish? This is explained by the fact that when piercing khinkali with a fork, juice can flow out of it, for which they are so famous. This can be said to be the basis of this dish. The bag is taken in the hand by the tail, they bite off and drink the broth so that it does not end up on the plate. Then they eat khinkali to the end. The tail from the bag can be left. Often, experienced chefs do not even boil it to the end. After the meal, many even arrange comic contests with counting the ponytails, whoever ate the most wins the prize.
It is not customary to serve sauces, sour cream or anything else with the dish. Greens and pepper - all that is needed for khinkali. In some khinkalnyas, ghee is placed on the table to dip the bags. Khinkali have a bright taste, are distinguished by incredible juiciness and aroma. That is why to interrupt this marvelous taste with something else is simply blasphemy.
Conclusion
Some may say that khinkali is just a huge dumpling from Georgia. However, it is not. These interesting bags contain juicy broth, which makes them similar to Uzbek manti. However, the latter are still deprived of all the delights that are available in the process of eating khinkali: various cooking options, disputes about how to eat the dish correctly, counting tails and identifying a bad eater, the ability to eat without cutlery, without embarrassment to make obscene sounds - it is in this is the originality of the dish.
Initially, the inhabitants of the Caucasus used the meat of lamb or goats that lived in the mountains for filling in khinkali. An important condition - the meat should be only fresh. Before cooking, the meat was turned into minced meat with the help of huge and sharp daggers. According to tradition, the dish was prepared from meat, to which only salt, pepper and, in some cases, wild dill were added, due to which a spicy aroma appeared. To date, the filling includes onions and greens, so khinkali are unusually juicy.
The dough is prepared quite simply, but the whole secret lies in the process of modeling. There should be a small space between the minced meat and the dough, which is filled with juice during cooking. In addition, each khinkali should have folds - at least 15 pieces.
Signs of a good khinkali are a light shade, the correct shape, a ball-shaped filling, a smooth and strong dough, and, of course, unchanged folds.
When cooking, each bag must be lowered into boiling water for a few seconds on a slotted spoon, which will prevent the khinkali from sticking to the pan in the future. It is advisable to boil no more than 10 pieces of bags at a time and constantly monitor the fire, not allowing the water to gurgle strongly, otherwise the khinkali will be overcooked and the dough will tear, as a result of which all the juice will go away.
You need to eat khinkali only with your hands. It is necessary to take hold of the tail, bite off a little and drink the broth, or eat the bag completely, leaving only the tail on the plate. Sauces and other additives are not served with the dish, so as not to spoil the taste of khinkali. Experts recommend eating the dish hot and generously sprinkle it on top with pepper. This is the only way to feel the true taste of the original khinkali. Enjoy your meal!
