National dishes from different countries have always been especially popular with chefs looking for new tastes, combinations of products, as well as methods and techniques for their preparation. Many of these dishes have analogues or cooking features, depending on the region or country. So, for example, khachapuri: this simple but delicious dish enjoys the special love of many people for its simplicity, satiety and short cooking time. This article will tell you how to cook khachapuri in a frying pan on kefir, and the photo will help you decide which recipe is best to choose.
What is khachapuri?
In fact, this is a thin tortilla stuffed with cheese, which melts inside during heat treatment, so khachapuri is most often eaten hot. It is believed that the birthplace of this dish is Georgia, and the name came from the merger of two words: "khacho" - cottage cheese (cheese) and "puri" - bread, that is, in fact, khachapuri is cheese bread.
The peculiarity of this dish is that the proud Georgian people wanted to protect the tradition of cooking khachapuri and in 2011 they patented the recipe, confirming by law the right to the correct name of the dish. Often a tortilla with meat or potatoes is also called khachapuri, which is fundamentally wrong, so Georgia decided to take this step and defended its right. In this case, probably, it will not be a violation of this right to cook fast khachapuri (on kefir) in a pan, because in the classic version the dough for it is prepared on the basis of yogurt, which, in fact, is also yogurt. Cheese is usually used in soft varieties: it can be feta cheese, Adyghe cheese, mozzarella, suluguni, cottage cheese and even simple hard cheese, crushed with a grater.
Classic version from Georgia (in a pan)
According to the khachapuri recipe, kefir is usually prepared from sheep’s milk (yoghurt), but it can be replaced with ordinary yogurt - the recipe is unlikely to be affected.
- 0.5 liter yogurt;
- 800 grams of wheat flour;
- two eggs;
- 1 tsp with a small slide of soda;
- 2-3 art. tablespoons of butter, better melted.
Also, for the filling, you should take about 500 grams of suluguni or Imereti cheese.
How to make dough?
The preparation of kefir dough for khachapuri in a pan is simple, inherent in many recipes for unleavened dough based on fermented milk products. To begin with, you should sift the flour through a sieve, preferably several times, to enrich it with oxygen as much as possible, which during baking will give the dough the necessary splendor. Then, in a wide bowl, mix the yogurt with eggs and melted butter until liquid, you can lightly salt the mass and add soda. Mix well so that the ingredients interact: the mass begins to foam slightly - this is an indication that it is time to add flour, preferably in small portions. Knead the dough thoroughly on the table, vigorously kneading it with your hands in various directions, and then cover it with a napkin and let it rest for at least 10-15 minutes.
Roll out the dough with a thickness of not more than one centimeter, sprinkling flour on the table, and then form circles with a diameter of 5-7 cm larger than the pan. When baking khachapuri on kefir should have a thickness not exceeding two centimeters, so the circles need to be rolled so that the middle is slightly thicker than the edges. Put grated cheese on each circle in the center (about 2 -3 tbsp.spoons), collect the edges towards the center, pinching them tightly, and then use the rolling pin to roll them to the desired thickness, making sure that the edges do not spill. To do this, it is better to turn the khachapuri seam down and make sure that the table is always dusted with flour.
The nuances of baking
In order to bake khachapuri with cheese (on kefir) in a pan, initially warm the dishes, greasing with two tablespoons of oil. Next, put the khachapuri in the pan with the seam down and make a few punctures with a fork so that the hot air generated during the heat treatment leaves. Fry on each side for two to three minutes, turn gently so as not to violate the integrity.
Spread khachapuri on kefir from a frying pan to a dry plate, grease with butter and serve still hot, then the taste will be revealed as much as possible, and the melted cheese inside will be especially tasty. It is also good to take such a dish for work as a snack, if there is the possibility of heating in the microwave.
With cottage cheese from yeast dough
You can also make khachapuri with cottage cheese from the dough: in the pan, such cakes are cooked very quickly, although, according to some, baking in the oven has a more delicious crust, but it takes a little longer to cook. So, the prescription should take:
- 0.5 liters of kefir;
- 1 kg of flour;
- 1.5 teaspoons of dry yeast;
- 150 grams of butter;
- 1 \ 2 kg of cottage cheese for the filling;
- one egg;
- 1 \ 2 teaspoons of salt in the dough and filling;
- 1 tsp with a hill of sugar.
Step by step preparation of yeast dough
Kefir khachapuri (in a pan), cooked according to this recipe, is particularly tender due to the use of yeast, although this is not quite typical for this dish. It is believed that this option came from Abkhazia, where it is called “achash” or “khachapur” without a vowel at the end.
Soft dough, combined with a large amount of cottage cheese, which can be replaced with Adyghe cheese, is so tasty that it is difficult to stop on time and not eat a double portion. To prepare a yeast dough on kefir, you first need to make a dough: in an incomplete glass of warm water, dilute salt, sugar and yeast, and when the mass begins to cover with a small cap of foam, pour it into kefir. This usually takes no more than 10-12 minutes (in the meantime, you can sift the flour and prepare the filling). Then melt the butter and mix with the egg, turning into a uniform mixture. Add half a portion of flour to the kefir dough, mix and pour the egg-oily mass there. Mix thoroughly and continue adding flour a little, kneading the dough. Usually, in yeast recipes the amount of flour is indicated approximate, because the quality of the batch largely depends on kefir (liquid or thick), the presence of gluten in the flour and room temperature. That is why the flour in the second part of the dough is added in small batches: when the lump of dough is formed, then there is no need to add more so as not to clog the dough.
What to do next?
When the dough is ready, cover it with a cloth and leave in a warm corner for forty minutes or an hour, it should increase in volume by almost half. Next, divide the dough into pieces, roll out a circle about three centimeters thick from each, put the cottage cheese in the center, thoroughly mashed to homogeneity with a small amount of salt, raise the edges to the center and tightly grind. Next, expand the khachapuri with the seam down and roll out with a rolling pin to a thickness of 1-1.5 cm, making sure that the filling does not tear the dough.
In the homeland of this dish they say that the thinner the layer of dough and the more toppings, the better, so you should try to get a dish as close to the original as possible. It is necessary to fry the khachapuri in a pan, turning over, when the crust has acquired a slight blush, cover the dishes with a lid so that the filling inside is better steamed. Still hot khachapuri must be greased with high-quality butter and immediately served to the table.
Fast pita khachapuri
For those who don’t want to bother with flour and dough, and if time is short, there is a modern option where you don’t even need kefir: lazy khachapuri in a pan is made from Armenian pita bread and any kind of cheese. Moreover, often resourceful housewives mix several types of cheese from the leftovers, because you can always find a slice of that in the refrigerator, a slice of it - in this case, it’s only on hand: a mixture of cheeses will give baking a special, unique taste. The amount of filling is approximate, about 500 grams per two sheets of pita bread. You just need to grate the cheese, if desired, add a little garlic (if you want something hot) and mix well, adding one hundred grams of oil. When baking, it mixes with melted cheese and gives it a special juiciness and softness to fresh dough. Cut each sheet of pita bread into two or three parts (depending on its size), put larger fillings in the middle and carefully fold them in an envelope. Fry in a pan in a small amount of oil over medium heat, covering the dishes with a lid to make the dough even softer. Before serving, cut into two to four parts.
Finally
To all of the above, we can only add that the khachapuri recipes in different regions of Georgia and neighboring regions are slightly different in the shape of the product: for some they are perfectly round and large in diameter, for others they are more magnificent with a huge amount of cheese, Adyghe khachapuri generally looks like a boat and is baked in the oven.
Therefore, do not be too critical of the reliability of the recipe, but rather just cook and enjoy the taste.