It is worth looking for such a distinctive region as the Caucasus. This is a place that has preserved not only a unique nature, but also a long cultural heritage. Probably, they have heard about Caucasian cuisine in all countries of the world, and its popularity goes far beyond the borders of the Caucasus itself. But talking about some common culinary traditions is incorrect, because each individual people of this region has its own customs and culture. In this case, we will talk about what the Abkhaz cuisine is, what its features are, some folk recipes will be offered.
So, let's start from afar. Abkhazia is a region with a mild climate and fairly
fertile soils. All this has to do gardening, viticulture, cattle breeding. A typical agricultural product here is corn. Abkhazian families are generally rather large, and almost everyone is engaged in gardening and cattle breeding, having everything necessary for this. So, Abkhazian cuisine has a natural basis - the products received by people from personal households. And also it is based on two main pillars: aguhu (flour) and acyfa (everything else). Abkhazians eat a lot of plant-based and dairy products. They eat meat in very small quantities. This is what makes Abkhazian cuisine so strikingly different from the “common Caucasian” cuisine. Culinary recipes are full of names of cereals and vegetables. Also, without adjika, Abkhazian cuisine is simply impossible. Recipes of dishes characteristic of her will be offered below.
The first dish worth mentioning here is mamalyga. Yes, not only Romanians
and Moldavians are crazy about her. Abkhazians also can not imagine a meal without mamalyga. They also call it porridge bread. For cooking, you will need corn flour or corn grits. It is served on a special wooden plank and several pieces
of suluguni cheese are placed on top of it
. It can be cooked not only in water, but also in
peanut butter, milk or sour milk cheese.
In general, Abkhazian cuisine without cornmeal, widely used in cooking, would be completely different.
She is needed, in particular, for the preparation of chureka. This is a fresh tortilla with cheese, honey or walnuts. It sounds very primitive, but it's worth it to cook.
It is impossible not to say about baklava, which the Abkhaz are also very fond of. To cook it, you need the following: flour (if there is no corn, you can wheat) - 1.2 kg, a liter of milk, walnuts and apples - 350 grams each, five pieces of eggs, butter, honey and granulated sugar - 300 grams, 15 g yeast, cinnamon, salt and powdered sugar.
We start cooking. Milk should be warm. Bring yeast in it, then add sugar and leave for fifteen to twenty minutes in a warm place. Rub the yolks with sugar, whisk the whites. Sift the flour, make a depression in it. Pour in the yolks, proteins, yeast that you bred in milk,
add salt and cinnamon. Knead all this until smooth and leave for an hour, a maximum of two, in a warm place.
At this time, prepare the filling: chop the peeled walnuts with a knife and mix with sugar. Each apple is cut into four parts, taking out the core, and then cut into slices. To this add one or two glasses of water and simmer for about fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally. Divide the dough into eleven parts, roll each of them very thinly (thickness - up to 3 mm), grease with oil, also grease a baking sheet with oil and put the first layer of dough on it. Pour a third of the nut filling on it. Then lay on top of as many as three layers of dough. Then pour the same amount of filling again. Again three layers of dough. Sprinkle out the remaining third of the nut mass. Again three layers of dough. This time, put the apple filling on top. Cover it with the last layer. You get a pie, put it in the oven and bake for twenty to twenty-five minutes, then take it out. Cut into rhombuses. Pour honey syrup and put back into the oven, bake for another forty minutes.
Abkhazian cuisine offers many dairy products. For example, yogurt. Boil the milk. Wait until it cools to a temperature of 50 degrees. Add a special leaven to it by stirring. After pouring milk into cans, wrap it up warmer and leave it for twelve hours.