Khinkali is a traditional dish of Caucasian cuisine. Georgia is considered the birthplace of this dish, however, the housewives of Dagestan, Armenia, Abkhazia and many other countries are happy to cook it. This article will show you how to cook real Georgian khinkali. Photos of this dish will help you make it right and wrap the dough.
Classic Khinkali Dough
This recipe will serve you well if you decide to cook dumplings or manti. Making dough on it is very simple, and the set of products that you need is minimal. The recipe is described below.
- Sift through a sieve two cups of white flour on a board or table top. Make a depression in the resulting slide, put in it a teaspoon of salt and two tablespoons of vegetable oil.
- With one hand, start pouring a glass of ice water into the flour, and with the other, mix the dough. When you get a soft and uniform lump in composition, cover it with a towel and let it lie for half an hour.
- When the right time has passed, sift another glass of flour onto the table and continue to knead the dough. Cover the workpiece again with a cloth and leave for another half hour.
- Sift another cup of flour and knead a thick dough that does not stick to your hands. From it you can cook dumplings, manti or khinkali and enjoy your favorite dishes. Such a dough is suitable for any recipe.
Khinkali Georgian (with photo)
The requirements for the form and content of classic khinkali are quite strict. Firstly, for the filling you can use only lamb or goat meat, secondly, the size of the khinkali should correspond to a walnut, and thirdly, the folds on the dough should be at least twenty. Fortunately, the modern approach to cooking this dish has changed somewhat and has become much milder. Therefore, read how to cook khinkali in Georgian, and feel free to get down to business.
- Sift through a sieve one glass of flour, pour half a glass of ice water into it, add salt and a spoonful of vegetable oil. Knead the dough, cover it with a towel and leave for half an hour.
- 150 grams of lamb (can be replaced with lean pork) and 150 grams of beef chop with a knife. Add finely chopped onions, salt and water. Stuffing should be homogeneous in composition and sufficiently elastic.
- Pour another glass of sifted flour into the dough and knead all together for about ten minutes. After that, leave it for another half hour under the cloth. When the right time has passed, the dough should be divided into several parts.
- Roll each blank thinly on a table with a rolling pin, and then cut circles with a diameter of 15 cm.
- Put one and a half tablespoons of minced meat in the center of each circle. With two hands, form a bag of dough by pinching the edges on top.
- Boil one and a half liters of water in a saucepan, dip khinkali into it and cook until fully cooked. It turns out such a beauty, as in the photo below.
Classic Khinkali
This Georgian dish has much in common with dumplings or manti, familiar to us from childhood. For him, fresh dough and meat filling are prepared in the same way, and finished products are boiled in boiling water until cooked. However, there are a number of differences that give a special Georgian Khinkali flavor. Recipe:
- For minced meat, chop 350 grams of pork and 500 grams of beef with a sharp knife. If you have a meat grinder with a large grill, then you can skip the meat through it. Peel and chop three onions and five cloves of garlic. Mix the ingredients, add salt, pepper, hops-suneli and finely chopped greens (half a dill, parsley and cilantro) to them.
- Knead the prepared meat with your hands and add a lot of water to it - one and a half or two glasses. The filling should be juicy, moist and uniform.
- For the test, sift four cups of flour, add salt and water. All ingredients should be mixed well and left to rest for a while under a towel.
- Divide the finished dough into pieces the size of a walnut, and then roll each piece on a table sprinkled with flour. You should get circles the size of a CD.
- Put on each cake a tablespoon (with a slide) of minced meat and pinch the edges with an accordion, collecting them in the center.
- Boil water in a saucepan, add a little salt and put khinkali in it. Make sure that they do not stick to the bottom and cook until cooked.
Serve khinkali ready to the table hot with tkemali sauce or satsebeli.
Khinkali with potatoes
This dish will appeal to those who have refused meat or are trying to reduce its consumption. You can cook it during fasting or fasting days. To make the correct khinkali, you will need:
- Knead the dough with 400 ml of water, 20 grams of salt and one kilogram of wheat flour.
- Boil 500 grams of potato (with peel), then peel it and grind it with a crush.
- Free one large onion from the husk, chop and fry until golden in vegetable oil.
- Mix vegetables, salt them and mix.
- From the dough and toppings, form khinkali and boil them in salted water until tender.
Serve hot with sour cream or tomato sauce and fresh vegetables.
Khinkali with cheese
Khinkali is not only a meat dish, as most people are used to thinking. There are many original fillings that present us with its taste from a new perspective. Read how to cook cheese khinkali (see photo below):
- Make unleavened dough according to the basic recipe.
- To prepare the filling, grate 500 grams of Imereti cheese and 200 grams of suluguni on a coarse grater.
- Melt three tablespoons of butter, let it cool and mix with one yolk. Pour the resulting mixture of cheese, add salt and pepper. Mix all the ingredients well.
- Roll out the dough and cut from it workpieces with a diameter of 12-15 cm. Put the filling in the center of each of them and pinch in the center of the edge.
- Boil water in a saucepan and put khinkali into it with a skimmer, oiled.
After the items come up, they should cook for another 15 minutes. Do not stir them with a spoon, so as not to damage the dough. When the khinkali are ready, put them on a plate and serve.
Khinkali with mushrooms
Khinkali is an integral part of Georgian cuisine. Usually they are served on a table with yogurt, cilantro and garlic, and eaten exclusively by hand. Georgian khinkali with meat is traditionally cooked, however you can experiment with toppings and come up with new tastes. For vegetarians we offer the following option:
- Stir one kilogram of flour, salt and 350 grams of water until smooth. Knead a thick dough and let it brew for 30 minutes.
- Rinse 1.5 kg of mushrooms under water and cut into cubes. Fry the mushrooms until half cooked in vegetable oil (this process will take about 40 minutes).
- Separately, fry until golden brown 200 grams of chopped onions.
- Finely chop the parsley and cilantro, mix with mushrooms and onions, season with spices, salt and pepper.
- Roll the dough thinly with a rolling pin, cut circles out of it and put the filling in the center of each.
- Form khinkali and boil them in salted water.
Remember that you can always cook this delicious dish for the future. To do this, you will need a freezer, cutting board and plastic bags. Put the finished khinkali on the board and put in the freezer. When the bags are hard, put them in bags and leave them in the cell until you need to cook dinner for the whole family again.
Khinkali with vegetables
Khinkali is a meat dish that usually does not require supplements. However, we suggest that you diversify your menu and cook khinkali with vegetables. To do this, we will need:
- Cook khinkali with meat or purchase ready-made ones at a store or culinary.
- Zucchini, two tomatoes and one onion, cut into a cube and fry in vegetable oil.
- Add three minced garlic cloves, pepper and salt to the pan to taste.
- Mix a spoonful of vinegar with two tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour the vegetables with the finished mixture, mix everything well and let it brew for about 30 minutes.
Serve hot khinkali to the table with a side dish of vegetables and your favorite sauce.
Sweet khinkali
Surprise your loved ones and prepare for them an original dish with an unusual filling:
- Knead a plain unleavened dough and leave it aside to stand under the towel.
- For the filling, chop the dried figs (300 grams) into four pieces. Soak it in water with dried apricots and prunes (300 grams each).
- In a separate bowl, soak 200 grams of raisins.
- After ten minutes, drain the water and dry the fruits.
- Peel 150 grams of apples from the peel and seeds, cut into cubes and sprinkle with sugar.
- Grind 200 grams of walnuts in a blender or coffee grinder. Add dried fruits to them and repeat the procedure.
- Combine walnut paste, apples, raisins and add icing sugar.
- Roll out the dough and make blanks from it, as for classic khinkali.
- Form bags from the dough and filling, boil them in water and serve with honey or pomegranate sauce.
Khinkali at home
A dish prepared according to this recipe is very tasty and juicy. Read how to cook homemade khinkali and get down to business with us:
- Add 1 chopped onion, 200 ml cream (15% fat), a teaspoon of nutmeg and salt to a kilogram of minced meat. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly.
- Knead unleavened dough, roll it out thin enough and cut the same circles.
- Put a spoonful of minced meat in the middle of each piece and form a khinkali. To do this, take the edge of the dough with one hand, and fold the accordion with the other. Try not to tear the dough, otherwise all the juice will remain in the pan.
- Boil khinkali in boiling water until cooked.
Balkhar Khinkal
As we mentioned at the beginning of the article, many Caucasian peoples love and enjoy cooking khinkali. Georgian, Armenian and Dagestan dishes are slightly different from each other. This time we want to tell you how to cook a dish of national Dagestan cuisine. How is khinkali cooked in a mountain republic? The recipe with the photo can be seen below.
- Knead the dough with two glasses of flour, 100 ml of milk, 10 grams of yeast and 100 grams of butter. To begin with, put the dough, and when it increases, add the remaining ingredients to it and knead the dough.
- The finished dough should rise twice in a warm place, and only after that you can begin to form a blank for the khinkal.
- When the right time has passed, open the dough, sprinkle with peeled and crushed walnuts (ten pieces are enough) and grated cheese (200 grams).
- Roll the workpiece into a roll and cut into equal parts. Expand the dough so that it resembles open roses, and then put the finished pieces on the lattice of a double boiler or mantle.
Serve the finished products hot with homemade tomato sauce.
Avar Khinkal
We offer you to cook a national dish of Avars - another Caucasian people who are not indifferent to khinkali. You can see the recipe with the photo below.
- To prepare the dough, mix 20 tablespoons of flour, 200 grams of kefir, 300 grams of water, salt and a little soda.
- Knead the dough, roll it into a tourniquet and cut into 5 by 5 cm squares.
- Boil the meat broth in a saucepan, put the billets into it and cook them until tender (about six minutes).
- Remove the pieces of dough with a slotted spoon and pierce each with a fork so that they do not settle and remain airy.
Serve khinkal with meat (lamb or beef) and sour cream and garlic sauce.
Khinkal in Lezgi
This simple flour dish is prepared very easily from the simplest products. To make dinner for four, you will need:
- Divide the lamb into portions, pour them with cold water and cook until tender, periodically removing the foam.
- While the meat is cooking, knead the fresh dough on water and one egg.
- Roll a layer two millimeters wide and cut it into small squares. Khinkali is ready.
- Remove the meat and arrange it in plates.
- Cook the dough in salted water until tender, and then remove it with a slotted spoon.
- Make a sauce of tomato paste, water, spices, garlic, salt and pepper.
Serve meat, khinkal and sauce in separate bowls.
Conclusion
The alluring khinkali flavor will not leave indifferent your guests or relatives. Cook wonderful dishes for them and please them with new tastes as often as possible.