Ethnic pastries are interesting to many of our housewives. In particular, they enthusiastically master Transcaucasian recipes. True, for the time being, the original pies known as gata or kyat remain unfamiliar. Meanwhile, in Azerbaijan and Armenia they are very popular and gain admirers from us, due to the delicate taste and ease of preparation.
The most widely used Azerbaijani recipe for kyat so far, but others are studied very carefully by cooks.
Each Armenian or Azerbaijani woman, of course, has her own ideas about proper baking. So the ghat has several varieties. First of all, they differ from each other by a test. We will describe the most popular variations in the article.
Karabakh kyat: the right dough
It can be recognized as the most time-consuming, because it is prepared exclusively on yeast, with which not all cooks are friends. However, the result of the work is worth the effort. Proceed as follows:
- In two glasses of heated, but not hot water, a bag of dry yeast (17 grams) is dissolved, one and a half glasses of flour (300 grams) and a pinch of salt are poured.
- After good kneading, the container is set aside for half an hour to raise the yeast. Then half a bag of vanilla sugar, four full (possibly with a slide) tablespoons of ordinary and another 700 g of flour are added.
- The elastic fluffy dough is kneaded and left under the towel for a couple of hours, until it doubles in size.
If you use this Azerbaijani recipe for kyat, which, however, is almost the same in Armenian cuisine, you will get lush and crispy pies with an airy taste.
Chopped dough for kyat
Those who get yeast dough every other time can go the simpler way. Azerbaijani Kyata is being prepared without their participation. The recipe is also used to create the Yerevan version of the gata, so it is approved by many chefs:
- A 200-gram pack of frost-bitten butter is finely chopped with a knife and frayed by hand with an egg, a glass of sour cream and three glasses of flour;
- Having achieved approximate uniformity, the dough is wrapped in food polyethylene and hidden in the cold for half an hour or an hour.
If you are preparing just such a gata, the recipe prescribes special further manipulations:
- The dough is rolled out as thinly as possible, smeared with the filling (also with a non-thick layer), folded in half and rolled again.
- Relubrication and rolling should be done at least twice more.
- Before baking, the layer is figuratively cut, the patties are smeared with an egg, possibly browned with brown sugar.
Dough without peeling
The Armenian non-layered gata is even more simply prepared. For the test, two cups of flour, softened butter (this time 150 g), a pinch of salt, two eggs, a couple of spoons of sour cream and half a spoonful of slaked soda are combined. The dough is kneaded in the usual way - at the end of the process it should stick a little. Wrapped in film, it is again sent to the bottom of the refrigerator for the same period. The rolled layer is covered with a thick filling, is rolled up, cut, and the cakes are baked for about twenty minutes.
Sour cream can be replaced with half a glass of kefir. In this case, soda is not needed: the dough will turn out lush due to the liquid used.
Best filling
Both Armenian and Azerbaijani kyat recipes agree on one thing: in their preferred filling. Traditionally, in both kitchens pies are made sweet (although there are piquant versions, one of which we will describe below).
A quarter of a kilogram of butter is heated, cooled and chopped as small as possible. This crumb is ground with a glass of sugar and two glasses of flour. Vanilla is added for the aroma, some are also added to the lemon zest. The final substance should resemble small breadcrumbs.
A separate clarification: some housewives prefer not to heat the oil, but to use it in its original form. They say that the filling is softer. It’s worth trying both versions and deciding which kata you like best.
Unsweetened Gata
In the mountains there are seasons when the earth brings a huge amount of greenery. And the housewives do not miss the moment to pamper their family with a delicious and vitamin dish. Any ghat is taken as the basis, the filling recipe, however, is set completely different. However, you can take the most primitive dough:
- Knead a pound of flour with a glass of water, half a pack of oil and a pinch of salt - the eggs do not participate in it.
- The dough rolls out very thinly, it spreads a frying pan with the formation of sides, and the filling is laid inside.
- For her, chopped, at least, dill, spinach, cilantro and onion in any ratio. The only limitation is not to overdo it with onions, it can “clog” all other herbs. If possible, sorrel, nettle, mint, buckwheat are added to the filling - any greens that are at hand and you like.
- On top of the kyat, it closes with the same thin layer of dough, and it is laid from the middle, and then stretched to the sides. The edges need to be blinded.
Interestingly, such a gata is not baked, but fried, and very quickly, literally a minute from each side. In this case, a flat frying pan (and ideally a tandoor) is used. This aromatic luxury is eaten with sour-milk drinks. Traditionally, a gatyg was served to a kyat with greens, but kefir, unsweetened fermented baked milk, ayran and even kvass are suitable, even if it is not of dairy origin.
Baking dish
The final appearance of the product can be very different. For example, the Armenian gata is traditionally made in the form of a large round pie: the bottom sheet of the dough is laid out with the filling, is covered with the upper layer and is beautifully decorated. When serving, the pastries are cut into sectors.
If we take the Azerbaijani recipe for kyat, it is often suggested to roll the dough that was stuffed in a similar way and roll it into a slice. Alternatively, the baked goods can be framed by triangles or collected by “bags” - in a word, represent portioned cakes. Usually housewives choose the cooking method that seems more convenient to them. In principle, no recipe prohibits the manifestation of a culinary fantasy flight or combination.