GEORGIAN

CUISINE
 Georgian food: popular dishes
Georgian cuisine is probably the most important attraction of the country. Since the traditional
Georgian feast is an integral element of culture, Georgian entertainment should match its high
level. Georgians have managed to make their cuisine not only magically delicious but also
bright, original, exquisite, unique and unforgettable. Therefore, Georgian cuisine absorbed the
best culinary traditions of many people of Transcaucasia, Asia and the Black Sea coast. The
western part of Georgia was affected by Turkish cuisine, the eastern – by Iranian.
 Georgian food starts with bread. Bread is an essential component of the meal.
Georgian bread is special. It is baked in traditional bread baking ovens called
tones. Tones are made of clay and look like the top half of clay pots. A fire burns
at the bottom which heats up the sides of the oven. The bread dough is sectioned
off and slapped onto the side walls of the oven to bake, turning brown and
bubbly. Shotis puri (შოთის პური) is the most recognizable of the Georgia
breads because of its oblong shape with pointy ends.
Khachapuri
Probably the most traditional Georgian dish. Translated, it means "cheesy bread" and these two
words sum it all up. It is a flatbread made of leavened dough, filled with cheese. Available in
restaurants as well as a street food and tastes really well - the dough is often oily and pleasantly
crunchy, cheese (usually cow "sulguni") is smooth and salty.
It seems that almost every Georgian region has its local variant of khachapuri. We also know
Khachapuri Megruli which has the cheese not only inside but also on the top. Acharuli
Khachapuri, which resembles a boat with an egg yolk, cube of butter and lots of cheese floating
inside.
 Khinkali
Another traditional dish is khinkali. These are the dumplings stuffed with
meat, potatoes, mushrooms or cheese. Consumption of khinkali has its own
set of rules - You should take them from a plate with your hands, use of
cutlery is considered rude. Georgians grab the dumpling by the top (called
kudi), turn around and sprinkle it with pepper. Then they carefully bite into
it, suck the juice and only then they start eating. The upper part is not for
eating - they are discarded to the edge of the plate so everybody can see who
ate the most.
 Tabaka chicken
Very popular, but quite modern dish - it was invented by Georgian chef of the legendary
Moscow restaurant Aragvi. To prepare this one, you need to flatten the chicken - open it, using
its spine as some kind of "hinges" and then put some weight on it. OK, this sounds quite
morbid and explain nothing, you better check some videos of Tabaka chicken preparation.
Once the chicken is flattened, marinate it and roast on the pan from both sides - so you will
need either a really small chicken (500 - 700 grams) or a very large pan.
 Tolma
Tolma is a dish that is made in many countries, usually under the name dolma,
including Turkey, Armenia, and Greece. A mixture of meat and rice is wrapped
in cabbage or vine leaves. In Georgia these little green packages are topped
with a garlicy sauce made with matsoni.
 Chakapuli
Meat stewed with the leaves of tarragon and a sour additive usually tkemali.
The meat is soft and has an unusual, exotic taste. True chakapuli should be
cooked from veal or lamb meat, but common is also one made from chicken or
mushrooms.
 Ajika
A popular seasoning is based on red peppers and the remaining herbs serve
primarily to soften the taste and to make it more interesting. It exists in two
variants - dry and wet one. Dry ajika is a seasoning mix used on raw meat
while the wet one has a consistency of a thicker mustard and is used to give
more flavor to the already roasted meat.
And to make it even more complicated, there is also green ajika. This one is
prepared from green pepper and generally is less spicy compared to the red
variant. I would compare it to some kind of spicy pesto.
 Churchkhela
Churchkhela is a traditional Georgian sweet with a shape resembling that of an
overgrown pea pod. It´s made of nuts put on a string and repeatedly dipped in a mix
of grape juice, flour, and honey. The most common are churchkhelas made of walnuts
but sometimes are used also hazelnuts, almonds or para nuts. Churchkhela doesn´t
have a too striking taste but since it´s light, durable and nutritious, it´s worth it to take
a few pieces to the mountain treks - it´s no coincidence that it´s called "Georgian
Snickers". After all, it was a favorite meal of Georgian warriors riding into battles.
And it´s also a very popular souvenir.
 Tklapi
Behind this word hides dried grape
juice, thickened with flour. It´s
spread thinly onto a sheet and then
dried in the sun until you get
something resembling a cloth, but
edible.
 Drinks

The most popular alcoholic drink in Georgia is wine. Here are located some of the oldest
wineries in the world and Georgians often argue with Armenians who was the first to invent
the winemaking. The wine here ages in kvevri - huge clay vessels buried in the ground.
Georgians usually let the wine ferment together with grape skins which gives it a pleasant
amber color and for a foreigner not so pleasant sour taste. The largest wine-producing
region in Georgia is Kakheti lying in the east - here originate some of the most common
Georgian wines such as white Tsinandali or red Saperavi. But the most famous Georgian
wine is semi-sweet Kvanchkhara which is produced in the vicinity of the village of the
same name in the Racha region.
THE END…