Khinkal is not even a dish, but a whole lunch consisting of aromatic meat broth, fluffy cakes, meat and sauce. It belongs to Avar cuisine and has nothing to do with Georgian khinkali.
Khinkal products
To prepare khinkal, you will need the following products: 500 kg of meat (pork, lamb, veal, chicken), 1 onion, 0.5 heads of garlic, 500 g of tomatoes, 100 g of butter, 500 g of flour, 250 ml of fresh kefir, 50 g fresh dill, 50 g of cilantro, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, salt, black pepper.
It is recommended to use mutton for a real khinkal. When buying, choose meat that has a light red color. Its fat should be white, hard, slightly waxy to the touch. It is desirable that the bones have a red tint at the cut edges. Old mutton is darker, with a pungent smell, it is better not to buy it.
Khinkal cooking technology
Wash the meat, put it in a saucepan. Add the peeled onion and string herbs. Pour cold water over the food and put on low heat. After boiling, remove the foam, salt and cook the meat for 2-3 hours.
Knead the dough for khinkal. Sift flour on the table to make a "slide". Make a hole in the center, add baking soda, salt. Gradually adding kefir, knead a fluffy dough. Cover it with a napkin and let it rest for half an hour.
Make khinkal sauce. Grate tomatoes, place them in a deep frying pan, salt and pepper, pour in melted butter and put on fire. When the mixture boils, reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes until the liquid boils about half. Chop the dill and cilantro, add to the sauce and simmer for another 5-10 minutes. Then put chopped garlic there, 2 tbsp. spoons of cold water. When the sauce is ready, pour it into the cooked dish, cover and place in a warm place.
Remove the cooked meat from the broth, transfer it to another saucepan and place in a warm place. If the broth has boiled away strongly, dilute it a little with boiling water. Divide the dough into 4 parts, roll out the tortillas 1 cm thick. Cut into diamonds with sides 3-4 cm. Throw the tortillas into the boiling broth and stir with a slotted spoon. Once they come up, cook them for about a minute more. It is not necessary to cook them longer, otherwise the khinkal will be hard.
How to serve and eat khinkal
Using a slotted spoon, place the khinkal on a dish and immediately pierce each cake with a toothpick or fork. If this is not done, they will not be lush and will turn blue. Put on the table a dish with boiled meat sprinkled with herbs, cups of broth, a dish with khinkal, tomato sauce. You can serve milk cheese (mozzarela, suluguni, feta cheese).
Khinkal should be eaten as follows. Take a dough cake, dip it in the sauce and eat it with broth and boiled meat.
