Chebureks and khachapuri are dishes that came to us from the Caucasus. It is believed that the historical homeland of these dishes is Georgia. But in adjacent areas, mentions of fried pies with herbs, meat or cheese date back several centuries earlier.
For some reason, many housewives are sure that pasties are rather large flat pies with meat filling made from yeast dough. In fact, for them, the dough was always made only unleavened. The hostesses are also not quite right about the filling. It is equally appropriate in this case to use a potato filling, as well as a filling of herbs and homemade cheese.
To cook pasties with meat, you need to take lamb and beef in equal proportions, adding 100 g of lamb fat to each kilogram of minced meat. Mince two large onions, chopped into pieces, and five cloves of garlic through a meat grinder along with the meat. Season with salt and pepper. Add a typical Caucasian spice, sumac, if desired.
Sift 300 g flour into a dough bowl, add salt, pour in two tablespoons. vegetable oil and water to make a soft dough that will come off well from the edges of the dishes. Neither margarine nor eggs should be added to it. The trick of the flaky texture of pasties is that you need to roll out the dough very thinly, it should be like paper.
Cut out tortillas about the size of a not-so-small plate. When cutting, it is better to use not a knife, but a pastry cutter - a wheel with teeth. It is thanks to this simple device that the characteristic edges of the pasties are obtained. Put the minced meat on one half of the tortilla, cover the other on top. If the dough does not stick well, then moisten the inside with water. Do not overdo it. In no case should water get into the vegetable oil on which the pasties will be fried, otherwise it will splatter the entire kitchen.
How to make dough for khachapuri: For 400 g of flour, you need to take three egg yolks, two eggs, 150 ml. yogurt or yogurt, salt and 50 g of vegetable oil. Some people use baking powder, but you can do without it. Only cheese is used as a filling for khachapuri. But the most diverse - from salted homemade feta cheese to fresh Adyghe. The cheese is grated or crumbled, mixed with eggs, salted (if fresh) and added to traditional Caucasian baked goods. There are countless varieties of khachapuri. For example, they are made in Adjara in the shape of a boat and covered with a raw egg, which is knocked out on top of very hot baked goods and has time to harden a little. And Megrelian khachapuri is always round in shape. The surface of the raw products is abundantly sprinkled with grated suluguni.
