Khachapuri is a national dish of Georgian cuisine made from dough and cheese (sometimes cottage cheese). But each region of Georgia has its own signature khachapuri recipe.
History of the origin of khachapuri in Megrelian
As the name of this dish suggests, Megrelian khachapuri appeared in one of the regions of Georgia called “Megrelia”. In addition to the Megrelian khachapuri, the population of this region has presented the world with many more dishes of Georgian cuisine. Among them are satsivi nut sauce, homemade meat kupat, the popular classic adjika sauce, as well as one of the most common types of pickled cheese in Georgia - suluguni.
There is no single dough recipe for khachapuri cakes. They are prepared from yeast, yeast-free and even puff pastry. Imeretian brine cheese is most often used as a filling, but substitutions are also allowed. The cheese in the Megrelian form of khachapuri is "sealed" inside the dough cake, and is also laid out on the outside. Ideally, there should be about the same amount of cheese as the dough, or even more. The shape of the cake is round.
Megrelian khachapuri is a versatile dish that can be included in the diet for breakfast with a cup of hot tea, for a snack to go, for a picnic, and for dinner with a glass of semi-sweet red wine. It can be cooked 1-2 days in advance, but it is best, of course, to use it freshly baked.
Cooking Megrelian khachapuri is not as difficult as it seems, especially when you consider some tricks. For convenience and ease of preparation, each step in the presented recipe is accompanied by step-by-step photographs.
Ingredient List
For one large Megrelian khachapuri (about 4 servings), you need the following foods:
- kefir - 180 ml;
- sour cream - 120 g;
- flour - 400 g;
- butter - 70 g;
- sugar - 1 tablespoon;
- soda - 0.5 tsp;
- salt - a pinch;
- suluguni cheese - 300 g (one head);
- chicken egg - 1 pc.
Cooking recipe with photo
1. First of all, measure out all the necessary ingredients so that everything is at hand and you can quickly prepare the dough.
2. Pour kefir and sour cream into a deep bowl, add sugar, a pinch of salt and soda. Stir the ingredients with a tablespoon (not whisking) and let sit for a couple of minutes until fine bubbles appear on the surface of the liquid. They occur when the baking soda takes effect. Once this has happened, you can proceed to the next stage.
3. Melt the butter in the microwave or on the stove. Pour it into the prepared milk mixture, mix thoroughly.
4. Next, you need to add flour to the liquid mass. It is advisable to sift it first, so it will be easier to knead the dough, and it will turn out to be light, airy and without lumps. If there is no opportunity to sift the flour, try to add the required amount of flour in small portions, stirring constantly.
5. Knead the dough. It should be soft, greasy and slightly sticky. Do not weight the dough with flour at this stage! When you roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface, it will take in the remaining flour by itself. In the meantime, we need a light and "obedient" consistency.
6. Grate the suluguni cheese. You can use either a small or a large grater, you won't see much of a difference in the end. You can even mince the cheese. Only a blender is not suitable for this task, as the soft texture of the cheese will interfere with the blades and roll back into a large ball. The filling is ready! There are no extraneous ingredients in it.
7. Let's start assembling the future khachapuri. Lightly dust the work surface and the dough itself with flour and roll it into a large, thin circle.
8. Divide the cheese filling into two unequal parts: about 1/3 and 2/3. Place most of it in the center of the cake.
9. Gently mold the edges of the dough together in the center of the cake, simultaneously squeezing all the air out of the cheese filling. This stage is extremely important, as air bubbles can greatly spoil the appearance of the dish. In addition, it is necessary to fix the dough very carefully so that there are no holes in it. I prefer to trim off the excess dough on the resulting knot so that the bola is smoother and smoother. At this stage, you can put the oven to warm up to 190 degrees.
10. Roll out the dough with cheese inside, making sure that there are no air bubbles in the already cobbled cake. If they do appear, pierce them, release the air and cover very carefully while continuing to roll.
11. Lightly grease the surface of the baking sheet with vegetable oil and dust a little with flour. Transfer the raw tortilla to a baking sheet. In a separate bowl, lightly beat a chicken egg and brush the surface of the future Megrelian khachapuri with it. There will even be a lot of one egg, so be careful not to let it run out onto the baking sheet.
12. Place the remaining third of the cheese filling on top of the egg, spreading it over the entire surface. Place a baking sheet with a flatbread in a preheated oven for about 20 minutes, until the cheese filling begins to be actively covered with a toasted crust.
13. Remove the finished Megrelian khachapuri from the oven and let it stand at room temperature for about 5 minutes so that households and guests do not burn on the melted cheese.
14. Serve khachapuri hot and fresh. An interesting and delicious national dish of Georgian cuisine is ready. Bon Appetit!
