This is delicious.
Caucasian cuisine is bright and unusual. These are, first of all, meat, herbs, cheese and spices, which make very tasty things.
Dagestan
Previously, lamb was used to prepare Avar khinkal, but now beef is used more often.
Ingredients:
300 g beef
5 fresh tomatoes
salt, pepper, bay leaf
bulb onions
1 head of garlic
1 tsp soda
vegetable oil
Adviсe:
Serve meat, dough, garlic sauce and broth separately
The lid must be tightly closed when cooking the dough.
Recipe:
Boil large pieces of meat.
Roll out the wheat dough mixed with kefir into a layer 6 mm thick, cut into diamonds or squares and throw into the boiling broth left over from the meat. Cook for about five minutes, stirring occasionally.
As soon as the dough is ready, immediately remove it, remembering to pierce each piece with a fork or toothpick.
For the sauce, mix sour cream or peeled tomatoes stewed in broth with garlic.
Chechnya
Chepalgash
Chepalgash is thin flatbread with cottage cheese. Despite the stereotype about kebabs, the basis of North Caucasian cuisine is flour products, porridge and cheese, that is, simple, cheap and high-calorie food.
Ingredients:
100 g wheat flour
100 g kefir
0.2 g baking soda
For filling:
75 g cottage cheese
several bunches of green onions
20 g butter
Adviсe:
Cook in a dry frying pan
Recipe:
Knead the wheat dough with kefir, divide into pieces weighing about 200 grams in the form of balls and roll out thinly. Place a couple of tablespoons of homemade cottage cheese filling, green onions, eggs and salt in the middle. Bring the edges together and pinch, roll out the cake to a thickness of less than a centimeter.
Fry on both sides in a frying pan (the first side with a lid, the second without a lid). Dip the finished cakes into hot water, stack them on top of each other, thickly coating each layer with butter.
Cut the entire mound like a cake into 6 pieces. Eat before it gets cold.
Ossetia
In Ossetia, during holidays you often find pies with meat, beet tops, potatoes, and cabbage. Tsakharadzhin contains beets and cheese; it is a very tasty and satisfying pie.
Ingredients:
2 chicken eggs
400 g wheat flour
150 g suluguni cheese
150 g Ossetian cheese
80 g beet tops
30 ml vegetable oil
5 g sugar
5 g salt
10 g dry yeast
water
Adviсe:
After oiling at the end, cover with a towel and let stand for 5 minutes.
Recipe:
Knead the yeast dough with milk, salt and melted butter. Cover and leave in a warm place for an hour.
Make the filling with fresh young cheese and chopped beet tops without stems. For fat content, you can add ghee or sour cream. Season with salt and pepper.
Make a cake out of the dough, slightly less than a centimeter thick. Place the filling in the middle. Pull the ends of the dough towards the middle and pinch. Turn over, carefully level the surface of the cake, and make a cut in the middle for steam.
Bake in the oven for 15–20 minutes. Then grease with oil.
Ingushetia
Birch
Meat in Ingushetia is usually served with a special sauce. Here is his recipe.
Ingredients:
meat broth
several potatoes
bunch of greenery
salt pepper
1 onion
1 carrot
butter
Recipe:
Boil the potatoes in meat broth, mash thoroughly, adding raw eggs in the process.
Mix with the broth so that the puree dissolves in it.
Cook for a couple of minutes, then remove from heat, add finely chopped green onions and other greens to taste.
Salt, pepper, simmer for 10–15 minutes. Add fried onions and carrots stewed in butter.
Adygea
Giedlibrze
In addition to the Adyghe cheese, which everyone knows about, it is worth trying gedlibzhe. This is chicken stewed in sour cream or cream.
Ingredients:
5 pieces. chicken drumsticks
2-3 tbsp. sour cream
1 onion
1.5 tbsp. flour
salt, paprika, pepper mixture to taste
Recipe:
Finely chop the onion and garlic and fry separately until golden brown.
Place everything together in a saucepan, sprinkle with paprika. Pour some water, add salt, simmer for 15 minutes.
Add sauce made from sour cream, flour and water, simmer for about half an hour until cooked.
Azerbaijan
Dovga
Dovga is one of the popular and favorite dishes Azerbaijani cuisine. The good thing about this dish is that it tastes great both hot and cold.
Ingredients for a 2 liter cylinder of homemade matsoni:
2 sour cream 200 g each
1 large bunch of cilantro, dill, spinach, tops, mint
1 small head of garlic
0.5 tbsp. round rice
0.5 tbsp. boiled chickpeas
Adviсe:
It is better to use homemade matsoni, you can buy it at the market
When cooking, stir the dovga continuously until it boils, otherwise the matsoni will curdle.
It is better to stir with a wooden spoon.
Recipe:
Wash all the greens well in advance, chop finely and dry. Boil the rice separately. Pour the matsoni and sour cream into the pan and stir well. Beat in 2 eggs. Add boiled rice along with water.
Place the pan on big fire and, stirring continuously, bring to a boil.
When the matsoni boils, put the herbs and finely chopped garlic into the pan, stirring constantly.
Bring to a boil again.
Add boiled peas. Do not cover with a lid for the first couple of hours.
Armenia
Ishkhan in wine
Until now, Ishkhan, or Sevan trout, is considered the main culinary masterpiece of Armenia. It is gutted with a spoon through the gills, without ripping open the belly. The tender fish is then stuffed with tarragon and poached in wine.
Ingredients:
1kg trout
1 bunch of tarragon
300 g cherry plum
1 onion
dry white wine
Recipe:
Remove the gills from the Sevan trout and use a spoon to remove the entrails. Rinse the cavity thoroughly and stuff it with a chopped mixture of cherry plum, pomegranate, onion and tarragon.
You need to simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes in white wine at the rate of 1 glass per 1 kilogram of dish, avoiding contact of the fish with the bottom of the pan. To do this, it can be placed on stones or wooden sticks.
Georgia
Chkmeruli
Very delicious recipe chicken from national cuisine Georgia.
Ingredients:
500 ml cream
bunch of cilantro
bunch of parsley
a few cloves of garlic
salt, pepper, khmeli-suneli
Recipe:
Cut the chicken along the breast, remove excess fat, tail and wing tips, and lightly pound.
Rub with salt, pepper and grease with vegetable oil. Place in a hot frying pan under pressure, fry on both sides until golden brown.
Pour in a sauce made from cream, chopped garlic, cilantro, parsley and suneli hops. Close the lid and simmer in the oven for about 20 minutes.
Cuisine of the peoples of the Caucasus or national Caucasian cuisine- this is a collective concept that combines Abkhazian, Azerbaijani, Armenian, Georgian Lezgin, Ossetian, and Chechen cuisine. Of course, each of them has its own dishes, but most of them are similar, such as kebab. This dish consists of medium-sized pieces of pork or lamb, marinated and then grilled. The principle of preparing the dish is the same, but the marinades differ. They come in a wide variety.
The commonality of the previously listed Caucasian cuisines is that in each of them you will find appetizers, salads, first courses in the form of thick soups, main hot courses, desserts, baked goods, and preparations for the winter. A similar pattern can be seen in the food products used. For example, the basis of many dishes is meat. The most popular is lamb, followed by goat and beef, as well as meat poultry. Pork is practically not used, due to the religious factor. The thing is that many Caucasians adhere to Islam, which precisely imposes a ban (haram) on eating pig meat. In addition, milk and dairy products are widely used. Quite popular are sour milk and drinks based on it, as well as all kinds of cheeses. By the way, cheese making for the Caucasian peoples is an integral part of their traditional cooking. Also on a traditional Caucasian table you will see a wide variety of greens, as well as local seasonal vegetables. Another similar feature is the use of wheat flour for baking flatbreads.
The peoples of the Caucasus jealously guard their traditions. For example, when you go to the Caucasus, you will often see a tandoor - a traditional roasting oven in which a wide variety of dishes are prepared. This device has served faithfully for hundreds of years, and will serve no less!
Speaking about the cuisine of the peoples of the Caucasus, we would like to note that every year it is gaining more and more popularity on a global scale. Today, millions of people have heard the following names: kharcho, pilaf, lobio, satsivi, khachapuri, lula-kebab and many others. And this is not surprising, because these dishes are not only unusual and orientally spicy, but also very tasty!
If you are interested in national Caucasian cuisine, then we suggest you get to know it better. To do this, you don’t have to go to an expensive restaurant or look for a suitable cafe. You can get acquainted with Caucasian cuisine without leaving own home. You just need to use the recipes with photos that are given here! We hope that the dishes prepared by you will turn out in the best traditions of real oriental cuisine!
Famous Caucasian pastries
Caucasian cuisine is no less diverse than the Caucasus itself. Adjika, kebabs, vegetable dishes with spices and herbs are firmly included in our diet. And any housewife can pamper her family with traditional oriental pastries.
Khachapuri – a real masterpiece Georgian cuisine. They can be prepared in different ways: there are a huge number of different recipes in which the dough and filling are not repeated. With a variety of cooking techniques, you are sure to find one that you like.
What is oriental cuisine without baking? Dishes prepared according to the recipes of Caucasian chefs are extremely popular all over the world.
Caucasian pastries can be sweet and salty, with honey, fruits, vegetables, different varieties meat and fish. Almost every recipe contains a lot of spices and herbs. There is always a lot of filling, it is juicy and very tasty.
Khychin, Ossetian pies, khachapuri with a hundred different fillings- this is not the entire list of dough products for which the cuisine of the Caucasus is famous. Recipes have been passed down from generation to generation for thousands of years, each family has its own secret ingredient, which makes baking unique. The serving of pies is also unique - 3 pies are brought to the table as a tribute to water, sun and earth.
Based on the quality of the dough, it is easy to distinguish a skilled housewife from an inexperienced one. The better and thinner the dough is rolled out, the more praise the woman deserves.
The amount of filling in the pies speaks of the generosity and hospitality of the owners. In no home will you find baked goods without filling. Onions, cheese, mushrooms, lamb - everything that the owners of the house are rich in is served with flatbread.
It’s not enough to just mix all the ingredients; for a successful result you need to put your soul into the dish and cook it with love.
Baking in the Caucasus is not only flatbreads and pies. In this section of our virtual cookbook you will find not only traditional Caucasian dough products, but also many original recipes, the existence of which you may hear for the first time. Just look at our section, and your feet will take you to the stove, try making pies according to new recipes.
This article presents the ten most popular dishes peoples of the Caucasus. Each nation most likely has its own varieties of these dishes, in some places even its own proper names dishes and recipe features. Therefore, dear readers, if you have anything to add, please share your knowledge in the comments.
There are many recipes and varieties of shurpa, as well as names (shorpa, chorpa, shorpo, sorpa, chorba). In simple words Shurpa is a soup with meat, vegetables and herbs.
Khychin is the national dish of the Karachais and Balkars and is a flatbread made of thin dough with filling, mainly potatoes, cheese, herbs or meat.
Khinkal
Khinkal represents a traditional dish Caucasian cuisine, pieces of dough (khinkalina) boiled in meat broth, served with broth, boiled meat and sauce.
Haltama is boiled pieces of dough made from corn custard flour, cooked in meat broth, most often with beans. One of the most common Ossetian dishes.
Chudu (emphasis on the last letter) is one of the most common dishes in Dagestan. Chudu are closed small pies made of thinly rolled dough, with different fillings. Very similar to cheburek, only fried in a dry frying pan without oil.
Chanakhi - in a word, roast; A dish of Georgian cuisine, which is lamb stewed in a clay pot with vegetables.
Shish kebab is a world-famous dish that is prepared in different parts of the world. In the Caucasus mountains this dish is relevant, since high altitude the pressure is lower and water boils at more low temperatures. Under these conditions, it takes a very long time to cook the meat. But you can fry it deliciously, which, together with the right marinade, makes Caucasian kebab one of the most delicious in the world.
Dolma (dalma, dulma, durma, tolma, sarma) is a dish consisting of stuffed vegetables or leaves (usually grape leaves), cabbage rolls in grape leaves. The filling is usually prepared on the basis of rice, and may also contain boiled minced meat.
Khachapuri is a Georgian flatbread with cheese.
Ossetian pie is an Ossetian dish, which is a flatbread stuffed with cottage cheese, cheese, potatoes, meat or herbs.