The fame of Khinkali has spread throughout the world; it is the most popular Georgian dish in the world. As a result of moving across countries and the influence of other national cuisines, certain changes were made to the composition of ingredients and cooking methods, but this did not affect the need to follow etiquette. Many people have to wonder how to eat khinkali correctly, and it doesn’t matter whether the food is consumed in a khinkali restaurant or at home. You also have to think about this when receiving an invitation to a restaurant with Georgian cuisine.

According to etiquette, you first need to let the food cool a little. Be prepared that this dish must be eaten with your hands; other methods are not allowed. Yes, khinkali is eaten with hands; such an endeavor involves many difficulties. The following steps can be identified in this process:

1. take the product by the tail;
2. take a bite, then drink all the broth from the inside;
3. put khinkali in your mouth and enjoy the taste.

Sometimes the size does not allow for a full load in the mouth, then several bites are taken, although traditions do not approve of this.

Do not let the product cool for too long, otherwise it will not be tasty to eat. A dish that is too hot can lead to a burn in the mouth; a dish that is too cold will lose all its taste. Learning to determine the correct temperature for loading will help avoid discomfort. We can say that maintaining health depends on compliance with this rule.

The need to know how to choose the right temperature is the impracticality of the dish. If it has cooled down too much, you can heat it up in a frying pan and put it in the microwave for a couple of minutes, but the taste will be significantly different from just cooked hot food.

The broth has a special taste. When loading the filling into the dough, a hollow space is specially left for the formation of this delicious juice. You need to know how to eat khinkali in order to avoid tearing the dough and spilling this juice on the plate. If you personally prepared the khinkali, you can first load the filling in such a way that there is not too much broth, this will help hone your skills. When a lot of hink has been eaten and irreplaceable experience has been gained, then the process will no longer be difficult. The biggest problem is how to bite properly to drink the broth.

How not to eat khinkali

In Georgian cuisine, much attention is paid to etiquette; to an ignorant person, many things about khinkali will seem strange. Some people watch training videos before going to a restaurant so as not to fall on their face. Everyone wants to eat wisely, so as not to look like a person who does not respect traditions.

For alcohol lovers, you should know that khinkali does not go well with wine and beer; they are usually eaten with vodka.

The rules of use include many points, some of which are not always observed even in their homeland. But there are some that everyone needs to know:

• Khinkali is a dish that does not need to be eaten;
• leave the tail, put it on a plate;
• Do not use knife, forks or other tools; loading the product to its destination must only be done manually.

Traditions

Khinkali has become a unique dish in Georgia, which has many peculiarities in preparation and consumption. The cooking process is also replete with rules regarding loading minced meat into the dough, preparing the filling, and leaving space for the broth. This is all done to ensure that khinkal meat gives people real pleasure. The structure of the dish should have the shape as in the popular photos, this will help you understand where to start eating.

The tradition of leaving the tails of eaten khinkali on the plate has its own meaning. Many people have loved this dish for a long time, but do not know why it should be done. This is an important component of how to eat khinkali correctly; the number of eaten specimens is counted by the tails. Whoever ate less pays for dinner.

Khinkali is called a man's dish; it is a rare woman who is able to load her body with a large number of heavy elements.

If you happen to find a khinkal restaurant on your way and you decide to stop by to try a traditional Georgian dish, follow the rules. They are simple, but you need to remember the basics. The following requirements can be identified:

• follow the rules for eating each specimen;
• do not use additional download tools;
• Check with your travel companion (if you have one) how payment will be made.

There is one dispute that is not directly related to consumption, but takes place in the Khinkali culture. It lies in the question of whether the product needs to be loaded with greens. The answer is simple, there are two different recipes that go back many centuries. On the plains, loading of greenery was carried out, but in the mountains this action was abandoned. The riddle is easily resolved - it was simply impossible to find suitable greenery in the mountains.

When is the best time to eat khinkali?

Loading your body with heavy food before bed is a bad idea, so eating khinkali for dinner will be a bad idea. This is due to the ingredients used; the dish is distinguished by a fatty broth and high calorie content of meat. If you don’t know much about the product yet, the video will help you to make sure of this. If you have already figured out how to eat khinkali in a restaurant, you should choose the right time and occasion:

• breakfast to accumulate vital energy;
• lunch to recuperate after the first half of the day;
• hangover to quickly return the body to normal.

Everyone decides for themselves how and with what to eat khinkali, but their taste is truly revealed only in combination with aromatic sauce or gravy with seasonings. Preparing this Georgian dish is not difficult, but for some reason few people know the recipes for sauces for khinkali. The instructions below will help you prepare the necessary addition to the “Caucasian dumplings” from Georgia.

The ingredients for this sauce include:

• 50 ml broth;
• One small tomato;
• Art. l. tomato paste;
• Half a head of garlic;
• pepper, salt and sugar to taste;
• oil;
• fresh greens.

The step-by-step preparation is simple and clear, and the following photos will help you:

• Chop peeled garlic

• Place the tomato in boiling water for a few seconds so that the skin can be easily removed.

• Chop the pulp and simmer in a frying pan until pureed, stirring and mashing the tomatoes.

• In another frying pan with oil, fry the garlic. It should become as fragrant as possible.

• Place tomato paste in a second frying pan and leave for 2-3 minutes over low heat.

• Repeat the previous step, adding the tomatoes from the first pan.
• Remove from heat, add broth, spices, mix thoroughly. Serve with greens.

Sour cream sauce

Option 1:

• A glass of sour cream;
• 4 tbsp. l. vinegar 6%;
• 2 tsp. powdered sugar;
• ground black pepper
• salt.

All the ingredients just need to be thoroughly mixed, and the sour cream sauce for khinkali is ready.

Option 2:

• 1 glass of sour cream (preferably thicker);
• 50 grams of horseradish;
• 50 grams of sweet and sour apples of any variety;
• Juice of half a lemon;
• Fresh herbs;
• Salt;

Grate peeled and cored apples with horseradish. Mix with lemon juice and sour cream. It is better to serve the sauce with fresh herbs.

Garlic Sause

For this sauce you will need:

• Half a glass of tomato juice;
• a quarter glass of oil;
• a quarter glass of lemon juice;
• 4 cloves of garlic;
• 1.5 tbsp. l. Sahara;
• salt.

Combine peeled and chopped garlic with spices. Add all liquid ingredients and whisk thoroughly.

The sauce is the simplest

• sprig of fresh basil or 1 tbsp. l. dried;
• 1 tbsp. l. mustard;
• 3 tbsp. l. Mayonnaise
• Soy sauce to taste.

Beat mayonnaise with soy sauce and mustard. Add chopped basil.

Plum sauce

Below is a recipe for traditional Georgian tkemali sauce, which goes well with many national dishes, including khinkali.

• Half a kilo of cherry plum
• 1 tbsp. l. Sahara
• Fresh dill
• 1 tsp. Khmeli-suneli
• 1 hot pepper
• 1 sprig of mint
• 4 cloves garlic
• Cilantro

Step-by-step recipe with photos:

Place the plums in a saucepan with water and bring to a boil, cool.

Remove seeds and skins by straining the pulp through a colander.

Pass the garlic and pepper through a press.

Put the plum puree back on the fire, add the remaining ingredients, including garlic and pepper. Cook for 5-7 minutes.

Peanut sauce

• 1 tbsp. l. walnut.
• 2 cloves garlic
• Sprig of mint
• Half a pod of hot pepper
• 1 tbsp. l. Coriander seeds
• Juice of half a lemon
• Vegetable oil

Grind everything in a blender. If desired, add sour cream as a gravy or change the composition of spices.

There are also faster ways to serve khinkali. They are often eaten with vinegar, melted butter, seasonings

or with baked vegetables. Khinkali from Georgia is often filled with aromatic broth, so it is served without any additives.

These recipes are classic for Georgian cuisine. If you forget about the canons of cooking, khinali can be served in the same way as dumplings or manti.

It is important to note that it is better not to prepare the sauce in advance. Hot khinkali are eaten with chilled sauce. We hope now you won’t have a question about what to serve khinkali with and what they are like. Bon appetit.

And if with the first everything is clear - in order to eat a flatbread with cheese, you don’t need to have any special skills, then the menacing appearance of a huge dumpling (by the way, never call khinkali that in the presence of Georgians!) makes hungry lovers of national Caucasian cuisine tremble, especially if This is your first time trying this dish...

Khinkali recipe

Khinkali recipe

The khinkali recipe is very simple. All you need is flour, salt and water to prepare the dough, and minced meat (beef, pork or lamb) for the filling. If desired, you can add cheese, herbs or mushrooms to khinkali, although the traditional recipe contains only dough and meat. Sounds easy! However, Georgians claim that the main thing in preparing khinkali is not the content, but the form. The classic method of modeling, which is used by all Georgian housewives without exception, is to make a small tail of dough on the top: it is convenient to hold the khinkali while eating, and it is also a distinctive feature of the khinkali.

You will need:

• minced meat (pork, beef or mixed) - 1 kg
• onion - 5-6 heads
• egg - 1 pc.
• flour - 500 g
• water - 300 ml
• garlic - 3-4 cloves
• pepper

How to cook:

Finely chop the onion and garlic, mix with the minced meat, add water (about 150 ml) until the minced meat becomes elastic. Knead the dough from flour, remaining water, salt and one egg; it should turn out dense and tight. Cover the dough ball with a napkin and leave for half an hour at room temperature. Roll out the dough and cut out rounds with a diameter of 12-15 cm. Place minced meat in each round and gather by the edges in a circle to form a bag with a “tail” on top. Seal the edges tightly. Place the khinkali in a pan of boiling salted water, after surfacing, cook for 5-7 minutes, remove with a slotted spoon. When serving, sprinkle generously with ground black pepper.

How to eat khinkali correctly

How to eat khinkali correctly

A seemingly elementary dish has its own set of rules for eating, and they are observed quite strictly.

How to correctly:

Let the khinkali cool slightly. Take it by the tail, bite it and drink the broth that is inside. Then you should put the whole khinkali in your mouth and enjoy the taste. If the size of the khinkali (or mouth) does not allow you to do this, you can eat it in several bites; traditions do not welcome this, but they do not condemn it either.

Principles of Khinkali

November 21st, 2013 , 03:00 pm

Khinkali is a dish surrounded by a lot of rituals. This material contains the main ones, which are strongly recommended to be observed: this is how banal saturation turns into art.

Khinkali is an independent and self-sufficient dish. No salads or soups before, no pies or cutlets with potatoes after. On the table there is only a tray with the steaming hosts of the evening, a bottle of vodka, a couple of bottles of mineral water and, in extreme cases, fresh herbs and sauces.

No wine. Khinkali is washed down with vodka. More precisely: they drink a glass of vodka, sink their teeth into khinkali, suck out the broth, which ideally extinguishes the vodka fire in the throat, and then eat the dough with meat. Even if you don’t have vodka on the table, the only way to eat khinkali is to hold it by the tail, bite it, drink it and eat everything except the tail.

After biting the khinkali and drinking the broth, you can pour a spoonful of sauce into the hole in the dough. The simplest and most correct is garlic water, that is, water with finely chopped garlic. Adjika, tomato satsebela or tkemali - this is all on the verge of a foul, not to mention some sour cream or God forgive me mayonnaise.

Khinkali tails are placed on a plate by each eater. At the end of the feast, the tails are counted. The presence of a minimum number of tails on someone’s plate is interpreted in two ways: either this person is a weakling and does not know how to eat properly, or he came well-fed, which means he is rich and lucky. In any case, he will have to pay for everyone.

While eating khinkali, it is customary to argue about khinkali. For example, about which khinkali are still more correct: those with only minced meat, or those with added greens. The first ones are called mountain, they are prepared in the high mountainous northern regions of Georgia. These khinkali are fattier, with minced lamb and spices, and seem to be more ancient and authentic. The latter are called urban; instead of lamb, the veal is paired with pork and a large amount of greens. City khinkali are more aromatic, lighter, with a more civilized, subtle taste - if you suddenly need arguments in an argument. An important topic is the number of folds. Most often, eighteen is considered optimal, but there is no reason to choose this mystical number. And, of course, you have to prove with foam at the mouth that your favorite khinkal restaurant has the thinnest dough, the most tender minced meat and the richest broth.

It’s paradoxical but true: there is no word for “hangover” in the Georgian language. Moreover, there are many methods of healing what is called tracing paper from Russian “pahmelia”. One of the most powerful and brutal options is the two-stage “hashi + khinkali”.

The first stage occurs in the early, early morning, when the still slightly drunk drunkard eats a bowl of hot soup from tripes, hooves and other inedible parts of the cow, snacking on garlic and salt and washing it down with vodka and Borjomi. Having slept and recovered from the life-giving soup, the patient proceeds to the second stage and goes to eat khinkali - with garlic and vodka, of course. About 10 khinkali and the same number of glasses of vodka - and you’re back in action.

When choosing dishes of Georgian cuisine, questions often arise about how appropriate the chosen recipe is, how to eat khinkali, lavash or dolma. Moreover, you really want to share pleasant events with your loved ones at the table, where all the dishes are aromatic, tasty, healthy and literally filled with the warmth of home. Khinkali is perfect here. Although for those who are not used to cooking, it is easier to choose Moscow restaurants that are open around the clock.

Khinkali is a national Georgian dish, or rather, the inhabitants of the mountain “peaks” of Mtiuleti, Pshavi and Khevsureti, which has gained recognition in other regions of the vast Caucasus. Today, among different nationalities: Avars, Dargins, Kumyks, Lezgins, Azerbaijanis, Shepherds, Derbents are one of the ancient nationalities; there are many variations on the theme of this dish. They are all different, juicy, with a certain, pronounced zest; in all recipes, the style and culture of a particular nationality can be seen.

Many inexperienced people, or those simply accustomed to standard traditional food, will say that khinkali is an ordinary, but rather large dumpling, and they will be absolutely wrong. Khinkali is very different from the standard dumpling with a juicy and aromatic broth inside. It is this characteristic feature that makes it possible to compare khinkali, most likely, with Uzbek manti. Although manta rays are not so colorful when eaten. There are many ways to prepare a Georgian dish, ways to eat it, and how to serve khinkali. Often, eaters have a competition to count the tails. All these features suggest that khinkali is a dish for men rather than for women.

If you look through the various legends about the origin of this dish, you will discover an absolutely interesting and amazing story. The events took place in the mountains during the war with the Persians, when there was no special assortment of products, and there were no conditions for their preparation. A young man returned from the war who was wounded in the neck. He was overcome by a feeling of hunger, and it was very difficult to chew food, and there was nothing except lamb meat, garlic and salt. Then the wounded man’s sister chopped the meat into minced meat, cooked broth, took flour and made dough. After all, for khinkali you don’t need to fry anything on fire. The dish turned out to be very satisfying, and the wounded soldier satisfied his hunger and began to recover.

Delicious khinkali

The delicacy itself, namely the dough, is prepared from flour, salt and water. The filling is filled with chopped or minced beef, pork or lamb, well seasoned with spices and herbs, such as:

• cilantro;
• garlic;
• parsley;
• cumin;
• mint;
• coriander;
• According to the region, mushrooms or cheese are rarely used for the filling.

Some types of seasonings for khinkali include herbs that grow only in the mountains of Georgia.

There is a whole art to “cooking” khinkali. If you do not follow the technology, the khinkali may stick to the bottom of the pan and fall apart, since the dough is very thin and delicate. You need to cook the delicacy in a large saucepan and place it in boiling water one at a time, holding it by the tail or in a slotted spoon. Cook for 10 minutes and in small portions. After this, you need to pour a cup of cold water, bringing the contents to a boil, and you can consider the dish ready. It is necessary to calculate the capacity of the pan so that the khinkali do not “huddle”, but feel free. Feel free to put it on plates and treat your loved ones.

The broth, or as it is also called the juice, that is inside the khinkali is especially valued. You need to bite the treat, holding the “tail” in your hand, drink the juice and then eat. Note, not with a fork and knife, not with a spoon, but with your hands. If you are armed with cutlery, then all the broth will spread over the plate, and you will only be left with boiled meat with dough, almost a standard, but large dumpling. But what do you eat khinkali with? This dish does not require any special appetizers; most often, additional herbs, vegetables, and Georgian sauces are served on the table. Sometimes khinkali is served with a main dish, for example, lamb on a spit.

Cooking secrets. What should the dish look like?

The secret of khinkali lies in the dough; the thinner the dough, the more skillful the dish. If the dough turns out like standard dumplings, then you will not feel the delicate taste of meat, spices and broth, but only the taste of flour.

• The dough should be thin, but not torn.
• Stable pouch shape.
• Filling in the form of a ball.
• Smooth, almost glossy dough that slides in your hands.
• At least 15 folds, you can never have too many folds!

We hope that here you will lift the veil of some secrecy in the preparation of khinkali, and all the secrets will become clear. Bon appetit!