Category: Caucasian cuisine

Aubergine Rolls with Walnuts !

May the wind under your wings bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks.

J.R.R. Tolkien
Aubergine rolls


Aubergine stripes ingredients:
– 2 aubergines
– olive oil for baking aubergines
– chopped parsley for serving

Filling ingredients:
– 150g (baked) walnuts
– 2-3 garlic cloves
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 1/4 tsp black pepper
– 1 bunch dill
– 1/4 cup warm water

Method:
1 Preheat the oven to 200C (400F)
2 Slice aubergines lengthways into 4mm thick stripes, put on the baking paper and brush well with olive oil
3 Add walnuts halves over the aubergines: bake them together for 25min at 200C (400F)
4 Combine and blend the filling ingredients (including baked walnuts) until smooth: put 1tsp of the filling on each aubergine stripe and roll the stripes up
5 Serve cold with chopped parsley !

My first Chepalgash – flatbread with cottage cheese and scallion !

A big jug of coffee had just been set in the hearth, the seed-cakes were gone, and the dwarves were starting on a round of buttered scones, when there came a loud knock

J.R.R. Tolkien
Chepalgash - flatbread with cottage cheese and scallion !

Dough ingredients (for 4 flatbreads 25cm diameter):
– 300g flour
– 250ml Kefir
– 1/2 tsp baking soda
– 3/4 tsp salt

Filling ingredients:
– 50g scallion
– 250g cottage cheese

Method:
1 Dough:
1.1 Combine kefir with baking soda and salt: mix and leave for 15 minutes
1.2 Add flour to kefir and knead a gentle dough: leave under the cloth for 15 minutes
2 Filling: combine cottage cheese with chopped scallion and mix well
3 Chepalgash:
3.1 Separate dough into 4 equal parts and form a 10cm diameter disk with hands out of each piece
3.2 Put 1/4 filling in the middle of each disk
3.3 Gather the sides up sealing the edges with the fingers in the center altogether
3.4 Turn over the disk with filling and gently roll into a ~25 cm diameter disk
3.5 Preheat butter in the skillet
3.6 Fry each flatbread for 3-4 minutes each side until golden
4 Serve with a cup of sweet black tea with lemon !

Ossetian pie Tsakharadzhin with beet greens !

You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep Spring from coming.

Pablo Neruda
Ossetian pie Tsakharadzhin with beet greens

Dough ingredients (for 4 pies 20cm diameter):
– 500g wheat flour
– 400ml Kefir
– 10g dry yeast
– 2 tbsp olive oil
– 1/2 tsp salt

Filling ingredients:
– 100g beet greens
– 150g Feta cheese
– 150g fresh cream cheese
– 1 pinch black pepper

Directions:
1 Filling: combine chopped beet greens with Feta & cream cheese & black pepper
2 Dough
2.1 Combine dough ingredients and knead the dough.
2.2 Let the dough stay in a warm place for 1 hour
3 Pies
3.1 Pre-heat the oven to 220C
3.2 Separate the dough into 4 equal parts with a knife
3.3 Roll out with hands a ~20 cm diameter disk out of one of dough pieces
3.4 Put 1/4 of the filling in the middle of the disk
3.5 Gather the sides up sealing the edges tight with the fingers in the center altogether
3.6 Turn over the dough with a filling and gently! flatten into a ~20 cm diameter disk
3.7 Cut out with a knife a small (~0.5-1cm diameter) circle in the middle of the pie to let the air go through while baking
3.8 Put the pie on the baking paper: bake for 20 minutes at 220C until golden
3.9 Repeat 3.3-3.8 for the left pieces of dough
4 Serve hot with a cup black coffee and enjoy with friends ! Without friends the pleasure will be totally lost.

Lazy Khachapuri for a quick yet delicious breakfast or lunch !

We had our breakfasts – whatever happens in a house, robbery or murder, it doesn’t matter, you must have your breakfast.

Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone.
Lazy Khachapuri

Khachapuri batter ingredients (2 servings):
– 2 eggs
– 100g grated Ciacotta (or Suluguni or butter cheese)
– 100ml Kefir
– 100g wheat flour
– 1 teaspoon salt
– 1 bunch of chopped parsley

Cooking and serving ingredients:
– 20g butter for frying
– 20g miners lettuce

Directions:
1 Combine all Khachapuri batter ingredients in a bowl and mix well!
2 Preheat a non-sticking skillet at the medium heat: melt 20g butter
3 Pour the batter uniformly on the skillet, cook for around 4 minutes one side until golden, then flip (I flipped it with two spatulas), cook for another 2 minutes
4 Serve Khachapuri with fresh greens or tomatoes (miners lettuce on the photo) !

Aubergine Rolls with Walnuts and Garlic !

I almost wish we were butterflies and liv’d but three summer days – three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain.

John Keats
Aubergine rolls with walnuts recipe

Aubergine ingredients:
– 2 aubergines
– olive oil for frying aubergines

Filling ingredients:
– 1/2 cup walnuts
– 2-3 garlic cloves
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 1/4 tsp black pepper
– 1 bunch dill
– 1/4 cup warm water

Serving ingredients:
– parsley for serving
– pomegranate seeds for serving

Directions:
1 Cook aubergines:
1.1 Wash aubergines and slice them lengthways into 4mm thick stripes
1.2 Fry aubergine stripes on a skillet with olive oil until golden both sides
1.3 Put aubergine stripes on paper towels to absorb extra oil.
1.4 Let aubergine stripes cool down before filling
3 Prepare the filling: combine grated walnuts, grated garlic, salt, pepper and chopped dill in a bowl. Mix well and add water in small portions stirring constantly
4 Put 1/2-1 teaspoon filling over each aubergine stripe and roll them up
5 Put aubergine rolls in the fridge for 30-40 minutes before serving
6 Decorate with pomegranate seeds, parsley and dill. Serve as an appetiser !

Adjarian Chirbuli (eggs in spicy tomato-walnut sauce) !

There was a huge moon over the western mountains, and it made the city seem even more mysterious and old, and the great black castle on the ridge stood out in front of the moon.

John Steinbeck, A Russian Journal
Adjarian Chirbuli

Ingredients (2 servings):
– 4 eggs
– 1 cup (1 cup=250ml) tomato sauce (pure tomatoes!)
– 1 chili pepper
– 40g chopped walnuts
– 1 chopped onion
– 3 chopped garlic cloves
– 1 tsp salt
– 1/3 tsp black pepper
– 1/2 parsley bunch for serving
– 1/2 tbsp olive oil for cooking

Method:
1 Chop onion & chili pepper and put them into the first bowl
2 Chop garlic & walnuts and put them into the second bowl
3 Chop fresh parsley and put it into the third bowl
4 Pour some olive oil onto a skillet and set the medium-low heat
5 Transfer chopped onion & chili pepper on the preheated skillet: cook for 5 minutes
6 Add tomato sauce, salt, chopped garlic & walnuts into the skillet: cook for 3 minutes
7 Carefully pour the eggs into the tomato-walnuts sauce (prepare holes for them in there with a spatula right before pouring in eggs): cook the eggs for 5-10 minutes
8 Serve hot with black pepper, fresh parsley and lavash or flat bread !

Chicken Shashlik with Rhubarb: serving idea !

Ye wilds, that look eternal; and thou cave,
Which seem’st unfathomable; and ye mountains,
So varied and so terrible in beauty;
Here, in your rugged majesty of rocks

Lord Byron about Caucasus mountains in “Heaven and Earth”
Chicken Shashlik with Rhubarb Recipe

Shashlik ingredients (2 servings):
– 300g chicken breast
– 1 rhubarb stalk

Marinade ingredients:
– juice of 1/3 lemon
– 1 teaspoon salt
– 1/3 teaspoon black pepper
– 3 cloves grated garlic

Method:
1 Combine marinade ingredients in a bowl and mix them well
2 Chop chicken in 1cm pieces, put them to the marinade & keep in the fridge for 2 hours
3 Preheat the oven to 200C
4 Peel rhubarb and chop into 0.5cm width pieces
5 Put rhubarb and chicken pieces one by one on the tooth sticks
6 Transfer tooth sticks into the baking form: bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 180C
7 Serve with mashed potato and fresh chopped parsley !

Adjarian Khachapuri

Не пой, красавица, при мне
Ты песен Грузии печальной:
Напоминают мне оне
Другую жизнь и берег дальный.

А.С. Пушкин
Adjarian Khachapuri Recipe

Dough ingredients:
– 250g cottage cheese
– 100g wheat flour (looks better with 50g wheat+50g rye flour, but tastier with wheat flour only :-))
– 1 egg
– 1/2 teaspoon salt
– 1/2 teaspoon soda + 1/2 teaspoon vinegar

Filling ingredients:
– 2 teaspoon yogurt
– 3 garlic cloves
– 200g fresh baby-spinach
– 30g cheese

Extra filling ingredients:
– 2 eggs

Method:
1 Preheat the oven to 180C
2 Mix dough ingredients (soda+vinegar are added at the last step and are mixed with other ingredients) and knead the dough
3 Split the dough into 2 equal pieces to form 2 boats
4 Put the formed boats on baking paper and bake 20 minutes at 180C in the oven (without filling)
5 While boats are being baked, cut spinach and boil it in a pan with some water for 2 minutes, then remove excessive water
6 mix yogurt+spinach+grated-garlic+grated-cheese in a bowl
7 take the boats from the oven (after 20 minutes baking) and
7.1 put the mixture from 5 into both boats
7.2 put 1 egg over the mixture from 5 in each of the boats
8 bake the filled boats another 10-15 minutes
9 Serve with fresh baby spinach !

Aubergine rolls with walnuts

Далече от брегов Невы,
Теперь я вижу пред собою
Кавказа гордые главы.
Над их вершинами крутыми,
На скате каменных стремнин,
Питаюсь чувствами немыми
И чудной прелестью картин
Природы дикой и угрюмой;

А.С. Пушкин
Aubergine Rolls with Walnuts Recipe

Ingredients:
– 1 aubergine
– 3 garlic cloves
– 50g walnuts
– 200g fresh cream cheese
– [optional] 40g sesam for serving
– 1 bunch parsley
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 1/3 tsp black pepper

Method:
1 Wash aubergine, dry it and cut into 1cm width strips
2 Bake aubergine strips on a backing paper for 20 minutes at 180C
3 Mix in a bowl chopped garlic+chopped walnuts+cheese+chopped parsley+salt+pepper
4 Put a teaspoon of walnuts-cheese-etc. mixture on each aubergine strip and roll it [optionally in sesame]
5 Serve with cherry tomatoes and fresh parsley !

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