Badrijani nigvzit - Georgian aubergine rolls with walnut filling

Badrijani is the Georgian rolled eggplant dish we've been missing our whole life, wrote Lucky Peach on its Facebook page yesterday. I don't really know about rolled eggplant/rolled aubergine dishes in particular, but as far as eggplant dishes in general go, Georgian rolled aubergines are pretty wonderful. They're pictured on the top left corner above.

My recipe is pretty minimalist, as far as the seasoning goes. I've served them as part of a bigger Georgian spread (see f. ex. here), where the famous Georgian spice blend khmeli-suneli was used in various dishes. That's why I like my badrijani nigvzit (badrijani = aubergine/eggplant, nigvzit = walnuts) seasoned just with herbs, onion and vinegar. But feel free to use garlic instead of onion and to add some ground coriander or cumin seeds - or a generous spoonful of khmeli-suneli - to the walnut mixture to make it more flavoursome. Even chilli powder could be added, if you're fond of spicy dishes.

This great appetizer is low-carb, LCHF (low carb, high fat), gluten-free, vegan, Paleo etc. For more Georgian recipes, see my Georgian Flickr album or browse my Georgian recipes here.

Badrijani nigvzit aka Georgian eggplant rolls with walnut paste
(Pähklitäidisega pommurullid e. badrižani)

Serves 6 as an appetizer

2 slender eggplants/aubergines
sea salt
olive oil

Walnut filling:
250 g walnuts
2 onions
fresh dill, cilantro/coriander and parsley, chopped
3-4 Tbsp red wine vinegar
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To garnish:
pomegranate seeds

Cut the aubergines into long thin slices, lengthwise. Sprinkle with salt and let stand in a colander for 20-30 minutes. Drain the liquid, pat the slices dry with kitchen paper.

You can cook the aubergine either by frying or by baking. To fry them, heat some oil on a frying pan and fry on moderate heat until golden on both sides. To bake them, place into a 220C/450F oven and bake for about 20 minutes,  turning once.

To make the walnut filling, spread the walnuts on a baking sheet and roast at 180C/350F for about 10 minutes, until they're aromatic and golden. Remove from the oven and let cool.

If you dislike the taste of raw onion, fry the chopped onion in olive oil until translucent.

Place all the filling ingredients into the food processor and blend until coarse and combined. Transfer into a bowl and season to taste - the filling has to be just a wee bit vinegary.

Place a spoonful of the filling onto one end of the aubergine slice, then roll into a cigar (alternatively, spread a thin layer of the walnut paste over the whole length of the aubergine, then roll up).  Place onto a serving tray, and do the same with rest of the aubergine slices and the filling. Garnish with pomegranate seeds and fresh herbs.

More aubergine/eggplant recipes on Nami-Nami:
Grilled aubergine with feta, golden raisins and mint
Armenian aubergine stew
Ottolenghi's roasted aubergine with saffron yoghurt
Nasu dengaku (miso-glazed aubergine)
Aubergine curry with tomatoes, coriander and Nigella seeds
Sautéed aubergine (Melanzane al funghetto)
Israeli roasted aubergine and feta spread
Moussaka, deconstructed

More badrijani recipes on food blogs:
Karen @ Rambling Spoon
Gill @ Gill Stannard
kahviaddikti (recipe in Finnish)
Christina Nichol @ Lucky Peach

In praise of Georgian food

The Washington Post muses on March 3rd, 2015, whether the Georgian food might be the next big thing. It certainly deserves much more attention, if you ask me. There was this incident almost ten years ago, when Kuidaore's Joycelyn began her cookbook meme (memes were a big thing in the early days of food blogging) wondering whether she really needs a Georgian cookbook. I left a long comment insisting she does :)

I've been a fan of Georgian food as long as I remember. The food is so flavoursome and colourful, providing plenty of textures and variety. The picture here is from the chapter dedicated to the cuisine of Georgia in my third cookbook, "Nami-Nami. Maailma maitsed 1" that was published in October 2013 (see my blog post here).  Doesn't it look really appealing and appetising?



There are 99 photos in my  Georgian album over on Flickr, most with links to the Estonian-language recipe. However, there are plenty of excellent Georgian recipes here on Nami-Nami as well for you to browse, helping you to get familiar with the "next big thing". Enjoy!

Georgian-style green beans with herbs and garlicky yogurt or mtsvane lobios borani (pictured at the bottom right, below) is a wonderful side dish (#glutenfree #lowcarb).



Beet salad with walnuts and garlic, pkhali, is a potent vegetable salad that brightens up any festive table (#glutenfree #Paleo):



Cucumber and tomato salad with fresh cilantro/coriander is a delightfully different way to serve the summer favourites, tomatoes and cucumbers.

Chicken in a cold walnut sauce, satsivi, is another winner from Georgia (pictured in the front, below). Georgian cuisine is rather unique in that they use walnuts a lot as a the main ingredient, not just to give some extra flavour or texture. Here the walnuts and mixed with spices and fried onions to form a wonderfully aromatic sauce. (#glutenfree #lowcarb #Paleo)



Creamy mushrooms with spices and herbs, is a great way to cook and serve those rather bland-tasting cultivated white mushrooms (#glutenfree #lowcarb):



Walnut and egg salad,  are here pictured on crispy toasts (#glutenfree #lowcarb):



If you can get hold of the salty Suluguni cheese, then it's excellent when fried in butter:



Yet the most wonderful way of using the Georgian Suluguni cheese is to make a Georgian cheese pie, khatchapuri. There are lots of different versions about that Georgian cheese bread. I've got three recipes in my cookbook, but the recipe you find here on the blog is the simplest one, Imeretian khatchapuri.



Chicken with herbs and tomatoes, chakhohbili (pictured at the centre, below), was the first Georgian recipe to appear here on Nami-Nami, and still finds its way to our table quite regularly (#glutenfree #lowcarb #Paleo)



So, which Georgian dishes have you eaten? Which one would you cook first from this selection here on Nami-Nami?

Georgian recipes: green beans with herbs and garlicky yogurt (mtsvane lobios borani)

It's a season for green beans (aka French beans, fine beans, string beans), though I'm getting my beans from the market stall just now and not from my garden. Back in April, when all decent gardeners were sowing their beans, I was in Tuscany with my dear K. and our three small kids, so some of my vegetables will be ripening later than usually this year, as they were planted or sown later than they ideally should have been planted or sown :)

Today's recipe is a flavoursome Georgian (= the country in the Caucasus region, not the state in the US :)) vegetable dish, with loads of herbs and a garlicky yoghurt dressing. Simple to make (and during winter you can cheat by using frozen beans) and a great way to use a great variety of herbs from your allotment or backyard.

Enjoy!

You'll find all of Nami-Nami's Georgian recipes here.


Green beans (haricots verts) at a Lyon market in France, August 2009

Georgian-style green beans with herbs and garlicky yogurt
(Rohelised oad ürtide ja küüslauguse jogurtikastmega)
Serves four to six

450 g green beans
1 onion, chopped
4 Tbsp butter
0.25 tsp ground cinnamon
a pinch of ground cloves
freshly ground black pepper
finely chopped fresh herbs, including (purple) basil, tarragon, coriander/cilantro, dill, savory

Yoghurt dressing:
250 g strained Greek yoghurt
1 small garlic glove, minced
0.5 tsp salt

Garnish:
1 Tbsp fresh spearmint, finely chopped

Trim the beans, cut into 2 or 3 and blanch in a salted water for a few minutes or until al dente. Drain. (If you use frozen beans, then these are pre-cooked and just need to be defrosted.)

Heat the butter on a large frying pan/skillet, add the chopped onion and sauté till translucent. Add the pre-cooked beans, then season with cinnamon, cloves, pepper. Fry gently on a medium heat, stirring every now and then, until the beans are fully cooked and soft.

At the same time prepare the yoghurt dressing. Place the minced garlic clove and salt into a bowl and pound into a paste (or simply use a fine Microplane zester/grater). Mix with yoghurt. Put aside.

Add the chopped herbs to the cooked green beans, toss thoroughly and heat for another minute. Transfer the herbed beans into a serving bowl, drizzle the yoghurt dressing on top.

Garnish with mint. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Beetroot pkhali, or Georgian beet salad with walnuts and herbs

There have been no beetroot recipes on Nami-Nami recently. I wrote about the wonderful Persian dish, beetroot borani, back in May, but that's three months ago! Me thinks there's definitely time for another beet dish, or I'm in danger of losing my Beetroot Princess* title :)

A fortnight ago we hosted a Georgian feast in our backyard, and one of the many Georgian dishes I prepared was this simple and stunning-looking pkhali, made with beetroot. Pkhali is a Georgian vegetable dish that's something between a salad, dip or even spread, depending on the consistency you choose; the characteristic feature is the aromatic garlic-walnut-herb dressing. (You may have come across an alternative spelling, mkhali. That's the Russian name for this Caucasian salad.) The most popular are beetroot pkhali and spinach pkhali, but one can also use cabbage, eggplant/aubergine, red kidney beans or other vegetables. At any Georgian feast, you would usually find a selection of pkhakli-dishes to sample. I've provided a number of links at the end of the post, if you wish to explore further.

Ideally you'd roast your own beets for the best flavour, but I've used pre-cooked (organic) beets on couple of occasions and I doubt anyone noticed, really.

Charklis pkhali aka Georgian beet salad with walnuts and herbs
(Gruusia peedisalat kreeka pähklitega)
Serves about six or many more as part of a buffét table

 

500 g beets/beetroot

100 g walnuts
3 to 4 garlic cloves
1 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
a handful of fresh parsley
a handful of fresh coriander/cilantro
0.5 tsp dried savoury
0.5 tsp ground coriander seeds
about a Tbsp of good-quality red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar

If you're using raw beets, then scrub them clean and wash thoroughly, wrap into a piece of foil and bake in a pre-heated 180C/350F oven for 60 to 90 minutes, until the beets are cooked. Cool, peel and grate finely.
If you're using boiled beets, then grate them finely and let drain on a sieve for a while, to get rid of any excess moisture (you can press the beets even drier with your hands or a wooden spoon).
At the same time place the walnuts, garlic cloves and a generous pinch of salt into a food processor and process into coarse paste. Add the coriander/cilantro leaves and parsley, process again for a short while.
(You can obviously use the good old pestle and mortar to make that walnut and garlic paste).
In a big bowl, mix the grated beets, walnut-garlic-herb paste and the rest of the ingredients. Season with salt and pepper according to taste. Be cautious with the vinegar - pkhali needs to be slightly acidic, but never vinegary, and the exact amount depends on the sweetness of your roasted or cooked beetroots.
Cover the bowl and transfer into the fridge or cold larder for 2-6 hours - this "waiting time" is necessary for the flavours to mingle and develop.
To serve**, form the pkhali into small balls (optional) and place onto your serving plate. Garnish with pomegranate seeds, thinly sliced red onion or chopped of spring onion/scallion.
Serve at room temperature.

* My friend Alanna of A Veggie Venture is the reigning Beet Queen, remember :)

** Alternatively, spread the pkhali evenly on a plate, then make a diamond pattern on the spread with the edge of your knife before garnishing (see Melissa's spinach pkhali link below as an example). Of course, you can also simply spoon the pkhali into a suitably sized bowl.

More pkhali recipes: 
Spinach pkhali @ The Traveler's Lunchbox
Spinach pkhali balls @ Jeanette's Healthy Living
Beetroot pkhali @ Winter Skies, Kitchen Aglow
Beet pkhali  @ Stay for Tea
Spinach pkhali @ Delicious Georgian Recipes
Spinach Pkhali, Cabbage Pkhali, Beet Pkhali  @ Food Gather.com

Georgian recipes: cucumber and tomato salad with cilantro/coriander

How do you like your tomato salad?

The most popular version here in Estonia is sliced and quartered cucumbers and tomatoes, simply mixed with some sour cream, dill or green onions/scallions and seasoned. However, this summer we've been experimenting with alternatives and this Georgian-style fresh salad has proved to be very delicious and well received. The key ingredient (in addition to flavoursome tomatoes and cucumbers, of course) is fresh cilantro/coriander. Not something I would have thrown into a simple tomato and cucumber salad a year ago, but love now!

Cucumber and tomato salad, Georgian style

tomatoes, quartered
cucumbers, peeled and thickly sliced or cut into batons
(red) onions, peeled, halved and thinly sliced
fresh coriander/cilantro (leaves only)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
some apple cider vinegar

Put the prepared tomatoes, cucumbers and onions into a bowl. Add the coriander/cilantro leaves, season with salt, pepper and a drizzle of vinegar. Combine gently and serve.

Georgian Recipes: Chicken in Walnut Sauce or Chicken Satsivi

Melissa of The Traveler's Lunchbox posted a recipe for Georgian spinach pkhali last week and I got an immense craving for Georgian dishes again. I've been cooking quite a few of them for various reasons - there were some Georgian cooking classes I gave back in 2008 and 2009, there have been Georgian midweek feasts at our home, there are recipes to re-test and re-write for yet another cookbook project ;) But apparently while I've been cooking all those delicious Georgian dishes, I've failed to share the recipes with you, dear readers. I'll try to rectify that shortcoming a.s.a.p., starting as of today. To start with (and that is a 6th Georgian recipe @ Nami-Nami), I'll give you a recipe for a really lovely and unusual chicken dish.

Georgians love walnuts - they are one of the few people who use walnuts as a main ingredient in the kitchen, not just as a garnish here and there - and they do that pretty much on a daily basis. One of the most well-known and popular uses for walnuts is in satsivi sauce, which can be served with chicken, fish and vegetables (aubergine/eggplant satsivi is another very popular dish). There is no one recipe for satsivi - apparently there are at least 20 different versions - and that does not count the secret versions of all individual Georgian cooks! The name 'satsivi' comes from the Georgian word 'tsivi', meaning 'cold/cool' - and it illustrates the fact that a warm satsivi sauce is spooned over a cooked chicken and left to cool and marinate the chicken. Because of that, it's strictly a cold-weather dish. Nobody would pour hot sauce over cold chicken and leave it like that on a hot summer day - it's a health hazard. For hot summer days there are other chicken and walnut dishes (you'll find a recipe both for katmis bazhe and chkmeruli in Darra Goldstein's  Georgian cookbook). If you're interested in the fish satsivi, look out for it in Claudia Roden's excellent book on Jewish cuisine.

Trust me - it's a lot easier to make than it sounds - and the end result is totally worth it!

Georgian Chicken in Walnut Sauce
(Kana-satsivi ehk Gruusia-pärane kana kreeka pähkli kastmes)
Serves six to eight

1 large free-range chicken
1 onion, peeled
2 bay leaves
some parsley stalks
salt
about 1.5 litres of water

Satsivi-sauce:
3 Tbsp sunflower oil
2 large onions, finely chopped
250 g walnuts
6 garlic cloves
1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
0.5 tsp ground cloves
1.5 tsp ground coriander seeds
2 tsp dried marigold leaves
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp paprika powder
0.5 to 1 tsp Cayenne'i pepper or chilli flakes
a pinch of dried savory
0.5 to 1 tsp salt
3 Tbsp white wine or cider vinegar

about 1 litre chicken stock

Heat the oven to 200 C/400 F.
Place the chicken into a saucepan, pour over enough water to cover. Bring into a boil, removing all the froth that appeares on the surface. Then add the peeled onion, bay leaves and some salt. Reduce heat and simmer on a low heat for about 30 minutes.
Remove the chicken from the saucepan and place onto a deep oven dish, "face down". Add half a cup of boiling liquid. Roast in the middle of a 200C/400F oven for about 20-30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked.
Remove the chicken from the oven and let it rest for about 10-15 minutes.

Then you've got two options. Traditionally the chicken is cut into about 8-10 pieces and these are arranged on a serving tray. I've served this dish to a larger group of people and then it's more convenient (for the eaters, that is) to remove the flesh from the bones and cut into large bite-sized pieces, like this:



While the chicken is cooking in the oven, you should

1) Reduce the chicken stock - you'll need about 1 litre

2) Prepare the satsivi-sauce:

Chop the walnuts and garlic cloves in the food processor - you'll want small crumbs, but not a powder!!
Heat oil on a heavy frying pan. Add the chopped onion and sauté for 7-8 minutes.
Add the walnut mixture and fry, stirring all the time, for 3-4 minutes.
Return it all to the food processor and process into a thick coarse paste.
Now - return it to the pan again and add all the seasoning (except wine vinegar):



Fry for a few minutes, stirring carefully. Now start adding the chicken stock, ladleful at the time (you may not need all the stock - it depends on the thickness of your walnut paste - I've used anything from 3 to 4 cups). Let the sauce simmer for about 20 minutes over a low heat, until it thickens.
Season with wine vinegar and again with some salt and pepper, if necessary.

Pour the satsivi sauce over the chicken pieces and let cool to room temperature. Serve at room temperature, garnish with pomegranate seeds or parsley or cilantro leaves.

Georgian recipes: creamy mushrooms with spices and herbs

Another Georgian recipe on Nami-Nami. When I gave couple of Georgian cookery classes back in March, I had chosen 15 carefully selected recipes for the class. Little did I know that this humble and simple mushroom dish would prove to be such a great favourite with the participants. The mushrooms are slowly cooked in cream, alongside with some spices you wouldn't usually associate with mushroom dishes - cloves, bay leaves, cinnamon. Just before serving, some finely chopped fresh herbs are added, which lift the whole dish nicely (a bit like gremolata on osso buco, you know :))

Serve as a side dish or on a buffet spread. For best results, choose large mushrooms or use whole button mushrooms.

Creamy mushrooms with spices and herbs
(Vürtsidega hautatud šampinjonid)
serves 4

500 g mushrooms
1 Tbsp butter
0.5 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper
200 ml whipping cream/double cream
6 whole black peppercorns
3 cloves
2 bay leaves
small cinnamon stick
large handful of fresh dill, finely chopped
large handful on fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

First, prepare the mushrooms. If they're very dirty, then rinse them quickly and dry thoroughly. Otherwise just wipe them clean with a wet kitchen paper. Cut mushrooms in halve or into thick slices.
Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the mushrooms. Season generously with salt and pepper, then sauté for a few minutes, until the mushrooms take on some colour.
Meanwhile, place the spices and bay leaves on a piece of muslin or cheesecloth:


Tie them up with a cotton string:


Place the "spice pouch" into the saucepan and push it snugly between the mushrooms. Pour of the cream. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer on low heat for about 40-45 minutes, until the cream has reduced considerably.

Remove the "spice pouch", stir in the chopped herbs and serve.

Georgian recipes: walnut and egg salad

In the early days of my foodblogging (we're talking about summer 2005 here), I ended up defending the joys of Georgian cuisine on Kuidaore's picture-perfect blog (note we're talking about this Georgia and not that Georgia here!). I'm still wondering where I got the courage from!! Still, we eat Georgian food with some regularity at home -simply because it's tasty and different, and I'll be sharing some Georgian recipes with you over the next few weeks. I've recently given two cookery classes focusing on this fascinating cuisine, and I do hope you enjoy the recipes as much we enjoyed the finished dishes!

There are already some Georgian recipes on Nami-Nami. I wrote about fried Suluguni cheese earlier this week, and there's a recipe for khatchapuri cheese bread and another for chakhohbili chicken and herb stew. Today I'm sharing a recipe for Georgian Egg Salad (azelila), seasoned with lots of fresh herbs and ground walnuts. It's creamy and flavoursome, and a great way to use up all those boiled eggs that you have over the Easter holidays! Walnuts are essential for this dish - as well to many other dishes characteristic to Georgian cuisine.

We served this on lightly toasted ciabatta-slices (see photo below) - not terribly authentic, but this salad is excellent on crostini, I think.

If you are interested in learning more about Georgian food, then I can highly recommend Darra Goldstein's excellent "The Georgian Feast: The Vibrant Culture and Savory Food of the Republic of Georgia" (on Amazon.com/on Amazon.co.uk). Many of the recipes I'll be sharing are based on her book, though not exclusively. There is also a nice chapter on Georgian food in Nigella Lawson's "Feast: Food that Celebrates Life" (on Amazon.com/on Amazon.co.uk).

Georgian Egg Salad
(Gruusia munasalat)
Serves 4 to 6 (or more, if served as canapés)



4 large eggs
4 Tbsp butter, softened
4 Tbsp finely chopped walnuts (pestle and mortar is best)
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh dill
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander/cilantro
2 Tbsp finely chopped spring onions (white parts only)
a pinch of salt

pomegranate seeds, to garnish

Hard-boil the eggs, then cool quickly under cold running water and peel. Put into a medium-sized bowl and "chop" until mushy with a fork. Using the fork, work in the softened butter - you want a reasonably creamy mixture.
Add the fresh herbs and finely chopped walnuts, stir until combines. Season with salt.
Place into a bowl and garnish with ruby pomegranate seeds.

Georgian recipes: fried Suluguni cheese

This recipe is mostly for my readers in countries where you can easily buy the Georgian Suluguni cheese. That pretty much means former USSR, as well as countries with sizeable number of Georgian or Russian migrants (look for "Russian shops" then). Although there are other cheeses that can be fried like this, they wouldn't taste the same, so I'm not even going to suggest any other alternatives.

If you are based in Tallinn, then please look for the cheese at Tallinn Central Market, where several vendors sell white cheese rounds, weighing about 1 kg/2 pounds each, at the main market hall. There are two main makers - the Kehra cheese being slightly saltier and the Vaida cheese slightly milder in flavour. It's recommended you buy the whole round - use half of it for for this recipe and the rest for making khatchapuri, the Georgian cheese bread.

Fried Suluguni cheese
(Praetud Suluguni juust)
Serves six to eight as nibble

500 g Suluguni cheese
2 Tbsp plain flour
butter, for frying
finely chopped fresh mint or tarragon

Cut the cheese into thick slices, dust with flour.
Heat butter on a heavy frying pan over a moderate heat. Fry the cheese slices on both sides, until golden brown.
Sprinkle with fresh herbs and serve at once.

For a gluten-free alternative: omit the flour (you won't get as nice and crispy finish, but it'll taste as gorgeous).

Georgian cheese bread: Hatchapuri/Khachapuri

Photo from April 2008

I - finally - made some hatchapuri. Hatchapuri, for those of you who don't know it, is a famous Georgian cheesebread. Somehow - not sure where I got the guts to do that! - I ended up wholeheartedly defending Georgian cuisine in general and hatchapuri recipe in particular over at Kuidaore during my very early blogging days. Il Forno's Alberto wrote about hatchapuri (or khachapuri, as he spells it) already in early 2004. More recently, my fellow Edinburgh blogger (until I moved back home, that is) Melissa so eloquently wrote about it on The Traveler's Lunchbox. There's a recipe in the latest Nigella book, as well as Darra Goldstein's almost scholarly book The Georgian Feast. This very cheesebread is positively 'in' at the moment. However, as both of these books of mine are still in sort of transit from Edinburgh to Tallinn and I won't get my hands on them until Christmas, then I had to look elsewhere for a suitable recipe. The simple recipe below is adapted from an Estonian food enthusiast who writes under the name of Volks Vaagen, who has got it from a Georgian lady called Natalya.

Now, before we proceed, remember that just like there are loads of different pizzas, there is a huge range of hatchapuri breads out there. The type and name of your cheesebread depends on where in Georgia you're trying to bake and/or eat it. There's Imeruli hatchapuri (flat, round bread, using imeruli cheese), Acharuli/Adjaruli hatchapuri (a suluguni cheese bread 'boat' topped with raw egg and then cooked; sometimes also referred to as Georgian pizza), Achma hatchapuri (a very rich and layered cheesebread) , Megruli hatchapuri (has cheese both inside and outside the bread), Svanuri hatchapuri (also known as chvishtar), Rachuli hatchapuri, Phenovani/Penovani hatchapuri (with a flaky pastry, formed as a triangle), Ossuri hatchapuri (filled with cheese and mashed potatoes), Guruli hatchapuri (thick and crunchy, with lots of cheese, formed as a log).
I'm pretty sure the list is not exhaustive (I'll report back when I compile a definitive list of various hatchapuris:)

You should really use imeruli/emeruli cheese or suluguni cheese for this recipe, although brynza cheese would work, too, as it is similarly salty. I used suluguni here. Suluguni is a whole milk cheese from Georgia (as in the Caucasus, and not in the US, obviously) , which can be grilled (I'm thinking of using suluguni instead of halloumi in the recipe for roasted red peppers with cumin-scented halloumi). Luckily, there's a considerable Abkhasian Georgian community in Estonia, and they've set up a small suluguni cheese factory in Kehra near Tallinn. It's not readily available in supermarkets, but you can easily buy that at local markets here. If you live in the US or UK, then try the Russian stores. Or see what alternatives Melissa and Alberto recommend.

I'm pretty sure it would be a fantastic accompaniment to Chakhohbili, the Georgian chicken stew with loads of herbs and wine. There's garlic in the cheese filling of this hatchapuri, which gave a real extra kick to the flavour. Feel free to leave it out, if you prefer a milder taste sensation.

Georgian cheese bread Hatchapuri
(Hatšapuri)
Yields 6 generous wedges.



For the dough:
250 grams sour cream
150 grams butter or margarine, melted
1 egg, slightly whisked
350 g plain flour (or a bit more, if necessary) (about 600 ml)
a pinch of salt
0.25 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar

For the cheese filling:
200 grams suluguni cheese, coarsely grated
1 egg, whisked
2 Tbsp sour cream
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (optional)

Mix sour cream and melted butter. Add salt, baking soda and sugar, whisk in the egg and add flour in installments. Knead slightly, until you've got a soft & pliable dough. Divide into two, roll each into a large circle (25 cm or so).
Grate the cheese, mix with egg, sour cream and chopped garlic.
Place one dough circle on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Spread the cheese filling on top, leaving about 1 cm from the edges clean. Cover with the other dough circle, press the edges firmly together.
Brush with egg or sour cream, pierce with a fork here and there. Bake at 200C for 20-30 minutes, until hatchapuri is lovely golden brown colour.

Chakhohbili alias Georgian chicken with herbs and wine

I started this foodblog back in June and if I remember correctly, then one of the first comments I left on another blog was avidly defending Georgian cuisine. It's not that I'm an expert on that particular cuisine, but I happily visit the few Georgian (and other Caucasian) restaurants in Tallinn when I have a chance. During my teenage years I lived in a block of flats where our next door neighbours were a stern Russian physics professor (he) and an extremely lively and charming Georgian journalist and theatre critic (she). She was a good cook. I can almost say that I grew up smelling the delicious aromas of Georgian cuisine on a daily basis...

Not sure why, but the recent avian flu scares - which in theory should make me not to want to eat poultry - have had exactly the opposite effect on me. I've been craving chicken for weeks, and last weekend had a go. I did make sure my chicken came from a reputable local organic source and I cooked chicken two days in a row - a Georgian chicken stew on Saturday (to precede the yummy fig tarts) and a somewhat disappointing Caribbean coconut chicken on Sunday (I'm still trying to figure out whether it was me or the recipe).

The following recipe for a Georgian chicken stew is based on quite a few sources, including Clarissa Hyman's The Jewish Kitchen: Recipes and Stories from Around the World, as well as various Estonian sources. Clarissa Hyman's recipe was probably most useful in terms of which seasonings to use, although the way she included potatoes in her stew was ubiquous, to say the least. I compared, combined and tweaked the various recipes to what I had on hand. Traditionally a whole cut-up chicken is first dry fried in the saucepan before other ingredients are added. I used chicken breasts. To boost the chicken flavour that would have otherwise come from the bones and skin, I added some fresh chicken gravy. The resulting stew was really flavoursome and tasty, and seemed pretty authentic - though adapted - to all eaters. And I think Eteria, my neighbour, would have approved.

Georgian chicken with herbs and wine - Chakhokhbili
(Kanatšahhohbili)



500 grams chicken breast fillets, cut into large chunks
2 Tbsp sunflower oil
2 chopped large onions
1 chopped garlic clove
400 grams chopped tomatoes (or couple of peeled fresh tomatoes)
100 ml fresh chicken stock
100 ml medium-bodied red wine
2 bay leaves
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp crushed coriander seeds
1 tsp crushed fenugreek seeds (optional)
salt and black pepper
a very generous cupful of fresh herbs (CORIANDER/CILANTRO, TARRAGON, mint, basil, dill, parsley - it MUST include the herbs in capital letters, otherwise it's not even remotely authentic. I used the whole lot apart from mint.)

Heat the oil in a thick saucepan. Add chicken and fry on a medium heat until slightly browned all over.
Add onions, stir for a few minutes. Add garlic and saute, until onion has softened a little.
Add the chilli flakes, coriander and fenugreek*, stir for a few seconds to release aromas. Add tomatoes, fresh chicken stock and wine together with bay leaves. Season. Bring to a simmer, cover the saucepan with a lid and cook for 30-45 minutes (or more, if you wish), stirring every now and then, until the sauce is reduced to a thick glossy sauce.
Remove the bay leaves and add the fresh herbs. Stir and cover for 10 minutes, so the flavours can infuse. Season again, if necessary.
Serve with boiled rice or potatoes, garnish with lemon slices.

* If you can get hold of the Georgian spicy relish, adjika, then use this one instead of the spices (a tablespoon or two, depending on your taste).