Georgian cuisine has its own unique character. Georgians are hospitable and benevolent people, and their feasts are distinguished by special generosity and variety. The geographical location and nature of Georgia make it possible to cook deliciously, typical – all kinds of fruits and vegetables, a variety of meat, vineyards. And the influence of the Transcaucasian, Asian, European cuisines, as well as the skill of local chefs who rely on the recipes of their ancestors, make Georgian dishes unlike anything else in the world.
Conventionally, the Georgian cuisine of the west and east of the country is different. Despite this, for a guest of this country, shashlik, kharcho, lobio, chikhirtma, chakhokhbili, khachapuri are heard – this is only a small part of the dishes that are traditional throughout Georgia.
Cheese
Cheese for the Georgian table is a must. At the same time, the composition of local cheeses will seem to someone too specific – here it is boiled in milk, fried over a fire, soaked, made heavier with butter and sprinkled with spices. At the same time, there are more than several hundred dishes that are prepared either based on cheese or contain cheese filling in Georgia.
For example, khachapuri – a flatbread stuffed with cheese, eggs, with herbs, open and closed – it all depends on the region where this popular dish is prepared. Khachapuri is baked in a cast-iron pan, and the dough is kneaded on sour milk – yogurt. For the filling, the cheese is soaked, pounded, mixed with butter and an egg – it turns out very gently.
Meat
Meat in Georgian cuisine is cooked often and is not limited in the choice of the type – beef, pork, lamb, any poultry. Georgians love meat cooked on an open fire, and many dishes have already become international – shashlik, tapaka chicken, satsivi, chikhirtma, chakhokhbili and many others.
Caxoxʙili – juicy and aromatic pieces of poultry cooked in tomato sauce. At the same time, the meat itself is cooked without adding fat – it is stewed in vegetables and tomato. Be sure to add parsley, cilantro, savory, red pepper, basil and garlic to this dish.
Tapaka chickens – chickens, fried in a special wide frying pan “tapa” under a lid and press. Tapaka is cooked without spices, since then this dish is used as part of another multicomponent. If the chicken is served on its own, it is seasoned with garlic, cilantro, basil, tarragon, chives or leeks.
Khinkali – Georgian manti with minced lamb or veal. This dish is eaten with hands – they take it by the tail, which, by the way, is not accepted to eat, and bite off the thinnest dough with a juicy filling of minced meat and broth.
Satsivi – a poultry dish served cold. Fried meat is served with satsivi sauce, which has many varieties. Satsivi is prepared in broth with the addition of nuts, seasonings and spices.
Tolma – Georgian cabbage rolls. For the mince shell, take eggplants, tomatoes, peppers or apples, which are stewed in broth, generously sprinkled with spices and herbs.
Basturma – lamb or beef jerky. Georgian basturma is cooked with salt for 21 days, then soaked and dried for another 3 weeks.
Kebab – a traditional Georgian dish of ground meat, usually lamb. Minced meat is made into balls, then breaded in breadcrumbs and stewed in a spicy broth.
Mtsvadi – fragrant and juicy Georgian barbecue. This nation prefers to fry beef shashlik – from raw meat or pickled basturma. There is also a lamb kebab.
First course
Soups are highly respected in Georgia and they are prepared in a variety of ways – for any category: with meat, vegetarian, dairy. The basis for Georgian soups is meat broth, which is seasoned with flour sauce or raw eggs. A distinctive feature is the acidity of the first courses, which is achieved using yogurt, vinegar or fruit juice.
Harcho – beef soup with rice and walnuts, the acidity of the soup is given by the thick mashed potatoes of tkemali plums. Ready rich kharcho is seasoned with crushed garlic, cilantro and basil.
Hashi – the broth for this soup is cooked from beef entrails, legs and head bones, seasoned with garlic. Georgian khashi is eaten in the morning for breakfast because of the nutritional value of the dish.
Chikhirtma – a thick, hearty soup made from lamb or poultry (chicken, turkey), thickened with beaten eggs and flour. Chikhirtma always contains mint, saffron, cilantro, parsley, celery and basil.
Vegetables and greens
Without fragrant greenery, Georgians cannot imagine a single dish, and the fertile land leaves no choice – the harvest of vegetables in Georgia is impressive. Beans, peppers, tomatoes and cabbage are especially held in high esteem.
Lobio – Georgia’s signature dish of boiled beans with spices. Lobio must include onions, wine vinegar and vegetable oil. And then the recipe changes, depending on the region of the country: tomatoes, nuts, eggs, cheese, cilantro, parsley, celery, leeks, mint, savory, basil, dill. Generously flavored with pepper, cinnamon, cloves, suneli, coriander and saffron.
Mhali – vegetable salad, some of the ingredients of which must undergo heat treatment – baked, stewed. The accent of the salad is a dressing of walnut, wine vinegar, cilantro, garlic, red pepper, parsley and salt. The main components are cabbage, beets, bell peppers, spinach, onions.
Nuts are the most popular base for Georgian sauces, fillings, and snacks. They are added in the preparation of meat, fish, soups, vegetables, and confectionery.
Bakery products
There are many dough-based dishes in Georgian cuisine, while Georgian chefs prefer to use corn flour and corn oil for baking. Therefore, Georgian dough is specific, different in texture and taste.
A popular appetizer instead of bread is mchadi cakes, which are served with cheese. Each housewife has her own recipe for mchadi – very finely ground corn flour, salt, vegetable oil and cheese, but spices and seasonings are different in every house.
Georgian khachapuri is the pride of the country. This is a tortilla with cheese, fish or meat. The dough for khachapuri is kneaded either on the basis of yogurt or cooked with yeast.
They love pies with beans or meat in Georgia. The most popular is achma. It is made from puff boiled dough stuffed with Ossetian cheese or suluguni. Unsweetened achma with salted cheese is eaten scalding hot.
Sauces
No Georgian dish is served without sauce. They are made from everything that is in the house, without turning them into a shapeless mess. Georgians know a lot about sauces and know how to prepare a real taste masterpiece from several ingredients.
Georgian sauces are prepared only from natural ingredients – fresh vegetables, spices, berry and fruit juices. Often used are tomatoes, barberries, pomegranates, sloe berries, tkemali, garlic, nuts, wine vinegar, cilantro, basil, tarragon, parsley, thyme, dill and mint, cinnamon, coriander, cloves, and all types of peppers. Sauce recipes are passed down from generation to generation and are part of the country’s culinary traditions. The sauce can not only be served with a ready-made dish, but also be used in the cooking process.
The most popular sauces are berry and vegetable and nut sauces. For example, tkemali, thorny, cornelian cherry, tomato, tklapi sauce, satsebeli.
Satsebeli is the basis of almost all dishes of Georgian cuisine; it is prepared from fresh tomatoes, cilantro, dill, coriander, ombalo, utskho-suneli, blue fenugreek, and some recipes also add basil, marjoram, and red paprika.
Nut sauces include garo and satsivi. Garo is made up of nuts, chicken broth, cilantro, garlic, wine vinegar, or pomegranate juice. Garo is served with fried poultry meat. Satsivi is served with the dish of the same name – chicken satsivi. Both ingredients are served cold. The sauce is based on chicken broth, nuts, wheat or corn flour, onions, garlic and a variety of condiments.
Wine
The climatic conditions in Georgia make it possible to grow grapes of different varieties all year round. And it is not surprising that wine-making in the country is very actively developed. Georgian wines are an example of taste, consistency and quality. Red, white, sparkling, fortified and dessert – the hospitable host will first of all offer the guest a glass of good aromatic unique wine made from freshly harvested grapes.
The Kakhetian wines are especially distinguished – white rkatsiteli, khikhvi, as well as saperavi and cabernet, named after the grape varieties that are grown in this region. In the western regions of Georgia, vintage wines are prepared from the grapes of alexandrouli, tsolikouri, tsulukidzis tetra, usakhelouri, ojaleshi, mujuretuli, orbeluri. The visiting cards of Georgia are Atenuri wines from Chinuri and Gorouli grapes, Khvanchkara, as well as Ojaleshi, which is not inferior in quality to French wines.
Winemaking in Georgia is an art that every family owns. Homemade wine is a real holiday for the whole family, it is prepared and consumed every day, and it is stored in a huge earthenware qveri buried in the ground for aging and coolness.
Confection
For dessert, Georgians prefer natural sweets – fruits, berries, nuts, honey and wine. In the cool season, dried and candied fruits are eaten.
Since the nut is the main seasoning of most dishes, most traditional Georgian sweets are also prepared with it: pies with sweet filling and nuts, baked goods, halva.
The Georgian traditional sweet known to us is churchkhela. A delicacy is prepared from nuts, raisins, peach or apricot pits, doused with grape juice thickened with flour. Churchkhela ripens within several months.
Kozinaki is also prepared in Georgia – sweets made from honey and nuts. This dessert is usually served on the first day of the New Year. The local dessert pelamushi is also popular – a thick jelly made from grape juice and corn flour. Of course, pelamushi is served with nuts.
Among the traditional pastries, the traditional Caucasian national dish, kada, stands out. These are cookies made from several layers of sweet puff pastry, soaked in a nut filling.