National cuisines of the Caucasus. Famous Caucasian pastries North Caucasian cuisine

Cuisine of the peoples of the Caucasus or national Caucasian cuisine 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 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 is for Caucasian peoples- 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 more than once 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 experience Caucasian cuisine without leaving your 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 to be perfect! best traditions real oriental cuisine!

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 is a traditional dish of 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.

Miracle (emphasis on last letter) is one of the most common dishes of 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 at high altitudes the pressure is lower and water boils at higher temperatures. low temperatures. Under these conditions, cook meat for a very long time. 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) - 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; it 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.

Caucasian cuisine– the concept is quite arbitrary. The Caucasus Mountains region is home to a large number of peoples whose cuisine has many common features. Caucasian cuisine is, first of all, meat, vegetables, herbs, spices and red wine. The names of many dishes of Caucasian cuisine are well known even to those who have never been to the Caucasus, since this national food is simply adored in Russia.

The dishes, in general, are characterized by elegance of taste, satiety and a special ritual of preparing and eating food with the obligatory abundance of herbs, spices, and delicious drinks; they are united by the collective name of the traditional dishes of the peoples inhabiting the Caucasian region.

Nature has generously endowed this region with fertile arable land, plenty of sun, noble mountains with an abundance of fragrant herbs, fragrant gardens and vineyards. Therefore, Caucasian cuisine is a real national treasure, unlike others, because it combines the secrets of various dishes.

All dishes are very appetizing, juicy, satisfying, with their own unique flavors and original recipes. This includes the well-known kebab, delicious pilaf, satsivi, shurpa, dolma, khinkali, kebabs, khachapuri - the list goes on and on. And of course, one cannot help but pay attention to the unimaginable an abundance of various sauces, seasonings and famous aromatic wines. Magical unique recipes are given to us by peoples who are well versed in food and know how to cook it. Colorful culinary ideas are loved and in demand far beyond the Caucasus.

In this review, we have selected five famous Caucasian dishes and collected their classic recipes.

In order to start cooking real and tasty kebab, you must first choose the right meat. What kind of meat should you buy? Some people only like lamb, others do not eat pork, and still others eat any meat. Pork is perfect for a good barbecue, not very fatty, only fresh and not frozen. Which part of pork to use? best result? Take the neck.
Ingredients for marinating - based on 3-4 kilograms. The main secret of marinating shish kebab is not what ingredients to put there, but in what sequence.

Ingredients:

• Salt (about 4-5 tsp)
• Coarsely ground black pepper
• Coriander is also known as cilantro. 15-20 peas. They need to be crushed in a mortar, first lightly fried. If the coriander is already ground: a little more than half a teaspoon
• Basil - the same amount as ground coriander, 1/2 teaspoon
• Thyme - also known as Thyme per kilogram - one or two pinches

• Zira. A very specific seasoning, a little less than half a teaspoon will be enough. Zira has a very specific taste, so be careful in its quantity
• Bay leaf, a couple of pieces
• Red pepper, paprika. Ground, sweet. You can have a teaspoon without a “slide”. It will give a slightly desired aroma and a beautiful color when frying. Want to add some spice? One clove of crushed garlic, add hot capsicum, but be careful, the taste of the meat can be greatly interrupted, you need everything in moderation
• Onions – 5-6 bulbs
• Sunflower oil – 5-6 tablespoons

Mix everything, add half a lemon. The meat should be marinated for several hours, then fry the kebab on the grill.

Ossetians have been baking their traditional pies with various fillings for thousands of years. The shape of the pies is usually round, about 30-35 cm in diameter.

The name of the pies may vary depending on the type of filling :

• Walibakh, ch(b)iri, habizdzhyn (singular) – pies with cheese
• Kartofdzhyn – pies with potatoes and cheese
• Tsaharajyn – pies with chopped beet leaves and cheese
• Kabuskajin – pies with shredded cabbage and cheese
• Fydzhyn - pies with minced meat (usually beef)
• Davonjin – pies with chopped wild garlic leaves and cheese
• Nashjyn – pies with chopped pumpkin and cheese (available without)
• Kh(b)adurjyn – bean pies

In different regions of Ossetia there may be other variations of the filling.

Ingredients:

For the test:

• Wheat flour - 500 g
• Sugar - 50 g
• Salt - 60 g
• Yeast (preferably live) - 50 g
• Water - 1.5 l

For the filling:

• Beef (brisket) - 450 g
• Onion - 2 medium onions
• Garlic - 3–5 cloves

Preparation:

• Prepare the dough- mix one and a half liters warm water, yeast, salt and sugar. Let sit for 10–12 minutes
• Mix flour and dough so that the dough is elastic enough and not too hard. At the end, add a little sunflower oil so that the dough does not stick to your hands.
• Pass the meat through a meat grinder, do the same with garlic and onions. Add salt and pepper to taste
• Lay out the dough on the table, roll it out a little and put the filling in the middle. Then close the top with the edges of the dough. Then roll out to a thickness of two and a half centimeters. Place the pie in cast iron frying pan or shape (approximately 32 centimeters in diameter). Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 300 degrees. When serving, brush the pie with a little butter.

To prepare real khinkali, you need to follow several rules. Firstly, it is advisable not to grind the meat through a meat grinder, but to chop it finely: chopped meat will release more natural juice when cooked, and this is the most valuable part of the dish. In addition, the minced meat should not be dry; you need to add a little water to it and mix thoroughly. Kneading the dough for khinkali by hand is difficult, as it should turn out dense and elastic, so if you have a dough mixer, it is better to use it.

The more folds on the tail, the better quality the khinkali is considered: ideally there should be 19 folds, but often there are about 10. The number does not affect the taste, but speaks about the professionalism of the cook.

You need to eat khinkali with your hands: take it by the tail, turn it over, bite a small hole and first drink the juice, and then take a bite.

Ingredients:

Ground meat:

• Veal - 1 kg
• Onions - 200 gr
• Chili pepper - 10–12 g
• Salt - 10–15 g
• Black pepper - 3–4 g
• Fresh cilantro - 5 g
• Water - 100 gr

Dough:

• Flour - 2 kg
• Water - 650 ml
• Sunflower oil - 20–30 g
• Salt - 20 gr

Preparation:

Dough. Pour flour, salt into a deep container and start kneading, gradually adding water and sunflower oil. After the mass becomes homogeneous and elastic, form it into a ball, cover with cling film and leave for 20 minutes.

Ground meat. Finely chop the meat. Chop the onion into small cubes, finely chop the chili and chop the cilantro. In a deep container, mix meat, onion, chili, cilantro, mint, salt and pepper. Add water and mix thoroughly (the consistency should be liquid but homogeneous).

Roll out the dough into a sausage with a diameter of about four centimeters and cut it into pieces of three to four centimeters. Form each piece into a ball, and then, sprinkle with flour, roll out into a thin flat cake three millimeters thick. You need to roll out the same ball at least ten times to make the dough more elastic.

Put about 50 gr. minced meat into the middle of a thin flatbread and, lifting the edges of the dough up, roll them in a circle like an accordion: pinch the dough with one hand and collect the folds with the other. Press the resulting tail and cut off the excess top with a knife. Stretch the khinkali slightly so that after cooking, the juice from the meat inside remains at the bottom.

Salted in a saucepan swirl boiling water into a funnel using a spoon, lower the khinkali into its center, scroll once (so that the khinkali certainly do not stick to each other) and leave to cook for seven to nine minutes.

(kebab in Persian means “fried meat”) - an oblong cutlet fried on a skewer.

Traditional lula kebab prepared from lamb and onions. In this case, the lamb should be quite fatty, and you will need a lot of onions. Unlike cutlets, lula kebab does not contain any eggs or bread. Only spices are added to the meat and onions: pepper, basil, cilantro, garlic.

For cooking lula kebab The lamb must be passed through a meat grinder and minced with your hands for a very long time, throwing it forcefully onto the table. The minced meat should become viscous so that it sticks to the skewers and does not fall apart on the grill. It is very important to knead the minced meat well - it also determines how tender the meat will be.

To prevent minced meat made without bread and eggs from falling apart during frying, it must first be beaten, that is, forcefully hit the entire mass of minced meat on the table for 8–10 minutes.

Ingredients:

• Lamb – 1 kg
• Onions – 4 pcs.
• Fat tail fat – 100 g
• Basil – 1 tsp.

Cooking method:

• Peel the onion, grind with half the lard in a meat grinder
• Wash the lamb, cut into pieces and also grind in a meat grinder. Add the mixture of onions and lard, mince everything together again
• Season the minced meat with seasonings and basil. Knead for 7–8 minutes. Then beat thoroughly, cover with cling film and put in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Make sausages 12–14 cm long from the minced meat and thread them onto skewers. Fry over coals or in a hot frying pan, turning constantly, for 20 minutes. Plum sauce goes very well with lula kebabs.

Khachapuri

Adjarian khachapuri recipe

Ingredients:

• flour - 500 gr
• salt - 1/4 tsp.
• warm milk - 1 tbsp.
• sugar - 1 tsp.
• chicken egg - 8 pcs.
• vegetable oil - 2 tbsp. l.
• dry yeast - 1 sachet
• grated cheese (Adyghe or Suluguni) - 250-350 gr
• butter - 100 gr

Preparation:

• Dough. Pour milk into a bowl, add salt, sugar, 1 egg, flour and yeast and mix well. Knead until you get a smooth and elastic dough
• Grease a pan with oil, transfer the dough into it and roll it in oil, then cover with foil and place in a warm place for an hour. After an hour, knead the dough and put it back in a warm place for half an hour.
• After half an hour, knead the dough and divide by 6 equal parts according to the number of future khachapuri. We flatten the dough with our hands to form soft oval cakes, we tighten the edges of these cakes so that the dough in the middle is thinner. Place grated cheese in the middle, fold the edges and forming boats. Beat 1 egg and brush the edges with it

• Place the khachapuri in an oven preheated to 200°C for 25-30 minutes. Then we take out the khachapuri and beat an egg into the middle of each. Keep the khachapuri with the egg in the oven, so that the white is baked and the yolk remains liquid (don’t miss this moment!!!), and we get it. Serve khachapuri hot, placing a piece of butter on top of each

Bon appetit everyone!!!

Caucasian cuisine consists of cuisines of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, which have many similarities characteristic features. Traditional recipes from these countries use a lot of vegetables, herbs, seasonings, meat and always red wine. Even far from these countries, lula kebab and lobio, khachapuri and satsivi are known.

Caucasian cuisine widely uses in its recipes various types meat. Most often, cooks put veal, lamb and beef in dishes. Moreover, the meat is chopped manually with a knife.

Kebab occupies a special place among the traditional dishes of the peoples of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. He is unique business card Caucasus. There are many recipes with which you can prepare this dish. The barbecue must be served on the table in large quantities vegetables and a variety of herbs.

Caucasian cuisine is widely known for its thick and delicious soups. Rich broths are also familiar to many. The kharcho soup of the Georgian peoples is especially popular, as well as the Azerbaijani kyufta-bozbash and piti.

Traditionally, Caucasian cuisine is famous for its pilaf. The main ingredient in the preparation of this dish is meat. However, chefs often use berries, fish, vegetables or other products instead.

The cuisines of the peoples of the Caucasus are also notable for their desserts. The main ones are sherbet and kazinaki, Turkish delight and baklava. Ossetian pies, open pasties, meat in Tsakhton sauce and kebabs are very popular.

The diet of the peoples living in the Caucasus largely depends on the climatic characteristics of the region. Morning starts with easy reception food. The daytime meal is a little denser. Spicy and fatty foods are served at the evening table. After all, it is at dinner that relatives, friends and neighbors come together.

Caucasian cuisine, whose recipes with photos will whet your appetite, will delight you with wonderful soups, kebabs, sauces and desserts. Traditional dishes of the peoples of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia will be a real highlight of your

Famous Caucasian pastries

Caucasian cuisine is no less diverse than the Caucasus itself. Adjika, kebabs, vegetable dishes with spices and spices are firmly included in our diet. And any housewife can pamper her family with traditional oriental pastries.

Khachapuri is a true masterpiece of Georgian cuisine. They can be prepared in different ways: there are huge amount 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 that makes baked goods 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.