Although I spent many years living in Tbilisi, I never took the time until now to make my own khinkali, traditional meat dumplings. I followed the recipe below and ended up with approximately 20 khinkali. I cooked ten for lunch and had the rest for dinner. გემრიელი Delicious !
Dough :
3 cups flour (375 g)
1.5 tsp salt (1,5 càc)
1.5 cups warm water (355 ml)
Mix together in a large bowl. Knead for about five minutes and set aside for 30 minutes.
21 ounces ground beef and pork (600 g)
1 cup chopped parsley (45 g)
1 onion finely chopped
1 tbs red pepper ground (1 càs)
1 tsp caraway ground (1 càc)
1 tsp black pepper (1 càc)
1 egg white
1 cup water (230 ml)
In a large bowl, thoroughly mix the meat, onion, parsley and other ingredients.
Roll out dough to a 2 cm thickness and cut out circles about 6½ cm in diameter with a drinking glass. Roll these out again one by one filling them with a spoonful of the ground meat filling. Create money bags by carefully folding the edges in an accordion pattern until the filling is completely sealed in by the dough. Pinch off the remaining dough. Click here for a good visual.
Place in boiling water for ten minutes. Sprinkle the khinkali with ground black pepper and serve hot. The khinkali is typically consumed first by sucking the juices while taking the first bite, in order to prevent the dumpling from bursting.
The top, where the pleats meet is not supposed to be eaten, but discarded to the plate so that those eating can count how many they have consumed.
In Georgia, this top is called the "kudi" (Georgian ქუდი, hat) or "kuchi" (Georgian კუჭი, belly button). Serve with beer or apple cider. Don't forget to play some good Georgian music in the background as you eat. Personally, I prefer the album Tsintskaro by Hamlet Gonashvili.
საქართველოს გაუმარჯოს Sakartvelos gaumarjos !!!