Teo's world

Passport & Plate - Khinkali

Georgia | Friday, March 14, 2014 | 6 photos

Ingredients
For dough
2 cups of warm water
1000 grams of flour
Salt
For filling:
500 gr Mixed forcemeat
2 mid-size onions
Salt and pepper
1 cup of warm water

 

How to prepare this recipe
For dough first of all Mix flour and salt together, then pour slowly warm water until smooth and work out with hands. Add as much flour as needed until dough becomes elastic and is not sticking to your hands. Make flatten it and cut in round pieces. Make each round piece more flat by roller. It should be About 7-8 cm diameter, thin and elastic.
Cut onions in very small pieces. Put together onion, meat, add salt and pepper and a water. The filling should be juicy but not too much.
Take bit of the filling and put on the dough, and start bringing together the edges of dough, so you receive the shape you see on the picture. For this you take one side of dough, stick to other and this way by around 5 milimeters sticking around step by step until the dough is fully sticked.
Bring water to boiling and put the dumplings inside. Don’t forget to add some salt to the water as well. Bring dumplings to boiling condition, and then they are ready to eat. Are great with black pepper. It's easy to prepare, as far as you use all ingredients very precisely, and it's so delicious, one can not believe that this is so easy.

 

The story behind this recipe
I loved preparing some little things from my childhood, but there is always one special dish, you think you should prepare on day and that day will be amazing. My favorite Georgian food since forever was Khinkali, dumplings with meat and special form that everybody adores. But this was my father’s sphere, he was the knowing how to prepare it properly, and by properly I mean that If you don’t take into consideration all the small details, you can literally ruin the food. It will be sticky, and will be smashed in water.
May be this was one point where me and my father were concurrent and I fighted with him a lot. I was around 10 years old, when one day we had that special occasion, when my father was preparing that amazing dish. This was always special thing as it meant whole family was coming together, we were having a special dinner, with beer, as this perfectly fits Khinkali, and lots of juice for me.
In the process when he was making dumplings, I started complaining about something I don’t remember clearly, and later I was so angry, I refused to come to his table and eat khinkali made by him. I wanted to protest and I found the way: I asked my mom if there was still some materials left, and I said, I will do my own khinkali, I don’t need yours. Of course this was fun for my fakily, but to continue this fun they gave me all needed materials, and small bowl to boil my water. I started to cut onions, and prepared dough enough for me, I cutted and rolled it. I made 13 khinkali, smaller ones, and put them in boiling water. I was totally scared of the fiasco, as this was absolutely realistic. But suddenly it turned out, that me, sitting for years next to my father, and observing all his movements while making this amazing dish, I learned to prepare it myself. Now, there are two persons in the family, responsible for the special event of preparing khinkali dinner.