DINE&WINE
GEORGIAN CUISINE From filled breads to grape and walnut sweets Food leaps out at you with every turn in the Georgian capital – and does so in the best possible sense. Don’t resist the urge to try everything – you can always start dieting once you return home
Khachapuri is the undisputed king of Georgian bread filled with cheese! De- cent quality khachapuri are even sold at the country’s petrol stations, but in order to fully comprehend the wealth of its var- iations (historians have counted as many as 47), you need to visit Gunda – Tbili- si’s only restaurant dedicated exclusive- ly to this dish. Gundu is distinguished by its commitment to authentic ingredi- ents and traditional techniques. This is the only eatery in the city to use rare re- gional cheeses and exclusively indigenous Georgian types of flour. One such type is makha, a wheat variety native to the Im- ereti region of Georgia that was practical- ly extinct until Gunda’s owners found it in a Danish seed bank and resurrected it. When the moment to choose arrives, the boat-shaped Adjarian khachapuri with an egg on top is probably the most pho- togenic option, but you simply mustn’t miss out on trying the Kotori – a lit- tle-known Tushetian version of this dish represented by a flatbread stuffed with sheep’s milk curd and topped with melt- ed butter. A Georgian meal begins with the great- est gift of Georgian cuisine: Pkhali. These various vegetable-based spreads are made with everything from spinach and leeks to beetroots and carrots. If you have some vegetables handy, you can proba- bly convert them into Pkhali. And to con- clude the meal is the famous churchkhela, a sweet delicacy of fried crunchy walnuts and sweet grape juice that’s boiled to a creamy thickness. Churchkhela is a pretty ancient term that combines two root words: “chhur”, mean- ing cold, and “chkher”, which translates as hot. This combination is no accident, as it describes the preparation process: the churchkhela threaded nuts are first dipped in a hot, thick mass, then cooled by being left to hang in the cold air. The recipe and shape of this sweet speciality hasn’t changed since the 11 th or 12 th cen- tury. In those bygone times, housewives would cook and give churchkhela to their husbands when heading to war. Accord- ing to legend, churchkhela was a kind of “superfood” - and there’s good reason for that, given that walnuts are extremely nutritious. This candy thread is very calo- rific and nonperishable, so it comes as no surprise that it’s among the top souvenirs that visitors take home from Tbilisi.
Y ou will at one point find yourself surrounded by the aroma of sweet, but- tery khachapuri wafting up from basement bak- eries. The very next day, you’re likely to find yourself haggling with street vendors over the price of cherries and sour green plums. You turn into a street and smoke clouds your view while skewers sizzle on a roadside grill. You pass a second one and hear glasses clinking on a restaurant’s ter- race that reminds you that you’re just a few kilometres away from the place where wine first emerged. If there’s one thing you can always be sure of in Georgia, it’s that a tomato and cucumber salad will always be placed on your table, whether you’re in the city or the countryside, at a luxury restaurant or a modest tavern. In its simplest form – usually just chopped tomatoes and cu- cumbers with a sprinkling of parsley – this dish represents a refreshing contrast
against the rich main courses. Howev- er, there are also unforgettable versions, like the one at Culinarium Khasheria, the informal bistro of celebrity chef Teku- na Gachechiladze, which includes unre- fined sunflower oil from Kakheti, ground walnuts, thinly sliced green chili peppers and fresh herbs like coriander and pur- ple basil. Tolma – vegetables stuffed with ground meat, grains or a combination of the two - is a staple of the entire Caucasus region. Unsurprisingly, the most popular ver- sions of tolma in Georgia are made with vine leaves, reflecting the country’s rich wine tradition. The tolma reaches perfec- tion at Restaurant Suliko – where succu- lent, lightly rolled and seasoned minced meat is wrapped in soft vine leaves. They are fried immediately before serving until their edges are crispy and slightly burnt, after which they are served with sauce made from yoghurt and a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar.
84 | Gruzija » Georgia
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