Georgian cuisine: recipes with photos at home

There is hardly a person who has not heard about Georgian national cuisine at least once. Moreover, it is simply impossible to miss this amazing food. Having visited this country, it will be very difficult to try all the delicious dishes of Georgia, since their quantity is simply huge. In pursuit of tasting dishes, you will subsequently have to spend your free time for a couple of months in the gym, since it will be simply impossible to stop. Caucasian cuisine is usually rich in herbs, nuts, spices and juicy meats prepared in various ways.

History of Georgian cuisine

There is an old legend. On the day of the creation of the world, God created different nations and called them together to distribute the land. All the peoples came, only the Georgians were missing. He also distributed lands, but the Georgians never showed up. Then he decided to see what they were doing. And he saw that they drank wine and ate various dishes all day long and blessed him for these gifts. God liked this very much, and he gave the inhabitants of Georgia the land that he had kept for himself. And the soils of this land were so fertile that very tasty apples, pears, grapes, pomegranates, peaches and many types of herbs subsequently grew on it. It is these fruits and herbs that are now an indispensable part of southern cuisine.

Secrets and features of traditional Georgian cuisine

The secrets and features of traditional Georgian cuisine are known in huge quantities, so they can only be discussed briefly. Bread is the head of everything. In Georgia this proverb is observed very strictly. Georgian cuisine, both modern and ancient, begins with bread, which is always present at every meal. The most recognizable pastry is puri. It cannot be confused with anything, because it has a very recognizable appearance. The process of baking bread itself is also noteworthy. Traditionally, baking is done in clay ovens. The fire burns at the bottom of the oven, gradually heating up the walls, and the Georgian cook “slaps” the dough pieces so that they attach to the wall and bake vertically.

There are many amazing legends in Georgia, and one of them explains the fertility of the soil. So, it is believed that during the distribution of land by God, the Georgians had a meal and enjoyed wine. This greatly touched God, and he gave them the land, which he planned to keep for himself. The legend may be unusual, but the soil in Georgia is indeed very fertile. © https://ydoo.info/gruzinskaja-kuhnja.html That is why peaches, grapes, apples, pomegranates, plums, apricots, and numerous fragrant herbs are grown in this country. And later they become the basis of Georgian cuisine.

The following main features of Georgian cuisine can be distinguished:

Soups are prepared without vegetables. Instead they put a raw egg, flour sauce, spices and sometimes mushrooms.
Meat is consumed without restrictions. The diet includes lamb, pork, beef, and poultry.
Cheeses are the pride of Georgia. Each region makes its own type of cheese.
There are a huge number of sauces. They are served with all dishes, even fresh produce.
High calorie and satiety dishes. There are practically no dietary dishes in Georgian cuisine.

Georgian housewives love to cook. They spend a lot of time at the stove, singing “Chito gvrito, chito margalito yes...”.

Georgian dishes

Everyone knows the famous Georgian dishes that are found at every step. These are khachapuri, khinkali, lobio, chakhokhbili. As well as kharcho soup, tkemali and satsebeli sauces. Each dish has its own history and unique recipe. Not only second and first courses became widespread, but also pastries, dozens of types of sauces, cheeses and famous sweet desserts. A wide range of Caucasian food is presented in cafes and restaurants. And if you are afraid to try Caucasian delicacies because of their pungency and spiciness, then ask the chef to make them less spicy. Chefs in good establishments always meet the needs of the client, and Georgian dishes can be served taking into account your preferences.

Features of national cuisine

Georgian cuisine has its own characteristics, like the cuisine of any other country. Fertile lands and a warm and gentle sun make the harvest rich, and the pastures full of lush grass for livestock. The main difference between Georgian dishes is the ideal combination of meat, vegetables and a certain amount of herbs and spices.

Unusual sauces are also often used for cooking, the main ingredients of which are homemade vegetables and herbs. Sometimes sauces are even prepared from fruits: grapes, plums, cherry plums and even pomegranates. Spicy herbs are added to add piquancy and improve taste.

Georgian national dishes

Georgian traditions include not only respect for elders, but also a reverent attitude in cooking. Since ancient times, unique recipes have been passed down from mother to daughter, from father to son. Thanks to this, today we enjoy national Georgian dishes. Wide range of possibilities in preparing meat dishes will turn an ordinary meat lover into a gourmet.

Georgian cuisine is rich not only in meat dishes. The traditional direction is Georgian pastries - the pride of Caucasian bakeries. What is there: meat pies, many types of khachapuri, sweet buns and a large selection of breads. The pride of ancient Caucasian bakeries lies in the fact that baking is done by hand without the use of machine labor, which makes the bread even richer and the buns sweeter.

To be more precise about the national dishes of Georgia, these are suluguni, chacha (strong vodka) and churchkhela. It is these dishes that Georgia has patented and has every right to them.

Georgian recipes

Everyone can cook the most delicious Georgian dishes. To do this, use the Internet to search. It won’t be difficult to find recipes for Georgian cuisine with photos at home. Any search engine will give you thousands of delicious recipes to choose from. Photos of finished dishes will let you understand how the food will look after cooking in the kitchen, and whether your family and friends will like the appearance. This is true in the case of baking. After all, it is not only the names and taste that attract this or that pastry. It is very important how tempting and desirable the food looks to try it.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with some culinary dishes of Georgian traditional cuisine, which look very temptingly delicious in the photo.

Desserts, sweets of Georgian cuisine

Desserts and sweets of Georgian cuisine will delight those with a sweet tooth. Churchkhela, which is generally popular among the Caucasian peoples, immediately comes to mind.

Churchkhela is a delicious dessert made from hazelnuts or walnuts, dipping them in thick (thickened with flour or pelamushi) grape, raspberry or pomegranate juice with honey. And then the food is dried. It is very tasty and appetizing. Churchkhella is an original Georgian dessert, which the country's authorities have patented.

Worth knowing! Georgians love various fermented milk products, especially matsoni. It is prepared with boiled milk, adding a special leaven to it. Matsoni can serve as an independent dish or as an ingredient for other dishes.

An interesting and unusual dessert dish is chiri. This is what they call dried persimmon. Georgians love it as much as churchkhella. Persimmons are cut into pieces and hung on threads until dry.

Other delicious Georgian desserts include:

Pelamushi. It is based on grape juice, corn flour, nuts and raisins. The food is boiled down, poured into molds, then allowed to cool, decorated and served.
Baklava. This is how they call baklava in Georgia, which is prepared according to its own recipe. It differs in taste from Turkish.
Gozinaki. These are kozinaki that all children love so much. But hardly anyone remembered that this was originally a Georgian sweet. The main ingredients are roasted walnuts and honey, but today the dessert can also be prepared from sunflower seeds.

Various types of jam, for example, cherry jam, are very popular in Georgia. Housewives make preparations for the winter, closing many jars of sweet treats at home to delight their households in winter.

Caucasian cuisine menu

The Georgian menu is very varied. The meat, of which there is a lot, is perfectly complemented by fresh and stewed vegetables. This tandem does not put as much strain on the stomach as if you had to eat meat separately. Vegetable fiber promotes digestion and good bowel function. In addition to the main dishes, the menu of Georgian cuisine also includes sweet desserts, which are already loved by many fans of Caucasian food.

Georgian Snickers or Churchkhela. A very tasty and filling dessert. Walnuts, hazelnuts or dried fruits are placed on a string and filled with sweet syrup. The syrup is made from grape juice - badagi. The result is a long, slightly chewy candy.

The Georgian cuisine menu offers hundreds of dishes for every discerning gourmet. Anyone will find their favorite food in this variety.

Main dishes

If you are not a fan of liquid hot food, the cookbook of Georgian national recipes using meat or poultry contains many other delicious snacks and nutritious dishes.

Khinkali are local dumplings, where the meat is originally wrapped in dough in the form of a small bag. Typically, beef or lamb is used as a filling, combined with cilantro, bitter onions and garlic. They eat this treat exclusively with their hands, first biting into the shell to drink the delicious meat juice, and then everything else. Georgians consider the top ponytail tasteless and throw it away.

Satsivi is one of the most delicious meat delicacies in the country. These are pieces of chicken generously seasoned with nut sauce, to which ground spices are added: cloves, cinnamon, coriander and chopped fresh herbs. The sauce takes a long time to prepare, spices and chopped nuts are boiled until a creamy consistency is formed, and only at the end the poultry and onion pieces are thrown into it.

Mtsvadi is the Georgian name for our classic kebab. If you expect to feel the pleasant aroma of fried meat or bite into a finished piece of it, soaked in smoke and incredibly soft, you will be truly disappointed. Georgians have a slightly different attitude towards the dish, the preparation of which is considered a whole ritual in our country. It is much better to try mtsvadi in a Georgian restaurant in Russia - there they will make it more tender, well soaked and more familiar in taste.

Chanakhi is an easy-to-make roast of lamb, which during the stewing process is imbued with the smell and taste of eggplant, fresh tomatoes, sweet peppers, onions and carrots. This dish is usually served in clay pots, generously sprinkled with herbs and bay leaves.

Chakapuli is a Georgian meat dish made from young lamb. The peak of its preparation occurs at the time when not quite ripe tkemali fruits hang on the trees. It is in their pulp and squeezed from tarragon and sweet onions that fresh lamb is stewed, combined with vegetables, cilantro, parsley, finely chopped garlic and hot pepper. The classic cooking recipe also includes a spoonful of dry white wine, which makes chakapuli even more tender and adds a slight bitterness and sourness.

Ojakhuri is another masterpiece on the table of Georgian traditional cuisine. Translated, “ojahi” means family, which means the dish is ideal for a delicious family dinner. These are pieces of meat (pork or beef), cooked in the form of a roast with potatoes, generously crushed with herbs and spices. Coriander, savory, suneli hops, garlic, cilantro seeds, juicy dill leaves make its taste unique, its smell intoxicating, and its appearance appetizing.
Chushushuli or ostri is a dish of Caucasian cuisine, which translated from Georgian means “stew”. It is based on the pulp of a pig or cow, sometimes it is replaced with chicken, as well as mushrooms, beans and other vegetables. This is an easy and quick way to feed your household tasty and satisfying meals. Its classic presentation in restaurants across the country is done in kets. Usually, no side dish is provided for the meal.

Yakhni is a Georgian beef dish. It requires beef breast, chopped into small pieces and boiled in a thick sauce of walnuts and seasonings. In appearance, it resembles a thickened soup, something between broth and sautéed vegetables. In Adjara, the dish is called wedding and is prepared in huge portions in cauldrons. This is a spicy and juicy treat that is best enjoyed with a piece of fresh pita bread or a slice of freshly baked bread. They eat it hot and fresh.
Chicken tabaka is one of the most famous recipes in Georgian cuisine, enjoying popularity in all corners of our planet for many decades. It is easy to repeat at home using instructions with photos or video recipes. This is chicken, fried under pressure with pepper in a special frying pan, strewn with herbs and spices. The best additions for it are garlic sauce or melted butter. In Imereti, it is served with pureed blackberries mixed with garlic and cilantro.

Chkmer chicken is also sometimes called “tabaka chicken,” but it is prepared a little differently. This happens in several stages. First, it is cut along the breast, marinated with salt and pepper, fried over low heat, and then baked in the oven, generously doused with a milk sauce made from full-fat sour cream and 33 percent cream with a lot of cilantro. Thanks to the last component, the meat turns out tender and soft, aromatic and original in taste.

Dolma is the Georgian equivalent of our cabbage rolls, with the difference that instead of a simple cabbage wrapper, the lamb is wrapped in grape leaves, which give a pleasant sourness. The recipe allows you to mix minced meat for the filling with steamed rice, and then boil the twisted bags in a spicy tomato sauce.

Kubdari are pies from the Georgian region of Svaneti. The flatbreads are filled with lamb or goat meat in combination with onions, coriander, cumin, utskho-suneli and dried crushed dill and fried in oil.

Khashlama is a meat beef delicacy with vegetables. To implement the recipe, they usually buy young veal meat, which is stewed with potatoes, peppers, tomatoes and other vegetables. This can be called both a soup and a second main course. The spicy broth, boiled from meat, turns out spicy thanks to hot capsicum. Preparing khashlama is very simple - just put all the ingredients in a large cauldron and put it on the burner.
Kuchmachi is a traditional dish made from the offal of a young pig, which is a cold appetizer if served with nuts and a hot appetizer if eaten without them. To prepare it, they use pork heart, liver, and stomachs with the addition of an impressive amount of various spices. A tasty, unusual and nutritious dish will decorate any holiday table, delighting guests with its originality.

Meat occupies a special place in Georgian cuisine. All national dishes are nutritious and satisfying. Pork and beef are almost always fatty, creating a rich broth. Chicken and turkey are more tender and dietary. All dishes contain vegetables, herbs and many different herbs and spices. Taking note of one of the recipes, you can replace lamb with chicken or pork with turkey. Even khachapuri, which is usually served with cheese, can be prepared with meat. It all depends on your taste preferences. Bon appetit!

Simple and delicious recipes

There are descriptions of many different recipes on the Internet. Including simple and tasty Georgian dishes with photos. A little patience and you will have temptingly smelling cutlets or poultry stew on your table. We suggest you try to cook a traditional Georgian dish called Kharcho. This hearty soup will please any meat lover and will add variety to your dinner table. It is prepared from rice and fresh beef, with the addition of nuts, plenty of herbs and fresh vegetables. But the main highlight of this dish is its unique dressing. This puree made from tkemali gives the soup a special piquancy and brightness. It is served as both the first and second course, since real Georgian Kharcho is very thick, rich and satisfying.

Baking and baked goods

Baking and flour products are the pride of Georgia. A significant place is given to khachapuri. This is a cheesecake. There are a huge number of varieties that are prepared in different regions of the country:

Adjarian. They resemble small boats and are filled with egg, cheese and butter.
Rachinsky. These are flour products with bacon and beans.
Imereti. Their main feature is their round shape, and there is cheese only inside.
Mengrelian. These are the usual khachapuri, with cheese filling inside and grated suluguni cheese on top.
Penovani. A distinctive feature is the use of yeast-free puff pastry for cooking.
Achma. This is also a type of khachapuri, which is distinguished by unleavened dough and salty cheese.
On a skewer. The dough with cheese is rolled onto a spit. Usually dishes are prepared on a barbecue, on a grill or directly over a fire. Served anytime.

Every region is sure that they bake real and proper khachapuri. Often the dough is made with matsoni. A yeast analogue of dough is rarely used. Another dish with cheese filling is chvishtari cornbread. They first began to be made in Svaneti. A mandatory component is the sauce.

For bread, Georgians use madauri (a dish with spices), shoti (boat-shaped bread), puri (outwardly recognizable pastry with spices) and mchadi (unleavened flatbread). They are usually eaten together with various sauces, including tkemali and satsebeli. Sometimes the food is prepared with filling. It is noteworthy that all these types of bread are usually called simply “lavash”.

Georgians also love spiced bread. This is science, but it is not served everywhere. The dish is fragrant with the aromas of cinnamon and cloves, and the dough contains raisins. Baking is the pride of the city of Surami. It is there that the dish is served directly from the oven, often with kebab or other meat dishes.

Among other types of baked goods, it is worth mentioning a variety of pies. One of them is lobiani. Beans with spices are used as a filling. The dish is simple but tasty. Another simple recipe allows you to prepare kubdari. This is a Svan meat pie. Its filling is goat, pork or lamb with spices, herbs and garlic. Another unique pie is sinori. It is an accordion-baked dough that is filled with butter, cottage cheese and garlic. This is an incredibly tasty, but very high-calorie dish.

Kharcho recipe from Georgian chefs

To prepare you will need:

beef tenderloin or ham – 400 gr.,
carrots, bell peppers and tomatoes – 2 pcs.,
potatoes - 3 pieces,
rice - 1 glass,
onions 2-3 heads,
vegetable oil,
tkemali puree,
walnuts 100 gr.,
spices,
salt.

Cut and fry the meat in vegetable oil in a frying pan or saucepan. Then every 5 minutes add alternately: onions, carrots, tomatoes, peppers. Stir constantly. Then reduce the heat and add rice, potatoes and water. Cook until the rice and potatoes are ready. Season with tkemali puree, nuts, herbs, salt and leave for another 5-7 minutes. And now the aromatic Kharcho soup is ready. This is how a simple and tasty dish is prepared using recipes with photos. Try to include this almost festive dish in your menu and your loved ones will be grateful to you.

First Georgian dishes

In addition to the popular Kharcho soup, other recipes for the first course of Georgian cuisine are also in demand. Recipes that are becoming more and more popular in Russia every year. These are the famous and famous Hashi and Chikhirtma. Try adding these soups to your menu or diet.

Chikhirtma is a light but very satisfying soup. It is prepared from chicken meat, corn flour, eggs, spices and herbs. This soup is amazing because it does not contain any vegetable grounds and does not use potatoes or grains. The soup is thickened directly with flour and eggs are added. And so that they do not curl up and crumble, they are acidified with fresh lemon juice. For gourmets who are tired of heavy and fatty borscht, this soup can be a real feast.

The main features of Hashi soup are the type of soup itself, which looks like diluted jellied meat. This is, in fact, a kind of broth that is cooked for about 9 hours from a beef leg. Usually, it is seasoned with fragrant garlic and fresh herbs. A lot of Georgians use it as a hangover remedy after long feasts. Sometimes some vegetables are added to the soup for taste, red pepper or pickled cucumber.

The first courses of Georgian cuisine are served with herbs or sour cream. Or add chopped and fried eggplant. There are many options to diversify tasty and healthy soups.

Main courses of Georgian cuisine

Which Georgian doesn't like meat? The most famous Georgian dishes are prepared using meat. You can look at any Georgian table - it is literally bursting with meat snacks and dishes. The history of Georgian cuisine goes back more than one thousand years, and some main courses have become traditional not only in the Caucasus, but throughout the entire continent.

Let's list the second dishes that are familiar to Georgians:

Khinkali is one of the most common meat dishes in Georgia. They are somewhat reminiscent of ordinary Russian dumplings. They are also made with dough and a filling that can be both sweet and savory. There are different options: minced lamb, assorted vegetables or even cheese - this is not a complete list of possible fillings for khinkali. They are slightly larger in size than dumplings and first they are bitten into to drink the juice, and only then are eaten completely.

Satsivi is a vegetable stew with chicken with the addition of seasonings and nuts. The peculiarity of satsivi is that it is served cold. Watch a video on how to prepare the Georgian dish satsivi or follow the suggested recipe:

take the bird carcass and cook it in salted water with spices, cut it up,
chop the nuts. Garlic and seasonings in food processor,
fry the onion and mix with the nut mixture, add chicken broth to get the consistency of liquid sour cream,
boil and add a little pomegranate juice,
Pour chilled sauce over chicken meat.

This is how you can prepare an almost festive second course of Georgian cuisine quickly and without using expensive ingredients.

“To add some piquancy to satsivi, you can add homemade pickles: tomatoes, lecho or marinades.

Hot Georgian dishes

In the cold, long winter you always want something meaty and always hot. Georgian cuisine is replete with such recipes. You can use them to set the table for a holiday. Or you can cook for every day and your food will become more varied.

One of these dishes is Chakhokhbili. Simple ingredients are used for preparation, and in taste it can replace everyone’s favorite cutlets.

List of products for chakhokhbili:

500 g chicken,
onion - 2pcs,
sweet pepper - 2 pcs.,
4-6 tomatoes,
seasonings (basil and suneli hops), garlic, butter, salt, hot pepper.
description of cooking according to the advice of Georgian chefs:

cut the chicken, wash and dry it,
then brown in a frying pan on both sides, without oil,
cut the onion and pepper into strips,
fry the onion and lightly simmer the pepper, add everything to the meat,
peel the tomato, cut it and add it to the meat,
simmer under the lid for 35-45 minutes,
add herbs and seasonings, salt and leave for another 5 minutes.
Chakhokhbili ready

Chakhokhbili is served with beans, boiled potatoes or rice.

“To thicken the chakhokhbili, add flour sauce made from flour and sunflower oil.”

The best Georgian hot dishes have become widespread in Russian kitchens. In addition to chakhokhbili, housewives prefer to cook many other dishes. And unusual chakapuli, and very high-calorie borano, and mtsvadi - a type of kebab.

Georgian snacks

Cooking is also rich in various snacks. They are prepared from products that they grow themselves: vegetables, legumes, spices, nuts and dairy products.

Popular snacks:

Beans - Lobio. Legumes are loved in Georgia and prepared everywhere. Lobio is prepared in clay pots with the addition of red pepper and a lot of herbs. It is somewhat similar to ordinary pea porridge, but more tender and piquant.

Another popular Georgian culinary delicacy is called Kaimagi. It resembles yogurt or sour cream and has a unique, very bright and rich taste. Made from dairy products and served with flatbread and cheese. This dish is not only tasty, but also healthy.

One of the common snacks is pickles. They are prepared from vegetables, a huge amount of herbs and a dozen seasonings. Fresh tomatoes, beans and crispy green peppers are often used.

Nowadays it is difficult to find an original recipe from Georgian chefs, since they have all undergone numerous changes. Everyone changes the recipe to suit their taste preferences. If you want to try real Georgian food, then be sure to visit this wonderful country. There you won’t be able to try every national dish, but you will definitely taste the most popular ones. It is better to try traditional dishes in their homeland and where it is prepared, following the original recipe.

If it is not possible for you to visit Georgia, then look for a real Georgian restaurant or cafe in your city. Be sure to make sure that the dishes are prepared according to original recipes, and that they are prepared by Georgians. This is the only way you will truly enjoy the entire exquisite range of tastes of original Georgian cuisine.

Meat delicacies

When you are in the country on business or as a traveler, be sure to stop by local cafes and try Georgian cuisine so that you can repeat the ones you like at home when you return. Before placing an order, look at the photos of the offerings on the menu to know exactly what to expect.

Soups

First of all, pay attention to hot soups. Dining “first”, “second” and “third” is common not only in Russia. Fully filled with meat and sprinkled with spices and herbs, they do not at all resemble our light chicken broths. Almost always, one plate of thick and viscous liquid can completely saturate you. A few of them:

Kharcho has been around for many years, and therefore has been modified more than once, supplemented with various herbs and spices. You can prepare it in Georgian or Megrelian, but in any version three ingredients remain unchanged - beef, walnuts and tklapi, in other words, formed into lavash and dried sweet and sour tkemali plum puree. The latter is often replaced with pomegranate juice, tomato paste or fresh cherry plum. An incredible aroma, pungency and notes of bitterness are given to the soup by chopped herbs and an abundance of garlic. It always turns out satisfying, with a lot of grounds.

The basis of hashi is a fatty broth made from beef leg with garlic, which is boiled for 8-10 hours. As a result, it is similar to our jellied meat, but it is consumed hot. The recipe does not contain any herbs or vegetables, so cooks sometimes sprinkle the broth with chopped dill. It is famous for its beneficial properties: it strengthens bones and joints, adds vital energy and effectively relieves hangovers, so it is usually consumed in the morning, for breakfast.
Chikhirtma is a thick, pasty soup made from tender chicken breast or turkey meat. Its consistency is created by a certain amount of corn flour, and its spicy aroma is created by herbs, a high content of spices and eggs. The latter must be skillfully added to the composition so that they do not curl, but completely dissolve. To create an unusual taste and slight sourness, you can add a couple of drops of lemon and pomegranate juice to the soup.