Nalchik is one of the popular balneological resorts in the North Caucasus; thousands of Russians come here every year to improve their health. But resort life is not just scheduled procedures. This is an acquaintance with the region - its culture, inhabitants and, of course, cuisine. No local meal is complete without baking. If you come to visit or a restaurant, there will definitely be khichins on your table - fried flatbreads with various fillings or lakums, similar to donuts. Participants in the gastroquest, organized on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Pomodorka brand, met one of the most sought-after chefs in Kabardino-Balkaria, Biso Chechenov, who shared recipes for popular local dishes.
Khychiny with meat: recipe for making flatbreads with minced meat
To make these cakes yourself, we will need:
- ayran (you can use homemade, or you can buy it in a store) - about 500 ml;
- medium country egg – 1 pc.;
- natural butter – about 50 g + 30 g for lubricating products;
- high-grade light flour – 800 g;
- fine sea salt - a small spoon (into the dough).
- minced meat of any kind, but preferably mixed (lamb + beef) - about 500 g;
- white onion – 1 pc.;
- garlic cloves – 1 pc.;
- salt and crushed pepper - use to taste;
- cilantro, parsley - ½ small bunch.
Other filling options
In the homeland, the most popular dish is khichina with cheese and potatoes. To prepare this filling, cheese and boiled jacket potatoes are taken in equal proportions and grated. Then add garlic or other spices as desired. It is advisable to take Adyghe cheese, but you can use any other cheese or feta cheese.
Cheese and herb filling
To prepare 6 servings of khychin with cheese and herbs, you need to take:
- hard or semi-hard cheese – 200 g
- dill, parsley or young onion – 30 g
- garlic – 2 cloves.
The cheese and garlic should be grated on a fine grater, and the greens should be chopped with a knife. Mix the filling ingredients and form into flat cakes. Salt is usually not added to this filling, since the cheese itself is salty. If not, then add a pinch of salt.
Filling with meat
To prepare 6 servings of filling for khychin with meat you will need:
- meat (lamb, pork, a mixture of beef and lard) – 200g
- onion – 1 pc.
- greens - a small bunch (10g)
- salt - a pinch
- ground black pepper - a pinch.
Grind the meat with a meat grinder, finely chop the onion or grind it together with the meat. Chop the greens. Combine all filling ingredients. Next, add salt and spices, move the ingredients. It is advisable to take the meat with a small amount of fat to make the cakes more juicy.
Kneading the base
How to make Balkar khychins? The recipe for such flatbreads requires starting their preparation by kneading the base. To do this, beat warm ayran with salt and egg, then add melted cooking fat to them and gradually add light flour. First, the dough must be kneaded with a fork, and after thickening, with your hands. After this, a dense, homogeneous base should be rolled into a ball, covered with a towel and left warm for half an hour.
Sauce for Balkar khychin
In the Caucasus, Balkar khychins are served with ayran. In European versions, it is customary to prepare garlic sauce for this dish. The following recipe is suitable for its preparation. Khychyny with cheese and herbs in combination with a delicate sauce are perfect for both daily lunch and special occasions.
Mix a glass of sour cream with salt and herbs. Add a clove of garlic and refrigerate for at least an hour. The sauce can be based not only on sour cream, but also mayonnaise or yogurt.
Garlic sauce can be replaced with tomato sauce. Its taste also harmonizes well with khychin. These flatbreads turn out even tastier with sauces.
Form and fry the flatbreads in a frying pan
How should meat khichyns be formed? The recipe for such products requires dividing the rested dough into pieces, and then making balls with a diameter of 6-7 centimeters from them. After this, they should be flattened with the palm of your hand and a pre-prepared “meatball” should be placed in the middle. Next, the corners of the base must be pinched from above so that the meat product is completely inside. Now the ball needs to be rolled out into a flat cake. Moreover, its diameter should not be larger than the diameter of the saucepan in which it is planned to fry the product.
Having formed all the khychins, the recipe of which calls for the use of minced meat, you should start frying them. To do this, you need to melt the butter in a frying pan and then lay out the flatbread. Next, each khychin needs to be fried on both sides until brownish.
Preparing the base
Khychiny with cheese, the recipe of which requires the use of kefir, is prepared in almost the same way as the above-mentioned flatbreads with meat. First you need to knead the base. To do this, add table soda to kefir, and then add high-grade flour, soft cooking fat and fine salt. As a result, you should get an elastic and soft base. After this, you need to cover it with film and leave it in the refrigerator for half an hour.
Filling recipes
Khychins are also prepared with meat, jam, nettles, herbs, berries; the filling recipe is very simple, but delicious!
Khychiny with cheese
Cottage cheese and cheese occupy an important place along with meat in the cuisine of the peoples of the Caucasus. Meat and three-day cheese were the main products in ancient times, and as a result - the main fillings of flatbreads. You need to be able to prepare this dish so that the thin dough smoothly passes into the cheese and they melt together in your mouth. This is precisely what the skill of preparing khychin with cheese, “khumuzhu khychiny,” lies in, before and now.
Show your imagination, combine different fillings made with cheese or cottage cheese. Try to start by making classic cottage cheese khychin.
They will require two to three days old Balkarian cheese. If you don’t have this, then you can use feta cheese, suluguni or Adyghe cheese. Take a couple of cloves of garlic to taste.
Grate the cheese and mix with finely chopped garlic. Add salt if the filling is not salty enough. Then prepare the khychin as described above and fry. If you add dill, or parsley, or both to this filling, you will get another type - khychyna with cheese and herbs.
Try combining a variety of ingredients with cheese - meat, berries, honey, sour cream, herbs. Maybe you will come up with your own taste of khychin, which will become a symbol of hospitality in your home.
Potato and meat filling
Highlanders have always raised sheep and rams. Therefore, the cuisines of mountain peoples, including the Caucasian, are based on this kind of meat. In the supermarket we can choose any meat. Therefore, it’s up to you to decide whether to cook classic khychin with lamb meat or use beef.
For one khychin you will need 75-80 g of meat, one large or two medium potatoes, an onion, ground black pepper, salt and herbs. You can use any last ingredient, as for khychin with cheese and herbs.
Roll out a ball of unleavened flatbread thinly. Boil and mash the potatoes. Allow to cool to room temperature. Place the filling on the rolled out flatbread in layers - first potatoes and herbs, place minced meat and potatoes on top and cover with a second layer of dough. Seal the edges. Fry in a frying pan greased with oil.
When serving, drizzle with melted butter. Such khichins can be made without potatoes, adding more meat and onions.
Make flatbreads and fry them in a frying pan
To prepare Balkar products, you need to divide the base into several pieces, and then press them to form thick flat cakes. You need to place cheese balls in their center and then pinch them tightly. Finally, the product should be rolled out into a thin cake. After this, you need to melt the cooking fat in a frying pan, lay out the product and fry on both sides until reddened. If the cake swells, you need to pierce it with a fork and continue cooking.
The finished dish should be served after generous greasing with butter, along with herbs and sweet tea.
We prepare the most satisfying khichina with potatoes and cheese
The recipe for khychins with potatoes is quite simple. For it we need the following components:
- warm water, or rather, cooled boiling water - about 600 ml;
- medium-sized salt - an incomplete small spoon;
- hard cheese (it’s better to take white homemade cheese) - about 500 g;
- potato tubers - 1 kg;
- high-grade flour - add as desired.
A little history
Since ancient times, khichina has been considered a cult and ritual dish among the Caucasian peoples. There was a ritual in honor of the gods Apsata and Totur to serve flat pies filled with wild animal meat at the hunters' festival. Khychins were also served during rituals carried out to cure epilepsy and other diseases, to strengthen the strength of the woman in labor. The flat cakes played the role of a talisman for the baby.
They were identified with the sun, which radiates warmth and gives satiety. As soon as the newborn was a month old, the Balkars and Karachais organized the ritual “Treatment of Khychins” (in the local language - “Khychinyuleshiu”). The ritual was carried out like this: after the baby fell asleep, warm cakes were placed on the four sides of his cradle and in the center of it, and then they were eaten. It was understood that this food would give the baby abundance and warmth and would protect him from future need.
Reference
At first, the dough was quite complex - from a mixture of barley, rye, wheat and corn flour. Over time, dough for khychins began to be made mainly from wheat flour.
The main ingredients of the filling are usually potatoes, Adyghe cheese and greens. However, there are variations when only potatoes are used as a filler, as well as cottage cheese, meat or offal with onions, feta cheese with beet tops. There is also a sweet version, with the addition of pumpkin, fruits, berries, and sugar.
True connoisseurs of Caucasian dishes will be able to name at least three dozen types of filling for their favorite delicacy. The housewife can change the proportions of the filling ingredients to her taste.
To prepare delicious flatbreads, it is advisable to get ayran, a fermented milk product consumed by the Turkic and Caucasian peoples. In appearance, consistency and taste, ayran resembles our kefir, so, as a last resort, you can make khychin with kefir.
This is interesting
Balkar Khychins differ from Karachay ones in the method of preparation. In the first case, the dough is rolled out very thin and baked in a dry frying pan, lightly sprinkled with flour. In ancient times, the Balkars baked them on coals. The dough for Karachay khychins is rolled out thicker, and the flatbreads are fried in hot oil (usually fat tail). Thin, literally translucent Balkar flatbreads are jokingly called “Paper Khychins” by Karachais.
For everyone who wants to master the peculiarities of preparing Balkar flatbreads, we offer a detailed recipe. In my case, boiled potatoes and greens were used to fill the flatbreads.
Reference
The recipe for khychin with potatoes appeared at the end of the 19th century, and gained enormous popularity especially in the regions of the North Caucasus.
However, despite the excellent taste, it is not customary to serve flatbreads with potato filling to eminent guests and big celebrations.
The process of forming and frying the product
After kneading the dough and preparing the filling, you should begin to form the cakes. To do this, the base must be divided into several parts, and then rolled into balls and pressed with the palm of your hand. Next, you need to place a cheese and potato ball in the center of the thick flatbread and close it well, pinching the dough at the edges. After this, the product should be carefully rolled out. Having received a thin cake, you can start frying it. To do this, you need to melt the cooking fat in a frying pan, and then lay out the formed product with the filling. The dish needs to be fried on both sides until lightly browned.
