Georgian recipes

6 viral Georgian dishes — clear, structured, and quick to cook.

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  Bread / Main · 110 min · Medium

  Adscharuli Chatschapuri — georgisches Käsebrot-Boot

  Georgia's showstopper: a boat of soft yeasted bread filled with molten salty cheese, baked until bubbling, then crowned with a raw egg yolk and a knob of butter you swirl into the cheese at the table. You tear off the edges and dip.

  georgianbakingvegetarian
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  Main · 105 min · Hard

  Chinkali — georgische Suppenteigtaschen

  Georgia's mountain dumplings: a twist of pleated dough holding spiced minced meat and — the whole point — a mouthful of hot broth that forms as they boil. You eat them by hand, holding the topknot, biting a small window to sip the soup, then devouring the rest. The little dough knot (kუდი) is left on the plate to count how many you've eaten.

  georgiandumplingsmeat
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  Bread / Main · 135 min · Medium

  Adjaruli Chatschapuri — georgisches Käsebrot-Boot

  Georgia's irresistible cheese bread, in its showstopping Adjaran form: a boat of soft yeasted dough filled with molten salty cheese, baked until golden, then crowned with a raw egg yolk and a knob of butter that you swirl into the bubbling cheese at the table. You tear off the crusty ends and dip them into the rich, gooey centre. Pure indulgence — and the most photogenic bread in the Caucasus.

  georgiancheesebaking
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  Main · 50 min · Easy

  Schkmeruli — georgisches Hähnchen in Knoblauch-Milch-Sauce

  Georgia's gloriously garlicky chicken: a bird crisped golden in a hot pan, then bathed in a warm sauce of milk and a frankly heroic amount of garlic until the whole thing turns into something rich, savoury and impossible to stop eating. Shkmeruli comes from the village of Shkmeri, and the magic is the contrast — crisp chicken skin softening into a creamy, pungent, garlic-laden sauce that begs to be mopped up with bread.

  georgianchickengarlic
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  Appetizer / Meze · 80 min · Easy

  Badridschani — georgische Auberginen-Walnuss-Röllchen

  A jewel of the Georgian supra (feast table): slices of fried eggplant rolled around a vivid, garlicky walnut paste seasoned with the country's signature spices — blue fenugreek, marigold, coriander — and finished with ruby pomegranate seeds. Badrijani nigvzit is rich, savoury and a little tangy, eaten cool as an appetiser. The walnut filling, smooth and intensely flavoured, is the heart of so much Georgian cooking, and here it's at its most elegant.

  georgianveganeggplant
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  Main · 590 min · Easy

  Lobio — georgischer würziger Bohneneintopf

  The soul-warming bean dish of Georgia: red kidney beans simmered until soft and creamy, then seasoned with the bright, unmistakable flavours of the Georgian pantry — blue fenugreek, coriander, garlic, fresh herbs, red wine vinegar and a little chilli. Lobio can be brothy and stewy or mashed to a coarse purée, and is traditionally served in a clay pot (ketsi) with crackly cornbread (mchadi), pickles and raw onion. It's hearty, tangy, deeply aromatic and entirely vegan — humble peasant food elevated by Georgia's singular spicing.

  georgianveganvegetarian