Khinkali: dough and filling recipes, cooking options

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Khinkali is one of the most famous dishes of Georgian cuisine, which is quite fond of the Russians. There is an opinion that this dish is practically no different from traditional dumplings due to external and internal similarities. In fact, this is not entirely true.

What is "Georgian Khinkali"?

As mentioned above, khinkali are in many ways similar to dumplings - bags of dough with minced meat. But at the same time, khinkali is an absolutely independent dish with a special cooking procedure. They can be steamed or water-cooked. But the filling is not pork or beef, but lamb or goat meat. Definitely fresh, non-greasy, and film-free.

Features

• For the preparation of this dish, a special way of creating dough and filling is used. According to the traditional recipe, khinkali was cooked with minced meat, not regular minced meat.
• Moreone feature is the result of cooking. At the end of cooking, a broth is formed inside the khinkali, which makes this dish much juicier.
• And, of course, the presentation and rules of use. This dish is eaten only with hands, holding the tail. First you need to bite off some dough and carefully drink the broth, and then eat the rest, except for the top of the bag. In traditional Georgian cuisine, it is not customary to eat these tips, they are simply folded into a plate.

Further in the article there will be some examples of how to cook delicious khinkali at home. The resulting dish will not leave anyone indifferent.

Preparing dough

It has already been mentioned earlier that a special dough is used to create this dish. There are several traditional subtleties of its preparation:

• The ratio of flour to water should be strictly 2:1. This is the only way to achieve the right consistency.
• Use strictly durum wheat flour. In traditional Georgian cuisine, this is called "durum". The reason for this strict rule is that this type of flour is a source of complex carbohydrates and is considered much he althier than softer varieties.
• Before direct use, the flour must be sifted. This will increase the tenderness of the finished dish.
• According to the recipe, Georgian-style khinkali dough is kneaded only by hand. Do not use mixers or other kitchen appliances to prepare this dish. Do-it-yourself cooking will allow the dough to saturateoxygen and become softer.
• It is necessary to prepare the dough in several stages, which takes a lot of time. During kneading, the dough should be periodically left for a few minutes, which will not allow it to fall apart at the time of modeling.

Everyone has their own way of making dough for khinkali. Now almost every housewife prepares the basis for this dish in her own way. However, professional chefs quite often distinguish two recipes:

• Classic.
• With the addition of eggs.

Each of them will be described in detail below.

Classic dough recipe

This dough has a fairly high density, and therefore it must be handled with care. The maximum shelf life after the last stage of dough preparation is one hour in the refrigerator. Further delays will result in poor taste.

To prepare the dough according to the classic khinkali recipe you will need:

• 500 grams durum wheat flour;
• 250 milliliters of water;
• 10 grams of s alt.

Cooking

• Pass half of the prepared flour through a sieve twice.
• In the resulting slide, make a small depression and add half of all boiled water, s alted in advance.
• Start mixing the ingredients with a spatula, periodically adding the rest of the water. Repeat the action until it becomes almost impossible to interfere.
• Surface on which will becooking, sprinkle with flour, then put the dough on it and continue to knead. Remember that, according to the traditional recipe for khinkali, you need to mix with your hands. Do not try to save time, otherwise the quality of the final product will suffer.
• When smooth, cover the base with a damp towel and let it sit for 30 minutes.
• After the indicated time, sift the remaining flour and add half to the dough, then continue kneading again.
• After about 25 minutes of kneading, leave the base under a wet towel for half an hour.
• Add the remaining flour and resume the mixing process. At the last stage, it will be quite difficult to do this, as the dough will become quite dense.

NOTE: In between mixing the dough, prepare the filling! This will save time and avoid long-term storage of ingredients.

Dough for khinkali at home with eggs

To prepare the base in this way you will need:

• 500 grams of wheat flour;
• 1 second grade egg;
• 200 milliliters of water;
• 3 tablespoons sunflower oil;
• 7 grams of s alt.

Cooking

• Sift 2/3 of the flour into a mound and make an indentation with your knuckle.
• Dissolve s alt in warm water and pour into the prepared "hole".
• Beat the egg and add to the mound along with the butter.

• Stir the dough with a spatula for 5 minutes, then leave it under a damp towel for half an hour.
• Laying the dough on the surface for processing, it is necessary, adding flour, mix it with your hands for 7 minutes.
• Wrap in cling film and leave for half an hour.
• After the specified period, remove the base from the film and start rolling.

Now that you know how to make a traditional base, you can move on to the recipe for cooking the dish itself.

Cooking with water

Since the methods for preparing the base of this dish have already been discussed earlier, further instructions will describe the preparation of the filling, with the expectation that you have already chosen the type of dough.

NOTE: Before using, check the consistency of minced meat. If the spoon stuck in it falls, then it is made correctly.

To prepare the filling for khinkali you will need:

• 300 grams of minced meat (preferably homemade from beef or pork, if it is not possible to use meat from a traditional khinkali recipe);
• 1 onion;
• 1 bunch fresh cilantro;
• 100 milliliters of cold water;
• s alt and pepper.

Cooking

• Finely chop the onion and cilantro. To give more taste, chopped onions are best rubbed with your hands. Add onion and cilantro to minced meat along with pepper.
• Sprinkle flour on the table, lay out the dough and knead with your hands. After that, roll it into a cake, the thickness of which is notexceeds 2 millimeters, and use a glass to divide into circles.
• In the middle of each mug, put a teaspoon or tablespoon (depending on the size of the base) of the filling.
• After that, twist the dough clockwise, forming folds and a ponytail.

Put a pot on the stove and boil water

Now you can cook khinkali. How long will it take? Traditionally, this stage of preparation takes from 7 to 10 minutes. After this time, you need to get ready-made khinkali with a slotted spoon and transfer them to a plate. Add butter and ground pepper to the finished dish.

Steam cooking

The process of preparing the base and filling for steamed khinkali is no different from the previous recipe. Therefore, you can immediately begin the description from the preparation stage.

Cooking

• Pour 2.5 liters of water into the main container of the multicooker.
• Place the cooking utensils over water and brush with butter.
• Place khinkali on it.
• Close the multicooker and set the mode to Steam, usually 45 minutes.
• At the end of cooking, take out the khinkali and put them on plates and serve.

Result

Sometimes it's good to add some variety to your gastronomic life. And cooking according to one of the recipes described is just such a case. From this article, you learned all the intricacies of creating dough and filling, as well as how much to cook khinkali with steam or water.

Of course, with stuffing you canexperiment, bringing something of your own, and this is your personal choice.

Bon appetit!