Abkhaz cuisine: features and recipes

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

It is worth looking for such an original region as the Caucasus. This is the place that has preserved not only the unique nature, but also a long-standing cultural heritage. Probably, all countries of the world have heard about Caucasian cuisine, and its popularity goes far beyond the borders of the Caucasus itself. But it is incorrect to talk about some common culinary traditions, because each individual people of this region has its own customs and culture. In this case, we will talk about what Abkhazian cuisine is, what are its features, some folk recipes will be offered.

So, let's start from afar. Abkhazia is a region with a mild climate and fairly fertile soils. All this is conducive to horticulture, viticulture, cattle breeding. A typical agricultural product here is corn. Abkhazian families, in general, are rather big, and almost everyone is engaged in gardening and cattle breeding, having everything necessary for this. So, the Abkhaz cuisine has a natural basis - products received by people from personal farms. And also it is based on two main pillars: aguhu (flour) and atsyfa (everything else). Abkhazians eat a lot of plant and dairy products. They eat very little meat.quantity. This is what is strikingly different from the "general Caucasian" Abkhazian cuisine. Culinary recipes are full of names of cereals and vegetables. Also, Abkhazian cuisine is simply impossible without adjika. Recipes for dishes specific to her will be offered below.

The first dish worth mentioning here is hominy. Yes, not only Romanians

and Moldovans are crazy about her. Abkhazians also cannot imagine a meal without hominy. They also call it "porridge-bread." For cooking, you need cornmeal or corn grits. It is served on a special wooden plate and several pieces of suluguni cheese are placed on top of it. It can be prepared not only with water, but also with nut butter, milk or sour-milk cheese.

In general, Abkhazian cuisine without cornmeal, widely used in cooking, would be completely different.

It is needed, in particular, for making churek. This is an unleavened flatbread with cheese, honey or walnuts. It sounds very primitive, but it's worth cooking.

One cannot fail to mention baklava, which Abkhazians also love very much. To cook it, you need the following: flour (if there is no corn, you can use wheat) - 1.2 kg, a liter of milk, walnuts and apples - 350 grams each, five eggs, butter, honey and granulated sugar - 300 grams each, 15 g yeast, cinnamon, s alt and powdered sugar.

Starting cooking. Milk must be warm. Dissolve the yeast in it, then add sugar and leave for fifteen to twenty minutes in a warm place. Rub the yolks with sugarwhip whites. Sift the flour, make a well in it. Pour in the yolks, proteins, yeast that you diluted in milk,

add s alt and cinnamon. Knead all this until smooth and leave for an hour, maximum two, in a warm place.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling: crush the peeled walnuts with a knife and mix with sugar. Cut each apple into four pieces, removing the core, and then cut into slices. To this, add one or two glasses of water and simmer for fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally. Divide the dough into eleven parts, roll each of them very thinly (thickness - up to 3 mm), grease with oil, also grease the baking sheet with oil and put the first layer of dough on it. Sprinkle a third of the nut filling on it. Then lay out three whole layers of dough on top. Then pour the same amount of filling again. Again three layers of dough. Pour the remaining third of the nut mass. Again three layers of dough. This time, put the apple filling on top. Cover it with the last layer. You will get a cake, put it in the oven and bake for twenty to twenty-five minutes, then take it out. Cut into diamonds. Drizzle with honey syrup and put back in the oven, bake for another forty minutes.

Abkhaz cuisine offers a variety of dairy products. For example, matsoni. Boil the milk. Wait until it cools down to a temperature of 50 degrees. Add a special starter to it, stirring. After pouring milk into jars, wrap it warmly and leave it for twelve hours.