Recipes

Cooking is my hobby. Usually my wife cooks all week, but on weekends I cook something. I want to share a recipe for one of my favorite dishes - Georgian Khinkali. Khinkali are Georgian dumplings. The main feature of Khinkali is that they are eaten with hands because there is a lot of delicious broth inside and using a fork you can pour it outside. Here is the recipe.

DOUGH

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 large egg
• Olive oil, for greasing

MEAT FILLING

• 4 ounces ground beef
• 4 ounces ground pork
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/3 cup chopped yellow onion
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for serving
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper, or to taste

Instructions to make the dough:

Stir together flour and salt in a medium sized bowl. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, and add 1/2 cup of water and egg. Stir with a wooden spoon. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic: 4 to 5 minutes. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, and cover it.

Instructions to make the meat filling:

Using your hands stir together all the meat filling ingredients in a large bowl until ground meat is completely broken up and mixture is well blended.

Instructions to make the Khinkali:

• Divide the dough into parts. Shape 1 dough portion into a ball, and roll out to about ¼ inch thickness on a lightly floured work surface. Make 8 dough circles.
• Roll each dough circle into a larger 4-inch circle. Place about 1 tablespoon meat filling in center of each dough circle, and pleat dough edge, gathering top like a pouch to enclose filling. When you have pleated all the way around, pinch top edges together firmly, and give the dough a little twist to make a stem and to make sure the Khinkali is well sealed.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high. Carefully add half of dumplings to water, and stir gently with a wooden spoon to make sure they don’t stick to bottom of pot. Boil until dough is tender and meat is cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove Khinkali with a spider, and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle Khinkali with black pepper, and serve hot.