Khachapuri - A Georgian Snack

 Khachapuri,  so delicious as a  snack, meal  or with a bowl of  homemade vegetable soup.
This stuffed flat bread originates from The Republic of Georgia, a familiar place to our family.
My Grandparents and several of the Doukhobor families were exiled to a village called 'Troyetskaya' in the Republic of Georgia when she was a little girl.  I remember my Grandmother talking about her village and about the Cossacks raiding her village many times,  she said it was very scary for her as she was only ten  years old at the time.

Wherever you go in Georgia, you can be sure to eat Khachapuri at least once a day. These national cheese breads come in various shapes. They are so, so good! Georgians make this bread into a large loaf for special occasions, but street vendors also sell it in smaller, tart-sized diamonds, or "beggars' purses". There are several distinctive types of Khachapuri in Georgian food from different regions of Georgia. This recipe is probably the most common type but it has my own touch and ingredients which I love and which add special fresh herb flavors to the traditional just cheese filling. Serve Khachapuri for breakfast with a hot cup of Latte or fragrant tea, for lunch with a fresh heirloom tomato salad and you will fall in love with this fabulous dish.

KHACHAPURI



The ingredients you will need.

The   yogurt is added to the flour, salt, baking soda

mixture and kneaded together to make a soft dough.

 

 Mozzarella, feta and dry cottage cheese are

 sprinkled with herbs.  My choice are oregano,

basil, freshly ground pepper and red pepper flakes.

 

The dough has rested  while I mixed up the cheeses

and now is shaped into balls.  You need two balls

per one Khachapuri.

 

Two of the dough balls rolled out and

ready to be stuffed.

 

The  herbed cheese mixture is added on top

of one of the rolled out dough balls.

 

The second rolled out dough ball is added on top

of the cheese.

 

  Pinch the edges together with your fingers.

Make sure to let the air out before sealing

the last little bit.

 

With a rolling pin, gently roll out starting

from the middle and rolling to the edges.

Rolling it out fairly thin but careful not to

have it too thin so that the filling breaks through the dough.

 

 Place it onto a  cast iron pan heated to medium

high heat and let bake for  3 minutes then flip

and bake for another 3 minutes.

 

You will get 4  Khachapuri from this recipe.

 I double the recipe  because they freeze very well and are great

 for lunches.

Still hot from the pan, the cheeses have melted and

are oozing out from the bread.

 

You encounter this cheese bread all over The Republic of Georgia, in restaurants and in homes,

 and everyone makes it a little differently. There’s one area by the Black Sea coast called Adzharia, where they shape the bread like a boat, leaving the cheese exposed in the middle; before it’s served, butter and egg yolk are stirred in—just in case it’s not rich enough.

 In this picture I did not add the egg but thought you might like to see

 what the 'beggars purses' looked like.

 To this one I added some vegetarian 'ground round' to make it

a bit more substantial as a lunch 'sandwich' for my son

to take to work.

 

 

KHACHAPURI RECIPE

 

Yield: 4 'flatbread)

Ingredients for dough:

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup plain yogurt

Ingredients for cheese filling:

 7 ounces (200 g) mozzarella cheese, shredded*

5 ounces (150g) feta cheese*

3.5 ounces (100 g) dry cottage cheese*

salt, pepper

1 teaspoon dried oregano*

1/2 teaspoon dried basil*

black pepper to taste

red chili flakes to taste

In large mixing bowl, blend dry ingredients well, add the yogurt.

Mix together and knead to a soft dough. It should be a little sticky to the hand.

Set on a floured counter and cover with plastic, let it rest until you have mixed the filling ingredients

Put all the cheeses into a mixing bowl, add the herbs, salt and peppers and combine. Set aside.

Separate the cheese mixture into 4 equal portions

Take out the rested dough, cut in to 8 equal sections.

Flatten each piece of dough and roll into circles - approximately 5 inches in diameter

Put one portion of the cheese mixture on one of the circles, cover with another rolled out piece of dough.

Pinch the edges together to seal and roll out with a rolling pin to a thin 'pancake' approximately 10 inches in diameter . Set aside.

Continue with the other pieces until all dough and cheese is finished.

Heat a cast iron frying pan on med high heat, place one filled 'pancake' in the hot frying pan.

Let bake for at least 3 minutes, flip over and bake the other side another 2-3 minutes.

Remove from pan and set on a tray, continue to cook the rest of the filled Khachapuri.

*I used a 3 cheese mixture but feel free to use just the cottage cheese and mozzarella and you can omit the herbs.

*I liked the flavour the oregano and basil added to the Khachapuri.

 

 

 'Another day in your midst, which the sun softened with a kiss.

 Inside your heart are the tools to sculpt it as you please, so you can follow your bliss.'