Popular Georgian dishes. Taste the country!

Georgia is a country with a very rich history, culture and, of course, traditions. There are legends about the hospitality of Georgia. Many people associate Georgia with lavish feasts and holidays, which they usually arrange in honor of the arrival of a guest, and all because there is an ancient proverb: a guest is a messenger of God. Georgians are an extraordinarily generous and welcoming people. And they can not do without a feast during the arrival of the guest.

Not for nothing all over the world they admire Georgian cuisine, after all, the dishes and wine in Georgia are incredibly delicious. Having tried a Georgian dish once, you will not want to eat something else anymore, because Georgian cuisine will make you fall in love with yourself. And despite the fact that the dishes in Georgia are really admirable, the prices for food are quite inexpensive.

This article will tell you what it is georgian cuisine, which try national dishes in Georgia and how much it can all cost you.

Traditional dishes

Traditionally, in many cuisines, lunch or dinner begins with snacks and Georgian cuisine is no exception. A sumptuous feast can last for quite a long time, so you should not get carried away with snacks, of which there are a huge number in Georgian cuisine. When snacks are served on the table, many people think that these are the main dishes and try to try everything, and then they do not have enough strength to try the real main dish. So remember that snacks are served first and don't try to eat everything.

In traditional Georgian cuisine nuts and a variety of herbs and spices are usually added to snacks. Georgians generally like to use nuts and various spices to prepare their dishes.

The nuances of cooking traditional Georgian dishes of Caucasian cuisine are reflected in the spicy combination of spices, vegetables, beef and lamb. Meat dishes are the national pride of Georgia: kharcho, khashi, chakapuli and kuchmachi. Chicken is used less often, but recipes from it are also famous among tourists, for example, chakhokhbili, satsivi and tobacco chickens.

Recipes of Georgian dishes vary depending on the region and ethnicity. In the western provinces, corn flour tortillas fried in clay pans are preferred instead of wheat bread. A characteristic dish in the Megrelia region is a meaty paste “gomi" from a special variety of dewdrops.

The next national feature of Georgia is considered to be cooking on an open fire: khachapuri is cooked in open ovens, shish kebab and other dishes are fried over a fire. The conservative nature of Caucasian cuisine is manifested in the fact that recipes are recorded in books and passed on to future generations of the family by inheritance.

Names of some snacks

Phali

Vegetable balls with nuts and spices

Lobio

Nutritious bean snack

Hashlama

Boiled meat with spices and seasonings

Badrijani

Eggplant rolls with nuts, herbs and garlic.

Georgia is also known for its variants of cooking various cheeses. Cheese in the national cuisine it is often used not as a snack, but as one of the main ingredients of cooked dishes. It is also used as a filling for baking. There are many delicious dishes where cheese is used as a filling, but the most famous such dish is, without a doubt, khachapuri.

So, after the appetizers, we always start eating the first courses:

And here are the most popular of them:

Chikhirtma

Chicken broth soup with egg

Kharcho

Thick beef soup, rich in tomatoes and spices

Hashi

A rather rich meat soup, which is served only in the morning to eliminate the results of yesterday's holiday.

Matzoni soup

Thick fermented milk soup, similar to yogurt

WHAT IS THERE BESIDES SHISH KEBAB IN GEORGIAN CUISINE?..

The next step is to start the second course. Usually meat is used as the main component, sometimes vegetables are added. You will definitely want to try any Georgian cuisine dish, because they give off a truly inimitable special fragrance. And it's all about spices and seasonings that Georgians love to add to their dishes. They use cilantro, tarragon as spices, and, of course, they can not do without the well-known basil.

The most famous and most important Georgian dish is undoubtedly shish kebab. Mutton, beef, turkey, sturgeon can be used for shish kebab.

Khinkali

Georgian dough dish filled with stuffing, herbs and broth

Chakhokhbili

Vegetable and turkey stew

Kuchmachi

National dish of offal

Chakapuli

Stewed lamb with spices

Satsivi

Chicken cooked in a thick sauce of walnuts, seasonings, herbs and cinnamon

Khachapuri in Adjarian

A boat-shaped tortilla filled with cheese, butter and egg

Desserts

Let's talk about desserts. As in many countries, traditional Georgian desserts are made mainly from nuts, but Georgians also use grape juice. These ingredients make a wonderful churchkhela, which is definitely worth trying in Georgia. Do not think that this is the same churchkhela that is sold in the South of Russia. Churchkhela in Georgia is a very delicious dessert, which is prepared only from fresh nuts.

It is not necessary to buy churchkhela in shops for tourists, it is better to look for it in the markets or at grandparents on the street. Real high-quality churchkhela is stringy, elastic and without any white plaque.

Drinks

I think each of you has heard a lot about Georgian wines, about their wonderful taste and aroma. This is true, the most famous drink in Georgia is wine. Since ancient times, wine has been prepared according to special recipes. A large number of myths and legends are composed about him. If you decide to spend your vacation in Georgia, then you should definitely taste locally made wines, otherwise your vacation will be simply useless.

Delicious wines known all over the world

Red

Khvanchkara-semi-sweet, from two grape varieties; saperavi-dry from the same variety; kindzmarauli-semi-sweet.

White

Tsinandali-dry; "Alazani Valley" – semi–dry; rkatsiteli - from the same variety.

In addition to wine, there are decent soft drinks in Georgia. For example, healing georgian water from minerals: "Borjomi", "Sairme", "Bakuriani". Also on the streets you can find stalls where there are fresh cooling drinks on sale: lemonade, sparkling water, duchess, tarragon. And sometimes you can find delicious pomegranate fresh or juice.