Dumplings From the Mountains of Georgia

Intro: Dumplings From the Mountains of Georgia

I learned how to make these while I was in the Peace Corps in the Republic of Georgia. They have to be just about the best thing to eat after a long hike up to a tiny stone church on the top of snow capped mountain. Best eaten plain with just black pepper as garnish and a light red wine. Gagimarjos!

STEP 1: Ingredients for Five People, 35 Dumplings:

Dough - 6 cups flour, 2.5 tsps salt, 3 cups warm water; Filling - 1.5 lbs ground beef and pork, 1 tsp ground black pepper, 2 tsps salt, Red pepper flakes, .5 tsp ground caraway seed, 2 small onions, 1.5 c warm water.

STEP 2: The Dough

Combine flour, salt and warm water in a large bowl with your hands. Knead for about five minutes.

STEP 3: Rest

Let sit 35 plus minutes.

STEP 4: The Filling

Take two yellow onions and chop in the food processor until they are in small pieces and oozing onion juice.

STEP 5: Mix

In a bowl, mix meat, spices and onions. Add water and mix with your hands. Start boiling a large pot of water.

STEP 6: The Wrappers

Take a mango sized piece of dough and roll it out to about 1/3 of an inch thick.

STEP 7:

Cut out circles about 2.5 inches in diameter with a drinking glass.

STEP 8:

Using ample flour, put two rounds of dough together and push together with your thumbs and pointer fingers into four inch diameter flats.

STEP 9:

Roll the flats into thin eight inch rounds. Lay them out, with lots of flour between them, on a plate or tray.

STEP 10: Pleating the Dumpling

Cup the rounds of dough in the palm of your hand and put a heaping tablespoon of filling in the center. For convenience, you can put the open dumpling into a small rounded dish before you start to pleat the rim to form a small package. Use your thumb and index finger to make an accordion type fold all around the outside. In Georgia, if you can make 19 folds, you?re prime marriage material.

STEP 11:

Roll the nubbin of the dumpling between your finger and thumb and pinch off extra dough. Place the waiting dumplings on a cookie sheet lined with saran wrap and flour.

STEP 12: Boil the Dumplings

Gently put the dumplings into the bioling water, about fifteen at a time, and boil for ten minutes.

STEP 13: Eat

Take out of the water, slide onto a plate and enjoy! (This photo is at a dumpling house in Tbilisi. Don't expect your dumplings to look like these on the first go - takes a while to get the hang of it.)

Comments

[bastien.brenu]

Caraway seeds make it just......SO TASTY!!

[theresa.turner.3348]

fresh khinkali are best sprinkled with pepper and downed with vodka shots , the leftovers are even better fried up in butter the next day- they take on a crispy yet still soft and chewy texture.

[geradze]

respect from Georgia for so well detailed recipie! Khinkali is not pilmeni, nor chinese dumplings :) they are better! always welcome to visit Georgia and try em! cheers!

[brideenie]

Hi, I was in Georgia recently and fell in love with this dish. I'm going to attempt to make them this weekend. What kind of flour should I use or does it matter? I was thinking of using plain flour.

[mscharf]

I am a fairly novice cook, what exactly do you mean by two small onions? Could you possible put it in cups. I ended up with 2.5 cups of onions with my "2 small onions", is that to much?

[www.microbike.ie]

I think 1 cup of water would be more than enough, there is definitaly mistake otherwise great, but bit of garlic in meat makes it better

[spark master]

I love it,

caraway seeds,(google it or ask in a big store) they taste like liccorish (kinda)  are used in some italian sausage.  Actually this is my recipe (almost) for italian sausage wrapped in dough , sausage filled ravioli LOVING IT.

for a different effect cook the sausage all crumbly after cooling add  corn starch to it  stir in well add 1 jumbo raw egg well beaten, then stuff and poach. If it take 3 -5 mins to cook them then do in shallow pan with water enough to let evaporate then fruy in place , like in Japanese restaurants.

If you want curry do lamb or chix , and toss in 1/4 cup of rasins.  Nice sauce of yogurt (full fat) pinch of oregano cucumber seeded and minced, and some cilantro. (w/o the cilantro it is Tzazikki sauce, (splg?) for gyro's or salad dressing.

More Asian would have ginger onion little pepper and soy reduce with sakeand some minced scallion . Make a ponzu sauce to dunk, or soy/sesame oil and rice wine vinegar (or white vinegar) with a little sugar minced scallions 

Last night tired of being asked for a "sample" as I fry meatballs for tomato sauce I said scew that and just panfried meat balls as burgers.

[Rawns]

Just remade these and they are great. However, mine always seem to be filled with juice and fat even though I use extra lean mince. :S

[petitchameau]

They're supposed to be filled with juice :)

[d1ndian]

in Nepal and India especially on mountain areas ....these dumplings are called momo..................they are filled with vegetables or chicken ..........served with tomato soup.............yummy..........

[d1ndian]

hei ...........nice tutorial tell me how to make a vagie one or a only chicken one.......

[0.775volts]

These are great, i made the mistake of taking a double batch to a party, and now i'm the "dumpling guy" one alternative i made was to lightly fry the dumplings after boiling them (~3-4 tbsp of olive oil in a med. frying pan), I just set them in and let the bottoms get a little brown, adds a nice touch, and they hold together a little bit better. now, if anybody knows how to make curry puffs, i'm all ears.

[Punkguyta]

Kinda like parogies (Correct the spelling at will).

[aeray]

Pierogis, I think.

[Punkguyta]

I think it's Pierogi (also perogi, perogy, pirohi, piroghi, pirogi, pirogen, piroshke or pyrohy), from the Proto-Slavic "pir" (festivity) is the name most commonly used in English speaking areas to refer to a variety of Slavic semicircular (or, in some cuisines, square) stuffed dumplings of unleavened dough and varying ingredients. Their specific origins are unknown; though they have strong ties to Slavic culture, similar foods occur in many cultures across Europe and Asia.

[aeray]

I do not doubt your etymology, and I assume the individual preparations are as diverse as the spellings and pronunciations. I spelled it pierogi because to me it seemed closest to the Polish dumplings I have had, because it/they is/are boiled. I have had Russian piroshki in a couple of forms, one in a light thin breading that seemed to be deep fried, and one in a thick flaky crust similar to puff pastry that seemed to have been baked...

[Punkguyta]

There are literally HUNDREDS of different pierogis, perogis, and yes, pirogens.

[teqsun.com]

I was just thinking that

[juandela]

yup, i also need to know how to make curry puffs.

[reeding]

im making these tomorrow any suggestions for sauce?