Uzbek Cuisine

I am currently reading “The Foodlover’s Atlas of the World” by Martha Shulman. This is a great resource on cooking and foods around the world. She lists main ingredients from 90 different cultures around the world and the geography and climate influence a culture’s cuisine. Unfortunately, Uzbekistan is not one of the countries described. There is a very interesting page on the Republic of Georgia however. There I was introduced to “mchadi”.

Georgia is divided into Western Georgia, which borders on the Black Sea, and Eastern Georgia which is dry and windy. Western Georgia is rainy and has higher temperatures. Corn is preferred over wheat. Georgians make mchadi out of corn flour. Mchadi is basically like corn bread. New world foods like kidney beans, tomatoes, and green beans are also favorites.

I thought this amazing since I am also from cornbread country. My family is from Western Tennessee, which borders the Mississippi River. It is very hot and humid here. Wheat was not traditionally grown. My grandparents grew up on cornbread and beans. My mother still cooks this meal once a week and it is one of my favorites. We usually pour the peas over the corn bread and eat fried potatoes and green beans as side dishes.

Mchadi is cooked very much like southern cornbread. You just mix the corn flour with water. Put it in a pan with oil and either bake or fry it. My mother puts cornbread and oil in a cast iron skillet and cooks it in the oven. That is only good if your skillet is seasoned though.

Here is an easy recipe for “mchadi”. Use it to scoop up gravy, grease from your chicken or vegetables. I also like to eat it with potato soup.

Mix cornmeal & water together well. (about a cup of flour)
Form it into a round ball. Heat a
skillet over low heat. With wet hands, flatten cornmeal ball into a
large pancake abt 1/2-inch thick. Put this into hot, dry skillet & cook
over moderate heat for 5 mins or long enough to form a crust. Turn
pancake over w/a spatula & cook for 5 mins more. Serve warm. Serves 4 to
6.

Serve it to your friends who swear they will never try foreign food and tell them that they just ate Caucasian food!!

I found this recipe online somewhere. (I can’t remember where, sorry!) It was an obvious Russian recipe that was translated into English using one of those online translators. (”To pour kefir in a bowl, and gradually adding flour zamesit the dough. . .” ) This isn’t the loaf of hachapuri (khachapuri) rather the small fried kind you can get from street vendors. This recipe will explain the technique in making square pastries (square samsa) if you wish to make a square shape pastry.

INGREDIENTS

Dough:

3 cups of flour
1 cup of kefir or buttermilk
4 tablespoons of margarine or butter

Filling:

1 1/2 cup of hard cheese like cheddar, havarti, or Monterey Jack (I mix them)
1 cup of soft cheese like ricotta, cottage cheese or goat cheese
1 egg
Greens (parsley or basil)
Salt, pepper

TO MAKE DOUGH

Pour the kefir or buttermilk into a bowl. Gradually add the flour and mix until a dough forms into a ball. Knead dough until it no longer sticks to your hands. You may need to add more flour. Put in a bowl, cover and let sit for 40 minutes.

WHILE WAITING MAKE THE FILLING . . .

Grate the cheeses into a bowl. Add and mix egg, greens, your favorite spices and cottage cheese or any other soft cheese. Set aside.

BACK TO THE DOUGH

After 40 minutes, divide the dough into two parts. Take the dough and roll (an o’qlow makes it easier) until it is very thin. I roll my dough over a plastic table cover. I roll the dough until I can see the design through the dough. About 1 mm. Spread half of the melted butter over the dough. Then roll the dough into a long tube looking roll. Then wrap up and put in the freezer for 30 minutes. (Use the same technique for samsa) Do not let it freeze. You are simply hardening the butter. Do the same to the second part of dough. Spread the rest of the butter on the dough, roll it up like a carpet, wrap it, and put it in the freezer.

Cut pieces of the rolled up dough about 2 in long. Unroll the pieces. They should be about 2 mm thick. Put in the filling and then close up like a square.

You fry this Khachapuri. Put vegetable oil in a pan. Put the pastries in seam down and fry until golden on both sides.

This is very delicious.

(Picture from sloyka.com)

Georgian Cheesebread (Khachapuri)

Put two cups unbleached white flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt into a medium bowl. Put 12 tablespoons of butter into small pieces and place with flour and salt. Beat one egg and 1/4 cup plain yoghourt and add to the flour mixture. Form into a ball and chill for one hour. Grate 1 1/4 pounds of Muenster and Havarti cheeses. Add a beaten egg to the grated cheese. Preheat the oven at 350 deg. F., and grease a large baking sheet. On a floured board roll the dough to a rectangle about 12 x 17 inches. Spread the cheese mixture on half the dough and then fold the other half over to enclose it, sealing the edges. Transfer to the baking sheet, and bake for 50 mins. or until brown.