Georgia

[gracoman]

I've become quite enamored with the food and culture of Georgia.

No, not that Georgia....

This Georgia


It is an ancient culture and one of great importance because it stands at the crossroads of the silk road and spice trade routes. It is boundaried to the north and south by mountains, to the West by the Black sea, and to the East by the Caspian Sea. It's importance is highlighted by the huge number of foreign occupations it has suffered through the millennia. And I mean millennia. Georgians like to say wine was invented there and current archeological evidence supports this.

Despite the many occupations, Georgia has preserved it's culture through it's food ways. A case can be made that all cuisines are fusions of a sort. Georgian cuisine has some elements of this but if ever there was a unique cuisine, Georgian is it.

I've been gathering strange and wonderful ingredients. Sauces, herbs, spices and spice mixes. Some only grown in Georgia. Let's get to work.


The clay pot is a dedicated yogurt pot. Clay has 3 advantages when making yogurt at home. It is porous an allows moisture to evaporate making for a thicker end product. If you further dedicate a clay pot by using only one culture, that living culture will embed itself in the porous clay and culture other batches without a starter. Finally, clay pot yogurt just plain tastes better.

This pot is for Georgian Matsoni yogurt. Pronounced matzoon, matsoni is a mesophilic culture which cultures at 70-78ºF so no yogurt maker required. It is also an heirloom culture so we can use a small amount of our last batch as a starter for the next batch. 1 tsp finished yogurt to 1 cup whole pasteurized milk does it. A max of 2 qts can be cultured at one time.

My Matsoni culture arrived as part of a 4 part heirloom culture set but I'm only interested in the Matsoni.


Almost forgot this extremely important ingredient


Check this logo


First Matsoni yogurt culture finished in my bread proofer. We have had below freezing temps so I set the proofer at 76ºF for insurance.


My first Georgian dish got a late start and I was a little disorganized. I had planned on cooking this on my grill but below freezing temps and snow changed my mind. Also, I didn't make ajika, didn't make the Gomi ("polenta and cheese" accompaniment ) and forgot the Tkemeli. All work and no play make gracoman a dull boy.

Sakonlis Khorzis Kharcho (Spiced Beef And Walnut Stew) is a classic Georgian dish. Most kharcho I've seen are soups but this recipe, taken from 'Supra", makes a stew. Walnuts and egg yolks are added to the sauce making it especially rich. The author describes this dish as Georgia on a plate which is why I began here.

The beginning of a heavily spiced walnut sauce is walnut butter made in my food processor. Spices include Georgian saffron which is really the dried leaves of French marigold, Georgian Blue Fenugreek, Red Ajika (spiced chili relish) and ground coriander



Spiced Beef And Walnut Stew simmering in an unglazed clay pot. Pic was taken after the heavily spiced walnut butter was added.


Plated over rice (yeah, I forgot to make the gomi)


Dusted with cayenne


Some of the finest beef stew I've ever had the pleasure of sitting down to.

[gracoman]

Abkhazura and Elarji

Spiced juicy meatballs fried and then finished in a pomegranate gravy and plated over white corn, butter and mozzarella Elarji (a kind of polenta). Elarji is made with coarse grain white corn and white corn four. Butter is added and then mozzarella which is a substitute for Georgian Sulguni cheese. The dish is garnished with scallions, pomegranate seeds and red onion.

Georgian meatballs aren't typically round but I did that anyway. The ones I've seen are sausage shaped or sausage shaped with pointed ends. These days I'm usually pressed for time so balls it was.

I was expecting an order of coarse grain white corn grits to arrive but it was damaged in shipping and returned to the sender before I ever saw it. So I cheated and used Quaker Oats white corn meal. It came out just as elastic as shown in elarji videos. Interesting stuff.

These Georgian pork and beef meatballs are spiced with garlic, finely chopped onion (a lot), hot chili powder, freshly ground coriander (freshly ground coriander is wonderful stuff), fresh cracked black pepper. summer savory, blue fenugreek, sumac and dried barberries.  They are typically wrapped in caul fat before frying but that isn't an easy thing to find these days.

My intention was to grill these meatballs on skewers and finish them in the pomegranate mix on my ceramic cooker but winter has returned with a vengeance.

I believe if I lived in Georgia I'd be as big as a house




Abkhazura
Spiced pork and beef meatballs

Ingredients:
1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground chuck
1 egg, beaten
2 onions, finely chopped (use a food processor for this)
5+ garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp hot chili powder
4 T  dried barberries
1 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
1 tsp freshly ground coriander. I used a mortar & pistil for this. Freshly ground is the only way to fly.
1 tsp blue fenugreek, ground
2 tsp dried summer savory
2 tsp ground sumac
4 T butter or oil divided
1 T AP Flour, sifted
1 C pomegranate juice

Garnishes:
Sliced red onion
Scallions
Cilantro
Pomegranate seeds - These were available in my local grocery store, somehow.

For the meatballs:
-Mix together, with your hands, all ingredients except butter, flour and pomegranate juice
Form mixture into desired shape - I used a medium ice-cream scoop for consistent meat balls
-Heat 2 T butter or oil in heavy cast iron or carbon steel skillet over medium heat and brown the meatballs on all sides in batches
-Transfer to a paper towel lined plate as they finish browning

For the sauce:
-Melt remaining 2 T butter or oil to skillet
-Sprinkle the flour in, mix, and cook for a minute or two stirring often
-Slowly add pomegranate juice while stirring continuously making sure no lumps form

Finish:
-Reduce heat and add meat balls into the pomegranate sauce.
-Cover and simmer 15 min or until meatballs are cooked through. Turn meatballs occasionally to coat evenly with sauce. The sauce will turn the meatballs very dark.
-Place covered skillet in 175ºF oven to keep warm if necessary

Serve over elarji and top with choice of garnishes

Quick Elarji

Ingredients:
1 C Quaker Oats white corn meal
1 C cold water
1 ¾ C chicken broth (or more water)
1 C water
8 oz fresh dry mozzarella, sliced
2 - 4 T salted butter

-Mix corn meal with 1 cup cold water and set aside
-Bring broth and 1 C water to boil
-Gradually stir corn meal mix into the boiling liquid
-Cook 5 min over medium heat stirring constantly
-Lower heat and stir in the mozzarella and butter
-Cook 5 min stirring constantly until cheese is melted

[gracoman]

Mtsvadi - The Dish Of Kings

"Properly made mtsvadi is an extraordinary dish. Preparing it is an entire ritual. Mtsvadi made outdoors, on an open fire is very special and completely different from that made at home using a frying pan or an electric cooker. This is in Georgian genes. We’ve enjoyed it since ancient times and mtsvadi is subconsciously bound to our distant ancestors’ ritual of roasting meat over a fire after a hunt. By the way, it is known that Erekle ll, one of Georgia’s greatest kings, was especially fond of eating mtsvadi in the mountains.
Mtsvadi can be made with pork, mutton or veal. Beef should be used only if all other options are unavailable. Marinating the meat in pomegranate juice before roasting makes it especially tender, juicy and delicious." --From Georgian Cuisine

This "meat on a stick" (I used 5lbs chunked pork butt) was marinated in a mix of 3 cups pomegranate juice, a boatload of sliced red onion (2 large) and 3 T of the spice mix Khmeli Suneli for two days before skewering and slow roasting. The marinated pork was based frequently with red wine (red wine and salt is called for but I left out the salt) as it slowly grilled over lump. Traditionally, this is grilled over grape vine but I used lump with apple smoke wood. Best I could do.

Skewered heavily spiced and marinated pork butt chunks waiting for the fire



Kebabs on the fire



Green Tkemali - wonderful stuff



The dome of my ceramic cooker easily closes over the 27" long 1/2" wide flat skewers preventing flareups. Turning them is a breeze.



Slow cooking. Pic shows basting wine.



Finished Mtsvadi plated with sliced red onion (don't be shy with the onion), pomegranate seeds, red Ajika (heavily spiced hit chili relish) and green Tkemali (spiced sour plumb sauce).





An extraordinary dish indeed.

I had originally planned on serving this with shoti puri, Georgian bread, but I didn't have time to make that (8 hr cool rise) so I substituted Naan flat bread which is available at my local market. One would wrap shoti around finished skewers and pull the meat off causing juices to run into the bread but I took the citified approach. Maybe next time. And there will be a next time.

Spread red ajika on the naan bread, add the meat, raw sliced red onion and pomegranate seeds, and spoon green tkemeli over the top. Then spoon more tkemeli over the top.

I began by reconstituting pre-packaged dried red ajika but that stuff is basically flavored salt. I won't use it again as a relish. The jarred hot gourmet ajika I bought from the online Russian store was immensely flavorful and complex, spicy (but not to spicy) and made a wonderful addition to these flatbread sandwiches.

Mtsvadi alone was worth this exploration.  The Georgian methods of spicing is what separates this cuisine from all others.  A long marination is common in that part of the world.

[gracoman]

Neknebi - Georgian pork ribs (BBB's)

The ribs were marinated overnight in a mix of red Ajika (a complex red chili paste), vegetable oil and apple cider vinegar. Georgians typically use grape vine for smoke wood but I was fresh out and used apple . The ribs were mopped every hour with the marinade. Not for added moisture but for flavor enhancement.

The sliced pork ribs are served with a rich, thick, heavily spiced tomato based sauce made from sauteed onion and garlic, tomato paste, water, caster sugar, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, ground nutmeg, hot chili powder, ground black pepper, red ajika and a mix of egg yolks and apple cider vinegar