Imeretian Khachapuri

⏳ Time

1 hour + 2 hours

🥕 Ingredients

🍽️ Servings

Description

For khachapuri, you need young unsalted cheese. This can be found at markets and is somewhat similar to mozzarella. In general, the main secret of khachapuri lies in the cheese: the tastier the cheese, the tastier the khachapuri, so don’t skimp on cheese. However, if you can’t find young cheese, you can buy sulguni or Adyghe cheese, and if it’s too salty, slice it thinly, place it in porcelain or enamelware, cover it with cold water, and soak it for 2–5 hours. Then, drain the cheese in a colander, let the water drain, and squeeze it by hand.

Ingredients

Imeretian cheese - 17.6 oz
Matsoni - 17 fl oz
Chocolate eggs - 2 pieces
Salt - ¼ teaspoon
Wheat Flour - 3 cups
Clarified Butter - 3 tablespoons

Step by Step guide

Step 1

First, we prepare the simplest dough — pour matsoni into the flour. We usually also add a bit of sparkling mineral water to the dough. However, since sparkling mineral water is now quite risky, you can do without it or use any other carbonated mineral water. Add salt. The dough should be soft but not tear and pliable enough to shape. Form a ball from the dough and roll it into a flatbread.

Step 2

Mash the cheese by hand if it’s soft, or grate it if the cheese is a bit hard, and mix in 1–2 eggs. If the cheese isn’t fatty enough, you can add a piece of clarified butter to the filling.

Step 3

Place the cheese in the center of the flatbread and lay it in a frying pan greased with neutral vegetable oil. Raise the edges, seal them, and press down so that the filling stays inside. This creates a completely closed pie with cheese inside.

Step 4

Fry covered over medium heat first on one side until a golden crust appears, then on the other side — but without a lid. Finished khachapuri can be brushed with clarified butter on top. It’s best to eat them right away — they taste a thousand times better that way. But if by some miracle you didn’t finish the khachapuri right away, you can reheat it in the frying pan in the morning and enjoy it with tea for breakfast.