Dear Friends,
I’m back from
my 12 day vacation in Georgia. We had good time in Georgia, it’s a beautiful
country with lots to offer. This vacation was a bit different from the
vacations we have taken in last 4 years, different in both good and bad way. However, I would like to talk about the good
things and use proper forums to review facilities and services which didn’t
meet my expectations.
Some of you
may know I started this blog to record memories of my travels but then life
happened. With the onset of fancy travel blogs and accounts on Instagram in
recent times, I was a bit intimated that no one will like my plain writing and
simple mobile phone pictures. However, I have realised that one should do
things which make one happy without thinking about the reaction of audience on
social media. With that in mind, I’m going to talk to you about another
hobby/passion of mine -Food.
I became
interested in different types of Indian cuisine when I moved to Western part of
India for my first job. My room mates hailed from different states and cooked
food which I had never eaten before. The interest grew when I met my then future
husband and I wanted to cook for him . Since then I have expanded my
horizon and now I can cook recipes from following cuisines- Indian (which is
collection of 50 different cuisines), Turkish, Italian, Mexican, Arabic and
English.
During these
years I have discovered that a hobby isn’t about doing only one thing, there is so
much more you learn thru a hobby- about cultures, history . For example, thru my hobby
of cross stitching, I have learnt about festivals and holidays in western
world, learnt names of new flowers, fruits etc.
During my travels , I have seen that food brings people together. I have
seen people connecting and bonding over food. Each year when I plan to travel
to a new destination, I study about the cuisine of the country. The focus is to
eat local (vegetarian) food, understand what ingredients are used and why. We
avoid eating Indian food or at fast food chains when travelling.
Through this
post I will narrate my journey in Georgia thru food.
The first
thing which shows in google search when you look up Georgian food is
Khachapuri. It is a staple food of Georgians, available in homes, restaurants and
road side stalls.
Khachapuri –
to describe simply is stuffed bread. Wheat dough is rolled into rounds, stuffed
and then baked in ovens. The stuffing varies from cheese, red beans, potatoes,
spinach (tarragon actually) to red meat.
The most famous among tourist is Adjarian Khachapuri , which is like
Turkish pide but with semi cooked eggs, cheese and salted butter. This
Khachapuri hails from the coastal region of Georgia and the shape represent a
boat. I liked it the most from the various Khachapuri I ate.
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ACHARULI – AJARIAN KHACHAPURI
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Megruli Khachapuri
Picture from our lunch at Bermuxa, Zugdidi |
Kinkali – it
is Georgian dumpling stuffed with cheese , potatoes or meat. Unfortunately I
wasn’t able to taste this as most of the places I asked for it had only
non-vegetarian version.
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| Image from Internet |
I always make a list of vegetarian food available in the new country I
travel to. It is important to know the local name of the dishes when travelling to non- English speaking countries.
My travel
guide in Georgia was surprised when I showed him the list of food I wanted to
eat during our tour.
This time it
was a bit of struggle to get vegetarian food when I said I didn’t want to eat
Khachapuri anymore. If you ask for vegetarian food in Georgia, you are
suggested to order Khachapuri , if you say no, most of the times they serve you
potatoes , mushrooms or salad.
Georgia has a
rich fertile soil and most of the things are grown naturally with no pesticides or fertilisers. So if you are like me, thinking I didn’t travel to
2000 miles to eat potatoes, think again. I ate stir fried potato chips almost
once in a day during my trip but I must tell you the potatoes with just a pinch
of salt were mind blowing. I stopped eating potatoes in 2017 due to health
reasons but it was hard to resist the stir fried potato chips in Georgia.
Georgia has
wide variety of mushrooms which they use a lot in cooking. The variety of
dishes they make with mushrooms is very interesting.
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Pan baked Mushroom with almost no spice.
Picture from our lunch at KP Tavern, Tbilisi |
Mchadi – This
is traditional corn bread of Georgia. When I first ate it, I was surprised that
it tasted so much like Makka ki roti –India flat bread made from Maize.
I ate
variations of corn bread, each beating other in flavor. I even ate corn on the
cob from a road side stall ..ha ha
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Mushroom Kuchmachi & Chvishtari(cheese corn bread)
Picture from our lunch at Cafe Ushguli Maspindzeli , Ushguli
A must visit home establishment where everything is made to order and you can actually participate in cooking. |
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Lobiani served with Mchadi and pickled veggies
Picture from our lunch at KP Tavern, Tbilisi |
Lobiani- its
name of food made from red/kidney beans. Most of the time it is served with Mchadi
and pickled veggies. Do you know Lobia is Hindi name for black eyed peas?
Now coming to
less popular vegetarian food…these were served when I dug deep and asked the
chef what else they can serve except the above listed.
Badrijani
Nigvzit - Georgian Eggplant Rolls with
Walnut-Garlic Filling. Very interesting recipe, never imagined using nuts with
eggplant.
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Badrijani Nigvzit
Picture from our dinner at Kidobani, Tbilisi |
Jonjoli is one
of the Georgian appetisers. In particular, these are pickled sprouts from a
bush that grows in the area. Jonjoli is consumed in various ways, sometimes
it’s mixed with olive oil or with other pickled vegetables such as cucumber,
pepper or tomatoes. The appetiser goes well with Lobio, Georgian bean soup as
well as with boiled potatoes or simply with Georgian corn bread mchadi
together with cheese.
Green Salad-
with its fresh veggies, the salad with cucumber, onion and tomatoes in Georgia are class apart. If you happen to be in Tbilisi, do try Green salad
in Summer Menu of Barberstan. This restaurant is one of the highest rated in
Georgia but apart from the salad , we were disappointed with the availability
of veg food.
Vegetarian
soup- I was lucky to stay in home stays during my trip and the owner made vegetarian soup for me.
This soup is quite different from the traditional soups I’m used to eating.
Traditional soups are made of boiled veggies or lentil which are pureed and
then cooked with spices. Georgian veg soup was more like a stew- big chunks of
veggies cooked in water with sauteed onions.
Tolma- Very
similar to Turkish Dolma /stuffed vegetables. Mine was stuffed with cooked rice
and served with sour cream.
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| Made to order Tolma at Ushba Guest house, Mestia |
Nazuki is Georgian spicy sweet bread. This scrumptious treat is made in
different parts of Georgia , but nazuki from Surmai , a small town in Shida
Kartli Region, stands out with its exceptional taste. Every Georgian and
tourist alike who passes beautiful Surmai road is unable to resist a good loaf
of homemade sweet bread exhibited by the locals in front of their homes.
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| Image from Internet |
Churchkhela is
a traditional Georgian candle-shaped candy. The main ingredients are grape
must, nuts and flour. Almonds, walnuts, hazelnut and chocolate and sometimes
raisins are threaded onto a string, dipped in thickened grape juice or fruit
juices and dried in the shape of a sausage. This is the best souvenir you can
get for your friends and family.
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| Image from Internet |
I should mention
that Georgian cuisine is known for its meat dishes as the meat used is natural
and not factory produced. My husband who eats selective meats praised the
roasted trout he ate by the river side in Pasanuri.
Georgian is
famous for its cheese, wine and breads. Every house has a local winery and
bread baking set up.
If you love
cheese- there is so many varieties to taste- Sulguni and Imeruli being the most popular
ones.
If you are not
found of wine , try Chacha- which is home made vodka.
June is fruit harvest season in Georgian plains, we were in awe of the abundance of cherries, apples, pears, plums in the market. The otherwise plain food of Georgia is well complimented by fruit sauces/chutneys, jams and pickles served with it.
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| Tkemali- Sour plum sauce |
My post will
be incomplete without the mention of bee keeping business in Georgia. We found
thousands of bee houses adjacent to the roads we took to get to various regions
of the country. It is major occupation of the country.
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| Bee houses in Svaneti region |
I hope you
haven’t dozed off until now … ha ha this has become a long post.
Georgian food relies on the natural flavor of ingredients and most of the times least of spices are used , quite opposite to spices heavy Indian food.
Many of the dishes I mentioned in my post are vegan or can be made vegan , so pls ask if you need more info about these or in general about Georgia.
I'm going to try making some of these in my Kitchen.
P.S.-The views expressed in this post are mine , I have added links to the restaurants and eateries I ate at.This post is not paid , I wanted to document good places to eat in Georgia .
