Kubdari recipe

Introduction

In this article I want to tell you about this Georgian dish, which I love so much, however, it has this specified recipe, which you must really follow, otherwise, it won’t be Kubdari, but it will be something like beef cubes in a dough cooked.

Well, kubdari is a Georgian dish, in particular, it’s a traditional dish from Svaneti, which is a mountainous region in the northern part of Georgia. This dish is well known for its special taste, which is given by adding some spice, which Svanetians prepare and add it to the dish. And the main ingredients are cubed beef or pork or lamb and some onions and spices. I don’t think, that you have heard about this spice called Gitsruli in Georgian and I really don’t know an English name for it, however, that’s the spice which is used in kubdari and which makes it taste very special.

Anyways, let me tell you about the preparation of Kubdari.

Ingredients

• For the dough:

1. 1. 2 litre of warm water
2. 1 tablespoon of dry yeast
3. ½ teaspoon of salt
4. All purpose flour

• For the filling:

1. 1. 5 kilogramme of pork or beef or both
2. 1 large onion
3. Garlic
4. Spices: coriander, dill, Gitsruli/cumin, fenugreek
5. Ground red pepper to taste
6. Salt to taste

Preparation process

First of all, you should have some warm water and add the yeast to it. Then you should add those things to the all purpose flour and prepare the dough. The dough should be kind of hard and not very soft. You can also add some butter or margarine to the dough, like 50 grams or so. And you should then let the dough get doubled in size. And you should put it in a warm place for about one hour and a half for that matter.

In the meantime, you should have the meat cut into small cubes, some people just use it like that and others have it kind of beaten. Then you add the spices, like coriander and dill and Gitsruli and pepper and salt, so that it tastes really good. You should also add some garlic if you want, however, I usually don’t use the garlic in my dishes. And then you add the chopped onion. Some people like to have large pieces of the onion in their Kubdari, others like it to be really very well chopped. I prefer the very well chopped onion, if you want to know the truth.

Now, you should be really careful about the spices, I mean, you should not add too many of them and they say, that you should take more coriander, less dill and fenugreek and less Gitsruli. This Gitsruli is grown in Svaneti and it kind of resembles the cumin, so that if you don’t have the Gitsruli, you can have some cumin in your Kubdari. All the spices together should be 2 tablespoons in total.

After you have added those spices, then you add the pepper and some salt and then you just mix them together with your hands for a long time, so that everything can assemble together and have one taste or whatever you can call that.

Once the dough has risen, you can take it out and put it on a table, where you already have some flour and you should make a ball out of that dough. Then you can cut it into four or five pieces and have them like balls, too, and then roll out each ball on a medium size.

After that, you can add the filling to each of those pieces and have them wrapped around the fillings and seal them. Then you can roll them out a little bit and have them like circles. You can even make small cuts on the dough for it not to burst during baking.

You should turn the oven and have it on 200 degrees Celsius until the dough gets brown in colour or kind of like golden brown. After the dish is cooked, they usually spread some butter on its top and serve it hot.

Well, if you have done everything correctly, then Kubdari will become your favourite dish, too, of course if you love meat and you will want to prepare it even more often. However, it’s not that simple to cook Kubdari and many people prefer buying it. Well, I won’t say, that it’s very simple, but it’s not that difficult, and, besides, what’s better than preparing the dish you want just the way you want it?! So that, it’s better if you prepare it yourself. And, besides, it’s not really an expensive dish, you just need to pay a little bit for the meat and the other ingredients doesn’t cost much at all.

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