About Food – Khabidzgina
Khachapuri (Georgian: ხაჭაპური) is justifiably considered to be one of Georgia’s national dishes and is popular in restaurants and in homes. There are several different regional types and it can be made with a variety of fillings. In this recipe we show how to make Khabidzgina (Georgian: ხაბიძგინა), which is a khachapuri filled with potato and cheese. This type of Ossetian khachapuri is a popular meal in Ossetia and Shida Kartli.
Ingredients for the khachapuri dough: 1 kilo of flour, 300 ml of water or milk, 1 egg, 1.5 tbs of yeast, 1 tsp of sugar, 1 tsp of salt.
Ingredients for the filling: 800 grams of potatoes, 800 grams of Imeretian cheese (mozzarella can be substituted for Imeretian cheese) and 200 grams of butter. In the traditional recipe boiled butter is used (erbo).
Preparation (Khachapuri dough): There are several recipes for making khachapuri dough but we find the following method to be the easiest way to prepare it.
Warm 300 ml of water or milk to 35 C and add to a bowl. Stir in the yeast.
Add 600 grams of flour to a mixing bowl and make a depression in the flour. Add the yeast water, milk and a raw egg. If you want the Khabidzgina to have a golden color you can add 1 tsp of sugar.
The dough should be formed into a soft ball.
Cover the bowl with cling film and leave in a warm place for 2 hours for the dough to rise.
Preparation (potato and cheese filling): Peel (optional), cut and boil the potatoes. Add to a mixing bowl and add 150 grams of butter.
Mash the potatoes and butter.
Crumble the cheese and add to the mashed potato. Mash the ingredients with a wooden spoon.
After two hours in a warm place the dough should look like the picture below.
When you are ready to use the dough, add 150-200 grams of flour and knead the dough. The dough should be fluffy, not wet. Separate it into four same-size balls (only two are shown in the picture below).
Cover the dough balls (we used clingfilm) and leave in a warm place for 10 minutes.
Place one of the balls of dough onto a flour-dusted preparation area and use the palms of your hands and your fingers to flatten the ball of dough into a circular shape that is about 1 cm thick.
Add a quarter of the potato and cheese filling.
Carefully fold the edges of the dough over the filling and seal by pressing the edges together. Pinch the top together to fully seal the dough.
Very carefully flatten the filled Khabidzgina into a circular shape, turn over and place in a cold pan. Complete the flattening process until the Khabidzgina fully covers the base of the pan.
Cook on a medium heat for 5-7 minutes, then carefully turn it over and cook for a further 5 minutes. Repeat the process to cook each Khabidzgina.
Serving: Brush the top of the Khabidzgina with the remainder of the butter and serve immediately.
Enjoy your Khabidzgina!
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Actually khabidzgina comes in several varieties…. The one popular in Bakuriani some 40 years ago had a spinach+cheese+walnuts filling. They used to make it with a 5 cm wide hole in the middle of its upper crust wherein they used to put a lump of summer ghee (maisis erbo მაისის ერბო). A proper way to eat it was to tear off small pieces of the upper crust and dunk them into the ghee and cheese gravy in the hole. Once the whole upper crust was gone, one would then roll the bottom part and eat it. Very yummy!
Thank you for your very helpful comments. We will create the dishes you mention and publish them on the website 🙂
Sounds good ! 🙂
Just a note: for better results the walnuts should be coarsely crushed. Do not use ground walnuts.
Is it instant/fast acting yeast or is it Active Dry yeast that is used in all the baking recipes?
It is active dry yeast 🙂