Georgia About

Chvishtari (also called chishdvaar) is a cornbread with cheese from Georgia’s Svaneti region. It is also popular in Samegrelo region but made in a slightly different way. In this recipe we will show how to make the Megrelian version of Chvishtari.

Ingredients (for 6 servings): 200 grams of Sulguni cheese (Georgian: სულუგუნი). Sulguni is a cheese from the Samegrelo region of Georgia. It has a sour, moderately salty flavor and an elastic consistency. If you don’t have Sulguni you can use Mozzarella cheese.

Other ingredients: 400 grams of stone-ground white cornmeal, 1 egg, 50 grams of butter, 1 level tsp of sugar, 1 level tsp of salt, 100 ml of oil,  and 230 ml of milk, or water.

Preparation: Add the cornmeal to a mixing bowl. Add the egg, butter, sugar and salt. Slowly add 230 ml of milk or water (we used milk).

Mix and squash the ingredients by hand (for at least 5 minutes).

The finished mixture should look like the picture below.

Mold the cornflour mixture into six separate balls.

Cut thick square slices of Sulguni cheese (1 for each chvishtari).

Carefully insert a piece of Sulguni cheese into each chvishtari.

Carefully wrap the cheese and close the chvishtari.

The finished chvishtari should look like the one in the picture below.

Add oil to a pan and when hot add each Chvishtari, reduce to a low heat and cover the pan.

After 5-6 minutes, carefully turn the Chvishtari and cook for a further 5-6 minutes on a low heat (uncovered).

Serving: Serve hot.

Enjoy the Megrelian version of Chvishtari!

CLICK on the logo to visit GEORGIA ABOUT on Facebook and see photos and news about Georgia. Click LIKE on the page and become a friend of GEORGIA ABOUT.