On my way to Tbilisi for the first time last December I got talking to a Russian man in Kiev Borispyl about Georgia and what to expect. Though his English was limited and my Russian is non-existent, he made one thing very clear; Georgians will never stop offering you food and wine. He said it with such a serious face I thought he was merely living up to the Russian stereotype until I actually arrived in Georgia and saw he wasn't exaggerating in the slightest. It should have been telling enough when we went straight to the restaurant after my arrival (I suppose around 3am - Tbilisi doesn't close) and the Caesar salad was too much for me, let alone the khachapuri, khinkali and the pkhali.
Throughout this blog I will most likely link to various Georgian dishes through www.georgianrecipes.net since they're great at explaining what dishes are, where they're from and how to make them. So far the dishes I've made are following their recipes.
Anyway, my point is the portion sizes are huge here, compared to the UK anyway. I've grown up on a typical British diet of meat and two veg, with emphasis on potatoes (I'm Northern European, give me a chance) where I'd often help myself to seconds and thirds, proud of my huge appetite. My dad has always loved to cook so food has never been scarce, he even throws in some more exotic dishes occasionally although I can't help but miss my jacket potato with baked beans and cheese. I'm pretty much willing to try anything although I've never been big on meat. Which leads me uncomfortably onto my next point...
I have a lot to say about meat and meat production here. I can't exactly say I'm well-educated on this topic, I'm going by observations alone. I came to Georgia knowing their approach to meat was different to what I was used to in the UK, my boyfriend warned me after seeing my horrified expression as he and his colleague singed and flayed a chicken they'd just bought from Tesco. Now, I'm not so bad that I choose to ignore where meat comes from - I do my best to avoid it for that reason along with general dislike for the taste - but even then it occurred to me how little we experience of this sort of preparation in the UK and probably most of the Western world. I've already said how my dad loves cooking, so aside from a year living alone in London and doing my best to get through the three kilos of pasta my dad sent me on my way with, I know little about how to do it myself.
Again, let me emphasise how useful that Georgian recipes website has been since I've been wanting to try out some dishes and I have a hungry Georgian man to feed. Not that he isn't adventurous with food, he'll eat anything, but there is some sort of programming with Georgians that I've only recently learned where they just don't feel full or satisfied unless they've had atleast a loaf of bread or shotis puri along with it. It's also fun for me to break away from what I know and dealing with food that is produced and sold in a more natural way. We get all our fruit and veg from Gldaani Bazaar where feisty kittens entertain me as he haggles. Maybe the experience of the bazaar and shopping in general needs another post... This post has got quite long so keep your eyes peeled for my post on meat and bazaars, I'll try and snap some photos in the meantime!
To get to the point, here are the dishes I've made so far (excuse the crappy iPhone quality, I'll try and get into the habit of using my camera but, like I said, I don't intend for this to be a food blog so much):
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| This was so easy to make and great served cold too! |
Ajapsandali
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| We had a lot of aubergine to get through... This was surprisingly simple too and perfect if you just have basic ingredients in the fridge. Also trust what the recipe says about oil! |
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| It takes a lot of garlic and chili peppers to overwhelm the bland taste of the aubergine but gets better as it marinates |
One of many lobio recipes
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| Excuse my knees... As much as my lobio needed much more of the nut mixture (I ran out) it still tasted good. Remember chili flakes are never a bad idea |
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| These were delicious and so easy! |
I think that's enough for now, expect more food ramblings soon!
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