Khinkali at home

Grind the meat in a meat grinder (the grate should be large). If desired, the meat can be finely chopped by hand with a knife. Add the spice mix according to the recipe, dried or fresh cilantro (you can use parsley). If adding fresh herbs, they should be finely chopped beforehand.

Peel two onions. Finely chop the onion into cubes, then add it to the meat filling. Mix the filling ingredients well, then add ice water to it. Add a large amount of water to the khinkali filling, constantly stirring the filling with water. Gradually add water as it is absorbed by the meat mixture. Add salt to the filling to taste. When the filling becomes moist enough but retains its elasticity, cover it with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Knead a simple dough for khinkali. We will need very cold water. Therefore, we put the water in the refrigerator in advance. It's better to even put the water in the freezer so that it is simply icy (in this case, make sure the water doesn't freeze solid). As usual, we start by sifting the flour. Pour the sifted flour into a bowl in a mound. In the middle of the flour, make a deep well by pushing the flour to the edges of the bowl. Pour room temperature water into the flour well, add ½ tsp salt. Now, gradually add flour from all sides into the well with water in small portions, starting to knead the dough. The kneading process begins right in the middle of the flour well. At first, the dough is liquid, so we knead it using a spatula. When the dough thickens to the point where it is inconvenient to knead with the spatula, we will continue to knead the dough by hand.

Knead the dough, gradually incorporating flour in small portions. When all the flour from the recipe has been used for kneading the dough, let the dough rest for 20 minutes, covering the bowl with plastic wrap. Then knead the dough thoroughly and for a long time again (for at least 10 minutes), and set the dough aside for another 20 minutes. The dough should be firm, not sticky to the hands, and elastic.

Sprinkle the table with flour. Next, cut off a piece of dough, roll it out on the table into a thin layer, and the table is already sprinkled with flour. Cut out circles from the rolled-out dough using a cutter, about 10 cm in diameter. Take the filling out of the refrigerator. Mix it thoroughly until homogeneous. Place a tablespoon of filling in the center of the circle.

Raising the edges of the dough circle, bring them together by sequentially folding the edges into pleats. This creates a little bag with the meat filling. The meat filling should not completely fill the dough bag. There should be space in the khinkali for the juice that will form during boiling.

Join the pleats by tightly pinching them with your fingers. Holding the khinkali by the knot, gently lift it (while holding the bottom of the khinkali with the other hand), lightly twist to make the pleats turn. Pinch off any excess dough at the knot of the khinkali.

Place the shaped khinkali on a floured board.

Pour water into the pot. After salting the water, heat it to boiling. When the water boils, stir the water in circular motions. In the resulting whirlpool, drop the khinkali one by one. While the khinkali have not surfaced, stir them in the pot with a spatula. Boil the khinkali for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, pour 1 cup of cold water into the pot, and use a slotted spoon to remove the khinkali.

Place the cooked khinkali on a plate separately from each other. Sprinkle with black pepper (coarsely ground) on top. Serve the khinkali hot (with herbs).

Tip: khinkali are eaten by holding the knot with one hand. A piece of khinkali is bitten off from the side, then the juice is sipped, and then the khinkali itself is eaten. The knot of dough on the khinkali is usually not eaten.