Beautiful beaches of the Black Sea coast, picturesque mountains, subtropical climate and hospitable people - that's what Abkhazia is. Gagra, Pitsunda, Novy Afon and of course Sukhumi - the names of these resorts thundered throughout the Soviet Union. After visiting the amazingly beautiful surroundings of Lake Ritsa or the cave complexes of the Iverskaya Mountain, you will surely want to eat properly. The logical question is what to try in Abkhazia?
Food in Abkhazia
Abkhazian cuisine has surprisingly absorbed the culinary traditions of the peoples of the Black Sea region and the Transcaucasus. The symbol of Abkhazia is undoubtedly Adjika. Each housewife has her own unique recipe for this seasoning, passed down from generation to generation. There are a great many types of adjika: red, green, spicy, spicy, nutty and others. The choice is yours!
The main dish that replaces bread for Abkhazians is abysta or iamalyga - corn porridge. Mamalyga is prepared and seasoned with various types of cheese, beans or nut butter.
The cheese palette ranges from ordinary suluguni to pickled, sour-milk and wineskin cheeses of various consistencies. Various cheese dishes are also interesting, such as cheese bagels or suluguni fried with pepper and garlic.
Flour in the Abkhaz language is separated into a separate concept "/>
If we characterize the culinary traditions of Abkhazia in general, then fried dishes are loved here: fried meat of all sorts, various poultry - certainly fried, fish, vegetables, fried cheese - this is the basis of the local cuisine.
Top 10 dishes of Abkhaz cuisine
Spit meat or poultry
Spit Chicken
The lamb or kid is cleaned and gutted, then salted and pepper from the inside - and sent to the spit. Rotating the skewer, the fried carcass is constantly greased with oil and lemon juice. When cooked, tender and soft meat is chopped into slices and served with cheese, herbs and adjika. Chicken or turkey is prepared in a similar way, but the poultry can be pre-boiled until half cooked, and when frying, the carcasses are greased with adjika and poured with broth. Sliced roast is served with Asyzbal sauce - from barberry and cherry plum. The result is amazing!
Stuffed meat or poultry on a skewer
A different kind of the previous dish, displayed in a separate line due to its uniqueness. The peeled and prepared carcass is stuffed with finely chopped offal with sour milk cheese, crushed nuts, garlic and herbs - savory and mint. During frying, the meat is smeared with adjika diluted with pomegranate juice or wine. Before presenting the dish to the table, the minced meat is removed from the carcass and served along with the carcass and sauces to taste. Poultry is prepared in a similar way, but it is served uncut with minced meat inside.
Abkhazian chicken or turkey on a spit
The recipe requires a separate mention. Minced meat is fried separately from onion, raisins and prunes twisted in a meat grinder. Whole pomegranate grains are added to the finished minced meat. Then the chicken is stuffed and fried over low heat on a spit. Served with sauces and herbs.
Smoked meat and poultry
In Abkhazia, they love not only frying, but also smoking. The meat of wild and domestic birds and animals is smoked. The processed and cleaned carcass is rubbed thickly and left for two days for salting. Before smoking, the meat must be dipped in boiling water. The animals are smoked with whole carcasses over the hearth, and the poultry is smoked on grates, depending on the starting product, for two to four weeks.
Smoked meat is served both by itself and fried in a pan or on a skewer. Served with freshly prepared hominy, vegetables, herbs and hot sauces.
Leg of lamb with cheese
Leg of lamb with cheese
The bone is removed from the leg, salted and gloved from the inside, and left to nourish. Then suluguni cheese, cut into thin slices, is put inside, sprinkling with finely chopped herbs. The prepared meat is placed in an ovenproof dish and covered with onions and garlic fried in a dry frying pan. Garnished with olives, olives and seasoned on the outside. The leg is baked on the fire for at least an hour, constantly pouring it with the released meat juice. Then the half-finished leg is poured with wine and flavored with cream - and baked again. Served with pita bread or chureks and with an indispensable spicy sauce.
Akurma
Lamb stewed with spices. Pieces of meat are stewed in a cast-iron cauldron with lamb fat and fat tail fat, adding boiling water from time to time. The cooked meat is seasoned with garlic, basil, coriander and savory, crushed with salt, and adjika is added. And again they languish over low heat for about half an hour. Served with herbs and lavash.
Akudrtsa
Akudrtsa
Bean soup. The washed beans are boiled several times over low heat, changing the water. Add leeks, celery stalks and parsley roots - and boil again. Then the soup is seasoned with onions fried in corn flour and adjika, garlic, parsley, tarragon and cilantro, crushed with salt, are added. Served with cracklings.
Corn soup
First, beef broth is cooked with whole pieces of meat. Milk-fresh grains of corn, diced potatoes are added to it and boiled for up to half an hour. Chopped carrots and onions are fried with fresh tomatoes, seasoned with adjika, garlic and herbs, and then added to the broth not long before the final readiness. Delicious and nutritious first course.
Achapa and akudchapa
Snacks made from green beans and beans, respectively. Beans or pods are boiled twice, mixed with adjika and finely crushed nuts, seasoned with onions, chopped herbs and pomegranate juice, after which they are salted. Serve on a plate with rings of fresh onion, pomegranate seeds and herbs, pre-watered with nut butter - arashi.
Abaklazanchapa
Abaklazhanchapa
Eggplant appetizer. Eggplants are cut and boiled in salted water. Then they are put under pressure for a couple of hours. The filling is prepared separately - nuts, garlic, onions and herbs are chopped in a blender, mixed with adjika and salt and poured with vinegar. Then the eggplants are stuffed and served with peanut butter drizzled over. Taste and health in one plate!
