How to Make Georgian Khinkali

Of all the Georgian foods acquired from invading enemies, khinkali is without peer. With striking similarities to the Central Asian manti, local legend places the origins of the Georgian dish in the hands of the Tartars, the 13^th century rulers of what is now Georgia and Armenia.

Whatever the case, we can all agree that whoever brought this dish to Georgia was a culinary genius – few foods can produce the level of comfort acquired from a belly full of khinkali and homemade wine.

And while khachapuri is the national dish, khinkali is arguably the national pride. No other Georgian food can spur such passionate debate and competition amongst friends and family alike, similar to discussions about gumbo in Louisiana, lobster rolls in Maine, or pork barbeque in Tennessee and North Carolina.

Learning to cook khinkali is a serious commitment to Georgian cuisine, but one worth making. (If you want a simpler recipe, perhaps start with pork mtsvadi.)

Below is what you need to know.

GEORGIAN KHINKALI

Cook Time: 2-3 hours

Yield: ~35 dumplings

Equipment:

Dough Roller
2 large bowls (one for dough, one for filling)
Large Pot for Boiling Dumplings
Digital Scale (optional)
Food Processor (optional)

Ingredients

For the Dough:

1.1kg / 8 loose cups all purpose flour (plus more for dusting/kneading)
450ml / 2 cups lukewarm water (NOT hot water)

For the Filling:

400g / 14oz ground beef
300g / 10.5oz ground pork
2 small onions, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small bunch cilantro, minced (1/2 cup packed)
½ tsp dried red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
500ml / 2 cups water

For Boiling:

Pot with salted water

For Eating:

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Make the Filling

Add meat, onion, garlic, cilantro and salt/pepper/spices to bowl and combine by hand.
Begin adding about ¼ cup of water at a time to the mixture, squishing and mixing the mixture until you’ve added about 500ml / 2 cups. This is how you ensure each dumpling has enough “soup”, i.e. juice/broth, when you take your first bite.
Set aside and prepare the dough.

Make the Dough

Add 1.1kg / 8 cups flour to a large bowl. Make a depression in the middle of the bowl and add the eggs and lukewarm water.
Using your hand (or a fork), mix the egg and water into the flour from the inside out, moving in a circle with your hand. (Eventually, you’ll just be mixing it all together like usual).
From the dough into a shaggy ball.
Divide the ball into two smaller balls, keeping one covered in the bowl (plastic wrap or even a wet kitchen towel will suffice) and removing the other.
Dust your counter-top with flour and begin kneading/folding the dough ball until it is smooth and firm, about 6 minutes.
Using a dough roller, roll out the dough until it is roughly 1/3in thick.
Cut out individual circles with a drinking glass or cookie cutter, about 2-3 inches in diameter.
Remove excess dough (and roll/repeat if you want extra dumplings).
Use a dough roller to flatten each dough patty into a thin, 6-8in round. The thinner the better, however it must be strong enough to be pleated when forming the dumpling (this takes practice to judge correctly).

***NOTE – We don’t recommend stacking the flattened dough patties unless you’ve properly floured them. Otherwise, they will stick together and/or tear as you prepare the dumplings.

Make the Dumplings

Begin heating your pot of salted water – it should be boiling by the time you’re done making the dumplings.
Take one flattened dough patty and set on a lightly floured counter-top work surface.
Add 1 heaping tablespoon of meat mixture to the center of the patty. (The ideal amount of meat depends on the size of your dough patty/round – you want the dumpling to snugly fit over the meat, rather than having excess dough loosely wrapped around a weak portion. 1-2in of dough around the edge of the meat is ideal when starting to pleat.)
Using your thumb and index fingers, grasp the edge of the flattened dough and pleat the dough around the meat, rotating the patty as you go until you end up where you started and can seal the dumpling shut. This takes some practice – the more pleats the better (~20 is a respected number in Georgia – Georgian women do NOT mess around when it comes to pleating their dumplings.)
Pinch off any extra dough, seal any gaps in the pleats, and give the knob a short twist to finish the job.
Place each khinkali on a cutting board or tray dusted generously with flour.
Repeat with remaining flattened dough patties.
Carefully place dumplings into pot of boiling salt water. You want each dumpling to be able to float and bounce around freely – don’t overcrowd the pot. Make sure to give the pot a quick stir before moving on – you don’t want the dumplings sticking to the bottom of the pot.
Boil for 8 minutes – the dumplings will float to the top when they are about ready (depending on how much meat you placed inside, the floating indication may be a bit early).
Repeat this entire process with the remaining dough ball (it should be still covered in the dough bowl) while you boil the first batch.

***NOTE – We recommend boiling the first batch immediately rather than allowing it to sit. You risk allowing the “juice” to seep through the dough and stick to the tray/board surface (even when floured), causing dumplings to rip when you eventually try to move them into the pot. The less time they sit, the better.

Serve the Dumplings

This is quite simple. Serve khinkali hot, and garnish only with freshly ground black pepper (if desired).

Eat the Dumplings

Eating khinkali the Georgian way requires some practice. Luckily, you’ll have about 35 opportunities to do so with this recipe.

Use the pleated knob as a handle and bring the body of the khinkali dumpling to your mouth.
Take a small bite from one corner of the khinkali dumpling, keeping the bite hole up so that no juice spills out on to your plate.
Carefully slurp the juice/broth from the khinkali dumpling, and then proceed to eat the rest of the meat and dough.
Stop eating when you reach the knob – this part is not eaten, but rather used to indicate how many khinkali dumplings you’ve enjoyed (you simply leave them on your plate).

Extra Notes/Advice:

A standard single pack of ground beef/pork will weigh about 1lb 5oz, or about 600g. We generally just make extra filling mix (adding the portions of other ingredients as needed) and use the remaining mixture for tortillas, tacos, or with rice. Otherwise, weigh it according to the recipe and set aside the rest.
When mixing the ground pork/beef, a 50:50 ratio is just fine. We prefer a bit more beef than pork, though, so we’ve adjusted this recipe accordingly.
When rolling the dough circles into rounds/patties, don’t be lazy – get them as thin as possible. There is nothing worse than a dumpling with too much dough.
You really only need about an inch or two of dough beyond the meat – this will ensure a “snug” fit when you pleat them together. Any more space, and you’ll have unwanted, excess space in the dumpling and around the cooked meat.
Prepare the dumplings in two batches, cooking the first immediately after pleating them shut. Otherwise, the juicy meat mixture will seep through the dough, causing them to stick to whichever surface you’ve placed them on. This can cause tears when trying to move them later.
Make sure you stir the pot when adding the dumplings to the boiling salt water – otherwise, the dumplings will sink and stick to the bottom, causing tears when you try to remove them.
Add salted water to the pot for your second batch – you want those dumplings to float, not stick to the bottom.

For you visual learners, below is a photo guide of the khinkali recipe process described above.

mise en place for Georgian khinkali — Your “mise en place” for khinkali should look something like this.

Add meat, onion, garlic, cilantro and salt/pepper/spices to bowl and combine by hand.

Add about ¼ cup of water at a time to the mixture, squishing and mixing the mixture until you’ve added about 500ml / 2 cups. This is how you ensure each dumpling has enough “soup”, i.e. juice/broth, when you take your first bite.

meat filling for khinkali — It tastes much better than it looks.

This is what the meat mixture will look like when all of the “juice” water is added. Set aside and prepare the dough.

Add 1.1kg / 8 cups flour to a large bowl.

Make a depression in the middle of the bowl and add the eggs and lukewarm water.

Using your hand (or a fork), mix the egg and water into the flour from the inside out, moving in a circle with your hand. (Eventually, you’ll just be mixing it all together like usual).

From the dough into a shaggy ball.

Divide the ball into two smaller balls, keeping one covered in the bowl (plastic wrap or even a wet kitchen towel will suffice) and removing the other.

Dust your counter-top with flour and begin kneading/folding the dough ball until it is smooth and firm, about 6 minutes.

Using a dough roller, roll out the dough until it is roughly 1/3in thick.

Cut out individual circles with a drinking glass or cookie cutter, about 2-3 inches in diameter.

Remove excess dough (and roll/repeat if you want extra khinkali dumplings).

Don’t stack the dough patties – sometimes they can stick together if not floured properly.

Use a dough roller to flatten each dough patty into a thin, 6-8in round. The thinner the better, however it must be strong enough to be pleated when forming the dumpling (this takes practice to judge correctly).

***NOTE – We don’t recommend stacking the flattened dough patties unless you’ve properly floured them. Otherwise, they will stick together and/or tear as you prepare the dumplings.

Now you are ready to make the khinkali dumplings.

scooping meat for dough dumplings — Note the meat to dough ratio – you want just enough dough to have a snug fit around the filling when pleated shut.

Begin heating your pot of salted water – it should be boiling by the time you’re done making the dumplings.

Take one flattened dough patty and set on a lightly floured counter-top work surface.

Add 1 heaping tablespoon of meat mixture to the center of the patty. (The ideal amount of meat depends on the size of your dough patty/round – you want the dumpling to snugly fit over the meat, rather than having excess dough loosely wrapped around a weak portion. 1-2in of dough around the edge of the meat is ideal when starting to pleat.)

Using your thumb and index fingers, grasp the edge of the flattened dough and pleat the dough around the meat, rotating the patty as you go until you end up where you started and can seal the dumpling shut. This takes some practice – the more pleats the better (~20 is a respected number in Georgia – Georgian women do NOT mess around when it comes to pleating their khinkali dumplings.)

I am a righty. I use the index finger of my left hand to brace/hold the pleats, while I use the thumb/index finger of my right hand to fold the dough into the stack, kind of like an accordion folds together.

As the pleats stack together, you’ll have to rotate the patty to accommodate extra work space.

Here I am getting lazy at the end…a Georgian woman would be yelling at me at this point.

Pinch off any extra dough, seal any gaps in the pleats, and give the khinkali knob a short twist to finish the job.

Place each khinkali on a cutting board or tray dusted generously with flour..

Repeat with remaining flattened dough patties.

Carefully place khinkali dumplings into pot of boiling salt water. You want each khinkali dumpling to be able to float and bounce around freely – don’t overcrowd the pot. Make sure to give the pot a quick stir before moving on – you don’t want the dumplings sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Boil for 8 minutes – the khinkali dumplings will float to the top when they are about ready (depending on how much meat you placed inside, the floating indication may be a bit early).

Repeat this entire process with the remaining dough ball (it should be still covered in the dough bowl) while you boil the first batch.

Serve them hot, and garnish only with freshly ground black pepper (if desired). Khinkali do not work well as leftovers. In fact, in Georgia, if somehow they aren’t all eaten when served, families will often fry them at the end of a supra in order to eat them hot again.