Kingdom Come Vortex

[Kusi Bertoldo]

Theland that is now Georgia used to be ruled by several independent kingdoms, but in the early 4th century the native people officially adopted Christianity, which helped the kingdoms come together. By the Middle Ages, the country was unified as the Kingdom of Georgia, but eventually this disintegrated due to the influence of regional powers such as the Mongols and Turks. In 1783, one of the Georgian kingdoms allied itself with the Russian Empire, which slowly proceeded to annex the country piece by piece.

Georgia became an independent republic under German protection after the Russian Revolution in 1917, but was invaded and annexed by the Soviet Union in 1922. Georgia seceded in 1991 and experienced a period of economic crisis, political instability, and ethnic conflict.

Georgia is the oldest wine-producing region in the world, and makes many types of wine from traditional Georgian grape varieties that are not well-known in the West. Georgia exports over 10 million bottles of wine per year!

This is a thick stew made primarily from red kidney beans, so I was a bit apprehensive about trying it because kidney beans have historically not been one of my favorites. However, it had been a long time since I had tried them, so I thought I would make this and see how it went.

I smooshed up most of the kidney beans using a potato masher, because it was taking too long to mash them against the side of the pot as the recipe directed. Then I added the contents of the mortar and pestle as well as the onions and the oil I fried them in. I added a bit more water and seasoned to taste, and then I was done.

After the first rise, I divided the dough into two (since I halved the recipe) and shaped each piece into an oval. After a short rest, I added the filling and folded up the edges to make the shape you see in the mixture. The khachapuri rested a short while longer before I brushed the edges with egg wash and baked for 15 minutes.

The dough itself was a simple mixture of flour, salt, water, and egg. It was a little sticky, but I got better at working with it (or the dough itself got easier to work with) as I went. I added some of my meat mixture, then pleated (or attempted to pleat) the edges before twisting into the handle at the top.

Phinkali is a type of salad or spread that can be made out of various vegetables, often as an appetizer. I chose to make the spinach version after someone on the Georgian subreddit said it was their favorite.

The recipe I used is from Craving Tasty. Although kharcho often seems to contain walnuts, this version did not, but the recipe is apparently originally from a Georgian cookbook so it must be fairly authentic.

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