Khinkal = Noodles + Meat

Specialties of the Northern Caucasus

Khinkal Brothers by Khinkal BrothersFederal Agency for Tourism

Khinkali

Khinkali are usually eaten with your hands, dipping them in the sauce and sipping the broth, but you can eat with utensils as well – it depends on the type of dish and the situation. 

Meat by RustourismFederal Agency for Tourism

The Chechen culinary pantheon places their own equivalent of khinkal in first place –zhizhig galnash. This is often translated into Russian as “galushki with meat.”

Khinkal by RustourismFederal Agency for Tourism

The dough is worked in such a way that the pieces really do look like galushki (dumplings) and the meat (lamb or chicken) is cooked separately. 

A portion of galushki and a piece of meat are served on the same plate, and broth and sauce are served alongside. 

Khinkal Brothers by Khinkal BrothersFederal Agency for Tourism

At the base of the numerous variations on khinkali are unmixed cooked pieces of dough of this or that form, a boiled piece of meat, and the broth from the meat, served separately.

A mature sheep in three-quarters view standing and looking left, beside it a lamb lies on the grass (ca. 1655) by Karel DujardinThe Metropolitan Museum of Art

It is thought that this is how Chabans in the mountains cooked for themselves – they boiled the lamb separately and then cut it into pieces, cooked the pieces of dough separately, and ate everything with sips of broth from the meat. 

Credits: Story

Сhief Сonsultant — Ekaterina Drozdova, restaurateur, gastronomic entrepreneur, food and social activist, Photo production — tm agency, Contributors — Proximity Russia, Denis Yershov, Alexandra Grigoryeva

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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