Caucasian cuisine is rich in recipes for all kinds of cakes, pies and pies, prepared on the basis of fresh or yeast dough with various fillings inside. These are hitchin, and kutaba, and delicious Ossetian pies. And today, everyone who likes Caucasian cuisine can replenish their piggy bank of culinary recipes with another dish from the North Caucasus called chepalgash.
What is chepalgash?
Chepalgash is a national dish of Chechen-Ingush cuisine, one of the oldest in the Caucasus. However, in Dagestan they love him no less and use the same recipe in the cooking process. Chepalgash is thin cakes from unleavened dough with a filling inside (most often potato or cottage cheese). In Chechnya, they are sometimes called pancakes, they are so tender.
Mountain peoples have a lot of traditions and rituals associated with chepalgash; there are references to it both in songs and in fairy tales. Thin flat cakes with pumpkin must be baked on the day when the child took his first steps. They were made immediately in large numbers, treating relatives, friends and acquaintances.
There is also a wedding ritual associated with the chepalgash cake. On the third day after the wedding, the bride pulled out a needle from the hem of her dress, stuck it in the center of the cake and threw it into the water. Then Chepalgash was shot, thereby driving away evil spirits from a woman. After that, she could draw water from the river and bring it into the house without fear for her health.
Types of filling for Chechen chepalgash
The whole taste of chepalgash cakes is in the filling, although sometimes they are cooked without it, just like thin pancakes. They also turn out quite tasty.
Chepalgash is traditionally cooked with cottage cheese. But other types of filling can be used:
- pumpkin;
- potatoes;
- salted cheese ;
- chopped meat.
In general, the filling for chepalgash is the basis for experimentation. No less delicious are cakes cooked with herbs, wild garlic and other ingredients.
Chepalgash: cooking secrets
Like any dish of national cuisine, chepalgash also has its own cooking features:
- Cakes are fried only in a hot dry frying pan. Ready chepalgash is transferred to a plate, after which it is generously greased with melted butter.
- The unique technology of preparing chepalgash is that the finished cakes must be lowered for a few seconds in clean boiling water. In this way, flour, soot is washed off the surface of the cake, and it itself becomes unusually soft and tender. Only experienced housewives can cope with such a “ritual”, therefore, to simplify their task, many simply sprinkle chepalgash with hot water.
- Chepalgash is always stacked, then the cakes are well soaked with melted butter on both sides. After the stack becomes sufficiently high, it is cut from top to bottom into 5-6 parts.
- Chepalgash, the recipe for which in every family passes from generation to generation, is made exclusively round and rolled out as finely as possible.
- Chechen cakes are served at the table with hot tea or milk drinks.
Making dough for chepalgash
According to the traditional recipe, chepalgash is made from unleavened dough. For it, you need kefir and flour, taken in a ratio of 1: 1, as well as a teaspoon of salt and soda.
Cooking sequence:
- Sift flour (600 g) into a deep bowl, add salt, soda, mix with your hands and pour 600 ml of kefir (you can replace homemade yogurt).
- Knead the dough thoroughly, adding flour if necessary (additionally 50 g may be needed). The result should be a soft and elastic dough that sticks a little to your hands (when rolling, you will still need to add flour).
- A bowl of kneading dough is covered with a lid or towel and left to “rest” on the table for 15-20 minutes.
- After the specified time, the dough is once again kneaded on the table, adding flour if necessary (about 70 g more). It is important not to overdo it, otherwise the cakes will turn out to be too tough, and it will be very difficult to roll them. Transfer the dough into a bowl and leave it under the towel for another 15 minutes.
- After the dough is “rested”, due to the swollen gluten, it becomes homogeneous and extremely elastic, stretches very well, which means that chepalgash, the culinary recipe of which is presented here, will not break when rolled.
The dough is ready, you can proceed to the formation of cakes.
How to form a chepalgash cake
After the dough is sufficiently rested, and the filling is prepared, you can begin to roll the cakes. For this, a piece weighing no more than 250 g is cut (or torn off) from the total volume of the dough. Experienced chefs recommend forming three flat cakes at once, since they are fried very quickly.
From each piece of dough you need to form an elastic ball. It can be sprinkled with flour, if necessary, so that when rolling the cake does not stick to the table. The dough ball is gradually stretched by hand until it becomes about 10 mm thick. Then put the prepared cake on the table and continue to roll out with a rolling pin (up to 3-5 mm). Strive to make the edges of the circle thinner than the middle of the circle.
A cold filling is laid out on every rolled cake. In volume it should be as much as there was a test. The same ball is formed from it, which is then laid out in the center of the cake. Next, you need to blind (connect) the edges of the dough so that the filling is completely closed. To do this, use the method from the edge to the center.
For rolling, the cake is laid with a seam down on a table crushed by flour. Its finished thickness should be no more than 4 mm. Roll the cake mainly in the center, constantly turning and rotating in different directions. Watch that the edges do not become too thin.
When the three cakes are rolled out, you can begin to fry chepalgash with potatoes, the recipe of which is presented below, or with other ingredients. You need to heat the pan. Fry the cakes on both sides until golden brown. Then wipe the chepalgash with a dry towel to remove excess flour, lower it alternately in boiling water or sprinkle with hot water. Put the finished cakes on a plate in a stack, greasing them with butter.
We begin to prepare the filling.
Chepalgash with potatoes
For potato filling, you need about 800 g of potatoes boiled in their skins. It is this method of preparation that is recommended, since this way the filling will turn out drier, which means that the cake will be easier to roll out, will not get wet and will not break.
Cooked potatoes must be peeled, mashed well, add salt, pepper and other spices to taste. You can optionally fry finely chopped onions. This will be a recipe for chepalgash with potatoes and onions. After the filling has cooled, you can form a cake.
How to cook chepalgash with cottage cheese
Such a filling for chepalgash flat cakes is considered classic. In general, cheese is a very popular product among all Caucasian peoples and is often used as a filling for various pastries.
About 1 kg of dry cottage cheese will be needed for the amount of dough that is obtained from 500 ml of kefir. You need to add 1-2 eggs to it (depending on the humidity of the cottage cheese), green onions and salt to taste. The filling should not be too wet. Otherwise, the cake will break when rolled. Chepalgash recipe with cottage cheese can be corrected to your liking. Everyone who does not like onions can replace it with other herbs or even remove it from the recipe.
Chepalgash with pumpkin
Chechen cakes with pumpkin filling are very tasty and juicy. Difficulty in their preparation can occur when rolling.
For the filling, the pumpkin is peeled and baked in the oven for 40 minutes or cooked until cooked on the stove. After this, the pumpkin needs to be mashed. It should be noted that when choosing the second cooking option, the filling is drier. If desired, fried onions or fresh green onions are added to pumpkin puree.
So do chepalgash with pumpkin. The recipe for these flat cakes is not at all complicated. But be sure to adhere to cooking technology.
Chechen Chepalgash Recipe from Cornmeal
The classic recipe for making Chechen tortillas uses not wheat, but corn flour, which is considered more useful. But such chepalgash have a specific aftertaste that not everyone likes. Therefore, in the modern interpretation of the recipe chepalgash with cornmeal is used occasionally.
However, those who want to taste the tortillas prepared according to the old version, you need to know that the proportions for the dough remain the same.