Kurze is a national dish of many Caucasian peoples, which is very reminiscent of Russian dumplings or dumplings. Moreover, they are similar not only in appearance. Both of these products are made using the same technology. Essentially, these are dough products with filling. It can be curd or vegetable, but most often in the Caucasus they prepare kurze with meat.

Dagestan "dumplings"

Cooking any national dishes always requires strict adherence to recipes. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to achieve the desired result. In Dagestan, to prepare kurze with meat, you must have the following products on hand:

• For the dough: per kilogram of flour, 2 cups of water, an egg and 10 grams of salt.
• For the filling: 700 grams of ground beef, 2 onions, salt, 4 tomatoes, ground pepper, 2 cloves of garlic, spices, 30 grams of butter and herbs (dill, parsley and cilantro).

Making kurze with meat is not so difficult:

1. The first step is to prepare the dough. To do this, you just need to mix all the ingredients. The dough should be quite tight. After this, the semi-finished product should be wrapped in film and left to rest on the table.
2. At this time you need to start filling. First, you need to salt the minced meat, and then add spices and diced onion to it. Also chop the second head and sauté in oil. Then add tomatoes to it, after removing their skins. After simmering the resulting mass in a frying pan for 7 minutes, add it to the minced meat. After mixing, the filling can be considered ready.
3. Roll out the dough thinly, and then cut out circle-shaped pieces from the resulting layer.
4. Place a little filling in the middle of each piece and then pinch the edges to create a pigtail-like pattern.

The finished products will only need to be boiled in salted boiling water for 10 minutes. Then kurze with meat can be served to the table. In Dagestan, sour cream and garlic sauce (or just tomato) is a mandatory addition to them.

Filling options

Each Caucasian people has its own way of preparing kurze. The recipe mainly differs in the composition of the filling. For example, several types of meat can be used for its preparation. This definitely affects the taste of the finished dish. Take, for example, the option that uses: 0.5 kilograms of beef and lamb, 3 eggs, 5 onions, salt, 700 grams of flour, 60 grams of vinegar, water and pepper.

How are such kurze prepared? The recipe requires the following steps:

1. To prepare the dough, you first need to pour flour onto the table. Then, making a small depression in the center, add salt, eggs and knead the dough, periodically adding water. After this, it should lie for at least half an hour.
2. Combine the rest of the filling ingredients in a bowl.
3. Roll out the dough into a thin layer, and then use a regular glass to cut out round pieces from it.
4. You need to put a little minced meat on each piece.
5. Pinch the edges, alternately pressing the dough on the right and then on the left. As a result, instead of a regular seam, you will get an openwork braid. You need to press tightly so that the kurze does not fall apart during cooking.

Alternatively, you can even use regular tomato sauce for these “dumplings”.

Secrets of sculpting

In order to figure out how to cook kurze with meat, you must first of all master the technique of sculpting these unusual oriental “dumplings”. It is only at first glance that it seems very easy to form them. In fact, such a procedure requires certain skills and dexterity.

To make the right kurze, you need to:

1. First, holding the workpiece in one hand, gently pinch the tip with the other.
2. Fold it down towards the minced meat.
3. Grab a little dough from both sides and alternately press it to the tip.
4. Moving down the workpiece, pinch off new pieces. Outwardly, these actions resemble braiding.
5. At the very end of the workpiece, you just need to pinch the remaining dough to form a neat “tail”. Essentially, the finished product should be in the form of a drop. On one side the shape will be round, in the middle there will be a pigtail, and at the end there will be a thin “tail”.

As a result of this original modeling technique, the product is so durable that even liquid fillings can be used for it.

Preparation of semi-finished product

The quality of the finished product directly depends on how well its components are made. So, the dough for kurza with meat is taken as ordinary unleavened dough. Exactly the same thing is used in Russia to make dumplings. It is made from the most common products: for 3 cups of flour, 5 grams of salt and a glass of water (you can add 1 egg if desired).

Kneading the dough can be done using kitchen appliances or by hand. Most often, housewives choose the second option. To do this you need:

1. Pour a measured amount of flour onto the work surface. It can be mixed with salt first.
2. In the center of the “slide” you need to make a depression in the form of a “crater” and pour some water into it.
3. Make a batch. It is better to add the remaining water in small parts.

The result should be a thick and fairly elastic semi-finished product. Immediately after kneading, it should lie down for a while (20-30 minutes). This will make it easier for the owner to work with him. The mass should become so elastic that it can be rolled out into the thinnest possible layer. If everything is done correctly, the kurze will turn out very tender and will not fall apart after cooking.

• For the test:

2.5–3 cups flour

1 glass of water

0.5 tsp salt

1 egg

you can cook without eggs

All minced meat may require 1.5–2 norms of dough, depending on the thickness of the roll

• For minced meat:

lamb or beef – 500 g

fat tail fat – 50-100 g

but you can do more, less or even without it

4–5 medium onions

1 tbsp. spoon of sour cream

you can put something else fermented milk

green cilantro - a generous bunch

or parsley

2–3 cloves of garlic

or to taste

2–3 tbsp. spoons of tomato paste

or 2-3 fresh tomatoes or canned in their own juice, not pickled

Adjika

according to taste and desire, you can add, you can not

ground black pepper

ground red hot pepper

Salt

water or broth until the minced meat has a viscous consistency

Vinegar

as desired and to taste (I don’t add)

Description

Kurze with meat are Dagestan dumplings that have much in common with “our” dumplings, but also with their own characteristics. I must say the dumplings are very tasty! Try it!

PREPARATION:

The dough for kurze is prepared in exactly the same way as the dough for “our” dumplings - dumplings. Regular unleavened dough. With egg or not - your choice. I prepared the dough for egg kurze without eggs and added it here. After kneading and obligatory!!! After kneading, the dough is allowed to rest for 15–20 minutes and can be sculpted.

It is advisable to prepare the minced meat in advance, ideally 2-3 hours before modeling, so that it has time to brew, but if there is no time, you can do it immediately before cooking, while the dough is resting.

For minced meat, grind the meat in a meat grinder with a large grid. It is enough to twist once, twice - three times is not necessary, this is extra effort, and the minced meat will become like a paste, and in the case of kurze this is not good. Ideally, of course, you would need to prepare chopped, but for me personally it is very labor-intensive and time-consuming, so my choice is a meat grinder, but if you have the desire and enthusiasm, then why not, the dish will only benefit from this.

Beef or lamb? If you have the opportunity to buy fresh lamb, then, of course, buy it! And if you have the same problem with lamb as in Moscow, then you can have beef, but the taste, unfortunately, will not be quite the same... No, it will also be aromatic and tasty, but somehow more smoothed out, less bright or something...

A few words about fat tail fat. It gives the kurze juiciness and a special taste, so if you have the opportunity to add it to the minced meat, be sure to add it, and if, like me, you don’t, then you can get by with either fatty beef or add a little butter. For 500 g of meat, 50 g of oil will be enough (I will fry onions and tomatoes in it). The fat tail is chopped or twisted together with the meat.

Now a little about onions. Traditionally, a lot of onion is put into the minced meat for kurze, it adds juiciness and taste, so I highly recommend not reducing its amount, and in ready-made kurze, the onion is practically not felt and is certainly not perceived clearly and obviously as an onion.

Twist or cut? In my opinion, it’s better to work hard and chop finely, because if you scroll, the onion will give juice, which will make the minced meat wet, but it should be given a little later, during cooking, so that the kurze turns out juicy. But I fully understand that cutting onions is still a task, so if you really don’t want to, you can twist them, or you can, as a compromise, twist some of them and cut some.

Now about tomato paste - tomatoes. You can simply add tomato paste to the minced meat, or you can fry it first and then add it. They cook both ways, so choose! I'm frying. To do this, I heat the butter in a frying pan, add about 1/3–1/4 of the entire chopped onion and first fry the onion until transparent. Then I add either tomato paste diluted to the consistency of sour cream, or finely chopped/twisted tomatoes and fry for 3-4 minutes until the paste and tomatoes change color. And in this form I add it to the minced meat.

Very often, in addition to tomatoes, adjika is also added to the minced meat. On average, 1–2 tablespoons of adjika are used per 500 g of meat. If it's too spicy for you, add less or none at all. I cook with and without adjika, depending on my mood and availability. And along the way, a few words about vinegar. Some people add, some don't. Personally, I don't add. For my taste, the acidity introduced by tomatoes and sour cream is quite enough, but there are also those who like it more sour, so the choice is yours.

So. For minced meat, mix ground meat + fat tail, onion, tomato paste, adjika, finely chopped garlic, finely chopped herbs, sour cream, add ground red hot pepper, ground black pepper, salt. Mix everything thoroughly until smooth. If necessary, add a little water or broth until a viscous mass, i.e. The minced meat should not be thick, but also liquid, of course, it should be somewhere in the middle, not thick - not liquid, so that it spreads easily. If you prepare the minced meat in advance, then before sculpting, check the consistency again and, if necessary, add water or broth.

Traditionally, kurze are sculpted with a braid. Of course, you can describe in words how to do this, but as they say, it’s better to see once... so I won’t write anything, look at the video, there I sculpted slowly, slowly and even with repetition, I’m sure that everything is clear and there are no problems with sculpting will.

Alternatively, you can roll the dough into a rope, cut into small pieces and then roll out each piece. In general, everything is the same as with dumplings or dumplings. The molded kurzeshki are boiled in boiling salted water for 7–10 minutes (after surfacing).

Immediately after cooking, grease with vegetable or butter to prevent sticking. I usually put a piece of butter in a plate with boiled kurze, cover it with another plate and shake it well but gently so that the butter is distributed throughout the entire volume. Served with sour cream and crushed garlic sauce.

Enjoy your meal!

Like other Caucasian peoples, Dagestanis treat with honor and great respect everyone who finds themselves on their land. It's all about hospitality, which is inherent in the mountaineers from birth. “What I will eat tomorrow is not a concern, what to feed a visiting guest is a concern,” says a popular saying. To visit Dagestan and not try chuda, khinkal and many other national dishes that are not so difficult to prepare but will definitely not leave any gourmet indifferent is simply a crime. What to taste when traveling through the country of mountains?

Sheep cheese

Dagestan sheep cheese is an incredibly healthy product, rich in proteins, amino acids and microelements. Unlike cheese made from cow's milk, sheep's milk has a stronger smell and taste, which is not pleasant to everyone. The cheese is made right in the mountains according to an ancient recipe of the mountaineers. It tastes quite salty and is used as an ingredient in salads and as an independent snack.

Dried sausage

Like many other products of Dagestan, this sausage is produced, as a rule, in the mountains, since local weather conditions contribute to this. The lack of humidity allows you to dry it directly in the sun. In Dagestan, it is customary to boil or fry sausage and serve it with khinkal, sauce and broth.

Khinkal

This dough dish exists in various interpretations among many peoples of Dagestan. There are Avar, Lezgin, Dargin, and other types of khinkal. All have the same composition, only the execution of the dish differs. In Dargin khinkal, for example, the dough is rolled out in a thin layer, sprinkled with chopped walnuts, then rolled into a roll and cut into small pieces.

Kurze

Visually, kurze are somewhat reminiscent of manta rays. Meat (usually lamb) is most often used as a filling, but in addition to it, cottage cheese and potatoes are also placed in the dough. Modeling with a braid is very interesting, which at first glance may seem complicated, but in reality everything is very simple.

Miracle

Miracles need to be devoured while they are hot, piping hot. Although, most likely, they will not have time to cool down, since these thin and very tasty flatbreads with all kinds of fillings usually disappear from the table in a matter of minutes. Miracle, just like khinkal, has a certain “national identity”. For example, there is the Dargin, Avar miracle. By the way, it is the Avar miracle that is subtle, since the Dargin miracle is a full-fledged pie baked in the oven.

Natukh

People in Dagestan love sweets, but if previously, as a rule, they were prepared on holidays, in our time there is no need for a special occasion. Natukh is a sweet similar to Tatar chak-chak. But Dagestan natukh differs in that nuts are added to it.

Apricot porridge

Another very popular sweet. It was customary to serve apricot porridge to women in labor because it contains many useful substances and is easily digestible. Porridge is not necessarily prepared from fresh apricots; dried apricots or apricot juice can easily replace them.

Bahuh

This is the name of Avar flour halva. Halva is a dessert of Arabic origin made from sugar and nuts or seeds. It’s hard to imagine any holiday without bahukh. It is also customary to hand out hot booze at wakes.

Cognac

Dagestan cognac is known not only within the republic, but throughout the country. In general, cognac production in Dagestan is one of the most profitable industries, since this type of alcohol is in great demand.

Avar khinkal

Photo: Shutterstock.com

For the broth:

Beef – 500 g
Water - 3 l
Onion - 1 pc.
Garlic - 4 cloves
Bay leaf - 2 pcs.
Peppercorns - to taste
Salt - to taste

For the test:

Kefir – 250 ml
Flour - 2.5 cups
Baking soda - 1 tsp.
Salt - 1 tsp.

For the sauce:

Sour cream – 300 g
Garlic - 2 cloves
Parsley - to taste
Salt - to taste

Recipe How to cook:

1. Pour water over the meat, add salt, peppercorns, bay leaf, onion and garlic for a richer taste.
2. While the meat is cooking, prepare the dough. Sift the flour, make a hole in the center, add salt, soda and little by little add kefir. Leave the dough for half an hour.
3. After the meat is cooked, remove it from the broth and strain the broth itself.
4. Prepare the sauce: mix sour cream, herbs, chopped garlic and salt. Cover and place in the refrigerator for a while.
5. Roll out the dough into a thick flat cake (1 cm), cut into diamonds or squares approximately
3 x 4 cm.
6. Bring the broth back to a boil and cook the dough pieces for about 4 minutes.
7. Place the khinkal on a dish and immediately pierce it with a fork or toothpick so that the dough does not become hard and lose its fluffiness.
8. Serve the dish: khinkal, boiled meat, broth in bowls and sauce. All components of the dish must be separately.

Sukhta

Photo: Shutterstock.com

Ingredients:

Liver (lungs, heart, kidneys, liver) - 1 kg
Onion - 2 pcs.
Internal fat - 10 g.
Rice - 1 glass
Water - 1.5 cups
Salt - to taste
Pepper - to taste
Lamb guts - 5 meters

How to cook:

1. Clean the liver from blood and films, rinse, finely chop.
2. Chop the onion and fat very finely. Stir the minced meat, adding water, salt and pepper.
3. Clean the intestines and turn them out. Rinse several times with cold running water.
4. Add rice to the minced meat, fill the intestines with minced meat, tie on both sides with thread.
5. Pour cold water over the intestines and boil.

Kurze

Photo: Shutterstock.com

Ingredients:

Flour - 4.5 cups
Water - 1.5 cups
Salt, pepper - to taste
Egg - 3 pcs.
Minced beef – 500 g
Onions - 5 pcs.
Sour cream - to taste

1. Knead the dough: pour flour into a bowl and make a well in the center.
2. Break 2 eggs into the well, start kneading the dough, gradually adding water. Leave the dough for half an hour.
3. Roll out the layer and use a glass to make circles.
4. Finely chop the onion and add it to the minced meat. Add 1 egg, salt and pepper to taste there. Mix everything thoroughly.
5. Place minced meat on each circle.
6. Make a braided kurze.
7. Boil in boiling salted water for 10 minutes.
8. Serve with sour cream.

Miracle with greens

Photo: Shutterstock.com

Ingredients:

Flour - 3 cups
Milk - 0.5 cups
Yeast - 1 sachet
Salt - to taste
Green onions – 500 g
Parsley - to taste
Dill - to taste
Egg - 3 pcs.
Butter - for greasing

Recipe How to cook:

1. Dissolve the yeast in warm milk, add some salt, wait until bubbles appear.
2. Add flour to the yeast and knead into a soft dough. Leave to rise for 1 hour.
3. Chop the greens coarsely, add eggs, mix.
4. Cut the dough into small pieces, roll out into thin round cakes.
5. Place 5-6 tbsp in the middle of the flatbread. l. fillings, smooth out. Pinch the dough towards the middle to form a ball.
6. Flatten the ball and carefully begin to roll it into a thin cake about 1 cm thick.
7. Place in a dry, heated frying pan, fry on both sides.
8. Place the miracle in a stack, greasing each one with butter.

Kurze are Dagestan dumplings. The main difference between kurze and our dumplings is not only the appearance, but also the filling itself. Ideally, lamb is used for minced meat, but if it is not available, then beef is suitable. Fat tail fat is often added to minced meat, which gives the minced meat a richer, more pronounced taste.

An important ingredient is onions, there should be a lot of them, about one onion per 100 grams of meat. Onions will add juiciness to the kurze. The onion needs to be finely chopped, but in our family there are those who like to “catch onions and look for them even where they shouldn’t be,” so I ground them in a blender. Now he definitely won't be found. :) From the greens, take cilantro, dill and parsley. Greens are simply necessary in the minced meat. Blend it together with the onions and garlic in a blender.

You should end up with a paste like this.

Combine the minced meat with herbs, add ground black pepper for spiciness. Add some salt. Add a spoonful of sour cream and stir.

Some housewives fry onions with spices in butter, adding tomato paste and fresh tomatoes with adjika. Tomato paste is added either raw or fried.

The dough for Dagestan kurze is no different from ordinary dumpling dough. It can be kneaded with or without eggs. A good way to brew dough. When boiling water and 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil are poured into the flour and the dough is kneaded. Here I kneaded the usual dough using one egg. The main thing is not to forget that the test needs a “rest” time of about 15 - 20 minutes.

Place minced meat in the middle.

The kurze is pinched with folds. First, one side is folded, and then the folds alternately cover the edges on the sides.

Kurze is cooked like dumplings or khinkali in salted water for about 4 minutes after boiling.

Grease the finished kurze with butter.

Bon appetit!

Kurze with cottage cheese is a dish of Dagestan cuisine. The cooking technology is reminiscent of Russian dumplings. It is served with tomato-garlic sauce, which adds piquancy and reveals flavor characteristics. Common kurze recipes are with cottage cheese and potatoes. Also found with minced meat and nettles.

Classic recipe

To prepare kurze from cottage cheese we need:

• 0.5 kg flour;
• 2 chicken eggs;
• 1 pack of cottage cheese (or 250-300 g);
• vegetable oil (about 4 tbsp);
• 1 large onion;
• greenery;
• tomato paste;
• garlic;
• salt.

Preparation steps:

1. Pour sifted flour into a deep bowl, add salt, 1 egg and water.
2. Knead into a stiff consistency (like dumplings), divide it into 2 parts, set aside, after covering with a towel.
   
3. Pour oil into a frying pan and fry finely chopped onion.
4. Pour the fermented milk product, fried onion, and 1 egg into a separate container. Salt and stir.
   
5. Roll out the dough thinly, cut out even circles (using a glass).
   
6. Place a small amount of filling on each circle, form triangles, pinching the edges with a pigtail.
   
7. Place a pan of salted water on the fire. Bring water to a boil.
8. Add the ingredients and cook until done.
9. Place on a plate and serve with tomato-garlic sauce. To prepare, tomato paste is fried in a frying pan, water is added, salted, simmered to the desired thickness, garlic crushed on a fine grater is added, stirred, and cooled.
   

The dish is nutritious. Suitable as a hearty breakfast or dinner.

Kurze recipe with potatoes and cottage cheese

Potatoes are the most common filling of a dish after cottage cheese.

Required ingredients:

• 400 g flour;
• 2 eggs;
• 1 glass of cool water;
• 3 tbsp. vegetable oil;
• 1 tbsp vinegar;
• salt;
• 300-400 g potatoes (3-4 medium-sized pieces);
• 250 g cottage cheese;
• a bunch of dill;
• large onion;
• red pepper (to taste).

Preparation:

To add variety to kurze and cottage cheese, you can combine seasonings and herbs. Minced meat made from any meat is perfect as a filling. Sweet dishes made from cherries and nettles diversify the summer menu. Watch the video recipe on how to cook real Dagestan kurze: