Khychiny with herbs and cheese
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Khychiny with herbs and cheese is a healthy and tasty alternative to bread.
Khychins are a dish of Balkar and Nogai cuisine; they will definitely appeal to lovers of various flatbreads. In Kabardino-Balkaria, thin flatbreads are prepared by the Balkars, while the Kabardians have thick khychins and fry them in oil in a frying pan.
I came up with the filling from fresh herbs and cheese myself, which made my work more difficult. Usually Balkars use soft pickled cheeses, combine them with mashed boiled potatoes, and then the filling turns out tender and homogeneous, it is easier to roll it into a very thin flat cake. The more uniform the filling, the easier it is to work with.
If greens are used for the filling, they are usually optionally added to cheese or potatoes, finely chopped, to maintain the necessary uniformity. In my case, with such a mass of greens and cheese, it is much more difficult to roll out the flatbread thinly due to its heterogeneous structure. Therefore, we make allowances for this nuance. Khychins turn out to be very tasty; they can be combined with fermented milk drinks, sauces, and tea.
To prepare khychin with herbs and cheese, we will need the following products. The proportions of the filling can be changed to suit your taste. My greens included: green onions, sorrel, lettuce, a little cilantro and dill. It is advisable that most of the greens have a neutral taste, and add only a little spicy greens.
Ingredient
Dough:
Flour - 2.5 cups
Kefir - 250 ml
Salt - 1 tsp.
Soda - 0.5 tsp.
Filling:
Various greens - 250 g
Cheese - 120 g
Ground pepper - to taste
Salt - to taste
Butter - for greasing
Glass - 250 ml
Instructions
1. Pour kefir into a bowl, add soda, salt and mix well.
2. Add two cups of flour and knead the dough with a spoon.
3. Place the dough on the table with the remaining flour and knead it until completely smooth. Attention! The dough should be very soft, slightly sticky, but not sticking to the table or hands. To do this, take the time and knead it well, for at least 10 minutes, without adding more flour. Cover the dough with a towel and let rest on the counter for 30 minutes. Do not neglect this advice, otherwise it will be very difficult to work with the dough.
4. Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Finely chop the greens and grate the cheese.
5. Combine herbs, cheese and spices. Taste the filling. The cheese may be salty enough that you won't need to add salt.
6. The rested dough becomes smooth and even softer. Divide it into equal pieces, roll into balls and leave under the towel for another 10 minutes. I got pieces of 80 grams.
7. Dip each ball of dough into flour and roll into a thick flat cake, place the filling in the center. There should be the same amount of dough and filling.
8. Bring the edges of the dough together from the edges to the middle and secure. Do not use a lot of flour when working. I usually lightly spread a thin layer of flour on the counter and that's enough.
9. Form several of these blanks and let them rest for a while again. This is done to make the dough more manageable and easier to roll out.
10. Then carefully, without jerking, roll out the workpieces into the thinnest cake until transparent. If bubbles inflate while rolling, carefully pierce them with the tip of a knife and press down with your palm, expelling the air from inside.
11. Fry the flatbreads in a dry frying pan on both sides, without adding oil. Fire is medium.
12. The tortillas will puff up after turning over. You can press them with a fork to ensure they cook evenly.
13. The flatbread is considered fried if there are no raw spots on its surface. Immediately grease the khychins with butter and be sure to cover them with a deep bowl.
14. In this way, when ready, stack all the cakes on top of each other, not forgetting to grease them with oil on both sides.
15. Serve ready-made khychin with herbs and cheese with ayran, kefir or sour cream.