Mchadi

Ingredients

Bread

• 400 gfine white maize flour
• 300 mlhot water, as needed
• 1 tspsalt

To cook

• a little oil, or a dry ketsi pan

To serve

• lobio, bean stew
• sulguni or imeruli cheese
• pkhali
• pickles

Directions

1. Use fine white maize flour, sold for mchadi or as fine cornmeal, not coarse polenta and not sweetcorn flour. Put the flour and salt in a bowl and pour in hot water a little at a time, stirring with a spoon.
2. Use hot water, not cold. Hot water begins to gelatinise the maize starch and that is the only thing holding a mchadi together, since there is no gluten in it at all.
3. Work it to a stiff, slightly sticky dough that holds its shape. Add the water gradually and stop when it just comes together. Too wet and it spreads in the pan; too dry and it cracks apart.
4. Shape it entirely by hand, patting from palm to palm and smoothing the edges with wet fingers. Smooth any cracks in the edges as you go, because cracks open up into splits as it cooks.
5. Heat a heavy pan, traditionally a clay ketsi, over a medium heat. Lay the rounds in the dry pan, or with the barest smear of oil, and cook 10 to 12 minutes a side.
6. Cook them slowly over a moderate heat. Maize needs time to cook through, and a hot pan gives you a burnt crust over a raw middle.
7. Serve them hot, alongside lobio and cheese, and eat them by tearing and scooping.

Technique

• It goes hard as it cools and is meant to be eaten straight from the pan.
• The ketsi, a flat clay pan, gives a better crust than metal and is still widely used.
• It is bland by design, because everything served with it is not.

Substitutions

• Fine cornmeal or masa harina, which behaves similarly.
• A heavy cast-iron pan for a ketsi.

Variations

• Chvishtari, with cheese worked into the dough.
• Baked in the oven instead of pan-cooked.
• Made smaller and thinner as a snack.

History

Cornbread cooked on a ketsi griddle in the maize-growing west, eaten with lobio and cheese.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mchadi?

Mchadi is a bread & pastry from Georgia: crisp cornbread rounds eaten with lobio and cheese. Cornbread cooked on a ketsi griddle in the maize-growing west, eaten with lobio and cheese.

How long does Mchadi take to make?

Mchadi takes 10 min of preparation and 25 min of cooking. The recipe makes 8 rounds. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Mchadi?

Yes, within limits. Fine cornmeal or masa harina, which behaves similarly. A heavy cast-iron pan for a ketsi.

What is the most important thing to get right in Mchadi?

Use hot water, not cold. Hot water begins to gelatinise the maize starch and that is the only thing holding a mchadi together, since there is no gluten in it at all.