Georgian cuisine sits at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, with techniques that belong to neither tradition. The walnut is to Georgian cooking what the coconut is to Thai cooking — a foundational ingredient used in sauces (bazhe, satsivi), stuffings, and pastes. Khinkali (soup dumplings) are Georgia's signature — twisted dough parcels filled with spiced meat and broth, eaten by hand, the knot of dough held as a handle and discarded. The cuisine uses fenugreek (blue fenugreek/utskho suneli specifically), marigold petals, sour plum sauce (tkemali), and pomegranate in ways unique to the Caucasus.
Walnut sauces: walnuts are ground to a paste with garlic, then thinned with the cooking liquid from chicken or vegetables, seasoned with coriander, blue fenugreek, marigold, cayenne, and vinegar. Satsivi (walnut sauce for chicken) is served cold — the chicken is poached, the walnut sauce is enriched with egg yolk, and the dish is served at room temperature. Bazhe is the everyday walnut sauce — thinner, sharper, used as a dip. Khinkali: a simple flour-water dough (no egg), rolled thin, filled with a mixture of minced meat (pork and beef), onion, cumin, chilli, and a splash of water or broth. Twisted shut with 18-20 pleats (the Georgian equivalent of har gow's 13 pleats). Boiled in salted water, eaten immediately — you bite a small hole, drink the hot soup inside, then eat the dumpling.
The khinkali pleat technique: hold the circle of dough in one hand, add filling, then pleat the edges inward with the other hand, turning the dumpling as you go, gathering the pleats into a twisted knob at the top. The pleats should be tight enough to seal the broth inside. Test by boiling one — if broth leaks, the seal is too loose. For satsivi: poach a whole chicken, reserve the broth, make the walnut sauce with the broth, pour over carved chicken, and refrigerate overnight. The sauce sets to a thick, creamy consistency. This is the Georgian Christmas and New Year dish.
Eating the khinkali knot — it's the handle, meant to be discarded. Using a fork and knife — khinkali are eaten with hands. Not making enough soup inside the khinkali — the broth is the point. Using standard fenugreek instead of blue fenugreek (utskho suneli) — different species, different flavour. Serving satsivi hot — it's a cold dish. Not enough walnut in walnut sauces — they should taste predominantly of walnut.