Khinkali originate in the high valleys north of Tbilisi — Pshavi, Khevsureti and Mtiuleti, which lie along the road to Kazbegi. It was originally shepherds' food. The filling of mountain khinkali, or Mtiuli khinkali, is made only from meat chopped by knife, not put through a mincer — lamb, beef, or a mixture of both. Onion, salt and black pepper are added, and nothing else; no greens. The broth inside forms from the meat's juices with a small amount of water. The dough of these khinkali is dense, so that it can withstand the rough board, the cold of the kitchen and boiling in a wood-fired cauldron.
The top folds — a well-made khinkali has nineteen or twenty of them — gather into a "tail" that is never eaten. It serves as a handle, and the number of tails left on the plate is how the diners keep count of what they have eaten. The best place to try such khinkali is in their homeland. Pasanauri, on the Georgian Military Road where two rivers meet, is considered the khinkali capital of Georgia, as the many roadside restaurants attest. In Stepantsminda they are served in guesthouses in the evenings, with a view of the mountains.
Tbilisi has claimed the dish and changed it. In city khinkali the meat is minced, the filling contains plenty of fresh coriander and sometimes chili pepper. The dough is thinner, and the broth is deliberately generous: the whole art of eating Tbilisi khinkali lies in nipping the little pouch and drinking the juice without spilling a drop. Fillings of cheese, mushrooms or potato are also an urban invention, regarded in the mountains with the same indulgence a grandmother shows her grandson drowning her cooking in ketchup.
Neither version is better than the other: the mountain one has the taste of meat and altitude, the city one the taste of greenery and appetite. A day trip to Kazbegi makes it possible to try both — lunch in the mountains, dinner back in Tbilisi — and to decide for yourself who wins this argument.
Khinkali are eaten by hand, holding them by the tail. Make a small bite on the side, drink the broth, then eat everything except the tail itself. The only seasoning everyone agrees on is black pepper. They are usually ordered in fives, since the kitchen counts them one by one.
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