How to Cook Chebureki Filled with Cheese and Greens

Meat pastry “cheburek” came from Oriental cuisine, notably from generous and hearty Caucasian cuisine and became immensely popular in Russia and Ukraine. There are lots of cheburek versions, but all of them are crescent-shaped. They may come with meat, cheese or greens fillings. Mixing the flour with boiling water makes dough very soft and elastic. Olive oil and a bit of vodka are also added to the dough to produce bubbles in pies when frying and make it like puff paste in taste. Today we cooked chebureki filled with suluguni cheese and greens.

Ingredients for Dough

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 glass water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon vodka
• Salt to taste

Ingredients for Filling

• 300-400 g suluguni cheese
• Basil, parsley, cilantro, couple of stalks each
• Vegetable oil for frying, as much as needed

Cooking Instructions

1. Mix half glass of flour with boiling water and stir regularly to break flour lumps.
2. Add two tablespoonfuls of oil, a teaspoonful of vodka, and salt to taste.
3. Combine and let stand until warm.
4. Pour one cup of flour on the table, add warm dough and knead together.
5. Knead until smooth and elastic. If the dough is sticky, add more flour.
6. Form a ball and let stand for about 30 minutes to rise.
7. In the meantime, prepare the filling. Chop the cheese and greens finely and combine.
8. Roll the dough into long roll and cut it into pieces of the same size.


Dough and Filling

9. Then form a ball from each piece and roll into very thin disks.
10. Put the filling on the middle of each disk and fix the edges carefully, making sure there is no air bubbles inside.


Raw Chebureki

11. Press chebureki with hands or roll out slightly to flatten the pies and let the air out.
12. Fry in red hot vegetable oil on both sides until nicely brown.
13. Serve hot.