In eastern Georgia the main bread is wheat shoti from the tone oven, but in the west — Samegrelo, Guria, Imereti, Adjara and Svaneti — corn historically became the key staple. It's used for flatbreads, thick porridge and wonderfully stretchy cheese dishes. Here are Georgia's main corn dishes, plus how to make mchadi at home.
A little history
Corn reached Georgia from the Americas via the Ottoman Empire around the 17th–18th centuries and thrived in the humid west. Before that, similar dishes were made from ghomi — a local millet (foxtail millet), which gave the porridge its name. Over time corn almost entirely replaced it.
Mchadi
Mchadi are simple cornbreads of cornmeal, water and salt. Classic mchadi is dense, slightly crisp outside and soft inside. It's cooked in a frying pan, on a clay ketsi or in an oven.
Eat mchadi with:
- lobio — the classic pairing;
- sulguni and Imeretian cheese;
- pkhali and pickles;
- satsivi and bazhe.
Mchadi is often served warm instead of bread.
Ghomi
Ghomi is a thick corn porridge made from coarse meal, similar to Italian polenta but usually milder. It's cooked in a large pot and stirred at length with a wooden paddle until smooth and elastic.
Ghomi is western Georgia's staple side, served:
- with sulguni tucked inside or on top to melt;
- with satsivi and bazhe;
- with chakhokhbili and other saucy dishes;
- with adjika.
Elarji
Elarji is the signature of Megrelian cuisine: ghomi into which lots of sulguni is stirred until the mixture becomes incredibly stretchy — you can pull it out half a metre. It's served hot, often with bazhe (walnut sauce) or adjika.
Cooks often put on a little show, stretching elarji with a spoon over the plate. Be sure to try it in Zugdidi or Martvili.
Chvishtari
Chvishtari are Svan cornbreads with cheese inside and out. Lots of grated cheese (Svan cheese or sulguni) goes into the dough and forms a golden crust as it bakes. Filling, fragrant and delicious with hot tea in the mountains.
Other variations
- Mchadi with cheese — grated sulguni mixed into the dough.
- Mchadi with greens — nettles, beet tops or onion.
- Chadi — a name sometimes used for thinner flatbreads.
- Gebzhalia — not a corn dish, but often served alongside ghomi: rolls of young cheese with mint in a matsoni sauce (Imereti, Samegrelo).
Where to try them
- Samegrelo (Zugdidi, Martvili, Senaki) — the best elarji, ghomi and Megrelian food.
- Guria and Imereti — homemade mchadi and ghomi.
- Svaneti — chvishtari in Mestia's guesthouses and cafés.
- Tbilisi — Megrelian restaurants serving elarji and ghomi.
Mchadi recipe (6–8 cornbreads)
Ingredients
- fine cornmeal — 400 g;
- warm water — 250–350 ml;
- salt — 1 tsp;
- vegetable oil for the pan;
- optional: grated sulguni — 100 g.
Method
- Mix the cornmeal and salt. For cheesy mchadi, add the grated cheese.
- Add water gradually. Pour in warm water a little at a time and knead by hand. The dough should be soft and moist but hold its shape — not sticking to wet hands.
- Rest for 10–15 minutes so the meal swells slightly.
- Shape. With wet hands, form palm-sized oval patties about 1–1.5 cm thick. Finger marks on top are traditional.
- Heat a pan (cast iron is best) and oil it lightly.
- Cook over medium heat for 5–7 minutes per side until golden. Cover with a lid to help them cook through.
- Serve warm with lobio, cheese or pkhali.
Simple ghomi (in brief)
- Bring 1 litre of salted water to the boil.
- Gradually pour in 200–250 g of coarse cornmeal, stirring constantly.
- Cook over low heat for 30–40 minutes, stirring vigorously with a wooden paddle until smooth and pulling away from the sides.
- For elarji, stir 300–400 g of grated sulguni into the hot ghomi until stretchy.
In short
Corn is the foundation of western Georgian cooking. Try crisp mchadi with lobio, soft ghomi with sulguni, incredibly stretchy Megrelian elarji and Svan chvishtari with its cheesy crust. At home, make mchadi — all you need is cornmeal, water and salt, and the result will transport you straight to a Georgian village.
