The Oven Went On in Georgia Trivia Quiz

Answer: Khinkali

Though some regional variants have different shapes, the classic khinkali is shaped a bit like a chef's hat, with a 'topknot'. It is customary to bite the khinkali and suck the juices out before eating it, to prevent it from bursting, and to leave the topknot on your plate. Fillings can range from beef with caraway seeds to mushroom, pumpkin or potato. Khinkali in the Meskheti region are smaller, with a different shape, and are usually filled with apokhti, a kind of jerky made with goose meat.

All the other answers are dumplings. Manty or manti are dumplings eaten in Central Asian countries such as Uzbekistan or Kyrgyzstan, pelmeni are Russian, and buuz are Mongolian.

Answer: Kidney bean

Lobiani gets its name from its kidney bean filling and is part bread and part pie. The dough is made with matsoni, a type of yogurt. Similar dishes include khabizgini, which contains mashed potato and cheese; pkhlovani, which is stuffed with spinach and beetroot leaves; and kubdari, which contains meat and comes from the province of Svaneti.

Lobio is a slow-cooked kidney bean stew, cooked in a clay pot, that can be eaten hot or cold. One cold variant is lobio nigozit, a mixture of mashed kidney beans, onions, garlic, walnuts (which are plentiful in Georgia), coriander, chilli pepper, marigold petals and vinegar. Lobio racha is a variant that contains smoked ham.

Answer: Bladdernut

Bladdernut, or jonjoli as the Georgians call it, looks similar to bladder wrack (a seaweed with blisters on it, like the seaweed equivalent of bubble wrap) and is used in starters and salads in its sprout form. It is a hardy plant and grows in forests and on riverbanks and is also used in Chinese medicine.

The plants are pickled in vinegar, with mint, quince or cherry leaves sometimes being added for extra flavour. It can be mixed with olive oil, seasoned with walnuts or hazelnuts, or combined with other vegetables, such as cucumbers or tomatoes.

Some fusion restaurants serve it with soy sauce or pomegranate juice.

Answer: Horse

Beef and lamb are the most popular choices of meat for kharcho, but kharcho can also contain chicken, goose (which is a popular meat in the region) or pork. It is a rich and silky soup that also contains rice, spices (although the mixture varies depending on the region), walnuts and cherry plums, and is customarily served garnished with coriander. It is native to the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region of Georgia.

Horse meat isn't really eaten in Georgia as a rule - it's more of a Central Asian staple, particularly in Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, where many of the population are nomads.

Answer: Chashushuli

Chashushuli is made with fried veal (the traditional version), beef or lamb, onions, garlic, and tomatoes. It is seasoned with a mixture of herbs and spices such as coriander, parsley or dill. Some variants also use bell peppers, and it can be accompanied by lavash, a type of flatbread eaten in the Caucasus region.

Shkmeruli is a chicken dish with a garlic and cream sauce; ajapsandali is an aubergine dish, similar to ratatouille, and served cold; and chakapuli is a meat stew with beef or lamb and dry white wine, tarragon and sour plum, usually eaten in spring.

Answer: Khachapuri

Khachapuri - which I have never eaten, but would love to try as it looks amazing - is a flatbread usually filled with cheese after it has risen. The bread can be dripped in the cheese. The Adjari version pictured here is shaped like a boat and has an egg yolk in the middle. Other variants include Imretian khachapuri, which contains the local salted cheese (Georgia also being home to many cheese variants, such as the stringy Teneli); Achma khachapuri, which has multiple layers; and Guruli khachpuri, which is stuffed with hard-boiled egg and similar to calzone.

Tonis puri is a flatbread similar to naan bread; ghomi is a mixture of cornmeal topped with cheese; and chvishtari is deep-fried cornbread filled with cheese.

Answer: True

While this dish of pkhali looks more like a spinach curry, it's not uncommon for pkhali to be rolled into balls and garnished with a pomegranate seed, making them look like little veggie cakes. Pkhali can be made from a variety of vegetables; as well as spinach, there are also leek, pumpkin, beetroot, jonjoli, cabbage, aubergine and bean variants, mixed with walnuts, onion, garlic, herbs and vinegar. Pkhali can be served as a starter or side dish, sometimes accompanied with cornbread. It is not uncommon for three or four varieties of pkhali to be served together.

A carnivorous version with chicken, katmis mkhali, also exists. It is made of shredded chicken bound with chicken broth.

Answer: Cherry plum

Cherry plums have an acidic taste and are native to Western Asia and Southeast Europe. They are a staple fruit in Georgian cuisine, along with pomegranates. Tkemali can also be made with green plums known as alucha, and sometimes other plum varieties are used to make the sauce sweeter. It is said to go particularly well with fried or grilled meats such as mtsvadi, a type of Georgian kebab.

Other notable Georgian condiments include adjika, a spicy mixture of red or green peppers, blue fenugreek (another staple spice in Georgian food) and walnuts, similar to the Croatian ajvar; and bazhe, a walnut sauce eaten with fish or used to stuff rolls of aubergine, to make badrijani nigvzit.

Answer: Grape must

The candle-shaped churchkhela was said to be carried around by Georgian warriors in ancient times because it gave them energy. To make churchkhela, nuts (and sometimes raisins) are threaded on a string, using a needle. One end of the string has a knot to stop the nuts coming off, while the top has a loop for hanging. The string is then dipped into a thick roux made with flour and grape must, and hung to dry; the grape must acts as a glue. It is traditionally made in autumn as that is also the time of the grape harvest. Some variants, like the ones here, are brightly coloured or contain chocolate.

Other sweet Georgian foods include chiri (candied fruits); pelamushi, a purple blancmange-like pudding made from grape juice and cornflour; korkoti, a type of porridge made with honey, raisins and wheat grains and traditionally eaten at Easter; gozinaki, a walnut brittle; and nazuki, a sweet bread filled with raisins and coated in a cinnamon glaze.

Answer: True

Yes, Georgia has been producing wine for at least 8000 years! Grapes have been cultivated in the Caucasus since the Neolithic age. The classic Georgia method of wine production uses a clay jar called a kvevri, which looks like an amphora without handles, for fermenting the wine; the grapes are pressed and decanted into the kvevri, skin, pips and all, and left to ferment underground for several months. The leftover pomace (a mixture of skins, pips and stalks) is used to make chacha, a grape brandy similar to Italian grappa. The kvevri has been recognised by UNESCO as an essential part of Georgian wine culture.

Wine-producing regions of Georgia include Adjara, Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti, Kakheti, Imereti (also a major cheese producer) and Kartli. Kakheti is Georgia's biggest producer of wines, and some vineyards and maranis, or wine cellars, offer wine tastings.