Tashmijabi

How to Make Tashmijabi

Tashmijabi is easy to make and resembles elarji quite closely in its structure. Indeed, it is often called Svan elarji. For it to come out at its glorious gooey best, it is essential that it be made with new cheese. Moreover, for every one kilogram of potatoes, half a kilogram of new cheese is required. Using this ratio, you will get six servings.

Boil the potatoes in the skin for the tashmijabi (the skin preserves the potato’s beneficial properties when being boiled), and once they are cold, peel them (do not use cold water to cool it down, otherwise the potato will toughen and its flavor will change), and put them in a pot, mash them, pour milk or hot water on them, and put over a low flame, before mixing in the powdered cheese, and stirring until the cheese melts and the whole thing becomes uniform and stretchy. Finally, add salt to taste. In some places, before they bring it to the table, people make an indentation in the middle of the tashmijabi on a plate and put melted butter inside.

Every visitor to Svaneti mentions how tashmijabi, along with Svan khachapuri, is one of the masterpieces of the region’s cuisine, and that no visit there is complete without it.