Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Chvishtari (Cornmeal Cheese Bread)
Griddled cornmeal cakes packed with young melting cheese, crisp outside and molten within, from the mountains of western Georgia.
Georgian · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 15 min
~755 cal · 34g protein · 44g carbs · 51g fat · 4g fiber · 1g sugars · 31g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Chvishtari comes from the highland kitchens of Samegrelo and Imereti in western Georgia, where corn, not wheat, has long been the daily grain. It is the humbler, faster cousin of the great cheese breads: coarse cornmeal worked into a soft dough with a generous amount of young Imeretian or sulguni cheese, patted into cakes, and fried until the crust is golden and the cheese inside turns to stretchy gold.
Corn arrived in Georgia centuries ago and took deep root in the wet western valleys, giving rise to a whole family of cornmeal foods, from the -like ghomi to these cheese-studded cakes. Chvishtari is what a Megrelian or Imeretian cook makes for a quick, warming breakfast or to fill out a table, using the fresh cheese that is always at hand in dairy country.
Eaten hot, when the cheese still pulls in long threads, it is deeply comforting: crisp, savoury, and rich. Set beside a bowl of soup or simply on its own with a cup of tea, chvishtari is Georgian mountain food at its most unpretentious.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, egg-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
1.5 cups fine cornmeal
2 cups young Imeretian or sulguni cheese (or low-moisture mozzarella), grated
3/4 cup, as needed warm water
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp butter or oil, for frying
Instructions
1
In a bowl, mix the cornmeal and salt, then stir in the warm water a little at a time until you have a soft, thick, moldable dough. Let it stand 5 minutes to hydrate.
✎ Chef’s note
Cornmeal keeps drinking water as it sits. Add it gradually and stop when the dough just holds together, still moist but not sticky.
2
Work in the grated cheese until it is evenly distributed through the dough.
3
With damp hands, divide the dough and pat into flat cakes about 3 inches across and 1/2 inch thick.
4
Heat a little butter or oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat.
5
Fry the cakes 3 to 4 minutes per side, until a deep golden crust forms and the cheese inside has melted.
6
Press gently with a spatula so they cook evenly, and add fat to the pan between batches.
7
Serve hot, while the cheese still stretches, on their own or beside soup or a bowl of yogurt.
Imereti and Samegrelo highland tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Imereti. Western Georgia's Imereti gives its name to imeruli khachapuri, the round, fully enclosed cheese bread filled with the region's own brined imeruli cheese. (The open, boat-shaped khachapuri with an egg in it is adjaruli, from Adjara on the Black Sea coast.) Imeretian cooking also runs to walnut-rich sauces and dishes laced with fresh herbs, and its wine and cheese traditions run deep in the Georgian feast.
🗺️
Georgia. Walnuts do the job here that cream does elsewhere, ground into sauces for beans, aubergine and poultry and loosened with vinegar or pomegranate. The spice cupboard runs to blue fenugreek, dried marigold and coriander seed in the blend called khmeli suneli, and khachapuri changes shape as you travel, arriving in Adjara on the Black Sea as an open boat with an egg slid into it.
🌍
Asia. Fermentation is the thread that runs the whole way across: soy sauce and miso, Korean doenjang and kimchi, Southeast Asian fish sauces, the soured batter behind an idli. Chilli is the newcomer among them, arriving only after 1500 with Portuguese and Spanish traders, which makes the heat in Sichuan, Thai and Korean cooking far younger than the fermenting underneath it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Georgia
Imeruli Khachapuri (Cheese-Stuffed Bread)A golden, pan-baked flatbread sealed around a molten heart of tangy, salty cheese.
LobioKidney beans simmered and half-crushed with walnuts, coriander, and Georgian spice, served in clay with cornbread.
Adjaruli KhachapuriGeorgia’s famous boat-shaped cheese bread from Adjara: a molten pool of cheese in a golden crust, finished with an egg and butter stirred in at the table.
Browse all Georgia recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Skillet or frying pan.
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Chvishtari (Cornmeal Cheese Bread)?
Griddled cornmeal cakes packed with young melting cheese, crisp outside and molten within, from the mountains of western Georgia.
Where does Chvishtari (Cornmeal Cheese Bread) come from?
Chvishtari (Cornmeal Cheese Bread) is a Georgian dish from Imereti, Georgia.
Can Chvishtari (Cornmeal Cheese Bread) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Chvishtari (Cornmeal Cheese Bread) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Chvishtari (Cornmeal Cheese Bread) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Chvishtari (Cornmeal Cheese Bread) take to make?
About 30 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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