Only the lazy did not hear about chakhokhbili. But, for example, some do not know that this is not soup at all, but the second dish. Be that as it may, Georgian cuisine belongs to the world heritage of mankind. And Chakhokhbili takes a worthy place in it. If you want to impress your guests with originality, learn how to cook it. Chakhokhbili is a dish of vegetables and meat, simply put, the Georgian version of stew. And it has many different options. Chakhokhbili there are many recipes. There are dishes with beef and lamb, and with game and poultry. Here we look at both the classic step-by-step recipe for chakhokhbili from chicken, and its various meat variations.
Features of Georgian stew
Whatever meat this dish is made of, its main component must meet certain requirements. The meat must be “well-fed” and have fat, but not too much. In addition, you need to take a young animal or bird. Why is this so important? The fact is that a feature of this Georgian dish is frying without any other fat. That is why meat should not be lean. Cut it into not too large pieces - as if for a goulash. The next required ingredient in a chakhokhbili recipe is called onion. Classical Georgian cookbooks insist especially on this. The third essential ingredient is vegetables, which you need to take as much as meat. Water in the classic Chakhokhbili recipe is not provided. The meat is stewed in a liquid that is secreted by vegetables.
Chakhokhbili of beef and lamb
Consider cooking half a kilogram of meat. If it is beef, then we take the pulp, then 500 grams of tomatoes. There is a mandatory set of spices for chakhokhbili. The dill, mint, tarragon are prescribed in the recipe - they are taken one tablespoon each. In addition, dry spices are necessary - parsley, basil, red pepper, savory. Half the head of garlic is also taken. Bitter red pepper is added 1 teaspoon. Usually, four onions are needed for this amount of meat. If we cook chakhokhbili from beef, then garlic must take a whole head, and greens - half a tablespoon. An additional product is three potatoes.
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The chakhokhbili recipe states that the chopped meat is folded into a heated pan or pot. It is fried for 10 minutes, then onions are added, which must be chopped very finely. Then continue to fry in their own juice and fat for another 5 minutes. Next, scald the tomatoes. They remove the skin, knead separately with a fork and spread it on the prepared meat. Then peel and cut into small slices of potatoes. She also goes to meat and tomatoes. Mix everything thoroughly and simmer for another 20 minutes, then salt. Add spices at the very end. All of them - dry and fresh herbs - need to be mixed, put in a pan and reduce the heat. So the dish should languish for 3-4 minutes. Only then lay the crushed or chopped garlic. After that, turn off the gas and hold the dish under the lid for several minutes so that it is infused, and all the flavoring ingredients soak each other.
Chakhokhbili from poultry
The very name of this Georgian dish seems to hint at what kind of meat it was originally prepared from. Chakhokhbili came to us from the food of hunters. It was made from pheasant. In Georgian, this bird with bright plumage is called "johobi". It was for the pheasant that the classic Chakhokhbili recipe was invented. In addition to the mandatory set of spices for meat, here you need to use additional ones - Imereti saffron, coriander seeds, hops-suneli. This poultry stew is prepared in the same way as any Chakhokhbili recipe in Georgian prescribes. Only if pheasants are young and non-greasy, is it allowed to add a little butter when the meat is fried. But this can only be done after the bird has started sap. The meat should acquire a special shade - “tint”. If too much juice is released, then it is drained, and then added when the liquid evaporates. Salt the dish in the cooking process twice: the first time before laying vegetables, and then - together with spices, to taste.
Chakhokhbili from chicken: a step by step recipe
Recently, however, the pheasant has become too rare a bird, even in the mountains of the Caucasus. Therefore, the famous Georgian dish has undergone changes. Its most popular option is chakhokhbili from chicken. Turkey recipe is less common. It’s best to take a chicken or a young chicken. If you have a choice, take a poultry. A storefront is also suitable, but then you need to buy a good carcass. Not a whole bird? No problem! The recipe for Chakhokhbili from chicken also allows such an option as cooking stew from pieces of carcass. But in this case, it is preferable to take the legs. There is a lot of meat and few bones.
Ingredients
So, what do we need for chakhokhbili from chicken? The recipe, if we recall, recommends taking equally meat and vegetables. Therefore, we must cook large chicken (more than a kilogram, preferably one and a half), 4 large or 6 medium onions, 1 kg of very ripe tomatoes and 3-4 potatoes. Then you need herbs and spices. The recipe for chakhokhbili from chicken requires mandatory seasonings - this is a head of garlic, a pod of red pepper, half a bunch of parsley, cilantro, savory, basil. A classic set of dried spices, as we recall, is a combination of saffron, coriander and suneli - all for a teaspoon. Some authors advise adding mint and tarragon. From the chicken for chakhokhbili, the recipe prescribes to take out all the insides, and chop the carcass into medium pieces. They should be of such a size that it is then convenient to take them with your hands. It is better to cut off the excess skin.
Quenching
As we have already mentioned, in the traditional recipe for Chakhokhbili from chicken, it is said about “dry roasting” meat. In order for it not to burn, you should put the pieces of the carcass into a heated pan or pot, and hold them for five minutes under the lid over low heat. Then juice will stand out from the meat. It is poured into a separate container. Then the fire is increased and chicken pieces are fried for 10 minutes, often turning them over. Do not cover the meat with a lid. Juice can be added during the roasting process. Chopped onions must be laid at the very end. From a step-by-step recipe for chakhokhbili, you can find out that if the chicken is not oily enough, then at this stage a little butter is introduced. But this must be done very gradually. On it or on the allocated fat from meat, the onions are passivated for another five minutes. Now the stew can be salted. So that we can move on to the next stage, the bow should become soft and acquire a golden hue.
Vegetables
Now it’s the turn of the tomatoes. From the chakhokhbili recipe with the photo, we see that their preparation is no different from the same beef or mutton stew. Tomatoes scald, peel, and knead the remaining pulp. Then all this is laid out to the chicken and mixed. Experts advise potatoes to be boiled first and then cooled. We drain the water, but store it. Now we cut potatoes into large slices and also send them to a pot or pot. Mix again. Chakhokhbili step by step recipe, a photo of which can be seen in our article, now allows you to close the pan with a lid, reduce heat and wait 20 minutes. Most often, tomatoes emit so much fluid that nothing else needs to be added. But it happens that the potato begins to burn. Here in this case, the water in which it was boiled is useful to us. It can be added a little when the vegetables are half ready.
Final Stage: Seasonings
Garlic for chakhokhbili step by step recipe requires chopping with a knife. This is necessary so that not too much juice is allocated. The same goes for the pepper pod. Greens should be cleaned of coarse stems and cut. Dry spices are mixed with fresh, except for garlic. This whole mix is introduced into chakhokhbili and kept on low heat for up to 5 minutes (although some recipes offer 10). The main thing here is that the vegetable sauce thickens. Then the gas is turned off and garlic is added. Then the chakhokhbili is left to insist. The stew should be swept under the lid for 5 or 6 minutes so that all the ingredients are saturated. Now you can serve.