Chakhokhbili step by step recipe with photo

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Only the lazy have not heard of Chakhokhbili. But, for example, some do not know that this is not a soup at all, but a second course. Be that as it may, Georgian cuisine belongs to the world heritage of mankind. And chakhokhbili occupies 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. There are many recipes for chakhokhbili. There are dishes with beef and lamb, there are with game and poultry. Here we will look at both the classic step-by-step chicken chakhokhbili recipe and its various meat variations.

Features of Georgian stew

Whatever meat this dish is prepared from, its main component must meet certain requirements. The meat must be necessarily "well-fed" and have fat, but not too much. In addition, you need to take a young animal or bird. Why is it so important? The fact is that the peculiarity of this Georgian dishis roasting without any other fat. That is why meat should not be lean. Cut it into not too large pieces - as if for goulash. The next mandatory component in the chakhokhbili recipe is onion. Classical Georgian culinary books especially insist on this. The third mandatory ingredient is vegetables, which you need to take exactly as much as meat. Water is not included in the classic Chakhokhbili recipe. The meat is stewed in the liquid secreted by the vegetables.

Beef and lamb chakhokhbili

Consider the option of preparing a dish from 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 recipe prescribes dill, mint, tarragon - they are taken one tablespoon at a time. In addition, dry spices are also needed - parsley, basil, red pepper, savory. Also take half a head of garlic. Bitter red pepper is added 1 teaspoon. Usually for this amount of meat you need four onions. If we cook chakhokhbili from beef, then you need to take a whole head of garlic, and half a tablespoon of greens. Three potatoes are an additional product.

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The recipe for chakhokhbili says that chopped meat is put into a heated pan or pot. It is fried for 10 minutes, then add the onion, which must be very finely chopped. Then they continue to fry in their own juice and fat for another 5 minutes. Next, scald the tomatoes. Withthey are skinned, kneaded with a fork separately and spread on the cooking meat. Then they peel and cut the potatoes into small slices. She also goes to meat and tomatoes. Mix everything thoroughly and simmer for another 20 minutes, then s alt. At the very end, add spices. All of them - dry and fresh herbs - need to be mixed, put in a saucepan and reduce the heat. So the dish should languish for 3-4 minutes. Only then lay crushed or chopped garlic. After that, turn off the gas and keep the dish under the lid for several minutes so that it brews, and all the flavoring ingredients soak into each other.

Chakhokhbili from poultry

The very name of this Georgian dish seems to hint at what 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 "hohobi". It was for the pheasant that the classic recipe for chakhokhbili was invented. In addition to the obligatory set of spices for meat, here you need to use additional ones - Imereti saffron, coriander seeds, suneli hops. This poultry stew is prepared in the same way as any Georgian Chakhokhbili recipe prescribes. Only if the pheasants are young and lean, is it allowed to add a little butter when the meat is fried. But this can only be done after the bird has released the juice. The meat should acquire a special shade - "tinted". If too much juice stands out, then it is drained, and then added when the liquid evaporates. S alt the dish in the processcooking twice: the first time before laying vegetables, and then - together with spices, to taste.

Chakhokhbili from chicken: a step by step recipe

However, recently the pheasant has become too rare a bird even in the Caucasus mountains. Therefore, the famous Georgian dish has undergone changes. Its most popular variant is chicken chakhokhbili. The turkey recipe is less common. It is best to take a chicken or a young chicken. If you have a choice, take a pet bird. The store is also suitable, but then you need to buy a good carcass. Don't have a whole bird? No problem! The chicken chakhokhbili recipe also allows for such an option as making stew from carcass pieces. But in this case, it is preferable to take the shins. There is a lot of meat and little bones.

Ingredients

So, what do we need for chicken chakhokhbili? The recipe, if we remember, recommends taking equally meat and vegetables. Therefore, we must cook a 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 chicken chakhokhbili requires mandatory seasonings - a head of garlic, a pod of red pepper, a half bunch of parsley, cilantro, savory, basil. The classic set of dry spices, as we remember, is a combination of saffron, coriander and sunel - all in a teaspoon. Some authors advise adding mint and tarragon. From the chicken for chakhokhbili, the recipe prescribes to take out all the insides, and the carcasscut 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.

Stewing

As we already mentioned, the traditional chicken chakhokhbili recipe refers to the “dry roasting” of meat. In order for it not to burn, you should put the pieces of the carcass in a heated pan or pot, and hold them for about five minutes under a lid over low heat. Then the juice will stand out from the meat. It is poured into a separate container. Then the fire is increased and the chicken pieces are fried for 10 minutes, often turning them over. Meat is not covered with a lid. Juice can be added during the roasting process. Onion cut into large strips should be laid at the very end. From the step-by-step recipe for chakhokhbili, you can find out that if the chicken is not fat enough, then a little butter is introduced at this stage. But this must be done very gradually. On it or on the fat released from the meat, onions are sautéed for another five minutes. Now you can s alt the stew. Before we can move on to the next step, the onion should be soft and golden in color.

Vegetables

Now it's the turn of the tomatoes. From the chakhokhbili recipe with a photo, we see that their preparation is no different from the same beef or lamb stew. Tomatoes are scalded, peeled, and the remaining pulp is kneaded. Then all this is laid out to the chicken and mixed. Potato connoisseurs advise pre-boil and then cool. We drain the water, but we store it. Now we cut the potatoes into large slices and also send them to a pan or pot. Againmix. The step-by-step recipe for chakhokhbili, the photo of which can be seen in our article, now allows you to close the pan with a lid, reduce the heat and wait 20 minutes. Most often, tomatoes release so much liquid that nothing more needs to be added. But it happens that the potatoes begin to burn. In this case, the water in which it was boiled will come in handy. It can be added little by little when the vegetables are half cooked.

Final step: seasonings

Garlic for chakhokhbili step by step recipe requires chopping with a knife. This is necessary so that too much juice does not stand out. Do the same with the pepper pod. Greens should be cleaned of coarse stems and cut. Dry spices are mixed with fresh spices, except for garlic. This whole mix is introduced into chakhokhbili and kept on low heat for up to 5 minutes (although some recipes suggest 10). The main thing here is that the vegetable sauce thickens. Then the gas is turned off and the garlic is added. Then chakhokhbili is left to infuse. The stew should simmer covered for 5 or 6 minutes so that all the ingredients are soaked. Now you can serve.