Juicy, bright, fragrant chicken chakhokhbili at home

Chakhokhbili is not only a famous dish, it is a special pride of Georgian cuisine when, with the help of spices and herbs, an ordinary chicken with vegetables turns into a masterpiece. Prepare you a traditional Georgian dish at home, and let the aromas of spices fill your home.

Preparation for cooking - technology, what you need, how much and how to cook

You will need a young and rather fat chicken carcass. It is advisable that it be fresh, as frozen meat will make the taste of chahohbili different. Tomatoes can be taken fresh or replaced with pasta, depending on the culinary preferences. But the spices are better to take those that are used in Georgian classical recipes.

If you like the aroma of herbs, add more herbs: basil, cilantro, mint leaves and tarragon. Suitable garlic and sunnel hops. Wine, saffron, plum puree will also work to add color and flavor.

As easy as pie

Cut the bird into portions, first separating the wings, then the chicken legs, divide the last into three pieces, divide the white meat into six parts. Please note - you can take white meat or dark meat for cooking, it all depends on personal culinary preferences.

Next, dip the tomatoes in boiling water for 15-20 seconds, and then cut the skin and with a flick of the hand remove it from the tomato pulp. Chop the onion into thin rings, chop greens, hot pepper, garlic cloves, boil the plums and rub through a regular sieve.

Strictly by the rules

To prepare a dish, choose thick-walled dishes: a cauldron, a deep frying pan, a ducklings or a pan. Spread the meat in a certain sequence to maintain juiciness. First, fry the pieces of dark chicken meat in a hot pan until half-cooked (stir constantly), then add the breast, continue cooking.

Traditionally, the chicken is fried in a dry frying pan without oil, when the pieces are lightly browned, white dry wine is poured into them, the dishes are covered with a lid, and cooking is continued on low heat. Chakhokhbili will turn out with a sharp taste, if the wine is replaced with vinegar. Insufficiently fatty birds are fried with the addition of oil.

While the meat is being stewed, take care of the tomatoes and onions. First, brown the onions in the pan, adding refined oil. If you throw a cube of butter at the end of cooking, the taste will become even better and more tender. Cut the tomatoes into slices, put in the meat, salt to taste. Sometimes the onion is laid immediately to the chicken meat, add the fried sweet pepper, chopped rings.

The dish will acquire a beautiful color and aroma when you add mashed plums, chopped chili, fresh cilantro, garlic and green basil, and put the greens at the very end of cooking. Cover with a tight lid, leave for 20 minutes.

Classic Chakhokhbili Chicken

The success of cooking chakhokhbili depends on spices, the sequence of laying food and on the dishes - always a thick-walled pan, frying pan or cauldron with a tight-fitting lid. Time: 1 hour. Each serving: 299 kcal.

• Cut the chicken carcass into approximately equal pieces. Send to the pan without oil, fry with constant stirring, so as not to stick to the bottom of the pan.
• As soon as the meat is fried, put the tomato, pour a little water. Chakhokhbili can also be made from chicken thighs or chicken legs, although this is not a classic option. In this case, the cut will take less time.
• Chop the onions in half rings and brown in butter, then put on the chicken. Remove the peel from fresh tomatoes, cut them and lower them in boiling water.
• Chopped peeled tomatoes, put in a skillet for meat, cover, put on medium heat.
• Grind garlic and hot pepper, previously peeling from seeds. Season chakhokhbili with pepper, hops-suneli, garlic, a couple of minutes before the end of cooking add finely chopped greens.

How to cook Georgian Chakhokhbili from chicken

In Georgia, literally every house cooks chakhokhbili. Someone adds hot pepper to it, some adjika. But the indispensable participants in the finished dish are spicy herbs that are responsible for the Georgian character. Time: 2.5 hours. Calorie portion: 315 kcal.

• 1.5 kg chicken carcass;
• 5 heads of red onions;
• 0.7 kg ripe tomatoes;
• 1 pod of sweet pepper (red);
• 1 small carrot (optional);
• 1 bay leaf;
• 3 slices of garlic;
• 10 branches of green basil + cilantro;
• 1 pinch of “uzo-suneli”;
• optionally take adjika or hot pepper;
• 0.5 tbsp. refined oil;
• freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste.

1. Pour two liters of water into the pan, send to the stove. After boiling, place the chicken carcass, boil for 30 minutes. Put on a dish, cool, cut into slices. Strain the meat broth.
2. Take a pan with a thickened bottom, heat. Fry the chicken pieces in a dry skillet until golden brown; if the meat is dry, you can add oil.
3. Chop the onion in a cube. Send to the dishes with chicken, mix well, fry until the onion is browned.
4. Peel the pepper pod from seeds and partitions, then chop the pulp. Grate carrots (it will give color and soften the taste of tomatoes). Add sweet pepper and grated carrots to the dishes, simmer over low heat for about 5 minutes. Pour 200 ml of broth, cover the pan with a lid, cook until the chicken is soft. 40 minutes is enough.
5. On tomatoes, make an incision crosswise, pour over boiling water, dip in cold water and remove the skin. Wipe or grind with a blender. Put in a pan, mix everything, set medium heat, cook for 10 minutes.
6. Chop coarsely fresh cilantro, cloves of garlic, place in a mortar, add salt, crush everything and put into a pan.
7. Add chopped basil, a pinch of uchi-suneli, to taste crushed hot pepper (or adjika), lavrushka, stew for 10 minutes.
8. Turn off the stove, stand the dish under the lid. As part of the rare spice of uchi-suneli there is blue fenugreek, it is he who gives the nutty flavor.

Chakhokhbili from chicken in a slow cooker

Try to change the cooking method from time to time. Instead of a cauldron, use a slow cooker. This option is not much different from the classic, the ingredients are the same. Time: 60 minutes. Calorie content: 295 kcal.

• 1.5 kg of chicken;
• 4 tomatoes;
• 180 g of onion;
• 3 cloves of garlic;
• 1 hot pepper;
• 80 ml of red semisweet wine;
• 40 g of oil;
• basil and cilantro to taste.

1. Chop the bird carcass into pieces, blanch the tomatoes in hot water, peel and chop the pulp into cubes.
2. Chop the onions in half rings, chop the garlic cloves, and release the hot pepper from the seeds.
3. Place prepared ingredients in a multicooker bowl. Add red wine, oil, fragrant greens. You can play with additives: thyme and tarragon are suitable for chicken.
4. Select the "Extinguishing" program, cook in this mode for 90 minutes. Let it brew, serve an appetizing dish with your favorite side dish.

Tasty Chakhokhbili of chicken with wine

Another Georgian-style exercise is chicken-wine chakhokhbili. The main role in this dish is played by ripe tomatoes. And fragrant herbs make it truly fragrant - green basil, cilantro, tarragon. Time: 1 hour 20 minutes. Calories: 296 kcal.

• 1 chicken carcass;
• 4-5 pieces of ripe and sweet tomatoes;
• 300 g of onions;
• 1 bunch of cilantro + tarragon + parsley + basil;
• 2 sprigs of fresh thyme;
• 3 garlic cloves;
• 80 ml of dry white wine;
• 35 g Satsebeli sauce;
• 10 g of peasant oil;
• 1 pinch of coriander seeds;
• 1 tsp condiments “Hops Suneli”;
• 1 pinch of saffron Imereti;
• 1 pinch of freshly ground black pepper;
• 1 pinch of salt.

1. Rinse the whole carcass with water and cut into slices. Heat a deep frying pan (or pan) with a thickened bottom, put the meat there and fry without oil over low heat, pour the wine, cover, cook for 10 minutes.
2. Peel 300 grams of onion, chop, put in a frying pan, add oil, continue to simmer until tender.
3. Put garlic, salt, pepper, coriander seeds, saffron, suneli hops in a mortar and grind well. Add spices to the meat, pour water.
4. Blanch the tomatoes, then cut into cubes, after removing the peel. Put in the meat, cover with a lid, cook on low heat for half an hour.
5. Chop all the greens. Add sauce, herbs, thyme leaves, simmer another 5 minutes.

Calorie Chakhokhbili

This dish is nothing superfluous, despite a decent fat content, 100 grams contains only 119-120 kcal. To independently calculate the calorie content, I recommend using the table.

Useful Tips

Read my recommendations and you will definitely get a bright, tasty and healthy chakhokhbili.

1. For cooking, be sure to take a young chicken, but with fat.
2. Cut the bird into small pieces, approximately as for goulash.
3. Fry meat in a deep frying pan without oil.
4. Pre-brown the onion in oil and add to the fried meat.
5. Add blanched tomatoes (without skin). If the chicken weighs 1 kg, take 500 grams of tomatoes, that is, exactly half.
6. At the end of cooking, add spices: parsley, cilantro, basil, hot red pepper, garlic. You can also add dill greens, fresh mint leaves, tarragon, coriander, suneli hops, Imereti saffron to them.

In fact, chakhokhbili is an ordinary chicken with tomatoes, onions, carrots, sweet peppers, spicy herbs and spices. But the recipe can be infinitely varied by adding various spices and herbs. Cooked in accordance with all the rules, it turns out a dish with a unique aroma and taste, and each time with a new one. It all depends on the number of spices and a set of herbs.