Chakhokhbili

Ingredients

• Chicken — in pieces1.5 kg
• Onions4
• Tomatoes800 g
• Garlic6 clove
• Coriander60 g
• Purple basil40 g
• Tarragon30 g
• Parsley40 g
• Khmeli suneli1 tbsp
• Butter50 g
• Chilli1
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Brown the chicken pieces in a dry heavy pot without fat, to a golden crust.

   15 min

2. 2

   Lift out the meat, add the butter and soften the onion in the rendered fat.

   12 min

3. 3

   Skin the tomatoes, grate them and add them to the onion.

   12 min

4. 4

   Return the chicken, season, add the khmeli suneli and the whole chilli and cover the pot.

   6 min

5. 5

   Stew thirty minutes on a low heat, never adding water.

   32 min

6. 6

   Chop all the herbs and the garlic coarsely, not to a paste.

   10 min

7. 7

   Stir in the herbs and garlic, cover the pot, take it off the heat and let it stand ten minutes.

   12 min

About the dish

No water goes in at all. The chicken is browned in a dry pot, gives up its juices and stews in them — hence a concentration no stock provides.

The herbs go in by the bunch rather than the sprig: coriander, basil, tarragon, parsley. Their volume should be comparable to the volume of meat, and that is not an exaggeration.

The herbs go in at the very end and the pot comes straight off the heat. Boiled, they darken and lose the aroma chakhokhbili exists for.

Worth knowing

• — You need a heavy-based pot. In a thin one the chicken catches before it gives up its juices, and there is nothing to stew in.
• — Tarragon changes the dish more than anything else. Without it chakhokhbili is still good but stops being recognisable.
• — Chakhokhbili was originally made with pheasant — hence the name, from khokhobi. Chicken replaced it long ago, and that is the accepted norm.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

560 kcal

Protein

46 g

Fat

32 g

Carbs

20 g

More from Georgia

• Imeretian khachapuri — A round flatbread with the cheese inside rather than on top. The dough is made on matsoni, and there is as much filling as there is dough.
• Khinkali — Purses of stiff dough holding chopped meat and broth. The broth appears on its own, from water worked into the filling.
• Satsivi — Turkey or chicken in a cold walnut sauce with garlic and spices. The Georgian New Year table.