Chakhokhbili Image Used Under Creative Commons License From eatwithepleasure.com
Citizens, few recipe postings bring greater delight to your all-knowing Dictator of culinary nirvana than those from the magnificent country of Georgia! There is perhaps no greater cuisine on the planet as healthful, delicious and varied as those from this cradle of humanity (Georgian history goes back tens of thousands of years!).
This recipe helps to epitomize Summer for me, with its reliance on the finest and freshest tomatoes – think of it as chicken fricassée raised to a whole new level of flavor and you wouldn’t be far off! I call this recipe “poultry” as opposed to “chicken” because I prefer to use game such as duck or pheasant in it, as the original version was made!
As noted on the excellent food blog eatwithpleasure.com:
Chakhokhbili is a lot easier to make than it is to pronounce. (The “kh” sounds like the “h” in a Russian-accented “hello,” or the “ch” in the German “ich.”) While you can certainly find this dish on restaurant menus in Georgia, it is equally likely to show up on weeknight dinner tables at home because it comes together quickly and is the kind of thing you can make a big batch of and then easily reheat the leftovers for another meal (or two or three, if there’s only one of you).
The dish’s name comes from the Georgian word for pheasant (khokhobi), and if you happen to have a pheasant on hand, you can substitute it for the chicken in the recipe. You could also use turkey, duck, or Cornish game hen. In Georgia today, chicken is the most common bird used for this recipe.
My Georgian host mother Shushana used to serve chakhokhbili with the slightly salty, pully bread she’d pick up at the bakery across the street from our apartment building.
My version uses TFD’s preferred herb set for this recipe, plus a bit of clarified butter mixed with grapeseed oil to really allow high-temperature browning with buttery flavor and savor! If at all possible, try and use real Georgian garlic for this and all Georgian recipes – my favorite varietal can be bought here and elsewhere if you search by Google. Try one of the other hundreds of Georgian garlic varietals if mine is unavailable – they are ALL exceptional!
Battle on – The Generalissimo
Ingredients
- A 5 lb. chicken, trimmed of fat and skin and cut into parts (or 2 lbs. chicken thighs or chicken drumsticks. I wouldn’t recommend only breast meat, because it tends to get dry.) TFD prefers to use 2 pounds of boneless duck breasts or pheasant pieces on the bone
- 3 Tbsp. grapeseed oil + 1 Tbsp. ghee (preferred) or butter
- ½ tsp. kosher salt
- ¼ tsp. ground black pepper
- ⅛ tsp. ground cayenne pepper
- 2 medium yellow onions, cut in half and then into ½ in. slices
- 4 cloves garlic, minced – if you can find Georgian garlic varietals to use, so much the better! Georgia has hundreds of types of garlic, more than any other nation on Earth in fact! :D
- 4 large ripe heirloom tomatoes, cored and diced—you can blanch and peel them first if you like, but I don’t bother)
- ½ Tbsp. red wine vinegar
- ½ cup cilantro, finely chopped
- ¼ cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
- ¼ cup tarragon, finely chopped
- ¼ cup celery leaves, finely chopped
- ¼ cup basil, finely chopped
- 3 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill
Instructions
- If you’re starting with a whole bird, cut it into parts, removing fat and skin as you go: separate the wings, the thighs, the drumsticks, and the breast, then cut the breast into 2-inch chunks.
- Heat butter or oil in a cast iron skillet until it begins to sizzle. (You can use any heavy-bottomed pan with high sides, but avoid nonstick pans, which keep things from browning properly.) Add the poultry pieces, salt, pepper, and cayenne, stirring to coat. Brown the poultry lightly on all sides.
- Remove the poultry pieces from the skillet and add the onions. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic until it turns fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes with their juice, the vinegar, and half the herbs, stirring to combine.
- Bring the stew to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and add the poultry back to the pan. Stir in the rest of the herbs and cover the pan. Simmer until poultry is cooked through, about 15-20 minutes. Serve with additional herbs sprinkled on top, with crusty bread, pita bread or naan, or over basmati rice.
