Georgian cuisine is famous for its spicy and sweet dishes, and one of the most famous Georgian dishes can be considered chakhokhbili. Translated from the Georgian intricate name means nothing more than a phase ("jojoba" in Georgian) in a sauce. However, the phase - not the most affordable product, so the dish is often prepared from chicken, and sometimes beef Beef - Meat Guide   or lamb Lamb - guide on meat .

Features dishes

As the name suggests, an ideal raw material for the preparation of chakhokhbili a pheasant, the pheasant plump, fat: no coincidence that this dish has always been seasonal and prepared for the autumn, when the phase of gaining weight. However, due to limited availability of this type of pheasant stew are increasingly made from other poultry - chicken, duck or quail. Thus, the name of the dish in the first place represents a method of its preparation.

In fact, chakhokhbili - a bird's meat, stewed in tomato sauce with garlic and herbs. And to ensure that the dish has become distinct Georgian flavor, you must cook it according to the rules. The food in any case should not be sharp: the sharpness at all uncharacteristic of Georgian cuisine. The taste should be spicy and sweet, well cooked dish literally melts in your mouth.

Selecting ingredients

The main ingredients in determining the taste of the dish is not the meat, and set a spicy greens. The mandatory set of herbs includes savory herbs, parsley, basil and cilantro and sweet red pepper and garlic. It is also sometimes added to the dish Imeretian saffron, tarragon, dill, mint, coriander seeds. Greenery is desirable to use fresh.

Prepared using a whole bird carcass. Chicken is desirable to use the home, village. If this is not possible, you should give preference to the most oily and very young chicken or duck. You should not be limited to the lower legs, only fillets or just wings - a combination of all the parts of the bird will give the desired taste.

Meat should be cut into small (forty or fifty grams) pieces together with the bones and skin. It is believed that these pieces should be exactly seventeen, but now this tradition is often neglected. You can buy a special set of chicken stew, but it is better to cut the carcass of the bird yourself: one chicken turn mid-size four to eight servings chakhokhbili.

The composition must include chakhokhbili onions and tomatoes. Vegetables should be sufficient to ensure that the moisture that they contain enough for cooking the sauce. As a rule, pound chicken enough to take from two to five bulbs, and three or four tomatoes. Do not do without three or four cloves of garlic. If desired, you can add chakhokhbili other vegetables, such as sweet pepper or carrots. In terms of the amount of vegetables should be approximately equal to the amount of meat.

Secrets of cooking

The main technological feature chakhokhbili cooking - grilling meat on a dry frying pan without fat. It was once thought that this method is available only the most experienced hostess. But today, in the age of non-stick cookware, fry the pieces of poultry on a dry frying pan is not difficult, even beginners cooking.

It is best to use a wok or any thick-walled pan. Dishes necessary to heat in the fire, and then put it in her fifteen minutes of chicken cut into pieces (pheasant, duck, goose, quail). The dish must be in the process of frying stir constantly.

If done correctly, the pieces of meat heated with oil. Grilled meat should be removed in another bowl, and heated with fat fry sliced ​​onion half rings. When the onion is translucent in the pan are added tomatoes (cut into small pieces, crushed or pulverized with a blender). It is best to pre-release the skin from the tomatoes, cutting them crosswise and showering boiling water. Since the sauce is sweeter. When the mixture comes to a boil, it is necessary to return the pieces of poultry. Now we have to put out chakhokhbili until tender.

While the chicken stewed in vegetable sauce, pound garlic should be with herbs and dried spices. This aromatic blend is also added to the chicken, then you must give the dish over medium heat until cooked walk. Total cooking time is about thirty to fifty minutes, depending on the hardness of the meat: the younger and smaller pieces of chicken, the dish will be ready.

Eat chakhokhbili hot. As a garnish to a dish fit salads, vegetables, greens and boiled rice. Ideal underlined chakhokhbili taste Georgian wine and the remains of the sauce in the family circle can be collected from the plate using a piece of cake Georgia.

Chakhokhbili wine

From the many recipes stew chakhokhbili characterized in that the bird does not add any oil or liquid. Meat stewed in spicy juices of vegetables and herbs, feasting upon the new flavors. For this reason, onions and tomatoes are used in large quantities.

Some recipes, however, suggest adding a small amount of wine dish. To get an authentic dish, drink better use of the Georgian production. Ideal complement the taste of stewed chicken with vegetables dry white wine, but you should not abuse them - half a glass per kilogram of meat will be enough to fill the dish with new flavors.

Sometimes, instead of wine in chakhokhbili pour the vinegar, but this addition is rather coarsens taste of a dish than decorate it. Even if you use natural vinegar, is a risk to make foods taste too sharp. To the meat was soft and melting in the mouth, enough acid contained in vegetables, so the use of vinegar, lemon juice or other acidic substances should be abandoned.

Maria Bykov