How to cook chakhokhbili from chicken

Georgian cuisine has long won the hearts of lovers of delicious food, thanks to simple, satisfying and incredibly tasty dishes. Satsivi, chahohby, lobio, tobacco chicken, harcho, matsoni - the very names of these dishes excite the imagination and taste buds.

One of the amazing dishes that the Georgian cuisine gave us is the Chahokhbili. The classic Chahokhbili is a stewed pheasant with vegetables. He "hides" in the very name of the dish: "jokhobi" is a "pheasant" in Georgian. Chahokhbili was cooked in the fall, when wild pheasants fattened and "eaten" their flanks - unwieldy birds became easy prey for Georgian hunters.

Now chakhokhbili is more often prepared from chicken meat, less often from mutton or beef. The hen should be young, fresh, well-fed and preferably homemade. Otherwise, the preparation of chahohby from the chicken will take longer, and the vegetables will turn into porridge. Do not take only the legs or wings - the taste and richness of the dish will be easier, without the "zest".

For extinguishing the chicken, traditional Caucasian spices and fragrant greens (basil, coriander, tarragon), which give a unique aroma, are suitable. Many gourmets love "peppered" dishes, but chicken chahohby and sharpness are badly combined: meat and broth should be a gentle, spicy taste.

Let's start cooking chakhokhbili from chicken.

We need: chicken weighing 1.5 kg, 2-3 large onions, 5 Bulgarian peppers of different colors, 5 carrots, 4 dense ripe tomatoes, bay leaves, 3 cloves of garlic, black peppercorns, saffron, hops-suneli, fresh greens (Coriander, parsley, green basil), 2 glasses of chicken broth, half a glass of red dry wine.

We take a whole young, well-fed, fresh chicken, carefully washed, cut into small pieces. Fat and skin is not necessary to cut - when frying they form a crust that will not allow the juice to flow out. Fry pieces of chicken in a frying pan without oil, make sure that the chicken does not burn. Fried chicken pieces are piled in a cauldron or a thick-walled pan.

Cut the onions into half rings and fry it to a golden color on chicken fat, which was dipped after roasting the chicken. If it is not enough - a little vegetable or butter will not hurt.

With tomatoes, peel the skin (cut the crosswise and for a minute put in boiling water), cut into cubes, add to onions, stew for 10 minutes under the lid. If you do not have good tomatoes at hand, you can replace them with tomato juice or a spicy tomato paste.

Bulgarian peppers and carrots are cut along to a strip about 1.5 - 2 cm wide.

After 15 minutes, add the chopped garlic, dry spices and red dry wine, and leave to stew under the lid on low heat for 30 minutes. Meat should be tender, easy to divide into fibers and move away from the bones. In the kakan with chicken, add the fried vegetables, carrots, peppers, pour in broth and stew for 15 minutes.

Cut the fresh greens, sprinkle the prepared dish, and the delicious, satisfying chahokhbili from the chicken is ready!

Chahokhbili - this is the second dish, so you can come up with a side dish: rice, buckwheat or mashed potatoes are perfectly combined with vegetables and chicken. Chahokhbili from chicken can be a wonderful independent dish, which is surprisingly tasty with tart red wine.