Chakapuli in Georgian: recipe with photos

Are you cooking?

All about culinary art...

Chakapuli – meat greetings from Georgia

Chakapuli is a national dish of Georgian cuisine made from young meat, which is stewed with herbs and spices. Its name means “meat in foam”. In production they often use lamb or veal, and for holidays - lamb. The freshest tarragon (tarragon) imparts an extraordinary piquancy to the dish. Tkemali is also used for cooking. All this adds a gentle smell and slight sourness to the meat.

The calorie content of the dish is 130 kcal per 100 g. Let’s look at the photo on how to prepare chakapuli step by step according to several recipes.

Unique chakapuli recipe

The traditional recipe for a common spring dish from eastern Georgia contains young lamb and a large amount of fragrant herbs.

Green onions, tarragon, cilantro - a large bunch;
Garlic – 6 cloves;
Lean lamb - half a kilo;
Snow-white dry wine and water – 150 ml each;
One hot pepper;
Tkemali – big spoon;
Salt - to taste.

The process of making chakapuli in Georgian:

Cut the lamb into small pieces and place in a pan;
Wash, dry and chop the herbs. First we put tarragon on the meat, then onion, cilantro and garlic passed through a garlic press or press;
Add chopped hot pepper, add water and wine, cook for half an hour. Salt, pepper, add tkemali sauce (can be replaced with plums). We prepare the food for another 30 minutes, testing the readiness of the meat.

Georgian lamb chakapuli is served as an independent dish without a side dish. It turns out very fragrant and tasty, especially if you serve a wine drink with the dish.

Recipe with veal and cherry plum

Thanks to cherry plum, the dish acquires inimitable flavor notes.

Onion – kilogram;
Young garlic with shoots – 100 g;
Chili pepper is not very hot;
Veal on the bone - 4 kilograms;
Cilantro, tarragon, chives - 200 g each;
Snow-white dry wine – 250-300 ml;
Cherry plum fruits – 12-15 pieces;
Butter – 100 g;
Dark pepper – 0.5 teaspoon;
Salt - a tablespoon;
A mixture of ground coriander, utskho-suneli, hot reddish pepper - a teaspoon.

Scheme for preparing chakapuli with cherry plum at home:

Chop the meat into pieces with a bone approximately the size of a matchbox. If you took a good-quality loin on the bone, you need to cut the meat between the bones;
Wash the greens well with running water, dry them and chop them finely (we also use the stems). Peel the onion and cut it into very small cubes;
Place all the prepared ingredients in a thick-walled saucepan, cauldron or cauldron in this order: meat, onion, herbs, spices, salt, pepper until all the ingredients are complete. Let's add 2/3 of the wine here and there;
Put it on a powerful flame, let it boil, reduce the heat to medium, remove the foam using a slotted spoon. Cook for 40 minutes on low flame;
Add the remaining wine, add cherry plum, butter and chili. Once it boils, close the lid and keep on low heat for 20 to 30 minutes, until cooked.

Veal chakapuli resembles something in between, if you take a very thick soup and a second hot dish for comparison. This delicacy is simply divine, especially if eaten with fresh pita bread.

Recipe with chicken

Garlic – 2 cloves;
Half a chicken carcass;
Tarragon – bunch;
Parsley - 3 sprigs;
Fresh cilantro and green onions - half a bunch each;
Snow-white dry wine – 1.5 cups;
Fresh dill – 4 sprigs;
Sunflower oil – 2 huge spoons;
Red pepper flakes - a pinch;
Salt - to taste.

Finely chop the greens, add garlic and mix;
We cut the chicken into portions. Take a saucepan with a thick bottom and pour oil into it, add the meat, salt and fry on each side until golden brown;
Cover the bird with herbs, salt, pepper, pour wine, bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the flame and cook for 20-25 minutes.

Chicken chakapuli is a very light and low-calorie dish that is simply absorbed by our body and comes out juicy and tasty.

Recipe with rack of lamb in a slow cooker

One greenish hot pepper;
Tarragon and green onions - 30 g each;
Lamb ribs – 8 pieces;
Cherry plum fruits - three pieces;
Water – 400 ml;
Cilantro – 20 g;
Snow-white dry wine – 100 ml;
Salt - to taste.

Cut the rack of lamb into individual ribs. Grind tarragon, onion, hot pepper and cilantro. Place everything in the multicooker bowl. We also add the whole cherry plum, water and wine, add salt, and cover with a lid;
Select the “Extinguishing” program, set the time to 25 minutes, press the “Start” button;
We serve the Georgian dish chakapuli to the table, garnishing it with fresh tarragon leaves and hot capsicum rings.

Lamb chakapuli

This recipe contains a huge amount of different herbs and spices, so the dish comes out very fragrant.

Onions – 4 heads;
Lamb – 1.5 kg;
Fresh mint – 20 g;
Butter – 40 g;
Fresh cilantro and parsley - 100 g each;
Garlic – 7-8 cloves;
Celery stalk – 100 g;
Thyme sprig – 2 pieces;
Water – 0.5 l;
One hot reddish pepper;
Salt and spices - to taste;
Cherry plum – 300 g (can be replaced with Tkemali sauce);
Green onions – 150 g;
Fresh tarragon – 30 g.

Cooking process without the help of others:

Cut 750 g of meat into cubes measuring three by three centimeters and place in a cauldron;
We cut the onion into quarters, divide the tenderloin in half, add one half to the meat;
Next, we wash and chop the entire greenish component, divide it into two halves and place one half on the onion, add salt and pepper;
Cut the remaining meat into the largest pieces and lay it out in the next layer, add the washed cherry plum fruits. Season with salt and pepper again;
Cover with another part of the greens, then with onions;
Fill all layers with water;
Peel and finely chop the garlic, red pepper, celery and place on top of the resulting layers;
Place the cauldron on the fire, bring to a boil and add butter;
Cover the cauldron with a lid and simmer the contents for 2 hours over a very low flame. Serve hot.

Chakapuli soup

Plum (of any variety) – kilogram;
Garlic – head;
Lamb ham – kilogram;
Snow white wine – bottle;
Tarragon – 200 g;
Mint;
Basil - a bunch;
Water, salt;
A bunch of green onions, cilantro;
Reddish hot pepper - three pods.

Cut the meat into pieces measuring 3*3 cm and place in a large container. Pour in water - it should completely cover the entire lamb, let it boil and add wine. Add some salt and start simmering;
Wash the plums, separate the stalks, put the berries in a saucepan and pour a glass of water. Let's cook them over medium heat. Later we will prepare plum puree. To do this, you need to rub the fruits through a sieve;
Finely chop the basil, mint, cilantro, onion and tarragon;
Cut the hot pepper pods and garlic into medium slices and add to the almost finished meat. Also add all the greens, mix well and simmer for 30 minutes over medium heat;
Add plum puree to taste, bring to a boil and simmer for another 10 minutes. The greens should give all their color.

Pour chakapuli soup into bowls and enjoy the taste.

Video: Recipe for chakapuli over the fire

Georgian lamb chakapuli

The base of Caucasian cuisine is the right choice of goods. For Georgian lamb chakapuli, they take freshly chilled meat, and not one that has been deep frozen for six months. Spices need to be fresh and fragrant. Cilantro and tarragon are preferable from the garden, not from the greenhouse.

The highlight of Georgian cuisine is the love for fruit sauces. For this dish you will need the freshest, preferably greenish, plums, cherry plums or plum sauce - tkemali. The special sourness will make the taste more expressive, and the meat fibers will be softer.

When you are planning to cook lamb chakapuli, you first figure out what products you can actually buy - in the latter case, you can take beef, the freshest plums, or a sauce made from them. Particular attention is paid to spices: tarragon, coriander, cilantro or something else will come in handy. Not every hypermarket sells them. Therefore, you need to purchase components that are available at this time of year, and in huge quantities.

In Georgia, chakapuli is most often prepared in April-May, when there is a lot of young greens and lamb. The leading spice is tarragon, also known as tarragon; as you can see in the photo, it is added in huge quantities. It is its fresh smell, associated with spring and greenish fields, that is the main highlight of this meat delicacy.

Advice. “High-quality spices already provide three-quarters of success in preparing chakapuli.”

Basic recipe

In this dish, the quantities of ingredients are approximate; they are taken as a starting point and guided by your own taste. Products: lamb or veal meat - a kilogram or one and a half, you can have brisket with ribs, tarragon - half a kilo, a glass of snow-white dry wine, 2 onions, several cloves of garlic, cilantro 100 grams, half a kilogram of greenish cherry plum, two hundred grams of onion, parsley, dill. Manufacturing stages:

Cut the lamb into pieces and place in a saucepan.
Add wine, if necessary, a little water.
Simmer until half cooked, the time depends on the type of meat and part of the carcass.
Then add almost all the chopped greens, not counting the green onions, along with the plums.
Keep on the stove until ready, then add the remaining chopped greens along with chopped green onions.
At the very end of cooking, add salt and pepper.

Advice: “It is not permissible to allow the lamb to be fried; it must be boiled in a small amount of water or stewed. Otherwise, the smell of greenery will change, not for the better.”

Recipe with tkemali sauce

In the middle of winter it is difficult to find greenish cherry plum or tkemali. Then the freshest fruits for the Georgian dish chakapuli are replaced with ready-made Tkemali sauce, which can be purchased at any chain store. There is no need to replace the component with lemon or citric acid; for the latter option you will need plum juice or unripe plums.

Chop the pulp into pieces with a knife and place in a patch or cauldron.
To prepare this dish in any version, thick-walled dishes for long simmering over low heat are essential. Place chopped herbs, garlic, salt, pepper in a cauldron, pour in wine and sauce or juice.
Mix with your hands so that the meat is saturated with additives.
Simmer on the stove or in the oven for about 3 hours, at the end add leeks and green onions, tarragon leaves.

If the meat is lean, you can put a piece of butter on top (about 100 grams) or pour in vegetable oil without aroma. The cooking time of the dish is always personal, depending on the age of the animal and the part of the carcass. The ham of an old ram takes even longer to cook than a young one; the brisket will soften faster than the rear part. The neck cutlets are the softest part; you should not simmer them for more than an hour.

Regular recipe

Degramming is not difficult; you can simply learn the quantities of ingredients by heart. The main ingredients are a kilogram of lamb meat and plums, a bottle of wine, a bunch of tarragon, about 50 grams of garlic. Basil, onions and greenish, leeks, cilantro, hot pepper to taste. During manufacturing, the following sequence of actions is observed:

Cut the lamb into rectangular pieces, pour in wine, salt and pepper, and put on fire.
While it is stewing, boil the plums, then strain through a colander.
Chop a bunch of greens, onion, and garlic with a knife. Half an hour before readiness, add to the lamb along with the plum puree.
The recipe is simple, but there are aspects. If the herbs are dried, they are placed a little earlier so that they boil and give the meat a smell. It is more convenient to cook chakapuli in a saucepan with a glass lid, so you can see when to add water.

“Quick” manufacturing option

This ordinary chakapuli recipe is used by Georgian shepherds in the mountains, who have no time to stand at the stove for a long time. It is necessary to prepare according to the principle of “folding everything and forgetting it.” But this doesn’t make the dish any less fragrant. The following products are placed in a 3-liter metal cauldron:

chopped lamb in the amount of 800 g;
300 g tarragon;
salt;
parsley, dill, leaf celery, onion, leek, cilantro - medium bunch;
pepper;
one and a half glasses of unripe plums or a bottle of plum sauce.

All this is stewed together with wine until the lamb is ready. Sprinkle the dish with green onions at the end, otherwise it will lose its color and smell. A little mint and basil will come in handy for decoration.

The Chakapuli recipe allows you to prepare not a soup, but a stew.

If desired, before cooking it is fried in fat tail fat. There doesn’t have to be a lot of water; when serving, the sauce along with the herbs is poured into a plate. If guests consider themselves to be against the consumption of food of animal origin, the lamb is replaced with champignons, resulting in a vegetarian dish.

Serving the dish

Usually cooked chakapuli is served together with Georgian lavash or mamaliga - corn porridge. They put meat on a plate, pour in broth, pieces of herbs and plums, it comes out like soup. Pieces of lavash are dipped into the broth. The table setting photos will help you set the table perfectly.

Advice. “If Georgians come to a dinner party, chakapuli must be served with Georgian lavash, and not Armenian or Azerbaijani.”

Having mastered the technology for making chakapuli, you can serve this dish again at any season, selecting products accordingly. The advantages of Georgian-style chakapuli are low calorie content, good taste, and a huge amount of vitamins due to the huge amount of greens. Lamb can be replaced with beef or veal.

Chakapuli

Chakapuli is young meat (lamb) stewed with a huge amount of spring greens. The Georgian dish is distinguished by its tenderness and softness, and the freshest tarragon, also known as tarragon, adds a special signature taste and spicy smell to it.

The name chakapuli translates as “meat in foam.” The dish is usually prepared in Eastern Georgia from late spring until approximately mid-summer, when the greens are still fresh and there are greenish tkemali fruits on the branches. For chakapuli, young, lean lamb or veal is used. The priority is rib meat, which provides enormous richness, although unblemished fillet can also be used. In fact, the second soup is being prepared, so the broth should be rich and concentrated.

The meat is stewed in a cauldron with fragrant herbs, which must certainly include the freshest tarragon. It is accompanied by green onions and cilantro. For sourness, it is customary to add greenish cherry plum or ready-made tkemali sauce (also greenish, made from unripe fruits) to chakapuli; for spiciness, hot peppers are often added to the cauldron. All this abundance is stewed in dry snow-white wine mixed with water in equal proportions.

There are several options for making the dish; I will outline how to cook chakapuli at home, on the stove. You can cook in a similar way over a fire in a cauldron. In general, the extinguishing process will take 2-3 hours. The success of the dish depends on your patience and, naturally, on the properties of the lamb. Success!

Ingredients

young lamb on ribs – 600 g
greenish cherry plum – 50 g or greenish tkemali – 1 tbsp. l.
tarragon (fresh tarragon) – 4 lush branches (more is possible)
fresh mint – 1 sprig
green onion – 2 huge bunches (250 g)
cilantro – 5 sprigs
young garlic – 1 head
hot pepper - half
dark peppercorns (crushed) – 0.5 tsp.
salt – 1 tsp. or to taste
Utskho-suneli – 1 tsp.
snow white wine – 150 ml
water – 150 ml or more

Manufacturing

Cooking in the standard is necessary in a cauldron over a fire. At home, no matter what kind of thick-walled dish with a lid is suitable (I cooked in a duck cooker). Choose young, pinkish, pleasant-smelling lamb, without any foreign odors. Wash the meat, cut into small portions along the ribs, sprinkle with a mixture of salt and utskho-suneli. Place in a preheated cauldron, cover with a lid and simmer over low heat. No need to add oil.

After about 20-30 minutes, the juices released by the meat will begin to boil away. Now add finely chopped green onions to the cauldron - there must be a lot of it, both the snow-white root part and the feathers are used. Immediately pour in the snow-white dry wine. Continue to simmer covered for another 30 minutes.

Next, add finely chopped greens: cilantro, tarragon, mint, head of garlic, hot pepper. Indispensable on this list are cilantro, tarragon and chili. But mint and garlic are added as desired. By the way, it is best to use greenish hot peppers, but if you don’t have them, then reddish ones will do. I used dried ones, cut them with kitchen scissors and threw them into the cauldron. Continue to simmer, covered, for approximately 40 minutes over low heat. To prevent the meat from burning, you need to look under the lid from time to time and add a little boiling water - 2-3 tablespoons at a time, adjusting the desired thickness (some people like it when there is a lot of water, others prefer a thick sauce at the bottom, so choose what you like best ).

At the very end, season with pepper crushed in a mortar and throw whole fresh cherry plum fruits into the cauldron (or add a spoonful of greenish tkemali sauce). Attention! Add cherry plum only when the lamb is ready. If you overcook plums, they will disintegrate and turn into puree; as a result, your chakapuli will be spoiled and turn out incredibly sour. Take the amount of cherry plum to taste, it should add only a light and pleasant sourness to the lamb. If you are cooking for the first time, then limit yourself to 50 g of fruit per 500-600 g of lamb (that’s 7-8 pieces). For the second time, adjust the quantity, focusing on the taste preferences of your own household. Georgians add 100 grams for this amount of meat, but everyone’s cherry plum varies in degree of ripeness, so don’t overdo it.

Continue to simmer for approximately 15-20 minutes, over low heat, covered. The mixture should result in something between a very thick soup and a second hot dish. In general, the stewing process from start to finish takes 2 hours if the lamb is young (or 3 hours if older).

It is customary to serve chakapuli with the freshest lavash, only hot!

Chakapuli in Georgian – 4 recipes in Georgian

Svetlana Yakovleva • 03/11/2019

Dishes of Georgian cuisine are loved by our housewives. We use their recipes to make daily and special dinners. Chakapuli in Georgian is another hearty and fragrant recipe for making meat with a huge amount of fresh herbs and tkemali. This dish is prepared at the end of spring and summer, when all the ingredients are at hand. Usually young lamb or veal is used for it.

In Georgia, chakapuli is prepared for Easter and the Day of Zhora the Victorious, who is the revered patron saint of the country.

Georgian lamb chakapuli

The most tender meat with a huge amount of greens is stewed for quite a long time, but the result will outshine all your expectations.

Ingredients:

lamb – 1.5 kg;
plums – 500 gr.;
tarragon - 250 gr.;
onions – 4-5 pcs.;
greens – 1 bunch;
dry wine – 500 ml;
garlic – 100 gr.;
hot pepper – 2-3 pcs.;
salt.

Manufacturing:

Wash the meat and cut it into fairly large pieces.
Trim the fat and place it on the bottom of a thick-walled dish; a cauldron is suitable for cooking over an open fire.
Place a layer of meat on top.
Wash the greens and chop them with a knife.
Peel the onion and chop into thin half rings.
Remove the seeds from the peppers and cut into thin rings.
Wash yellowish or greenish tkemali, cut into halves and remove the seeds.
Place a layer of onion on the meat, and then hot pepper and tarragon.
Repeat layers a couple of times.
Pour snow-white dry wine over the meat and simmer over low heat for an hour.
After half an hour, add the remaining herbs, plums and garlic, squeezed out with a special press, into the container.
Salt the dish and add wine or water as needed.
Simmer until done, but at least an hour and a half.

Ready chakapuli is served in the deepest plates with the freshest bread and wine.

Georgian beef chakapuli

This dish can also be prepared from veal or beef that has not been frozen.

Ingredients:

veal – 1.5 kg;
tkemali – 500 gr.;
tarragon – 300 gr.;
onions – 4-5 pcs.;
parsley – 1 bunch;
dry wine – 500 ml;
garlic – 100 gr.;
hot pepper – 2-3 pcs.;
salt.

Manufacturing:

Wash the meat well and cut into portions.
Place the pieces of meat in a suitable container with thick walls.
Peel the onion and chop into thin half rings.
Wash the hot pepper, cut into halves, remove the seeds and cut into thin half rings.
Wash the greens, dry them on a towel and chop them with a knife.
Place a layer of meat in a clay or cast iron vessel, cover it with a layer of onions, peppers and tarragon.
Repeat layers until products are complete.
Pour in snow-white wine and simmer over low heat.
After half an hour, add the tkemali, having previously removed their seeds, peel the garlic, and squeeze using a press.
Salt the dish and add chopped parsley, cilantro and green onions.
Simmer until done, stirring the contents of the dish from time to time.

Serve the finished meat with herbs in deep plates with pieces of pita bread and a glass of wine.

Georgian Pork Chakapuli

The introduction of pork will help reduce the preparation time of the dish, and the taste will be slightly different.

Ingredients:

pork – 800 gr.;
tkemali sauce – 200 gr.;
tarragon - 200 gr.;
onions – 2-3 pcs.;
greens – 1 bunch;
dry wine – 300 ml;
garlic – 80 gr.;
hot pepper – 1-2 pcs.;
salt.

Manufacturing:

Rinse the pork loin on the bones and cut into portions.
Place in a container with thick walls.
Peel the onion and cut into thin half rings.
Place on top of the meat.
Cut the hot pepper along the fruit, remove the seeds and chop into strips.
Wash tarragon, parsley and green onions, dry on a towel and chop as desired.
Peel the garlic and squeeze it using a press.
Pour wine and add the freshest tkemali, or use sauce made from these plums.
After boiling, reduce the heat, add salt and simmer for another half hour.

Serve with fresh bread and dry wine.

Georgian chicken chakapuli

The dish can be prepared from chicken meat. This is both faster and cheaper than the traditional option.

Ingredients:

chicken – 1.2-1.5 kg;
tkemali sauce – 200 gr.;
tarragon - 200 gr.;
onions – 2-3 pcs.;
greens – 1 bunch;
dry wine – 300 ml;
garlic – 80 gr.;
hot pepper – 1-2 pcs.;
salt, saffron.

Manufacturing:

The chicken must be washed and cut into portions.
Fry the chicken pieces until golden brown in a frying pan with a small amount of oil.
Transfer to a suitable heavy container.
Peel the onion and cut into half rings. Place on top of the chicken.
Wash the greens, dry them and chop them with a knife. Be sure to use tarragon - the rest of the herbs are to your liking.
Wash the pepper, cut along the fruit, and remove the seeds.
Cut into thin half rings and sprinkle on top of the greens.
Add fresh plums, removing their pits, or a sauce made from them.
Season with salt and add a pinch of saffron to give the chicken a lovely golden color.
Pour wine, cover with a lid, or seal the dish with foil.
Place in a preheated oven and simmer on low heat for about an hour.
The finished dish can be placed on the table in the container in which it was prepared, or served in portions in deep bowls.

This hearty dish is complemented only by the freshest bread and wine.

In Georgia, chakapuli is cooked over an open fire when going on picnics outside the city, and served in a clay pot, complementing the hearty and fresh dish with soft lavash and fragrant homemade wine. Try to cook Georgian-style chakapuli in your kitchen, and your collection of favorite recipes will be enriched with one more, which you will probably want to repeat with the rest of the meat, adjusting the amount of greens to taste. Bon appetit!