It usually requires four main ingredients: meat, herbs, wine and green plums. All these products are usually found in abundance in late spring or early summer. This period coincides with many religious holidays, when any Georgian family always serves the famous chakapuli at the table. Each housewife has her own recipe for its preparation. From all the variety, we can highlight several of the most interesting options.
Beef chakapuli
To prepare chakapuli, different types of meat (beef or lamb) are used. There are no strict restrictions here. According to reviews, the main thing is that all other ingredients are available. For example, you can consider the most common chakapuli recipe. For it you will need: 700 grams of beef, 200 milliliters of white wine, 150 grams of green plums and fresh coriander, 30 grams of garlic, 200 grams of tarragon and green onions, a little salt, a liter of water and 2 green peppers.
Cooking begins with processing the products:
- The meat should be cut into large cubes and placed in a deep pan.
- Pour wine over it, put it on the stove and cook for 20 minutes until all the liquid has boiled away. The meat must be stirred periodically.
- At this time, you can do greens. It is necessary to tear off the leaves from the tarragon branches and wash them thoroughly. The stems will not be needed for work, so you can simply throw them away.
- Chop coriander, tarragon, onion and pepper randomly, and chop or crush the garlic with a knife.
- Add the prepared products along with plums to the boiling meat, add water and cook covered for 60 minutes.
- At the very end, add salt to taste.
This is the simplest and most popular recipe for chakapuli, which even a novice housewife can master. The dish is usually served hot along with fresh aromatic pita bread. According to experts, this method of cooking beef can be considered one of the best. The meat cooks well and turns out very tender.
Chakapuli with mushrooms
For those who do not eat meat at all, we can advise you to try the original Lenten chakapuli recipe. Believers use it during periods of religious fasting, when it is prohibited according to the rules. In this case, you will need: 300 grams of fresh champignons, 100 grams of green onions, 60 grams of cilantro, 10 grams of chili pepper and garlic, salt, 30 grams of green tarragon, 3 plums, 50 milliliters of wine (white), vegetable oil and 80 grams of spinach .
The dish is prepared in several steps:
- First, all the greens must be randomly chopped, collected in one container and mixed well.
- Cut the mushrooms into slices (or pieces), and then lightly fry them in oil.
- Place the hot champignons into a saucepan, sprinkle with herbs, add salt, pepper, plums and garlic.
- Pour wine over food.
- Cook for an hour over low heat, covering the pan with a lid or wrapping its surface with foil.
Garnish the finished dish in a plate with the remaining chopped herbs. Vegetarians really like this unusual chakapuli. With its help, they can easily enjoy all the delights of Georgian cuisine.
Veal chakapuli
There are several important points that must be taken into account in order to make real Georgian chakapuli. The recipe essentially remains the same. True, it is customary to take veal meat on ribs as the main ingredient. In eastern Georgia, the following ingredients are used for this dish: one and a half kilograms of veal, 4 onions, 1 hot red pepper, 300 grams of green cherry plum, a head of garlic, 100 grams each of cilantro, celery stalk and parsley, 40 grams of butter, salt, 30 grams tarragon (tarragon), 150 grams of leeks, half a liter of water, a tablespoon of Uzbek spices, ground pepper and a few sprigs of mint or thyme.
In this case, it takes much longer to prepare the dish. To work you will need a cauldron. Next you need:
- Cut the meat into large pieces and place half of the total amount on the bottom of the cauldron.
- Sprinkle onion cut into half rings on top.
- Randomly chop all the greens. Place some of it on top of the meat and onions.
- Pepper and add a little salt.
- Distribute the remaining meat evenly over the surface.
- Throw in the cherry plum.
- Pepper and salt again.
- Cover everything with the remaining greenery.
- Place spices and sliced peppers on top.
- Fill the food with water.
- Add chopped garlic and celery.
- Place the cauldron on the stove and bring its contents to a boil.
- Place a piece of butter on top. This will make the meat much softer.
- Reduce the heat and simmer covered for at least three hours.
Chakapuli is served in portions. The hostess must distribute the dish so that in addition to meat, each plate contains all other components. The already tender veal in such an original setting turns out even softer and more aromatic. Any professional will agree with this opinion.
Fast and tasty
Some people still prefer to cook chakapuli from lamb. Any recipe can be used. But there is one option when the dish is not only quickly prepared, but also requires a minimum set of ingredients. You only need: 1 kilogram of fresh lamb, salt, 100 grams of dry white wine, 2 kilograms of greens (cilantro, green plums, parsley and tarragon), ground pepper and tkemali sauce.
Everything is done very simply:
- Cut the lamb into small pieces.
- Place them in a saucepan.
- Simmer the meat for about 10-15 minutes without adding water. Due to the large amount of its own fat, the meat will not burn.
- Add wine and continue cooking for another 10 minutes.
- Finely chop the greens and add them to the pan along with the rest of the ingredients.
- Mix well and simmer for 25 minutes.
As a result, the meat is soft, tender and very tasty. True, reviews recommend that you eat this dish with extreme caution so as not to break your teeth on small plum pits. Beef is often prepared this way in many Georgian restaurants. It is usually in great demand among visitors. Many of them believe that it is with the help of this dish that one can appreciate all the charm of the Georgian national cuisine.
National soup
How else can you cook lamb chakapuli in Georgian style? The recipe for this dish is essentially like a thick soup. At home, it can be made from the following products: 1 kilogram of lamb ham and the same amount of plums, a bottle of dry wine, a head of garlic, 3 pods of hot pepper, water, 200 grams of tarragon, salt, mint, 1 bunch of green onions, cilantro and basil .
The process takes place in several stages:
- Cut the lamb into medium pieces.
- Place them in a saucepan, add water and bring to a boil.
- Add wine, salt and simmer over low heat. In this case, the meat must always be under a layer of liquid.
- At this time, rinse the plums, place them in a saucepan, add water and cook for a while over low heat.
- Rub the resulting puree through a sieve.
- Chop the greens.
- Finely chop the pepper and garlic.
- Add them along with the herbs to the almost finished meat. Cook the products in this composition for about 30 minutes.
- Add and simmer for another 10 minutes.
Now all you have to do is pour the finished soup into deep plates and enjoy its amazing taste and aroma. This dish is prepared at least once a year in almost every Georgian family. This is how local residents pay tribute to the ancient traditions of their ancestors. And some believe that chakapuli is the best use for lamb meat.
Lamb chakapuli
Traditionally in Georgia it is used to prepare chakapuli. The classic recipe calls for the following required ingredients: 1 kilogram of lamb, 300-400 milliliters of white wine, half a pod of green hot pepper, 2 bunches of tarragon, 500 grams of green onions, a teaspoon of hops-suneli seasoning, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 cups of plums, salt, a bunch of cilantro and ground pepper.
The cooking method is similar to the previous options:
- Cut the meat into pieces with a knife and place them in a saucepan.
- Roughly chop the onion, garlic and herbs and divide into two parts. Add one of them immediately to the meat.
- Pour wine over it all.
- Place half the plums in a saucepan and put it on the fire.
- As soon as the mixture boils, reduce the flame and simmer for about 45-50 minutes.
- Add all the remaining ingredients and simmer the food under the lid for 15 minutes.
After this, the finished dish should stand for another quarter of an hour. Only then can it be placed on plates and served on the table. Old people claim that this is what real Georgian chakapuli should look like. This is tender meat with an original aroma that practically crumbles in your hands, seasoned with a lot of herbs.
The basis of Caucasian cuisine is the right choice of products. 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 aromatic. Cilantro and tarragon are preferable from the garden, not from the greenhouse.
A special feature of Georgian cuisine is its love for fruit sauces. For this dish you will need fresh, preferably green plums, cherry plums or plum sauce - tkemali. Spicy 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 extreme cases, you can take beef, fresh plums or a sauce made from them. Particular attention is paid to spices: you will need tarragon, coriander, cilantro or something else. Not every supermarket sells them. Therefore, you need to buy components that are available at this time of year, and in large 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 large quantities. It is its fresh aroma, associated with spring and green fields, that is the main feature of this meat delicacy.
Advice. “High-quality spices already ensure 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 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 dry white wine, 2 onions, several cloves of garlic, one hundred grams of cilantro, half a kilogram of green cherry plum, two hundred grams of onion, parsley, dill. Cooking steps:
- 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, except green onions, along with the plums.
- Keep on the stove until done, then add the remaining chopped herbs along with chopped green onions.
- At the very end of cooking, add salt and pepper.
Advice: “The lamb should not be allowed to be fried; it should be boiled in a small amount of water or stewed. Otherwise, the aroma of greenery will not change for the better.”
Recipe with tkemali sauce
In the middle of winter it is difficult to find green cherry plum or tkemali. Then fresh fruits for the Georgian dish chakapuli are replaced with ready-made Tkemali sauce, which can be purchased at any chain store. It is not advisable to replace the component with lemon or citric acid; in extreme cases, plum juice or unripe plums will come in handy.
To prepare the dish, take one and a half kilograms of lamb, preferably with fat. You will need a bottle of tkemali sauce, or half a liter of sour plum juice, half a glass of white wine. Prepare at least half a kilo of tarragon, two heads of garlic, dill, parsley, 100 grams of leeks. If tarragon is replaced with dried tarragon, take into account that shrinkage occurs at least 10 times. Salt, white, red and black pepper to taste. The recipe is given below:
- 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 are important for long simmering over low heat. 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 three hours, at the end add leeks and green onions, tarragon leaves.
If the meat is lean, you can put about a hundred grams of butter on top or pour in odorless vegetable oil. The cooking time of the dish is always individual, depending on the age of the animal and the part of the carcass. The leg of an old lamb takes much longer to cook than a young one; the brisket will soften faster than the back. The neck cutlets are the softest part and should not be simmered for more than an hour.
Simple recipe
Degramming is not difficult, the quantities of ingredients can be easily memorized. The main components are a kilogram of lamb meat and plums, a bottle of wine, a bunch of tarragon, about 50 grams of garlic. Basil, onions and green onions, leeks, cilantro, hot pepper to taste. During cooking, 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 nuances. If the herbs are dried, they are added a little earlier so that they boil and impart flavor to the meat. It is more convenient to cook chakapuli in a saucepan with a glass lid so that you can see when to add water.
Quick cooking option
This simple chakapuli recipe is used by Georgian shepherds in the mountains, who have no time to stand at the stove for a long time. You need to cook according to the “set everything and forget it” principle. But this doesn’t make the dish any less flavorful. The following products are placed in a 3-liter cast iron casserole:
- chopped lamb in the amount of 800 grams;
- 300 grams of 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 color and aroma. A little mint and basil will be needed 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 should not be too much liquid; when serving, the sauce along with the herbs is poured into a plate. If guests consider themselves to be against eating food of animal origin, the lamb is replaced with champignons, resulting in a vegetarian dish.
Serving the dish
Traditionally, cooked chakapuli is served together with Georgian lavash or mamaliga - corn porridge. Place meat on a plate, pour in broth, pieces of herbs and plums, it turns out similar to soup. Pieces of lavash are dipped into the broth. Photos of table setting will help you set the table beautifully.
Advice. “If Georgians come to a dinner party, chakapuli should be served with Georgian lavash, not Armenian or Azerbaijani.”
Having mastered the technology for preparing chakapuli, you can serve this dish again at any season, selecting the ingredients accordingly. The advantages of Georgian-style chakapuli are low calorie content, excellent taste, and many vitamins due to the large amount of greens. Lamb can be replaced with beef or veal.
I have an older friend with whom we often start various culinary events: we’ll roll dolma together in grape leaves, we’ll bake pies, or we’ll make jam in industrial quantities. Usually, areas of responsibility are determined quite simply: a comrade is responsible for meat and other brutal dishes, for salads, baked goods and the like.” insignificant» affairs - me. But there was one dish about which we have irreconcilable differences. This Georgian chakapuli.
The composition of chakapuli is simple and delicious in a summer way: young meat, green cherry plum, tarragon, cilantro, dill, parsley, onions, hot green peppers, garlic and white wine. For me, this is where the list ends, but my friend has one more important ingredient - fat tail. However, the main difference is the preparation method.
As my Georgian colleagues, descendants of Kakheti shepherds, taught me, this is one of the few traditional dishes that is prepared according to the principle “ folded and forgot" That is, all products go into a pot or pan, put on fire and left without attention or intervention until ready. This is very convenient, especially considering that chakapuli is prepared for about an hour, maximum - one and a half.
No, my friend tells me, it’s not like that at all! You must first render the fat from the fat tail, fry the onion in it until transparent and the meat until white, then add half the greens, pour in wine and simmer for about an hour. Then add cherry plum, garlic, hot pepper and continue cooking for another half hour. At the end, the second half of the greens is added to the finished dish. It also seems to be nothing complicated, but there are several approaches to the stove.
Two questions bother me the most. Why is there fat tail in such a light, fresh dish and is it worth frying the meat? Perhaps to enhance the meaty spirit - indeed, young meat, be it lamb or veal, does not have a distinct taste of its own. But, to be honest, the main character in this dish is tarragon and its all-conquering aroma. And the acidity of the cherry plum, aggravated by white wine, makes chakapuli a completely low-fat dish.
But I completely agree with adding greens in two stages - at the beginning of cooking and at the end. You can even do it at three: sprinkle on top of the already prepared dish. What remains is the cherry plum: should I put it at the beginning or at the end? If you put it in at the beginning of cooking, it will boil so much that the bones will float in the finished dish. This is not good - it is both inconvenient and ugly. Removing the pits from cherry plums is not at all authentic and, frankly, a chore. I came to a compromise option: I peel half the cherry plum and add it along with the first portion of greens and all other ingredients. The second part, with the seeds, goes into the dish 15-20 minutes before it’s ready. Thus, half of the cherry plum is boiled, transferring acidity to the sauce and thickening it a little, and half remains whole and nice.
Apparently, lamb is for chakapuli more traditional than veal. It is only important that the meat is young and from cuts suitable for stewing. That is, premium cuts such as loin and tenderloin can be reserved for more refined dishes. Although chakapuli, which combines the most tender meat, the aroma of herbs and fresh sourness, cannot be called simple!
Anticipating questions about what to do if you can’t buy or pick green cherry plum, I dare to suggest replacing it with rhubarb or green gooseberries or, at worst, tamarind or green tkemali. Let it not be chakapuli, but “ based on" Still delicious!
Chakapuli from Kakheti shepherds4 servings
What you need:
- 700 g lamb or veal pulp
- 250-300 g green cherry plum
- 2 bunches tarragon
- 1 bunch of cilantro
- 1 bunch of dill
- 1 green hot pepper
- 2 onions
- 1 garlic or 4-5 shoots of young garlic
- 500 ml dry white wine
- salt to taste
What to do:
Cut the meat into pieces the size of a walnut. Cut the onion, but not into thin feathers - in half and then lengthwise. Separate the garlic into cloves. If using garlic shoots, cut them into 2-3cm pieces.
Wash the greens, remove the leaves from the tarragon branches, coarsely chop the cilantro and dill, but without the coarse stems. Remove the pits from half the cherry plum.
Place the onion and meat in a pot or pan with a thick bottom, add salt and stir. Add half the herbs and garlic, peeled cherry plum, pepper and wine. Cover and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and cook for about an hour.
Check the meat for doneness - it should already be soft. Add salt if necessary. Add the unpeeled cherry plum, remaining garlic and half of the remaining herbs. Cook covered for another 15-20 minutes.
Serve chakapuli in soup bowls or deep plates, sprinkled with herbs, with fresh bread. Yes, and don’t forget about the return of Georgian wine to Russia - wash it down with chakapuli.
The season of homemade preparations begins, and our editor and culinary blogger Alena Spirina begins to fill her “Magic Pot”, putting...
Chakapuli is a seasonal Georgian dish made from meat and spices. In Georgia, people like to cook this dish in the spring and early summer outdoors over fires. On special holidays, lamb meat is used to prepare it. The rest of the time - lamb, veal and beef. It is served and eaten only hot with bread and plenty of greens.
“Meat in foam,” this is the literal translation of chakapuli, is prepared with the addition of plums, tarragon and a large amount of other greens. In essence, it is meat with herbs that has been simmering for a long time under a closed lid in a cauldron. A piquant note is added by sour plum or Tkemali, depending on the recipe.
Lamb chakapuli with wine Georgian style
To prepare this dish you need to get good lamb without any foreign odors and lots and lots of different greens. If you want to try an authentic recipe, then you can’t do without fresh tarragon, mint, and basil. For preparation, Tkemali sauce or plum of the same variety as the name of the sauce is usually used. It gives a pleasant acidity to the dish.
For the dish you need: 
- lamb - 1.5-2 kg;
- water - 1 liter;
- onions - 3 pieces;
- 1 kg sweet and sour plum;
- 0.5 liters of dry white wine;
- a bunch of tarragon (tarragon);
- 5-7 pcs. green onions;
- a small bunch of mint;
- a bunch of green and dark basil;
- a bunch of thyme;
- garlic;
- salt.
Preparation:
- The lamb is washed and cut into small portions.
- It is not necessary to chop the greens finely; in an hour and a half, they will soften and become tender. Chop tarragon, green onions, mint, basil and thyme one at a time and then mix everything in a container.
- Garlic is passed through a special press and mixed with water (half a glass). If you like a lot of garlic, use a whole head. You can put just a little bit or do without it. As they say, it's a matter of taste.
- The onions are cut into rings or half rings.
- The plums are pitted by cutting each one on the side. Or cut into halves and take out the seeds. If there is no plum, then take 300 ml of Tkemali sauce. You can use cherry plum instead of plum. The main thing is that it should be sour.
- Place chopped onions on the bottom of the cauldron, then alternate meat and vegetables as many times as you have food. If cooking is planned in small portioned pots, then the principle of arranging the layers is approximately the same: first meat, then greens. And so on - all the way to the top.
- The dish is sprinkled with salt on top, watered with diluted garlic, and filled with dry white wine and the remaining water.
- The oven is heated to 180-200 O C.
- The cauldron or pots must be tightly closed and placed in the oven for a long time. Chakapuli should simmer at high temperature for at least an hour, or better yet, one and a half hours.
Chicken chakapuli with tkemali
Chicken chakapuli is an affordable option for those who don't really like lamb. Chicken meat is much softer than lamb and takes less time to cook. And the dish itself turns out to be nourishing and tender at the same time. Greens, tkemali, hot peppers and garlic make the meat incredibly tasty. This is a holiday option for those on a budget.
For the dish you need:
- chicken carcass - 1.5 kg;
- water - 0.8 liters;
- 800 g sweet and sour plum or cherry plum;
- a glass of dry white wine;
- a bunch of tarragon (tarragon);
- 5-7 pcs. green onions;
- a bunch of cilantro;
- green hot pepper;
- garlic 2-3 pieces;
- 2 stamens of real saffron or a pinch of Imereti;
- a little vegetable oil for frying;
- salt.
Preparation:
- The chicken must be washed and cut into portions.
- Fry the pieces until golden brown in a small amount of vegetable oil in a frying pan.
- Chop the greens (onion, cilantro, tarragon) with a knife and mix in one bowl.
- Cut the green pepper into small pieces.
- Chop the garlic.
- Remove the seeds from the plum, boil it in a glass of water and rub through a sieve.
- Place meat, herbs, and plum puree into the cauldron in layers, alternating until they are all gone. Add pepper, garlic and salt.
- Pour 800 ml of water, pour in wine, add saffron to give the dish a beautiful golden hue.
- Place the cauldron in an oven preheated to 180°C and cook for at least 40 minutes.
Oyster mushroom chakapuli with dry white wine
Chakapuli is loved by everyone who has tried it. The real thing can only be tried in spring and early summer. To extend the season, it is prepared not only from lamb and fresh plums. You can diversify this popular dish by preparing it from oyster mushrooms with Tkemali sauce.
For the dish you need:
- packaging of oyster mushrooms - 300-400 g;
- water - 0.8 liters;
- glass of Tkemali;
- 0.5 glasses of dry white wine;
- a bunch of tarragon (tarragon);
- some green onions;
- a small bunch of cilantro;
- salt.
Preparation:
- Coarsely chop all the greens.
- Place oyster mushrooms and herbs in layers in a pot and add salt.
- Pour wine, water and tkemali over everything.
- Close the container tightly and place in an oven preheated to 180 O C.
- Cook for about 30 minutes until the mushrooms are done.
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First, wash a piece of lamb, remove the veins and dry it to remove any liquid. Cut the lamb into pieces and place on the thick bottom of the pan. It is preferable to cook the chakapuli lamb dish on ribs, then the broth will be tastier and richer.
Wash the greens, dry and chop, add tarragon. There is no need to remove the stems of the greens.
After this, add chopped onions, garlic gruel and cilantro. Instead of onions, you can use green leeks.
Add chopped red hot pepper, pour in wine and warm water. To prepare real Georgian chakapuli, you must use exclusively dry white wine. Simmer under a tightly closed lid over low heat for 30 minutes.
Then add fine table salt, tkemali (green plums or ready-made sauce), close the lid again and simmer the meat for 30 minutes over low heat. To make the dish spicy, you can add hot chili pepper, suneli hops and coriander. In the finished chakapuli, the meat should be juicy and soft.
Serve the aromatic chakapuli as an independent dish to the table, hot, freshly prepared. Don't forget to drizzle the lamb with freshly squeezed lemon juice. Before serving, we recommend covering the pan with a lid and letting it sit for 15 minutes. During this time, the meat dish will cool down and become tastier. Additionally, serve dry white Georgian wine with hot chakapuli.