Lamb Chakapuli with Plums
Main Dishes • Georgian
Description
In chakapuli, you need to add dry white wine — the drier, the better. Under our conditions, you can easily use Chilean or French wine. In Georgia, meat and poultry were almost always cooked with wine. However, during the Soviet era, wine was removed from the list of ingredients used in public catering. Only one dish remained that is definitely cooked with wine — chakapuli. In the classic version, garlic is not added to chakapuli, but once we bought herbs at the market and asked a large Georgian vendor what could be added to chakapuli to enhance the flavor. He gloomily said, 'Add young garlic, you won't regret it.'
Ingredients
- Lamb 1 piece
- Tarragon 5 bunches
- Green peppercorns 2 pieces
- Scallions 3 bunches
- Cilantro 3 bunches
- Garlic 3 heads
- Fresh Mint 1 bunch
- Dry White Wine 25 fl oz
- Ocean salt to taste
- Tkemali (plum sauce) 1 cup
- Ground Black Pepper to taste
Step-by-Step Guide
Step 1
Buy a whole gutted lamb at the market. Young lambs are not very large, weighing about 5 kg. Cut the meat along with the bones into small pieces, about the size of two matchboxes. You can ask at the market to chop the lamb for chakapuli.
Step 2
Place the meat in a large, preferably cast iron, pot. Pour in half a bottle of wine — enough to cover the meat. Cover the pot with a lid and simmer the meat on low heat for about 40 minutes to an hour — it all depends on the age and tenderness of the lamb.
Step 3
Meanwhile, finely chop the hot pepper and the herbs, a mountain of herbs equal in volume to the meat. There should be the most tarragon. If there is no tarragon, it’s not worth making chakapuli. Chakapuli is generally a spring dish. It is most often prepared after Easter when the first herbs appear. Early herbs have soft stems, and you can chop them whole for chakapuli. You can also add young garlic and young green onions. If you are making chakapuli in winter, you should only use tarragon leaves and other herbs without stems, and use canned tkemali plums. Such tkemali are sold in their own juice, and they taste like unsweetened compote. It is important that they are green and sour.
Step 4
Add the chopped herbs and a cup of plums to the meat and simmer for another 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add salt. When the dish is ready, the meat should melt in your mouth, and the herbs should dissolve, turning into a thick ruby-green broth. If the wine evaporates — don’t be afraid to add more; you definitely can’t spoil chakapuli with wine, you can pour in a whole bottle.
Step 5
There is another simpler way to cook chakapuli. Place a layer of meat in the pot, then sprinkle a layer of herbs on top, then another layer of meat and another layer of herbs — until both are finished. Pour everything with wine. Cover with a lid and simmer on low heat for about 1.5 to 2 hours. That’s it. You don’t need to stir anything, just add wine if it evaporates. But we still prefer the first, more labor-intensive method, although chakapuli turns out delicious either way.
Step 6
Transfer the chakapuli to a large soup bowl and serve in bowls. This dish is for feasting. Be sure to drink wine with it. Not only do you drink it — you also eat it in chakapuli.
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