Step-by-step recipe with photos and videos. How to cook Chanakhi in pots in the oven Georgian dish Chanakhi recipe

Chanakhi is made in different countries, but most often this dish is attributed to Georgian cuisine. They began to be prepared here many centuries ago, even before potatoes appeared here, which today are one of the main ingredients of chanakhs - previously pumpkin was used instead. Over its centuries-old history, the chanakh recipe has changed somewhat, and different variations have appeared. In the eastern part of Georgia they are most often prepared from lamb or beef, in the western part - from chicken or turkey. Fatty goose or pig meat is rarely used for chanakhi; vegetarian recipes are much more common - in many Georgian families, chanakhi is prepared without meat, based on beans. This is especially true during Orthodox Lent, which is observed by Georgians of the Christian faith, who are the majority in Georgia.
There are also more ways to prepare chanakhi today than at the time of their appearance, but chanakhi in pots is still considered traditional today - this method of preparing a delicious dish of meat and vegetables is preferred by most housewives in Georgia.

Like all other dishes of Georgian cuisine, chanakhi has a seductive aroma and spicy taste. Fans of Caucasian cuisine will surely like them.

Cooking features

Preparing canakhi is not difficult, the main thing is to choose and prepare the ingredients correctly, put them in pots and wait for the canakhi to stew in the oven. However, knowing a few subtleties will save you from problems and allow you to make canakhi in pots correctly, in accordance with traditions.

The tastiest chanakhs are made from lamb or beef, and lamb is most often found in autistic recipes. For chanakhi they take shoulder blade or brisket, which is then cut into medium-sized pieces. As for poultry meat, preference is given to chicken, which is cut into pieces, as for chakhokhbili. Chicken fillet can also be used, but traditional recipes are not limited to it, since chicken bones also give the dish a certain taste and aroma; without them, the chanakhs turn out less tasty, although lighter.
Traditionally, chanakhi is cooked in pots without pre-heating. However, some housewives fry meat and some vegetables before distributing them into pots, believing that this makes the chanakhi even more tasty and juicy.
To prevent the pots from bursting due to temperature changes, they must be heated before placing them in a preheated oven. The easiest way is to place them in the oven before turning it on and remove them from it when the temperature reaches the desired level. If the pots have not been preheated or have already cooled down, they should be placed in an unheated oven and the cooking time should be increased slightly.
The aroma of chanakha is given by fresh herbs, which Georgians generously add to the dish. Greens can be added either immediately or when serving the dish. Dried spices can only partially replace it.
Adjika is added to the chanakha for spiciness, while garlic serves mainly to add flavor to the dish.
Chanakhi will taste better if you pour water mixed with wine into the pot.
The cooking time depends on the size of the pots, usually it is about 2 hours, so if you want to serve this dish for lunch, you need to start cooking it 2.5-3 hours before.

The technology for preparing chanakhis from different meats and different sets of vegetables cannot be absolutely identical, so when preparing this Georgian dish, it makes sense to carefully read the recommendations accompanying a specific recipe.

Lamb Chanakhi

lamb – 0.4 kg;
tail fat – 100 g;
potatoes – 0.4 kg;
eggplants – 0.4 kg;
tomatoes – 0.3 kg;
green beans – 100 g;
sweet peppers of different colors - 0.4 kg;
onions – 0.2 kg;
garlic – 8 cloves;
Georgian adjika – 20 ml;
greens - to taste.

Cooking method:

Peel the onion, cut it into thin rings or half rings.
Wash the eggplants and, without peeling, cut into circles. Sprinkle with coarse salt, stir and leave for a quarter of an hour. During this time, the salt will draw corned beef out of the eggplants - a harmful substance that causes the eggplants to have a bitter taste. After this, rinse the vegetables in running water to remove excess salt and dry them on a kitchen towel.
Wash the peppers and cut off their stems. Cut lengthwise into 2 parts, remove the seeds. Cut the pulp of the peppers into half rings.
Wash the green beans and cut into pieces approximately 2–3 cm long.
Finely chop the garlic with a knife.
Chop the greens, set aside some to decorate the dish when serving, placing them in a bag in the refrigerator so that they do not wilt.
Cut the tomatoes into large slices.
Peel the potatoes and chop them coarsely.
Warm up the pots.
Wash and dry the meat with napkins. Cut it into small pieces.
Finely chop the fat tail fat and place it in pots.
Place the lamb on the lard. Pepper and salt it to taste.
Sprinkle with onions and place potato pieces on it.
Season and add salt.
Place beans and eggplants on top.
Sprinkle with garlic and herbs.
Place tomato slices on top. Place a teaspoon of adjika on top.
Pour warm boiled water into the pots so that it reaches almost to the very neck. If desired, part of the water can be replaced with dry red wine, adding 50–100 ml of it to each pot.
Place the pots in an oven preheated to 220 degrees. Cook the canakhi for two hours.

Let the pots sit in the oven for a while, then carefully remove from the oven. Before serving, be sure to add a small handful of fresh herbs to each pot.

Chicken Chanakhi

chicken (fillet or set for chakhokhbili) – 0.4 kg;
eggplants – 0.4 kg;
onions – 100 g;
potatoes – 0.4 kg;
garlic – 2 cloves;
tomatoes – 0.3 kg;
herbs, salt, seasonings - to taste.

Cooking method:

Prepare the chicken by washing, drying and cutting into appropriate size pieces.
Wash the eggplants, cut them into 4 pieces lengthwise and add salt. After 15 minutes, rinse, pat dry with a napkin and cut each piece lengthwise into pieces about 7–8 mm wide.
Finely chop the greens.
Make a cross on the side opposite the stem of the tomatoes. Boil the water. Dip the tomatoes into it and blanch them for 2 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and place in a container of cold water to cool. Remove, peel and grate on a coarse grater. Mix with salt, spices and chopped herbs.
Crush the garlic with a special press.
Peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes of about one and a half centimeters.
After peeling the onion, cut into thin half rings.
Heat the pots and place the chicken in them. Season it lightly and sprinkle with onions.
Place the potatoes on the onions and place the eggplants on them. Lubricate them with chopped garlic.
Pour approximately 80–100 ml of warm water into each pot and place the tomato mass on top.
Place the pots in an oven preheated to 200 degrees and cook the canakhi for an hour. If you used chicken fillet, the cooking time can be reduced by 10-15 minutes.

Before serving, sprinkle the dish with chopped herbs; for spiciness, you can also add a little crushed garlic or adjika.

Chanakhi without meat

eggplants – 0.6 kg;
bean grains – 0.2 kg;
tomatoes – 0.4 kg;
carrots – 120 g;
sweet pepper – 0.2 kg;
onions – 75 g;
garlic – 4 cloves;
sugar – 5 g;
table vinegar (9 percent) – 20 ml;
water – 0.25 l;
vegetable oil - how much will be needed;
salt, herbs - to taste.

Cooking method:

Sort the beans, rinse, cover with cool water and leave overnight or at least for 3-4 hours. Rinse and boil until done. If you don’t have time for such lengthy preparations, you can use canned beans.
Wash and peel the eggplants. Cut them into small cubes and dip them in a saline solution made from a liter of water and a teaspoon of salt. After half an hour, rinse the eggplants and leave them in a colander for a while, allowing the water to drain.
Pour boiling water over the tomatoes, peel and cut into small cubes.
Peel the carrots and grate coarsely.
Peel the onion and cut into small pieces.
Peel the peppers from seeds and cut into small pieces or strips.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the onions and carrots. Fry them for 10 minutes.
Grease the bottom of the pots with oil and place the beans in them.
Place onions and carrots on it.
Place eggplant on top.
Place the peppers in the next layer and the tomatoes on top.
Mix water with salt, crushed garlic, sugar and vinegar, pour it into pots.
Place the pots in the oven and turn it on. After the temperature in the oven reaches 200 degrees, cook the lean chanakhi for 30–40 minutes.

Despite the fact that chanakhis are prepared without meat, they turn out to be very filling. Beans contain a lot of protein and help meet the body's need for it, which is important for vegetarians and those who fast.

Chanakhi in pots is not difficult to prepare even for an inexperienced housewife, but in taste and aroma this Georgian dish can outshine many others. In addition, it turns out to be satisfying, even if it is prepared without meat.

Chanakhi is a dish of Georgian cuisine. There are several options for ingredients, try beef with vegetables and adjika. Adjika is suitable and ready-made to any degree of spiciness to taste, and even just a dry mixture of spices for it. In winter, it is quite possible to use frozen eggplants.

This is the amount of ingredients for 5 pots.

Peel potatoes, carrots, onions and garlic. Cut the beef into pieces. I have come across different options for the order of placing food in a pot...

For example: place chopped onions in a pot, then pieces of beef and sprinkle/add adjika to taste.

Then add medium-sized eggplants, potatoes, carrots and chopped garlic, and add salt.

Fill about 2/3 of the pot or a little more with water and place in the preheating oven. Consider the properties of your ceramic pots! Simmer the canakhi at 160-180 degrees for about 40-50 minutes under the lids.

Cut the tomatoes into pieces and chop the dill and add them to the top of the pots.

It should be ready in 15-20 minutes.

Serve canakhi either directly in pots or transfer to plates.

Bon appetit!

A popular dish in eastern Georgia, it is reminiscent of Russian roast or Armenian kchuch. Chanakhi is prepared in pots in the oven or in a cauldron.

Chanakhi are small pieces of lamb or beef stewed with seasonal vegetables. The authentic ingredient list includes potatoes, onions, tomatoes and eggplant. However, as often happens in cooking, the emergence of new products, expansion of possibilities, personal taste preferences of the cook, etc. has led to the fact that the dish has acquired many interpretations.

Bell peppers, green beans or red beans are often added to Georgian chanakhi. The traditional recipe does not involve pre-frying the ingredients, but those interested can try this option.

The process of preparing chanakha is not complicated. Meat and vegetables are placed in portioned pots in layers, and then simmered at low temperature for one to two hours. The result is a very juicy, aromatic and tasty dish.

Ingredients:

lamb or beef 400 g
medium size potatoes 4 pcs.
eggplants 2 pcs.
onion 1 head
tomatoes 2 pcs.
green beans 100 g
garlic 1-2 cloves
cilantro 1 bunch
salt, pepper to taste

Preparation

You need to start cooking with eggplant. Cut them, like all other ingredients, into large cubes. It is not necessary to remove the skin. During the simmering process it softens well. To remove bitterness from the pulp, salt the eggplants, stir and leave for 15–20 minutes. That is why preparing vegetables begins with them.
For chanakha, you need to choose meat from a young animal with a small amount of fat. If the pieces are lean, you can add a little fat tail fat or butter. It is best to choose pieces of meat with bones and pulp - the shoulder or hip portion. They should be cleared of films and tendons and cut into small portions weighing 30–40 g.
You need to make a cross-shaped cut on the skin of the tomatoes. Then they must be scalded with boiling water. After this, remove the skin and cut the tomatoes into semicircles.
Peel the potatoes and cut into large cubes.
Onions - in half rings.
After this, you can start placing meat and vegetables in portioned pots. You need to put lard or oil on the bottom, if necessary. Then - meat. Sprinkle onions on top.
The next layer is potatoes.
Rinse the eggplants with cold water and squeeze lightly. Place in pots.
If desired, add fresh or frozen green beans or bell peppers.
The last layer is tomatoes. Then add spices: salt, paprika, ground black pepper.
To make the canakhi juicy, add a little water, filling the pots ½ full. After this, close the containers tightly with lids and place in a cold oven. Then heat it to 180 degrees. Simmer Chanakhi in Georgian style for 1.5 hours. 5 minutes before the end of cooking, add finely chopped herbs and garlic.

Prepare the starting ingredients. If you have frozen lamb broth, defrost it. Cut the tail fat into cubes with a side of 1 cm.

By the way:

In general, the total weight of vegetables should be equal to the weight of meat.

Melt the lamb fat over high heat and fry until brown.

Remove the roast, cut the lamb into cubes, as for beef stroganoff.

By the way:

Meat in Chanakhi is cut into cubes, strips, and large pieces. I cut it unconventionally, given the low quality of the meat. You can choose any cutting method.

Place the meat in the heated fat and fry over high heat until lightly browned.

Add chopped onion to the meat and stir.

Fry until the onion softens, then place in a ceramic bowl.

By the way:

In fact, in authentic recipes the meat and onions are not fried, although you can also find recipes online that involve frying. This is explained by the fact that in Georgia this soup is made from steamed lamb, and we use who knows what from the supermarket. Due to this, there is no guarantee that the meat will be cooked at the same time as the other ingredients, and an additional frying step is added.

Clay dishes- This is not only a tribute to tradition or an elegant way of serving a dish, but a necessary ingredient in the recipe for real chanakhi. The thing is that clay allows the dish to be cooked both in the oven and in an oven over an open fire, without the risk of burning. If the pots for chanakha are made of heat-resistant clay and have thick enough walls, then they will heat up slowly, but also release heat slowly and evenly. This allows you not to simmer, but to simmer and retain all the juice of the dish.

Cut the eggplant into cubes and add to the meat.

Place halved potatoes on top.

By the way:

In general, in authentic recipes, eggplants are cut into layers and rolled into rolls stuffed with fat tail fat, garlic and herbs. But at the same time, some of the filling falls out of the rolls and the soup becomes not very neat.

Pour lamb broth over the ingredients, add salt, spices (dried basil, paprika, khmeli-suneli), cover with a lid and place in a cold oven. Bake for 40 minutes at 200 C.

By the way:

In many recipes, the ingredients are filled with water, but we have already fried the meat, that is, we have reduced the cooking time, so when pouring water, the soup will not be so rich.

Meanwhile, cut the tomatoes into slices. Add to other ingredients. Simmer for another 40 minutes at 180 C.

By the way:

In traditional recipes, all ingredients are placed in ceramic dishes (chanakhi) at the same time. Potatoes cook for a long time in the acidic environment created by tomatoes, so they do not become soft during long simmering. But this again applies to fresh meat, and in our case the meat is already fried, so the potatoes may not arrive at the same time as the meat. So we boil it until half cooked and then add the tomatoes.

Georgian cuisine is highly popular in different parts of the world; one of the most famous dishes is Chanakhi. It consists of lamb, vegetables (usually onions, eggplants and potatoes), spices and seasonings. The influence of national characteristics of other countries led to changes in the classic recipe; the dish was often prepared with pork, chicken and beef. It is better to cook canakhi in a clay pot. The reason is not only that the dish is traditionally prepared this way, but that the taste and aroma are enhanced.

Composition of the dish

Let's consider the classic version of preparing chanakhi; this recipe will allow you to understand what the taste of this dish originally was. If necessary, lamb can be replaced with pork, beef or chicken if you really want to cook this delicacy, but you can’t find suitable meat.

Usually cooking is done for several servings at once. To prepare 4 pots, you will need the following ingredients (quantities in parentheses):

eggplants (2 pcs.);
lamb (400 g);
potatoes (4 pcs.);
tomatoes (2 pcs.);
sweet pepper (2 pcs.);
fresh herbs;
beans in pods (120 g);
bulbs (2 pcs.);
a small amount of lamb fat;
garlic (8 cloves);
chili pepper (0.5 pcs.);
adjika (4 teaspoons).

To improve the taste, you can use various means; many housewives add bay leaves to the dish.

To prepare a dietary option, lamb and lamb fat can be replaced with lean meat and vegetable oil. In Georgia, meat replacement is viewed negatively, but the dish has already become a global treasure. The use of pig, cattle and even poultry meat for cooking (turkey is sometimes used as a dietary option) gives the traditional Georgian dish new flavor shades.

Cooking features

It is customary to cook chanakhi in a pot, but it can be cooked in vats, in the oven, and even in a frying pan. All this is good, but the use of clay pots with a volume of 3 to 4 liters is the best time-tested option. Previously, pots were placed to simmer in ovens; the flavors and aromas of the components were mixed in the container; the peculiarity of the clay did not allow them to disappear. The finished pot is served on the table, where the dish is laid out on plates. In Georgia, chanakhi is eaten with fresh flatbread.

The pots used must be made of clay; in products made of cast iron or ceramics, the dish may dry out or burn.

In modern conditions, Georgian chanakhi in pots is prepared in the oven, the container is designed for one serving. This allows each guest to serve their own pot without having to lay out anything. Food in such a container does not spoil; the canakhi will have the same amazing taste the next day. For this reason, one-pot meals are popular among people who don't always have time to cook every day.

Before you start cooking, you should take a responsible approach to the set of ingredients. This will help you prepare a beautiful chanahi in pots that will look like in the photo. The following features of product selection can be highlighted:

You need to prepare small and round eggplants; bitterness is rarely found in them;
although carrots are often present in cooking videos, they are not found in the traditional recipe;
if there are no fresh tomatoes, you can use tomato paste, but this will worsen the taste;
the set of herbs and spices can be changed according to your preferences.

Cooking method

We use the chanakha recipe for cooking in pots, which should be prepared in advance. They need to be filled with water for an hour. At this time, you can cut meat and vegetables into large pieces. Potatoes, onions and tomatoes are cut in half, peppers are cut into 4 parts, eggplants - into 8. When the pots are hot, put a small piece of fat, half an onion, half a potato, a handful of beans and 4 pieces of eggplant into each.

The pots are placed in a cold oven, only after that the heating is turned on. When placed in a hot oven, the dishes may crack.

A layer of meat is placed in the center of the pot, 2 pieces of pepper, half a tomato, herbs with garlic and spices are also placed there. Place 2 pieces of chili and a spoonful of adjika in the next layer. The Chanakhi recipe allows for the use of warm red wine instead of hot water when cooking. Liquid is needed to fill the entire contents of the dish. The treat takes an hour and a half to prepare, then all that remains is to season it with herbs.

There are several secrets to improve the taste and get a beautiful dish like in the photo. Here are the most common ways to improve chanakhi:

fry some ingredients in advance (eggplant, potatoes, chopped red pepper);
don't be afraid to experiment with spices;
Observe the order of the layers.

When using the same recipe, you can change the ingredients, use chicken meat, change the set of spices. Certain techniques can significantly increase cooking time. If we just cook the contents of the pot in the oven, it will take less than two hours. If we decide to pre-fry some components, the process will take much longer. Before eating a dish, you might be interested in its history; to do this, you can watch one of the many videos.

In a saucepan, the same principle of laying out ingredients in layers applies as when cooking in pots. The following layers are laid out:

eggplant rings at the bottom;
thin pieces of meat and half rings of sweet pepper on eggplant;
peeled tomato rings, thin onion rings;
finely chopped garlic, hot pepper and herbs, sprinkle all with salt;
if the edges of the pan are high, a few more rows may be needed;
the top layer will be potatoes cut into circles;
The whole mass should be poured with oil and a little salt.

Whatever utensils are chosen, be it a cauldron, a saucepan, a frying pan or other things, the canakhi will delight guests with its rich taste. The dish does not have to be cooked in a pot, although this is the traditional way. Sometimes such an opportunity is simply not available; this is not a reason to refuse your favorite treat. Chanakhi is suitable for family dinners and large holiday celebrations; additional decorations are used for the holiday.