Chkmeruli (Shkmeruli) - Georgian Chicken in Garlic Sauce

Step-by-step recipe

1. Making chkmeruli with a young chicken is not difficult, and it is a filling, delicious dish for one. For a family or a group of friends it is better to cook a large chicken. Usually, if the bird is big, it is cut into serving pieces before the sauce is poured over. A young chicken, though, is just the amount of food that can be served as a single portion – right in the clay pan. To serve, you will need lavash and, of course, wine. Treat yourself to a feast.
   
2. Wash the chicken and pat it dry with paper towels. Trim off any excess skin and fat. Check the bird over, too – there may be some feathers left. With scissors or a knife, cut through the centre of the breastbone, between the two breast fillets. If there are any remains of the innards inside, it is best to remove them carefully. Open the bird out like a book, then rub it with salt and ground black pepper. At home it is convenient to fry the chicken in an ordinary large frying pan and then move it to the clay ketsi.
   
3. Melt the butter in a frying pan. When the butter is good and hot, put in the chicken, back side down. Press the bird against the bottom of the pan with a plate or a small board with a small weight on top. As a weight I usually use a heavy marble mortar for grinding spices. Fry the chicken for 7-8 mins, until lightly browned.
   
4. Turn the bird over and press it against the bottom of the pan in the same way. After 7-8 mins you can take the weight off and keep frying the chicken until it is cooked through. You can turn it to brown it evenly. The meat is done when no pink juice runs out if you cut into a thick part – the breast or the leg. For chkmeruli the meat has to be fully cooked, since it will stew in the sauce only very briefly. Move the cooked chicken to the ketsi, back side up.
   
5. Fry the garlic and hot pepper in the butter left in the pan. Get them ready while the meat is frying. Peel the garlic and chop it with a knife – it does not have to be very fine. Deseed the hot pepper and chop it the same way. Toss the garlic and pepper into the hot butter and fry, stirring, for 3-4 mins.
   
6. Pour the cream into the pan – not the richest kind – and add half a cup of plain water. Season the sauce with salt and pepper and add 0.5 tsp of ready-made khmeli suneli blend. If you like, you can use other spices typical of Georgian cuisine – utskho suneli (blue fenugreek) goes very well with chicken. Adjika, coriander and various spice blends typical of a particular region are often used too. Bring the sauce to a boil, and after 2-3 mins it is ready.
   
7. Pour the sauce over the prepared chicken in the ketsi. Try to pour it so that the sauce runs down over the bird. There is not much sauce, so most of it will end up at the bottom of the ketsi. If you are able to use coals, simply set the ketsi on them. At home, as a rule, the oven is used. Clay does not take sudden changes of temperature well, so put the ketsi into a cold oven and heat them up together.
   
8. Watch for the moment the sauce starts to boil. Since the chicken is already cooked, the meat only needs to soak up the sauce – that takes 4-5 mins from the start of boiling, after which the dish is completely ready. There is no need to turn the chicken in the sauce. Often the meat is simply submerged in the sauce and left in a hot wood-fired or regular oven, even with the heat turned off.
   
9. Chicken in a milk and garlic sauce is served at the table right in the ketsi. No cutlery is needed, just serve lavash – it works as a spoon for the sauce, and the chicken can be eaten with your hands without even the risk of burning yourself. If you like, add some chopped cilantro. Wine will not go amiss. There is a lot of garlic in the sauce, yet its taste is not at all overpowering. The sauce is noticeably hot and spicy, but not fiery.