Georgian Chicken in Pomegranate and Tamarind Sauce
- Total Time
- 1 hour 30 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 4medium yellow onions, diced
- 4medium red onions, diced
- 2cups chopped fresh cilantro
- 10garlic cloves, minced
- 1teaspoon sweet paprika
- 1teaspoon hot paprika or cayenne pepper
- 1teaspoon black pepper
- 3tablespoons tamarind paste (see note), diluted in 3 tablespoons water
- ½cup pomegranate paste (see note) diluted in ½ cup water, or 1 cup pomegranate juice
- 2tablespoons ketchup
- 1teaspoon salt
- 10skinless chicken thighs
- 10skinless chicken legs
- Seeds from pomegranate, for garnish
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Preparation
- Step 1
In a large Dutch oven or in a pot with a tight-fitting lid, mix the onions, 1½ cups cilantro, the garlic and the spices. Blend in the diluted tamarind paste, the diluted pomegranate paste, the ketchup and the salt.
- Step 2
Add chicken thighs and legs to pot, and submerge in sauce. Cover, and cook on medium-high heat for 10 minutes, then lower heat, and cook for 1 hour. Uncover, adjust seasonings to taste, and continue cooking for 20 minutes.
- Step 3
Transfer chicken and sauce to a serving platter, and garnish with remaining cilantro. Sprinkle pomegranate seeds over platter, and serve hot.
- Sold in Middle Eastern and Indian markets and some supermarkets.
Private Notes
Comments
Nice if recipe included onion dice size (mine was smaller) & cilantro chop size (mine was fine). Substituted pomegranate molasses mixed with 1/2 c water--worked great. Sauce needed ketchup so I added 1/2 way through. More salt recommended. Use at least the amt of thighs/legs called for, if not more. I would change onions to 2 red, 2 yellow, 2 lg sweet. Pomegranate seeds are a must...they are fabulous! If serving to a group, would put an xtra bowl of seeds on side. Would cook again!
1. You can't substitute pommegrenade paste with pommegrenade juice as in POM or some other drinking brand, because that juice is nowhere near rich enough.
2. This dish works well with 4-5 pounds of boneless skinless chicken meat instead of thighs and drumsticks, be it breasts or thighs.
3. I think 2 tablespoons ketchup is already a substitute for tkemali, or Georgian wild plum sauce. Not sure how it works with tamarind, though
The sauce seemed to need extra time for thickening. We moved the chicken pieces to a baking dish, cooked down the sauce, added the thickened sauce to the baking dish and broiled to get a better color and a bit of crispiness.
Has anyone made this in a slow cooker? Mine is oval and would probably hold a larger number of chicken pieces together.
I sent a question to ask about the large volume of ingredients (20 pieces of chicken, 8 onions) for 4-6 portions, but the editors chided me for asking before cooking. So I cooked. Used about 3 1/2 lb of chicken thighs, 3 onions (1 red, 1 yellow, 1 sweet), other ingredients as prescribed--a little extra pomegranate syrup. That made dinner for four (with seconds) and two dinners for two. Greeted with much enthusiasm, requests for repeat.
I, too, found it was way too much onion dominating and no sweet/fruity balance. So I added about 2 Tbls of pomegranate molasses. The directions seem a little off -- 20 pieces of chicken to serve 4-6?? Put all of that into a large dutch oven? I've never seen a dutch oven that big and couldn't lift it if I had one. The "sauce" was much too watery, so I reduced it. Meh.
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