Today we’re heading to sunny Georgia — a country where every dish is steeped in generosity, the aroma of garlic, and the spirit of the feast. Two iconic recipes that will conquer your table.
Juicy chicken, fried to a crisp golden crust and simmered in a luxurious garlic-milk sauce. The tender meat literally melts in your mouth, while the creamy sauce, bursting with garlic, begs to be mopped up with fresh bread.
Ingredients:
• Whole chicken — 1 (about 1.5–1.8 kg)
• Milk — 400 ml
• Butter — 50 g
• Garlic — 1 large head (10–12 cloves)
• Vegetable oil — 3 tbsp.
• Coarse salt — to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper — to taste
• Ground dried coriander — 1 tsp.
• Khmeli-suneli — 1 tsp.
Method:
Step 1. Preparing the chicken.
Rinse the chicken and pat it dry with paper towels. Cut it along the breastbone and open it up like a book (the so-called “chicken tabaka”). Remove the backbone if it gets in the way. Lightly pound it with your fist or the bottom of a frying pan, so the chicken is as flat and even in thickness as possible. Rub it all over with salt, black pepper, and dried coriander. Leave for 15 minutes at room temperature so the meat can absorb the seasoning.
Step 2. Frying the chicken.
Pour vegetable oil into a large cast-iron skillet or a deep, heavy-bottomed pan and heat over medium heat until it just begins to smoke. Place the chicken skin-side down. Set a weight on top — a second frying pan loaded with something heavy, such as a jar of water or a heavy pot. Fry for 15–18 minutes over medium heat. The sign it’s ready: the skin has turned deep golden and crisp, and releases easily from the pan.
Step 3. Frying the other side.
Remove the weight and carefully flip the chicken with a spatula. Set the weight back on top. Fry for another 15 minutes, until fully cooked through. To check: pierce the thigh with a knife — the juices should run clear, without a pink tint. The internal temperature in the thickest part of the thigh should be 74–76 °C.
Step 4. Making the garlic sauce.
While the chicken fries, peel all the garlic cloves. Put half through a garlic press and finely dice the other half into 1–2 mm cubes with a knife — this creates different textures. In a separate saucepan, melt the butter over low heat, then add all the garlic and the khmeli-suneli. Warm for 2 minutes, stirring constantly — the garlic should become fragrant and slightly soft, but NOT brown. Pour in the milk, stir, bring just to a gentle boil, and immediately remove from the heat. Season with salt to taste.
Step 5. Bringing the chicken and sauce together.
Cut the cooked fried chicken into portions: separate the thighs, drumsticks, and wings, then cut the breast into 4 pieces. Return the pieces to the pan, draining off excess fat but leaving 1–2 tbsp. Pour over the garlic-milk sauce.
Step 6. Simmering.
Place the pan over low heat and cover with a lid. Simmer for 10–12 minutes, occasionally spooning the sauce over the chicken pieces. The sign it’s ready: the sauce has thickened slightly and taken on a creamy consistency, while the chicken is thoroughly infused with garlic aroma.
Step 7. Serving.
Serve directly in the pan, or transfer to a clay platter, generously drizzling with sauce. The perfect accompaniment is fresh Georgian lavash (tonis puri) or ordinary white bread for mopping up the sauce. Garnish with a sprig of fresh cilantro.
💡 Fact: Shkmeruli takes its name from the village of Shkmeri in the mountainous region of Racha. Locals insist that the secret to true shkmeruli lies in mountain-grown garlic and homemade milk. The dish became so popular that in 2020, McDonald’s Japan released a shkmeruli-flavored burger — and it became a sales hit!
A cold Georgian appetizer of tender boiled spinach with a walnut dressing, shaped into neat little balls and decorated with pomegranate seeds. The taste is a vivid combination of fresh greens, punchy garlic, and rich, oily walnuts with a tangy edge.
Ingredients:
• Fresh spinach — 500 g (or frozen — 400 g)
• Walnuts — 150 g
• Garlic — 3–4 cloves
• Fresh cilantro — 1 large bunch (about 50 g)
• Onion — 1 small
• Red wine vinegar — 1.5 tbsp.
• Khmeli-suneli — 1 tsp.
• Ground coriander — 0.5 tsp.
• Ground hot red pepper — a pinch
• Salt — to taste
• Pomegranate seeds — for garnish (2–3 tbsp.)
Method:
Step 1. Preparing the spinach.
Wash the fresh spinach thoroughly in several changes of water, removing any tough stems. Bring 2 liters of water with a pinch of salt to a boil in a large pot. Drop in the spinach and blanch for exactly 2 minutes — the leaves should become soft and bright green. Immediately drain in a colander and transfer to a bowl of ice water for 1 minute — this preserves the color. If using frozen spinach, thaw it at room temperature.
Step 2. Squeezing the spinach.
Drain the spinach in a colander. Then take it in small portions and squeeze it as hard as possible with your hands, forming dense clumps. This is a critically important step: excess moisture will make the pkhali watery and loose. The spinach should shrink in volume by roughly 5–6 times. Finely chop the squeezed spinach with a knife — into 3–5 mm pieces.
Step 3. Making the walnut mixture.
Toast the walnuts in a dry skillet for 3–4 minutes over medium heat, shaking occasionally — they should become fragrant and darken slightly, but not burn. Pass the walnuts through a meat grinder or pulse in a blender until they become fine crumbs with an oily texture. Do not turn them into a paste — they need to retain some graininess!
Step 4. Preparing the aromatic base.
Peel the onion and dice it as finely as possible — into 2–3 mm cubes. Put the garlic through a press. Finely chop the cilantro, including the tender stems, removing the tough lower parts. Combine the onion, garlic, and cilantro in one bowl.
Step 5. Mixing the mixture.
In a large bowl, combine the squeezed chopped spinach, walnut crumbs, and the aromatic onion, garlic, and cilantro mixture. Add the khmeli-suneli, ground coriander, red pepper, salt, and wine vinegar. Mix thoroughly with your hands, kneading the mixture like dough for 2–3 minutes. It should become uniform, pliable, and hold its shape well. Taste for salt and acidity — adjust if needed.
Step 6. Shaping the balls.
Wet your palms with cold water. Take portions of the mixture the size of a walnut, about 30–35 g, and form neat balls, slightly flattened on the top and bottom — the classic pkhali shape resembles a small patty or medallion about 4 cm across. Arrange them on a serving platter.
Step 7. Garnishing and serving.
Press 3–5 pomegranate seeds into the center of each ball — they are not just decoration, but a flavor accent, adding sweet-tart brightness. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to set the shape and allow the flavors to develop. Serve cold as an appetizer for the shared table. The sign of perfect pkhali: the balls are firm and do not fall apart when lifted, while the flavor is balanced between the richness of the walnuts, the freshness of the greens, and the light tang of vinegar.
💡 Fact: Pkhali is not one specific dish, but an entire category of Georgian appetizers. Georgian homemakers make pkhali out of anything: beets, cabbage, eggplant, green beans, nettles, and even radish tops. At festive Georgian tables, you will often find “pkhaleuli” — an assortment of 5–7 kinds of pkhali in different colors, like an artist’s vivid palette.