Gulchehra (Uzbek Chicken in Sour Cream and Garlic Sauce)

Unusual, delicious, hearty, mouthwatering, and out of the ordinary. Gulchehra is chicken braised in a sour cream and garlic sauce, cooked in a cauldron. Uzbek cuisine is famous not just for well-known dishes like plov, dumlama, and shashlik, but for a whole world of other interesting dishes too — Gulchehra among them.

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Recipe author

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Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Chicken

Onion

Sour cream

500

Milk

200

Water

150

Garlic

Vegetable oil

150

Flour

Fresh herbs

Salt

Khmeli-suneli

Ground black pepper

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 39 % 12 g

Fats 52 % 16 g

Carbohydrates 10 % 3 g

202 kcal

GI: 75 / 0 / 25

Cooking method

Step 1:

Start by prepping your ingredients. Core the onions and slice them into half-moons.
Step 2:

Cut the chicken into medium pieces, dividing it at the joints.
Step 3:

Crush the garlic cloves with the flat of a knife, and whisk the milk and flour together.
Step 4:

First, pour the oil into the cauldron and heat it over the highest flame.
Step 5:

Add the chicken to the cauldron. Brown it on all sides, without stirring too often. Turn the pieces gently so the meat sears and seals rather than falling apart in the heat.
Step 6:

Once the chicken is about halfway cooked, add the onions. Stir them into the chicken and cook until lightly golden.
Step 7:

Now bring the heat under the cauldron down to low. Add the sour cream and garlic and stir to combine. Simmer for about 5 minutes.
Step 8:

Then pour in the milk-and-flour mixture, add pepper and khmeli-suneli (a Georgian herb blend), and stir. Let it sit for a couple of minutes so the milk warms through with the other ingredients.
Step 9:

Now add the water. Stir gently, cover with a lid, and leave it to braise for about 40 minutes.
Step 10:

While it braises, chop the parsley and dill. Five minutes before the end, stir the herbs into the cauldron and let it finish simmering for another 5 minutes. And then it's done. Enjoy!

If you're heading out to the countryside with the whole family, this dish is a great choice. It's very filling, tasty, and pretty unusual, since food cooked in a cauldron has a flavor you just can't match on a home stove. One note on the ingredients — the chicken. I strongly recommend using a farm-raised bird for cauldron cooking. Over the cauldron's high heat, store-bought chicken tends to break down into stringy fibers, which makes it awkward to work with. You can swap the khmeli-suneli for cumin if you like, and add some cilantro too — but that's all up to your own taste.