This is one of our family-favorite chicken dishes of all. You might ask if I ever post anything that is not our favorite? Good question! No, I do not post anything that our family members or I do not enjoy. Every single dish you find in our blog is straight from our kitchen and is prepared for consumption :)
Chicken Tabaka is a Georgian dish that was very famous in Uzbekistan during the Soviet Union era. The deal is, you have to have a small Cornish Hen for this dish to be successful. Since there is no process of marinating the chicken beforehand, the smaller the chicken, the juicer and the better it gets cooked. If you use regular chicken, it is going to come out pretty dry and not as good as the Cornish Hen.
This particular recipe belongs to my dad. For years, I used to watch him make Chicken Tabaka for us. Nowhere else have I had such a good tasting hen. I continue his tradition with the spices and often prepare it for my family now. I hope you like it as much as we do!
Ingredients:
- 1 whole Cornish Hen (8 oz, I use two hens to feed the family)
- salt to taste
- generous pinch of freshly ground pepper
- 2 Tbsp of coriander seeds
- 1/2 tsp of cumin powder
- 2 Tbsp of oil
- 1/2 cup water
Directions:
Wash the hen thoroughly. Towel dry it, put it breast side up. Making sure that the hen remains in one piece, use a sharp knife and slice down the middle of the breastbone in order to separate the rib cage. Turn the hen over and using a meat tenderizer flatten the chicken nicely.
Grind coriander seeds, mix it with cumin and black pepper. Liberally rub the hen with salt first. Once that’s done thoroughly rub the hen with ready spice mixture from both sides.
Heat the skillet on medium-high heat, put the oil in the skillet and heat a little more. Place the hen on the skillet, cover the hen with a sturdy plate or a smaller lid (just to cover the hen), press it nicely with something heavy. If you have those special kitchen weights, that’s great. If you do not, you can use anything around you. If you have a big clean rock you can use that as well. Or you can simply fill a kettle with water and gently press it on top of the plate. The idea is to give the hen enough press to keep it flat, once the cooking time is over.
Flip the hen every 2 minutes for the first 16 minutes. Every time, you will need to take off the weight and the plate to flip the chicken. So, use caution, do not get burnt. Also, watch the temperature. If you feel like your hen is getting burnt, turn the heat down a little. Everyone’s stove top is different.
Once the 15 minutes are up, the chicken should have a nice golden brown color and have a nice crust. Turn down the heat to medium-low, add just a little bit of water and cover the skillet with a lid. Keep the chicken in the skillet for another 5-8 minutes on each side.
You can serve the hen with vegetables, rice or mashed potatoes. We enjoy our chicken without any sides, but with a nice home-made tomato sauce. Trust me, this is the best way to consume the hen! :)
Ingredients for the sauce:
- 1-2 garlic cloves minced or nicely chopped
- 4 Tbsp of cilantro chopped
- 1-2 cups of tomato juice
- 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper
- pinch salt if needed
Mix everything well and enjoy the hen with a warm bread dipped in the sauce!
awesome recipe! looks delish, such a mood for new years eve!
bitta narsa, taBakamas uzi, taPaka boladi qozo. gruzinla buni tapak digan usti bostirib yopiladigan chugunniy skovorodkada qilishadide ushattan ceplyata tapaka dip nom qoishgan, bizani rodnoy tabaka aslida hato:D (nu uzi kupchilik sovet davlatlarida taBaka dishadiku baribir). just fyi.
Aha, bilaman. Ortiqcha yozib o’tirgim kemadi. Chunki bizanikila baribir tabaka, deb search qiladide.
Juda totli cikmis gozukuyor.qo’lingiz dard ko’rmasin. (Balkim cameraning kuchimikin… hazil albatta.
Tovuqting/xo’razding tozalanishida qanotting uchini kesib tashlanadi bizding qishloxta.
Bizding uydayam hozir shunaqa ovqat pishmoq arafasida. Lekin I hate cleaning it.(sometimes “halol degani shunaqa bo’lsa…” deb ham qo’yaman). Qon tomirlari to’la qon bo’ladi va any single piece of chicken leg ni tozalash uchun at least 15 daqiqa qimmatli(ba’zan qimmatsiz) vaqtim sarflanadi.
Lekin pishgandan keyin ketkazgan vaqtim va xunob bo’lganim esdan chiqadi.
very interesting, bilishimcha toshkentda qanotini uchi butunligicha hamisha qolardi.
Qanotting uchini olib tashlamoq joiz-dir!(xomligida yoki pishgandan keyin)
toshkentda esa haliyam “qashlamoq”ni “qichimoq” deyishadi. :)
Tovuq tozalash osonku. Qaynagan suvni ustigan quyib, perchatka kiyib shartta, shartta yulib tashlaysiz :) 6 yoshimdan tovuq tozalaganman, xech erinmasdan. To’g’ri so’yilgan tovuqning tomirlarida qon qolmasligi kerak. Bizda dadam so’yardilar doim. Qon ko’pligini sezmagan ekanman.
Qanotini nimaga olib tashlash kerak ekan?
men terisini/patini yulishni aytmayapman. U juda oson. I was talking about “Halal butchery” lardan olingan chicken legs yoki “whole” chicken. ULarning go’shti orasidagi qon tomirlarda har doim to’la qon bo’ladi., Qaynatma sho’rva qilsangiz sho’rvaning ustiga chiqadi. Yaxshilab siqib yuvsangiz qult qult qon chiqadi.(shuning uchun men halol degani shumi.. deyman doim)
Qanotlarini deganda faqat yuqoridagi rasmdagi qanotning eeeeng uchidagi qismini aytdim. U halol emas deyishardi. Lekin aniq bilmayman. Bilganim, Usha joyi halol emas! Shuning uchun olib tashlamoq joiz.
thanks.
bunga bir reliable source bormi uqishga? biz boradigan halol storelani barchasida chicken wings va tovuqni uziniyam tayyorida qanotini uchini hecham olib tashlashmaydi.
usha qanotning uchuni yeb bo’ladimi axir?? (i mean yeb odam to’yadimi, yoki yegandek bo’ladimi???)
shuning uchun ham menimcha olib tashlashsa k-k. as i said earlier, i have no idea if that part of chicken is halol or harom…
uzr.
“Bilganim, Usha joyi halol emas! Shuning uchun olib tashlamoq joiz.”
debsiz, shuning uchun suradim. then you are saying that you’ve got no idea whether its halal or haram…
Qo’llariz dard ko’rmasin, Hilola!
Men ham bugun kechki ovqatga pishirgandim, nettan yangi retsept qaraganday bo’ldimu, shoshganda mosini topolmadim.(salafan paketlar keregakan) Men odatda, tovuqqa ziravor va mayonez aralashmasini surib duhovkada pishiraman. U usul ham yomonmas, lekin, go’sht sal qotib so’li qochganday boladi.
Kattakon rahmat, Munira :) Tez-tez kirib turing. Sizning ham ideyalaringizni ishga solib, yangi yangi receptlar qo’yib yuboraveramiz. Kimga kerak bo’lsa shu yerdan topib olaverishadi :)
Assalamu alaykum, rahmat Hilolapa!
Endi sizni maktabingizga o’qiymiz sheklilli. :)
Natijalar bilan sizni xabardor qilaman :D
Dilorom, natijalar qanday bo’ldi? :)
Jayron to’g’ri aytasiz, unaqa gap yo’q, qattadir kimdir buladan oldin, qanotini uchidan tatib ko’rgan tabaka yegan bo’sala kerede. o’shanga uchini optashash kerekan deb qotib qogan bir fikrga kep qoganla. hozir ham oppoq ertalab terilgan qo’ziqorinlarni ichida qurt bor ekan deb o’tiribdila…
Hilola, to’g’risini aytsam bunaqa pishirish man uchun yangilik bo’ldi. tovuqni duxovkada har hil pishiramiz, mantiqasqonda pishirib, skovorodkada chetini qovuramiz, lekin bunaqasini endi ko’rib turibman man qishlaqi :) albatta sinab ko’raman
Nafeeska, no worries about the chicken wings:) Qilib ko’ring, balki sizlarga ham yoqar :)
Lola,
Tapaka va adjikez ishtahani ochadigan, solelani oqizadigan bo’libdi :D
Uyda butterflied jo’jani shu usulda skvorodka pishirilganda TaPaka derdik, duhovkada butuligicha har hil ziravorlar bilan marinovat qilib pishirilganini TaBaka derdik. Lekin nima sababdan bunaqa nomlanishini bilmayman…
rahmat, Camellia. Bo’lishi mumkin. Lekin men detallaga berilib o’tirmadim. Qidirgan odamlar asosan Tabaka deb qidirgani uchun Tabaka deb qo’yaverdim.
This recipe looks awesome, wanted to make chicken tabaka for long time, but never saw a nice written recipe for this.
Thank you!
Julia, thank you for visiting our blog. I hope your Tabaka is going to come out well. If you need any suggestions please let me know :)
Bugun oson bo’lgani uchun qildim. katta rahmat, juda yahshi chiqdi. endi duxovkada umuman pishirmayman.
oyimlargayam tel qilib, shunaqa qiling dedim. tuz ziralab, endi duxovkaga qo’yaman deb turgan ekanlar. ertaga u kishini commentlarini aytaman :)
Sizga yoqqan bo’lsa men hursand :) Oyim kelib yana bir ikki sekretlaridan aytib ketdilar, insh ularni ham qo’llab yana bir recept yozaman.
Hilolapa, tovuq zo’r chiqdi. Ham tez pishadi, ham shirin, ham duxovkadamas. Hammasi bo’lib 40 minutlar ketdi. Ta’mi butun oilamizga yoqdi :), endi har doim shu retsep bo’yicha! Zakazlar ham tushayapti :D
Rahmat sizga.
Eshitib rosa hursand bo’ldim, Dilorom! :)
Oyimlargayam juda maqul bo’libdi, tez pishirilgani uchun sochniy bular ekan, duxovkada qurib ketardi tovuq dedilar.
Rahmat, receptlarni sinovdan o’tkazib, eng yahshilarini qo’yganiz uchun! hech ikkilanmasdan qilaveraman hamma receptizni
Receptlarni qo’rqmasdan qilganingiz uchun sizga rahmat :)
Dear Mansurovs, I am addicted to your site since I’ve discovered it. I adore your photos. I will start reading the training notes as soon as possible but I had a chance to try a couple of recipes. I have been using chicken tights for this recipe. Me and my husband loves this recipe. I increase the amount of the spice little bit more. We even enjoy it without the sauce. Thanks! Elinize saglik :)
Oh Irem hanim, thank you much for the compliments. I love that I can be of some help to ladies like yourself. This chicken is indeed divine. It is my husband’s favorite, too. I always stock up on the Cornish hens, lol. But chicken ties are great! With them there is not much need for the sauce. If you are going to use it with the Cornish hen, you might want to try the sauce. Having a nice tomato salad (like coban salatasi) helps, too. White meat of the Cornish hen is a little dry, which makes it not so perfect :)
Hi, since visiting your site a few days ago for the first time, I have continued to be enthralled by your recipes and your stories to boot. I was a student in Moscow in the mid-80s and remember having Chicken Tabaka at the Aragvi restaurant on Tverskaya Square, just off what was then Gorky Street. But, for some reason, I remember a yoghurt or smetana based sauce with pounded walnuts. Am I thinking of something else?
Hi Jeremy, it looks like you really ate Tabaka at a Georgian restaurants. Aragvi sounds Georgian to me. Their cuisine is full of interesting sauces. “Smetana based sauce with pounded walnuts” reminds me of Sacabelli. It is mainly used in Beefstroganof. I have never tried it with chicken though :)
Hi Lola,
Aragvi is (was) indeed a Georgian restaurant. I was lucky enough to eat there three times, and once at a Georgian wedding (by the way I am Welsh, but am a linguist and have travelled a fair bit). Anyway, the walnut aspect of Georgian chicken tabaka seemed to be so clear in my memory that I just had to google and found this:
http://recipe.gnabgib.com/?todo=view&recipe=41
There does seem to be a walnut connection to the dish.
Your collection of recipes is so unique and refreshing. Cheers. Jeremy
Jeremy, the site is not opening for some reason. Walnuts are widely used in Georgian dishes. But the smetana (yogurt/sour cream base sounds very intriguing to me :) I have a lot of Georgian friends, too. I will drop them a line and find out more about walnut and smetana combo.
Thank you for the compliments and thank you for visiting my blog! It means a lot to me.
As a linguist can I ask you for your opinion? I recently received a comment from a reader who did not identify himself. Since his nick name was Max, I assumed he was not a lady. He complained about my English and said that it was pretty bad. Did you notice anything like that? and if yes, can you make any suggestions on how to improve my English?
This person must have been a trouble maker. Your English is erudite. It is clear that you have a very accomplished command of language, per se. I would ignore this person’s comments, since he (?) was probably referencing colloquial speech as his yardstick (that, or he was plainly ignorant). I remember a professor of mine in Moscow who would often use terms like “it is high time” in everyday conversation. The reason her English struck people as unusual was her rich use of idiom. Your use of idiom is similarly rich. I see it as accomplished.
Eureka! I must have confused Chicken Tabaka with Chicken Bazha (Satsabeli Bazha) – which seems to fit the description of the Georgian dish I tried. All these years I thought it was Tabaka.
That could be the case, Jeremy. But I have never tried Satsabelli Bazha! You are giving me some nice ideas to think about.
Thanks, I made this last night and it was delicious. Cnacubo.
You are more than welcome Alec!!! :) Priatnogo appetita!
Hi again Lola! I’m slowly making my way through your recipes and tried out this one tonight for a party of 7. I ran into a couple things:
“1/2 cumin powder” — Did you mean 1/2 Tbsp or 1/2 the coriander amount (1.5 Tbsp)? I did the later and it turned out fine, but since cumin is so potent I could easily see only 1/2 Tbsp being used.
“Grind the cumin powder, mix it with cumin and black pepper.” — I understood what you intended here, but you should correct the text for future readers: grind the coriander seeds into a powder then mix it with cumin and black pepper.
skillet + plate + weight: While making 4 Cornish hens I used one 12″ skillet and two 10″ skillets. The hens took up the full 10″ but had a little room to spare in the 12″ skillet. I found that the hens from the 12″ skillet browned very nicely while the 10″ skillets cooked without browning. I think this has to do with the liquids from the chicken having room to evaporate rather than build up inside of the pan. Along those lines, make sure to use a plate/weight that does not fully cover the top. I also tried to time the cooking so the last round of cooking was with the skin face up so that it remained nice and crisp.
Thanks again for the recipe, everyone liked it!
P.S. One comment I received was that it was better than the Chicken Tobaka she had at a restaurant in Kiev.
Oh Anthony! Thank you for being so motivated to try something new and choosing my recipes :) I really appreciate it!
As for the corrections, I made couple of them in the recipe. This particular recipe is more about coriander. The less cumin added, the better :)
I will add your comment to the notes, so that everyone can see your measurements of the skillet and how cooked the chicken!
My dad makes this for us too! :) He grew up in Suhumi and learned his cooking there. I agree that cornish hen is the best for moist meat. Great post!
yay, yana! thank you for your comment!
thank you for this recipe!
i made it for dinner tonight. 2 differences: i skinned my hens because they were too hairy, and i used fresh cilantro instead of the coriander seeds.
YUM! cant wait to make it again.
Sorry I’m confused how much tomatoe juice to use. Is it 1 cup up to 2 cups?
1 or 2 cups. It is up to you since tomato juice is only used as a dip. Thank you for bringing that to my attention Carole! I will update the recipe.
Recipe uchun rahmat, tayyorlash jarayoni oson, asosiysi mazasiga gap yuq. Ishingiz omad
I just found this blog!! And boy oh boy your food looks appetizing :)
My mums name is Lola :) She’s a Tatar :) Dads russian :) But we live in Australia :)
I have a feeling that this blog will be a new best friend of mine :)
God Bless
Big hello from Australia :)
Hi Lola,
I am Monica from Indonesia, I just found your blog, someone shared it on facebook..
I like your blog, like your pictures, and like your recipes..I have bookmarked some recipes of yours, I will try these later, but I think I will try this chicken tabaka first..thank you for sharing
hi Lola,
Monica again…just want to tell you that I have made this chicken tabaka…and it was so delicious..
I love it..thank you so much for sharing
I have posted the recipe on my blog and link back to arbuz.com
sounds unbelievably yummy. i cannot wait to take this share into my kitchen. thank you :-)
Ah, what a lovely childhood memory! We love it too! Crave it already. :-)
I use two heavy cast iron skillets – one as a pan, the other as a weight.
Yes! i am o happy to have found your blog. I visited Uzbekistan last year and have been returning to Central-Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan) since as I completely fell in love with the area, its people and of course, the cuisine ;-) An avid cook myself, I really wanted to make all of the things I tried there myself (somsa, plov, the korean carrots, beshbarmak etc). Sadly, the amount of cookbooks in English (or any non-Russian language really) about the region are scarce and I had to rely sometimes on my own rather dubious interpretations of russian recipes :P Your blog is FULL of amazing recipes that really bring back memories. Thanks so much, this is the next one I’m trying out ;-)
Oh, Andrea. It is so good to read your comment. It felt like I flew back home along with you :) I will try to update the site with more recipes. I have a great recipe for “markavcha” (Korean carrot salad). Time permitting, I will post more recipes soon. Thank you for visiting my blog! I hope you see you around more and I hope you will share your feedback with me.
I had it tonight. We’ve been making it for years. We use a George Foreman grill and add a weight on top of the grill.