Cream of Tomato Chashushuli Recipe

As someone who could be described as a "Kartvelaboo", I love and have a deep respect for Georgian cuisine. Khachapuri, Georgian cheese bread, has become the trendier version of pizza in metropolitan areas despite predating it by centuries. That said, it is still largely unknown to the wider American public. My friends and I, all Americans who were a part of our university's Russian (Language) Club, lived in our university's Eastern European Cultures House (EECH) and have been to Georgia on either a short trip or study abroad, share this appreciation for its culture. I'm even planning with one of them to open a Georgian restaurant somewhere in the US after we graduate; we haven't gotten very far, but it's still on the table.

Though I don't have a sense of nostalgia for it, Chashushuli has the same warm, hearty, tomato-y feeling of a Sunday gravy that an Italian-American family would put on early in the weekend morning. It's a beef and onion stew (traditionally with veal) in a spiced tomato broth. My take on it incorporates the consistency and flavor profile of tomato bisque, done through the addition of cream--if you want a more traditional, thinner version, feel free to omit it.

(serves 3-4)

Ingredients:

• 5 tbsp vegetable or sunflower oil
• 50 g butter
• 1 tsp ground caraway seeds
• 1 tbsp ground allspice
• 1 lb beef for stew (if you have no qualms about using veal and can get it, use that instead)
• 2 onions diced
• 1 tbsp chili flake/oil (or more/less to taste)
• dollop of tomato paste
• 28 oz crushed tomatoes (standard whole can)
• 4 crushed garlic cloves
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• small handful of chopped cilantro leaves, and small handful of torn basil leaves to top
• at the end, 1/4 cup of heavy cream
• (optional) pinch of fenugreek *if in the US, it can be hard to find as a seasoning, but available in supplement pills you can crack open over the pot (yes, I've done it)

You can adjust the measurements to your liking, but this is tailored to a tomato-forward experience. If you want more bite to your onion, cut into strips and add in later right before putting in the tomatoes.

1. Melt your butter in the pot with your oil, then fry the meat and onions.

2. Once cooked thoroughly, add your spices (garlic, caraway, allspice, chili, *optional fenugreek) and coat the meat.

3. While simmering, place brown sugar in a separate pan, then on top put in your crushed tomatoes.

4. Combine tomato paste in with the sugar-tomato mixture.

5. Once thoroughly combined, add to the meat pot.

6. Add your cream and allow the heat to work its way through the stew.

7. Add your herbs.

8. Let sit covered on the stove on low heat.

Without cream and hard onion strips

With cream and soft onions