Chashushuli

Ingredients

• 1½ lbBeefcut into roughly 3 cm cubes
• 10½ ozoniondiced or sliced
• 14⅛ oztomatoesripe, usually peeled and finely diced
• 2 tbsptomato paste
• 5 clovesgarlicfinely chopped, usually added at the end
• 2hot chili pepperdeseeded, cut into strips
• 2bell peppercut into pieces
• 2 tspblue fenugreek
• 1 tspCoriander
• 1 tspground marigold
• 1 tspkhmeli suneli
• 1 tbspAjika
• ½ tspChili flakes
• black pepperto taste
• 1 tbsplemon juicefor the marinade
• 1 bunchcilantroroughly chopped, added at the end
• 1 bunchparsleychopped
• 1 bunchbasil (optional)
• 2 tbspvegetable oilsunflower or olive oil
• ⅔ ozbutteradded when braising with the onions (optional)
• 2bay leafremove before serving (optional)
• saltto taste

Method

1. Trim the beef of sinew, cut it into roughly 3 cm cubes and season with salt and pepper. If you like, mix the meat with some of the onion, the lemon juice and the adjika and let it marinate in the fridge.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a kazan or heavy pot and sear the beef in batches over high heat until browned all over.
3. Add the onions, along with the butter if you're using it, and cook over medium heat until soft and golden, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
4. Cover and braise over low heat until the meat turns tender — depending on the beef, a good hour. Add a splash of water only if you need it; the onions and tomatoes usually give off plenty of juice. Tuck in the bay leaves if you like.
5. Meanwhile, score the tomatoes with a cross, blanch them briefly, slip off the skins and dice them small. Deseed the chili peppers and the bell peppers, cutting the chilies into strips and the bell peppers into pieces.
6. Add the tomatoes, bell peppers and tomato paste to the meat, then stir in the blue fenugreek, ground coriander, Imeretian saffron, khmeli suneli and the chili flakes.
7. Cover and continue to braise until the sauce is thick and dark, then season to taste with salt and black pepper.
8. Stir in the chili peppers, the garlic and the chopped herbs — cilantro, parsley and basil if you're using it — and take the pot off the heat. Fish out the bay leaves.
9. Let it rest, covered, for a few minutes so the flavours settle, then serve with Georgian lavash.

Tips and variations

For especially tender meat, marinate the cubes in lemon juice with onions for 6 to 8 hours beforehand. Cooking without adding any liquid at all gives you a particularly concentrated sauce. There's a quick version too: a pan-fried one with cherry tomatoes, chili sauce and adjika, done in under an hour. Chashushuli is served with Georgian lavash, topped with raw cilantro leaves and rings of red onion.