Varna-Style Braised Chicken (Bulgarian Dish)

Pneuma's Note:

This is a popular Balkan chicken dish smothered in rich, herby, sherry tomato sauce with mushrooms that we love having at home. (Edited: moved garlic cloves and onions to include under "For the sauce" to coincide with procedure as spotted by KateL. No actual change to recipe has been made.)

• Total Time: 1 hrs 19 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 9 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 6-8

Yield: 6.0 chicken ...

• 1 ½ kg chicken pieces , or cut-ups
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• ¼ cup butter

For the sauce

• 5 garlic cloves , minced
• 2 medium onions , chopped
• ½ cup dry sherry
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 pinch dried basil
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• 4 large tomatoes , chopped
• 3 cups mushrooms , sliced

Garnish (optional)

• basil leaves
• thyme leaves

Directions:

1. preheat oven to 200 degree Celsius.
2. heat oil and butter in wok, and in the meantime season chicken with salt, pepper and thyme.
3. add the seasoned chicken pieces to the wok and brown at all sides.
4. place the cooked chicken in a casserole dish and set aside.
5. For the sauce:.
6. stir fry garlic and onions approximately 2-3 mins until soft, adding the rest of the sauce ingredients except mushrooms.
7. bring to a boil, then reduce heat and add the mushrooms.
8. Pour sauce over chicken, cover and bake for 1hr hour, or until cooked thoroughly.
9. garnish with basil or thyme and serve.

Reviews

[Karabea]

This was pretty tasty! I halved the recipe, used boneless skinless chicken breasts, left out the mushrooms, and used a can of diced tomatoes in place of the fresh ones. Served with buttered fettuccine noodles and roasted cauliflower. DH loved it and said he thought it tasted like the sauce on his father's stuffed cabbage recipe, and he specifically requested that we have this again. Thank you for sharing!

[JustJanS]

We really enjoyed this thank you. I made a half recipe and chose to cook my mushrooms in the butter/oil mix after I took the chicken pieces out. I spooned it over the chicken then went on to step 5. I hate un-fried mushrooms as I think they are sort of spongy LOL. We ate this over polenta with a side salad of grilled fennel, baby leaves, red onion and parmesan. I wanted to photograph this but couldn't find my camera after a few days away and my dinner was getting cold!

[Starrynews]

Nice chicken recipe. I used drumsticks and omitted the salt and butter. Very nice flavor. Thanks for sharing!