This dish originates from Armenia and is called ‘moshambuir tapaka’. If you’ve been reading my blog long enough, you know I am a big fan of the Caucasian dishes. Many of them are very simple yet very flavorful, and tend to use a lot of vegetables, nuts and herbs. Traditionally, you can use any part of the chicken in this dish. In fact, a typical ‘moshambuir tapaka’ would use a whole young chicken cut into pieces. But I guarantee you that you will get the best results when using chicken thighs. Besides, chicken breasts, thighs and legs cook very differently so it’s always best to cook them separately. Okra is not something I use in my cooking, for no good reason that I can think of. When I came across this recipe in an Armenian cookbook I got quite excited about the opportunity to use okra. The original recipe was extremely concise and so not too clear on when to add okra or how long to fry it. To make sure I cook it right, I referenced this guide on how to cook okra so it’s not slimy, which was very informative. I enriched the instructions to the recipe based on the information from the guide. I found the dish to be quite exceptional. The okra tasted very well, didn’t come out slimy, and really complemented the chicken thighs. The addition of blackberries was unusual but I kept an open mind. Surprisingly, the blackberries fit right in and enhanced the overall flavor profile. I can say that all of the ingredients work so well together that if one component wasn’t there you would immediately notice it.
