Chicken tabaka

Chicken tabaka (Georgian: წიწილა ტაბაკა, romanized: ts'its'ila t'abak'a) or chicken tapaka (Georgian: წიწილა ტაფაკა, romanized: ts'its'ila t'apak'a) is a traditional Georgian dish of a pan-fried chicken which is also popular in other Caucasian cuisines. It also became a common restaurant dish in the Soviet cuisine and is found nowadays in many restaurants throughout Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

The chicken is fried in a traditional frying pan called tapa (Georgian: ტაფა). For frying thoroughly, the chicken is flattened out on the pan and pressed by a weight. In modern cookery, special pan sets with a heavy cover or with a screw press are often used.

Chicken tabaka is often seasoned with garlic or dressed with traditional Georgian sauces, such as bazhe, satsivi or tkemali.

• Weighing down the chicken on the pan
• Chicken tapaka with hazelnut sauce