Name: Chicken Guvec with Okra and Sour Grape Juice
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Turkey
Ingredients: 2 pounds large chicken thighs, preferably organic, trimmed of all excess fat; 1 medium green frying pepper or bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces; 1 pound red ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped, plus 2 or 3 small tomatoes, thinly sliced; Pinch of ground cumin; Pinch of ground coriander; Pinch of Turkish or Aleppo pepper; ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil; 2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic; ⅔ cup thinly sliced shallot; Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper; 3 tablespoons cider vinegar; Sugar; ½ cup verjuice (see Note); 12 ounces small, firm okra pods, rubbed with a towel to remove any fuzz

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking

By Paula Wolfert

Published 2009

About

“All year long we have lemons, pomegranate molasses, sumac flakes and sumac berries to give an extra ‘push’ to our food, ” my food journalist friend, Ayfer Ünsal, tells me. “Then in summer, ” she adds, “we have sour grape juice, and that makes our dishes very tart and very special.”

In this wonderful Turkish recipe, chicken and fresh young okra are cloaked in a delightful sweet-and-sour sauce, which slowly penetrates the chicken, melding to form a unique flavor. Thi