Datian 1 — Chashushuli (photo courtesy https://spicebreeze.com/blog/georgian-chashushuli-recipe/)

Recipes

Barbara Hansen’s Chashushuli, an Easy Beef Stew from Georgia

April 9, 2026

LOS ANGELES — Barbara Hansen, an esteemed James Beard Award winner, and pioneering food writer, passed away on January 28, 2023. Renowned for her extensive food writing at the Los Angeles Times, Hansen made significant contributions to recognizing international cuisines in Los Angeles. Throughout her four-decade tenure at the Los Angeles Times, she was a vibrant voice, dissecting the nuances of diverse culinary traditions brought to the city by various immigrant communities. Her work lives on through her insightful articles and social media presence, where she continued to share her passion for food until her final days at the age of 90.

A country supra under a pergola in Georgia

“In the mid ’60s, Hansen was recruited by Los Angeles Times food editor Jeanne Voltz to help out with the section. Hansen’s insatiable curiosity predated even the arrival of cilantro in Los Angeles, an ingredient she eventually found in Chinese markets labeled ‘Chinese parsley.’ In the decades that followed, Hansen’s precise, deep reporting documented waves of immigration to Los Angeles: Thais, Armenians, Koreans, Indians, Oaxacans, and Salvadorans, whose cuisines she embraced. In 1969 alone, Hansen wrote about Israeli consulate dinners, soul food, Egyptian cuisine, Colombian food, the regional antojitos of Central America, and Filipino restaurants, to name a few.”

Here is one of Hansen’s stories in her own words about chashushuli, an amazing Georgian meat and tomato stew featured in Tasting Georgia by writer/photographer/cook Carla Capalbo:

Chashushuli — I Can’t Pronounce It, but I Love It

Chashushuli, or ‘stewed’ in Georgian, is a satisfyingly rich meat and tomato stew resembling European goulash. Combining veal, beef, chicken, or pork with tomatoes, onions, garlic, and a generous seasoning of herbs and spices to simmer in broth or water renders an intense, flavorful, and aromatic dish – ideal for chilly evenings. It is important to first fry the meat before adding to and stewing with the other ingredients; alternatively, substitute meat for mushrooms for a vegetarian version. Soak up the stew with a side of fresh-baked bread of your choice.

What is it? A beef stew from the country of Georgia that’s like no beef stew I’ve ever tasted. It’s full of fresh herbs, stirred in just before serving. And it contains an ingredient that I haven’t seen in other recipes — ground fenugreek. This is easy to get, if you are anywhere near an Indian market. Just ask for methi seeds — they’re an Indian staple — then powder them in a spice grinder and enjoy the delightful celery-like aroma they produce.

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Where Did I Have Chashushuli?

In my own kitchen, thanks to the recipe in Tasting Georgia, an extraordinary book by writer/photographer/cook Carla Capalbo. A travel guide as well as a cookbook, Tasting Georgia tells what to see, where to stay, where to eat, what to drink and introduces you to local cooks. The subtitle is “A Food and Wine Journey in the Caucasus.”

Be aware that after reading it, you’re likely to scrap your vacation plans and go to Georgia instead of to the beach. Capalbo’s stunning photos alone are enough to convince you. Chashushuli is in a section that covers the route toward Georgia’s southern borders with Turkey and Armenia. The recipe was inspired by a beef and tomato stew served at Valodia’s Cottage, a hotel near the cave city of Vardzia. Capalbo tested this and the other recipes at her home in London but gives American equivalents to the metric and Imperial measures.”

The Georgians have a unique way of eating that’s a direct reflection of their legendary — and seemingly boundless — sense of hospitality. The place to best experience this is at a supra, or Georgian feast, where food, wine and music come together as the quintessential expression of Georgian culture.

At a supra, the table is laden with food before anyone sits down. The center of a long table hosting, say, 20 people will be set with at least seven or eight cold dishes – from stuffed aubergines/eggplants and vegetable medleys to cheeses flavored with mint and fermented blossoms – each of which will have been divided into four or five plates and positioned along the table so guests won’t have to reach far to get them. Diners are given small plates and serve themselves from the dishes close to them. Even tables laid for just four or five people are treated this way. Once everyone is seated and has started eating, other dishes — including hot stews, stuffed breads, dumplings and barbecued meats — begin to arrive, and are placed beside (and sometimes even on top of) the first set of foods.

If a serving plate is emptied, the dish is not removed but replenished by the attentive hosts. The diner’s plate is changed once or twice during the meal: they’re encouraged to make a fresh start on the food without the remains of the first round. This abundance holds true at all levels of society, including in simple, rural households whose water may still be pumped by hand from a well in the garden. When it comes to hosting and feeding guests, the Georgian table is always generous.

The Armenian Mirror-Spectator

People: Carla Capalbo

Recipe Corner: Easter Choreg

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On my first try — and there will be more — chashushuli worked like a dream. It’s especially congenial to California cooks, with its striking use of cilantro–a small bunch is plunged into the center of the stew (above) and more is stirred in at the end, along with basil, parsley and raw garlic. There’s a speck of heat from chili too.

Capalbo cooks the stew in the oven but says that Georgian cooks would probably simmer it on top of the stove. I tried that alternative and it worked just fine, but the oven might be handy if you are making a large amount for a party. There’s much more in this book, including instructions on how to make the famous Georgian cheese-filled bread khachapuri. It’s available in my area, but I have yet to try it.

BEEF AND TOMATO STEW (Chashushuli)

From Tasting Georgia by Carla Capalbo

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 cups chopped onion

1 pound stewing beef, cut into 1 1/4-inch cubes

1 teaspoon ground fenugreek*

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 cups water or plain meat broth

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup tomato pulp, fresh or canned (without juice)

Finely chopped medium-hot fresh chili to taste

1 ounce cilantro, tied into a bunch

To finish:

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1/4 cup chopped basil, purple and green

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

In a heavy, cast-iron or other ovenproof casserole, melt half the butter. Stir in the onions and cook over low heat until translucent, 7 minutes.

Turn the onions onto a side plate and add the remaining butter to the pan. Stir in the meat, raise the heat and brown the beef on all sides. Add the onions, the fenugreek, and half the garlic. Cook for a minute more. Add the water, salt and tomato pulp and bring to a boil. Add the chili. Remove from the heat, pushing the bunch of coriander into the middle of the stew. Cover the casserole and place in the center of the preheated oven. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 70 to 90 minutes or until the meat is tender but not dry.

Remove the stew from the oven. Pull out the cilantro bouquet, squeezing it against a spoon to extract all the flavor; discard. Stir in the chopped cilantro, basil, parsley and the remaining garlic and allow to stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Makes 3 to 4 servings

* Fenugreek is used in cooking as seeds, dried leaves (kasuri methi), or fresh leaves (methi), adding a unique bittersweet, maple-like flavor, especially popular in Indian, Middle Eastern, and North African dishes for curries, lentil stews, pickles, and flatbreads like paratha.

Tasting Georgia, A food and wine journey in the Caucasus. Text and photographs by Carla Capalbo with 70 recipes.

Tasting Georgia is the first food, wine and travel book about this wonderful country in the Caucasus Mountains. It includes 70 easy and delicious recipes and lots of beautiful photographs of people, places and food.

Purchase at: https://www.tastinggeorgia.com/store or go to: https://www.amazon.com/Tasting-Georgia-Food-Journey-Caucasus/dp/1566560594

Winner: Guild of Food Writers Food and Travel Award 2018
Winner: Best Food Book of 2017 UK Gourmand International Cookbook Awards

“The definitive cookbook on Europe’s great unsung cuisines… Carla Capalbo’s Tasting Georgia shows off the culinary gem of the Caucasus… [It] is without question the best book ever written in English about Georgian food and wine… Every dish is brought to life by colorful, intimate photography.” – Saveur

Shortlisted for the Art of Eating Book Award

Shortlisted for the IACP Culinary Travel Book Award

The Atlantic 9 Best Cookbooks of 2017

NPR Best Cookbooks 2017

See: “Barbara Hansen, Pioneering Food Writer: at: https://www.thecookscook.com/article/barbara-hansen-pioneering-food-writer/

Also: “Remembering Barbara Hansen, pioneering food journalist and 90-year-old influencer,” at https://www.latimes.com/food/newsletter/2023-02-11/pioneer-food-journalist-barbara-hansen-dies-tasting-notes

Also: “Chilled Avocado Soup and Remembering Barbara Hansen,” at: https://jollytomato.com/chilled-avocado-soup-barbara-hansen/

Also: “A Food Influencer Before We Had Them,” go to: https://meltingpottours.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Barbara-Hansen-press.pdf

Also:: “Remembering Writing Legend Barbara Hansen: A Love Affair of Food, Plates and Friends at Marino Ristorante,” at: https://www.edhat.com/news/remembering-writing-legend-barbara-hansen-a-love-affair-of-food-plates-and-friends-at-marino-ristorante/

See:

https://www.tastinggeorgia.com/georgia

https://carlacapalbo.com/2021/02/tasting-georgia-a-food-and-wine-journey-in-the-caucasus-book/