Pork and potatoes pan-fried with onions and peppers — Georgia's most beloved family-style dish, named for its purpose: shared.
Ojakhuri literally means 'family-style' — a one-pan dish of pork (sometimes chicken or beef), potatoes, onions and peppers, fried hard until everything is crispy at the edges. It's the dish ordered for the whole table at Georgian taverns, eaten directly from a hot ketsi (clay pan). Simple, satisfying, deeply Georgian.
Serves 4
Boil potato wedges 8 min until just tender. Drain and pat dry. Fry in 30ml oil 8 min until golden and crisp. Set aside.
In the same pan, heat remaining oil. Add pork cubes and brown well 10 min.
Add onions, peppers and garlic. Fry 8 min until softened and starting to caramelise.
Return potatoes to pan. Sprinkle salt, pepper, paprika, fenugreek, summer savory. Toss everything together.
Cook 5 min on high heat to crisp edges and unify flavours.
Sprinkle with chopped herbs. Adjust salt.
Bring the whole pan to the table. Serve with pickled vegetables and crusty bread.
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Get the pork well browned before adding vegetables — that's where the depth comes from.
Serve straight from the pan — the dish is meant to be communal.
Chicken ojakhuri: use 500g chicken thighs, reduce browning to 6 min
Beef ojakhuri: use beef chuck, increase browning + 200ml broth, simmer 30 min
Add mushrooms in step 3 for an earthy version
Refrigerate 3 days. Reheat in a hot pan to re-crisp.
Ojakhuri grew out of Georgian tavern (samikitno) culture — a hearty one-pan meal designed for groups. The traditional version is cooked in a ketsi, an unglazed clay pan that retains heat dramatically. It's a fixture on every Georgian restaurant menu.
Yes but pork releases water that prevents potato crisping. Pre-frying potatoes separately is the trick.
Khmeli suneli — a Georgian spice blend of marigold, blue fenugreek, coriander, summer savory, dill — is the most authentic. One tablespoon replaces individual spices.
Yes — use beef chuck, brown it well, then add 200ml broth and simmer 30 minutes before combining with the potatoes so it turns tender.
Reheat in a hot, dry pan rather than the microwave — that recrisps the edges instead of steaming them soft.
Per serving · 4 servings total
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