Georgia does Easter like it does wine: with deep roots, bold flavors, and a table that feels more like a liturgy than a meal. Orthodox Easter there is called Aghdgoma, and it’s one of the biggest days of the year. Families stay up for midnight services, crack red eggs against each other while saying “Kristé aghdga!” (“Christ is risen!”), and then sit down to long supras—traditional Georgian feasts that can last for hours.
On that table, you’ll often find a dish that tastes exactly like Georgian spring: chakapuli, a bright, herb‑heavy lamb stew cooked with sour green plums. Where Italian Easter leans into roasted lamb and potatoes, Georgian Easter says: what if lamb swam in a broth of tarragon, cilantro, scallions, wine, and tart plums? It’s wild, green, and almost shockingly fresh for a meat dish.
Perfect for our Feast and Fast series.
Aghdgoma: Orthodox Easter in the Caucasus
Georgia is a small, mountainous country in the Caucasus, wedged between the Black Sea, Russia, Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. It was one of the earliest nations to adopt Christianity as a state religion (4th century), and Orthodox faith still shapes its ritual calendar. Easter, Aghdgoma (“Resurrection”), is the heart of that calendar.
The rhythm is familiar and yet distinctly Georgian:Lent and Holy Week: Many believers fast from meat, dairy, and sometimes oil, eat more simply, and attend extra services.
Holy Saturday night: Churches fill for a long vigil. Just before midnight, lights dim; at midnight the cry “Kristé aghdga!” (“Christ is risen!”) is answered with “Chezdidebit aghdga!” (“Truly He is risen!”). Bells ring, candles flare up, and people embrace.
Easter Sunday: Families visit the graves of relatives in the days around Easter (especially on a day called Bedoba or Tsmindagiorgi depending on region) and share food and wine there, connecting the feast of resurrection with ancestors.
The home table reflects that mix of joy and remembrance. You’ll see:
Red‑dyed eggs – symbolizing Christ’s blood and new life, cracked against each other in a friendly contest.
Paska or other sweet Easter breads – local variants on enriched loaves, sometimes flavored with citrus or raisins.
Cheese pies, salads, and herbs – platters of fresh greens, pickles, salty cheese, and breads.
And, very often, chakapuli – a spring lamb stew that could only exist in a place that loves both wine and tarragon as much as Georgia does.
Chakapuli: Lamb Stew with Herbs and Sour Plums
If you asked Georgian cooks what spring tastes like, many would hand you a spoon of chakapuli. The dish appears at supras throughout spring and especially around Easter, when lamb, new herbs, and tkemali (sour plums or plum sauce) are all in season.
The core idea of chakapuli is simple but unusual:
Use lamb (or sometimes veal) as the base.
Cook it with a ton of fresh herbs: tarragon is essential, along with cilantro, parsley, scallions, sometimes dill.
Add white wine and sour green plums (or Georgian tkemali sauce) for acidity.
Simmer until the lamb is tender and the broth tastes like a forest waking up after winter.
Where many Easter lamb dishes lean on rich fats and roasty notes, chakapuli leans on brightness and acidity. It feels like the opposite of the heavy winter stews that might have gotten people through the cold season. In other words, it tastes like resurrection—light breaking into a dark flavor palette.For your readers, this dish is “exotic” enough to be intriguing, but it’s not intimidating: the technique is basically “chop herbs, brown lamb (or not), and let it all simmer in a pot.”
Ingredients: Classic Chakapuli at Home
Traditional recipes use unripe green plums (often the Georgian variety called tkemali) and sometimes ready‑made tkemali sauce. Outside Georgia, you can approximate the flavor with good sour plum sauce, or a mix of lemon juice and a little tart fruit (like unsweetened apricot or green grape juice).
I’ll give both options.
Serves 4–6
Meat & base
2 pounds (900 g) lamb shoulder or leg, cut into bite‑sized chunks (bone‑in adds flavor, but boneless works)
1–2 tablespoons neutral oil or lamb fat (optional, if you want to brown the meat)
1 cup dry white wine (a crisp, not‑oaky style)
1–1 ½ cups water or light stock
Herbs and aromatics
2 cups fresh tarragon leaves, loosely packed, roughly chopped
1 ½–2 cups fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
1 cup parsley, roughly chopped
1 bunch of scallions (spring onions), sliced
Optional: ½ cup fresh dill, chopped
Sour element (choose one)
1–1½ cups unripe green plums, lightly crushed
OR
½–¾ cup good-quality tkemali (Georgian sour plum sauce)
OR (substitute if you can’t find plum products)
Juice of 1–2 lemons + 2–3 tablespoons unsweetened tart fruit puree (like apricot or green grape), to taste
Seasoning
2–3 cloves garlic, minced (optional but common in home kitchens)
Salt and black pepper, to taste
Step‑by‑Step Directions
1. Prep the herbs and lamb
Chop herbs: Wash and roughly chop all your herbs—targan, cilantro, parsley, scallions, and dill if used. You want a big, fluffy pile; don’t be shy.
Trim lamb: Cut lamb into bite‑sized chunks, trimming excess hard fat but leaving some for flavor.
Traditionally, some cooks don’t bother browning the lamb, going straight into a moist braise. Others lightly brown it first for deeper flavor. I’ll include the browning step as optional.
2. (Optional) Brown the lamb
Heat a tablespoon or two of oil in a heavy pot over medium‑high heat.
Add the lamb in batches and brown lightly on a couple of sides. You’re not aiming for a crusty French sear, just a bit of color.
Remove browned pieces to a plate as you go.If you skip this, you can put the lamb straight into the pot in the next step.
3. Build the pot: lamb, herbs, and sour plums
In the same pot (with or without browned bits), add the lamb (and any juices) back in.
Scatter all the chopped herbs and scallions over the lamb, reserving a small handful of herbs for finishing if you like.
Add your sour element:
If using green plums, add them now, lightly crushed.
If using bottled tkemali, add about ½ cup to start; you can add more later.
If using lemon + tart puree, start with the juice of one lemon and 2 tablespoons of puree; you’ll adjust toward the end.
4. Add wine and liquid
Pour in the white wine. Let it bubble for a minute to cook off some alcohol.
Add enough water or light stock to come about three‑quarters of the way up the lamb and herbs; this is a stew, not a soup, but you want enough liquid for a good broth.
Sprinkle in some salt (you’ll adjust later) and black pepper.
At this stage, the pot will look like way too many herbs and not enough liquid. That’s okay; the herbs wilt down dramatically.
5. Simmer gently
Bring the pot up to a gentle simmer over medium heat.
Once it’s bubbling, reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for about 45–60 minutes, until the lamb is tender. Stir occasionally, pressing the herbs down into the liquid.If the liquid reduces too much, add a splash of water or wine. You want a loose, brothy stew at the end—spoonable but not watery.
In some Georgian homes, chakapuli is baked in a clay pot or casserole in the oven instead of simmered on the stove. You can mimic that by moving the covered pot to a 325°F/160°C oven for about an hour.
6. Taste and adjust sourness
When the lamb is tender, taste the broth. It should be salty enough and noticeably tangy from the plums/tkemali.
If it needs more acidity, add:
More tkemali, or
A little extra lemon juice or tart puree.
If it’s too sharp, you can soften it with a splash of more water or a knob of butter at the end, but traditionally it’s meant to be quite bright.
Optional: stir in the minced garlic and reserve fresh herbs in the last 5 minutes of cooking for a fresher top note.
7. Serve
Serve chakapuli hot in deep bowls, making sure each portion gets some broth, herbs, and lamb.
Pair it with:Crusty bread or flatbread to soak up the broth.
Simple boiled or roasted potatoes on the side (less traditional but very welcome).
A green salad or sliced fresh cucumbers and tomatoes.
If you want to echo Georgian Easter more closely, you can decorate the table with red eggs (hard‑boiled and dyed) and pour a glass of dry Georgian white wine or qvevri amber wine to go with the stew.
Fasika in Ethiopia, Georgian Aghdgoma, and Western Easter all mark resurrection with lamb—but the flavors, herbs, and textures tell the story of each place.
If this was your Easter main dish instead of baked ham or roast lamb, what would you serve with it? Bread and salad? Georgian wine? A plate of dyed eggs? Please, share in the comments.
It's Nicky Lynn 