Chirbuli: Georgia's Spiced Eggs in Tomato-Walnut Sauce

If you've eaten shakshuka, you already understand the general idea. Eggs poached in a spiced tomato sauce, scooped up with bread, eaten directly from the pan. But chirbuli isn't shakshuka. The difference is walnuts — crushed into the sauce so their oils bleed into the tomato, making the whole thing richer, nuttier, and more filling than any North African or Middle Eastern version. The other difference is the herbs. Georgian chirbuli drowns in fresh cilantro, dill, and basil. Not a garnish — a main ingredient.

What Is Chirbuli?

Chirbuli is eggs cooked in a spiced tomato sauce with crushed walnuts and fresh herbs. It's the standard Georgian breakfast in the Adjara region — the subtropical strip along the Black Sea coast — and it has spread to tables across the country. You'll find it on every guesthouse breakfast spread, at most restaurants that serve breakfast, and in any Georgian home where someone wants more than bread and cheese in the morning.

The word comes from the same root as "shakshuka" — both trace back to Arabic words meaning "mixture." But while shakshuka arrived in Adjara through centuries of trade with the Ottoman Empire and North African merchants passing through the Black Sea ports, Georgians made it their own by adding the one ingredient they put in everything: walnuts.

Chirbuli vs Shakshuka: Why They're Not the Same Dish

People who've eaten shakshuka in Tel Aviv or Istanbul sometimes see chirbuli on a Georgian menu and assume it's the same thing. It's not. They're cousins — both descended from the same Middle Eastern tradition of poaching eggs in tomato — but chirbuli has diverged enough to be its own dish entirely.

The walnut thing can't be overstated. Crushing walnuts into the tomato sauce fundamentally changes the texture — it goes from a thin, slightly acidic liquid to something thicker, richer, almost creamy. The walnut oils emulsify with the butter and tomato juice into this sauce that coats the bread in a way shakshuka simply doesn't. If you've had satsivi or badrijani nigvzit, you already know what Georgian walnut sauces can do.

Regional Variations

Chirbuli isn't just one recipe. Like most Georgian dishes, it changes depending on which region (and which grandmother) you're talking to.

Ingredients

This serves 2 people generously or 3 modestly. Everything should fit in one wide skillet (24–28cm).

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Prepare the Walnut-Spice Mix

Put the walnuts, garlic cloves, red pepper flakes, dried coriander, and blue fenugreek (if using) into a mortar and pestle. Crush until coarsely ground — you want rough chunks, not a smooth paste. The garlic should be smashed into the walnut mixture so the oils blend. If you're using a food processor, 4–5 short pulses. Set aside.

This step is important because crushing the spices with the walnuts releases the walnut oils and allows them to absorb the spice flavors. It's the same technique used in badrijani nigvzit and pkhali — grinding everything together is a cornerstone of Georgian cooking.

Step 2: Cook the Onions Low and Slow

Melt 70g of butter in a wide skillet (24–28cm) over medium-low heat. Add the finely diced onions and cook for 5–6 minutes, stirring occasionally. The onions should be completely soft and translucent — not browned. Patience here pays off. Burnt onions will make the whole dish bitter.

If using cornflour, sprinkle it over the softened onions and stir for 30 seconds. This forms a light roux that helps the sauce come together later.

Step 3: Build the Tomato Sauce

Add the chopped tomatoes (or canned tomatoes, roughly crushed by hand). Stir and cook on medium heat for 4–5 minutes. The tomatoes should break down and release their juice. You're not making a thick pasta sauce — you want a loose, chunky liquid.

If your tomatoes are out of season and mealy, a tablespoon of tomato paste helps. But in summer, when Georgian tomatoes are at their best — blood-red, warm from the sun, splitting at the seams with juice — skip the paste. They don't need help.

Step 4: Add the Walnut Mixture

Add the crushed walnut-spice mixture and about 100ml of water. Stir everything together well. Reduce heat to low and let it simmer for 3–4 minutes. The sauce will thicken slightly as the walnuts absorb liquid and release their oils. It should look rich and orange-red, with visible walnut chunks throughout.

Taste the sauce now and add salt. Remember that the walnuts absorb salt, so it might need more than you expect. The sauce should be well-seasoned on its own — the eggs won't add any salt.

Step 5: Add the Herbs (First Round)

Stir in about two-thirds of your chopped cilantro, dill, and basil. Reserve the rest for garnish. The herbs will wilt into the sauce immediately, turning it from orange-red to a more complex, flecked green-orange. Reduce the heat to the lowest possible setting.

Step 6: Poach the Eggs

This is the only part that requires any finesse. Use the back of a spoon to make 3–4 shallow wells in the sauce. Crack an egg into each well. The sauce should come up around the whites but not cover the yolks.

Cover the skillet with a lid. Cook for 3–4 minutes on the lowest heat. Check at 3 minutes — the whites should be just set (opaque and firm to a gentle touch) but the yolks should still be liquid. If the whites are still translucent, give it another minute.

Step 7: Serve Immediately

Scatter the remaining fresh herbs over the top. Serve the chirbuli straight from the skillet — no plating, no fuss. Put the pan in the center of the table with a stack of shotis puri or mchadi and let people tear bread and scoop. The yolk should break when the bread hits it, mixing with the tomato-walnut sauce into something that's simultaneously rich, tangy, nutty, and herbal.

The Traditional Adjarian Method

In older Adjarian cookbooks and village kitchens, chirbuli was made slightly differently from the one-pan method most people use today. The eggs were poached separately — cracked into gently simmering salted water, cooked until the whites set, then lifted out with a slotted spoon and placed on top of the finished sauce. The eggs never touched the sauce during cooking.

This method gives you more control over egg doneness and cleaner-looking whites, but it adds a step and requires confident poaching technique. The modern one-pan method (poaching directly in the sauce) is how most Georgian restaurants and home cooks make it now, and it's what this recipe uses. The sauce steams the eggs from below, the lid traps heat from above, and the result is eggs that taste like the sauce because they literally cooked in it.

Common Mistakes

Serving and Pairing

Chirbuli is breakfast food, but nobody will judge you for eating it at any meal. In Adjara, it sometimes shows up as a late-night snack after a long evening. The tomato and walnut combination is filling without being heavy, and the whole thing comes together in 30 minutes — faster than ordering delivery.

Chirbuli as Part of a Georgian Breakfast

In a proper Georgian breakfast spread, chirbuli is the hot centerpiece. Around it, you'd typically find:

• Fresh bread — torn, not sliced, still warm
• Fresh cheese — imeruli or sulguni, sliced thick
• Sliced tomatoes and cucumbers — salted, maybe with a little oil
• Matsoni — in a small bowl, eaten plain or with bread
• Honey — often wildflower, from a relative's bees
• Strong black tea — brewed dark, with a sugar cube held between the teeth
• Fresh herbs — a whole plate of tarragon, basil, cilantro, and dill stems

If you're at a guesthouse, all of this arrives without being ordered. If you're making it at home, the chirbuli is the only thing that requires cooking — everything else is assembly.

Variations Worth Trying

Can You Save Leftover Chirbuli?

Honestly? No. Chirbuli is a cook-and-eat-immediately dish. The eggs turn rubbery when reheated, and the yolks — the best part — set completely when cooled. If you have leftover sauce (without eggs), that keeps in the fridge for 2–3 days and you can poach fresh eggs in it for a second round. But a finished chirbuli with eggs? Eat it now.

Frequently Asked Questions