Reviewed: Jan. 19, 2012

Like most folks I found this a bit bland, had to add lots of Tabasco and black pepper to make it palatable. Sorry, not a keeper for me it would take too much tweaking to get it to something we'd enjoy eating.

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Reviewer:

Starr

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Amherst, Nova Scotia, Canada

Living In: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Reviewed: Feb. 23, 2010

I was stationed in Turkey for 17 months while in the Airforce. This recipe is the closest to Chicken Tava that I've ever been able to find. It's honestly delicious. I find it tastes best when I use crushed red pepper, combine oregano with the tomato paste, and exclude the potatoes and pepperoncinis. I also dice the garlic. When we're feeling lazy, we use stewed canned tomatoes to speed up the prep time, and I always have the tomatoes chopped up as much as possible since I'm texture picky. All in all, great food, and a super easy dish for kids to help prepare.

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Reviewer:

Malenx

Reviewed: Dec. 20, 2008

Nice recipe. Make sure you slice the potatoes thin. I used only 2 tbls tomato paste and 2 tabls red pepper paste. Layer tomato slices on top and use long green peppers, not pepperoncini for a more original version.

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Reviewer:

Primadonamama

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Cooking Level: Expert

Reviewed: Nov. 11, 2008

I used pepper paste as another person suggested, plus added the turkish spice, pul biber (crushed red pepper) and some cumin. My Turkish husband loved it!

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5 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Angela

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Staten Island, New York, USA

Living In: Greer, South Carolina, USA

Reviewed: Apr. 5, 2008

Quite good but recipe was altered to reduce cooking time. I browned the chicken on the stovetop for a couple of minutes on each side. I also sauteed onions on stovetop to bring out their sweetness. It only took about 30 minutes in a 350 degrees for dish to cook. Good quality tomato paste (i.e., organic) with 1 T. sugar (to cut the acidity) seemed to make what could have been a very bland dish (note the absence of spices) into a very good dish. It's really good but left me wanting something spicy at the end of the meal. I think it would be excellent to serve an Indian rice pudding afterwards.

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Reviewer:

naludson

Living In: Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Reviewed: Jan. 1, 2008

This was very good! After living in Turkey for two years, I have been searching for a good recipe to recreate the tava we ate there. I omitted the potatoes altogether. That was the way I ate it there, so after reading the reviews I figured I wouldn't even fuss with them. I also replaced the tomatoes with two cans of regular rotel. I topped the dish with some shredded mozzarella for the last 15 minutes - yum! Serve over or with rice... The end result was very similar to what I remember! Thanks for the recipe!

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9 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

anna

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Anchorage, Alaska, USA

Living In: Rapid City, South Dakota, USA

Reviewed: May 5, 2007

I loved this dish. Some people had problems cooking the vegetables through, so I made sure to cut things up in smaller pieces. I also added a can of Roto. It was delicious.

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5 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Boohradley

Reviewed: Jan. 31, 2007

I added a little bit of spices to add a little more flavor, but it was still a bit bland for me. Not terrible, but not a great dish in my opinion. Sorry.

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Reviewer:

TygirlJojo

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Living In: Seattle, Washington, USA

Reviewed: Dec. 18, 2006

To make this recipe work, you really must have the red pepper paste instead of the tomato paste. It is a spicy paste with a very unique flavor available at specialty food stores and ethnic food markets. Also, I think it's better when the garlic is crushed and use 1 onion.

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Reviewer:

Ashley M.

Reviewed: Dec. 7, 2006

ok, I thought I could pull this off with boneless chicken breasts (we don't care for thighs), and found that the potatoes just wouldn't get done along with the chicken. I pulled the chicken out, and kept cooking the vegetables up to the designated 1 1/2 hours, but then the potatoes still weren't completely done. However, the taste was excellent, the chicken came out perfect,my husband and I both loved it. Didn't feel like extra spices were needed, I was glad I didn't "tweak" it any. I will experiment next time, maybe pre-cook the potatoes a bit, because this is well worth it! Thanks for the post.

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8 users found this review helpful