Satsivi is a traditional Georgian dish. This is a sauce made from poultry (chicken or turkey) with the addition of a large amount of walnuts and herbs. It is customary to serve it with meat or as an independent dish.
Satsivi sauce takes a long time to prepare, therefore, as a rule, it is a decoration of the festive table. There are many variations of this national dish. You can make it from turkey, chicken and even eggplant.
To make the traditional chicken satsivi, you will need the following foods:
- 1 chicken (carcass);
- 500 g of walnuts;
- 1 head of onion;
- 3 cloves of garlic;
- 3 egg yolks;
- vegetable oil or fat;
- ½ tbsp. l. wine vinegar;
- 2 tsp dried cilantro;
- ½ tsp saffron;
- ground cinnamon;
- carnation;
- 1 tsp. ground red pepper;
- salt.
Rinse the chicken thoroughly and pat dry with a tissue or paper towel. Then put in a saucepan, pour 2 liters of cold water, add salt, peppercorns and cook over moderate heat for about an hour, not forgetting to remove the resulting foam. After this time, remove the chicken from the broth, place it breast-side down on a baking sheet and bake in the oven until tender, periodically pouring the strained broth on the carcass.
Cut the finished chicken into small pieces and, if desired, either leave or remove the bones.
Peel the walnuts and crush the kernels in a mortar or chop in a food processor. It is not recommended to pass the nuts through a meat grinder, as an unpleasant aftertaste may appear. Peel and grate the cloves of garlic. Then mix the garlic with walnuts, saffron, dried cilantro, ground red pepper, add cinnamon and cloves if desired. Add finely chopped onions and beat in the egg yolks. Then mix all the ingredients very well.
Then pour so much strained chicken broth into the mixture so that you get a homogeneous gruel in consistency similar to thick sour cream. Wipe the prepared mass 3-4 times through a sieve until a rather liquid nut mixture is formed.
Put the saucepan on low heat and, as soon as the first bubbles appear on the surface, immediately remove from the stove. After that, put the pieces of chicken in a saucepan with the sauce, add wine vinegar and salt to taste. Mix everything well, let the satsivi cool and brew for several hours. Serve cold sauce to the table.
In Georgia, it is customary to add a large amount of crushed cilantro and other spicy herbs to satsivi. If you wish, you can replace the wine vinegar in the dish with a small amount of natural pomegranate juice, which will add a piquant sourness to the sauce.
