Georgian Satsivi is a popular nutty sauce that can be enjoyed on nearly any type of meat or vegetable. Satsivi a classic Georgian recipe, especially loved around Christmas and New Year’s made with turkey, but also enjoyed throughout the year with chicken. I was given this recipe by a friend named Maka who lives in the capital city of Tbilisi. It compares with other Satsivi recipes and is a interesting and complex nut sauce served cold. In fact “tsivi” means cold in Georgian. I chose to make it with chicken and thoroughly enjoyed the ancient and rare dish from Georgia. Special thanks to Maka for sharing it with us!
Georgian Satsivi
Servings 4
Ingredients
- 1 whole turkey or chicken
- 1 lb. peeled walnuts
- 5 teaspoons coriander ground
- 1 teaspoon Imeretian saffron
- 2 teaspoons chili ground
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon ground
- 2 cloves
- garlic 6 cloves
- 1 medium onion minced
- 6 egg yolks 4 for chicken
- salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
Instructions
- In a very large pot place the small turkey or chicken and cover with cold water
- Cook until tender removing froth during cooking.
- remove the turkey or chicken and place breast side down on a roasting pan, Reserve the water from the pot you will need this later.
- Place in a preheated 350 degree oven until browned.
- If using turkey, the meat should be removed off the bones, the chicken can be cut up into pieces.
- Now mince the nuts, you can use a mortar and pestle or best to use a meat grinder and put the nuts through twice. This is an important step, be sure to reserve any oil for later.
- To the minced nuts add crushed garlic, saffron, coriander, cloves, cinnamon, chili and salt and mix together.
- Add the egg yolks and continue mixing.
- Add in the onion.
- Using the reserved chicken or turkey stock add it to your mixture until you come up with a creamy consistency.
- Make sure the mixture is cool and strain it through a sieve and pour it into a pan. Repeat this process 3-4 times until you get it to a very smooth cream like sauce.
- Bring the sauce in a pot to heat up stirring with a wooden spoon but take care to not let it boil.
- When the first bubbles appear, remove from the heat and put in your turkey or chicken meat.
- Let the satsivi cool slightly and add the vinegar and salt to taste. Make sure not to add the vinegar while the satsivi is hot or it can turn black.
- Serve cold with bread, red wine, and fresh herbs tarragon and cilantro.
