Chicken Satsivi Recipe: Georgian Chicken in Walnut Sauce
There is a lot of debate over what satsivi actually is: a dish or a sauce? The most common view is that satsivi is a dish after all. From Georgian, the name translates as “cold dish”. Most often it is made with poultry.
Chicken or turkey in a walnut sauce. Many authorities insist it should be turkey and nothing else. Still, people make it with poultry, fish and meat alike. For example, fish in satsivi sauce is delicious, especially if you caught the pike perch yourself. The essence of satsivi is meat in a spiced walnut sauce with garlic and cilantro.
In the Caucasus, no onion, flour or eggs go into satsivi. The sauce for satsivi doesn't even need cooking. The so-called bazhe sauce is a versatile Georgian sauce that goes with a very wide range of dishes and ingredients. The base of bazhe is shelled walnuts. The set of spices in bazhe is usually fixed: cinnamon, Imeretian saffron, garlic, pepper and pomegranate juice. Herbs are less critical, but cilantro is a must and matters a lot.
Bazhe is like thick sour cream. It goes into satsivi near the end of cooking, and the cooked meat cools down in this sauce. Chicken satsivi, like any other poultry in bazhe sauce, is served cold. That said, ask a hundred people and you'll hear a hundred versions of chicken satsivi and a thousand tips on “what you must never do”.
Chicken satsivi is probably the most accessible way to make this amazing dish, just like chicken chakhokhbili. It's simple and straightforward. All you have to do is cook the chicken, whole or in pieces, all the way through and pour the sauce over it. The hardest part is waiting for it to cool.
Ingredients
2 servings
- Chicken or chicken wings 1 kg
- Walnuts (shelled) 1 cup
- Cilantro 1 bunch
- Garlic 1 head
- Onion 2
- Butter 50 g
- Pomegranate juice to taste
- Coriander, khmeli suneli, saffron, salt, ground black pepper, hot red pepper, cinnamon, bay leaf to taste
Step-by-step recipe
- If you like, make chicken satsivi from a whole bird cut into pieces. Or take a kilo of wings. Why wings? A whole chicken is a lot for a family, but everyone loves wings, and there's plenty of meat on them. That's not always the case, though. For example, chicken with potatoes turns out better with drumsticks.
- Luckily, walnuts are sold already shelled. Otherwise, to get a cup of shelled nuts, you'd have to buy a whole bucket, since most of them would get eaten while cracking.
- Cilantro is a beloved fragrant herb, packed with vitamins. Luckily, fresh cilantro is sold here all year round, so you can have it whenever you like.
- Wash the chicken wings and remove any remaining feathers. Put the wings in a pot and cover with cold water, just level with the meat. Bring to a boil and, skimming off the foam, simmer over low heat for 15 mins. Then take the wings out of the broth and let them cool. Strain the broth into a separate container.
- Peel the onion, chop it not too finely and fry in butter.
- When the onion is soft and nicely golden, add the boiled wings and keep frying for 10 mins, stirring constantly.
- Then add the bay leaf and 1–1.5 cups of the broth left from boiling the wings, cover and braise over low heat.
- How long to braise the chicken? A long time. Ideally, the meat should start coming off the bone. While the chicken is braising, make the bazhe sauce.
- Sort through the shelled walnuts, removing any bits of shell and membrane. Rinse the cilantro, discarding damaged leaves and tough stems. Peel the garlic.
- Put the walnuts, garlic and cilantro in a chopper or blender. Add 1 tsp khmeli suneli and, to taste, saffron, black and red pepper, cinnamon and coriander. Salt to taste as well, but go easy.
- Blend everything into a paste. It's important that there are no large bits: the finer the walnuts are ground, the better. Ideally, pound the walnuts in a mortar as finely as possible beforehand. Add chicken broth and 2–3 tbsp pomegranate juice (not boxed nectar from the store!) to the walnut paste and stir. If you have no pomegranate juice, 1 tbsp wine vinegar will do. The sauce should be as thick as semolina porridge or sour cream; adjust it with broth. It won't hurt to add more spices to taste, too.
- And that's it, the bazhe sauce is ready. It needs no boiling, frying or any other cooking. All that's left is to combine the braised chicken with the bazhe to get chicken satsivi.
- Add the bazhe sauce to the braised chicken, stir, and pour in the rest of the chicken broth. The sauce should be like runny sour cream.
- Warm the chicken satsivi over the lowest heat, barely simmering, for 15 mins. That said, you'll often come across the advice to simply pour the sauce over the cooked chicken and leave it at that. I've tried it that way too, and it turns out well.
- At this point, you can say the chicken satsivi is ready. Leave the dish to cool.
- Chicken satsivi is served cold. I think a side dish would be completely unnecessary. Chicken satsivi is a dish in its own right and goes perfectly with fresh bread. Even better, buy some lavash or make khachapuri using this recipe.
- A piece of lavash torn off by hand makes a great substitute for a spoon.
| Yield: | 2 servings |
| Calories: | 185 |
| Prep time: | 30 mins |
| Cook time: | 1 h 30 mins |
| Total time: | 2 h |
| Category: | Main Dishes |
| Cuisine: | Caucasian cuisine |
| Rating: |
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5
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