Satsivi

Ingredients

• Turkey or chicken2 kg
• Walnuts700 g
• Onions3
• Garlic10 clove
• Khmeli suneli2 tbsp
• Marigold petals1 tbsp
• Ground coriander1 tbsp
• Cinnamon½ tsp
• Ground cloves½ tsp
• Wine vinegar3 tbsp
• Butter60 g
• Saltto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Simmer the bird in salted water for an hour, lift it out and roast it at 200 °C for twenty minutes to colour.

   85 min

2. 2

   Strain the broth, skim the fat and soften the finely chopped onion in it.

   20 min

3. 3

   Grind the walnuts twice and press the released oil out by hand into a separate cup.

   20 min

4. 4

   Crush the garlic with salt and the spices and work it into the walnut mass.

   10 min

5. 5

   Let the walnut mass down with warm broth to the thickness of pouring cream and stir it into the onion.

   12 min

6. 6

   Warm the sauce twenty minutes on the lowest heat without letting it boil, and stir in the vinegar.

   22 min

7. 7

   Joint the bird, cover it with the sauce and chill it at least six hours. Drizzle the walnut oil over before serving.

   20 min

About the dish

The name means "cold": satsivi is served chilled only, and that is its essence. Warm, it becomes a different dish, and Georgians do not eat it that way.

The walnuts are ground twice and their oil pressed out, to rise later on the surface of the sauce. Without that oil satsivi looks pale and the flavour stays flat.

The sauce is built on the poultry broth and never boiled once the nuts are in. Boiling splits the walnut emulsion, and it will not come back together.

Worth knowing

• — The walnuts must be fresh. Rancid ones give up no oil, and the whole technique loses its point.
• — The sauce thickens a great deal on chilling. Hot, it should look slightly thin — overnight it reaches the right body.
• — Imeretian saffron is dried marigold, not true saffron. Do not substitute saffron for it: the flavour and the price are entirely different.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

780 kcal

Protein

46 g

Fat

58 g

Carbs

16 g

More from Georgia

• Imeretian khachapuri — A round flatbread with the cheese inside rather than on top. The dough is made on matsoni, and there is as much filling as there is dough.
• Khinkali — Purses of stiff dough holding chopped meat and broth. The broth appears on its own, from water worked into the filling.
• Chakhokhbili — Chicken stewed without water in its own juices with tomatoes and a mountain of fresh herbs.