Satsivi (Georgian Chicken in Walnut Sauce)
Satsivi takes its name from the Georgian word for cold, and that's how it's meant to be eaten — poached poultry buried in a thick, pale walnut sauce that sets as it chills. Ground walnuts, softened onion, and garlic are loosened with the poaching broth and spiced with blue fenugreek, marigold saffron, coriander, and clove. It's a fixture of the Georgian New Year table, made a day ahead so the flavours settle and the sauce thickens.
Ingredients
- 1500 gchicken
- 400 gwalnuts
- 2 pcsonion
- 5 clovesgarlic
- 1 tspblue fenugreek
- 1 tspimeretian saffron
- 1 tspground coriander
- 3 pcscloves
- 1 pinchcinnamon
- 1 tbspred wine vinegar
- 1 bunchcoriander
Method
- Simmer the chicken in lightly salted water with one onion until tender, about 50–60 minutes. Lift it out, cool, and pull the meat from the bones in large pieces. Strain and reserve the broth.
- Optionally brush the poultry with butter and roast at 190°C for 20 minutes for a deeper flavour, then cool completely.
- Grind the walnuts two or three times, as finely as you can — the finer the grind, the smoother the sauce and the more oil it releases.
- Finely chop the second onion and cook it gently in butter over low heat until completely soft but not coloured, about 10 minutes.
- Pound the garlic with a little salt, and mix it into the walnuts with the blue fenugreek, imeretian saffron, ground coriander, crushed cloves, cinnamon, and chopped coriander leaves.
- Stir the walnut mixture into the softened onion, then add the warm broth a ladleful at a time until you have a sauce the thickness of pouring cream. Warm gently, stirring, until it just comes up to heat — never let it boil hard or the walnut oil splits out.
- Season with salt and the red wine vinegar, add the chicken pieces, and cool. Chill several hours or overnight until the sauce thickens, and serve cold with fresh coriander.
FAQ
The word comes from the Georgian 'tsivi', meaning cold, so satsivi literally refers to something served cold. The name belongs to the sauce itself, not the bird — the walnut sauce is what's called satsivi, and it's poured over poultry and left to chill until it thickens. It's traditionally made ahead and eaten cool or at room temperature, most famously as part of the Georgian New Year and Christmas table, served as a starter rather than a hot main course.
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