Georgia the country, not the state, you knew that though...
Not peaches, not Atlanta: this is the Caucasus. Satsivi is tender poached chicken drowned in a silky, garlicky walnut sauce perfumed with coriander and fenugreek, served cool at Georgian feasts. Get the walnut texture right and keep the sauce from splitting, and you've cracked one of the great sauces of the world.
The challenge
- Emulsifying walnut sauce
- Balancing garlic intensity
- Preventing sauce separation
- Spice blend complexity
Georgian feast dish where poached chicken gets smothered in a thick, cold walnut sauce. The sauce is the real challenge: fresh walnuts ground to a paste, emulsified with garlic, coriander, fenugreek, and chicken broth into a creamy consistency that won't split.
The walnut grinding needs to hit the right texture: fine enough to be sauce-like but not so processed it becomes oily. Traditionally served cold or room temperature, which means any textural mistakes are glaringly obvious.
Prep: 30 minutes (plus chilling) Β Β·Β Cook: 1 hour 30 minutes
Ingredients
For the chicken
- 1 whole chicken, about 1.6 kg (3.5 lb)
- 1 onion, halved, and 1 carrot
- 2 bay leaves and 6 black peppercorns
- 2.5 litres (10 cups) cold water and 1 tsp salt
For the walnut sauce
- 300 g (10.5 oz) fresh walnut halves
- 4-5 garlic cloves (start with 4)
- 2 onions, very finely chopped
- 2 tbsp butter or fat skimmed from the chicken broth
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground blue fenugreek (utskho suneli) or 1/2 tsp regular ground fenugreek
- 1/2 tsp ground dried marigold (imeruli saffron) or a pinch of turmeric
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon, a pinch of ground cloves and 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
- 600-750 ml (2.5-3 cups) warm chicken broth (from poaching)
- 1-2 tbsp white wine vinegar and salt
To serve
- Seeds from 1/2 pomegranate and a few sprigs of coriander (cilantro)
Method
- Poach the chickenPut the chicken, onion, carrot, bay leaves, peppercorns and salt in a large pot with the cold water. Bring slowly to a simmer, skim off any foam, then cook at a bare simmer for 50-60 minutes until the juices run clear and the thigh reads 74Β°C (165Β°F).
- Save the brothLift out the chicken and let it cool slightly. Strain the broth and skim 2 tbsp of the fat from the top for the sauce. Keep about 1 litre (4 cups) of broth warm.
- Optional: colour the chickenFor extra flavour, brush the chicken with a little fat and roast at 220Β°C (425Β°F) for 15 minutes until golden. Cut into serving pieces, on or off the bone, and arrange in a deep dish.
- Grind the walnutsBlitz the walnuts with the garlic and 1 tsp salt in a food processor using short pulses, scraping down often, until you get a fine, damp crumb that clumps when pressed. Stop before it turns shiny and buttery; over-ground walnuts release oil and the sauce will split.
- Cook the onions and spicesMelt the butter or chicken fat in a pan over medium-low heat and cook the onions for 10-12 minutes until very soft and sweet but not browned. Stir in the coriander, fenugreek, marigold, cinnamon, cloves and chilli and cook for 1 minute until fragrant.
- Emulsify the sauceTake the pan off the heat and stir in the walnut paste. Now add the warm (not boiling) broth one ladle at a time, stirring well after each addition, like making mayonnaise, until the sauce is smooth and thick like double cream. You may not need all the broth.
- Warm gently and seasonReturn to the lowest heat and warm the sauce, stirring constantly, for 3-4 minutes until just steaming, about 80Β°C (175Β°F). Never let it boil. Stir in the vinegar, then taste and adjust salt, garlic and vinegar. It should be nutty, garlicky and gently tangy.
- Sauce, chill and servePour the sauce over the chicken so every piece is covered. Cool, then chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. The sauce thickens as it cools, so loosen with a spoon of broth if needed. Serve cool or at room temperature, scattered with pomegranate and coriander.
- Clarify the geographyServe the satsivi cold and the facts colder. When someone asks if it's a Southern dish, point at a map, sigh deeply and say "Tbilisi, Kevin." Toast with whatever you've got, Georgian style, and make the toast way too long.
Tips from the trenches
- Use the freshest walnuts you can find. Taste one first: if it's bitter or stale, so is your sauce.
- If the sauce splits, take it off the heat and blend in a few tablespoons of cold broth or a handful of extra ground walnuts.
- Garlic gets stronger as the sauce sits overnight, so go easy at first and add more the next day if needed.
- Toast the ground spices briefly in the fat; it rounds out the fenugreek's bitterness and gives the blend depth.
βCooking is like painting or writing a song. Just as there are only so many notes or colors, there are only so many flavors - it's how you combine them that sets you apart.β
