Walnut sauce

Walnut sauce

Walnut sauce (also known as walnut paste) (Georgian: საცივი) is a food paste made primarily from walnuts. It is popular in Georgian cuisine.

Varieties

There are numerous varieties of walnut sauce, and Georgian cuisine alone boasts of dozens of them.

Bazha

Bazha (Georgian: ბაჟა) is the most versatile of Georgian walnut sauces, made with either red wine vinegar or pomegranate juice. As is typical of the Georgian palette, this sauce is slightly tart as sweeteners are not used by Georgians in their cooking.

Satsivi

Satsivi (Georgian: საცივი) is a Georgian sauce made of walnuts and served cold either as a dipping sauce for bread, or sauce for boiled or fried game or fish. Traditionally, satsivi is made of walnuts, water, garlic, combination of dried herbs, vinegar, cayenne pepper, and salt to taste. In this way, satsivi in the Caucasus is similar to the nut and/or legume-based paste sauces to the south, such as the hummus (which often contains garlic, lemon juice--a souring agent--, and tahini, or sesame butter/paste) varieties found in Armenian, Syrian, Israeli, etc. cuisine.

Sterlet with satsivi

Boiled turkey or chicken pieces submerged in satsivi is a staple of winter holiday feasts.

Here is a recipe of Satsivi of turkey/chicken:

Put a singed, drawn and thoroughly washed turkey into a saucepan. Cover it with water and boil. Remove scum in the process of boiling. Take the boiled turkey out of the pan and spread salt over it. Remove the fat from the broth and stew finely shredded onions on it. Mince walnuts through a mincing machine 2–3 minutes. Pound garlic, coriander, pepper, saffron, cinnamon, dilute them in vinegar. Leave 2/3 of the broth in the pan, put the prepared mass and stewed onions into the pan. Boil for 8–10 minutes. Cut the turkey into the medium size pieces and put them into the pan. Remove it from the stove in about 10 minutes.

See also

• Fesenjān
• Wet walnuts
• Nigvziani badrijani