The main traditional dish of Georgian New Year’s table, especially in western Georgia, you will probably agree, is Satsivi. In every family, there is an ancestral recipe, written neatly in the grandmother’s recipes from generation to generation or transmitted verbally. The gastro guide will share two recipes with you, keep reading and stock up on ingredients.

In Barbara Jorjadze’s book “Sruli Samzareulo” (Complete Cuisine) published in 1874, we find turkey Satsivi in Gurian style, but the recipe is different from Satsivi that we prepare nowadays for the New Year. The main difference is the amount of vinegar and herbs, as Barbara mentions.

According to Barbara, the ingredients needed for Satsivi are:

1 turkey, half cup of vinegar, herbs, half a pound of walnuts (which weighs about 200 grams), 2 onions, two cloves of garlic and salt.

Cook one fat turkey and then fry it on a spit (in a modern kitchen we can use the oven). Boil vinegar and 3 cups of turkey broth, add sliced ​​walnuts, finely chopped onion, sliced ​​garlic, coriander and other herbs, whatever you have at hand - writes Barbara. Boil everything well together. Pour the juice over the cut turkey and serve cold.

Here I also offer my Gurian grandmother’s recipe, with a small interpretation of her granddaughter.

You will need:

• 1 hen or turkey
• 1 middle- size onion
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 400 g walnuts
• 4-5 cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp spicery
• 2 tsp dried coriander
• 1 tsp saffron
• ½  tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp clove
• ¼ tsp coarsely ground red pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar or lemon juice
• 1-2 tsp salt

Boil the hen or turkey until ready. Remove from the obtained broth and add a large pinch of salt. Cut into slices of desired size and bake slightly in the oven for a few minutes at high temperature.

Remove the fat from the broth and cook the finely chopped onion in this fat. Sprinkle the onion with a pinch of salt so that it does not over-roasted.

The walnuts should be crushed, although it is possible to mince (preferably twice) or blend in a food processor. Chop the walnuts with the garlic and spices, put it in a bowl and mix with the turkey broth, about 3 cups. Keep another 1 cup in the broth in case Satsivi mass thickens after boiling.

When the onion becomes transparent, add flour and mix well. Fry for a few more minutes.

Pour the walnut mass, add the bay leaves, salt, pour the vinegar until boiling and bring to a boil. Taste, add salt or other spices, if necessary.

You can blend Satsivi mass in a blender or put though a strainer to remove all onion pieces. Remove the bay leaves before blending.

Pour the cooled mass into the turkey slices and put in fridge.

It is advisable to prepare it Satsivi one day before, so that the taste of the spices saturate well. You can dilute a thickened mass with the broth or boiled water.

Enjoy!