Nut sauce (bazhe)
20 servings
60 minutes
Bazhe is the basis of any satsivi, be it with chicken or pike perch. It is added at the end of cooking, in the sauce the pieces of poultry or fish slowly cool, soaking up the nutty aroma. The walnut version of bazhe is better known in the world, but in good Georgian homes it was traditionally prepared from the more delicate hazelnuts.
1
Pass the nuts through a meat grinder to turn them into a paste.
- Walnuts: 500 g
2
Gradually, while stirring the nuts, pour in water in a thin stream to dilute the sauce to the consistency of liquid sour cream.
3
Peel and crush the garlic in a mortar.
- Garlic: 2 cloves
4
Add chopped cilantro leaves to the mortar.
- Coriander: 1 bunch
5
Add a generous pinch of salt.
- Salt: to taste
6
Add khmeli-suneli, utsho-suneli, red pepper, and saffron to the sauce.
- Khmeli-suneli: 5 g
- Utskho-suneli: 5 g
- Ground red pepper: 7 g
- Saffron: 3 g
7
Also add crushed garlic with greens.
- Garlic: 2 cloves
8
Mix
9
Pour vinegar into the sauce.
- Wine vinegar: 1 teaspoon
10
Mix again.