Georgia About

Nuts are a popular ingredient in Georgian cuisine. In this old, family recipe we show how to make a spicy hazelnut sauce for a fried chicken dish.

Ingredients: 1 whole young chicken, 5 cloves of garlic, 150 grams of hazelnuts, 1 tsp of dried marigold, half tsp of dried coriander, half tsp of Blue Fenugreek, tiny pinch of cinnamon, 1 clove (aromatic dried flower bud), fresh green coriander leaves (for garnish), half tsp of red pepper, 20 ml of oil, and salt (amount dependent upon preference).

Preparation: Nut, Garlic and Spice Sauce: Add the hazelnuts to a hot pan and heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently. This will make the hazelnut skins easier to remove.

Remove the hazelnuts from the pan and rub them to remove the skins.

Add the garlic and spices to a mortar and crush them.

Add the hazelnuts (a few at a time) to the crushed garlic and spices and crush.

The crushed hazelnut, garlic and spice mixture should be fairly coarse, like in the picture below.

Preparation: Chicken: Cut the chicken length ways but do not separate into two halves. Rub oil and salt on to both sides of the chicken. Flatten the chicken out and add to a pan of hot oil and press it down.

Use a pestle or any suitable heavy object to keep the chicken flat so that it cooks evenly.

Fry both sides of the chicken.

When the chicken is cooked, turn off the heat and remove the chicken from the pan and cut into pieces. Do not discard the oil as it will be used to fry the garlic, spice and nut mixture.

Add 50 ml of water to the pan that was used to fry the chicken. Add the crushed garlic, spice and nut mixture.

Heat for 1 minute, stirring continuously.

Serving: Pour the hot sauce onto the chicken pieces. Garnish with fresh coriander and serve immediately.

Enjoy your chicken with spicy hazelnut sauce!

CLICK on the logo to visit GEORGIA ABOUT on Facebook and see photos and news about Georgia. Click LIKE on the page and become a friend of GEORGIA ABOUT.

Related articles

• About Food – Shkmeruli (chicken cooked in milk and garlic) (georgiaabout.com)