Georgian Walnut-Garlic Chicken with Green Beans
Chicken browned in the pan, then folded through a raw walnut and garlic paste loosened with the water the potatoes boiled in.
Why it works
Walnuts blitzed with garlic, vinegar and a splash of starchy cooking water make an instant emulsion — the nut oil and the starch hold together the way a tahini sauce does, with no cooking at all, which is the satsivi principle stripped of its two hours. Browning the chicken first means the same pan boils the potatoes afterwards and the fond ends up in the water and then in the sauce. Everything goes together warm rather than hot, so the sauce stays loose and coats instead of splitting.
Method
- Boil the kettle. Set a wide pan over a medium-high heat with the oil and lay in the chicken in one layer with a pinch of the salt. Fry 6 minutes, turning once, until golden and firm and reading 74°C (165°F) at the thickest point. Scrape onto a plate with any juices.
- Meanwhile, put the walnuts, garlic, vinegar, ground coriander, fenugreek, cayenne, coriander leaves and ½ tsp salt into a small blender or a mortar and work them to a coarse, sandy paste.
- Pour the boiling water into the same pan with the rest of the salt, add the potatoes and boil hard for 8 minutes, dropping in the green beans for the last 4. The potatoes should give to a knife and the beans bend without snapping.
- Scoop out 150 ml (⅔ cup) of the cooking water, then drain and tip the potatoes and beans into a serving bowl.
- Loosen the paste with the reserved water a splash at a time until it falls from the spoon like thick double cream, then fold it through the warm potatoes and beans along with the chicken and its juices.
- Scatter the tomatoes over, finish with more coriander and a pinch of cayenne, and serve while the vegetables are still warm.
For the toddler
Fry a strip of chicken before the salt goes into the pan at step 1, and boil a few potatoes and beans in a separate pan of unsalted water. The walnut paste has cayenne and garlic blitzed through it from the start, so dress theirs with a little olive oil instead. Cut the potatoes and beans into soft finger-length strips, quarter the tomatoes lengthways, and chop the chicken small. Whole and chopped walnuts are a choking risk under five.
How the toddler notes workChef’s notes
Shop-bought roast chicken pulled into strips skips the first step entirely. Runner beans, broccoli or cooked beetroot take the same sauce — the pkhali principle.
Pound the sauce while the chicken browns; it is finished before the potatoes go in.
Warm shoti or any flatbread for the walnut sauce left in the bowl, and a saucer of pickled cabbage or radishes.
Keeps 3 days chilled and eats well cold. Loosen with a spoonful of water and sharpen with more vinegar.