Georgian Sauces

A distinctive feature of Georgian national cuisine is various sauces used to cook first and second courses. All the Georgian sauces are cooked from natural components: fresh vegetables, spices as well as berry and fruit juices. Tomatoes, pepperidge, pomegranate, sloeberry, tkemali are also often used. The sauces are enriched with garlic, nuts and grape vinegar to enhance flavor and zest . It is impossible to imagine a Georgian dish without greens. They are enhanced by cilantro , sweet basil, tarragon, parsley, mother-of-thyme, dill and peppermint, cinnamon, coriander, cloves and all kinds of pepper loved by all Georgians.

Many recipes to cook sauces were passed on from generation to generation, and nowadays cooking of sauces is something like a ritual – a tribute to the traditions. Every sauce is inimitable in its own way, but the unique feature of Georgian cuisine is that every sauce may be used for cooking of several various dishes.

The majority of Georgian sauces are divided into berry-vegetable sauces and satay sauces. The berry-vegetable ones are sauces based on juices of various fruits and berries. Among them can be mentioned prune sauce tkemali, comprising much pectins, tannins, vitamins improving digestion and metabolism. Thus the berry-vegetable sauces also include sloe, cornel, tomato ones as well as tklapi sauce and, of course, satsebeli, the main Georgian sauce.

Satsebeli is translated from Georgian as “sauce”, so one can say that it is the base for almost all Georgian cuisine. Satsebeli is cooked from fresh tomatoes, flavored with cilantro and dill, the resulted mix is flavored with coriander, menthe pulegium, fenugreek and blue melilot; sweet basil, sweet marjoram, Spanish paprika can also be added to it.

Another kind of traditional Georgian sauces is satay sauces. Nuts are one of the main ingredients for cooking various dishes. The satay sauces also include garo and satsivi (walnut sauce).

Garo sauce is prepared on the basis of nuts and chicken broth, enhanced with some cilantro, garlic and wine vinegar or grenadine juice. This sauce is usually used with roasted turkey or chicken.

Satsivi sauce is specially cooked for the dish of the same name – satsivi chicken. Satsivi is translated from Georgian as “chilled”, that is why the chicken is chilled after being cooked and the sauce itself is served chilled too. The sauce is cooked from chicken broth and the same walnut, and flavored with corn meal or wheat flour, garlic, onion and seasoning.

Georgian sauces add special taste, peculiar only for Georgian national cuisine. The Georgians pay much attention to cooking of sauces and none of Georgian dishes will be served without sauces suitable to it.