To paraphrase a well-known expression, I will ask: “Do you love Georgian cuisine as much as I love it?” I really like the food traditions in this blessed country. Meat, fish, vegetables, bread, a lot of vegetables and herbs - what you need for health and longevity. Dishes are prepared with wise simplicity, nothing superfluous. And, of course, many dishes are served with various sauces, which add a wonderful taste to salads, meat and fish.
Today I will prepare the traditional Georgian sauce Bazhe based on walnuts. Bazhe is served with chicken, meat, baked vegetables, as well as simply with bread or flatbreads.
Usually Imeretian saffron is put in this sauce, but, unfortunately, I didn’t prepare it... Imeretian saffron is crushed dried marigold flowers. Marigolds are quite common flowers, so if you are interested, you can prepare this spice in the summer.
To prepare the Bazhe sauce, I will use ordinary saffron - dried crocus stigmas. This is what a crocus looks like.
But we digress, let's get started making the delicious Georgian Bazhe sauce. These are the ingredients we need.
Let's prepare saffron, coriander (you can use ground) and garlic - we will finely chop it or grate it, this will make it easier to grind the mixture.
Place the ingredients in a mortar and add a little salt.
Finely chop the green cilantro and take hot pepper to taste.
We will try to grind the ingredients in a mortar; if we cannot grind them until smooth, we will additionally pass them through a meat grinder.
And now the most fascinating moment begins - we will gradually add boiled chilled water to our mixture (you can use chicken broth).
And grind it, mix the water into our sauce. And again add a little water.
I admit, at that moment I imagined how a Georgian housewife was preparing Bazhe for her men, who would soon go to work. We can say that love and care are important components of this wonderful sauce. The consistency of Bazhe sauce should be like liquid sour cream, something like this. If you rub it with a spoon, a small mark remains for a few seconds. But you can vary the thickness, you can make Bazhe more liquid.
Bazhe sauce with walnuts goes great with meat, poultry, fish, and vegetables. Today I have a chicken chop, the sauce gave the dish a unique aroma and taste!
Bazhe sauce will allow you to diversify your Lenten menu. Georgian housewives know a lot about sauces! Adding sauce to various vegetable dishes will not only enrich their taste, but also give you strength for the whole day, because nuts are very high in calories. Help yourself!
To make the classic bazhe sauce, you will need a short list of ingredients. The basis of the dish is walnuts - take a glass with a good pile of peeled kernels to get a rich taste. You also cannot do without garlic and spices, which Georgian cuisine loves very much. Utskho-suneli, Imeretian saffron, coriander, red and black pepper will give the sauce a recognizable taste and aroma. To add the missing sourness and better reveal the aroma of the seasoning, you will need an acid - lemon juice or white wine vinegar will do. We will bring the sauce to the desired thickness by adding water, so do not forget to boil a couple of glasses in advance and cool to room temperature.
Bazhe's secrets
If you ask a Georgian housewife what is most important in preparing bazhe, she will tell you that you need the right ingredients and strong hands. Nuts, garlic and seasonings need to be thoroughly ground to a paste, so the main thing is to be patient and use a mortar. You can make the task easier by using a meat grinder or blender, but you will still have to work with your hands.It is very important to buy the “right” nuts. The kernels should not be bitter. Choose light colors, then the seasoning, as expected, will be colored in light nut tones. The kernels should be filled with juice, selected, and not dried out and shriveled, then they will turn out to be a good fatty paste, which means that the kernels will be tasty.
Among the seasonings, coriander, utskho-suneli, Imeretian saffron (marigolds), and hot pepper are usually added to Georgian bazhe. However, in different regions of the country the proportions and set of spices may change, and if we add to this the personal preferences of each housewife, then there are countless options for the sauce, but the cooking principle is the same for everyone - grind and dilute with water. Shall we get started?
Total cooking time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Yield: 300-400 ml
Ingredients
- shelled walnuts – 1 tbsp. (100 g)
- garlic – 3 large cloves
- coriander seeds – 1/2 tsp.
- Utskho-suneli – 1/2 tsp.
- Imeretian saffron – 1/2 tsp.
- salt – 1/2 tsp.
- hot red pepper – 1/3 tsp.
- black pepper – 1-2 chips.
- lemon juice – 1 tbsp. l.
- boiled water – 100-200 ml
Preparation
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Let's start with nuts. They need to be sorted out so that shell fragments do not come across.
The nuts need to be ground to a paste. To make your task easier, you can use a meat grinder or blender. The ground nuts should turn into a homogeneous mixture, fine-grained, without large pieces. It’s best to run it through a meat grinder twice, but a powerful blender with a knife attachment does the job faster, in 2-3 minutes.
I peeled the garlic, put it through a press and put it in a mortar. Salt and all the seasonings were poured there: coriander seeds, utskho-suneli, saffron, red and black pepper. I carefully ground the spices and garlic in a mortar.
Then, 1-2 spoonfuls at a time, poured ground nuts into the mortar, grinding them with a pestle to a paste.
You should get an almost homogeneous mass. If the nuts are of good quality, the mixture will be oily and will release nut oil. Pour the resulting paste into a bowl. Add acid - I used freshly squeezed lemon juice, which can be replaced with white wine vinegar.
The mass turns out to be very thick, so it needs to be diluted with cold boiled water. Add a little at a time, literally 1 spoon at a time, thoroughly stirring the contents of the bowl. You need to add enough liquid so that the sauce has the consistency of liquid sour cream. You can make it a little thicker or thinner, but it shouldn't flow like water.
As a rule, nut sauce is served with chicken or fish, eggplant and cabbage dishes. Bazhe is placed on the table in a bowl or in a gravy boat. The sauce is poured over the dish, dipped in gomi or eaten with mchadi. It tastes hot and spicy, with a pronounced nutty taste and garlic aroma.
If you dilute it not very carefully, but choose a thick consistency, it will turn out like in the next photo. For everyone and at will. Bon appetit and delicious culinary experiments!
Fans of Georgian cuisine are well aware that sauces occupy one of the leading positions in it.
Experienced housewives know how a well-chosen sauce can turn an ordinary dish into a gourmet dish. Jesus Bazhe has the same properties. In Georgia, it is prepared in every home, served on weekdays and at the holiday table. At its core, bazhe is a nut sauce, because walnuts play the main violin in the orchestra of its ingredients. They make up 70% of the total composition of the sauce. Professional chefs consider it a lighter version of satsivi, which is no less popular in Georgia.
Bazhe's culinary secrets
One of the secret ingredients of the sauce is Imeretian saffron, which is difficult to find in Russia. Therefore, it can be replaced with the Indian variety, which is sold in our supermarkets. However, if you want to use just such an ingredient, you can dry marigold flowers, chop them, and you will get real Imeretian saffron. It is from this plant that Imeretian saffron is obtained in Georgia.
Since the sauce is prepared with walnuts, you should choose the right product. The nut kernels should be light in color and not bitter in taste, then the finished seasoning will, as expected, be colored in light nut tones.
A rich nutty taste, colored with a thick garlicky melody, is obtained from young garlic and walnut fruits. In Georgia, where the nut grows, this is easier to do. We have to be content with what we can buy in the store. It’s easier with young garlic: you can buy it at the market or ask your neighbors who have a dacha.
The question with the list of spices is not important; you can add those that you like best. In Georgia, coriander and suneli hops, cilantro juice and other herbs are added to the sauce. The Megrelian version of the sauce uses fresh cilantro. It should be noted that in different regions of the country, nut sauce contains different proportions of the main ingredients, but the preparation method is the same.
You should not add fragrant spices, as they can overwhelm the nutty base of the dish.
Basic recipe
Ask a Georgian housewife what is most important in preparing bazhe, and she will tell you that it requires the right ingredients and strong hands. The basic recipe includes:
- walnuts (shelled) - 1.5 cups;
- garlic – 3 large or 6 small cloves;
- boiled water – 400 ml;
- half a lemon;
- red and black pepper, suneli hops, saffron - a pinch or to your taste;
- salt to taste.
Cooking process:
- Choose the nut kernels for the sauce carefully. They should be large, light, and “meaty.” Dry and wrinkled kernels have no place in a dish. All nuts should be crushed in a blender, meat grinder or mortar, as convenient for you.
- Peel the garlic and pass through a crush. You can grate it on a fine grater or simply crush it with the flat side of a knife blade.
- Mix garlic, salt and chopped nuts. Grind all the ingredients again. We need to get an almost homogeneous mass. While grinding, add water. We make sure that the consistency is not very thick, but also does not flow like water.
- Now you need to beat the mass, adding spices to it.
- Transfer the sauce into a deep bowl, add juice squeezed from half a lemon or wine vinegar.
- Mix the mixture with a spoon and serve.
Easy option
If this is your first experience in preparing Georgian cuisine, try the lighter version, with less nuts and garlic. For the dish we will need:
- walnuts (kernels) – 250 grams;
- chicken broth or water - arbitrary amount for dilution;
- garlic – 2-3 cloves;
- red pepper (ground) - to taste;
- suneli hops – 1 teaspoon;
- saffron (dried) – 1 teaspoon;
- cilantro – 1 teaspoon;
- wine vinegar or lemon juice - 1 tablespoon;
- salt to taste.
Preparation:
- We pass the peeled walnuts through a meat grinder 2-3 times or grind them in a blender. Place in a deep bowl.
- Peel the garlic, finely chop it, add it to the nut mixture.
- Immediately add all the spices and salt to the mixture.
- Now we roll up our sleeves and begin to knead the contents of the bowl with our hands. In Georgia, housewives crush and crush clean nut mass with their hands, squeezing nut oil out of it, which is then used for dressing salads and baking. They drain the oil into a separate bowl.
- A well-kneaded mass turns out to be very thick, which is why we need chicken broth or cold boiled water. You need to add enough broth so that the sauce has the consistency of thin sour cream.
- Add wine vinegar or lemon juice to the sauce. Mix the ingredients again. Now our sauce is ready.
What dishes are served with?
Let's start with the fact that the sauce should be served on the table in a gravy boat or in a bowl. The pleasant nutty-garlic spice of the gravy goes well with chicken and fish. The main dish can be boiled or fried, it doesn’t matter; the sauce will add its own flavor to it, giving the dish a special piquancy.
If you are going to prepare a second course of broccoli or eggplant, complement your culinary masterpiece with Bazhe sauce, and it will really surprise your family and friends. You can pour the sauce over the dish or spread it on bread.
For Russian cuisine, the taste of gravy is unusual and specific. When planning to cook it, take into account the taste preferences of your household. A lot of garlic and walnuts may seem unnecessary at first and you won’t like it. Prepare an easy version of nut gravy and use it to test the reaction of your home gourmets to a new culinary delight.
Be careful, high in calories!
This Georgian gravy has a very high calorie content. There are 240 calories in 100 grams of product. Despite the obvious vegetarian essence of the sauce, the walnut makes it heavier. This sauce should be given to children with caution due to its pungency and difficulty in digesting. Children's digestion has difficulty coping with such dishes, and the body may respond with an allergy or disorder.
Obviously, the gravy is not suitable for dietary nutrition either. Once a month there will be no harm from it, but it is better to avoid frequent use if you are watching your weight. We would like to wish you a pleasant appetite and a joyful culinary acquaintance with an extraordinary Georgian dish.
Bazhe sauce, my great-grandmother pronounced it “bazha,” is a universal nut-garlic sauce of Georgian cuisine. The sauce is spicy, spicy and at the same time tender, very tasty. In addition, this water sauce is vegan and meatless. Bazhe nut-garlic sauce goes well with vegetables, poultry and fish dishes. Along with the sauce, my family really likes bazhe, based on the Armenian skhtor-matsun. All Caucasian cuisine recipes- By .
Compound:
- Walnuts - 1 cup
- Garlic - 3-4 cloves
- Utskho-suneli spice (fenugreek) - 1/2 teaspoon
- Imereti saffron - on the tip of a knife
- Coriander - 1/2 teaspoon
- Ground black pepper, red hot pepper, salt - to taste
- Wine vinegar or lemon juice - 1 tablespoon
- Water - 1 glass
How to prepare nutty garlic Georgian sauce Bazhe, a universal seasoning for vegetables, poultry or fish dishes
Walnuts should be as light as possible and of excellent quality. The sauce should be almost white.
Place walnuts and peeled garlic in a blender
Grind the nuts and garlic in a blender into a paste. Good, fresh nuts make the paste slightly oily and almost smooth.
Grind nuts and garlic into a smooth paste Transfer the nut-garlic paste from the blender. Add chilled boiled water and dilute the sauce to the desired thickness. Add water little by little, a tablespoon at a time, and stir the sauce. Usually the bazhe sauce is diluted to the consistency of medium-fat sour cream.
Add water and stir the sauce to the desired consistency Add light wine vinegar or freshly squeezed lemon juice. I like it better with lemon juice.
Add vinegar or lemon juice and stir Add spices, salt the sauce to taste, mix thoroughly.
Add spices, salt to taste Bazhe nut-garlic vegan sauce, a popular seasoning in Georgian cuisine, is ready.
Baje sauce (baja) Most of all I love Bazhe sauce with cold chicken, boiled fish and
Georgian nut sauce bazhe is ideal as a side dish sauce for chicken and fish. Just like satsivi, bazhe is prepared very often in Georgia; it is a universal nut sauce that absolutely every housewife can prepare. Preparing bazhe is very simple, the most important thing is to choose light and non-bitter nuts for the bazhe. Try it, this is a very tasty dish! A real bazhe should be light in color and have a slightly thick consistency.
Bazhe - nut sauce
Ingredients
– walnuts – 250 g,
- garlic - 2 cloves,
- chicken broth or boiled water,
- Georgian spices: suneli hops, cilantro and yellow flower (Imereti saffron (marigolds of the Asteraceae family)) - 1 teaspoon each,
- ground red pepper,
- wine vinegar - to taste, approximately 1 tbsp,
- salt - to taste.
See another recipe, Abkhazian: .
Preparation
Walnuts should be minced 2-3 times. Instead of a meat grinder, you can use a blender. To the rolled nut mass add chopped garlic, spices (suneli hops, cilantro and yellow flower), salt and ground red pepper.
The mass should be mixed well, but not with a spoon, but with your hands. Many housewives in Georgia knead the ground nuts and squeeze out the nut oil, which is collected in a separate bowl, then when serving, pour this oil over the bazhe sauce (the dry nut mass, when kneaded with your hands for 5 minutes, becomes greasy and moist and releases nut oil). You don't have to do this. By the way, the nut butter obtained in this way is very tasty and ideal for dressing salads.
Dilute the nut mass with spices with chilled chicken broth or boiled water to the desired consistency. Add wine vinegar to taste.
Serve with fish, fried or boiled chicken.
By the way, if you put boiled chicken in the Bazhe sauce, you will get one of the varieties of satsivi, because satsivi is prepared in different ways.
Personally, I like to cook it with the addition of water, without chicken broth - I like it better) And I use only wine vinegar in the recipe; table vinegar, and especially apple vinegar, is not suitable.
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