Circassian chicken or “çerkez tavuğu” is a distinguished dish of Ottoman cuisine. It was brought from the Caucasus to Turkey by the Circassians, who had to emigrate after being persecuted by the Tatars. A similar recipe called satsivi is found in Georgian cuisine, from which I extract some spices that I suggest trying in this preparation.
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
Vegetables for the broth (carrot, onion, celery, leek, etc.)
350 gr of shelled walnuts
2 garlic cloves
Some slices of bread from the day before
Salt, pepper, paprika
This dish is served cold and needs to be prepared at least a few hours in advance.
Chop the chicken and boil the pieces together with the vegetables, salt to taste and a bay leaf for about 45-50 minutes. Strain and when it has cooled, remove the skin, the bones, and shred it into the smallest possible pieces.
Keep the broth in the fridge, in order to easily defat it later, when it is cold.
Toast the nuts over very low heat for about 5 minutes. Lightly soak the bread with the defatted broth. Process the nuts and the bread together with the garlic (peeled and without the central germ). If necessary, add just a little broth so that the paste is not too dry and can be easily crushed. Mix with the shredded chicken, and season with salt, pepper and paprika. Serve with pita bread.
Tips and tricks:
- As a final touch, the recipe calls for seasoning with walnut oil. I have not mentioned this ingredient, as it can be hard to come by. I suggest not replacing this oil with others (olive, hazelnut, etc.), since the flavor of the dish changes remarkably. Just take care of keeping the oil that may come off the nuts when toasting them. And if the final result is a bit dry, it’s preferable to add some broth little by little, making sure that it is absorbed by the ingredients.
- The suggestion of adding a little broth also works when we don’t use bread in the mix. Actually, doing without bread is not something traditional, but necessary for those who follow a diet without carbohydrates and still want to enjoy this recipe.
- As mentioned above, there is a similar dish in Georgia. It provides for other spices such as coriander, clove or cinnamon seeds, and some more rare ones such as blue fenugreek and ground marigold.