Georgian walnut salad
In summer this salad often appears on the Georgian table — both every day and at a supra, the traditional feast. Chunky tomatoes and cucumbers topped with a thick sauce of ground walnuts, garlic, coriander and blue fenugreek, sharpened with wine vinegar. Here walnuts do what mayonnaise or cream do in other cuisines: a creamy, rich sauce that coats the vegetables. The salad is fully plant-based, and its flavour depends on fresh walnuts — old, rancid ones are bitter and spoil the whole dish.
Your own work in that: 15 min.
- Walnut sauce 10 min
- Chopping 10 min
- Assembling 5 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneGrind the walnuts
Grind the walnuts with the garlic, fenugreek, coriander, chilli and salt in a food processor to a thick, slightly oily paste. Traditionally in Georgia they are put through a meat grinder twice.
Ingredients: 100 g fresh walnuts · 2 cloves garlic · ½ tsp blue fenugreek (utskho suneli) or 1/4 tsp ground regular fenugreek · ½ tsp ground coriander · 1 pinch chilli flakes · 1 tbsp white wine vinegar · 60 ml cold water · ½ tsp salt
Until they release their oil — the paste turns creamy.Thin the sauce
Add the vinegar, then the cold water a spoonful at a time, blending, until the sauce is as thick as cream. Taste — it should be clearly garlicky and slightly tangy.
Ingredients: 100 g fresh walnuts · 2 cloves garlic · ½ tsp blue fenugreek (utskho suneli) or 1/4 tsp ground regular fenugreek · ½ tsp ground coriander · 1 pinch chilli flakes · 1 tbsp white wine vinegar · 60 ml cold water · ½ tsp salt
Cut the tomatoes
Cut the tomatoes into large chunks, keeping the seeds — their juice blends with the sauce.
Ingredients: 500 g ripe tomatoes · 2 pcs cucumbers · ½ pcs red onion · ½ bunch coriander · 10 pcs basil leaves, ideally purple · ½ tsp salt for the vegetables
Big chunks — tomato juice is part of the sauce.Cut cucumbers and onion
Cut the cucumbers into thick half-moons and the onion into thin slices.
Ingredients: 500 g ripe tomatoes · 2 pcs cucumbers · ½ pcs red onion · ½ bunch coriander · 10 pcs basil leaves, ideally purple · ½ tsp salt for the vegetables
Chop the herbs
Chop the coriander and tear the basil leaves.
Ingredients: 500 g ripe tomatoes · 2 pcs cucumbers · ½ pcs red onion · ½ bunch coriander · 10 pcs basil leaves, ideally purple · ½ tsp salt for the vegetables
Arrange the vegetables
Arrange the tomatoes, cucumbers and onion on a platter and salt lightly.
Ingredients: 500 g ripe tomatoes · 2 pcs cucumbers · ½ pcs red onion · ½ bunch coriander · 10 pcs basil leaves, ideally purple · ½ tsp salt for the vegetables
Spoon over the sauce
Spoon the walnut sauce over the vegetables just before serving — do not mix, let it sit on top.
Ingredients: 100 g fresh walnuts · 2 cloves garlic · ½ tsp blue fenugreek (utskho suneli) or 1/4 tsp ground regular fenugreek · ½ tsp ground coriander · 1 pinch chilli flakes · 1 tbsp white wine vinegar · 60 ml cold water · ½ tsp salt
Sauce on top, just before serving.Scatter herbs and serve
Scatter with coriander and basil and serve at once — on its own or alongside grilled meat.
Ingredients: 500 g ripe tomatoes · 2 pcs cucumbers · ½ pcs red onion · ½ bunch coriander · 10 pcs basil leaves, ideally purple · ½ tsp salt for the vegetables
Before you start
Fresh walnuts
Taste the walnuts before using — if bitter or smelling of rancid oil, throw them out. Walnuts from the latest harvest, in autumn and winter, are best.
Sauce to keep
Similar walnut sauces and pastes are served in Georgia with poultry (bazhe), aubergine and green beans. The sauce keeps 3 days in the fridge in a sealed jar; blue fenugreek is sold in Georgian food shops and online.
Storage
Eat the salad at once — the tomatoes release juice and thin the sauce. Prepare the vegetables and sauce separately and combine before serving.
