Kuchmachi

Ingredients

Offal

• 800 gchicken hearts, livers and gizzards, or pork offal
• milk, for soaking the liver

Pot

• 3 tbspoil or butter
• 3onions, sliced
• 5 clovesgarlic, crushed
• 150 mldry white wine

Walnut sauce

• 200 gwalnuts, finely ground
• 1 tspground coriander
• 1 tspblue fenugreek
• 1 tspdried marigold
• ½ tspground cinnamon
• ½ tspground cloves
• 1 tspchilli
• 150 mlstock or water
• salt

To finish

• seeds of 1 pomegranate
• 1large bunch coriander

To serve

• bread
• wine

Directions

1. Trim the offal carefully: cut the tough silverskin from the gizzards, the tubes from the hearts, and any green from the livers.
2. Soak the livers in milk for 20 minutes, then drain and dry them thoroughly.
3. The milk soak takes the metallic edge off, and drying them afterwards is what lets them sear rather than steam.
4. Boil the gizzards separately for 25 minutes until tender, because they are far tougher than the rest and never catch up otherwise.
5. Fry the onions in the oil until soft and golden.
6. Add the hearts and cook 5 minutes, then the boiled gizzards.
7. Add the livers last and cook them for 3 minutes only.
8. Livers in last and out first. They are done in about three minutes and turn to grit if cooked as long as the hearts.
9. Pour in the wine and let it bubble down by half.
10. Grind the walnuts as finely as you can, almost to a paste.
11. Grind them fine. Coarse walnut sits in the sauce as gravel where finely ground walnut releases its oil and thickens everything, which is how every Georgian walnut sauce works.
12. Mix the ground walnuts with the coriander, blue fenugreek, marigold, cinnamon, cloves, chilli and garlic, and loosen with the stock.
13. Stir the walnut sauce into the pan and warm it through gently for 5 minutes.
14. Do not let it boil once the walnuts are in. Boiled hard, the oil separates out and sits on the surface as a slick.
15. Season with salt and check the balance, which should be nutty, warmly spiced and faintly sour.
16. Take it off the heat and stir in most of the chopped coriander.
17. Scatter pomegranate seeds and the rest of the coriander over the top.
18. The pomegranate is not decoration. Its sharp bursts against the rich walnut and offal are the whole balance of the dish.
19. Serve warm rather than hot, with bread, as part of a supra spread.

Technique

• It is served as one dish among many at a Georgian table rather than as a main course.
• Blue fenugreek and dried marigold are the two spices that make it Georgian, and both are worth buying.
• It is good at room temperature and is often made ahead.

Substitutions

• Pork or lamb offal in place of chicken.
• Ordinary fenugreek with extra coriander if blue fenugreek is unavailable.

Variations

• Made with pork liver and heart.
• Drier, cooked down until the sauce clings.
• Without walnuts, as a simpler fried offal dish.

History

Nose-to-tail supra dish using heart, liver and lungs, dressed warm with walnut sauce and pomegranate.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kuchmachi?

Kuchmachi is a main from Georgia: chicken or pork offal cooked with walnuts, wine and pomegranate seeds. Nose-to-tail supra dish using heart, liver and lungs, dressed warm with walnut sauce and pomegranate.

How long does Kuchmachi take to make?

Kuchmachi takes 40 min of preparation and 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Kuchmachi?

Yes, within limits. Pork or lamb offal in place of chicken. Ordinary fenugreek with extra coriander if blue fenugreek is unavailable.

What is the most important thing to get right in Kuchmachi?

The milk soak takes the metallic edge off, and drying them afterwards is what lets them sear rather than steam.