Make Ahead

Aselila (Georgian Egg Salad with Walnuts & Sage)

by: Kukla

January 2, 2012

4

3 Ratings

Photo by Ty Mecham

Makes 1 1/2 cups

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Author Notes

Today I am sharing a recipe for an egg salad that is made with butter instead of mayonnaise, walnuts, sage, and a hot pepper relish called adzhika. This relish is easy to make or buy in specialty delis, but I used chipotle in adobo sauce, the Mexican condiment, which has almost the same taste. I also added lime zest and juice to brighten the flavor. Adapted and adjusted from the Delicious Georgian Cuisine website. —Kukla

Test Kitchen Notes

This recipe could be called Revelation Egg Salad. I grew up on egg salad made with Miracle Whip. For the past several years, our family recipe has been the one from “Mark Peel & Nancy Silverton at Home,” but their version is also mayo-based. This one relies on different flavors, with butter, lime, and hot pepper. It’s radical and delicious.
—luvcookbooks

Test Kitchen-Approved

Ingredients

5 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cooled
4 tablespoons butter, softened
¹/₃ cup toasted walnuts, finely ground
1 clove garlic, finely grated
6 fresh sage leaves, julienned
2 teaspoons lime juice plus zest of 1 lime
2 teaspoons adzhika or chipotle in adobo sauce

Directions

Finely mash the eggs with butter; stir in walnuts, garlic, sage, zest and lime juice, and the adzhika or chipotle in adobo sauce. Mix well until the mixture is homogeneous.
Turn out onto a serving dish and chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Can be made 1 day ahead. Serve with oven-baked pita, chips of your choice, or with good, fresh crusty bread.

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11 Reviews

Debbie E. March 10, 2021

This is absolutely delicious. I love the lime and slight hint of heat. Wow. Nice!

gardenchickens April 16, 2013

yum, this will make everyone look forward to lunch.

Kukla April 16, 2013

Thanks gardenchickens

Sagegreen January 19, 2012

What a great way to make an egg salad!

Kukla January 19, 2012

Thank you so much sagegreen! This is a very tasty egg salad and actually I never liked the version with just eggs and Mayo. Usually our recipe, which is called “Russian Salad”, is; equal parts of eggs and shredded cheese, such as good quality Havarti or Gruyere or Sharp Aged Cheddar or Fontina, 1 clove of finely minced garlic, a small amount of mayonnaise just to binned all of the ingredients, a little salt, a good amount of black pepper and I like to add about a teaspoon or two of lemon zest for freshness. Here you have a new recipe and “free of charge” (just kidding). Thanks' again for the comment!

Nostrovia_ca January 6, 2012

As I've been exploring Eastern European cuisine beyond the bounds of my family's Romanian and Ukrainian roots, I've been especially attracted to Georgian dishes, as I adore the walnuts they so frequently include. I haven't yet come across this unusual salad, however, and look forward to trying it. Thanks for sharing such a unique recipe.

Kukla January 6, 2012

Thank you Nostrovia_ca for a nice comment! Try the Delicious Georgian Cuisine on goggle and you'l fined many Georgian traditional recipes.

Nostrovia_ca January 7, 2012

I've now got Delicious Georgian Cuisine bookmarked, and I'm excited to see the most recent entry is for khachapuri, which I've been wanting to make (Silvena Rowe has a recipe for cheese khachapuri in her great cookbook The Central and Eastern European Kitchen). Thanks for the site recommendation!

Kukla January 7, 2012

Khachapuri is very similar to Romanian Plachinta, Greek Spanakopita and many other cheese filled savory and sweet pastries, which a love and make very often. I also fined that Georgian is closer to Middle Eastern cuisine then European because of the ingredients are used, such as nuts, aromatic herbs and spices.

Kukla January 3, 2012

Thank you so much ladies! When I’ve seen the theme of the contest, I right away recalled that Georgians use walnuts in a lot of savory dishes and Goggled Georgian Cuisine. The website Delicious Georgian Cuisine is a real treasure. I added lime to give the recipe the tanginess of Mayo. By the way aargersi, your custards the ugly and the beautiful sounds delicious.

aargersi January 3, 2012

I can't remember the last time I made egg salad - this sounds worth getting back at it! Yum!