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Georgian cuisine is very varied and interesting, just like Georgia itself. The sauces alone are worth something. Traditional Georgian tkemali sauce can complement any dish and make it unusual and spicy. This sauce is usually served with meat and poultry. But it goes no less well with any side dishes. In this article I would like to consider some classic options for cooking tkemali in Georgian with a photo.
Secrets of making delicious tkemali
To make the sauce incredibly aromatic and tasty, you need to adhere to simple rules:
- Plums or cherry plums of any color are suitable for harvesting. The main thing is that the fruits are not very hard, but at the same time they are not overripe.
- Not all spices are suitable for this workpiece. Tkemali is best complemented by hot peppers, coriander and suneli hops. Combining these spices will give the sauce the right flavor and aroma.
- For some recipes, you need to peel the cherry plum. To do this, you just need to scald the berries with boiling water or soak them in hot water for a few minutes. After such procedures, the skin is easily removed from the cherry plum.
- It is not advised to cook the sauce for too long. Because of this, the taste will only suffer, and the vitamins will simply evaporate.
- Since tkemali has a natural composition, even children are allowed to use non-sharp workpieces. Of course, not on your own, but with the main course.
Classic yellow cherry plum tkemali recipe
It is very rare to find traditional tkemali. Most often, cooks add all kinds of spices and vegetables to the sauce, which only make it better. All existing recipes simply cannot be counted. Therefore, we will consider only the most popular classic sauce options that even inexperienced chefs can do.
Yellow cherry plum begins to ripen at the end of June. It is necessary not to miss this moment and be sure to prepare a delicious preparation for the winter from it. From yellow plums, tkemali is very bright and attractive. To prepare this sunny dish, you will need the following ingredients:
- ripe yellow cherry plum - one kilogram;
- garlic - two or three heads;
- edible salt to taste;
- granulated sugar - about 50 grams;
- hot red pepper - one medium pod;
- a bunch of fresh cilantro or 50 grams dry;
- a bunch of fresh dill;
- ground coriander - one teaspoon.
Cooking Georgian sauce:
- Wash the cherry plum and dry it on a towel. Then we extract the seeds from the berries and pass the fruits through a meat grinder. Or you can quickly grind the cherry plum with a blender.
- Pour the fruit puree into a saucepan with a thick bottom, add granulated sugar, salt and put the container on the fire. In this form, mashed potatoes should be cooked for about 8 minutes.
- In the meantime, you can peel the garlic, rinse the herbs and prepare the desired spices. Garlic can also be chopped with a blender, and the greens can be finely chopped with a knife.
- After 8 minutes, add all the prepared ingredients to the boiling mixture. Mix everything well and cook for a couple of minutes.
- At this stage, you need to try the sauce for salt and spices. You can add what is missing to your liking.
- Then you can start rolling the sauce. It is poured hot into sterilized jars and bottles (glass). Then the containers are closed with sterilized lids.
Georgian recipe for tkemali sauce in a slow cooker
Most housewives are already so used to multicooker that they practically do not use any pots or pans. Tkemali sauce can also be prepared simply and quickly using this wonderful device. But this requires a special recipe that will help the preparation to preserve its taste and piquant smell.
To prepare tkemali in a multicooker, you need to prepare:
- any plums (can be slightly greenish) - one kilogram;
- fresh garlic - at least 6 cloves;
- hot red pepper - one pod;
- 70% vinegar - one teaspoon per liter of tkemali;
- one bunch of parsley and dill;
- hops-suneli - 2 or 3 tablespoons;
- salt and sugar to your liking.
This sauce is prepared as follows:
- Wash plums, dill, parsley and peeled garlic under running water and put in a colander so that all excess liquid is glass.
- Then remove the seed from each berry.
- We put all the prepared ingredients in a multicooker, after which we grind the contents with a blender. If you are afraid of damaging the bowl, then chop the plums with herbs and garlic in a separate container.
- Now you need to add salt, all prepared spices, sugar and salt to the mass. Also, if desired, throw in chopped hot peppers.
- We turn on the "Quenching" mode and cook the workpiece for at least 1.5 hours.
- When the workpiece is ready, pour the hot sauce into sterilized jars and roll them up with sterilized tin lids.
- The containers are turned over, wrapped in a blanket and waiting for the conservation to cool completely. The jars can then be moved to a cool place or kept in the refrigerator.
How to cook tkemali with bell pepper
The main ingredient in the sauce is plums. But the taste of this Georgian delicacy depends not only on them. Much depends on all kinds of additives. For example, a very tasty preparation can be prepared with the addition of tomatoes, bell peppers and different varieties of apples. Many people cook tkemali with bell pepper. This vegetable has an unusual taste that makes the popular sauce even tastier.
So, first, let's prepare the necessary components:
- any plums or cherry plums - one kilogram;
- sweet pepper - 0.4 kilograms;
- fresh garlic - two heads;
- hot red pepper - two pods;
- spices and seasonings to your liking;
- granulated sugar and salt.
You can make plum and pepper tkemali like this:
- First you need to wash all the vegetables and plums. Then the seeds are removed from the plums and turn them into plum puree using a blender or meat grinder.
- Bulgarian and hot peppers are ground in the same way, and then garlic.
- The prepared mass must be rubbed through a sieve to achieve maximum homogeneity.
- Next, put the plum sauce on the fire and bring to a boil.
- After that, you should add the necessary spices and salt with sugar to the sauce according to your taste preferences.
- After that, the tkemali is boiled for another 20 minutes. Then the plum sauce is immediately rolled up. To do this, take only sterilized jars and lids.
Conclusion
Georgians don't cook plum tkemali for the winter according to some specific recipe. They often experiment by adding various spices and vegetables to plum sauces. Thus, you can prepare a wonderful workpiece from what is at hand. In turn, we also improved the recipe that came from Georgia, adding our favorite spices. Each such sauce is interesting in its own way. In this article, we have seen just a few variations of this wonderful delicacy. Be sure to make some jars of tkemali for the winter. Your family will definitely not let the cooked sauce stand for a long time.