For any housewife, especially a beginner, cooking adjika is a kind of skill test. After all, adjika, due to its pungency, is considered a sauce for a strong half of humanity. And if your workpiece is to the taste of the men in your family, then the recipe must be saved, and then, experiment with it indefinitely, ensuring that the taste of adjika becomes universal and everyone, without exception, will like it.
Although adjika is considered a primordially Caucasian seasoning, this article will focus on a dish with unusual ingredients. Indeed, in Russia, it is customary to call adjika any spicy seasoning made from chopped vegetables and herbs. And beet adjika for the winter will be able to decorate both your festive table and serve as an irreplaceable seasoning for your everyday menu.
Caucasian recipe
Paying tribute to tradition, first try to cook beet adjika according to the traditional Caucasian recipe, which is a bit like the beetroot appetizer salad often used on holiday tables.
For it you will need:
- Medium-sized beets - 2 pieces;
- Garlic - 2 cloves;
- Walnuts - 150 grams;
- Cilantro - 50 grams;
- Hot pepper - 1 pod;
- Ground black pepper - 5 g;
- Cumin (Zira) - 5 g;
- Balsamic vinegar - 50 ml;
- Rock salt - 60 grams.
The beets are washed, peeled with a vegetable cutter and grated. Cilantro is washed and finely chopped. The garlic is peeled and minced. Hot peppers are freed from tails and seeds and finely chopped.
Walnuts are chopped and crushed.
To begin with, the beets must be stewed in a pan with the addition of a spoonful of water and vegetable oil, as well as salt, cumin and black pepper for 25 minutes.
Stir well, cool and spin everything through a meat grinder or grind with a blender.
All grated components are reheated, brought to a boil and heated for another 10 minutes. After that, balsamic vinegar is added to the almost finished adjika, everything is brought to a boil again and, while still hot, is laid out in sterilized jars. After rolling, adjika should be placed in a cool and dark place.
Russian recipe
Since this recipe was invented in Russia, its traditional use is as a dressing for borscht. However, since beet adjika turns out to be unimaginably tasty and beautiful, it is quite suitable for a festive table.
What do you need?
- Beets - 2 kg;
- Tomatoes - 2 kg;
- Bulgarian sweet pepper - 0.5 kg;
- Garlic - 1 head;
- Carrots - 0.5 kg;
- Hot pepper - 2 pods;
- Herbs of your choice - 100 grams;
- Salt - 60 grams;
- Vinegar - 3 tbsp. spoons;
- Refined vegetable oil - 4 tablespoons;
- Granulated sugar - 60 grams;
- Curry - 1 tsp.
First, vegetables and herbs are washed and cleaned of all excess. Then they are cut in such pieces that it is convenient to pass them through a meat grinder. At the next stage, it is the process of grinding all components with the help of a meat grinder that is carried out.
First, oil is poured into a thick-walled pan, brought to a hot state, when a barely noticeable smoke begins to rise from it. Chopped beets are fried first in a saucepan for about 30 minutes. Then tomatoes and carrots are placed in a saucepan and all together they are boiled for another 20 minutes.
At the next step, sweet pepper is added, and the whole vegetable mass is heated for 10 minutes. Finally, hot peppers, garlic and herbs are added to adjika.Everything is heated for another 15 minutes. At the very end, salt, sugar, spices are put into the pan and the required amount of vinegar is poured. After the adjika boils again, it can be laid out in sterile jars and rolled up.
Adjika with beets prepared according to this recipe can be stored even in a regular room, but preferably without light, for example, in a kitchen cabinet.
Adjika with apples
This adjika, despite its rather rich composition, is extremely easy to prepare, so you should definitely try it. All the main ingredients are taken in the same composition and quantity as for the previous recipe. But instead of vinegar, you will use about one kilogram of sour apples here. From spices for the same amount of vegetables, 1 teaspoon of coriander is added, and more sugar is taken - 150 grams.
All prepared vegetables are twisted through a meat grinder, laid out in a saucepan, the vegetable mass with apples is brought to a boil and cooked over low heat for about one hour with occasional stirring. At the end of cooking and stewing, add oil, salt, sugar and spices. Delicious and very healthy seasoning - the appetizer is ready.
Be sure to try to cook beet adjika according to one of the above recipes, and as a result, not only your relatives, but also guests at the festive table will be pleasantly surprised.
