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Every now and then various purchased sauces appear on our table, which cost a lot of money, and they don’t add much benefit to the body. They have only one advantage – taste. But many housewives know that you can cook a wonderful tasty and natural sauce on your own, the recipe of which was invented a long time ago in Abkhazia. This sauce is called adjika. The product combines a whole range of products that allows you to get a combination of sharpness, acidity and sweetness.
Professional chefs and experienced housewives will surely be able to cook adjika according to several proven recipes. For novice cooks, choosing the best option from the whole variety of recipes can be very difficult. For them, we will try to highlight the best adjika recipes with garlic and pepper, you can find out more about them in the article below.
Recipes for a note
Adjika is a unique product that can be cooked without cooking and stored in the refrigerator throughout the winter. In this case, the ingredients retain their freshness and excellent taste, bring irreplaceable benefits to the human body. In addition to the “fresh” options, there are a huge number of different recipes using cooking. The process of heat treatment of products allows you to get a particularly delicate sauce of a homogeneous consistency, which is convenient to store in a pantry or cellar. Only the hostess herself can decide which recipe for making adjika, but we will offer the best options from pepper and garlic.
The classic recipe for “fresh” adjika
In winter, a lack of vitamins is especially felt, which a person seeks to compensate for with fresh fruits, vegetables, and sometimes medicines. Adjika, cooked without the use of cooking, in this case can become a real treasure, a storehouse of vitamins. Fresh garlic, tomatoes and peppers will make many dishes not only much tastier, but also healthier.
Set of products for cooking
The main ingredient of the sauce will be tomatoes. One recipe will require 2 kg of these fleshy, ripe vegetables. Bulgarian pepper in the amount of 750 g will complement the tomatoes and give a special taste to the finished product. Mandatory ingredients are also garlic (100 g), hot pepper (1 pod), 9% vinegar (100 ml) and salt (1 tbsp. L.).
Cooking in stages
Cooking “fresh” adjika will not take much time, but it is important to follow some rules, take into account the features of the product. The absence of heat treatment makes the sauce especially useful, however, technology violations can provoke fermentation, as a result of which adjika will deteriorate.
It is possible to prepare “fresh” adjika with high quality only if the following recommendations are observed:
- You need to choose ripe, but strong, fleshy tomatoes for the sauce, without visible damage on the surface. Their skin should be as thin as possible. Otherwise, it will have to be removed.
- Selected, quality tomatoes should be thoroughly washed and any moisture removed from their surface with a paper towel. Cut out the place of attachment of the stalk with a knife, divide the tomato into small pieces.
- Wash and peel the bell pepper, removing the seeds from the inside of the vegetable. Cut it into slices.
- Hot peppers can be de-seeded or saved. It depends on the preferences of the cook. The preserved grains will add spice to the sauce and make it more savory. If it is decided to make a particularly spicy adjika, then you can use 2 bitter peppers in one recipe at once.
- Garlic simply needs to be divided into cloves and peeled.
- Grind all ingredients. To do this, you can use a meat grinder or blender.
- Add the resulting mixture of vegetables with salt and vinegar. After that, the sauce must be kept for an hour at room temperature.
- It is necessary to store “fresh” adjika in sterilized jars under a tight nylon lid in a refrigerator.
This recipe is one of the best. It is difficult to overestimate its advantages: ease of preparation, lack of heat treatment, rich vitamin composition, long-term storage and excellent taste – this is not a complete list of the advantages of adjika from fresh vegetables. This healthy and tasty sauce will be an excellent addition to any dish.
A spicy recipe for always “fresh” adjika
Having decided to cook “fresh” adjika from pepper and garlic for the winter, you can use another interesting recipe. It is similar to the above recipe, but requires the use of ingredients in a certain amount, which allows you to make adjika more spicy.
Required Products
When making “fresh” or, as it is also called “raw”, adjika for the winter, the recommended proportions of ingredients should be strictly observed, since an excess or deficiency of one or another product can significantly reduce the shelf life of the sauce. As a basis for the preparation of adjika, it is recommended to use fleshy, ripe, red tomatoes in an amount of 3 kg. 1 kg of bell pepper will complement the sauce with its special taste and aroma. Garlic will need about 500 g, hot pepper is used in the amount of 150 g. You will also need to add 4 tbsp to the sauce. l. salt and 3 tbsp. l. Sahara.
Method of preparation
In the manufacture of adjika, it is necessary to follow all the basic rules for cleaning vegetables, as in the above recipe. This will make the product resistant to fermentation and mold. If we talk directly about the cooking process itself, then it can be described literally in three stages:
- Grind all prepared vegetables to a puree consistency. To do this, you can use a meat grinder or blender.
- After thorough mixing, add salt and sugar to the vegetable puree, then mix it again.
- Keep adjika at room temperature for 6-7 hours, then transfer it to jars and close tightly with a plastic lid. Store adjika should be in the refrigerator.
Adjika turns out to be quite spicy due to the large amount of garlic and hot pepper. However, this composition will allow a person to get the maximum amount of vitamins and keep warm in the cold winter period. You can add the sauce to the first and second courses or just eat it with bread.
Boiled adjika from bell pepper
Adjika is usually based on the use of tomatoes, however, there are recipes based on the use of zucchini, pumpkin or bell pepper. Pepper-based adjika is best suited for admirers of this vegetable. Preparing it is quite simple using a short boil. More details about the recipe can be found below in the section.
Set of products for cooking
As noted, the main ingredient of adjika will be bell pepper. It must be taken in the amount of 1,5 kg. Tomatoes are also present in the composition, but their number should not exceed 1 kg. Garlic and bitter peppers are used to spice up the sauce. Garlic is used in the amount of 300 g, hot pepper is taken in the amount of 3 pcs. Also, for cooking, you will need vegetable oil (50 ml), sugar, salt and vinegar (literally 1 tbsp each).
Features of preparation
Once all the necessary ingredients are collected, you can start preparing the sauce:
- Wash the bell pepper thoroughly, remove its stalk and grains from the inside. Cut the vegetable into small pieces.
- Peel ripe tomatoes from the skin and rough spots of fastening the stalk.
- Grind the tomatoes and peppers until a homogeneous puree, put the resulting mass in a saucepan and put on fire to boil.
- As soon as the mixture of vegetables begins to boil, add salt, sugar, oil and vinegar to it.
- The recommended cooking time is 1,5 hours.
- While boiling, stir the mixture regularly. 10-15 minutes before the end of cooking, add chopped garlic to the adjika. At the same time, you can taste the sauce and, if necessary, add the missing spices to it.
- Arrange the finished product in jars and preserve.
Of course, during heat treatment, some useful substances from adjika disappear, but its naturalness is still predominant in comparison with purchased sauces and ketchups. The main advantage of boiled adjika is long-term storage without observing the temperature regime. You can store a canned product in a pantry or cellar.
Without tomatoes
This recipe is unique in that it contains absolutely no tomatoes. The base of the sauce is red bell pepper. The taste of such adjika can complement absolutely any dish, reminiscent of a warm summer.
Cooking Products
Despite the fact that the basis of the sauce is sweet pepper, the taste of adjika is very sharp. This is a consequence of the fact that 2 g of garlic and 200 chili peppers are added to 5 kg of sweet peppers. You can brighten up the sharpness with sugar. The amount of this ingredient must be added to taste, but the amount of 8 tbsp is considered optimal. spoons. As preservatives, add 2 tbsp. l. salt and 100 ml of apple cider vinegar 9%.
Features of preparation
Adjika for the winter from bell pepper will be prepared using short-term heat treatment. The whole process will take a little time, because a limited number of vegetables can be quickly washed and peeled. Adjika will cook only until boiling. The following points can tell you in detail about the preparation:
- Wash the sweet pepper, remove the stalk and grains from the inside from its surface.
- There is no need to de-seed hot peppers, only the stalk needs to be removed.
- Grind two types of peppers and peeled garlic with a meat grinder.
- Add the remaining ingredients to the mixture, bring it to a boil and arrange in sterilized jars.
- You need to store adjika from pepper in the refrigerator.
Georgian adjika
Georgian adjika is special. Hot pepper is used as the basis for its preparation. Without trying this seasoning, it is difficult to imagine what a sharp and rich taste it has. You can cook it for the whole winter, while you do not need to cook the ingredients. Adjika is stored in the refrigerator and, if necessary, can always complement meat, fish or mushroom dishes. Spicy seasoning can also be added to borscht as a dressing.
Ingredient Set
You cannot spread Georgian adjika on bread and eat it with spoons: it is too spicy, but it is great as a seasoning for soups or meat dishes. Prepare adjika in small portions. So, for one recipe, 300 g of garlic and hot peppers, 100 g of herbs and 50 g of salt are used. Dill, cilantro, tarragon and parsley are traditionally used as herbs in equal proportions.
Cooking fast and tasty
An experienced hostess will cook Georgian adjika in just 30 minutes. Novice cooks may be interested in how to cook adjika according to a Georgian recipe quickly and tasty. And there are no special tricks in cooking. To do this, you only need:
- Peel the garlic, wash the pepper. You can remove the seeds from the pepper if you like.
- Grind pepper and garlic with a meat grinder.
- Rinse the greens, dry and finely chop with a knife. Mix it with salt.
- After thorough mixing, leave the sauce on the table until the salt has melted. Then mix adjika again and transfer to jars.
- You need to store Georgian adjika in a refrigerator.
This recipe preserves the traditions of cooking adjika as much as possible. After all, once it was prepared by mixing herbs, garlic and other spices with salt in equal proportions. This seasoning was put on bread and enjoyed the spicy taste and excellent aroma of adjika. Today, most recipes are based on the use of vegetables that are neutral in taste, which allow you to get an analogue of delicate sauces and ketchups. Spicy adjika from garlic and hot pepper can also be prepared according to the Abkhazian recipe without cooking. An example of its preparation can be found in the video:
Conclusion
Healthy eating is the fashion trend of our time. Everyone wants to maintain their health and beauty by using only the most natural and healthy products. Adjika is such a product. Serving it to the table, the hostess shows her concern for relatives and friends. The variety of recipes allows you to choose a cooking option that satisfies the taste needs of each family member.