Adjika: the most delicious recipe 

A fragrant paste-like sauce, usually red in color, characterized by pungency and piquancy, is commonly called adjika. Today, homemade adjika is made from tomatoes and sweet bell peppers, adding ingredients such as apples, carrots, garlic, hot peppers, and greens to the sauce. In fact, there are many varieties of adjika, you can even cook it from zucchini.

From this article you can learn how to cook delicious adjika, as well as choose the most interesting recipe for spicy sauce.

History of adjika

This sauce first appeared in Abkhazia, its name is translated as “salt”. Initially, adjika was prepared from only three components: ground black pepper, salt and garlic. All the ingredients were thoroughly ground in a mortar until the consistency of adjika resembled butter.

Warriors and seafarers took such a spice with them on campaigns, hunters and shepherds ate it, that is, those who left their home for a long time.

Over the years, the traditional adjika recipe has been transformed, hot pepper and various herbs, such as dill, cilantro, and parsley, have become an obligatory ingredient in its composition. Still, this sauce is too hot, not everyone can eat it, and you need to have good health for this. Therefore, domestic housewives have made significant adjustments to the traditional recipe, modern adjika mostly consists of bell peppers and tomatoes, and spicy ingredients only add piquancy to the sauce.

Adjika is also good as a separate dish, it is spread on bread, eaten with meat and barbecue, used as a sauce for pasta and cereals. Delicious adjika can be prepared from almost any vegetable, there are recipes with eggplant, zucchini, walnuts, horseradish, carrots.

Adjika from tomato for the winter

The classic recipe for delicious adjika is prepared on the basis of tomato juice, so both fresh tomatoes and ready-made tomato juice can be used as the main ingredient.

So, to prepare a classic sauce for the winter you will need:

• 2,5 kilograms of tomatoes or three liters of tomato juice;
• 1 kg of bell pepper;
• 1 kg of sweet and sour apples;
• 1 kg of carrots;
• three hot peppers;
• 200 gram of garlic;
• half a cup of sugar;
• half a cup of vegetable oil;
• incomplete stack of salt;
• 150 ml of vinegar (9 percent);

It is necessary to prepare a vitamin winter preparation, following these recommendations:

1. All vegetables and fruits are thoroughly washed under running water, after which they are cleaned, the stalks are cut off, and the seeds are removed.
2. Now these components need to be passed through a meat grinder. To make adjika more tender, it is recommended to do this three times. Unlike a blender, a meat grinder, even after grinding three times, leaves grains in the sauce, which provides it with a peculiar structure.
3. The sauce is put on a slow fire and, stirring occasionally, cook for at least an hour.
4. Now you can add all the spices and mix everything well again. Be sure to bring adjika to a boil and only then turn off the burner.
5. The finished sauce is poured into sterile jars and rolled up with clean lids.

Probably, this recipe for homemade adjika is the most delicious, because homemade adjika turns out to be tender, beautiful and very healthy. BUT those who do not like spicy at all can reduce the amount of garlic and hot pepper on their own, then the sauce will become even softer and sweeter.

How to cook “stray adjika”

Not according to all recipes, adjika must first be boiled and then corked into jars, there is a more interesting alternative. The recipe for this sauce is based on the fermentation process. For cooking, you will need the following ingredients:

• 2 kg of tomatoes;
• 1 kg of garlic;
• 0,5 kg of bell pepper;
• 0,3 kg of hot pepper in pods;
• 2 tablespoons of salt.

Cooking adjika according to this recipe is very simple, you just need to perform a series of product manipulations:

1. Wash everything thoroughly, clean from seeds and stalks.
2. Grind all the ingredients with a meat grinder.
3. Add salt, mix and put in the kitchen for fermentation. This will take several days – 3-5 (it all depends on the air temperature in the room).
4. The mixture must be stirred several times a day.
5. When gases cease to be produced (there will be no bubbles in the sauce), adjika will be ready for use.
6. The sauce is laid out in jars, which are stored under nylon lids in the refrigerator.

The sauce, which does not undergo heat treatment, contains almost the same nutrients and vitamins as fresh vegetables. Hot pepper helps to strengthen the immune system, so eating “stray” adjika is not only tasty, but also healthy.

Colored adjika for the winter

Another sauce recipe that does not require seaming is that ready-made adjika is simply stored in the refrigerator, where it can easily stand all winter. The taste and aroma of the sauce is fully preserved for several months.

Sauce should be prepared from the following products:

• from three to ten hot peppers (depending on how much the family loves spicy dishes);
• a glass of peeled garlic cloves;
• a large bunch of greens, you can take a mixture of seasonings such as cilantro, dill and parsley;
• 5 large sweet peppers;
• 5 pieces of tomatoes;
• a glass of sugar;
• a spoonful of salt;
• vinegar essence in the amount of 1 tbsp. l. (the proportion is indicated for 70% vinegar).

All ingredients for green adjika are ground in a food processor. You can also use a meat grinder or blender, but keep in mind that the consistency of the sauce can vary greatly depending on the method of grinding.

Vinegar, sugar and salt are added to the ground vegetables and herbs, everything is mixed well, laid out in sterile jars and sent to the refrigerator.

Caucasian spicy adjika

The recipe for this adjika is most similar to the national Abkhazian dish, a sauce that is not used to be seen in Our Country. It must be said that it turns out adjika is very, very spicy, because it contains more hot pepper than tomato or some other ingredients.

To prepare the sauce you need to take:

• 1,3 kg of ripe tomatoes;
• 2,3 kg of hot pepper (red or green – it doesn’t matter);
• 3,3 kg of garlic.

You need to cook adjika according to the Caucasian recipe slowly, everything is done in stages:

1. Cut only the stalks off the peppers, do not clean out the seeds. Wash and dry each peppercorn.
2. Peel the garlic too. To prepare adjika, it must be dry.
3. Pass all components through a meat grinder.
4. Fold the blanks into a bowl or pan (use only enamel or glassware), cover with gauze folded in several layers. Leave the sauce in this form for several days to ferment (about seven days).
5. After the specified time, remove the pasta that has risen up with a slotted spoon and put it in a separate clean bowl.
6. The liquid remaining in the pan can be poured out.
7. Season the reserved “cap” with salt to taste, pour a few tablespoons of sunflower oil, mix.
8. Now adjika can be laid out in jars and hidden in the refrigerator.

You can eat such a sauce immediately after preparation, and after a couple of months – adjika can be stored for a long time in a sterile jar at a constant temperature of +5 degrees.

Zucchini adjika

The sauce can be prepared not only on the basis of traditional tomatoes, zucchini can also act as the main ingredient. You can make a delicious preparation for the winter from the following products:

• 2 kg of young zucchini;
• 0,4 kg of tomato paste (can be replaced with a large amount of thick tomato juice);
• 2 tablespoons coarse salt;
• a glass of sugar;
• a stack of vinegar;
• 10-12 cloves of garlic;
• hot pepper in this recipe is put to taste;
• a glass of sunflower oil;
• any fresh herbs.

Prepare winter sauce in the following sequence:

1. Peel all the ingredients, cut the peel from the zucchini.
2. Grind the zucchini with a meat grinder, put in a separate bowl.
3. Pour greens, garlic and hot peppers chopped in a meat grinder into another bowl.
4. Pour tomato paste or juice into the squash mass, add all the spices indicated in the recipe (except vinegar), mix and put on a slow fire. Cooking adjika should be about 20-25 minutes.
5. Without removing from heat, add ground garlic, pepper and herbs to adjika, pour in vinegar, mix and cook for another five minutes over low heat.
6. Adjika is poured into sterile jars, rolled up with lids, and then turned upside down and wrapped in warm clothes or blankets.

According to this recipe, the sauce is tender and very satisfying. Adjika can be used as a side dish or a separate dish, like caviar.

Delicious Armenian adjika

Adjika prepared according to this recipe turns out to be quite spicy, in principle, like all dishes of Armenian cuisine. That’s why those who prefer a more delicate taste should reduce the amount of hot pepper while increasing the mass of the bell pepper.

The set of products, in principle, is standard, but there are some deviations. So, will need:

• 3 kg of bell pepper;
• 2 kg of hot red or green pepper;
• 0,25 kg onions;
• 0,2 l of vegetable oil;
• 0,25 liters of fresh tomato paste;
• a large bunch of parsley;
• salt should be added to taste.

The method of preparing the sauce is very similar to the previous recipe:

1. First of all, all products should be washed, cleaned and dried.
2. Both sweet and hot peppers are ground with a meat grinder.
3. Onions, garlic and herbs are also chopped with a meat grinder, but each product is laid out in a separate bowl.
4. Pour vegetable oil into the pan, pour the onion there. Stirring, fry it for five minutes.
5. Then add the garlic, mix and pour the chopped pepper.
6. Cook adjika in oil until the pepper changes color.
7. After that, tomato paste is poured, chopped parsley is poured, salt to taste and adjika is boiled for another 15-20 minutes.
8. Such a sauce can be rolled into jars, or it can be stored on the shelf of the refrigerator.

To summarize

Such a spicy sauce will definitely appeal to everyone, you just need to choose the most suitable recipe. Cooking adjika is easy, even novice housewives or men, who, in principle, rarely go to the stove, can do it. For beginners, it’s better not to choose adjika recipes that involve fermentation, it’s better to cook the sauce after all – this way you can be one hundred percent sure that it is ready and safe for health and digestion.

Recipes with photos from this article will definitely help you decide on the adjika option for the winter. When preparing this sauce for the first time, you need to take into account its spiciness – such dishes can only be eaten by absolutely healthy adults. For a children’s or dietary table, it is better to choose softer sauces, for example, the same adjika, but with apples.