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Guria is one of the regions of Georgia. Amazing Georgian cuisine in each small region is represented by original, unique dishes. Traditionally in this country, in addition to delicious meat dishes, there are also vegetable dishes. The Gurians also make preparations for the winter. One of them is Gurian pickled cabbage. In Georgian, it sounds like mzhave kombosto, where the word mzhave can have several meanings that relate to the technology of preparing the product: fermentation, salting and pickling. It is they who are used to prepare this delicious preparation.
What is Gurian cabbage made from?
The set of products for cooking this dish has also been verified for more than one century.
- The cabbage should be firm, medium in size, fully ripe.
- Beets should contain a lot of coloring pigments so that the pieces of heads of cabbage have an appetizing pink color.
- It is imperative to add hot capsicum, it is cut lengthwise or in rings, for a spicy dish, the seeds can not be removed.
- Garlic – it is put with whole cloves, removing only the hard skin.
- Celery – traditionally it is leafy, but if it is not there, long-term stored roots will do.
- Only salt is put in the brine for classic sauerkraut Gurian cabbage. Vinegar, sugar – the prerogative of pickled cabbage.
It is allowed to add carrots, as well as kohlrabi cabbage, to the preparation. The presence of spices is possible: ground pepper, red and black, horseradish roots, parsley, bay leaf.
And if it is undesirable to experiment with the composition of the workpiece, then the number of ingredients can not only be changed, but also necessary. This is how you will find the very recipe that will become a favorite for many years. The only thing that should not be changed is the amount of salt. Under-salted or over-salted dish will not give the desired result. One to two tablespoons of salt per liter of water will suffice.
Classic Gurian cabbage
Ingredients:
- cabbage heads – 3 kg;
- sweet beets of saturated color – 1,5 kg;
- 2-3 pods of hot pepper;
- a couple of large heads of garlic;
- celery greens – 0,2 kg;
- water – 2 l;
- salt – 4 tbsp. spoons.
Prepare the brine: boil water with salt, let cool. We cut heads of cabbage into sectors.
We cut the washed and peeled beets into rings. It is convenient to do this with a special grater. We clean the garlic. Small teeth are left whole, large ones are best cut in half. Pepper cut into rings.
We spread the vegetables in a bowl for fermentation in layers: we put the beets on the bottom, put the cabbage on it, on top of it – garlic and celery greens rumpled with our hands. Top – again a layer of beets. Fill the fermentation with brine and place a load on top.
After 72 hours, we pour out part of the brine, dissolve another 1 tbsp. a spoonful of salt and return the brine back, stirring well if possible. We sour cabbage with beets for a couple more days. Then we take it out to the cold. Actually cabbage is already ready for use. But if it stands for some more time, it will become much tastier.
Gurian sauerkraut
This recipe, in fairness, can also claim the title of classic. Initially, the workpiece was made precisely by the fermentation method. They modernized the recipe and began to add vinegar not so long ago, the real Gurian spicy cabbage is well fermented, so it contains a lot of acid. The number of ingredients is given per ten-liter bucket of the finished product.
Ingredients:
- 8 kg of cabbage heads;
- 3-4 large dark-colored beets;
- 100 g of garlic and horseradish;
- 2-4 pods of hot pepper;
- a bunch of parsley;
- 200 g of sugar and salt;
- spice.
We cut the cabbage into slices without cutting the stalk. Three horseradish on a grater, beets can be chopped into strips or cut into thin rings, like hot peppers.
We prepare the brine: dissolve salt and sugar in 4 liters of water, put spices and boil, cool.
As spices, we use cloves, allspice, laurel leaves, zira.
We spread the vegetables in layers, pour warm brine, set the load. The fermentation process takes 2-3 days.
We take out the finished fermentation in the cold.
Gurian pickled cabbage
There is also a classic recipe for Gurian pickled cabbage. It is also cooked with beets, but poured with hot marinade, adding sugar and vinegar to it. This piece is ready in three days.
Ingredients:
- cabbage heads – 1 pc. weighing up to 3 kg;
- garlic, carrots, beets – 300 g each;
- celery, cilantro, parsley;
Marinade:
- water – 2 l;
- sugar – ¾ cup;
- salt – 3 tbsp. spoons;
- a glass of 6% vinegar;
- 1 teaspoon of peppercorns, 3 bay leaves.
We spread in a bowl, chopped beets, carrots, large pieces of cabbage, layering everything with cloves of garlic, herbs. We prepare the marinade: boil water, adding salt, spices, sugar to it. After 5 minutes, add vinegar and turn off. Pour the preparation with hot marinade. We put the plate, put the load. After three days, we shift the finished pickled cabbage into a glass dish and send it to the refrigerator.
You can pickle cabbage in Gurian style in a different way.
Cabbage marinated in Gurian style with herbs
Ingredients:
- 3 cabbage heads and large beets;
- garlic head;
- a small bunch of parsley, dill, celery.
For the marinade:
- Art. a spoonful of salt;
- a glass with a quarter of 9% vinegar;
- 0,5 L of water;
- ½ cup of sugar;
- 10 peas of fragrant, as well as black pepper, bay leaf.
We cut the cabbage into slices along with the stalk, the beets into slices, we just peel the garlic. We spread the layers of vegetables, layering them with sprigs of greens and garlic. We prepare the marinade: boil water along with spices, salt, sugar. Let the marinade cool for 10 minutes, add vinegar and pour over the vegetables.
Let it stay warm for three days. Transfer to a glass bowl and refrigerate.
Surprisingly delicious Gurian cabbage, spicy as fire, red like the famous Georgian wine with a pleasant sourness, will come in handy with barbecue or other Georgian meat dishes. Yes, and with traditional strong alcoholic drinks, it will be an excellent snack. Try to cook this unusual preparation to plunge into the wonderful world of Georgian cuisine for a while.
