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Georgian cuisine is very diverse and interesting, just like Georgia itself. The sauces alone are worth it. Traditional Georgian tkemali sauce can complement any dish and make it unusual and spicy. This sauce is usually served with meat and poultry. But no less well it goes with any side dishes. In this article, I would like to consider some classic options for cooking Georgian tkemali with a photo.
Secrets of cooking delicious tkemali
To make the sauce incredibly fragrant and tasty, you need to follow 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 not overripe.
- Not all spices are suitable for this preparation. Best of all, tkemali is complemented by hot pepper, coriander and suneli hops. The combination of these seasonings will give the sauce the right taste and aroma.
- For some recipes, you need to peel the cherry plum from the skin. 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 a mild preparation. Of course, not on its own, but with the main course.
Classic yellow cherry plum tkemali recipe
It is very rare to find traditional tkemali. Most often, chefs 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 preparation 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 turns out to be 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 of dry;
- a bunch of fresh dill;
- ground coriander – one teaspoon.
Preparation of Georgian sauce:
- Wash plum and dry on a towel. Then we extract the bones from the berries and pass the fruits through a meat grinder. Or you can quickly grind cherry plum with a blender.
- Pour fruit puree into a saucepan with a thick bottom, add granulated sugar, salt and put the container on fire. In this form, the puree should cook for about 8 minutes.
- In the meantime, you can peel the garlic, rinse the herbs and prepare the necessary spices. Garlic can also be chopped with a blender, and finely chopped greens 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 taste 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). The containers are then closed with sterilized lids.
Georgian tkemali sauce recipe in a slow cooker
Most housewives are already so accustomed to multicookers that they practically do not use either 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 workpiece retain its taste and piquant smell.
To prepare tkemali in a slow cooker, you need to prepare:
- any plums (may 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 to drain all excess liquid.
- Then we remove the stone from each berry.
- We put all the prepared ingredients in a slow cooker, after which we grind the contents with a blender. If you are afraid to damage 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 chopped hot pepper.
- We turn on the “Extinguishing” 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 up with sterilized tin lids.
- The containers are turned over, wrapped in a blanket and waiting for the preservation to cool completely. Then the jars can be transferred to a cool place or stored in the refrigerator.
How to cook tkemali with bell pepper
Plums are the main ingredient in the sauce. But it depends not only on them what the taste of this Georgian delicacy will be. Much depends on various additives. For example, a very tasty preparation can be prepared with the addition of tomatoes, bell peppers and apples of different varieties. Many people cook tkemali with bell pepper. This vegetable has an unusual taste that only makes the popular sauce tastier.
So, first we 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 cook tkemali from plums and peppers like this:
- First you need to wash all the vegetables and plums. Then the seeds are removed from the plums and turned into plum puree using a blender or meat grinder.
- Bulgarian and hot peppers are crushed in the same way, and then garlic.
- The prepared mass must be rubbed through a sieve to achieve maximum uniformity.
- Next, the plum sauce is put on fire and brought 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, tkemali is boiled for another 20 minutes. Then the plum sauce immediately begins to roll up. To do this, take only sterilized jars and lids.
Conclusion
Georgians do not prepare tkemali from plums for the winter according to a specific recipe. They often experiment by adding different spices and vegetables to plum sauces. Thus, you can cook a wonderful workpiece from what is at hand. In turn, we also improved the recipe that came from Georgia by adding our favorite spices. Each such sauce is interesting in its own way. In this article, we saw only a few options for this wonderful delicacy. Be sure to make a few jars of tkemali for the winter. Your family will definitely not let the cooked sauce stand for a long time.