Spicy sauce "Tkemali" from blue plums. Recipe for Tkemali plum sauce for the winter.
Actually, tkemali is primarily a plum, known to us as cherry plum. And the sauce of the same name, which is prepared from them, owes its amazing sour taste to these plums. Unfortunately, real tkemali plums can only be obtained in Georgia. Therefore, not everyone can prepare Georgian sauce No. 1.
Basic tkemali recipe
The first tkemali - unripe fruits of the cherry plum, or more precisely, the splayed plum - appear in Georgia in mid-spring. It is at this time that every decent Georgian housewife prepares the first tkemali sauce of the year, which is served with a variety of meat dishes. All neighbors and relatives are invited to this feast of taste. Tkemali is made throughout the summer, and is even prepared for future use, but also only from sour plums. There are quite a few recipes for making tkemali, but their essence is approximately the same.
So, if you are concerned about preparing the famous sour Georgian sauce, you should have everything you need on hand. Firstly, cherry plum. Green, sour, not ripe at all. Secondly, pennyroyal. This is a seasoning herb that is also very difficult to get outside of Georgia. But without ombalo (that very mint), tkemali will not be entirely correct. Thirdly, you will need garlic and various spices and herbs: dill, ground coriander, cilantro, red pepper and salt.
Sour plums are washed, filled with water and boiled for about 40 minutes. Then the plum is rubbed through a sieve, and the peel and seeds are thrown out. The result is a kind of green puree. This plum puree continues to be cooked until its consistency resembles thick sour cream. Next, you should thoroughly grind the seasonings, garlic and herbs, and add it all to the plum puree. All that remains is to bring the sauce to a boil and immediately turn it off. Those who prefer hot sauces can add more garlic and pepper. And lovers of delicate tkemali, on the contrary, will give preference to herbs.
Variations on the theme of tkemali
If you had a Georgian grandmother, you would hardly achieve her praise by making tkemali not from unripe cherry plums, but from green gooseberries. But what can you do if real tkemali can only be prepared in Georgia. We have to adapt traditional recipes to harsh reality. Therefore, many people make tkemali, deviating somewhat from the classical canons. For example, doing without ombalo, or replacing this herb with our native lemon balm or thyme. But under no circumstances can cherry plums be replaced with ordinary plums. It’s better to try cooking tkemali from sloe or the notorious green gooseberry. And it is very important to follow several rules:
1) when cooking plums, be sure to stir them with a wooden spatula, otherwise the puree will quickly burn
2) vinegar is never added to tkemali, even if they are prepared for the winter
3) if tkemali is being made for future use, after pouring the sauce into bottles, add a couple of spoons on top vegetable oil: This will prevent the sauce from spoiling.
As for the proportions, they are quite simple. For one and a half kilograms of plums, take 2 heads of garlic, a bunch of cilantro, dill and parsley, half a tablespoon of hot ground pepper and a teaspoon of salt. You can add ingredients and change proportions as much as you like: summer is long, and by autumn you will definitely invent your own unique tkemali sauce.
Cherry-fruited, cherry-shaped, cherry-bearing, splayed, cultivated - sonorous names for one type of “small”, and in some translations “beautiful plum”, or cherry plum. The fruits of these stone fruits are necessary for tkemali sauce, both authentic and adapted. The tender pulp of the fruit is pureed and creates the “correct” texture without thickeners, and the concentration of natural sourness is so high that canning the product for the winter is reliable and guaranteed. Put away the powdered citric acid and vinegar - there is no need for them today!
From the fragrant supplies, let's take suneli hops - this time we can't do without a universal and popular mixture in the Caucasus. Since suneli hops contain various dried and crushed herbs, the presence of your beloved can be increased. Add more crushed coriander, marjoram, pennyroyal (mint), basil or other spices. Typically, the spiciness should be moderate; do not overdo it with red pepper. And finally, a nuance - we add sweet varieties of plums, such as Hungarian plums, to the sour cherry plum. The ratio is approximately two to one. Hungarian softens, enriches the taste with velvety notes and colors the sauce itself.
So, the recipe for tkemali for the winter is made from stone fruits that are related - cherry plum and cherry plum. Let's get started!
Ingredients
- cherry plum (red, yellow) 700 g
- Hungarian plum 300 g
- fresh cilantro 7-10 branches
- garlic 3-5 teeth.
- hops-suneli 1-2 tbsp. l.
- red hot peppers 1/2 tsp.
- salt, sugar to taste
Cooking time: 50 minutes / Servings: 500 ml / Cooking utensils: saucepan
How to prepare tkemali sauce
Before cooking, wash all fruits in cold water, lightly dry - we reject only those that are clearly rotten, wormy or dried out. Overripe, outwardly unsightly and slightly unripe, spreading juice, we confidently take them to work. Load clean cherry plums and plums into a wide cauldron. Choose a spacious saucepan or basin to quickly boil and evaporate excess moisture. We leave the cherry plum whole, but immediately tear the fleshy and large Hungarian plum in half and remove the seeds. Mash it a little with a masher, releasing the juice, and put it on the top heat.
Sometimes we stir with a spoon, remove the mixture from the walls - the fruit pulp is instantly filled with liquid and no additional water is needed here. Cherry plum, even hard, is so full of juice that in a couple of minutes the structure of the brew changes. Now, without any extra effort on our part, the skin and seeds are separated, and the pulp turns into puree.
After a while, before our eyes, the yellowish-orange mass changes shade, becomes saturated with red, more appetizing. If you prepare tkemali sauce from exclusively yellow varieties of cherry plum and do not add plums, the color will not be the same as in the photo - the original yellow, muted mustard, will remain. This does not mean at all that the final taste will be worse, but in this version the sweet plum reduces the harshness of the sourness and “works” as a natural dye.
Now, perhaps, the most labor-intensive (ironic) stage of the recipe: grind it through a colander. We press the hot mass through the holes in small portions, act carefully, protecting your hands from burns. We separate the homogeneous silky liquid (juice plus puree) into a tray and keep the solid fragments (bones, shell) in a colander. And to restore the cook’s strength, be sure to fill the vitamin cake with water - the tonic drink will invigorate and energize you from the first sip.
Return the smooth, homogeneous and evenly colored composition to the pan - boil, reduce the heat and cook for the next 10 minutes at low bubbling. Do not cover, evaporating the liquid and stimulating thickening, stir occasionally with a wooden spoon.
In modern culinary versions, only dry seasonings are often used, but when you have fragrant and spicy young cilantro on hand, or even better, from the garden, don’t forget about fresh herbs - what tkemali recipe can do without it? After washing, finely chop the garlic cloves together with the peeled garlic cloves and throw them into the cauldron. We devote the remaining 10 minutes of cooking over the fire to enhance the aroma and taste.
Following the garlic and cilantro, add salt, granulated sugar, a combined spicy mixture of hops-suneli, and hot ground red pepper. The degree of spiciness and sweetness can be adjusted according to at will- stir, take a sample, increase the dosage of spices if necessary. Cook and saturate the sauce with seductive aromas for the last 10 minutes.
After removing from the heat, pour the still scalding tkemali sauce from the plums - for the winter we fill sterile glass containers: bottles, jars, and seal them hermetically. Let it cool, without wrapping it in a blanket, and put it in the pantry for storage. Under securely rolled up lids, tkemali is safely preserved at room temperature. There is enough acid to ensure the safety of the product without damage or loss of quality A after uncorking, like other winter preparations, put the sauce on the refrigerator shelf. Serve homemade tkemali with meat, poultry, fish, and side dishes.
For clarity, I’ll show you two tkemali sauces made from cherry plum (the Georgians call cherry plum tkemali), prepared at home for the winter. The first light one is made exclusively from yellow fruits, with a higher sugar content, the second terracotta is an assortment of stone fruits, with sweet plums, and therefore with moderate acidity. A spoonful of each of them is good in its own way and enriches even a modest dish. Try, choose, make a decision.
We take the “canned” summer, with its many-sided smells, in the cold season - we enjoy the splendor of tkemali with a good piece of meat, and with lean boiled poultry, and simply dipping the edge of a flatbread in the sauce. Bon appetit!
Cook tkemali - minutes.
The total cooking time for tkemali from 1 kilogram of plums is 1 hour.
How to cook tkemali
Products for tkemali
for 1 liter of tkemali
Plums or cherry plums - 2 kilograms
Cilantro or parsley - half a medium bunch
Dill - half a medium bunch
Garlic - 5 cloves
Dried hot pepper - half a teaspoon
Water - half a glass (150 milliliters)
Salt - 2 tablespoons
Vinegar - 1 teaspoon 70% vinegar
Sugar - 4 tablespoons
How to cook tkemali
1. Wash the plums, halve and remove the pits.
2. Place the plums in an enamel or brass pan.
3. Pour in water and put the pan on the fire, bring to a boil and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the juiciness of the tkemali.
4. Place the boiled plums in a colander; the plum broth will no longer be needed.
5. Rub the plums through a colander using a mortar. Remove the plum skin.
Wash and dry the cilantro and dill, finely chop or grind with a blender.
Peel and chop the garlic using a garlic press.
Place the plum puree on the fire, add salt, sugar, herbs, and spices. Bring tkemali to a boil with constant stirring and cook for 3 minutes, skimming off the foam.
Add herbs, garlic, pepper to the pan and cook for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat, add vinegar and stir.
Place the boiled tkemali sauce in sterilized jars and leave until completely cooled.
Fkusnofacts about tkemali
Plum varieties for tkemali
Fresh plums are suitable for tkemali: cherry plum, blue ripe or slightly unripe fruits, damsons (not to be confused with prunes, which are not suitable for making tkemali). Slightly ripe fruits are allowed.
How to serve tkemali
Tkemali is served in a sauceboat with meat, poultry, fish dishes, or simply on bread. Excellent as a sauce for kebabs, side dishes of vegetables, rice, pasta.
What to cook tkemali with
- IN traditional recipe
When adding sauce, you must add ombalo (mint or flea mint) - a spicy herb growing in the Caucasus.
- Ombalo has nothing in common with ordinary mint; this spice, if necessary, can be replaced with ground coriander seeds or thyme. Fresh herbs are added to the classic tkemali sauce: cilantro, dill, parsley, basil, and garlic.
- The only dried ingredient in tkemali is red hot pepper, but not ground, but chopped into small pieces.
- In modern recipes allowed use of dry herbs. They help maintain the bright and rich color of the sauce, which, when fresh herbs are added, acquires a brown tint, especially during long-term storage. You can also add tkemali when cooking
Any National cuisine famous for its dishes. The approach to cooking is different in each country. Chefs take these features into account, which is why there are dishes that are business card of one state or another. These include tkemali sauce. In Georgia, almost no meat dish can do without it. It is served with chicken, shish kebab, meat on a spit, fillet, cooked different ways. This sauce complements many pasta and potato dishes.
In the classic version, tkemali sauce is made from sour plums. In addition to them, garlic, pepper and lots and lots of herbs are added to the sauce. Most often these are dill and cilantro.
A prerequisite is to add mint to the sauce. It is believed that without it, the preparation of the sauce cannot be completely completed. Thanks to pennyroyal, fermentation of plums during the cooking process is eliminated.
But there are rules and there are exceptions. Therefore, chefs often take liberties by replacing some ingredients with others. For example, instead of plums, many take cherry plum - its sour relative. But this doesn’t make tkemali sauce any worse, and it has many admirers around the world.
Tkemali cherry plum sauce: subtleties of preparation
- For the sauce, you can use cherry plum of any color: yellow, red, green. Since the cherry plum for the sauce is boiled and during the heat treatment it becomes four times smaller, you need to take care of a sufficient quantity.
- Herbs and spices are added to the sauce depending on the type of cherry plum. Yellow goes well with fresh herbs. It is better to flavor red sauce with dried spices and herbs. Green cherry plum goes well with both fresh herbs and dry spices.
- If the housewife cannot get pennyroyal, then there is no need to worry. The sauce can be prepared without it.
- Thanks to the large amount of citric acid that is in cherry plum, tkemali is well stored in a cold place. If there are no suitable storage conditions, then the sauce, immediately after cooking while hot, is poured into sterile, dry jars and hermetically sealed.
- It is best to package tkemali in small jars, so that when you open the jar in winter, the sauce can be quickly used.
- In addition to the natural preservative citric acid, a large amount of garlic, pepper and salt are added to the sauce. All ingredients for it undergo thorough heat treatment in the form of cooking, so the sauce does not need sterilization. If all preparation rules are followed, and the finished product is packaged in sterile dry jars, then it is perfectly stored.
Tkemali sauce made from yellow cherry plum for the winter
Ingredients:
- yellow cherry plum – 1 kg;
- garlic – 125 g;
- red pepper – 5 g;
- green cilantro and dill – 150 g;
- salt – 50 g.
Cooking method
- Prepare half-liter jars in advance. To do this, first wash them with soda and then sterilize them, not forgetting to treat the lids.
- Sort the cherry plum fruits and remove any spoiled ones. Cut off the stems. Wash thoroughly in large quantities cold water.
- Cut the cherry plum on one side and remove the seeds.
- Place the fruits in a saucepan, cover them with salt and leave for a while so that the cherry plum gives juice.
- Place the pan on the fire and cook the cherry plum at a low boil until softened. This may take you 30 minutes.
- Place the soft cherry plum in a sieve along with the broth. Wipe it into the pan. All the pulp will end up in the bowl, and the skin will remain on the sieve.
- Over low heat, simmer the cherry plum puree until it thickens like sour cream. The time spent on this will depend on the variety of cherry plum and its juiciness.
- While the cherry plum is cooking, chop the herbs and garlic.
- Add spices and pepper to the cherry plum at the very end of cooking. Mix well. Cook for 4-5 minutes.
- Remove from stove. Immediately pack into heated, dry, sterile jars and seal tightly with sterile lids. It is advisable to cool upside down, wrapped in a blanket.
Tkemali sauce made from yellow or green cherry plum for the winter
Ingredients:
- green or yellow cherry plum – 5 kg;
- fresh cilantro – 2 bunches;
- cilantro seeds – 3 tsp;
- fresh fennel – 1 bunch;
- fresh mint – 2 bunches;
- dill greens – 2 bunches;
- garlic heads – 5 pcs.;
- hot red pepper (ground) - to taste;
- salt – 2 tbsp. l.;
- sugar - to taste;
- water – 1 tbsp.
Cooking method
- Sort the cherry plum, remove branches and spoiled fruits. There should also be no wormy cherry plums. Wash the fruits thoroughly in plenty of cold water.
- Place the cherry plum in a saucepan and add water. Place over moderate heat and cook until the fruits are soft.
- Place the boiled cherry plum in a colander, which is placed on the pan. Leave it in there to cool a little. Now start rubbing it through a colander. The process is long, but it's worth a little pain.
- After a while, only seeds with a small amount of skin will remain in the colander, and in the pan there will be excellent cherry plum puree.
- Then prepare the herbs and spices. Grind dill, fennel, mint, cilantro. Divide the garlic into cloves, peel and wash.
- Grind the coriander seeds. You can use ground coriander instead (which is the same thing).
- Place garlic and herbs in a blender. Turn them into a homogeneous mass.
- Place the pan with cherry plum on low heat and bring to a boil. Add ground herbs with garlic, as well as pepper, salt and sugar (if the cherry plum is very sour). If necessary, add a little boiled hot water. Cook over low heat for 30-40 minutes.
- At the end of cooking, scoop out a little sauce, cool, and taste to determine if there is enough salt and pepper. If you add spices, cook for another 10-15 minutes.
- While the sauce is cooking, you should prepare sterilized jars with lids. When pouring the sauce into them, they must be hot, otherwise they may burst due to temperature changes.
- While boiling, pack the sauce into jars and immediately seal it tightly. Cool upside down under the blanket.
Red cherry plum tkemali sauce for the winter
Ingredients:
- red cherry plum – 2 kg;
- garlic – 10 cloves;
- fresh cilantro – 1 bunch;
- hops-suneli - 2 tbsp. l.;
- sugar – 1-2 tbsp. l. (optional);
- salt – 2-3 tbsp. l.;
- ground red pepper - to taste.
Cooking method
- Sort the cherry plum, remove fruits damaged by insects and rot. Wash thoroughly in cold water.
- Remove the seeds from the cherry plum.
- Place the prepared cherry plum in a saucepan, add salt, and leave until the juice releases.
- Place the pan on low heat and cook the cherry plum until soft.
- Place the slightly cooled mixture in a blender and grind until pureed.
- Place it back into the pan and bring to a boil over moderate heat.
- Peel the garlic cloves and wash. Pass through a culinary press. Chop the greens. Combine with cherry plum. Place pepper, suneli hops, and sugar here. Stir. Cook everything together for 15 minutes.
- When hot, pack into sterile dry jars. Seal tightly with sterile caps. Turn it upside down, wrap it in a blanket and cool.
Note to the hostess
Dry spices can be used instead of fresh herbs. In this case, they are crushed into powder and added 15-20 minutes before the end of cooking.
Tkemali sauce can be stored without sealing. The finished sauce is poured hot into jars and cooled. Cover with regular lids and store in the refrigerator. In this case, there should be enough salt in the sauce so that it does not turn sour.
Recipe
In the classic version, multi-colored cherry plum is used for tkemali, but this is only due to the prevalence and availability of these fruits in the homeland of the famous sauce. Plums are superior to cherry plums in all respects: they have a more expressive taste and give the dish a beautiful lilac-crimson color. You will need ripe plums with red pulp.
The plums are washed and the tails are pulled off. The fruits are sorted and damaged fruits are removed.
Place the plums in a bowl and pour into water. First, set a small fire so that the fruit does not burn, because the bulk of the plums will rise above the surface of the water. But after 5 minutes, red juice will appear and the plums will float in the liquid. The fire is increased slightly. The total boiling time for the sauce base is 15 minutes.
Garlic, pepper and cilantro should not be limp or dry. To prepare tkemali for the winter, only fresh, juicy products are taken. The garlic is peeled and the seeds are removed from the pepper.
Of course, you can grind all the ingredients in a blender, but this will make the structure of the sauce slightly different. The most correct option is to finely chop the pepper and cilantro leaves with a knife, and squeeze the garlic through a press.
The plums are rubbed through a sieve. Warm plum mass is easier to clean than cold plum mass.
Salt, sugar and vinegar are added to tkemali.
Stir the sauce thoroughly until all grains of salt and sugar are dissolved.
If tkemali is not intended for long-term storage, you don’t need to boil it anymore. The sauce with “living spices” is infused for a day in the refrigerator and then served. But tkemali for the winter needs to be cooked longer: return the pan to the fire and boil for 10 minutes. If you want to get a very thick structure, the time is increased to 15-20 minutes.
Then, while still hot, the sauce is put into sterilized jars and stored for the winter. Plum tkemali is ready!
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