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Various store-bought sauces appear on our table every now and then, which cost a lot of money, and do not add much benefit to the body. They have only one advantage - taste. But many housewives know that they can independently prepare a wonderful, tasty and natural sauce, the recipe for which was invented a long time ago in Abkhazia. This sauce is called adjika. The product combines a whole range of products, allowing you to get a combination of pungency, acidity and sweetness.
Professional chefs and experienced housewives will certainly be able to prepare 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 recipes for adjika with garlic and pepper, you can find out detailed information about which in the article below.
Recipes to note
Adjika is a unique product that can be prepared without cooking and stored throughout the winter in the refrigerator.In this case, the ingredients retain their freshness and excellent taste, bringing irreplaceable benefits to the human body. In addition to “fresh” options, there are a huge number of different recipes using cooking. The process of heat treatment of products allows you to obtain a particularly delicate sauce of uniform consistency, which is convenient to store in the pantry or cellar. Only the housewife herself can decide which adjika recipe to choose, but we will offer the best options from pepper and garlic.
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 medications. Adjika, prepared without 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 meaty, ripe vegetables. 750 g of bell pepper will complement the tomatoes and add 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).
Cooking step by step
Preparing “fresh” adjika does not require much time, but it is important to follow some rules and take into account the characteristics of the product.The lack of heat treatment makes the sauce especially useful; however, violations of the technology can provoke fermentation, as a result of which the adjika will deteriorate.
It is possible to prepare “fresh” adjika only if you follow the following recommendations:
- 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, high-quality tomatoes should be thoroughly washed and all moisture removed from their surface with a paper towel. Cut out the place where the stalk is attached with a knife, and divide the tomato into small pieces.
- Wash and peel the bell pepper, removing the grains from inside the vegetable. Cut it into slices.
- Hot peppers can be seeded or saved. It depends on the preferences of the cook. The reserved grains will add heat to the sauce and make it more savory. If you decide to make a particularly spicy adjika, you can use 2 hot peppers at once in one recipe.
- The garlic just 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 this, the sauce must be kept for an hour at room temperature.
- “Fresh” adjika must be stored in sterilized jars under a tight nylon lid in the refrigerator.
This recipe is one of the best. Its advantages are difficult to overestimate: 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 made 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 prepare “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 quantity, which makes the adjika more spicy.
Required Products
When making “fresh” or, as it is also called, “raw” adjika for the winter, you should strictly follow the recommended proportions of ingredients, since an excess or deficiency of a particular product can significantly reduce the shelf life of the sauce. As a basis for preparing 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. You will need about 500 g of garlic, 150 g of hot pepper. You will also need to add 4 tbsp to the sauce. l. salt and 3 tbsp. l. Sahara.
Cooking method
When making adjika, you must follow all the basic rules for peeling 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, it can be described in literally three stages:
- Grind all prepared vegetables to a puree consistency. To do this, you can use a meat grinder or blender.
- After thoroughly mixing, add salt and sugar to the vegetable puree, then mix it again.
- Keep the adjika at room temperature for 6-7 hours, then transfer it to jars and close tightly with a plastic lid. Adjika should be stored 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 during the cold winter period. You can add the sauce to first and second courses or simply 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 fans of this vegetable. It is quite simple to prepare using short cooking. You can find out more about the recipe in the section below.
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 quantity should not exceed 1 kg. Garlic and hot peppers are used to add spiciness to 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).
Cooking features
Once all the necessary ingredients have been collected, you can start preparing the sauce:
- Wash the bell pepper thoroughly, remove its stem and grains from the inside. Cut the vegetable into small slices.
- Peel ripe tomatoes and remove any rough spots on the stem.
- Grind the tomatoes and peppers to a homogeneous puree, put the resulting mass in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
- As soon as the vegetable mixture begins to boil, add salt, sugar, oil and vinegar to it.
- Recommended cooking time is 1.5 hours.
- During boiling, it is necessary to 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.
- Place the finished product in jars and preserve.
Of course, during heat treatment some beneficial substances from adjika disappear, but its naturalness is still advantageous in comparison with store-bought sauces and ketchups. The main advantage of boiled adjika is long-term storage without observing temperature conditions. You can store the canned product in the pantry or cellar.
No 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 warm summer.
Products for cooking
Despite the fact that the sauce is based on sweet peppers, the taste of adjika is very spicy. This is a consequence of the fact that 200 g of garlic and 5 chili peppers are added to 2 kg of sweet peppers. You can brighten up the spiciness with sugar. The amount of this ingredient should be added to taste, but the optimal amount is considered to be 8 tbsp. spoons As preservatives, add 2 tbsp to the sauce. l. salt and 100 ml apple cider vinegar 9%.
Cooking features
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 only cook until it boils. The following points can tell you about the preparation in detail:
- Wash the sweet pepper, remove the stem and grains from the inside from its surface.
- There is no need to peel hot peppers from seeds; you only need to remove the stalk.
- Grind two types of peppers and peeled garlic in a meat grinder.
- Add the remaining ingredients to the mixture, bring it to a boil and pour into sterilized jars.
- You need to store adjika from pepper in the refrigerator.
Georgian adjika
Georgian adjika is special. Its preparation is based on hot pepper. Without trying this seasoning, it is difficult to imagine what a sharp and rich taste it has. You can prepare it for the whole winter, and you don’t 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.
Set of ingredients
You can’t spread Georgian adjika on bread or eat it with spoons: it’s too spicy, but it’s great as a seasoning for soups or meat dishes. Adjika is prepared in small portions. So, for one recipe they use 300 g of garlic and hot pepper, 100 g of herbs and 50 g of salt. Dill, cilantro, tarragon and parsley are traditionally used as greens in equal proportions.
Cooking quickly and tasty
An experienced housewife will prepare Georgian adjika in literally 30 minutes.Beginning cooks may be interested in: how to cook adjika according to the Georgian recipe, quickly and tasty. There are no special tricks in preparation. For this you only need:
- Peel the garlic, wash the pepper. If desired, you can remove the seeds from the pepper.
- Grind the pepper and garlic in a meat grinder.
- Wash the greens, dry them and finely chop them with a knife. Mix it with salt.
- After thoroughly mixing, leave the sauce on the table until the salt has melted. Then mix the adjika again and transfer it to jars.
- Georgian adjika should be stored in the refrigerator.
This recipe preserves the traditions of preparing adjika as much as possible. After all, it was once prepared by mixing herbs, garlic and other spices with salt in equal proportions. This seasoning was applied to bread and enjoyed the pungent taste and excellent aroma of adjika. Today, most recipes are based on the use of neutral-tasting vegetables, which provide an analogue of delicate sauces and ketchups. Spicy adjika from garlic and hot pepper can also be prepared according to the Abkhaz recipe without cooking. An example of its preparation can be found in the video:
Conclusion
Healthy eating is a fashion trend of our time. Every person wants to maintain their health and beauty using only the most natural and healthy products. Adjika is exactly such a product. By serving it to the table, the hostess shows her concern for her family and friends. The variety of recipes allows you to choose a cooking option that satisfies the taste needs of each family member.
