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Among the many sauces and seasonings that conscientious housewives always prepare for the winter, adjika has a special place. It’s hard to imagine an everyday lunch or a holiday table without it. In addition, there are such an unimaginable number of recipes under this name that many probably no longer remember where it all began and what real classic adjika is.
But adjika, being a native Abkhaz dish, means V translated from the local dialect it is just “salt with spices”. That is, it became a sauce much later, but initially it was a mixture of various spicy herbs with hot pepper and salt. Nowadays, especially in Russia, adjika is often called a ground mixture of a wide variety of vegetables and herbs, and sometimes even fruits and nuts. And, of course, this mixture is always seasoned with hot pepper and salt.
To preserve various useful substances, and, above all, vitamins, adjika is often made raw, even without additional heat treatment. True, such a seasoning can only be stored in the refrigerator. There are also many recipes for adjika, when its ingredients are stewed, boiled and other types of culinary processing.This article will discuss various options for preparing adjika without subsequent sterilization, both with and without heat treatment.
Classic Abkhaz adjika
This seasoning is super hot, so it is recommended only for special lovers of everything spicy, who also have impeccable health.
To make it you need to take: 2 kg of hot pepper, preferably red, one and a half glasses of finely ground rock salt, 1 kg of garlic, 200 grams of ground dry seasonings (dill, suneli hops, coriander) and 200 grams of various fresh herbs (parsley, cilantro , basil, savory, celery).
Garlic must be peeled to obtain many white, shiny cloves. Wash the pepper well, cut into two parts and thoroughly remove tails, seeds and all internal partitions.
Wash the greens, remove all dry and damaged areas and dry.
Then pass the hot pepper, garlic and herbs through a meat grinder, mix, add salt and dry spices and stir well again. Ready adjika can be placed in sterile half-liter jars and stored in a cool place without light. According to this recipe, you should get three half-liter jars of Abkhazian seasoning.
Adjika with tomatoes
This version of adjika was already invented in Russia, since tomatoes were never included in the classic adjika. Nevertheless, in the modern world it is this adjika recipe has become almost a classic.
What you will need to prepare it:
- Tomatoes – 3 kg;
- Sweet bell pepper – 1.5 kg;
- Hot pepper – 200 grams;
- Garlic – 500 grams;
- Fresh herbs (basil, parsley, cilantro, dill) – 150 grams;
- Coarse salt – 150 grams;
- Granulated sugar – 175 grams;
- Vinegar 9% – 150 ml.
All vegetables and herbs must be washed well and cleaned of all excess.
If you chose the first option, then grind all the herbs and vegetables using a meat grinder, mix with salt, vinegar and sugar, mix thoroughly and place in sterile jars. Adjika prepared in this way can only be stored in the refrigerator. But under a screw cap in the refrigerator it can be preserved until next season.
In the second option you need to act a little differently. First, the tomatoes are ground through a meat grinder, placed in a large container and put on fire.
While they are boiling, remove the seeds and entrails from the bell pepper and also pass it through a meat grinder. After the tomatoes have boiled for about 15-20 minutes and some of the moisture has evaporated from them, add chopped peppers to them.
At the same time, peel the garlic and divide it into cloves.
Garlic is twisted together with hot pepper.
Continue to simmer the tomatoes and sweet peppers until they thicken, making sure to stir occasionally. About 40 minutes after starting to cook the tomatoes, the vegetable mixture should reach the desired condition and you can add grated hot pepper and garlic to it.
After another 5-10 minutes, you can add chopped herbs, as well as sugar, salt and vinegar.After another five minutes, you can taste the adjika and if there are enough spices, then turn off the heat. Place the finished seasoning in sterile jars, screw it on and turn it upside down, wrap it with a thick cloth until it cools.
Georgian adjika
This option Caucasian adjika is also quite traditional and is prepared without cooking. The seasoning turns out to be an intense green color. To get two half-liter jars of seasoning, you need to collect the following ingredients:
- Celery greens – 900 g;
- Parsley – 300 g;
- Cilantro – 600 g;
- Sweet bell pepper white, yellow or light green – 300 g;
- Hot green capsicum – 300 g;
- Garlic – 6 medium heads;
- Peppermint – 50 g;
- Chopped walnuts – 200 g;
- Salt – 120 g;
- Ground black pepper - according to your taste.
All green grass must be washed well, sorted, freed from dried and wilted parts and dried in the shade on a paper towel. Remove the husks from the garlic and divide into cloves. Wash both types of peppers, remove the internal contents and rinse well again under running water. If you have wounds on your hands, be sure to use gloves when handling garlic and hot peppers.
After all the prepared components of adjika have dried, grind them all using a meat grinder. Don't forget the walnuts. Then you can add black pepper and salt and mix thoroughly.
Place the prepared seasoning in small jars and store it in the refrigerator.
Adjika with horseradish
This version of adjika can rightfully be called a traditional Russian sauce, since in addition to garlic and hot pepper, it also contains the classic Russian hot seasoning - horseradish. So, to make it you need to find 2.5 kg of juicy and ripe tomatoes, 1.5 kg of bell pepper, 350 g of garlic, 350 g of horseradish and 350 g of hot pepper.
All vegetables are cleaned of impurities, tomatoes and horseradish are peeled, garlic is peeled, and peppers are removed from tails and seed chambers. Then all the vegetables are ground through a meat grinder and mixed together. Only the horseradish needs to be ground through a meat grinder last, so that it does not have time to fizzle out. To the ground mass add 200 g of salt and 200 ml of 6% vinegar. After thorough kneading, the finished adjika is placed in dry, sterilized jars and stored in the refrigerator.
Adjika with apples
This version of adjika turns out to be so tender and delicious that it can no longer be classified as a sauce, but as a separate dish served as an appetizer.
First, prepare 5 kg of tomatoes and 1 kg of carrots, apples, sweet peppers, as well as 300 g of garlic and 150 g of hot pepper.
From the auxiliary ingredients you need to take 0.5 kg of sugar and 0.5 liters of vegetable oil. Salt and vinegar are added to this adjika during the manufacturing process according to your taste.
Vegetables and fruits are washed and traditionally cleaned of all excess. Then they are cut into small pieces and ground through a meat grinder in any order. Everything except garlic.
After thoroughly kneading, the entire fruit and vegetable mass, with the exception of garlic, is placed in a saucepan with a thick bottom and placed on the fire. After boiling, vegetable oil is poured into it and sugar and salt are added. The whole mass is cooked for about an hour. It is advisable to stir it periodically using a wooden spatula.
Then the garlic mixture with salt and vinegar are added to the adjika. Everything boils down for about half an hour. Be sure to taste the finished adjika and add salt and vinegar if necessary.
While still hot, the seasoning is placed in dry, sterilized jars, rolled up and stored at room temperature.
Some secrets of making adjika
There are some features, knowledge of which can help you prepare adjika according to any recipe.
- Adjika, according to classic recipes, is prepared exclusively from coarsely ground rock salt without any additives.
- Hot pepper pods can be used either fresh or dried.
- If you want to increase the heat of the seasoning, use hot peppers along with the seeds. To reduce its pungency, some of the hot pepper can be replaced with sweet pepper or carrots.
- All spices, herbs and garlic for preparing adjika are traditionally ground in a stone or wooden mortar.
- The best herbs that go well with hot peppers are marjoram, dill, savory, basil, cumin, bay leaf, coriander, blue fenugreek and saffron.
- To give the seasoning a richer aroma, herbs and spices are usually calcined in a dry frying pan without adding oil.
- It is better to take garlic with a purple tint for preparing adjika.
- Tomatoes for seasoning are chosen to be fleshy ones.Watery varieties should be avoided, as should damaged or overripe fruits.
- A meat grinder is most suitable for chopping vegetables. Using a blender can turn vegetables and herbs into puree, which is not suitable for adjika.
- To close jars with adjika, it is best to use metal lids. Nylon can only be used for seasonings that will be stored in the refrigerator.
Adjika is popular in many families. Try to cook it according to all the recipes described above, and you will definitely find something to your liking.
