Georgia is famous for its cuisine. There are many dishes that have gained worldwide fame. Among them is tkemali sauce, without which not a single meal in a Georgian home is complete. This versatile sauce goes well with almost any dish, except dessert.
Just as every Russian housewife has her own recipe for pickling cucumbers, so every Georgian family has its own recipe for tkemali. Moreover, it is prepared not only by women, but also by men. At the same time, freedom of creativity is encouraged, so a clear recipe is most often not followed. Only the set of main ingredients remains unchanged; the proportions can change in each specific case. The main criterion for preparation is the taste of the product, so they try it many times, adding ingredients as necessary.
Let's try to cook real Georgian tkemali using recipes from this southern country. For immediate consumption, tkemali is made from green cherry plum. This plum is suitable for harvesting at the end of spring. Different varieties allow you to prepare Georgian tkemali sauce from green plums throughout the summer.
How to prepare tkemali sauce from cherry plum according to the Georgian recipe.
Georgian green tkemali sauce
It is characterized by a considerable amount of spices and a sour taste, which is provided by green cherry plum.
Required Products:
- sour plums – 1.5 kg;
- garlic - medium sized head;
- cilantro – 75 g;
- dill – 125 g.You can take stems of cilantro and dill with seeds.
- Ombalo – 30 g. If you cannot find ombalo or flea mint, swamp mint, it can be replaced by an ordinary analogue - peppermint, but less of it is needed. The required amount of mint is determined experimentally by adding the product in small portions.
- garden savory – 30 g. Do not confuse savory and thyme. Savory is an annual garden plant.
- hot pepper – 2 pods;
- sugar 25-40 g, the amount is determined experimentally and depends on the acidity of the plums;
- Salt the dish to taste.
Remove the leaves from the pennyroyal and set aside. We do not throw away the stems. We put them, along with the stems of dill, cilantro, and savory on the bottom of the pan in which we will prepare the Georgian sauce. Pour plums on top of them, add half a glass of water and cook over low heat until soft. Place the finished cherry plum fruits in a colander or sieve and rub through them with your hands or a wooden spoon.
Add it to the puree, season with salt, sugar and chopped hot pepper. At this stage we adjust the consistency of tkemali. It should look like liquid sour cream. Lightly dilute the thick sauce, and boil the liquid sauce a little.
Chop the herbs and garlic and add to the prepared sauce. Taste for salt and sugar. Boil for another minute and pour into bottles. It is better to store summer tkemali in the refrigerator.
You can prepare green sauce for the winter. The following recipe will do.
Products:
- green plums – 2 kg;
- garlic – 2 small heads or one large one;
- hot pepper – 2 pods;
- 2 bunches each of cilantro, basil and ombalo;
- ground coriander – 2 teaspoons;
- salt – 2 tbsp. spoons.
Fill the plums halfway with water and boil for 10 minutes.
Strain through a colander with a wooden spoon.
Chop the greens, grind the garlic with salt, chop the hot pepper. Combine them in the bowl of a food processor with pureed plums and ground coriander, dilute with the broth to the desired consistency and mix well. If the dish seems sour, you can season it with sugar.
If the sauce is prepared for quick consumption, you don't have to cook it anymore, bottle it and put it in the refrigerator.
Tkemali for the winter needs to be boiled for another 5-7 minutes. Pour it into sterile containers and seal hermetically.
For the winter, Georgian tkemali sauce is often prepared in the fall, when the cherry plum ripens.
Georgian tkemali made from red cherry plum
We will need:
- ripe red cherry plum – 4 kg;
- cilantro – 2 bunches;
- garlic – 20 cloves;
- sugar, salt, hops-suneli - 4 tbsp. spoons.
The cherry plum is removed from the seeds and sprinkled with salt so that it gives juice. When there is enough of it, cook the fruits over low heat until soft. Grind the finished cherry plum in a blender. Add chopped herbs and garlic, suneli hops and sugar to the puree, mix well.
Let's try the dish. If you don’t need to add anything, just boil the sauce for another quarter of an hour and place it in a sterile container, sealing it tightly.
Tkemali is stored well.
Opening a jar of Georgian sauce in winter, you feel as if you are returning to summer with its abundance of herbs. This wonderful smell and extraordinary taste will mentally transport you to distant Georgia and allow you to experience all the richness of the cuisine of this southern country.
