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Tkemali sauce is a dish of Georgian cuisine. To prepare it, they use the wild plum of the same name. In Russia it is almost impossible to get such a plum. Therefore, housewives are finding various options for replacing this ingredient.
Original tkemali should be sour. Unripe gooseberries come in handy. We suggest you prepare tkemali sauce from gooseberries at home for the winter. Despite the substitution, the finished sauce according to the recipe differs little in taste from real Georgian tkemali.
This is important to know
The taste of tkemali sauce is achieved through the presence of appropriate ingredients. But since many of them are difficult to acquire in the Russian expanses, housewives are replacing them.
- Instead of wild plums, gooseberries are used in tkemali. It just has enough acid. Choose sour, unripe berries for the sauce to get the taste of the original tkemali.
- Flea mint or ombalo are also hard to come by. It can be completely replaced by lemon balm or thyme.
- Georgian cuisine in most recipes assumes the presence of a large amount of spices and herbs in tkemali. They give the finished sauce an extraordinary aroma and piquancy.
- To prepare gooseberry tkemali, use coarse salt. If you don't find it, take regular table salt.
Interesting options for tkemali
Recipes for tkemali with gooseberries may differ in ingredients, but the essence of the preparation is almost the same. Unless you can add your own twist to them when preparing them.
Recipe 1
To prepare a delicious sauce at home, stock up on the following products:
- a kilogram of gooseberries;
- 70 grams of garlic;
- 70 grams of parsley, dill, cilantro and basil leaves;
- 60 ml wine or apple cider vinegar;
- 3.5 tablespoons granulated sugar;
- 20 or 30 grams of suneli hops;
- ground black pepper depending on taste;
- 2 teaspoons salt;
- 500 ml of clean water.
Step by step recipe
Step one. Wash the berries and trim the stems and stems from each. This is convenient to do with scissors.
Step two. Place the dried berries in a container and fill with clean water. There is no need to add salt yet. From the moment of boiling, cook for no more than five minutes.
Step three. Let the gooseberries cool, drain the broth, but there is no need to pour it out, we will need it later.
Step four. We rub the boiled gooseberries through a sieve to separate the seeds.
Step five. We wash the greens in several waters, peel the garlic and chop them using a blender.
Step six. Mix the prepared ingredients, add granulated sugar, salt and, if necessary, gooseberry broth.
Step seven. Put the mixture on the fire, bring it to a boil again and cook for 10 minutes with constant stirring. Add vinegar and simmer a little more.
That's all, gooseberry tkemali is ready for the winter. You can store it in closed jars in a cool place.
Recipe 2
Making gooseberry sauces is accessible even to a novice housewife. To have something to serve with meat or fish in winter, purchase the following ingredients:
- gooseberries – 0.9 kg;
- cilantro with flowers, parsley, dill - 1 bunch each;
- lemon balm or thyme, ground coriander - 1 tablespoon each;
- red hot pepper - a third of the pod;
- garlic – 1 head;
- salt – ¼ part teaspoon;
- sugar – ½ teaspoon.
If you don’t like some spices, you can always make changes to the recipes. But spicy herbs are an essential component of tkemali.
Cooking features
- Preparing the ingredients. After peeling and rinsing the gooseberries, place them in a colander to drain. Then we grind the berries for tkemali for the winter in a blender to make a puree. If you want to make tkemali sauce from gooseberries with small pieces, use a blender for 3-4 seconds. Add washed and peeled hot peppers, chopped herbs and garlic. Blend again in a blender. The recipe states that the hot pepper pod is not used completely. If you want it spicier, you can add another piece.
- Cooking process. It is best to cook gooseberry tkemali sauce in a saucepan with a thick bottom. At the very beginning of boiling of the mass (the appearance of bubbles), add sugar, salt, add lemon balm or savory, coriander and simmer over low heat for another 10 minutes. Make sure that the boil does not stop.
- To check whether our tkemali has enough salt, sugar and pepper, place a spoon on a saucer and let it cool.The flavor is more pronounced in a cold sauce. If necessary, add spices. But in this case you will have to boil the mass again. During cooking, you need to constantly stir the sauce.
Having laid out the tkemali in jars, seal them hermetically and wrap them for 24 hours. This sauce can be stored for a whole year (if there is anything to store!). After all, tkemali turns out amazingly delicious.
Recipe 3
This tkemali made from unripe gooseberries for the winter contains, unlike previous options, vegetable oil and vinegar.
So, we need:
- gooseberries – 3 kg;
- salt – 50 g;
- granulated sugar – 100 g;
- table vinegar and vegetable oil - 40 ml each;
- garlic – 1 head;
- ground black pepper and suneli hops - 2 teaspoons each;
- clean water (not from the tap) – 250 ml.
Cooking rules
The preparation of ingredients is identical to the first two recipes.
First add salt to the boiling mass, then granulated sugar, hot chilli and khmeli-suneli.
Cook for at least 10 minutes, then add garlic. After another 10 minutes, vinegar. Boil for another 3 minutes and remove. Store in sterilized jars in a cool place.
Another recipe option:
Instead of a conclusion
Tkemali made from gooseberries is a delicious seasoning for meat or fish dishes. If you have never prepared such a sour and spicy seasoning, reduce the amount and make several jars of tkemali. This will allow you to choose the option that suits your family's taste. Don't forget that you can always experiment in your kitchen.
