Recipe tkemali came to us from Georgia. This is a spicy sweet and sour sauce. To which herbs, garlic and various spices are also added. It is often served along with meat dishes. In addition to its pleasant taste, tkemali has many beneficial properties. By classic tkemali recipe It is made from small blue cherry plum, which grows in Georgia as a wild plant. This sauce is a great addition to any dish. In this article we will look at 2 options for preparing this sauce with the addition of suneli hops.
Important points
To make a truly delicious sauce, you need to follow these tips:
- It doesn't matter what color plums or use cherry plum. They can be red, blue or even yellow. The main thing is that they are not too soft or hard. Choose moderately ripe fruits.
- Spices play an important role in preparing the sauce. They are responsible for the delicate taste of tkemali. Feel free to add hot pepper, suneli hops and coriander to it.
- If the recipe calls for peeling the plums, you can soak the fruits in boiling water for a few minutes. After this, the skin will come off easily.
- If the cooking process is too long, the taste of the sauce deteriorates and the amount of nutrients decreases.
- If the sauce is not very spicy, then even children can use it. This is an excellent replacement for store-bought ketchup.
Recipe for tkemali with hops-suneli
To prepare this delicious sauce you need to prepare the following ingredients:
- plums or any cherry plum – 2.5 kilograms;
- two heads of garlic;
- one or two hot peppers;
- granulated sugar - at least one glass (more is possible if the cherry plum is sour);
- table salt – 2 heaped teaspoons;
- greens - about 200 grams (dill, tarragon, parsley, cilantro and mint);
- khmeli-suneli seasoning – two teaspoons;
- coriander (ground) – two teaspoons;
- utskho-suneli – two teaspoons;
- allspice – at least 5 peas;
- three bay leaves;
- dill umbrellas - 3 or 4 pieces.
Preparing the sauce:
- Cooking tkemali begins with greens. It is washed and dried on a napkin. If you use mint, tarragon (tarragon) or reyhan, you must tear off all the leaves from the main stem. We only need young tops and leaves.
- Then the garlic is peeled and washed under running water. You also need to remove seeds from hot peppers (if you like it spicy, you don’t have to do this).
- After this, the washed cherry plum is transferred to a suitable pan. Allspice, dill umbrellas and bay leaves are also thrown there. All this is poured into a glass of water and placed on the stove.
- The contents are brought to a boil under the lid. The cherry plum needs to be stirred from time to time so that it does not stick to the bottom. After the plums release their juice, you need to continue cooking the mixture for about 15 minutes.
- Then the cherry plum is removed from the stove and ground through a metal colander. Thus, the bones are separated from it.
- The specified amount of ingredients should yield at least 2 liters of puree. After this, the mass is put on the fire and again wait until it boils. Now you can add hops-suneli, utskho-suneli, coriander, granulated sugar and salt to the mixture.
- Cook the sauce in this form over low heat for about 10 minutes. While the mixture is boiling, you can prepare the herbs and garlic. The greens are finely chopped with a knife, and the garlic is passed through a press. Then everything is thrown into tkemali and mixed thoroughly. At this stage, you can taste the sauce for salt and sugar.
- Then cook the tkemali for another 5 minutes and turn off the heat. The sauce is completely ready and can be poured into prepared jars.
Second cooking option
Required ingredients:
- three kilograms of plums;
- 10 cloves of garlic;
- four bunches of cilantro;
- 20 grams of khmeli-suneli seasoning;
- five tablespoons of granulated sugar;
- three tablespoons of salt;
- hot pepper to taste (you don’t have to add it, khmeli-suneli will give it some heat);
- two teaspoons of table vinegar.
Cooking process:
- The first step is to prepare the plums. They are washed and all the seeds are removed. There should be 3 kilograms of finished seedless fruits.
- Place the plums in a saucepan and place on low heat. Stir the plums from time to time.
- In this form, the plums are boiled covered for about 20 minutes. Then they are removed from the stove, cooled and ground through a sieve.
- Then the plums need to be put on low heat again, adding suneli hops, salt and granulated sugar. If desired, you can add hot pepper.
- Now, stirring, simmer the sauce, covered, over low heat for 25 minutes.
- Meanwhile, you can prepare and chop the garlic and cilantro. The cloves can be passed through a press or grated on a fine grater.
- After the required time has passed, add herbs and garlic to the tkemali. Let the sauce simmer for another half hour. The mass must be stirred regularly so that it does not stick to the bottom and does not burn.
- Next, you need to add vinegar to the tkemali. If you also want to leave the sauce for consumption immediately, then pour it into a separate container, and add vinegar to the remaining mixture. Then the tkemali is stewed for another 5 minutes and you can start rolling. Sauce jars must be washed and sterilized in advance in any convenient way.
The result is a very appetizing and beautiful-looking sauce. And its aroma is simply impossible to describe in words. This preparation does not require much time and expensive ingredients. It can be added to all kinds of dishes all year round. It goes especially well with meat and pasta.
Conclusion
As you can see, anyone can cook tkemali. This is an easy to prepare, but very tasty and aromatic sauce. The main role here is played by plums and spices, which not only go well together, but are also very healthy. It is not necessary to use all the spices given in the recipes. Everyone can choose seasonings to suit their taste. Tkemali complements hops-suneli very well. This seasoning is rich in various spices. Thanks to this, you don’t need to buy them separately, but you can simply add them to the khmeli-suneli sauce. Moreover, it includes the main ingredients of tkemali, such as mint, basil, bay leaf, coriander and dill.
