For any cook, preparing sauce, and even more so preparing it for the winter, is almost the most important of all culinary processes. Sauce tkemali is a typical representative of Georgian cuisine and its production requires several ingredients that grow only in Georgia and further south. But this does not mean at all that in most of Russia there is no possibility of making such a sauce.
Most popular food recipes were adapted to suit local conditions by resourceful housewives. And tkemali sauce was no exception. In Russia, dishes and sauces with tomatoes have long been very popular. They are often added even to dishes that originally did not contain them at all. To make tkemali sauce, a recipe was invented using tomato paste, and it turned out to be so successful that it surpassed even the classic Caucasian recipe in its distribution. Having tried this sauce once in winter, you are unlikely to be able to refuse such preparation later.
Tomatoes or tomato paste
The easiest way to prepare tkemali sauce according to this recipe is from ready-made tomato paste, sold in stores. Its thick consistency best suits the culinary requirements for preparing the sauce. But sometimes it’s difficult to find a good tomato paste.On the other hand, if you have your own garden plot with a large number of tomatoes grown on it, then, of course, you need to use them to make your own tomato paste.
According to this recipe, the tomatoes must be washed well in running water, cut into pieces, place a certain amount in a pan without liquid and set to heat.
Pretty soon the tomatoes will release their juice and settle. After mixing them, add another portion of tomatoes and again wait for the juice to release. Do this until the entire pan is filled to the top with tomato mixture. Stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or spatula, bring the mixture to a boil and cook for about 20 minutes over low heat. Then you can drain the juice by carefully straining it through a colander, and continue making paste from the remaining mass.
To do this, continue to keep it on low heat, stirring from time to time, until the contents of the pan are reduced by 5-6 times. Mix the prepared tomato paste with salt. According to the recipe, for 1 kg of prepared tomato paste you need to add 90 grams of coarse salt.
Required Components
So, what do you need to prepare tkemali sauce with tomato paste for the winter? All components are quite accessible and are unlikely to cause you any questions. But the taste of the sauce will be very harmonious, and the seasoning can be used both as an additive to meat and for making first courses, for example, the famous kharcho soup.
The recipe has no restrictions on the use of a certain type of plum, but it is desirable that it taste sour. Cherry plum is ideal. In recent years, many amateur gardeners have been growing its cultivated forms on their plots, so from the end of July to September-October you can easily find these fruits at the market or from friends.
- Cherry plum or sour plum – 4 kg;
- Tomato paste – 700 grams;
- Garlic – 300 grams;
- Hot red pepper – 3 pods;
- Coriander seeds - half a glass;
- Granulated sugar - 1.5 cups;
- Salt – 60 grams.
You will also need water, you need to take enough of it to just cover the initial cherry plum fruits.
Manufacturing stages
The very first stage in making the sauce is the most difficult. It is necessary to rinse the cherry plum or plum well in running water, pour it into an enamel pan and put it on medium heat. After boiling, cook for a short time - literally 4-5 minutes and immediately drain the fruits in a colander. After the excess liquid has drained and cooled for some time, remove the seeds from the cherry plum by rubbing through a colander or a sieve.
As a result, you should get a fairly liquid fruit mass.
At the next stage, peel the garlic and separate it into cloves, and free the hot pepper from the seed chambers and tails.Grind both components using a meat grinder or blender. Add tomato paste to them, without diluting it in any way. Finally, add coriander seeds, sugar and salt to the vegetable mixture and mix everything thoroughly.
At the last stage, combine the vegetable and fruit mixture, stir and place on medium heat. After boiling, cook for about 20 minutes. The sauce should look like thin sour cream.
To preserve it for the winter, the resulting tkemali sauce is placed hot in sterilized jars. Screws on any metal sterile lids, both regular and threaded.
There is nothing complicated in preparing tkemali sauce according to this recipe, but you can surprise your guests and family with an exquisite sauce for holiday dishes.
