Tkemali sauce: homemade recipe

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Tkemali is a traditional Georgian sauce that has a sweet and sour taste and spicy spiciness. It is ideal for meat dishes. This sauce is usually prepared from sour plums. However, there are other recipes for tkemali, where gooseberries, blackthorn, apples, currants and other products are taken as the basis. However, the classic version is made from plums.

Cooking secrets

Before proceeding to the consideration of tkemali recipes, it is worth giving a few secrets of its preparation. By following them, you can create an excellent sauce for meat dishes. By the way, any hostess can cook tkemali at home. After all, this does not require special skills and specific equipment. It is enough to follow the recipe and follow some rules. So, the secrets of cooking tkemali:

• No oil or vinegar added to this sauce. The workpiece is stored for a long time due to heat treatment, as well as the spices that are part of it and are particularly pungent. Even at room temperature, the product will not deteriorate. The most important thing is properly prepared banks. They must be thoroughly washed, sterilized and hermetically sealed.
• It is best to cook plum tkemali, preferablysour varieties. Some professionals recommend using slightly unripe fruits for this.
• To prevent the plums from burning during heat treatment, you need to stir them regularly. To do this, it is recommended to use a wooden spatula. As for metal devices, they should not be used. Although the exception is stainless steel.
• Only enameled or stainless steel containers should be used for making the sauce. Pots made of aluminum may spoil the product. In addition, this metal, when in contact with acids, releases substances harmful to human he alth.
• When studying the tkemali recipe, pay special attention to seasonings. They allow you to give the sauce a unique taste and aroma. To make tkemali original, pennyroyal is added to it, which is often replaced with peppermint. Only a true connoisseur of Georgian cuisine can notice the difference.
• Plums for making such a sauce should be chopped. To do this, according to the classic recipe for tkemali, they are boiled, ground through an ordinary sieve. Due to this, the sauce acquires a thinner and more delicate structure. If this is not important, then you can grind the components with a blender or pass everything through a meat grinder. This will greatly simplify and, of course, speed up the process.
• When calculating the number of components, it must be taken into account that in order to obtain a thick product, it is boiled down almost 4 times.

Following the recommendations, you can prepare a delicious and spicy sauce. When you have read the rules and secrets of cooking, you can go totkemali recipes.

Sauce recipe

Let's consider the classic recipe for making tkemali. For this you will need:

• 3kg pitted sour plums;
• 2 heads of garlic;
• 200g cilantro (fresh);
• ½ cup sugar;
• 4 tbsp. l. regular s alt;
• 20 g spices (hops-suneli);
• 10 g of pennyroyal or peppermint;
• a few hot peppers.

Cooking steps

So, how to cook tkemali? To begin with, it is worth preparing the main component - plums. Peel them, add sugar (about 3 tablespoons) and place in a cool place for a while. Plums should stand and let the juice. Place them on the stove and turn on the heat. If there is not enough juice, add some water (preferably boiled). Bring the contents to a boil and boil for a while (5-10 minutes). Finally, rub the plums through a regular sieve.

Place the plum puree on the stove and turn on the heat. Boil the mass until its volume decreases by 3-4 times. When this happens, add chopped garlic, bitter pepper grated in a blender, the remaining sugar, chopped herbs, s alt and suneli hops to the sauce. Cook the mass for another 10-15 minutes.

Spread the finished tkemali sauce into prepared jars (washed and sterilized). Close the containers with pre-boiled lids. When the jars are cool, move the blank to a cooler place, such as a pantry.

Simplifiedoption

Many people make tkemali from cherry plums, but plums are best for making the sauce. Consider a simplified recipe:

• 1.5kg sour plums;
• 20 g regular s alt;
• 50g sugar;
• 20 g spices (hops-suneli);
• about 2 heads of garlic;
• no more than two hot peppers.

Start cooking

First, pit the plums and then chop them with a blender. Add sugar and, of course, s alt to the resulting mass. Place the container of plums on the fire. Boil the mass until its original volume is reduced by 2-3 times.

Peel the garlic and grind it together with hot pepper, previously peeled from seeds, using a blender. Add the mixture, as well as dry spices, to a bowl with plums. Boil the tkemali sauce for another 6-7 minutes. Remove the finished product from heat, pour into sterilized jars and seal tightly.

Is there a difference?

Does a sauce prepared according to a simplified recipe differ from a classic one? You can store it even at room temperature. The main thing is that the containers are hermetically sealed. As for taste, there are differences. Tkemali, prepared according to a simplified recipe, is less s alty and more spicy.

Yellow plum sauce

To prepare tkemali according to this recipe you will need:

• 1kg peeled yellow plums;
• 20 to 40 grams of sugar;
• 30g s alt;
• garlic head;
• 1hot pepper;
• 50g cilantro (fresh);
• 50g fresh dill;
• 10 g ground coriander.

The amount of sugar depends on how sweet the plum is. If necessary, the amount of this component can be increased.

So let's get started…

Tkemali for the winter according to this recipe is prepared quickly and easily. First, peel the plums from the stones, and then chop them. To do this, you can use a meat grinder or blender. The latter option is preferable, as it is recommended to avoid contact of products with metal.

Peel and crush the garlic. Also prepare hot peppers. It needs to be de-seeded and chopped. Finely chop the greens. Add sugar and s alt to the yellow plum puree. Boil the mass until it is reduced in volume by 2 times. Cool and add coriander, garlic, pepper and herbs. Bring the sauce to a boil and simmer for a few minutes.

Pour the finished tkemali into sterilized jars and seal tightly. You can store the workpiece in any conditions: in the pantry, cellar, refrigerator. The sauce is not capricious and perfectly tolerates room temperature.

Tomato and plum preparation

To cook red tkemali, you need to prepare the following products:

• about 1 kg of plums;
• 1.5kg red tomatoes;
• 750g sweet pepper;
• 500g onion;
• 500 g apples, preferably sour varieties;
• 1 hot pepper;
• s alt, fresh herbs, sugar.

Cooking method

First, pour over the tomatoes with boiling water. This will remove the skin from them. Grind the pulp of tomatoes with a blender. Place the plums in a saucepan, cover with water, boil for no more than 5 minutes, then remove them from the heat and rub through a regular sieve.

Apples peel and chop with a grater. Do the same with the bow. You can use a blender to grind it. Prepare other ingredients in the same way: hot and sweet peppers.

In a container, mix all the ingredients and place it on the fire. Boil the sauce until you get the desired consistency. Put the finished tkemali from plums and tomatoes into sterilized containers and seal tightly. Of course, the taste of such a preparation is significantly different from that prepared according to the classic recipe.

Is it possible not to cook?

There is a plum tkemali recipe where the components do not undergo heat treatment. Let's consider it in more detail. To prepare the sauce you will need:

• about 1.2 kg plums already pitted;
• 2 to 4 hot peppers;
• garlic head;
• no more than 50 g of basil;
• 50g cilantro;
• about 25g peppermint;
• 20g plain s alt without additives;
• 20 g white sugar.

Cooking process

To make this sauce, grind plums, peeled garlic, and seedless peppers with a blender. Chop the greens the same way. Combine all ingredients and mix. Add s alt to the resulting mass,sugar. To mix everything well, use a blender or mixer.

Sterilize jars and lids. Pour the prepared sauce into containers and seal tightly. It is necessary to store such a workpiece in a cool room. At room temperature, the sauce will go bad and not last until the end of winter.

It is worth noting that this cooking method allows you to save the maximum amount of all useful substances in the finished tkemali.

Pomegranate juice recipe

To make an extraordinary sauce, prepare:

• 2 kg plums;
• 60 to 80 grams of sugar;
• s alt to taste;
• coriander;
• hops-suneli;
• 1 head of garlic;
• 100 ml natural pomegranate juice.

Chop the plums, after removing the seeds from them. Add s alt, dry spices and sugar to the resulting puree. Place the mixture on the heat, bring to a boil and simmer until the sauce thickens.

Peel the garlic, pass it through a press and add it to the tkemali. Pour in the pomegranate juice, mix everything and cook for 5 minutes. Pour the finished sauce into sterilized glass containers and close tightly. You can store the workpiece at room temperature. This sauce is perfect for meat dishes. Yes, and it is prepared quickly and easily. Now you know how to cook tkemali.