Plum tkemali: a classic recipe for the winter, how to cook at home

Each country in the world has its own unique flavor, in which national cuisine plays not the last, but rather one of the main roles. And in Georgian cuisine, various sauces act as its most important component. One of the main sauces is tkemali, prepared from plums, and there is also a recipe for a classic preparation for the winter.

Principles of making tkemali sauce for the winter

This is an excellent sauce from sunny Georgia, one of the visiting cards of the national cuisine. Tkemali is prepared from plums, mint, garlic, as well as herbs and spices.The sauce goes especially well with various fish, poultry and meat dishes, as well as potato side dishes. For cooking, ordinary plums are suitable, which grow in almost all gardens or cottages

Requirements for the main ingredients

The first important point - ideally, plums should be Tkemali - this is the name of the cherry plum variety. They gave the sauce its name.

But you shouldn't be upset - ordinary, but always sour, plums are quite suitable for cooking.

Second moment - mint. The original recipe uses its swamp variety - ombalo. In the southern regions, it usually grows in reed floodplains. If it is not possible to find or purchase just such a variety, then ordinary mint growing in the garden will do.

How to properly prepare the container

Jars and lids should be well washed and sterilized. You can sterilize them in the microwave by pouring some water into them, using steam over a saucepan, or placing them in the oven for 15 minutes.

The most delicious tkemali sauce recipes

It's easy to make delicious sauce at home - you need to know the right recipes and follow their instructions exactly.

The classic cooking method

Preparing tkemali according to the classic recipe is not difficult, the main thing is to strictly follow the recipe and choose the right, high-quality ingredients.

Ingredients:

sour plums (cherry plum) - 1 kilo;
hot (hot) red pepper - 1 pod;
cilantro - 1 large bunch;
garlic - 1 head;
dill - 1 small bunch;
s alt - 4 teaspoons;
mint (ombalo) - 1 small bunch.

Plums are selected, cutting out rotten areas, washed, added to a pot of water and boiled for half an hour.Then, after cooling, they are ground through a sieve, discarding the peel and bones. The garlic is rubbed or finely chopped. Mint, as well as herbs and peppers, are also finely chopped. Everything is added to plum puree and put on fire.

After bringing the sauce to a boil, cook the sauce for 10-15 minutes, turn off and let cool, and then pour into jars.

Easy recipe

There is a recipe according to which tkemal sauce is very easy to prepare, you need to mix all the ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes.

Ingredients:

plums (cherry plum) - 1 kilogram;
sugar - 50 grams;
s alt - 1 tablespoon;
garlic - 5 cloves;
red ground pepper - 0.5 teaspoon;
ground black pepper - 0.5 teaspoon;
coriander - 1 teaspoon;
hops-suneli - 1 teaspoon.

Yellow plum variant

The most correct, "plum" option for making real Georgian tkemali. An ordinary garden, yellow cherry plum will do.

With pomegranate juice

This version of harvesting for the winter differs from the classic recipe only in that pomegranate juice is added to tkemali instead of water.

No cooking

This is a great snack to eat just spread on bread. The ingredients are the same as for the boiled sauce, but the actual cooking does not take place. For “raw” tkemali, the ingredients are scrolled in a meat grinder, thoroughly mixed several times and poured into jars.

With walnuts

This sauce is a great addition to many dishes, and is also used as a meat marinade. Prepared from both yellow and blue plums (based on 1.5 kilograms), with the addition of walnuts (100 grams).

With tomatoes

A delicious version of traditional tkemali, reminiscent of adjika. All ingredients are traditional, only tomatoes are added (1 kilogram of tomatoes per 1 kilogram of plums).

Spicy Tkemali

For lovers of “spicy”, a sauce recipe is suitable, where the ingredients include black and allspice. And for 1 kilogram of plums they put not one, but a couple of pods of hot pepper.

In the slow cooker

When preparing the sauce in a slow cooker, boil the plums for 10 minutes. The remaining components are finely cut, and then whipped with a blender, along with plums, until smooth. Then everything is poured into the multicooker bowl and boiled for 4-5 minutes. The sauce is poured into jars and sealed with lids.

Through a meat grinder

Instead of grinding plums through a sieve, an ordinary meat grinder is often used when preparing the sauce. The components of tkemali are passed through it, as a result, a mass of the desired consistency is obtained, which is then boiled for 10-15 minutes.

From gooseberries

Sour, unripe gooseberries are used as the base for the sauce. Moreover, despite the replacement of plums, tkemali turns out to be very tasty and not much different from the original.

From the turn

The tart taste of blackthorn adds richness to the tkemali sauce as a whole. For cooking, the turn is harvested in late August or early September. The main ingredients for the sauce are turn, hot garlic and cilantro.

From dogwood

The variant of dogwood sauce preparation is common in the Caucasus and goes well with fried meat. It has a unique aroma and a spicy sweet and sour taste. Main ingredients: dogwood, garlic, s alt and suneli hops.

Redcurrant

Not only tasty, but also a he althy option, tkemali will be made from red currants, which have the necessary sourness. In addition to cilantro, ground coriander seeds, as well as cumin, garlic and s alt are added to it.

Prunes

Versatile, and most importantly - distinguished by a bright, original flavor range, will be a sauce made from prunes with the addition of various herbs. Put rosemary, oregano, thyme, tarragon (tarragon), thyme and suneli hops. Moreover, the composition of spices varies depending on the preferences of the one who cooks. Therefore, there will be no two identical recipes for prune tkemali.

From cherry

Tkemali made from sour cherries will be interesting and tasty. In addition to the cherries themselves, mint, ground coriander seeds, hot peppers and sweet paprika, as well as sugar are added to it.

Georgian, from plums

But the most important, authentic sauce is tkemali from the cherry plum variety of the same name. But, in addition to yellow cherry plum, sour plums are also used, and ombalo pennyroyal is replaced by growing in the shade of the garden.

Further storage

Rolled homemade tkemali is stored in a dark, cool place for up to 1 year. Suitable as a refrigerator, and a closet, pantry or cellar. But an uncorked jar of homemade sauce is stored in the refrigerator for no more than 3-4 days.