Green tkemali sauce. Tkemali from plums

21.11.2019

Tkemali sauce takes its name from a variety of wild small viscous plums, more precisely - Tkemali cherry plums. In the original recipe, the main components of the sauce are cherry plums and, growing in wetlands, mint - ombalo, which has a specific aroma.

Tkemali - what is it

The Tkemali plum is widespread in Georgia. The sour, sometimes unripe fruits of the plum tree were at the hand of the mustachioed horsemen. Everyone knows that charismatic Georgians are very fond of dishes with a rich taste.

Tkemali - truly Georgian sauce, a true embodiment of the folk traditions of the inhabitants of the Caucasian mountains.

In addition to plums, Tkemali contains: hot peppers, salt, a wide variety of herbs and aromatic spices.

What is Georgian Tkemali sauce eaten with?

Simple winegrowers and shepherds often pampered themselves, their loved ones and numerous campaigns of friends with a wonderful shish kebab of lamb, baked river fish or vegetables. Tkemali sauce was traditionally served with them.

From ancient times to the present day, Tkemali is the most popular sauce in all state and private restaurants and eateries in Georgia. His fame spread to many parts of the world. Even capricious Frenchmen include this sauce on the menus of prestigious establishments.

Be carefull! For gourmets and admirers of Caucasian / Georgian cuisine with stomach and intestinal diseases, Tkemali should be used with caution, since it contains quite a lot of hot seasonings and spices, and a noticeable sourness can also cause an unpleasant sensation of heartburn.

Sauce types

Depending on the type of plums (cherry plums) that are used in cooking, Tkemali sauce varies in taste between sweet and sour and sour, and in color shades - from yellowish-orange to burgundy tones.

In modern cooking, green Tkemali is found, which includes green unripe plums, gooseberries or kiwi.

Red sauce is made from red currants, rich burgundy - from blackthorn fruits.

Green Tkemali, like the red version, is a good alternative to the classics.

How to cook Tkemali

Many companies produce sauce on an industrial scale. Food Industry... Moreover, each manufacturer makes its own additions to the composition. That is why in the composition of Tkemali you can find tomato paste and applesauce.

Ready-made Tkemali sauce is good in its own way and you can go to the store and buy it without bothering. But having mastered the preparation of real Tkemali sauce, and putting this seasoning, prepared by yourself, on the table, you will be extremely proud of yourself, and at the same time surprise the guests.

Of course, you will have to roll up your sleeves and try a little - preparing the ingredients and the cooking process itself will take you an hour and a half of your personal time. But the result is worth it!

Tkemali Georgian

This sauce is consumed freshly prepared. If the received portion is not sold immediately, then store the leftovers in the refrigerator (maximum two days in a glass jar under a tight lid).

For the sauce we need:

Tkemali fruits - 1 kg (ordinary cherry plum is also suitable);
ombalo - 8-10 leaves (can be replaced with lemon balm);
cilantro, dill and parsley - 6-7 branches each;
garlic - 1 head (it is better to take spring garlic, as it is more aromatic and less spicy);
fresh hot red pepper - 1 medium pod;
salt - 3-4 teaspoons.

We will thoroughly wash Tkemali (cherry plum). In this case, the color of the fruit does not really matter (however, if the berries are green, i.e. unripe, the taste will be much sour).
Prepare the pepper - clean and wash, get the seeds; we will arrange a water "shower" for herbs. Then put them on a towel to dry, and peel the garlic cloves.
We transfer the berries to a container (a stainless saucepan or a small basin will work fine) and fill it with water so that it is 2-3 cm higher than them. Water should be good quality(if there is a lot of bleach in it, then let it settle overnight or buy a bottled one).
We put the saucepan on medium heat, and, stirring occasionally, bring to a boil. Then cook over low heat for 35-40 minutes (so that the fruits become soft). Be careful not to burn the fruit.
Using a sharp knife, finely chop the pepper, garlic and herbs.
Remove the cherry plum container from the stove. Remove the bones from the finished mashed potatoes with a slotted spoon and beat it with an immersion blender until the consistency of thick sour cream.
Add pepper and chopped herbs to the mass, mix and cook for another 5 minutes. A couple of minutes before the end of cooking, lay out the garlic, salt and mix everything thoroughly again.
Let cool the sauce. Serve Tkemali in a gravy boat or pour it into a plate - directly to meat, vegetables or pasta.

Tkemali for the winter (in Russian)

On cold winter evenings (especially in northern latitudes), the sauce will warm the soul and remind you of the wonderful summer.

1 kg - cherry plum or ordinary not overripe plum;
50 gr. - mint;
1 tsp dry coriander or 200 gr. fresh cilantro;
1 medium head - garlic;
20 gr. (1 large structure) - hot pepper;
2 tbsp - vinegar (alcohol or apple cider);
100 g - vegetable oil(sunflower or olive);
1 tbsp - granulated sugar;
1 tbsp - salt;
0.5 tsp - dry allspice.

Cooking method:

Wash plums, mint, pepper under running water. Cut the pod and remove the seeds. We clean the garlic.
Free the cream from the seeds by cutting them in half. Then fill with water and cook over low heat for about fifteen minutes. Set aside to cool down a little.
While the plum mass is cooling down, finely chop the bitter pepper and mint (if you use fresh cilantro, then chop it too), press the garlic (into gruel), grind allspice on a coffee grinder.
Place the boiled fruit in a blender bowl and beat on high speed.
Put the plum puree to cook again, but with the rest of the ingredients (except for vinegar and garlic). While stirring, boil the sauce for another ten to twelve minutes (under the lid), make the fire low.
Add vinegar and add garlic. Stir and boil for the last five minutes.
Pour hot sauce into clean and dried jars, roll up with boiled tin lids.
We turn the jars upside down, wrap them with a blanket and leave them until they cool down (this is how they are sterilized).
You can store it at room temperature.

Tkemali cherry sauce

Cherry Tkemali for the winter has a more refined, original and sour - sweet taste. Despite the sharpness, the ladies really like it. Having a good harvest of cherries on your garden plot or summer cottage, you will not have any questions about its processing. Trust that this sauce will become a favorite in your family.

What do we need:

ripe cherry - 1.5 kg
apple or alcoholic vinegar 9% - 150 ml.
garlic - 10 cloves
sugar - 2/3 cup
salt - 1 table. l. no top
dry hops-suneli - 10 gr.
ground red pepper - 1 table. l.

Cooking:

Separate the washed cherries from the seeds. Put the berries in an aluminum or stainless steel bowl, add sugar, salt and dry seasonings.
Bring the berry mixture to a boil. Reducing the temperature of the stove, cook, stirring for 20-25 minutes.
Using a blender, grind the mass in mashed potatoes and additionally rub it through a sieve.
Cook again until thick.
When 5 minutes remain before the end of cooking, add vinegar and garlic gruel (squeezed out with a press), mix.
Hot rolled into sterile jars.

How to sterilize containers:

hot running water with mustard and soda wash glass jars or bottles;
dry them, and at the same time sterilize them in a microwave oven: half-liter - five minutes, and liter - ten;
boil tin lids;
Put the sauce hot and cork. Cover the jars with something warm and leave overnight. In this form, the sauce will remain even in the apartment.

Attention! When taking out canned food for use, be sure to check it for the presence of bombardment, which indicates the unsuitability of the product. You will have to get rid of a blank with a swollen lid or mold on the surface.

You probably bought more than once or twice in the store ready-made sauce tkemali, one of the most famous in Georgian cuisine.
Homemade tkemali is much tastier than the purchased one, and the recipe is simple. Why not cook tkemali at home?
Tkemali sauce comes in red and green.
According to authoritative authors of Georgian cuisine recipes, red tkemali is prepared from wild thorns using (mainly) dry spices and herbs, and green tkemali is made from a small, piercing green, bitter sour wild plum or unripe cherry plum, which is called tkemali. To prepare green tkemali, fresh aromatic herbs... It turns out a very aromatic sauce that can serve as a seasoning for meat, chicken, fish, as well as kharcho.

Products.

For 1kg plums (gross)
1 small head of garlic
1 hot fresh pepper
1 bunch fresh
1 pack fresh A plant with green or purple leaves with a pronounced taste and aroma. Due to the content of aromatic substances, basil leaves and stalks are used both fresh and dried, as a seasoning for sauces and soups.
1 bunch of ombalo *
1 tsp ground Coriander is an aromatic plant of the umbrella family. Young shoots of coriander are called cilantro. Dried leaves and seeds are used as a spice. Coriander has been known as a spice for over 3 thousand years and is considered one of the most widespread and versatile spices. Coriander (cilantro) fruits look like small grains of light brown color, round or elongated. Used whole or ground as a spice for flavoring and fortifying sausages, cheese, meat and canned fish, pickles, pickles and liquor ...
1 tsp salt **

Cooking.
1. Wash the plums thoroughly, put in a saucepan, fill with water to 1/2 the height of the raw material, cover the pan with a lid and put on high heat. Boil the plums after boiling for 5-10 minutes, until the skin begins to burst (you do not need to cook longer, the plums will begin to boil and the pulp will mix with the broth).

2. Put the plums in a colander (save the broth), place the colander on a plate and let the plums cool slightly.

3. While the plums are cooling, wash, dry and finely chop the herbs, rub the garlic with salt. Cut the hot pepper in half, remove the seeds and finely chop (it is better to do this with rubber gloves so that the caustic juice does not get on the skin of the hands).

4. Mash the plums with a spoon and remove the seeds from the colander.

5. Put the herbs, garlic, hot pepper, ground into the bowl of the food processor. Coriander is an aromatic plant of the umbrella family. Young shoots of coriander are called cilantro. Dried leaves and seeds are used as a spice. Coriander has been known as a spice for over 3 thousand years and is considered one of the most widespread and versatile spices. Coriander (cilantro) fruits look like small grains of light brown color, round or elongated. They are used whole or ground as a spice for flavoring and fortifying sausages, cheese, canned meat and fish, pickles, pickles and liquor ... and all the plums, along with the pulp that fell on the plate under a colander. Add some of the broth you saved and grind everything together until more or less smooth.

If you don't have a food processor, rub the plums through a colander and then mix with the herbs.

6. Try the sauce and season it to taste with salt (you can add sugar if the sauce is too sour for your taste).

7. Place the sauce in a saucepan, stirring occasionally, bring to a boil and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.

You don't have to boil the sauce after chopping, but immediately pour into jars and put in the refrigerator and then use it within a week.

8. Pour the sauce into prepared clean and dry jars and pour some vegetable oil on top so that no air remains in the jar. Close the jars with lids and store in the refrigerator.
* Ombalo - flea mint (Mentha pulegium) is a perennial herb of the Lamiaceae family.
Has rounded leaves distinctive from other mint plants. Young greens are used as a spice. Has a pleasant mint smell and a spicy taste.
It grows in humid places near roads and in the steppes in the south of the European part of the CIS and in the Caucasus. In small quantities, flea mint is grown in Turkmenistan.
Ombalo is considered an essential component of tkemali.
I replaced it with peppermint, which also has a mild flavor and aroma.

Ecology of consumption. Food and recipes: You probably bought ready-made tkemali sauce in the store more than once or twice, one of the most famous in Georgian cuisine ...

Homemade tkemali is much tastier than the purchased one, and the recipe is simple. Why not cook tkemali at home?

Tkemali sauce comes in red and green.

According to authoritative authors of Georgian cuisine recipes, red tkemali is prepared from wild blackthorns using (mainly) dry spices and herbs, and green tkemali is made from small, piercingly green, bitter sour wild plum or unripe cherry plum, which is called tkemali.

Fresh herbs are used to prepare green tkemali. It turns out a very aromatic sauce that can serve as a seasoning for meat, chicken, fish, and also for kharcho.

Ingredients:

For 1kg of plums:

1 small head of garlic
1 hot fresh pepper
1 bunch fresh cilantro
1 pack of fresh basil
1 bunch ombalo (or peppermint)
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp salt

How to cook:

1. Wash the plums thoroughly, put in a saucepan, fill with water to 1/2 the height of the raw material, cover the pan with a lid and put on high heat. Boil the plums after boiling for 5-10 minutes, until the skin begins to burst (you do not need to cook longer, the plums will begin to boil and the pulp will mix with the broth).

2. Put the plums in a colander (save the broth), place the colander on a plate and let the plums cool slightly.

4. Mash the plums with a spoon and remove the seeds from the colander.

5. Put the herbs, garlic, hot pepper, ground coriander and all the plums in the bowl of the food processor, along with the pulp that got on the plate under the colander. Add some of the broth you saved and grind everything together until more or less smooth.
If you don't have a food processor, rub the plums through a colander and then mix with the herbs.

6. Try the sauce and season it to taste with salt (you can add sugar if the sauce is too sour for your taste).

7. Place the sauce in a saucepan, stirring occasionally, bring to a boil and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.

You do not need to boil the sauce after chopping, but immediately pour it into jars and put it in the refrigerator, you can use it within a week.

8. Pour the sauce into prepared clean and dry jars and pour some vegetable oil on top so that no air remains in the jar. Close the jars with lids and store in the refrigerator. published by

Continuing from the previous post:

Let's start with tkemali. There is eternal confusion here, since tkemali sauce is red and green, and the more famous red is made from black wild thorns, and green from sour unripe plum type of cherry plum, and called tkemali. Such a plum was bought, because the one growing under my windows is sweeter than necessary. In the pandanus, they went to the plum on a bunch of cilantro, basil, tarragon, mint and ombalo, a large head of garlic and a large pod of hot green pepper.

Yes, it makes sense to mention that red tkemali is often made with a minimum of fresh greens, and green, which is started 2-3 months earlier, with a large presence of fresh greens in the composition. The composition itself varies greatly from area to area and from house to house, in fact, only ombalo, garlic and hot pepper both fresh and dry. Crushed coriander is almost always added.

Cooking tkemali is not easy, but very simple. The plum is washed, transferred to an enamel pan, poured with cold well or spring water to cover, and set to cook.
Here it is just starting to boil:

There is no "the whole thing" in the magic bubbles, I just liked them in appearance.
Despite the fact that the green plum is very hard and you can't bite it like that, it boils very quickly, in 5-7 minutes. And in a splash, which is what we need. After that, put a colander in another pan and drain the plum, be sure to save the broth! We'll come back to it later.
We punch the thrown back plum through a colander, on which the skins and bones are safely retained, and the necessary internal content enters the first pan.
Somewhere like this:

Next, we dilute the slightly punched plum with the conserved broth - just don't pour a lot - put it on low heat and cut the herbs, garlic and pepper. There is no need to cut very finely, like for adjika, because in this case the grass is boiled (although in many versions the greens are not boiled, but simply mixed with the grated plum, and then it is necessary to cut very finely, and it is best to crush it with salt).
Here's a picture:

By this time, the plum should have reached the desired consistency. Tkemali - the sauce is quite liquid, so there is no need to boil it too much. Stir in chopped grass, garlic and pepper crushed with salt and boil everything together for a minute. As a matter of fact, that's all.
It makes sense to tune the cooled tkemali for salt and spiciness. Sugar is put only by cowards. I usually add more salt and finely ground red hot peppers after 2-3 days when the flavor is balanced. Ready tkemali is usually bottled, a spoon is poured into the top of the neck olive oil to stand better and stored in a cool basement. Well, I put them in the jars and put them in the refrigerator. Let it wait until the tapak chicken, cold piglet or stewed trout. In the picture he is on the left, and on the right is the very cherry-cherry, all responsibility for which is Alena aspiri ;-)
The flask with quantsarahi is on the right:

Yes, if anyone remembers, we still have a plum broth. It can be used to prepare a by-product of the production of tkemali and tklapi - quantsarahi sauce, if that broth is boiled two or three times, adding salt and hot pepper. Most often they don't put garlic, but there are options. The boiled broth is filtered and also bottled - a very pleasant sour sauce or seasoning is obtained, very reminiscent of the now forgotten, and once extremely popular French verjus. Although the Georgian and Azerbaijani abgora almost completely correspond to verjus.

And the last thing. From a plum pierced through a sieve or colander, you can not make tkemali at all. And do tklapi at all. To do this, the plum mass must be carefully boiled down with constant stirring, lightly sugar and salt and spread with a thin layer on an iron sheet, and put the leaf in the sun on the roof of the barn. The resulting thin plates are rolled up with a tube or a pound and stored indefinitely. Then the tklapi goes to kharcho, for making winter sauces, or simply fed to children. It is believed that tklapi is very helpful for colds and, especially, a sore throat - children are forced to dissolve dry pieces until the throat passes. Either it is really useful, or it is purely swallowing exercises, but it helps.
It is clear that in urban conditions you can not climb on the roof, but smear the plum on baking paper and dry it at 70C in an oven with convection or blowing. Everything is very fast.

1. Remove the leaves from the ombalo and chop, set aside, and put the stems, along with the stems of the dill and coriander, the savory on the bottom of the pan.

2. Pour tkemali fruits on top of herbal branches, pour in about a glass of water, close the lid and let the contents of the pot boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the fruits are soft and the seeds can be easily separated. Do not worry that there is a little water, as soon as it boils, juice will also start to stand out from the fruits, and the sprigs of greenery will prevent the tkemali from sticking to the bottom and burning.

4. Remove the saucepan from the heat, discard the contents in a colander or sieve (do not pour the broth), let the tkemali fruits cool, and then wipe them with a wooden spoon (I do it with my hands). At the end, you will have bones and skins from the tkemali in the colander.

5. Mix plum puree with broth, add salt, sugar to taste, ground dry red pepper or chopped fresh. Place the tkemali sauce in a saucepan over medium heat. If tkemali turned out to be liquid, then boil it over low heat, if thick, then add a little water. The consistency of the sauce should resemble thin sour cream.

6. Finely chop the coriander, dill, mince the garlic, and add the chopped ombalo leaves to the tkemali sauce at the very end of cooking, let it simmer for half a minute, try adding salt, sugar or pepper if necessary.

pour the ready-made tkemali sauce into bottles. You can close it with ordinary plastic lids.

Tkemali sauce can be stored for a long time, but one that is prepared from unripe, green plums is best kept in the refrigerator.