Tkemali is a well-known Georgian dish, which is traditionally prepared from a wild plum, which has a similar name. In our country, the main ingredient is replaced with other products, since it is almost impossible to find tkemali on the market. In the original sauce should be sour, so instead of plum, it is customary to use undersized gooseberry. Let us also learn how to cook tkemali from gooseberries at home so that you can get a tasty dish that does not differ from the original.
Fineness of cooking
Original tkemali owes its amazing tastes to several components:
- firstly, wild plum, known in our latitudes as cherry plum. This ingredient is the main and it is on it that the flavor base of the dish is built. But as we found out outside of Georgia, it is practically impossible to find a real plum-tkemali, so we will replace it with the gooseberry that is habitual for us;
Important! Gooseberries should be necessarily immature and sour, otherwise you will not get the necessary taste!
- secondly, you should stock up on flea mint, or ombalo. This product is also distributed mainly in the territory of Georgia, so in our home recipe we will replace it with melissa or thyme, which sounds quite good in this dish;
- third, you must have a variety of spices and lots of greenery at your fingertips, because the Georgian cuisine is famous for its incredibly aromatic dishes, which usually include a fairly large number of such ingredients.
Recipe
Tkemali recipe from gooseberry can master everyone. The main thing is to have at hand all the necessary ingredients and some free time. So, let's start cooking.
Ingredients of the dish
To prepare tkemali from gooseberries you will need:
- gooseberries - 900 g;
- blossoming coriander - 1 bunch;
- parsley - 1 bunch;Dill - 1 bundle of
- ;
- lemon balm or thyme - 1 tablespoon;
- ground coriander - 1 tablespoon;
- red pepper - 1/3 of a medium pod;
- garlic - 1 medium head;
- salt - ¼ teaspoon;
- sugar - ½ teaspoon.
Tip! When preparing this dish, it is desirable to use the blossoming coriander, but in the absence of such it is quite possible to do coriander ordinary!
The spices specified in the recipe can be replaced by others, based on your own preferences. Their amount can also be varied based on what flavor and flavor you want to get at the outlet.
Preparation process
- First of all, we pay attention to our main ingredient - gooseberry. Each berry should be freed from the stalk, for this purpose it is very convenient to use small thin scissors. Next, rinse the fruit in running water and flip it over the colander to make the glasses excess liquid.
- Prepared gooseberry is sent to the bowl of the blender and grinded. At the same time you can adjust the consistency of berry mass yourself.
Recommendation! You prefer a puree sauce - grind the berries for 4-5 minutes, and if you love the pieces, then just wait a few seconds!
- Add to the berry mass chili pepper, greens and peeled garlic cloves and once again, everything is good whisk.
- The resulting mixture is transferred to thick-walled dishes and set on a plate, with a strong supply of gas bring the sauce to a boil.
- When our tkemali reaches the necessary temperature and the first bubbles appear on its surface, it is necessary to add salt, sugar, oregano and coriander to it, mix everything.
- Cover the sauce with a lid, lower the gas supply to the minimum mark and cook the contents of the pan for 10 minutes. The mixture must be constantly boiling.
- After this time, you need to check the sauce for taste. For this, a tablespoon of Tkemali should be put on a plate and cooled. It is in a cold sauce that you can most accurately feel the balance of taste and adjust after that the amount of salt, sugar and other spices. If you decide to add any components, then after this snack you need to boil again.
- Ready tkemali spilled on sterilized jars, tightly closed and leave at room temperature for a day.
Recommendations for the recipe
If you do not want tones of gooseberries to be seen in the tecmal, then you can get rid of them by the following method:
- pour the rinsed fruits with water and steam them in the ovenor blanch on a small fire;
- after the gooseberry becomes soft, we wipe it through a sieve, and the separated juice is drained into a separate bowl;
- the resulting berry mass is transferred to a pan and put on fire, cook until thick, constantly stirring with a wooden spatula, if necessary, add the juice;
- when the berry mass reaches the consistency of thick sour cream, add dry spices and other ingredients that were previously ground in a blender;
- cook the sauce for about 5 minutes and spill over sterilized containers.
If you prefer only fresh tkemali, then you can prepare it in winter. For this, frozen gooseberries are a good choice. The taste of a ready-made dish from the use of such an ingredient will not be completely harmed and you will have on your table a fragrant snack cooked in a matter of minutes.
Do not forget that the tkemali is prepared without vinegar. Each hostess knows that this component is necessarily added to each blank for the winter - this keeps the preservation from spoiling. But our Georgian snack does not tolerate vinegar in its composition, and for better lezhkosti before sipping it should be topped with two spoons of vegetable oil. The resulting film will be the best preservative and the original taste of Tkemali will be preserved.
Do not be afraid to change the proportions of seasonings and spices, they can vary according to your own taste. And since the gooseberry season starts in the summer, by the autumn you will be able to find your unique balance of taste and aroma.
Tkemali from green gooseberries is quite tasty and does not differ much from its Georgian predecessor. Cook this spicy berry seasoning in your kitchen and serve it along with the main dishes of their poultry, meat, fish and vegetables. Bon Appetit!