Tkemali sauce is a very original and popular condiment from plums from the Georgian culinary tradition, currently used in the kitchens of many other peoples. Well-prepared tkemali sauce from plums has a wonderful delicate aroma and rich, exquisite taste with many shades. The most fresh dishes with tkemali sauce become very tasty. In addition, the tkemali sauce contains vitamins, trace elements, tannins, useful pectin and antioxidants. Usually this wonderful cultic sauce is served to various dishes from fish, poultry, meat, to dishes from cereals, beans, corn, potatoes, to pasta.
Features of the original sauce
How to cook tkemali sauce? Strictly speaking, this is not difficult. Original classic Georgian tkemali sauce is prepared with the obligatory use of spicy grass "ombalo" (it is marsh mint). Marsh mint is added to the tkemali not only for taste, but also to avoid fermentation of the sauce with sufficient long storage. But if we cook tkemali in small quantities, this ingredient can be replaced, for example, with ordinary mint (but not peppery!).
Preparation of tkemali sauce
Ingredients (per 1 kg of plum):
- 2-4 teaspoons of common table salt
- 100 ml of water
- one hot red pepper (you can, of course, replace it with ground red pepper)
- 5-8 cloves of garlic (you can and a little more)
- a large bundle of cilantro (coriander)
- small bunch of dill
- 5 mint leaves (or a teaspoon dry).
Preparation:
First, we extract the stones from the fruits of the plum, sprinkle the fruits with salt and wait a bit until the sludge starts to drain. It is better not to use aluminum or Teflon dishes. Put the saucepan (and preferably the sauté pan or cauliflower) on the fire, add water, bring it to a boil and let it simmer for 5 minutes, stirring with a spoon (preferably wooden). Now add the crushed (or dry ground) pepper and cook for another 5 minutes, and then add crushed herbs (cilantro, dill and mint). Cook another minute 2, add a crushed or pressed garlic press. We mix and turn off the fire. Of course, it is possible to wipe the sauce through a sieve with a classic traditional way, but with modern technologies it is best to use a blender. We will pour the sauce into a blender and bring it to homogeneity. Tkemali sauce is ready for use. You can add 1 tablespoon of natural grape or apple cider vinegar and other spicy seasonings to the sauce - this is a matter of individual taste and your culinary fantasy. Ready-made tkemali sauce can be stored on a shelf in the refrigerator in a glass or enamel (can be ceramic) container with a tightly closed lid. If desired, you can also preserve the tkemali sauce, harvesting it for future use during the cold season, when we so much want fruits and the body needs vitamins.
Another version of the classic sauce
You can cook a tkemali sauce a little differently. The second method is even easier. Zalem plum with stones water and cook for 30-40 minutes. We will squeeze everything through a sieve, and pits and peel will be thrown out. The resulting mass (mashed potatoes) will boil up to approximately the density of sour cream. Now you can add crushed garlic, chopped peppers and herbs, dried spices, salt and vinegar. We mix it, bring it to a boil, give a little (minutes 2) to boil and once more let it pass through a sieve.
Plum for tkemali sauce is not good at all. For its preparation, it is best to use a small acidic wild plum (alychu), which, by the way, grows not only in Georgia, but also in the southern regions of Russia, Ukraine, Moldavia and many other countries.