Yellow plum, the favorite fruit tree of most gardeners.
It is so loved by summer residents not only because of its pleasant taste and aroma, but also because it can be grown in different regions of our large country, and not just in the southern regions. Tkemali is the favorite yellow plum sauce of many housewives, especially Georgian ones, because it is a traditional sauce of Georgia. Plum sauce is not only very tasty, but also very healthy, because plums contain a large amount of minerals, tannins, pectins and vitamins.
All about tkemali sauce
The sauce is made from a yellow plum known as cherry plum. Cherry plum grows in Georgia, Bulgaria, and Russia. Subsequently, the simple recipe began to be modified; cherry plums began to be replaced with other varieties of plums, gooseberries, and red currants. But the constant ingredients besides plum are garlic, ombalo and herbs.
Benefits of yellow plum sauce. By consuming yellow plum sauce, your body receives many benefits, namely:
- The sauce helps improve the functioning of the digestive tract;
- The sauce helps speed up the metabolic processes of the human body.
All these benefits come from the yellow plum, which is the main ingredient in the sauce. The fruits contain:
- Organic acids;
- Vitamins of various groups;
- Microelements;
- Minerals;
- Tannins;
- Carotene.
Reference. Georgian sauce has a liquid consistency. The prepared sauce is laid out in storage containers, vegetable oil is poured on top, and sealed with resin stoppers.
The dangers of yellow plum sauce. The sauce is not recommended for people who have problems with the gastrointestinal tract. For such people, it only causes harm because of the spices and herbs it contains.
Sloe sauce
Spicy, pungent, rich Georgian sloe sauce prepared according to this recipe is a universal preparation that will perfectly complement both vegetable salad and meat and fish treats.
Components:
- Sloes – 2 kg
- Water – 400 ml
- Ground coriander – 10 g
- Pennyroyal – 10 g
- Garlic cloves – 6 pcs.
- Green cilantro – 2 bunches
- Hot capsicum – 1 pc.
- Salt – 20 g
- Granulated sugar.
Sloe sauce
Attention! From the specified amount of ingredients, the output is 1400 g of finished sauce.
The process for preparing Georgian plum sauce is as follows:
- Pour well-washed thorns into the pan and add water. Place the container on the fire and bring the contents to a boil. Boil the fruits until soft, adding ground coriander and mint to the bowl.
Attention! During cooking, a lot of juice should be released.
- Using a blender, chop the peeled garlic cloves and hot pepper.
- Rinse separately, shake well to remove moisture and finely chop the cilantro.
- Grind the heated fruits through a sieve so that the skins and seeds do not fall into the workpiece.
- Place the plum puree in a bowl, combine with the garlic and pepper pulp, salt and sugar to taste.
- Boil the semi-finished product until thickened. 1-2 minutes before the end of cooking, pour the greens into the preparation and stir.
- Place the finished “Tkemali” in pre-sterilized jars and seal with lids. After cooling, transfer the preservation to a cool place.
Using Yellow Plum Sauce
In Georgia, the sauce is used with many foods. The sauce goes especially well with meat. In most restaurants of Georgian cuisine, tkemali is served with shish kebab or chakhokhbili; this option is considered a classic.
General recommendations for making yellow plum sauce:
- In many recipes it is necessary to peel the plums; scalding is considered the fastest and most convenient way. The plums are doused with boiling water and immersed in hot water for five minutes. After this, the skin itself comes away from the plum.
- Because of its benefits, the sauce is recommended to be consumed not only by adults, but also by children, provided that it is not spicy. Accordingly, the food should be the one that the child usually eats.
- Regardless of what kind of plum you take, yellow, red or blue, they should be moderately ripe, not hard, but not overripe.
- To achieve the desired taste, you need to add cilantro, coriander, hops - suneli, pepper in pods to the plums.
- The longer you cook the sauce, the less nutrients there are, so long cooking times are not recommended.
- The best option for making sauce at home for the winter is to make it from cherry plum; it has a quick cooking time and is easily separated from the pit.
How to do it?
Preparing tkemali sauce from yellow plums is quite simple; the process will take about an hour and a half. In addition, you don’t need any specific kitchen equipment for cooking - in fact, you can get by with a simple pan, knife and sieve. We will have a slightly different option - with a blender, which will simplify your preparations, but you can always replace it with what you have and performs similar functions. Okay, let's look at the step-by-step recipe for convenience:
- Rinse the plums thoroughly, remove the stems, sort through them and discard any rotten or spoiled ones.
- Place whole fruits in a saucepan, add water (about 100 ml), and cook over medium heat. During the process, you need to stir the plums so that they do not burn.
Clarification for “just in case” You can, of course, “pick out” the pits from the plum, but this is quite problematic. That is why it is easier to boil it first, and then remove the seeds.
- When the plum begins to “break apart” (usually this happens 5-10 minutes after boiling), you can turn off the heat and cool the mass slightly.
- When the plum has reached a “comfortable temperature”, it needs to be ground through a sieve. Along the way, you can remove the seeds and skins in the same way. If the resulting consistency is not satisfactory, puree the mixture using a blender. The result is a smooth, tender plum puree.
- Place the plums in a saucepan over low heat and cook until boiling, stirring occasionally.
- While the plum is on fire, peel the garlic. Remove the seeds from the chili to make it less hot. Place into the chopper. Send washed mint, cilantro, and dill leaves there. Grind everything into a homogeneous paste.
- Add the prepared garlic-pepper-green paste to the boiled plum puree. Mix well and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Now add dry spices, including salt and sugar. When adding the latter, be guided by your own taste, taste and variety of plum.
- Reduce the almost finished sauce over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 10-20 minutes. Focus on the desired consistency, and remember that hot tkemali will be more liquid than cold.
You can serve the sauce immediately. Classic yellow plum tkemali is ready at this stage. Of course, it is better to cool it before serving.
Well, if you wish, you can roll up yellow plum tkemali for the winter. For this, it is better to use small sterilized containers. Store opened sauce in the refrigerator for no more than 7 days, but less is better.
If you want to prepare a slightly different, more classic Georgian sauce, we have already prepared a detailed tkemali recipe for you. There we tried to collect all the tips, recommendations, and detailed cooking instructions. Be sure to come and read, and in the comments, be sure to tell us how you usually prepare tkemali, which recipe you like best.
