I see this sauce when we visit friends and usually it is home made. The sauce can also be bought at the store and it is really a terrific flavor enhancer for meat of almost any type. I understand that it is a Georgian recipe originally, but Russians have no issues in telling you that they make their sauce from a handed down ancient recipe… 🙂
Well lets make a Sour Plum Sauce from fresh plums. You can make this from dried prunes, but you need to soak the dried prunes overnight in some vinegar. Best made with fresh plums…
Lets make Tkemali…
Ingredients:
24 plums, pitted and diced (Or 24 dried prunes soaked overnight!)
240ml/8fl.oz. Apple Cider Vinegar
480ml/16fl.oz. Water needs to be boiled for temp.
1 Garlic Clove peeled and crushed
3 tbsp freshly chopped Coriander (Cilantro)
2 tbsp Lemon Juice
½ tsp Salt
1 level tsp crushed red pepper (Leave this out if you do not like hot!)
Instructions:
1. Place diced plums and vinegar in a mixing bowl and stir and let soak an hour. (Place the dried prunes and vinegar in a mixing bowl, cover and leave to soak for at least 8 hours. If using dried prunes!)
2. Drain the vinegar from the plums then place in a saucepan , cover with the boiling water and allow to stand for 10 minutes…
3. Place the saucepan over a high heat, bring to the boil then cook for 10 minutes or until tender…
4. Drain the plums again, setting aside the liquid you drained, then place the prunes in a food processor or blender together with the garlic, coriander and 60ml/2fl.oz of the water. Process on a high speed, adding the remaining water a little at a time…
5. Return the sauce to the pan, together with the lemon juice, crushed red pepper and salt, bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 3+ minutes stirring. I like to simmer until it becomes a thick sauce. When it cools it will be even thicker…
Serve with fish, poultry, or pork. Serve cold or hot. It has a wonderful sweet, sour and spicy flavor. It is even very good on a hamburger or a beef steak. Just adjust the ingredients for your taste and you will find out soon why every Russian has a recipe for Tkemali…
Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…