Traditional Caucasian adjika is a salty and very hot seasoning. Cooks and housewives have long since made amendments to the classic recipe. Raw adjika made from tomatoes is especially popular. It preserves the entire complex of nutrients and vitamins. The taste of the ingredients is great.
A few simple tips
Any recipe for raw adjika includes salt, hot pepper, and garlic in various proportions. In addition to them, acetic acid and vegetable oil are sometimes used as preservatives. These ingredients create an environment in which the development of pathogenic microflora is slowed down.If the technological requirements are met, tomato adjika can be stored for a long time, and therefore can be successfully prepared for future use. Store it in the refrigerator or cellar.
Raw adjika is prepared for the winter from ripe, high-quality tomatoes. In the absence of heat treatment, such a requirement seems quite reasonable. In some versions, the tomatoes are blanched by soaking them in hot water for several minutes. After this, the skin is removed and the pulp is crushed.
Hot peppers are prepared depending on the chosen recipe. For adjika, which is close in pungency to the classic version, only the stalk is removed, leaving the internal partitions and seeds.
You can get even more heat from dried peppers. Peel hot peppers using rubber gloves to protect your hands from burns.
There are special requirements for the container in which the workpiece will be stored. Before preparing raw adjika, you should prepare sterile jars. The dishes in which the ingredients will be mixed must be enamel or plastic. It is recommended to even stir the sauce not with a metal spoon, but with a wooden spatula.
Otherwise, the cooking process is quite simple and does not take very much time.
The best tomato adjika recipes
Recipe No. 1
This version of the classic adjika is not spicy, which is why it is suitable for any occasion. The recipe requires 5 kg of tomatoes.
To prepare, prepare:
- tomatoes – 5 kg;
- bell pepper – 2 kg;
- garlic – 300 g;
- horseradish root – 250 g;
- hot pepper – 2 pods;
- white wine vinegar – 300 g;
- sugar – 2 tbsp. l.;
- salt – 1 tbsp. l.
The tomatoes are washed and cut into 4 parts and placed on a sieve to strain out excess liquid.Washed and seeded sweet peppers are cut into small pieces. The garlic is peeled and chopped. Horseradish root is grated. Hot peppers are cleared of seeds and finely chopped.
It is convenient to chop tomatoes and peppers using a vegetable cutter, meat grinder or blender. Horseradish, hot pepper, garlic are added to them and all the ingredients are ground again. Add salt and sugar to the mixture, leave the adjika to rest for 30 minutes. At the end, vinegar is poured in, mixed thoroughly and packaged in jars. Cover with nylon or metal lids.
Store in the refrigerator or cellar. The temperature should not exceed 6-8 degrees. The result is a tasty, aromatic, not too bad seasoning that can be used as a sauce for main dishes or as an independent snack.
Recipe No. 2
This recipe is a fairly spicy seasoning that is prepared by fermentation. Raw adjika in Armenian style from tomatoes and garlic for the winter without cooking is prepared quite quickly. But it is put away for storage only after 14-15 days, after the fermentation of the workpiece is completed.
During these two weeks, you should regularly stir the sauce and skim off any foam that has formed. The recipe is designed for a fairly large weight - 5 kg of tomatoes, so the fermentation container must be at least 10 liters in volume.
List of ingredients:
- tomatoes – 5 kg;
- hot pepper – 0.5 kg;
- garlic – 1 kg;
- salt – ½ cup.
In this recipe for tomato adjika, all ingredients are ground in a regular, or better yet, an electric meat grinder.
I cut the washed tomatoes into 2-4 parts, remove rough areas near the stalk. For chopping, use a vegetable cutter or meat grinder. Peel the garlic, grind it in a meat grinder, add it to the tomato puree.From hot peppers, we remove only the stalk without touching the seed chamber.
Grind the pepper in a meat grinder and add to the tomatoes. Mix everything and add salt. Cover with a cloth and leave to ferment for 15 days, stirring the sauce daily with a wooden spatula. At the end of fermentation, adjika is transferred to jars. Store tomato adjika in the refrigerator. A special feature of the seasoning prepared in this way is the presence of a specific, sour taste characteristic of fermented products.
Important! Under the influence of salt and acid, in the process of lactic fermentation, the vital activity of most microorganisms ceases, the presence of which usually leads to spoilage of vegetable preparations.
Recipe No. 3
This recipe has a milder taste than the previous one. Pickled adjika is prepared without heat treatment and retains all the valuable properties of vegetables. Keeps in the refrigerator for a very long time. The recipe is designed for a large preparation - 5 kg of tomatoes. The fermentation container needs to be deep. This option will require chopping a large number of vegetables. It is more convenient to make adjika from tomatoes using an electric meat grinder.
Required ingredients:
- tomatoes – 5 kg;
- sweet pepper, red – 2.5 kg;
- hot pepper – 300 g;
- garlic – 0.5 kg;
- salt – 2 tbsp. l.
All vegetables are peeled. You don’t have to remove the skin from the tomatoes, but cut out the rough areas. The seeds are removed from the peppers. Ready-made semi-finished products are chopped in a conventional or electric vegetable cutter and salted. The resulting puree is left in a saucepan for fermentation at room temperature. Stir occasionally and skim off foam. After 3-4 days, the prepared adjika is transferred to sterile jars or bottles.When storing in the refrigerator, containers with sauce can be closed with ordinary nylon lids.
The preparation is used as a sauce for meat and fish. It is seasoned with soups and side dishes. Suitable for marinating meat and fish semi-finished products.
Recipe No. 4
Another version of the popular sauce. Raw adjika, the recipe for which does not require heat treatment and consists of traditional ingredients. Vinegar essence is added to them as a preservative. The seasoning is prepared quite quickly. Most of the time is spent preparing and cleaning vegetables.
For 5 liters of prepared seasoning you will need:
- tomatoes – 3.5 kg;
- sweet pepper – 1.5 kg;
- hot pepper – 100 g;
- garlic – 150 g;
- salt – 40 g;
- acetic acid 70% - 1 tbsp. l.
For this recipe, it is recommended to peel the tomatoes. To do this, they should be washed and a cross-shaped cut made on the skin. Place in boiling water for a few minutes, then transfer as quickly as possible to cold water. The skin will come off very easily. Large tomatoes are cut into quarters, simultaneously removing the seal near the stalk.
Sweet peppers are cleaned by removing the stem and seeds. Wash, allow to dry and cut into oblong strips. The same goes for hot peppers. If you want a spicier seasoning, you don’t have to remove the seeds.
The garlic is peeled, all ingredients together with the tomatoes are ground in an electric meat grinder or using a blender. Add salt and vinegar to the resulting puree, mix everything and leave for about an hour until the salt is completely dissolved.
During this time, the jars are sterilized. Tomato adjika is ready. It is packaged and put in the refrigerator for storage. The products obtained in this way are stored well.
The taste of the product largely depends on the quality of the tomatoes, because all the ingredients remain raw and fully retain their taste characteristics. Before packaging, you can take a sample and make changes if necessary. This is often done if the sauce is under-salted or, on the contrary, seems too spicy. In this case, you can easily add tomato puree to this volume.
Adjusting the taste of raw sauce is quite simple. But it will become more saturated only after some time.
Preparing a vitamin seasoning recipe for the winter is not at all difficult. And its use in home cooking will saturate any dishes with the aromas of summer and give them bright piquant notes. Adjika is especially good with hot meat dishes and as an addition to potato side dishes and pasta. Meat and fish semi-finished products are marinated in it and added to soups and vegetable stews. The presence of a universal seasoning in the refrigerator greatly simplifies the process of preparing a number of dishes.
