Hot, spicy and aromatic Georgian adjika is a versatile and delicious homemade preparation. Due to the higher concentration of salt and hot pepper, Georgian adjika does not require preservation and can be stored in the refrigerator for months.

In the old days, "real Georgian adjika" was brought from a trip to Georgia by relatives and friends as a gift. Now supermarket showcases and market counters are full of various varieties of Georgian adjika, for every taste. But, of course, homemade Georgian adjika is always tastier. At least that's what my neighbor, who was born and raised in Tbilisi, told me. It never occurs to me to doubt her words - adjika is tastier than cooked according to her recipe, I have never tasted it.

To clear my conscience, I still looked through dozens of pages on the Internet, shoveled through a bunch of forums and made sure that the only true adzhika recipe carved in stone does not exist. There are many options for making "real Georgian adjika", because every family has its own culinary secrets and tricks, and each option is beautiful and tasty in its own way.

Let's get started and prepare a fragrant and spicy Georgian adjika!

Prepare the ingredients according to the list.

Also, do not forget to prepare and further work only with rubber gloves to protect your hands from scalding peppers.

Rinse the pepper, dry it and remove the seeds. If desired, the seeds can be left, but be prepared for the fact that in this case the adjika will be scalding, like red-hot lava. Sometimes one sweet bell pepper is added to reduce the pungency while maintaining the volume, but this is an unconventional technique.

Grind the peppers as much as possible. It is desirable to a homogeneous pasty state.

Drain the released juice.

Fry the nuts in a pan until a persistent nutty flavor appears.

Chop the garlic, nuts, and cilantro. If you don't like cilantro, you can partially replace it by adding parsley. True, there is no special need for this, in the finished adjika cilantro is revealed from a completely new side, and even I - its ardent opponent - eat adjika with cilantro with pleasure. Also, sometimes a little dill and basil are added to adjika.

Combine ground pepper and nut-garlic paste.

Add salt and spices. Spices are perhaps one of the nuances of the preparation of adjika, which causes the most heated debate.

Here, as always, there are two camps - minimalists and maximalists. Minimalists believe that it is permissible to add only coriander from spices (in seeds or freshly ground), but what, in their opinion, it is not necessary to add nuts to adjika. The maximalists, on the other hand, believe that there are spices! And in addition to coriander, they also add utskho-suneli (fenugreek), hops-suneli, kondari (savory). In this matter, I am on the side of the maximalists, I add a little of all of the above, but in principle this is a matter of taste.

Stir Adjika well with a wooden or plastic spoon. Leave at room temperature for one to two days, and then arrange in sterilized jars and refrigerate for further storage.

Georgian adjika is ready! Bon Appetit!

The spicy tomato sauce, which many of our compatriots close for the winter and call adjika, has almost nothing to do with this Georgian seasoning. Real Georgian adjika is made without tomatoes. The essential ingredients in its composition are bitter pepper, herbs, salt. Additionally, the recipe list may include garlic, bell peppers, nuts, various spices, rarely sugar, vinegar. Adjika in Georgian for the winter can be prepared from fresh or dried ingredients. Usually it is done without heat treatment, sometimes it is dried in the oven. The conditions of its storage depend on the composition of the seasoning and the method of preparation, but its shelf life is always long, at least a year. It is used to prepare various dishes and is never superfluous in the kitchen. If your family has spicy food lovers, you should definitely prepare Georgian adjika for future use.

Cooking features

Some of the features of preparing adjika in Georgian for the winter have already been mentioned in the introduction, but there are other important points that you should learn about before starting the preparation of this seasoning.

• Adjika requires processing a significant amount of hot peppers and garlic. These ingredients are not harmless. They can severely burn the skin. You can only work with them with gloves. Pepper can cause coughing if inhaled. When working with it, it does not hurt to protect the respiratory organs with a respirator or gauze bandage. After the cooking process, wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water, before that do not touch your face, especially your eyes.
• Dry Georgian adjika is prepared from dried or even dried peppers. To do this, the pods are suspended by the stalks in a warm and well-ventilated place, protected from direct sunlight.
• The pepper seeds and their septa have the most pungent taste. To obtain adjika with a milder taste, peppers are peeled from seeds before use. To obtain a very hot seasoning, the pepper is processed together with the seeds.
• If you want to make adjika identical to the traditional Georgian one, skip using kitchen gadgets and chop the ingredients into small pieces and grind them in a mortar. If authenticity is not important to you, you can grind food with a blender, coffee grinder, meat grinder, manual garlic press.
• For dry adjika, it is enough to wash and dry the jars. For adjika made from raw vegetables and fresh herbs, the jars must be sterilized, the lids must be boiled. It is advisable to close adjika with metal lids that ensure tightness, but when storing seasonings in the refrigerator, you can do with nylon ones.

Real Georgian adjika is an extremely spicy and salty seasoning; it must be used with care so that it emphasizes, and does not interrupt, the taste of ready-made dishes. For people with ulcerative diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, this piquant spice is contraindicated.

Georgian adjika with garlic and walnuts

Composition (for 0.7-0.8 l):

• hot peppers - 0.5 kg;
• walnut kernels - 100 g;
• garlic - 0.4 kg;
• fresh cilantro - 0.2 kg;
• fresh parsley - 0.2 kg;
• hops-suneli - 50 g;
• coriander seeds - 20-25 g;
• salt - 60 g.

Cooking method:

• Wash the pepper and fresh herbs, put on a clean cloth, wait until they are completely dry.
• Peel the garlic.
• Dry the walnut kernels in a pan (no oil).
• Cut off the stalks of the peppers. If you want to get a not too hot seasoning, cut the pods in half, remove the seeds.
• Turn all prepared ingredients through a meat grinder or, chop finely, grind in a mortar along with salt.
• Grind the coriander with a pepper mill or coffee grinder and add to the rest of the ingredients.
• Pour suneli hops and salt into the vegetable mass, if you haven't added it yet.
• Stir the seasoning until the salt is completely dissolved.
• Sterilize small jars, fill them with adjika, close tightly and store in the refrigerator.

The color of adjika will depend on what color of pepper you used for it, but you should not expect it to be a bright red: herbs and seasonings will not allow it to remain that way.

Dry adjika in Georgian

Composition (for 0.5-0.7 l):

• hot peppers - 0.7 kg;
• hops-suneli - 75 g;
• coriander - 75 g;
• salt to taste.

Cooking method:

• Wash the pepper. When it is dry, string it on the fishing line (by the stalks) and hang in a dry but well-ventilated place for 2 days.
• Remove the peppers, cut off their stalks.
• Pass the pepper along with the seeds through a meat grinder or grind with a blender, coffee grinder.
• Pour coriander seeds into a mortar, add salt to them, grind.
• Combine ground pepper, salt with coriander, suneli hops. Mix thoroughly.

It remains to pour the seasoning into a clean dry jar and store it in a place protected from light and moisture. How much seasoning you get will depend on how juicy the pepper is and at what temperature it will dry.

Green adjika

Composition (for 0.5 l):

• green peppers (hot) - 0.2 kg;
• garlic - 0.2 kg;
• celery greens - 0.2 kg;
• cilantro - 150 g;
• parsley - 100 g;
• walnut kernels - 50 g;
• salt - 40 g;
• mint - 2-3 branches;
• ground black pepper to taste.

Cooking method:

• Wash vegetables and herbs, dry, chop with a meat grinder.
• Fry the nuts in a dry frying pan, mash in a mortar.
• Combine the ingredients by adding pepper and salt to them.
• Stir until the salt dissolves.
• Transfer to a sterilized jar, screw it tightly.

You can store Georgian seasoning prepared according to this recipe only in the refrigerator.

Adjika in Georgian style with the addition of bell pepper

Composition (for 0.5 l):

• hot peppers - 0.25 kg;
• sweet pepper - 0.25 kg;
• fresh basil - 100 g;
• fresh cilantro - 100 g;
• garlic - 0.3 kg;
• dried basil - 20 g;
• ground coriander - 40 g;
• salt - 100 g.

Cooking method:

• Peel the seeds from the peppers, chop them with a meat grinder or blender.
• Grind the herbs and garlic in the same way.
• Mix the pepper puree with the garlic mass and herbs, add dried basil, ground coriander and salt to them.
• Stir well and place on a baking sheet.
• Place the baking sheet in the oven. Without closing it or turning on the convection, leave the adjika to dry at a temperature of 50-70 degrees for 1.5-2 hours. If your oven does not maintain the desired temperature, dry adjika for 6-8 hours in the kitchen.
• Transfer adjika to prepared jars, seal them.

Store the seasoning prepared according to this recipe in a cool place, ideally in the refrigerator.

Adjika in Georgian is a spicy and spicy seasoning made from pepper and aromatic herbs, often with the addition of garlic, nuts, coriander and other ingredients. Salt is an obligatory component. In Georgia, adjika is harvested in large quantities for the winter. Our compatriots, who are not indifferent to Caucasian cuisine, can also do this.

Have you ever tried real Georgian adjika? No, not tomatoes. Many people think that adjika is a tomato sauce, but traditional Georgian adjika is made from hot peppers. This is the recipe for adjika that I offer you. Watch the video or read the recipe from the photo.

Spicy Georgian adjika is a wonderful addition to many dishes. I really love to cook with adjika. I also add adjika to soups and main courses.

Ingredients

• Hot paprika - 200 g. It can be red or green. The main thing is sharp!
• Garlic - 1 head. Not a clove, but a head!
• Dried basil - 2 tablespoons.
• Dried dill - 1 tablespoon.
• Ground coriander - 1.5 tablespoons. I use whole beans and grind them myself in a coffee grinder. This coriander is much more fragrant than the one that is sold already ground.
• Utskho-suneli (aka fenugreek, fenugreek, shambhala) - 2 tablespoons of dried herbs or 1 tablespoon of ground seeds.
• Fresh basil - a bunch.
• Fresh cilantro - a bunch.
• Salt - how much can be dissolved in adjika.
• Additionally, if desired, you can add a little bell pepper. In this case, I am not adding it.

How to cook Georgian hot pepper adjika

First, we process the pepper. Cut off the stalks. Cut the peppers in half and remove the seeds from them. Try not to touch the flesh of the peppers to avoid burning your skin. Hold the peppers by the peel. Alternatively, thin latex gloves can be used.

Peel the garlic and cut off the ends with roots.

Grind the coriander in a coffee grinder.

Put pepper and garlic in a blender.

Add dried spices: marjoram, basil, dill, utskho-suneli, coriander. Grind everything in a blender.

The mixture turns out to be rather dry, so we add fresh herbs - cilantro and basil. We continue to grind.

Now add salt to the spicy adjika. Add salt by eye, gradually. Add a couple of spoons and mix. We watch the salt dissolve. When the grains of salt stop dissolving in adjika, we no longer put salt. Adjika is ready!

We put it in jars for storage. Banks do not need to be sterilized. Such adjika is stored in the refrigerator for a long time - several months.

Add it to food gently and in small quantities! Adjika is very spicy and contains a significant amount of salt, so it can be added to food instead of regular salt, or simply reduce the portion of salt.

A spicy mixture of many components - adjika - an invention of Caucasian chefs. The cuisine of the mountain peoples is replete with hot spices and seasonings, which other peoples began to use, having tasted Georgian or Abkhaz dishes.

Seasoning queen

Adjika is the main seasoning on the tables of the peoples of the Caucasus. Depending on the recipe, it can be powdery and pasty, as well as in the form of a sauce made from fresh vegetables and spices.

Adjika is originally a hot seasoning. Its composition, and hence the severity, can vary. Then adjika turns out to be of different colors: it can be brown, red, orange and green. Each of these types adds pungency and sweetness or pungency and bitterness to a dish. For any hot dish and even snacks, you can prepare an original adjika.

Where she came from

Adjika is of Abkhaz origin. There this word means "salt". Pronouncing "adjika", the Abkhaz mean salt and pepper - the main components of adjika.

Adjika was invented in the mountains by shepherds herding sheep. Their owners gave the shepherds salt with them so that they could add it to the food or water of the sheep, then the animals ate more grass from thirst, which means they recovered. Shepherds were forbidden to touch salt, using it for anything other than feeding the sheep. To prevent the shepherds from getting their hands on salt, their owners mixed it with pepper and cumin, thinking that this would not be successful with the shepherds.

But it turned out the other way around. So, the shepherds modified pepper salt by adding other components to it that only improve the dishes. No matter how silly it may sound, however, gradually adjika became the adjika that everyone knows, and since then, its obligatory components are salt and garlic, and other dry herbs and spices are added depending on the recipe and the region where the dish is prepared.

Main component

Dry adjika consists of many herbs and spices. The main thing is to know exactly how to mix the components. Adjika (spicy) contains red pepper, and there is a lot of it. It turns out to be delicious!

The basic recipe from which this delicious dry adjika is obtained includes several essential ingredients, and salt is not the main ingredient there, surprisingly. The first violin is played by red pepper, the pungency of which creates the familiar taste, which everyone who has tried the classic adjika knows.

Do not forget about one of the most famous Caucasian spices - suneli hops. This is an indispensable component that dry adjika contains. This is a multi-component spice: as many herbs as are included in suneli hops are even difficult to find separately. Now it is sold as a mixture of the right ingredients, and you only need to add it to the dish.

Caucasian women ground spices for adjika on a special stone. Now a kitchen mortar is enough for you to get Georgian adjika - a dry mixture of aromatic spices and herbs.

The consistency of the seasoning pounded on a stone turned out to be suitable for spreading it on pita bread or other bread products.

No tomatoes

Adjika in the Caucasus is eaten with almost all dishes, even sometimes with desserts.

By the way, tomatoes were never put into real adjika. This is a Russian innovation that has turned the national snack into a kind of eggplant caviar.

Forget tomatoes when you decide to make the classic adjika.

In addition, adjika can be prepared from dry herbs and spices - dry adjika will come out. It will perfectly set off any of your meat or fish dishes.

And if you take freshly picked herbs and spices, you get a spicy and fresh adjika. Add it to rice or beans. Believe me, this is delicious.

Gives adjika a red color, and a huge amount of fresh herbs, more often cilantro, which takes up half of the total volume of the sauce, gives a green color.

Why breed adjika?

You already have prepared dry adjika. How to dilute it and how to make a sauce or pasta like tomato? Just take water and pour into your mixture until it reaches the consistency you want. You can replace water with red wine or wine vinegar, then your adjika will turn out to be spicy and suitable for a festive feast.

The peoples of the Caucasus cannot imagine their life without adjika. Residents of Georgia and Abkhazia are arguing among themselves who is the leader in the invention of this outstanding sauce.

By the way, the recipe for Abkhazian and Georgian adjika is different. Cinnamon was never put in the first one, and the Georgians are used to cooking adjika, adding such a dessert seasoning to it.

According to the inhabitants of the Caucasus, adjika strengthens health, from the digestive system to male strength. This is not surprising, considering how many vitamin supplements are included in this sauce. That there is one garlic, famous for its medicinal properties.

Basic recipe

Still, as you can see, dry adjika is very popular. Any Caucasian hostess will tell you how to cook it. But knowledge can also be enriched at home. Here is a dry one which is easy to try.

For thirty hot peppercorns, take one and a half or two heads of garlic, a spoonful of salt, two tablespoons of cumin, four tablespoons of coriander seeds, one tablespoon of dry dill and two tablespoons of hops-suneli. Mix everything and grind in a mortar. That's all the wisdom in preparing such a seasoning as dry adjika, the recipe for which, given above, is basic, and you can vary the ingredients to your taste, adding spices there you want.

Do not forget that when using fresh vegetables and herbs, you will first have to fry all this in a pan in a small amount of oil, and then mix with each other, adding or not adding water (it depends on what thickness and pungency the adjika will turn out to be).

Additional recipe

So, take about 600 grams of ground hot red pepper, 4 tablespoons of dry coriander mixture, 2 tablespoons of dill seeds, and 2 tablespoons of suneli hop seasoning. In addition, salt should be added to taste. Don't forget to stir. So we have prepared dry adjika!

Hurry to cook

You already know what a dry adjika seasoning is. You also know how to dilute it, so feel free to start cooking the queen of Middle Eastern spices, the queen of the Caucasian feast.

Take a lot of pepper, you can also sweet, if you plan to serve fresh sauce, do not even think about adding tomatoes, the rich red color of adjika will get from red pepper, and you will preserve the authenticity of the seasoning.

Prepare dry adjika the way you like, because you can put as many herbs and spices in it as you like. It can come out with you and fiery-spicy, suitable for hot, and tender-spicy, and sweet-spicy, and with rich greens, and with the prevailing aroma of garlic, and with a complex inflorescence of spices. Whatever it can be. The main thing is that if it is based on a basic recipe, this adjika will be perfect.

As much as the housewives who cook it.

Find your recipe and remember that you can't do without experimentation!