Adjika is a fragrant symphony of oriental spices with a sharp character. It is difficult to find a more perfect combination of allspice herbs, hot pepper and nut paste. This product is actively used to flavor meat, added to numerous soups and serves as an excellent addition to various dishes.
What is Abkhazian adjika made of?
The name āadjikaā itself came to us from the Abkhaz language and in translation means ordinary salt. Despite the fact that Abkhazian adjika comes in different colors, the basis for all species remains unchanged. Salt, garlic and red hot peppers are the main ingredients. Seasoning color depends on the composition of herbs and dried herbs, frayed in a special way.
After grinding with orange and red adjika, walnut oil was squeezed after grinding with walnut, which was later used for processing meat, pickling poultry, and dressing vegetables.
The technology of preparation of classic Abkhaz seasoning
According to ancient tradition, real adjika is cooked on a flat stone, which has a slight erasure in the center. The reciprocal part, with which the ingredients are ground, is also stone, but smaller. The grinding stone is pressed down with the left hand, and circular movements are carried out with the right. With this device, Abkhazians also ground walnuts, roots or chestnuts.
The use of stone grinding allows you to make adjika very thin consistency, similar to butter. Therefore, sometimes I want to call this product "Caucasian oil." Abkhazians use adjika with almost any food and cannot imagine life without this magical seasoning.
Unfortunately, many fakes have now appeared that have nothing to do with classical Abkhaz adjika. Beautiful labels can mislead even a true gourmet. Especially strange look inscriptions that adjika made somewhere in the Moscow region, or the composition of adjika contains tomato paste. But the most offensive is the fact that the origin of this magnificent product is attributed to Georgian cuisine, mistakenly assuming that they created the perfect seasoning recipe with an Abkhaz name.
The secret ingredients of Abkhaz adjika, composition, recipe
Adjika can be conditionally divided into two types: burning red and green. Hot pepper gives red color to the seasoning, not tomatoes, which are absent in the recipe. The recipe uses 500 g of dried capsicum. To restore its natural moisture content, the product is placed in a container with warm water, pressed down with a load and left for three hours.
Then the liquid is drained and the softened pods are abraded on the stone surface together with the rest of the spices, namely with all the remaining ingredients that make up adjika: with a head of garlic, coriander, savory and dill seeds taken in an amount of 10 g each. Some housewives pass the mixture through a meat grinder, but such grinding does not allow the essential oils contained in the seeds to stand out and provide a signature flavor to the seasoning. Therefore, if possible, use classic technology.
To maintain the necessary viscosity of the aromatic mashed potatoes, grated walnuts, about 100 grams, are added to the mixture. Peanut butter will provide the creamy taste of the product. It is also necessary to add salt to adjika to taste. Seasoning is stored in a glass jar for a rather long time, and a refrigerator is not necessary for this.
Green adjika is prepared similarly to red, with one difference being that green pepper is taken. To give a greater flavor, mint, cilantro and basil in the form of fresh herbs are added to the mixture. Seasoning salt is also present in reasonable amounts. Oddly enough, such a green composition of adjika is no less popular among the Abkhazians. In the Caucasus, it is even consumed with dairy products.
Adjika with Georgian flavor
Despite the claim that Georgian adjika does not exist, there are still recipes that closely resemble this product. In Georgia, walnuts are very fond of, and therefore they are present in almost all dishes. Adjika was no exception. The composition of Georgian adjika is very similar to Abkhazian, but the mass fraction of nut paste in it is much higher than the norm. In addition, greens, which are added to the paste, are not rubbed, but are cut with a knife into small pieces.
Walnuts, before they are ground in adjika, are dried in the oven or in a pan. Then they are cleaned of thin husks and only then grinded.
Russian variants of Caucasian adjika
As noted above, the composition of Adzhika Abkhazian does not contain tomatoes familiar to us. But while the recipe reached us, it changed a bit. Naturally, the classic taste was partially lost, but due to the introduction of new ingredients, the dish received a new flavor. Consider several of these recipes.
Adjika in Russian
To prepare the seasoning you will need fresh capsicum in the amount of 800 g, five heads of garlic, 125 g of coarse salt, half a glass of mixed spices (hops-suneli, dill, cilantro).
To work with such ingredients, you will need rubber gloves, as the skin on your hands may suffer from hot pepper. If the amount of red pepper seems large, then it can be partially replaced with sweet paprika or tomato paste.
All prepared foods need to be passed through a meat grinder and mix well. Can be used to grind a blender. The resulting paste does not need to be heat treated. Simply spread the mass into glass containers and store.
As you can see, the composition of home adjika is slightly different from the classics, but it also has a right to exist.
Adjika with horseradish
As you know, horseradish has a certain sharpness and is an excellent preservative. The composition of adjika with the addition of horseradish will look like this:
Ā· Bulgarian and hot pepper - 6 pcs.;
Ā· Tomatoes - 4 pcs.;
Average horseradish root;
Ā· Salt in a reasonable dose;
Ā· Parsley, dill and coriander seeds;
Garlic 1 head.
Judging by the bouquet of ingredients, the result will be quite burning, so the consumption of such adjika will be minimal. Although many gourmets are able to use such a mixture with spoons.
Tomatoes and peppers need to be peeled and cranked through a meat grinder, seeds can not be removed. Horseradish root should be grated on a coarse grater. You can also rub the garlic, or simply add it to the tomato mass in a meat grinder. Greens are cut into small fractions and added to the mixture. The pasta is salted and laid out in jars at the end.
As can be seen from the above examples, each has its own adjika. The composition and preparation are very different, therefore, when looking for a classic seasoning, it is more correct to turn to Abkhaz culinary specialists.