All the culinary experts of the world agree that almost any second dish makes the sauce special, tasty and memorable. A great many of them were invented: for meat, for fish, for poultry. There are spicy, there are sweet and sour - for every taste and preference. But if you like spicy, you should definitely try tzahton sauce. Its recipe belongs to Caucasians. The sauce is prepared both in Georgia and in Ossetia. There are several options for it, and each mistress considers her own to be right. So if you are inclined to culinary creativity, choose any tzakhton - the recipe for cooking will become basic, and you will add it to your taste and get a unique sauce that can become your business card.
Separately, we note that the Caucasian "accompaniment" to meat is traditionally made sharp. However, there are some versions of tzachton that can be called rather spicy. And if your stomach does not take acute, you can stay on a milder option. And one more thing: according to the rules, dressing the tzahton sauce requires matsoni, katyk, in extreme cases - yogurt. But the sour taste is not to everyone's liking, so sour cream is indicated in the recipes instead of these liquids.
Primary base
All products are taken by eye: the sauce should match your taste. Hot peppers are chopped as small as possible. If you like very hot sauces, leave the seeds. Just so that they do not fall on the tooth, rub them in a mortar. Garlic is peeled and squeezed through a press. Take more greens, in the original it should be cilantro, but if its smell is too pronounced for you, take parsley. The bunch is chopped, all the pieces are combined and poured with sour cream. The ready-made tzakhton recipe recommends seasoning uchi-suneli with salt, mix well and leave it to warm for a quarter of an hour to saturate with aromas.
Some people dispense only with dry spices and sour cream, calling the sauce chakhton. In our opinion, this is not very correct: at least greens must be present in the sauce.
Tsakhton in Georgian
The main difference from the Ossetian version is the presence of nuts in the sauce. In some versions, even bitter pepper is absent, so such a tzatkhon is also suitable for ulcers. Nuts and garlic are taken in equal proportions, spiced greens - in double quantity. All this is passed through a blender until smooth and diluted with sour cream to the desired consistency. The recipe advises putting cumin, salt and coriander from spices to zakhton, but does not prohibit flavoring the sauce with other seasonings that are, in your opinion, suitable. If you did not grind hot pepper into the mass, you can add a little spice to the ground. Red will harmoniously fit in here.
Another version
Not everyone likes to bother with fresh hot pepper - hands after it nips for a long time, there are also irritations if the skin is tender. However, this is not a reason to abandon the idea of making tzahton. The recipe below will help you avoid troubles and enjoy Caucasian sauce. Go to the market and buy salty hot pepper “from grandmothers”. Just before you give the money, try the product (if allowed): sometimes such peppers have a musty taste, but we do not need this.
Pickled peppers are either chopped or passed through a meat grinder / blender / food processor. If you like very spicy sauces, you can not even clean the seeds, just cut the ponytails. A large amount of fresh greens is crumbled (or ground) here, sour cream is poured - and after 15 minutes you can water the meat in a chakhton. Or just smear on bread.
Tsakhton: a recipe for the winter
If you like the sauce, you can prepare it for cold times. There are two options: either pickle the peppers, or make a fresh base, which is called tsyvza-zakhton or chivdzosa. For her, young pods of very hot pepper are taken - one that is red in a mature form. You should find them green, preferably with leaves. The stems are not needed here. Peppers with leaves are blanched for no longer than one minute. Then they are well wrung out until the water stops dripping, they are folded into a saucepan, where fresh cold water is poured. Peppers are boiled for about five minutes, washed again, wrung out (this time not very carefully) and salted. The workpiece is very tightly folded into a jar with a screw cap and placed in the refrigerator. At the right time, tsyvy-tsakhton is poured with sour cream, where greens are crumbled and seasonings are mixed.
Final clarifications
Ready sauce, that is, already with added sour cream, you need to eat immediately. The maximum is the next day. If stored for longer, it becomes less tasty and aromatic. Incidentally, it is still very tasty to soak the meat in it. Shish kebab after such pickling turns out to be especially tender and aromatic. It’s better to breed tzachton for marinade with tan or yogurt - then the meat will be ready to cook faster. Join Caucasian culinary traditions - gourmets recommend!