The Caucasian, Balkan, and Middle Eastern peoples have many dishes that are prepared from a whole set of vegetables and herbs: eggplant, tomatoes, bell pepper, onions, beans, basil, rosemary, etc. Sometimes, potatoes and green beans are added to the dishes. This vegetable dish is called differently everywhere: ajapsandal, imambayadi, etc. We are used to call such dishes with the simple word "stew".
In southern countries, any housewife knows how to make ajapsandal. This dish becomes the main food in the summer and allows the body to accumulate a supply of vitamins for the coming winter. In addition, it is easily absorbed and low in calories. In the article we will tell you how to properly prepare ajapsandal.
Vitamin Dense Soup
With the advent of summer, when fresh vegetables appear in the vegetable markets, I want to give up all meat and eat exclusively plant foods. This is our hungry for fresh vegetables, the body requires its own. And so, having bought eggplants, peppers, tomatoes and greens at the market, we go home to cook something tasty and light. Despite the fact that at our latitudes it is not customary to cook oriental ajapsandal, Russian housewives, once having tasted this delicious dish, begin to ask how to make ajapsandal. Learning about the simplicity of the recipe, they immediately begin to cook this thick soup full of vitamins.
Classic Recipe (Georgian)
Today, there are many cooking options for this southern dish. Each of the peoples made its own adjustments to the original recipe. Someone prepares it liquidy, someone, on the contrary, is very thick. Some add potatoes, and many add green beans or carrots and even cabbage. The classic recipe for this dish consists of the following ingredients:
- eggplant - 4 pieces;
- tomatoes - 1 kilogram;
- bell pepper red and green - half a kilogram;
- large onions - 2-3 heads;
- garlic - 3-4 cloves;
- 1 bunch of herbs, consisting of basil, parsley, cilantro, rosemary, etc .;
- spice;
- vegetable or butter.
Now you will learn how to make ajapsandal.
Step by step recipe
- Peel the eggplant, cut into cubes with a sharp knife, salt and put aside.
- Pepper to clear seeds and stalks, cut into strips.
- Dip the tomatoes in boiling water, and then in cold, so that it is easier to remove the skin. Cut into rings.
- Peel the onion and garlic. Cut the onion into thin half rings, and chop the garlic finely.
- Rinse greens thoroughly in water. Then dry and chop finely.
- Squeeze out the aubergines handful so that bitterness will flow out.
- Take a large pan with a thick bottom and layers to lay vegetables in it: eggplant, peppers, onions, garlic and tomatoes, herbs, etc. Leave some greens for serving.
- Pepper vegetables black and red pepper.
- Pour half a glass of vegetable (sunflower or corn) oil. Ajapsandal put on low heat. Boil enough to make a thick soup.
- At the end, try the dish and, if necessary, add salt.
So you know how to make ajapsandal according to the classic recipe. It is served in ceramic deep dishes, sprinkled with plenty of greens.
Meat ajapsandal
In Armenia, this dish is prepared according to two recipes. One of them is classic vegetarian, the second is meat. Surely, you were interested in how to cook ajapsandal with meat according to the Armenian recipe. After all, some men cannot be forced to eat dishes that do not contain this product. According to the recipe, ajapsandal is not as thick as in the previous recipe, but more satisfying and tasty. We present to your attention a list of ingredients, as well as instructions on how to prepare ajapsandal in Armenian.
The right products
In order to cook a dish according to this recipe, you need to have:
- Fatty meat with bones: either beef or lamb - about 1 kg.
- Eggplant - 3 pcs.
- Tomatoes - 4-5 pcs.
- Red, yellow, and green bell peppers — two in each color.
- 1 chilli hot pepper.
- Large potato - 4-5 tubers.
- Red onions - 2-3 pieces.
- Basil and rosemary - half a bunch (you can dried herbs).
- Bay leaf - 2-3 pcs.
- A pinch of black pepper.
- Butter ghee - 1-2 tablespoons.
Cooking method
And now we will tell you how to prepare ajapsandal in Armenian.
- The meat must be cut into medium-sized pieces, washed thoroughly under water.
- Put two tablespoons of melted butter on the bottom of the pan and put it on fire.
- Peel the onions, chop finely, put in a pan and fry in oil until golden.
- Add the pieces of meat to the onion, mix, pepper and cover. Reduce the fire, leave the meat to stew with onions.
- After 5-7 minutes, pour boiled water to the middle of the pan walls. Let the broth boil for another 10 minutes.
- While the broth is preparing, peel the eggplant and cut into cubes.
- Pepper is also prepared by chopping into half rings.
- Peel the tomatoes using the method described in the previous recipe and cut them into circles.
- Grind the peeled potatoes into the same cubes as the eggplant.
- Finely chop the greens.
- Gradually add eggplant to the broth, then pepper, potatoes - and at the very end the tomatoes. Ten minutes before ready to put bay leaf and herbs, leaving a little to sprinkle before serving.
As you noticed, in the Armenian version potatoes are added. Therefore, this recipe will please our men more, because it contains both meat and our pet. So you have learned how to make ajapsandal with potatoes. By the way, Armenian housewives sometimes add green beans to this dish, which gives it an original taste.
Conclusion
Ajapsandal, regardless of whether he cooked with meat or not, is a very tasty and healthy dish. Everyone who has tried it at least once in a lifetime will not refuse to try the eastern food again. The recipes given by us, as you noticed, are quite simple, everyone can easily prepare them.