Georgian cuisine is famous for tortillas, mouth-watering meats and aromatic spices, which, when combined, leave an unforgettable cooking experience. One of the original additions to the table is satsebeli sauce.
Satsebeli is just a sauce, yes, it is the sauce itself. It is made from ripe tomatoes / fruits with the addition of various spices in any combination. It is used both freshly prepared and stored for the winter. In fact, the preparation of this product will not be difficult and will even allow you to bring your own flavor. However, classic Georgian implies the use of only the national ingredients of the sauce.
Useful properties and cooking features
Due to the extensive composition of the incoming products, the meal helps to normalize bowel function, increase appetite and stabilize metabolism. Thanks to the incoming vitamins, macro and microelements, immunity is maintained, the body is strengthened and mood improves. Due to organic acids, the digestion process is stimulated, the acid-base balance is restored, the production of hormones is stabilized, and the aging process slows down. In its composition, pectin helps to cope with inflammatory diseases and remove harmful substances.
In addition, the sauce tastes good and adds variety to the diet. It is served warm or cold with meat, fish, soups, pasta, rice, vegetables, flat cakes and cheese. Even if you spread it on a piece of bread and eat it before the main meal, the food will only be beneficial and the metabolism will be activated.
Satsebeli cannot be spoiled with a large amount of hot spices or nuts, herbs, berries, fruits. By adding certain components, you get different variations of ketchup, which are served with different dishes or desserts.
- choose ripe vegetables / fruits, without rot and disease, otherwise it will not be possible to preserve the sauce for a long time;
- always use sterile storage utensils;
- chop nuts in advance with a meat grinder or crush;
- pre-wash fresh herbs from sand and grind separately;
- garlic and spices are put into the workpiece 5 minutes before the end of the cooking process;
- use apple or grape vinegar in strictly specified proportions;
- store in a cool place unsealed bottles or jars. If the workpiece is covered with metal lids, then it can be left at room temperature in a closed cabinet.
Interesting fact
The first option for preparing satsebeli was a sweet and sour combination of berries with hot spices, in order to brighten up food without salt. They took as a basis blackberries, plums, quince, added ground walnuts and flavored with hot pepper, garlic and cilantro. The twisted sauce was very popular for its combination with various products, but kept for a short period. After adding grape, dogwood or apple cider vinegar, it became possible to store it all winter, until the next harvest. Well, in the modern world, they moved away from the berry and fruit base and began to take tomatoes more often.
A simple recipe for a sauce at home
Ingredients:
- tomatoes - 3 kg;
- garlic - 100 g;
- chili pepper - 2 pcs.;
- utskho-suneli, coriander, dill, hops-suneli 2 tsp each;
- apple cider vinegar - 1 tablespoon;
- sugar, salt 1 tsp each.
Step by step guide:
- Wash the tomatoes, dry on a napkin, divide into pieces.
- Transfer to a saucepan and simmer over medium heat for 20-30 minutes, until soft like gruel. Stir occasionally.
- Remove from the stove, grind the mass with an immersion blender until a homogeneous consistency and rub through a mechanical sieve (remove bones and skins).
- Pour 50 ml of tomato mixture into a blender bowl, add garlic and pepper. Grind everything thoroughly, add all the spices and repeat the procedure.
- Pour the mashed tomato puree into a bowl and simmer over low heat for 15-20 minutes until thickened. Pour in chopped seasonings, vinegar 5 minutes before the end of cooking.
- Pour the prepared sauce hot into pasteurized bottles / jars and seal tightly.
A little trick for housewives - tomatoes can be replaced with pasta. This will shorten the cooking time and preserve the flavor of the finished sauce. You just need to dilute it with water in a ratio of 1-2.
Grape tomato ketchup
To prepare an interesting version of the sauce, you will need the following components:
- tomatoes - 2 kg;
- bell peppers, grapes - 0.5 kg each;
- garlic, cilantro - 100 g each;
- bitter pepper - 1 piece;
- salt, sugar to taste.
Step-by-step cooking:
- Rinse vegetables, fruits and herbs thoroughly, pat dry with a towel.
- Pass everything except garlic and cilantro through a meat grinder, transfer to a cooking container, stir and put on the stove.
- Simmer for 70 minutes, cool slightly and pass through a sieve.
- Pour into another container, add small pieces of garlic and herbs, simmer for 15 minutes. If desired, you can pour in a tablespoon of vinegar, but this is not necessary, since acid is already included in the workpiece.
- Put the prepared sauce in the prepared container, roll up and hide in the closet.
Plum satsebeli (tkemali)
To prepare 1 liter of the original, close to the old version of the sauce, you need to take:
- prunes - 1000 g;
- walnuts - 150 g;
- garlic - 1 head;
- chili pepper - 2 pcs.;
- turmeric, black pepper, coriander - 5 g each;
- apple cider vinegar - 30 ml;
- salt - 2 tsp;
- sugar - ½ cup;
- vegetable oil - 50 ml.
Step by step:
- Wash the plums, dry and remove the seeds.
- Grind nuts, peppers, plums in a blender bowl and transfer to a saucepan.
- Add spices, stir, bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Place crushed garlic, vinegar in a semi-finished product and boil for 1 minute.
- Pour into pasteurized dishes, close tightly.
Satsebeli with black currant
Ingredients:
- tomatoes - 1.5 kg;
- sweet pepper - 500 g;
- black currant - 150 g;
- garlic - 100 g;
- coriander, salt, sugar - 1 tsp each;
- hot pepper - 1 pc.;
- dill, parsley, cilantro - 1 bunch each.
How to cook:
- Wash all components, remove excess moisture.
- Tomatoes - peeled, divided into 4 parts, cored.
- Currant - remove the stalks, grind through a sieve.
- Pepper - cut in half, remove seeds. Finely chop the greens.
- Load all prepared food into the bowl of the food processor, beat until puree.
- Pour the mass into a bowl, boil for an hour until a homogeneous thick consistency. Stir periodically so that it does not burn.
- Add the rest of the spices, garlic, simmer for 7 minutes. You can serve it to the table, bon appetit!
To preserve in the winter, at the end of cooking, pour in vinegar and oil, 2 tablespoons each, roll up.
Pomegranate satsebeli
A quick and straightforward version of the sauce that does not require boiling.
Components:
- nuts - 130 g;
- garlic - 1 small head;
- cilantro (leaves) - 15 g;
- chili pepper - ½ pod;
- salt - 1/3 tsp;
- refined sugar - 1 tbsp. l.;
- saffron, coriander, utskho-suneli - 1 tsp each;
- pomegranate juice - 1 glass.
Step-by-step actions:
- Fry the nuts in a pan, crush with a rolling pin. Cut the greens into small pieces.
- Load all ingredients except juice into the blender bowl, grind until mushy.
- Pour in juice, mix thoroughly, refrigerate for 4-5 hours.
Served chilled. The lowest calorie version of the sauce (28 calories per 100 grams), perfect for vegans. Pomegranate juice can be replaced with blackberry or dogwood juice.
Calorie content
It depends on the incoming vegetables or fruits and averages 55 kcal. In terms of energy value, it contains proteins, fats, carbohydrates in the following proportions 1, 5-0, 2-11.
Who is contraindicated
If a history of stomach diseases in the stage of exacerbation, inflammatory processes in the kidneys or gallbladder, allergic manifestations are revealed, then it is better to refuse the use of such ketchups.
