Tomato Sauce with Cilantro

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   Gather all the ingredients you'll need. Use fresh, young, fragrant cilantro. You can replace the tomato paste with tomato juice, but you'll need to reduce it just a little to a thicker texture.

2. Step 2:

   

   Wash the cilantro, dry it, and chop it finely. I cut cilantro with kitchen scissors to get it finer. But first I wash and dry it well, wrapping it in a paper towel - that way the bits of herb don't stick to the scissors.

3. Step 3:

   

   Add the minced garlic to the chopped cilantro. I put a clove through a press. But you can also grate the garlic on a fine grater or mince it with a sharp knife. If you don't have fresh garlic, you can replace it with garlic powder.

4. Step 4:

   

   Grind the herbs with the garlic using a mortar, or just a masher.

5. Step 5:

   

   Add the khmeli-suneli and dry adjika. You can really add any of your favorite seasonings to taste. I prefer utskho-suneli, for example - that seasoning contains fenugreek, which I really like. Some people will prefer ground paprika, and that works well too, especially smoked paprika - it gives the sauce a light note of campfire smoke.

6. Step 6:

   

   Add ground hot pepper. Mine is black, but it can be red, white, or even allspice if you grind it in a special mill.

7. Step 7:

   

   Pour in the vinegar. It can be any fruit vinegar: apple like mine, grape, wine, raspberry, black currant, or even plain 6-9%. If you have vinegar essence, dilute it with water. To get 8% vinegar, use 8 tablespoons of water per 1 tablespoon of essence.

8. Step 8:

   

   Add the tomato paste or reduced tomato juice. You can use ready-made ketchup, but it usually contains some additives and flavorings anyway, so the flavor of the finished sauce will change a little.

9. Step 9:

   

   Mix everything thoroughly until smooth and, if needed, thin it with cooled boiled water to the sauce thickness you want.

10. Step 10:

    

    This sauce is great with all kinds of kebabs, fresh vegetables, and vegetable salads. Even a single sprig of fresh green onion seems gourmet with a sauce like this! Enjoy!