Spicy Caucasian Adjika for Winter
Caucasian adjika for meat dishes or as a zesty condiment! Caucasian cuisine is known for adding huge amounts of hot, aromatic seasonings to nearly every dish. Adjika is a spicy seasoning, or zesty condiment, that perfectly complements meat or fish dishes — improving their flavor and making them more fragrant and rich. Authentic Caucasian adjika is made from hot peppers, garlic, salt, and spices. In the Caucasus, no tomatoes, carrots, or bell peppers go into adjika — only aromatic herbs and spices.
Cooking method
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Step 1:
How do you make spicy Caucasian adjika? Gather the ingredients. Unlike the adjika that home cooks make in our country, the Caucasian version has no tomatoes, carrots, or bell peppers. It's made from just four ingredients: hot pepper, garlic, coriander, and salt. That's what makes it true Caucasian adjika — it comes out very spicy and fragrant. And it's very simple and quick to make.
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Step 2:
You can use red or green hot peppers for the adjika. Wash the pepper pods thoroughly under running water and dry them. Remove the stems and seeds. Be sure to work with hot peppers in rubber gloves, or you can burn the skin on your hands, and never touch your face or eyes while doing it. Put the prepared pepper in a blender.
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Step 3:
Peel the garlic and grate the cloves on a fine grater, or blend them together with the hot pepper. You can use a simple meat grinder instead of a blender — the process takes a little longer, but it's said that adjika comes out more tender and tastier when made with the old-fashioned device.
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Step 4:
Use freshly ground coriander — better to buy the seeds and grind them yourself in a mortar, so the spice's aroma is especially rich and full, which only improves the adjika. Add the freshly ground coriander to the bowl with the hot pepper and garlic.
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Step 5:
Add the salt. Blend or grind the mixture once more. No vinegar goes into Caucasian adjika, since the seasoning contains garlic and hot pepper, which are preservatives in themselves, and there are no other vegetables or herbs that could cause it to spoil. This adjika also needs no cooking.
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Step 6:
Spoon the adjika into sterilized jars and store it in the refrigerator. Serve it with meat and other dishes. Enjoy!
Caloric content of the products possible in the composition of the dish
- Garlic - 143 kcal/100g
- Hot chili peppers - 40 kcal/100g
- Salt - 0 kcal/100g
- Ground coriander - 25 kcal/100g
