Most of our fruits come in gluts. Plums are no exception. And while I’m a sucker for a plum crumble and the occasional jar of plum jam, I prefer my food on the sour side. When we travelled in Georgia (the country), we ate copious amounts of a sour plum relish. This relish, or Tkemali sauce, is fabulous with meat kebabs, and it’s fabulous have with heavy dishes like macaroni cheese too. I had to experiment with several different Tkemali sauce recipes to get it at just the right level of flavour and sour /sweetness that instantly take me back to Georgia, and so now here’s my recipe for Georgian Tkemali sauce.
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Tkemali – or sour Georgian plum sauce – is one taste that transports me immediately back to Georgia. I haven’t been able to find a source to buy tkemali sauce UK suppliers, so I did the even better thing, experimented with tkemali recipes to get the taste that reminds me so much of the tkemali plum sauce that we ate so many times during our visits to Georgia.
Tkemali Sauce Ingredients
This recipe makes 300 ml of Tkemali sour plum relish
- 500 grams of plums – You can use at any stage of ripeness, even not quite ripe.
- 2 tablespoons of fresh (or bottled) lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
- 3 cloves garlic, minced. Or you can use 1.5 teaspoons of pre-minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon chilli flakes
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander (read about growing your own coriander here)
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill
Additional Ingredients use to refine to your taste
- ½ teaspoon sugar (if it is too tart)
- Extra lemon juice (for more tartness)
- Extra red wine vinegar for more tartness
- Extra salt
Equipment you’ll need to make Tkemali
You’ll find details of this equipment in our kitchen essentials list here.
- Chopping Board
- Saucepan
- Colander
- Measuring Spoons
- Wooden Spoon
- Measuring Jug
- Jars to store your Tkemali in – more on jars and preserving here
Georgian Sour Plum Relish Method
Wash your plums while you set a large pan to boil water. You’ll need enough to cover the plums. Put the plums in the pan of boiling water and boil for around 30 seconds. This is simply to allow the skins of the plums to flake off, you’re not cooking the plugs at this point.
Drain the plums in a colander and rinse in cold water.
Leaving the plums in the colander peel the skins off and remove the stones. Put the flesh of the plums back in your pan.
In the pan with your plums add the
- Ground coriander powder
- Dried cumin powder
- Salt
- Pepper
- Chilli Flakes
- Garlic
- Lemon juice
- Olive Oil
- Red wine vinegar
- 230ml of water.
Simmer for about 5 minutes until the plums are really soft and break up easily.
Remove from the heat and using a hand blender blend until smooth.
Add the chopped dill and chopped coriander
Stir and taste, adding additional requirements to your taste. Tkemali is not called “sour “ plum sauce for no reason!
Once you have the sour plum sauce to your taste return to the heat and simmer slowly – without the saucepan lid on – until the sauce has thickened.
Simmering to the correct consistency takes around one hour and 15 minutes for this amount of sauce, it may take longer for large quantities. Watch the sauce thicken quite quickly towards the end, so you need to watch it certainly at the end of the process.
You’ll want to simmer the sauce rather than boiling it as this will maintain the flavour of the ingredients. Boiling your sauce will reduce the liquid quantity quickly, but it will also change the flavour.
You’ll want your Tkemali sour plum sauce to be not quite the consistency of tomato ketchup, a little runnier. Tkemali should pour out of a bottle or jar.
Serve sour plum sauce at room temperature.
If you are storing for later use, make sure you have sterilized your jars or bottles and that they are hot when you pour the Tkemali into them. (read more about jars and bottles in our guide to jam and chutney making kit here).
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How to thicken plum sauce
While many will advocate using cornflour as a thickening agent, I wouldn’t do that if you want your Georgian sour plum sauce thicker. Simply turn the heat down on the hob and simmer for a little longer. Keep the lid off – you’re trying to remove water from the mixture, not keep it in!
What to eat Tkemali Sauce with
Enjoy sour plum sauce with grilled meats and barbecues. Tkemali is eaten in Georgia as a substitute for ketchup. It’s great added to Mtsvadi and fabulous on Khachapuri. You can read more about what else to eat in Georgia here. We enjoy it with lamb kebabs, macaroni cheese, and barbecued meat. I love this sour plum recipe – but I know everyone’s taste is different, so let me know what you’re doing to make this fit your tastes!
Enjoy these other recipes from Lets Grow Cook
- Rhubarb and Ginger Gin
- Blackberry Infused Gin
- Creamy Courgette Soup
- Courgette Bread
- Tkemali Sour Plum Sauce
- Lemon and Balsamic Marinated Figs
- Baba Ganoush Recipe without Tahini
- Fresh Mint Ice Cream – no ice cream maker needed
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