Calorie content: Not specified
Cooking time: Not specified

Recipe with photo step by step:

I used pork for today's recipe, but you can also use lamb. Chop the pork into large pieces. You can use the part of the pork that has greasy veins. The fat will be melted during frying, and the dish will be juicy and tasty.




Melt butter, add vegetable oil to it. Put pieces of meat in the oil mixture. Start frying the meat, first over high heat, so that it grabs with a crust and turns out beautiful in color. Stir the meat constantly. When it is fried for a couple of minutes, add salt, add water and simmer over low heat.




While the meat is stewing, prepare the vegetables. Cut the peeled potatoes into large pieces.




Chop the onion in half rings.






Peel sweet pepper from seeds, cut it into strips.




Cut the tomatoes into large slices.




Cut the eggplants into half rings, sprinkle with salt so that they release bitterness. Let the eggplants lie in salt for 10-15 minutes.




When the meat is half-cooked, add eggplants and onions to the cauldron. Cover with a lid and let it simmer for about 10 minutes.






After that, add the potatoes to the cauldron. You can lightly salt vegetables. Simmer potatoes for 10 minutes.




Pour in the next layer of sweet peppers and tomatoes. If there is no water at the bottom, then add a little so that the meat does not burn at the bottom. So far we do not interfere with anything, but we stew the vegetables in layers, as they were laid on top of each other. Put the salt to taste. We also add dry basil, which is aromatic and goes well with vegetables.




Simmer all the vegetables together until cooked for another 25 minutes, at the end add the bay leaf and stir to make the ajapsandal even more aromatic and juicy. Remove from heat and let it brew with the lid closed for about 15 minutes.




Sprinkle the finished ajapsandal with chopped cilantro and serve. Good appetite!
Try another version of this dish -

What could be better than a vegetable dish in summer? And if it is fragrant and Georgian? :) I live in Georgia and have tried a lot of Ajapsandali recipes (as it is called in Georgian) until I came to this. He has become an integral part of our family. A mixture of herbs gives the dish a unique aroma and bright taste.

Required ingredients.

First you need to peel the eggplants and cut them into large circles, about a centimeter wide.

Pour the eggplants with cold salted water and put the load on top, for 20-30 minutes, so that all the bitterness comes out of them.

Peel the potatoes, cut them into small pieces and cook over medium heat.

In the meantime, the eggplants have already soaked, pour out the juice and squeeze them well. Heat the pan very hot, pour a lot of sunflower oil on it, as eggplants tend to absorb a lot of oil. Wait until the oil also warms up and put the eggplant slices tightly together.

While the potatoes are boiling and the eggplants are fried, peel the onions, bell peppers and hot peppers.

Cut the onion into cubes, the bell pepper into half rings, and the capsicum into slices.

We spread the eggplants in batches, as much as fits in the pan at a time. After they are fried, put them in a colander so that all the excess oil is glass.

In the meantime, the potatoes are almost cooked (you need to cook it a little), we take it out with a slotted spoon and leave it to cool.

Cut the washed tomatoes in half, cutting off the remnants of the tail, grate them until they are peeled.

Usually in these cases they say to scald the tomatoes with boiling water, peel them off and cut them into cubes, or then rub them, but in my opinion, my method is easier, isn't it? :)

When all the eggplants are fried, in the same pan where they were fried, pour the potatoes, cut into 1-1.5 cm cubes. Fry until golden brown.

Pour the fried potatoes temporarily into a bowl, add the peppers and onions to the pan. Fry the onions until golden. Then put the potatoes and eggplants back to sleep. Fill with grated tomatoes. If your tomatoes are not juicy enough, then you can add a tablespoon of tomato paste and a little boiling water. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring gently.

Chop herbs and garlic. I prefer finely chopped garlic, but you can also pass it through a press. My thyme is dried, it is usually used in Georgian cuisine when cooking Lobio. Put the herbs and garlic in the pan and simmer for another 5 minutes, stirring gently.

Ajapsandali is ready, you can serve it to the table, bon appetit!

In Georgia, it is the main dish and is eaten without a side dish, since it is quite satisfying, but pasta and even mashed potatoes are perfect for it, despite the fact that there are potatoes in Ajapsandali itself. It is usually eaten cold, but I prefer warm.

The spicy aroma of Georgian cuisine is hard not to recognize. It reminds of Georgia even to those who have never been to it and cannot imagine all the beauty of the mountainous country.

Ajapsandal - the word itself sounds like a mysterious oriental tale. This simple and incredibly tasty dish is more than one hundred years old. It is prepared by Georgians, Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Ossetians.

• Amazing. Each Georgian woman has her own recipe, inherited from her mother and grandmother. But this dish is obtained even by an inexperienced hostess who is not familiar with Georgian cuisine.
• Universal. They cook on the stove, in the oven, in a slow cooker, on the grill, on the grill and just on the fire. There are a lot of variations - from a light vegetable stew to a dense dish with potatoes and meat. They eat it hot, cold, roll it up in jars for the winter.
• Useful. Ajapsandal is the perfect blend of fresh summer vegetables, herbs and spices. They are prepared in such a way as to preserve vitamins and useful properties.

Classic recipe

Ajapsandali only needs fresh and young vegetables.

• 2 medium eggplants
• 4 multi-colored Bulgarian peppers
• 3-4 small tomatoes
• 2 medium onions
• 1 bunch of flavored cilantro
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 hot pepper
• 1 tbsp. l. table salt
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp hops-suneli
• 180 ml vegetable oil

To prepare a dish without skill, 1 hour is enough.

1. Let's take care of vegetables

Fresh, washed, they are ready to give us a unique taste.

• Cut the "blue" into circles 1 cm thick. Cut the circles in half. No need to clean. Salt, leave for a quarter of an hour in a bowl. During this time, bitterness and excess liquid will go away.
• Cut the peeled onion into half rings.
• Multi-colored paprika - thin strips.
• Rinse the eggplants and squeeze lightly. At this stage, the main thing is not to overdo it. If squeezed too hard, they will become soft and tasteless.

1. Making frying

Burn vegetable oil in a frying pan, fry the eggplant pieces. As soon as they become golden, remove from heat. You cannot overcook, the taste will be hopelessly spoiled. The remaining oil will drain in the colander.

• Fry onions and peppers in hot oil. After adding paprika, keep on fire for no more than 5 minutes.
• Peel the tomatoes, previously doused with boiling water. Mash with a fork or grind with a blender.
• Chop up delicious-smelling cilantro.
• Add coriander and suneli hops to the roast. Send tomato puree there. Put garlic and herbs cut into slices on top.

1. Collecting ajapsandali

In a deep dish, alternate 2 layers:

1. eggplant
2. frying.

Top should be fried, thickly sprinkled with herbs. Besides cilantro, basil is often used.

There is never too much Ajapsandal. Usually, a large portion is prepared at once to be reheated as needed or used as a cold snack.

The Georgian vegetable miracle goes well with any type of meat.

Ajapsandal with potatoes

Hearty and light at the same time, with a rich vegetable flavor. The bright colors are pleasing to the eye, and the scent leaves no time for thought. Hurry to the table!

Medium diced potatoes, boil for 2 minutes after boiling. Fry in a pan until tender. Add to classic vegetables.

Ajapsandali with meat

Ajapsandali is cooked with various types of meat, from pork to lamb. Processing options differ from recipe to recipe. It is pre-boiled, fried or stewed. Then vegetables are prepared according to the basic recipe. If you decide to cook sandalwood with beef, it is better to pre-marinate it so that it does not turn out tough.

If you don't like stews, but prefer the option with a fried crust, it is better to drain the juice that will be released when the marinated meat is fried.

It is not customary to put a lot of meat in ajapsandali. If it dominates, the taste of vegetables will not be revealed. Not a bad 1: 3 ratio.

Ajapsandal on the grill and grill

The original version of the legendary Georgian snack is obtained on the grill, grill and even a fire.

Bake vegetables on skewers or grill. Peel them, chop, mix with oil, spices, herbs, garlic. A little trick: To avoid wasting a lot of time peeling baked eggplants, peppers and tomatoes, put them in cold water for a while.

Mushrooms are sometimes added to a spicy stew.

Delicious ajapsandal smelling of smoke is cooked on a grill in a thick-walled cauldron.

Barbecue with aromatic appetizer and wine is the perfect combination. And already outdoors in the company of friends and family is a real holiday.

Ajapsandal in a slow cooker and oven

Spicy warm vegetable salad turns out great in a slow cooker. Well, not every day you manage to cook food in nature.

The multicooker saves time. It takes a little longer to cook Georgian stew on the stove. Therefore, if the guests, as they say, are on the doorstep, feel free to start washing and peeling fresh vegetables. You will have time!

In order for ajapsandali to acquire a unique taste, it is better to first fry them in a slow cooker or in a pan.

Georgian appetizers are also made in the oven. Fried foods are placed in a cauldron and sent to the oven to languish and tease everyone with mind-blowing odors.

The main trick is not to overcook the vegetables. Otherwise, you will not get either an appetizing look or an amazing taste. After frying, the cooking time in a multicooker is no more than 20-30 minutes. Leaving the dish on the heating for half an hour, you give it the opportunity to brew. The taste will be more intense and spicy.

Adjapsandali for the winter

In winter, seasonal products are expensive. Moreover, they are entirely imported, and the attitude towards them is ambiguous. They taste different from the usual fresh eggplant and peppers. If you don't want to part with your favorite dish for a long time, you urgently need to roll the aroma and colors of summer into the jars.

When preparing ajapsandal for the winter, add 50 ml of vinegar for every half a kilogram of eggplant.

An amazing bright and aromatic dish will never get bored. The variety of recipes and methods of preparation allows you to add new notes to the harmonious taste every time.

Gemrielad miirtvit! Bon appetit, everyone!

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Georgian cuisine is famous for its spicy dishes, with beautifully selected bouquets of herbs and hot spices in recipes. But everyone is used to the fact that Georgian cuisine is, first of all, meat in all its forms. However, there is a recipe for a dish that can turn all views and templates - ajapsandal.

What is "ajapsandal"

This dish has a lot of names (pictured) - ajapsandali, ajabsandal or just sandal. An easy-to-prepare vegetarian stew made with spices and herbs. This is a very tasty dish with a simple recipe that combines the main flavors of Georgian cuisine. It mixed - the charm of summer juicy vegetables and a pleasant almost real mushroom flavor of eggplant.

You can even name the traditional ajapsandal - this is a Georgian vegetable sauté, stew, stewed vegetables. Only all the vegetables are cut into larger pieces, baked with spices and herbs.

There is a legend that they invented a real ajapsandali - a Georgian dish, the shepherds high in the mountains - first singed paprika and eggplants on a fire. And then they mashed these vegetables in mashed potatoes, mixing them with herbs and hot spices. Such ajap paste or mashed potatoes were stored for quite a long time and the shepherds could have lunch on the go, while moving with the herds.

Perhaps this is true, or maybe just a beautiful legend. But in the end, almost all Caucasian peoples have been using this recipe for many years, hundreds of years. Each family has its own recipe, passed on from the elders to the younger. Recipes also vary from region to region. But one thing remains fundamental - in every recipe there must be baked eggplants and paprika (bell peppers).

In Georgia, meat is rarely put in ajapsandal; in Armenia, meat is mandatory. There are recipes where vegetables and meat must be cooked. But consider a classic Georgian recipe. Vegetarian, very useful due to the peculiarities of food processing, in which vegetables do not lose their beneficial qualities. Because stewed vegetables are processed over a fire for a minimum amount of time. Thanks to this, they practically do not lose vitamins.

When and how sandal is served

The dish is like a side dish for meat, something like a stew. And there is a separate dish, preparation for the winter like vegetable caviar. But most often it is a very thick vegetable soup. The dish is self-sufficient and light at the same time. Ajapsandali recipe - it's easy and simple to learn how to cook a dish even in field conditions.

Any hostess who knows how to cook can take a simple recipe as a basis. There are no peculiarities or difficulties in it. Moreover, the whole recipe lends itself very easily to small changes in composition, without deterioration in taste. So it's not difficult to prepare the most common Georgian dish.

It is enough to cook a step-by-step recipe once, in order to then constantly pamper your loved ones with an exquisite national dish of Georgian cuisine.

Ajapsandal classic recipe in Georgian

Ingredients required:

• Eggplant - 2 pcs. medium;
• Bulgarian pepper - 4 pcs. (preferably in different colors);
• Tomatoes - 3-4 pcs. medium;
• Onions - 2pcs (medium);
• Cilantro greens - 1 bunch;
• Garlic - 4 cloves;
• Hot pepper - 1 pc.;
• Salt - 1 sec. l .;
• Ground coriander - 1 tsp;
• Hops-suneli - 1 tsp. ;
• Vegetable oil - 2/3 cup (about 180-190 grams).

Cooking sequence

It is worth observing all stages of cooking. But with experience, you can add some of your own ingredients or something else. This dish is plastic - it is impossible to spoil it.

1. We need to prepare vegetables. Wash the eggplants thoroughly, then cut them lengthwise into strips about 1 cm thick. Cut along with the skin. Mix chopped eggplants with salt in a deep bowl and let stand for 10-25 minutes. During this time, the eggplants will release the juice along with the bitterness.
2. While the eggplants are standing, prepare the other ingredients - peel the vegetables. Cut the onions into half rings.
3. Peel the bell pepper from seeds, stalk films and cut into thin, long strips.
4. After that, it's time to return to the eggplants - they need to be washed out of salt under water and squeezed out, not hard, otherwise they will become too soft, cottony. Then straighten them and set them aside again for a while - let them dry out a little.
5. It's time to cook the fry. Pour 3 tbsp. tablespoons of vegetable oil, heat it well. Fry the eggplants until golden brown on each side. Do not overcook! Only lightly brown.
6. Place the fried eggplants in a colander to drain off excess oil.
7. Peel the garlic and cut into thin slices.
8. Pour vegetable oil into a heavy-bottomed pan and heat to maximum temperature. Lay out the chopped onions - fry until golden brown.
9. Add the bell peppers and reduce the heat under the skillet to the middle, fry for about 5 minutes.
10. During this time, pour boiling water over the tomatoes, peel them. Then mash the pulp until puree. You can grind in a mixer or just knead with a fork, crush. Chop the cilantro also finely.
11. Add spices to the fried onions and bell peppers - ground coriander, hop-suneli.
12. Place the tomato puree in a skillet with the onions and bell peppers. Top with chopped garlic slices and chopped cilantro.
13. Remove the skillet from the heat and start collecting the ajapsandal. Place a layer of fried eggplants in an enamel, ceramic or glass deep dish. On it is a layer of fried vegetables with tomatoes and spices. Layer again with eggplant and lay it out to the end in the same way alternating layers. The top layer must be made from fried vegetables and spices with tomatoes.
14. Sprinkle on top with thickly chopped herbs - cilantro or whatever you like. Let it brew for 30 minutes and then serve.

The photo shows what a beautiful, appetizing dish turned out - classic ajapsandali.

You can cook it according to another recipe - a denser one, with potatoes or beef, lamb. It is just then that potatoes, cut into pieces, are added to the dish, which must be fried until half cooked.

In each layer after the eggplant, lay out the potatoes, just lay the eggplants and frying in layers. Then bake until tender in an oven preheated to 180 degrees. This will take approximately 15 minutes. The result is a potato dish made from vegetables with spices, a casserole.

In the oven, a classic recipe will acquire richness and softness. It is saturated with the aroma of all herbs and spices. For a recipe with meat, you need to fry meat lamb or young veal cut into small pieces. Then stew the meat separately and collect further as described above. In some recipes, the meat can be boiled. There is also an option to bake meat and potato tubers in the oven, then mix in layers with eggplants and spices as mentioned above.

It is impossible not to fall in love with the taste of ajapsandal - this food, even prepared later, in winter, far from Georgia, can once again remind you of a hot summer and a sunny country. All the aroma of Georgian spicy herbs, the variety of tastes, sunshine and lightness of the mountain air are all in this simple, rich dish.

Georgia is a country of bright sun, vivid landscapes and vivid tastes in national cuisine. A trip to the country of high mountains and sonorous songs should not remain without memorable souvenirs and simple, tasty, healthy recipes. Ajapsandal just meets all the requirements - it is beautiful and original in its simplicity. It is not difficult to prepare, it contains common products that are not uncommon in Russia, even in the autumn-winter period.

But how much pungency and memories that hostess has who learns to cook this dish in Georgia and continues to pamper her family at home!

Ajapsandali (or ajapsandal) in Georgian is an incredibly aromatic vegetable dish with spices and herbs. It can be eaten as a hot stew or served as a spicy cold appetizer.

Products for ajapsandali

The basis of the dish is vegetables: eggplants, tomatoes, carrots, onions, garlic and bell peppers.

Vegetables should be ripe and juicy, as their condition directly affects the taste of the dish.

In addition to the vegetable component, greens are used - basil, parsley and cilantro.

Greens must certainly be fresh, dried will not give the desired aroma and taste

And of course, as in all Georgian dishes, spices play the first violin in the symphony of taste. Their set varies depending on the region of the country, but the classic recipe includes black pepper, saffron, coriander and utskho-suneli.

Saffron is the most expensive spice, it is also called "red gold", but it is he who gives Georgian dishes a unique aroma and taste

The result is a bright and delicious dish that is served with fresh bread or lavash.

Fresh bread is served with the dish in order to collect it with the crumb of a delicious sauce

Classic recipe from Tinatin Mzhavanadze

Little tip: try to prepare everything in advance. Wash and chop vegetables, provide free space on your desktop. In this case, the preparation of a fragrant dish will take less time and effort.

Ingredients:

• 4 tomatoes;
• 3 onions;
• 4 sweet peppers;
• 3 carrots;
• 4 eggplants;
• 6 cloves of garlic;
• 50 g of basil, cilantro and parsley;
• 1 tsp sea ​​salt;
• 1/3 tsp black pepper;
• 1/3 tsp utskho-suneli;
• 1/4 tsp ground coriander;
• a pinch of saffron;
• 5 tbsp. l. vegetable oil.

Step by step recipe:

1. Cut the eggplants into slices.

   Cut the blue into circles 1-1.5 cm thick

2. Sprinkle them with a pinch of salt and leave in a bowl for 30-40 minutes to remove the bitter taste.

   Salt will draw out bitterness from vegetables and make them tender.

3. Then fry the eggplants on both sides in a pan with hot oil.
   

   Eggplant must be fried until golden brown.

4. Peel the bell peppers and cut into semicircles.
   

   Choose a juicy and fresh pepper, the saturation of the sauce depends on it

5. Peel the onion and chop.

   Do not cut the onion too finely, it should be noticeable in the finished dish

6. Peel the carrots and cut into thin strips.
   

   Thinly slicing carrots requires a sharp knife.

7. Now you need to fry the carrots and onions until golden brown.
   

   Avoid sticking vegetables, otherwise ajapsandali will have an unpleasant aftertaste.

8. Chop the herbs.

   Try not to chop the greens too finely.

9. Make cruciform cuts on the tomatoes and scald them with boiling water.
   

   Cut tomatoes are easier to peel off

10. Cool the scalded tomatoes a little and peel them off.
    

    Boiling water does not harm the taste of tomatoes

11. Then chop the tomatoes and place them in the blender bowl. Grind until puree.
    

    You can cut tomatoes arbitrarily, remembering to remove the hard core

    It is better to take fresh garlic, this will give the dish a sharp, tantalizing aroma.

12. The cloves of garlic must be ground in a mortar with a pinch of salt until they become gruel. Then add to the saucepan with ajapsandali, cover, turn off the heat and let stand for 5-7 minutes.
    

    When serving ajapsandali on plates, try to distribute equally in each sauce and vegetables

Video: ajapsandal with potatoes

This year, a record number of sweet peppers and eggplants have grown at our dacha. So I wondered what to cook from them. Winter preservation, peppers stuffed in various ways, eggplant caviar - I tried all the recipes, and the vegetables sang and sang everything. Then I remembered about ajapsandali. A spicy, fragrant dish with a Georgian flavor was to everyone's taste. I served it with homemade bread and fresh vegetable salad. The most amazing thing is that we ate this dish at least three times a week, but no one complained about the monotony. Indeed, by varying the amount and composition of spices, you can add new flavoring accents each time.

Georgian vegetable dishes can surprise you with their rich taste. The thing is that spices give the usual products a bright aroma. At the same time, it is important that in summer and autumn ajapsandali is a very affordable dish, because it does not contain expensive ingredients.