Ajika

Ajika

Adjika with tomatoes
Alternative names Adjika
Course Dip
Place of origin Caucasus
Region or state Georgia (Abkhazia, Samegrelo)
Main ingredients red peppers, garlic, herbs and spices, salt, walnut
Cookbook: Ajika  Media: Ajika

Ajika or adjika (Abkhaz: аџьыка, Georgian: აჯიკა) is a Georgian[1]-Abkhaz[2] hot, spicy but subtly flavored dip often used to flavor food. The name itself comes from the Abkhaz word аџьыка "salt"[3] (the more descriptive аџьыкаҟaԥшь (literally, "red salt") and аџьыкаҵәаҵәа are also used to refer specifically to ajika[4][5]).

The Abkhazian variant of ajika is based on a boiled preparation of hot red peppers, garlic, herbs, and spices such as coriander, dill, blue fenugreek (only found in mountain regions such as the Alps or the Caucasus), salt, and walnut.[6] A dry form of ajika exists that is sometimes called svanuri marili in Georgian or lushnu jim in Svan (სვანური მარილი "Svanetian salt"); this looks like small red clumps mixed with a looser version of the spice mixture. Home-made ajika is available from many market stalls in the Caucasus and in the Krasnodar Krai of Russia. Tomatoes are not an ingredient of traditional ajika, though different versions of ajika, sometimes having tomatoes or tomato paste as an ingredient, are produced on a commercial scale and sold in supermarkets in Russia and Ukraine.

Common varieties of ajika resemble Italian red pesto in appearance and consistency. Though it is usually red, green ajika is also made with unripe peppers.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Burford T. 2008, Georgia, Bradt Travel Guide, p. 69.
  2. ↑ Копешавидзе Г. Г. 1989, Абхазская кухня, pp. 77, 78.
  3. ↑ Abkhaz-Adyghe etymology
  4. ↑ Yanagisawa T. 2010 Analytic Dictionary of Abkhaz (entry а-џьы́ка). Hitsuji Shobo Press.
  5. ↑ Касланӡиа В. 2005, Аԥсуа-аурыс жәар (entries а-џьы́ка, a-џьыкаҵәа́ҵәа).
  6. ↑ Копешавидзе Г. Г. 1989, Абхазская кухня, p. 77.
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