Alucha

The introduction

Not everyone knows about this tree, which is called Alucha and it has this great thing to eat, which we call it Alucha in Georgia and people just really love it. Everyone is waiting for the spring to come to eat some alcuha. It's kind of like tkemali, however, it is not as sour as tkemali and it kind of gets this sweet taste, which makes you want to eat plenty of aluchas.

You know, there was this occasion this year, that everyone was talking about them, because when the spring started and it was just March or something like that, there were aluchas sold in some markets and there were also some people in the streets sitting and selling aluchas and the price was something unusual for it, because it was kind of unreal. Everybody was surprised about the price and they couldn't believe their eyes when they read the price in the shops and the markets. I heard about it some time later and I thought, that it was some kind of a joke, however, it was not and the price was about 20 laris or so, and nothing really costs that much here, or, at least, I haven't seen any fruit or vegetable or something like that cost that much a kilogramme. So that, everyone was pretty surprised and soon people knew in the Whole Georgia about this alucha price and how expensive it was. Though, I bet, people bought some of it, because when you love something so much, you will pay for it and spend some money in it. However, people also knew, that soon there would be aluchas everywhere and it would become ripen in many villages and towns and people would pick them from the trees and bring them to the cities to sell them and people would buy them then and they would not cost that much at that time, so that mny people just waited for a couple of days for that thing to happen and then they would buy aluchas for themselves and enjoy eating them. And so happened some time later and now there are aluchas sold everywhere in the street markets or in the supermarkets and people buy them every day andnow it doesn't cost that much, rather, it costs 1. 50 laris and that's pretty cheap, if you ask me, and it's very cheap comparing to its former price, which was about 20 laris, as I have already mentioned above.

Well, to tell you the truth, me and my brother just love eating aluchas and we used to have this alucha tree at home in our garden at the end of it or something like that and we used to go all the way down there and pick some of those aluchas and eat them. However, then it was just on the top of the tree and we had to go up there and pick them there. We really like the proes, however, it was all very dangerous, because we were little and we just didn't know much and we could just fall from that tree or something like that and, trust me, if you fall from a tree, it doesn't matter whether that tree is tall or short, you can really hurt yourself and some people hurt themselves pretty bad and that's really something, that you should really think about and consider when going up on a tree. However, we weren't on that tree without any reason, I mean, it was not just for fun and we were there for those aluchas to eat and it was pretty fun for us, you know. Everything was very interesting for us and we would compete with each other in who would go higher up on the tree and who would pick more aluchas and hings lie that. and we would sit there or stand there on that alucha tree for quite some time and we would also enjoy the view, as the tree was pretty tall and when we were on the top of it or something like that and we would look at the houses around and trees and people and cars and everything. And it was pretty fun, and, well, I liked aluchas when they ripened, however, my brother couldn't wait for that and he would eat aluchas just when they appeared and when they were very small and didn't really taste of anything, and he would eat such amount of it that there were no aluchas let on the low parts of the branches and then he would go up on the tree and eat aluchas there, too, and there was almost no aluchas left for us and it didn't matter, whether you waited for the aluchas to ripen or not, because there were almost no aluchas left on the tree. And then we would go to the shop and buy some aluchas there to have them at home and eat them.

You know, there is this dish, where they use aluchas and it is very delicious, and it's very easy to prepare it, I guess, because everyone knows, how to cook some potatoes and, well, the dish is the new potatoes with some fennel and aluchas. They also prepare some sauce with aluchas like tkemali and things like that, however, it's better to have a sauce with tkemali, because we don't need to buy tkemali to prepare the sauce and that makes it pretty cheap, and if you want to prepare some sauce with aluchas, you should either have many alucha trees in your garden or whatever, or you should have them brought to you free of charge or something like that, because otherwise you will have to buy aluchas and preparing that sauce requires plenty of aluchas and it would cost you pretty much, if you ask me. However, when people prepare some kompoti, they buy those fruits, too, and they don't cost cheap either, so that, if someone wants to have something prepared, they will get that thing and prepare whatever they want.

Anyways, I will tell you about this recipe with aluchas, which everyone loves to eat here in Georgia and everyone is waiting for the spring to come to have this dish. Well, to tell you the truth, the dish is so delicious, that you can't really stop eating it, especially if you have some good aluchas in it. You know, there are those new potatoes in the spring and there are aluchas ripen at that time, too, so that those two things are pretty much waited for in the spring and you can buy them and prepare this dish.

So, now I will tell you about this recipe and how to prepare this dish, which is pretty easy for everyone, though I don't really like friiying potatoes, because they need plenty of oil and then, when it's time to stir them, it's pretty difficult if the pan is not that good or something like that, because it starts throwing those drops of oil when some water gets into the frying pan or something like that, and I just really hate those moments and that's why I don't usually fry potatoes, however, my father just loves eating them and he always prepares some fried potatoes, and he also loves these new potatoes very much and he always buys them when they are in the shops and supermarkets and prepares this dish of fried potatoes or he boils them and they are very delicious that way, too.

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New potatoes with alucha

So, this dish doesn't require too many ingredients and so that it's a very cheap dish and you can always prepare it and, besides, it's very nourishing, you know, the potatoes are pretty much nourishing, so that you will really like this dish and you will prepare it very often, I guess.

Ingredients:

• Potatoes, new
• Fennel, fresh
• Aluchas, about 5
• Salt to taste
• Oil

Preparation process

Well, I love this dish very much and everyone in our family loves this dish, so that it's prepared very often here.

First of all, you need to have some new potatoes, of course, and I usually prefer to have some small ones, however, my father usually buys those large ones and then he cuts them into smaller pieces. However, I think, that it's easier to buy very small potatoes, because that way, you just have to wash them and then you can put them into the frying pan and that's it. And if you want to boil those new potatoes, then you should buy the larger ones and boil them that way without cutting them and that dish is pretty delicious, too, if you prepare it in the right way, however, if you just boil the potatoes and nothing else, then you can add some butter to them after they are ready and eat them like that and it will just be very delicious that way.

So, after you have washed the potatoes, you add the oil to the frying pan and add those potatoes to it and add some salt to it and let them get cooked. After 15 minutes or so, they should be kind of cooked already and then you can add some aluchas. Well, it's all up to you how many aluchas you want to add to the dish, however, if you add too many of them, the dish will have a sour taste then.

After adding those aluchas, you should let the potatoes and aluchas get cooked well and then, when you see, that they are kind of cooked, you can take some fresh fennel and wash and chop it and add it to the potatoes and aluchas and turn the gas off in about a minute or so and have the lid on the frying pan and let the dish be like that for some time until you eat it, because that way, everything will blend together. And just after some minutes of the dish being like that, you can take the lid off and take some of those potatoes on a plate and eat them. And, trust me, the dish will taste very delicious. You can always have some sauce with it, however, you should eat the dish without anything else, because it's very delicious just the way it is and it doesn't really need some other things to be added.

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