Cooked Spicy Ajvar

Ingredients: 

Sweet roga peppers (OPG Zoltan Varga) - 5kg
Eggplant (OPG Stjepan Loboda) - 1kg
Garlic (OPG Ivana Debelić) - 3-4 cloves
Hot peppers - 0,7kg
Vinegar - 2 tablespoons
Salt - 2 tablespoons
Oil - 4dl
Sugar - half a tablespoon

Preparation process:

Wash the peppers and roast them on the grill or in the oven until blackened on the outside.

Steam them briefly in a bag (about 30 min) and peel immediately (divide into multiple bags so they don't get crushed). Roast the washed eggplants whole and steam them the same way as the peppers (makes them easier to peel).

Grind the peppers and eggplants in a meat grinder. Heat 2 dcl of oil, add the ground mixture, and cook for 30-40 min. Towards the end, add the remaining 2 dcl of oil and cook down. The pot used for cooking should be at most half full.

Sterilize the jars in boiling water or in the oven. When filling the jars, first add one tablespoon of the mixture to let the jar steam, and only then fill it to the top. Once filled, seal the jars, turn them upside down, wrap in a blanket, and leave them like that for at least 2-3 days.

Store the ajvar at cellar temperature.

💡 Notes and preparation tips:

Yields one 400ml jar per 1kg of peppers. Use peppers that are as large and fleshy as possible.
Preparation time is two days:
Day 1 - roasting, peeling, and grinding
Day 2 - seasoning, cooking, and jar filling.

Enjoy your meal! 🍽️