Serbia / Sauces & condiments
Ajvar
A relish of roasted red pepper and aubergine, cooked down in oil to a thick paste.
Ingredients
- Fleshy red peppers3 kg
- Aubergines600 g
- Garlic6 cloves
- Neutral oil250 ml
- Wine vinegar3 tbsp
- Saltto taste
Quantities are auto-calculated from the original recipe as a guide. Items without numbers (e.g. “to taste”) are not changed.
Method 6 steps
Roast the peppers and aubergines at 220 °C or over a flame until blistered black all over.
Pile them hot into a covered pot for twenty minutes: the steam lifts the skin by itself.
Peel and seed them and leave the flesh in a colander for two or three hours. Do not press: the water should drain on its own.
Put it through a mincer or chop it by hand — not a blender: what is wanted is a coarse texture rather than a purée.
Reduce it in a pot with half the oil over a low flame for an hour, stirring every ten minutes.
Add the garlic, vinegar, salt and the rest of the oil and cook another half hour, until the oil starts separating. Pack it hot into sterilised jars.
