Ajvar Recipe

Step 1

1. Light a chimney full of charcoal and wait for it to lit. Once a few charcoals burn, arrange the rest of the coals on one side of the grate. Set the grate in place, cover the grill, and add some oil.

Step 3

1a) If you’re baking the peppers in an oven, just preheat the oven to oven to 240°C (470°F).

Step 5

2. After roughly 10 minutes, cut the peppers into half and add them to the grill/oven and cook for 10-15 minutes until blackened.

Step 7

3. Remove the peppers from the grill/oven, place them in a large bowl, and cover the bowl with a wrap.

Step 9

4. In the meantime, pierce the eggplant with a fork, add it on the cool side of the grill, and let it cook until soft and darkened (around 30 minutes).

Step 11

5. After 30 minutes, remove the eggplant from the grill and let it cool down.

Step 13

6. After 15 minutes, take the peppers out and remove all of the charred skin and seeds.

Step 15

7. Trim the top off the eggplant and split it lengthwise. Use a spoon to scoop out the soft flesh and discard the skin.

Step 17

7a) Traditionally, the peppers and eggplant are left overnight before continuing the process, but if you don’t want to wait that long, you can proceed with the next step.

Step 19

8. Take the peppers and what’s left of the eggplant and add everything in a food processor (preferably with a steel blade).

Step 21

9. Add everything to a large cooking bowl and let it simmer over medium-high heat for roughly 1 hour-90 minutes.

Step 24

Keep stirring every few minutes and add roughly 100 mililiters of oil every 20 minutes.

Step 27

After 30 minutes, reduce the heat to medium-low and let it simmer for another 30 minutes, but still keep stirring.

Step 30

Add the vinegar, salt, and sugar in the last 20 minutes of cooking, and mix until everything is incorporated.

Step 32

13.  In the meantime, take a jar and keep it in the oven at 100°C (212 °F) for 20 minutes.

Step 34

14.  Remove the ajvar and fill the hot jar with ajvar.

Step 36

15.  Add some hot oil on the top of the jar and seal it.

Step 38

16.  Let it cool down for at least 24 hours before keeping it in the fridge. Or, if you want to eat the ajvar right away, you can as soon as it cools down.

Step 40

17.  Serve it with some bread and white cheese (sirene) and enjoy.