Ajvar..

After our visit in Belgrade I absolutely wanted to try to make Ajvar myself. After all it was my subsistence food there.

My dad and brother would get the Ajvar for their birthdays.

But my goal was, that Vladimir, my Ajvar specialist, would be satisfied with my Ajvar too. He was allowed to try the first glass and didn’t like it too much, because there was too much eggplant in it.

There are just a couple of ingredients, but the preparation is very lonesome. It took me one whole day from morning till midnight to make 4 glasses!

Now I know, why in Serbia grandma’s attend to this duty and why on dark and cold fall nights they sit comfortably together and peel and pluck paprikas. ‘Cause they have the time and especially patience.

  
Ajvar

8.8 Ibs pointed peppers

3 pieces eggplant

4 pieces onion

1 garlic tuber

chili as you like

1 cup olive oil

salt

white wine vinegar

juice of 1 lemon

pepper

a little sugar

1.     The pepper needs to be peeled and that is the most time-consuming work during the Ajvar preparation. A really petty work.

Therefor wash the pepper, cut in half and clean. Then roast at 392F for about 20-40min. With my oven it took up to 40 min until you could peel them.

2.     Peel the eggplant and cut with onion in squares. Roast both with a little oil.

3.     When you’re done peeling the pepper, don’t cut them, but pluck into little pieces!

According to Vladimir you can distinguish a good Ajvar through that. So don’t cut them in little squares, otherwise it’s called relish or puréed, that would really be a shame.

4.     Put pepper into the pot with eggplant and onion and add the rest of the oil.

5.     Who likes it a little spicier, also can add cut hot chilis. I used 3 chilis, since my dad only likes it half-spicy.

6.     Press garlic and add.

7.     Season with salt, vinegar, lemon juice, pepper and maybe a little sugar.

8.     Let simmer for around 3 hours, until all ingredients merged into a viscid whole.

9.     Fill boiling water in prepared preserve jars, empty glasses and fill right away with hot Ajvar up to the brim. Lid on and let cool upside down. So the Ajvar stays edible for a long time.

My conclusion: I think it tasted really good, but until next time it probably will take a couple of years.

In the meantime I recommend, if you want to try a really tasty Ajvar and don’t want to cook it yourself, to buy Ajvar at Bakina Tajna. It is actually made by grandmas’ in the traditional way! Well, I don’t know wether that’s true, but it tastes excellent and according to Vladimir, compared to the one bought at the supermarket, it is the real deal!

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