Lyutenitza (Ajvar)

This is a traditional Bulgarian preserved tomatoes and peppers based food prepared every September to last through the winter months.

Thanks to my aunt Elena for keeping the recipe! She told me that each year they would all wait for my mum and dad to visit my grandma and bring back some wonderful lyutenitsa!

Prep 1 hour min
Cook 5 hours min
Difficulty: Easy
Servings: 20 jars

Ingredients

10 kg tomatoes

8 kg red peppers

6 kg eggplants

1 Litre of oil

Salt to taste

Parsley to taste

Equipment

Huge pot. It’s good to have a pot with a large surface, rather than a tall one, as it makes it easier to evaporate the mixture.

Steps

  1. Wash all the vegetables
  2. Cut a little cross at the bottom of each tomato and blanch them in boiling water until the skin separates.
  3. Peel them and remove the stork.
  4. Process them in a food processor until they are like a juicy pulp. Put them in a large pot and boil the mixture until it thickens.
  5. Roast the peppers and eggplants
  6. Once roasted put them in a plastic bag and leave them for an hour or so to make the skins easier to peel
  7. Peel them, and then grind them in a food processor. You can leave the red peppers to be a bit coarser to make the texture more chunky.
  8. Add the peppers and eggplants to the tomato mixture and stir constantly.
  9. When it starts to thicken, pour in 1 litre of oil, a little at a time, add salt and continue boiling.
  10. The lyutenitza is ready when you move a flat wooden spoon across the bottom of the pot and a path forms.
  11. Add finely chopped parsley.
  12. Remove from the heat and fill the jars. The above quantities make about 20 jars of 500ml each.
  13. Add jars to a pot, cover with water above the lids and boil for about 10 minutes.

 

Enjoy! It’s a lot of work, but it’s delicious.